Although many conference tournaments have started, and a few have even concluded, the major conferences are concluding their regular seasons in the next couple of days. Let's get at it!
-Kansas clinched a 7th straight Big 12 title with a narrow 70-66 victory over Missouri. The Jayhawks played sloppily throughout, committing a season-high 24 turnovers. Fouls were abundant in this game: Kansas committed 26, and Missouri committed 25. Numerous players as a result were in heavy foul trouble: Tyshawn Taylor fouled out for KU, and the Morris twins, as well as Elijah Johnson, had 4. Ricardo Ratliffe fouled out for Mizzou, and 5 players had 3. Laurence Bowers led all scorers with 22, coming off the bench for 34 great minutes for the Tigers. He actually had a double-double, notching 10 boards. Marcus Morris led the Jayhawks with 21, and he as well as Thomas Robinson, back from his meniscus injury, got double-doubles. Notably, Kansas's FG% was 43.6, while Missouri's was only 29.3.
-BYU wasn't going to lose again. Not to Wyoming, who was 3-12 in the conference, and not on senior night. Not on Jimmer's senior night. And Jimmer proved why he should be the Player of the Year in the NCAA, putting up 38 big points on 12-24 shooting, along with 4 treys, in a 102-78 thrashing. Wyoming was led by Francisco Cruz, who put up 18 on a good shooting night, going 7-11. Charles Abuou continued his 2nd half surge with 25, going 9-12.
-Duke and North Carolina faced off, yet again, with big implications: winner-take-all in the ACC. And UNC prevailed, winning by a comfortable margin, 81-67. Duke had the top two scorers in Nolan Smith, who dropped 30, and Seth Curry, who dropped 20, but the rest of their team struggled immensely. Kyle Singler went 3-14 from the floor, and didn't make a single trey, scoring only 8 points. Mason Plumlee didn't score, and the rest of the team only had 9 points. However, for the Tarheels, balanced scoring emerged from the great PG play of freshman Kendall Marshall, who had 15 points and 11 assists. Harrison Barnes led UNC with 18, but 4 players were in double figures.
-Pittsburgh defeated the Villanova Wildcats again for the season sweep, and completed Jay Wright's slide as coach of Villanova in a 60-50 win. It was an extremely slow and ugly game, shown by the 22-18 halftime score. Ashton Gibbs had 18 for Pitt, and was the only scorer in double figures. Maalik Wayns led all scorers with 27, notching 6 treys, but the rest of his team was off, including key G Corey Fisher, who went 3-14, and only 1-8 from downtown for a measly 7 points. Wayns and Gibbs were the only double-figure scorers. The Panthers clinched their first outright Big East title since 2004. Villanova now has four straight losses, and six of their past eight, with their two wins against bottom-half Seton Hall and cellar-dweller DePaul in OT.
-The surging Purdue Boilermakers were stunned in Des Moines, falling to the Hawkeyes of Iowa, 67-65. Purdue lost a lot with this game: they still had a shot at the Big 10 crown, as well as a number one seed with the losses by BYU and Duke. But despite this impetus, Iowa was the team that hustled more, and got their first win over a ranked opponent since January 12, 2008. The Hawkeyes were led by balanced scoring, with 4 of their 5 starters in double-figures. JaJuan Johnson led all with 22 for the Boilermakers in a losing effort.
-Notre Dame eked out a close win at UConn, 70-67, despite a very large absence. Ben Hansbrough, leading scorer, fouled out with more than 8 minutes remaining, but they held on with clutch plays down the stretch by Tim Abromaitis (11 points) and Carleton Scott (13 points). Hansbrough led ND with 21, and Kemba Walker led all scorers easily with 34. But the rest of UConn's team stunk, and scored only 33 points. No one else was in double figures. Even hot Jamal Coombs-McDaniel went only 1-5 from the floor, scoring two. Along with Villanova, Connecticut ends the Big East regular season with a 9-9 record, and will have no byes in the Big East conference tournament.
-Texas is on a big slide, and it almost continued. They trailed Baylor by four at half, but got big offensive boards and points from freshman Tristan Thompson to get the victory, 60-54. Thompson had a double-double and led Texas with 19. LaceDarius Dunn became the Big 12's all-time scoring leader, accruing 22. But the Bears fall to 7-9 in conference, and are very much on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. I have them OUT.
-San Diego St. gets a share of the MVC title with an easy win over Colorado St., 66-48. This pretty much takes Colorado St. off bubble consideration.
-Louisville shot itself in the foot, having a disasterous last 30 seconds in allowing West Virginia to upset them on senior night, 72-70. L'Ville was up 68-64 with 25 seconds when Casey Mitchell nailed back-to-back treys to tie it at 70. Preston Knowles missed a trey with five seconds left, and then, stupidly, fouled Truck Bryant on the rebound with eight tenths of a second to give Truck two chances to probably seal it. He sunk both. Kevin Jones led all with 25 for WV, and Kyle Kuric had 21.
-Syracuse destroyed the hell out of DePaul, 107-59. Not a who lot to write about here, except Syracuse clinched a double-bye in the Big East tournament.
-Florida clinched the best record in the SEC with a great road win over Vanderbilt, 86-76. All five starters for Florida were in double-figures, accounting for 72 points. John Jenkins paced the way for all with 22 for the Commodores, whose blistering 59.2% field-goal shooting just wasn't enough. The Gators also shot well, shooting 49.2%.
-After being tied early in the second half, St. John's became themselves again and easily took down South Florida, 72-56. St. John's was led by a remarkable amount of seniors: ten! D.J. Kennedy had 16, and Dwight Hardy had 14.
-Georgetown's slump was completed with another defeat at the hands of hot Cincinnati, who easily won with a 69-47 stomping. The Bearcats allowed Austin Freeman to score 21 to become the leading scorer of the game, but they shut everyone else down, leading Georgetown to a poor 32.1% from the field. On the contrary, Cincinnati shot 42.9%, and Dion Dixon had 14, Yancy Gates 13, and Sean Kilpatrick came off the bench yet again for 13 solid points in the victory. A big shoutout to Eric Capannari, who boldly predicted some big wins for UC down the stretch, including the sweep of Georgetown, and wins against Marquette and Louisville.
-Arizona, Utah State and Texas A&M all easily won in their conference games. Utah State actally won 72-30. Yeeeesh.
Some big bubble team results:
-Virginia Tech really loves being on the bubble, I guess. After dropping Duke, they've dropped a pair themselves, losing to Boston College and Clemson. As of right now, I'd say VT is still IN.
-Richmond completed Duquesne's fall after their 8-0 start, winning 68-56. If Richmond can get to the semi-final of the A-10 tournament, I'd put them IN as well.
-In a huge bubble battle, Alabama took down Georgia 65-57. This is a very tough call for both teams: Alabama is 12-4 in the SEC, but they've defeated easy teams in the weak SEC West. I'd say Alabama is still OUT, and with Georgia's loss, they need to do damage in the SEC tournament. With a loss in their first game, they're OUT as well.
-Michigan St. really folded up shop this year, finishing the year by being swept by the Wolverines, 70-63. I believe both of these teams will be IN.
-Marquette probably had a chance to lock their entry with a win against Seton Hall, but blew their chance, losing 85-72. However, as long as they don't blow their first game in the Big East tournament, I'll put them IN.
- UAB won the regular season C-USA crown with a win against ECU, 66-48. They really should win the C-USA tournament, but as long as they don't lay an egg, they're IN, because of their high RPI (28).
-Colorado defeated Nebraska, 67-57, in another big bubble game. Nebraska had the better chance before this game, and consequently, both teams, barring huge runs in their conference tournament, are OUT.
-USC continued their surge with a 62-60 win at Washington. Washington is still IN, and USC is still OUT, however. USC has way too many poor OOC losses: Rider, Bradley, Nebraska, and TCU, and losses in conference against Oregon, Oregon St., and Cal. Oregon actually swept them.
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