St. Joseph's (right now, vs. Xavier)
Temple (9:00pm, vs. Charlotte)
UNLV (midnight, vs. Utah)
7:09 With their win over Vandy, Arkansas is now definitely in.
8:37 Purdue and Illinois are headed to overtime. The end of regulation was completely insane. The two teams combined for 28 points in the last 5:35. For a Big 10 game, that is completely insane.
Randle fouls out, Illinois has a two point lead with 3:33 to play.
8:45 Kansas was down at halftime, but they've outscored Nebraska 25-11 to open the second half, and now lead by 9. Georgetown is destroying West Virginia, up 20 with 3:35 to play. St. Joe's can likely now be moved from the bubble to "in", as they beat Xavier earlier.
8:58 Illinois beats Purdue. Which makes perfect sense.
9:18 Duke and Kansas win. They're both into the semis tomorrow.
9:39 Riley hit a ridiculous 3 to send it into OT for Mississippi St. against Alabama.
USC is up 3 on UCLA, midway through the first half.
The only bubble game right now is Temple against Charlotte- they're up 22-14 with 5:10 remaining until halftime.
9:45 Temple: 60th in the RPI, 3-4 against the Top 50, 7-7 in non conference against the #29 SOS, 11-5 in the A-10. If they lose tonight they're in trouble; if they win, I have no idea.
10:07 Marquette has 1 point in the last 8+ minutes. They're down 14 with a half second left in the first half.
10:11 The Alabama-Mississippi St. game has been delayed for awhile now. MSU leads, 64-61, with 2:11 left in OT. There are tornadoes in the area, apparently.
10:33 UCLA was down 34-28 at halftime. They are now leading, 46-38, with 14:43 left in the second half.
So they have outscored USC 18-4 in the first 5:17 of the second half. Incredible.
10:51 I am flipping between the Indiana-Minnesota and UCLA-USC games.
It's like they're playing two different sports.
10:54 Jared, in the comments:
"i'm here at the GA Dome and it was an absolutely wild scene. Officials said “high-force” winds whipped across the roof just 30 seconds after they received a tornado warning, ripping two holes in the dome...play did resume, and Miss. State held on 69-67, although Mykal Riley's 3-pointer at the buzzer went in and out. Great effort by the Tide in what was most certainly the most bizarre game I've ever witnessed.."10:57 Kevin Love is good at passing.
52-45 UCLA, 5:15 to go.
10:58 Temple beats Charlotte by 15. They move on to play St. Joe's in the A-10 final tomorrow.
10:59 Marquette has closed to within 9 against Pitt, 9:01 remaining. Texas A&M is up 2 on Kansas St. with 15:09 left. And Minnesota leads Indiana by 2, 11:50 to go.
11:02 Kevin Love apparently scored 11 points in the opening minutes of the second half. I have no idea how this happened.
UCLA gets a steal on a horrible pass, they're up 7 with 3:18 left.
11:05 Mayo has scored five consecutive points, and USC is within 2 with 1:40 left.
11:09 After a terrible UCLA possession, USC has it down 3 with 39.8 left.
11:11 Hackett gets fouled with 31.6 left. He hits both and now USC fouls Collison.
11:12 Collison hits both. Mayo is running the clock down for some reason. He misses the 3, and time expires.
That was so dumb. That possession started with 20+ seconds left. You take your 3 early, so if you miss it you can foul and extend the game. You don't hold it until there's 3 seconds left, because you're a cocky fool and think you can't miss.
11:15 Marquette has somehow pulled to within 6. Barro is shooting FTs with 2:04 left.
11:17 Minnesota is up 2 on Indiana with about 4 minutes left. I have no interest in watching that game.
Marquette is going to get it back, down 5 with 1:25 left. James misses an easy one but puts it back in himself, and they're within 3 with 1:10 to go.
11:21 Looking good for Pitt; Marquette missed a 3, and Pitt is going to the line, up 5 with 34.2 left.
11:27 Pitt is going to win, up 6 with 10.2 left.
Minnesota leads Indiana, 57-54 with 50 seconds left. The Hoosiers has the ball, Gordon gets fouled going to the rim.
11:30 Pitt wins, 68-61.
11:31 Gordon makes the first but misses the second. Minnesota calls a timeout with 24 seconds left, 15 on the shot clock. They're up 2.
11:32 Kansas St. has gone ahead of Texas A&M, 57-56, with 3:28 left. Beasley has 23, 9/18 from the field.
11:33 Indiana gets a stop on a block by White, and they've got a chance to tie or win it with 10.6 seconds left.
11:35 Gordon goes coast to coast, and gets fouled as he goes up. Misses the first. Oof.
That was insane. Gordon missed it, White tips it in, and gets fouled. I have never seen that happen before. He's shooting one to take the lead. What a play.
11:37 3.1 seconds left. White misses. The rebound bounces back his way, and he gets fouled again.
He misses the first. 1.5 to go.
11:39 Makes the second. Indiana up 57-56, 1.5 left. Crazy.
11:39 Jarred (sorry about the spelling earlier) has informed us that the Kentucky-Georgia game has been postponed. So the winner of that is going to have to play two games tomorrow, I am assuming. That really sucks for them.
11:41 Okay, Minnesota is finally inbounding it from underneath their basket. 1.5 left. They launch it down, it's caught, and it's good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11:42 They're reviewing it, but that'll count. Completely ridiculous. It was Hoffarber that made the shot.
11:44 It counts. The B10 may be a terrible conference, but the games tonight have been thrilling at the end.
11:47 Looks like Texas A&M is up 3 with 8 seconds left after two Carter FTs, and K-State has the ball.
11:49 A&M wins, 63-60 final.
11:50 Kent St. edged out Miami (OH), 49-47. That is good news for bubble teams, as Kent is likely in the tournament regardless. They'll face Akron in the MAC final tomorrow.
11:55 The second Big Ten semifinal tomorrow is going to be Illinois-Minnesota. How weird is that.
12:17 The UNLV-Utah game is underway. UNLV is probably in regardless, but advancing to the MWC finals against BYU would seal it. They're down 10-8, 5 minutes in.
12:37 Stanford leads Washington St., 34-30, at the half. Utah and UNLV are tied at 22 with 2:46 left before halftime.
1:03 Low hits a 3 to cut Stanford's lead to 4 with 15 minutes left.
UNLV is up 1 on Utah at the beginning of the second half.
1:04 Low has now hit triples on three straight trips, and the lead has been cut to 2.
The Cougars have relied on the 3 (a ridiculous 9/11), while Brook Lopez has dominated inside for the Trees, with 20 points.
1:14 Brook Lopez is completely dominating this game. He now has 27, and is going to the line to try to complete the three-point play. He hits it. Stanford is up 7, and the only reason it's that close is Washington St. hit 10/13 3s, which is completely unsustainable.
1:18 Wow, the Georgia-Kentucky game is scheduled for 11am EST tomorrow. The winner will have to turn around and play in the semis against Mississippi St. at around 3:30pm. That is rough.
1:21 By my count, there are 11 championship games tomorrow: C-USA, America East, Pac-10, A-10, MAC, MWC, SWAC, MEAC, WAC, Big East, and Big West. Memphis-Tulsa is at 11:35 am EST, the Big West game is at 11:00 pm EST.
1:25 Stanford has scored 4 quick points to open up a 7 point lead. 5:25 left, and Tony Bennett calls a timeout.
1:28 The Pac-10 refs had have a rough couple weeks.
1:36 UNLV is up 4, with 3:36 left. If they win, I am moving them to the "in" column, and then going to bed.
1:37 Wash St. hits a 3 to pull within 8 with 2:17 left.
1:43 A four point play gets the Cougars within 5 with 1:03 left. They are 12/18 from 3 tonight, they should be losing this game by 20.
1:47 Weaver rebounds Low's miss, and puts it in. He's got 25, and Washington St. is within 3 with 24.3 left.
1:49 These Pac-10 announcers really think the Pac-10 should get 7 teams in. Bad news, guys: it's gonna be 5.
1:50 Teams foul too quickly. I would (almost) always go for the trap/steal, and then once they get it over half court, foul. This never happens.
Finger hits both the push the lead back to 5.
1:52 Stanford is going to win this. Up 7 with 8.9 left.
That's it. 75-68. It'll be Stanford-UCLA in the final tomorrow at 6pm EST.
1:54 UNLV wins, and they are in. They'll meet BYU in the MWC final tomorrow, in a game that is really only for seeding. Goodnight.
I have a sneaking suspicion that VCU will be the team that most bracket experts get wrong this Sunday. Total agreement that their body of work doesn't merit a spot over most of the crop of contenders, but as much as the committees love to deny that conference affiliation has anything to do with the selection process, they are prone to rewarding supposedly solid leagues with multiple bids regardless of whether a second (or third) team merits the bid. Look at the Utah State, Air Force, and George Mason selections that came out of left field in recent years. Personally, I'd prefer to see the VCU's and Illinois State's of the world over Va Tech and Ohio State. However, it seems like a stretch to include the Rams this year, but you'll hear the committee trumpet that CAA record if they get in.
ReplyDeleteCan Akron get in, or is the Bubble to messy? St. Joe's?
ReplyDeleteSt. Joe's is in with their win over Xavier, I would think. 4-4 against the top 50, now 13-6 in road/neutral games. And they're not done yet. The question is whether the A-10 can get Temple in as well.
ReplyDeleteAkron probably has to win tomorrow to get in (auto bid, obviously). An RPI of 84 and 0-3 vs the Top 50 isn't gonna cut it.
Yikes for Akron. It would be nice for them to get in, but I'd hate for it to happen at someone else's expense
ReplyDeleteMike S- you may be right, but they have so many bad losses. By RPI: Hampton (152), JMU (219), Old Dominion (132), W&M (155). That's a lot for a team without a top 75 RPI win.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm getting all this from here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kenpom.com/rpi.php
The SEC situation is really freaky. We get the Sunsports network on DirectTV and it looks like perhaps a tornado or high wind did damage to the Georgia Dome. Players are coming back to the court now. Truly amazing!
ReplyDeletei'm here at the GA Dome and it was an absolutely wild scene. Officials said “high-force” winds whipped across the roof just 30 seconds after they received a tornado warning, ripping two holes in the dome. fans and reporters alike initially thought the loud noise was coming from the rowdy kentucky fans, but soon realized that it was actually a nasty storm causing the building to shake.
ReplyDeleteplayers left the floor and the game was delayed for approximately 30 minutes. play did resume, and Miss. State held on 69-67, although Mykal Riley's 3-pointer at the buzzer went in and out. Great effort by the Tide in what was most certainly the most bizarre game I've ever witnessed...
Glad to hear something from the "field". The announcers were clearly shaken by the experience
ReplyDeleteRegardless of where you may list the Big East this year in terms of quality conferences, I have to say that the Big East tourney, year in and year out, is phenomenal, and this year is no exception. I have been riveted to my seat for every game, even G-town's big wins. But the Louisville, Uconn, and ND upsets yesterday were fantastic, and this MU-Pitt game is great.
ReplyDeleteThat is the best tournament. You weed out the four worst teams, and that conference is a lot of fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteI guess I understand why, but it's too bad that they're expanding the tourney to all 16 next year.
The Kentucky-Georgia game here at the SEC Tourney has been postponed. Wildcat fans are not thrilled, to say the least...
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think Xavier's loss does to their seeding? Do you think it was just a flukey night, and it might lead to them being even more underrated leading into the tournament?
ReplyDeleteI like VCU as well. Beyond personal connections with the school, Maynor is good, and the press can lead to weird things happening. That Duke game last year was awesome.
Xavier should still be a 3. At this point, I don't think they are underrated. People have caught up with them, and they've also fallen back down to earth a little.
ReplyDelete