March 2006 Archives

Great college basketball traditions: Dickie V, pep bands playing "Hey Baby," and Utah State against Nevada in the Game! Of! The! Night!. This is the third such battle this year -- remember that it was UNR that stopped USU's winning streak in this box, with the 75-57 decision that made the Aggies 5-1 when under the white-hot G!O!T!N! spotlight, that evened up the season series between the two.

This time, it's for the WAC's mantle ornament. Nevada (26-5, 15-3) is into the Tournament regardless, because they just are -- they've won 15 in a row and have done everything anybody could ever ask of them. USU would love to split the ticket and win the league title in its first year of membership, but they'll have to overcome Mid-Majority Baller Of The Year Nick Fazekas (21.7 ppg, 10.2 rpg) and the home crowd at Lawlor. Can they, can they?

Nobody had Toledo in November and nobody had them in January -- the Rockets were considered a weak-rebounding Mid-American afterthought in the preseason, and dug themselves a 1-6 hole once conference play started. But when you hit a lot of shots, you don't need to clean the glass, and scoring is what they've done in their 10-game league win streak, a ride that's taken them all the way to the title game.

Last night, junior point guard Justin Ingram dropped shot after shot to keep the Rockets from being completely run off the floor, and then when Akron believed it had safely built a 13-point lead midway through the second half, the Rockets attacked. Ingram hit the jumper that brought them within one, and nabbed a series of improbable offensive rebounds as UT began pulling away. Now, they're one game away from the MAC title.

One of the great clichés of Championship Week is that it's difficult to beat a team three times. And it's true that familiarity breeds a lot of game tape, but in today's only game featuring a black bid binder and net-cutting, it should be one of the easier trifectas to accomplish. Bucknell has only lost to Duke (expected), Northern Iowa (in 2OT), Villanova (nothing to be ashamed of) and Santa Clara (ummm... jet lag?) Holy Cross won 20 games at the expense of a weak Patriot League core and finished second in just about every statistical category, but struggled to score points consistently (42.5% FG, 234th in D1).

So here's what to expect: Bucknell will do what it did the first two times, and that's to establish a slow and grinding tempo, dominating inside with big Chris McNaughton. Holy Cross' guards will key one big run -- 10-2, 14-4, that kind of thing -- at some point in the game. If they can manage a second, Bucknell fans will likely spend the next two nights without sleep.

Snoop would be so proud. Long Beach has been red-hot streaking into the Big West tourney (winning six in a row), and now they've won their first tourney game in six years... the emergence of a sparkplug guard from Cleveland is a primary reason. Davis led the third-fastest team in the nation (78.9 possessions/40 min.) to the semifinals with a 31 and 10 double-double, which included five points in the last half-minute.

Now Nixon and the 49ers have a late date with UC Irvine for a spot in the Big West final. If he continues to drop it like it's hot, they could go all the way to the Dance.

No bids being given out tonight, but we have a decent quarterfinal matchup in the Mid-American. It's actually a semifinal rematch from last year, the trial-by-fire, come-from-behind upset that sent the No. 7-seeded Bobcats on to the title game with brimming confidence. Miami has been the under-the-radar team of the MAC East, losing only four league games, which was just one too many for that tough division. They love to drag you into a slow-tempo, grind it out game, but make their shots (46.0% FG, third-best in the MAC) and convert on their freebie chances (74.1%, 33rd-best in the country). Ohio, on the other hand, is a big question mark. They're still breaking in a new point guard (Tony Chatman, 4.0 ppg) after the midseason defection of Jeremy Fears. But they destroyed Central Michigan in the first round on their way to Cleveland, and have the championship experience to prime themselves for another deep run.

Frosh forward Jordan Hasquet only averaged 6.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg this year, but he saved his best performances for Montana's biggest conference rival. Against Northern Arizona, he went 10 and 9 in their first meeting, dropped 30 points in the schedule-ending message game against the regular-season champs, then delivered a devastating double-double in the championship last night. It was such a hot performance, it set off the fire alarms at the J. Walkup Skydome. But there's no setting the sprinklers on the Grizzlies' parade; they're going back to the Dance.

Last week, Montana (21-6, 10-4) destroyed Northern Arizona (20-9, 13-2) at home -- too bad the Lumberjacks had already clinched the No. 1 seed and the regular-season championship. One of the perks of claiming the Big Sky title is that you get to host the semifinals and title game, so their inevitable rematch for all the marbles (and a bag of chips) will happen in the northern part of the state of Arizona.

When you talk Montana, you talk shooting. Their 49.4 percent shootiputs them fifth nationally, and they're also top ten in some other metrics: eighth in points per shot (1.18) and effective FG% (56.4%). If you want to talk efficiency, they're the league's best in both offense and defense (110.0, 100.3 ratings), so they'll probably win, right? Not if the regular-season champs have anything to say about it. They won the title win a four-man double-figure scoring attack, national top-ten free throw shooting (76.3%, eighth), and a lot of trips to the line (30.8 free throw production, which measures FTM/FGA). Get your Deuce on tonight... there's bids being given away.

The scenario seemed so familiar: a hungry low-seeded opponent readying to upset the regular-season champs in the title game and go on to the Tournament. Much like last season's shock loss to No. 7 Oakland, No. 6 Chicago State hung around and led into the second half on No. 1 Oral Roberts' home floor. But not this time - Oral Roberts is going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 22 years. Expect a miracle, indeed.

The Golden Eagles' hero of the night, of the tourney and of the season was Ken Tutt, who scored 25 points on his 75% shooting, his second-best percentage of the season. Tutt missed time from mid-January to mid-February with a cracked right foot, but returned with a vengeance -- ORU did not lose a league game since his return on Feb. 16. I think it's safe to say that his broken foot has healed well enough to walk and run on, and that he'll be able to do a couple of Dance steps on it as well.

So what if their shooters can't hit the side of a barn? When you limit your tourney opponents to 33%, 30% and 38% shooting, you can afford to toss it into the pasture more often. UNC Wilmington will take the sixth most efficient defense in the country (.872 PA per def. possession) all the way to the Tournament. They used that D to win 25 games in an extremely tough Colonial, and you know what they say about defense and championships and all that.

It would be unfair to call any of these UNCW players the heart and soul of that defense, because it's a collective soul. But the 6'3" Carter has shone is weekend, locking down defenders and leading the Seahawks in scoring each of UNCW's three games, culminating his experience in Richmond with a devastating 23-and-13 double-double. He's led his team in scoring the last seven games, so some unlucky power-conference team will have to solve him. If they can't, UNCW might just repeat its 2002 Round Of 32 performance.

You probably don't remember who Ryvon Covile is, and there's a reason for that. He missed two free throws with 38 seconds left in last year's Horizon League title game. If he had hit either, Detroit would have likely gone on to the Tournament -- Hoops Nation would have remembered the Titans, and still wouldn't know Wisconsin-Milwaukee from Tennessee-Martin. That's how razor-thin this edge is.

As most of you know, UWM won that game 59-58 and went on to become the only mid-major representative in the Sweet 16. In order to put themselves on the bracket for a repeat try, the Panthers (20-8, 13-4) will have to get by a Butler squad (19-11, 12-5) that's much better than that Detroit team was. The Bulldogs split the season series and are led by Brandon Polk (17.8 ppg). This team shoots the ball better than anyone else in the conference (46.3%), and their defense is the second-most efficient in the HL (.986 PA per def. possession). Of course, number one in that category is UWM (.938) - they bring back plenty of championship experience with Tucker and Davis and Tigert. It's all on the line tonight - tune in and watch on ESPN2.

bc (dc): Southern Illinois has had a great couple years, how do you see them this year?

Kyle Whelliston: Everyone's sleeping on the Salukis now, but I really think this is going to turn out to be a good year for them. They'll likely to use the regular season to absorb their big graduation losses and figure out how to fit the very talented pieces they have together. Look out for this team in March, though - they'll be a tough out indeed.

[ESPN Chat, December 22]

Thanks, Randal & Co. for making me look like a smart guy for at least one day. They are the champions, my friends.

What a fine mess the MVC tourney has become. Gone are the top seeds, and all the talking heads are having told-you-so field days with all the El Foldos going on. The Missouri Valley Conference is a bubble-busting bust, they say. Teams like Northern Iowa, despite their 23 wins, will have to sweat it out: even power-conference teams that lose six of eight rarely make it in. Well, it was a nice story for a month or so, right?

OK, enough with the traditional wisdom, backwards-ass punditry and ridiculous nonsense. What will be lost in all the Multi-Bid Madness that has enveloped the MVC this year are these simple facts: this is a murderous league from one-through-six; and these two teams, the Braves and Salukis, got hot at the right time and overcame a lot of late-season adversity to get to this game. The team that wins will be the champions of the toughest mid-major league in Hoops Nation; no matter what happens on Selection Sunday or in the NCAA's, you can bet that on this site - for the next 12 months - they will be afforded all the respect a National Champion deserves.

Three champions will be crowned today: despite the fact that nearly everyone else will be meeting these teams for the first time today, we know how hard these players and coaches have worked to get to this point. Each winner today will be referred to as "champion" around these parts for the next year, and since we have the utmost respect for the runner-ups' struggles as well, we'll tell the tales of how close they came.

And the second bid of the year (congrats, Penn!) will be handed out in the New Big South. That's right, not the Old one. In the Old Big South, Winthrop ran the table and only lost when when random chance said they had to. Now, the Eagles have a worthy adversary in Coastal Carolina. Much has been made of the Chants' season sweep, but let's look deeper. In the two CCU wins, they outrebounded Winthrop by a combined nine boards -- in 2005-06 league play, Winthrop was not outrebounded on any other occasion. So this makes 6-10 banger/press quarterback Craig Bradshaw today's central figure: contain him, and Coastal can steal this title.

I reminisce for a spell, or shall I say think back
Last night, when West 6 gave East 3 the whack
I remember when Cedric Jackson scored 28
In the Sun Belt playoffs against Arkansas State, unh

"Ricky McBoingBoing" is one of the most explosive leapers in Hoops Nation, getting up two or three feet in the air with the absolute minimum of leg-muscle twitchings. His team is springing back too, winning seven of eight Southland Conference games after a five-game losing skid.

Woods also became the school's 15th 1,000-point scorer, went double-double for the 14th time this season, led his team in scoring for the , and was generally just Ricky being Ricky. The win pulled the Lions into a three-way tie for third place, and puts them in control of their own destiny with their final regular-season matchup at Lamar this weekend. Because of the SLC's rigorous campus-site tourney spread over Louisiana and Texas, a third seed (and at least one home game) is a good thing to have.

The A-Fun starts counting casualties today in Johnson City at the home of its new-oldest member. And while ETSU would much rather be fighting it out with their old SoCon buddies in Charleston, S.C. this week, getting to host the conference tourney isn't all bad. They'll get a tough test in hot No. 4 Gardner-Webb, who come into this game winners of 10 of 12, a team that's come together defensively since losing six of seven early -- Simon Conn (15.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg) had one of the better seasons in the conference.

But Conn wasn't the POY, ETSU's speedy shooter Tim Smith (22.1 ppg) was. And since the Bucs are the No. 5 on their home court and will play at the convenient 7:00 after-dinner timeslot, that higher seed doesn't look very advantageous. Let's see if G-Webb lets them wear white.

Northwestern State has taken control of their league and has received plenty of national love, but the Southland's supporting cast is aligning behind them to try and knock off the Demons in the upcoming conference tourney. McNeese (9-5) got blown out 97-79 in Natchitoches last weekend, but no team may be better-positioned to rob a few wins in March: they're seventh in the nation in steals with 10.2 a game. And last year's champs Southeastern Louisiana (8-6) are starting to peak at the right time: they've shaken off a five-game skid to win six of seven, and Ricky Woods (17.9 ppg) is arguably the league's best athlete. Tonight, the Lions and Cowboys will jockey for three-seed position behind NWSU and 10-4 Astyle=font-weight:bold HREF=http://schools.basketballstate.com/SAMH>Sam State.

What's more painful than pain? More painful than having to listen to T-Pain? Winning 19 games, then having your entire season wiped out by a 21-point loss on your home floor to the No. 6 seed. Yowch! The Big South tourney, always good for an upset or two, didn't disappoint in Tuesday night's quarterfinal round.

And the Buccaneers' junior guard picked a perfect time to get, um, sprung. After being held to 14 and 13 in the teams' previous two meetings (both Birmingham beat-downs), Covington went off for 24 on 80% shooting in the midst of a 62% team attack, handing BSC only its second home loss of the year. Now CSU will take its road show to No. 2 Coastal Carolina for a Thursday semifinal date.