The Boubacar 11/15/2007 (Free Edition)

Davidson. You know that feeling when you clench your stomach muscles and your fists, screw your face into a pretzel and go, "Ooooohharrrghh?" There was a lot of that at TMM Mobile Headquarters last night. Every blown layup, every missed Stephen Curry 3-pointer, every squandered opportunity to take down the "top" team in the land before ESPN switched over to the Rockets and Lakers.

We expected that UNC would rule on the boards, and they did, and we expected that Davidson would take care of the basketball like it was the world's last Fabergé egg. That happened too. But the Cats had 'em. Had 'em! They lost by four, but if they'd shot anything better than 39 percent, this is all anybody on TV is talking about... pushing silly apologies to Texans and horses to the back pages where they belong. The good part is that missed shots is a problem you can fix (as opposed to, say, not having any talent)... Davidson's future neutral-court opponents (Duke, UCLA) should worry.

Recent Sweet 16 Mids. Bradley came back from a rough start (losing at UIC last weekend) by returning home and smacking Iowa State, making the Cyclones look slow and sloppy. Which they kinda are. Holdover Braves guard Daniel Ruffin is good at basketball, scoring 20 on 7-for-15 shooting and adding seven boards.

As for Butler, the opposition was an Indiana State Sycamore team that's in definite restructuring mode, but the Bulldogs brought the Trees to their knees last night at Hinkle, 76-48. A.J. Graves and Mike Green, the best backcourt in the Horizon League, combined for 41 points and only missed seven shots between them. They also hit their magic turnover number: nine, their average from the Sweet 16 season. Highly touted power forward Matt Howard? Ten points in limited duty (keep the fouls down, Matt). If you haven't figured this out yet, I'm geeked about this Horizon League race.

264-point games. Sure, it went to overtime, but last night, Troy and (Division II) Paul Quinn combined for a 133-131 shootout. Justin Jonus scored 44 points by himself. Of particular note is that Jazz Henderson scored 27 for PQ... hardcore Big West fans may remember him from his days with Long Beach State.

But as far as Troy is concerned, this is a great sign. It's a program that's been a little boring in their early Sun Belt career, being that the school used to jack 35 to 40 3's a game and still owns a lot of the D-2 scoring records. Let it fly, Trojans, let it fly!

Do you have a nomination for tomorrow's Boubacar?