NCAA Basketball Pick

25/03/07

Daily Dribble: Saturday Elite Eight Thoughts

March 25th, 2007
By Shawn Siegel

- Yesterday's UCLA-Kansas game went just as planned. The Bruins were able to shut down Kansas' offense just like SIU did.. but unlike the Salukis, UCLA had a hot Arron Afflalo coming off two subpar games which enabled them to pull away. The only thing that's gone more according to plan is this tournament in general. I don't see Oregon or Georgetown ending that trend unforutnately

- Ben Howland is arguably the best coach in all of college basketball.. and the Bruins dominant defense in the past two tournaments has been nothing short of amazing. Last year.. UCLA held its opponents to 44, 59, 71, 45, 45, and 73. This year its been an even more impressive 42, 49, 55, and 55. That's only 50.1 ppg!

The only two teams that have broken 60 in this stretch are Adam Morrison's Gonzaga Bulldogs (but there's no one left who can score like that in this year's NCAA) and the national champion Florida Gators. UCLA might be looking at a rematch with the Gators in the Final Four.. and unfortunately the Gators might once again be the only team that can score on them.

- Kansas might end up being the only #1 seed not to make the Final Four. But this wouldn't be a surprise according to the RPI. All along, the RPI had the Jayhawks in the 10-15 range (they're 11th right now), which seems about right considering they only have 5 top 50 wins all year. UCLA for comparison, is 10-1 against Top 50 squads. Going by the RPI, Georgetown (9th) has a much better chance to upset UNC (3rd), than the 21st ranked Oregon Ducks do of upsetting Florida (6th).

- Even though Kansas lost, I was glad to finally see Brandon Rush get a bunch of shots off. His 16 attempts were 1 off his season high (he took 17 in the Big 12 Championship game against Texas). He hit 7 of those 16 shots, and had 18 points and 5 boards.. a fine effort against such a good UCLA defense. Kansas' downfall was the point guard position, Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins combine to average 21 ppg on the season.. but they combined for 2 points on 1-12 shooting last night.

- Surprised to see Ohio state actually pull away from a team last night, I've become accustomed to comeback heroics.

- ESPN headline goes to Greg Oden.. and the Buckeyes did outscore Memphis by 27 points with him on the floor.. but the story once again was Ron Lewis and Mike Conley.

Conley ended up with 19 and seems to be playing the best ball of his life. The past three games he's averaging 19 ppg and doing a great job getting into the lane. Before the Tennessee win, Conley had never been to the FT line more than 7 times in a game, but he had 14 against the Vols and 10 last night. Its always a good sign when your point guard is aggressively getting into the paint.

Lewis meanwhile continued his MVP-like run with 22 points.. and is averaging a smidge under 25 ppg the last three rounds. Beyond the fact he's helping the team win, Lewis is definitely helping his NBA Draft chances and professional future.

Going back to the big man for a second. He did his thing on offense, 17 and 9 in just 24 minutes, and more importantly shut down Joey Dorsey who ended up with no points (the first time he's gone scoreless all year). Still, I tend to find OSU's style of play much more pleasing when the big man is sitting cause the game really opens up..

- Lost in OSU's win was an impressive 26 points from Jeremy Hunt. The Memphis sixth-man has been lighting it up all season from long range. The senior averages 14 points in 24 mpg on the season. That's an impressive .583 points per minute. For example, that's higher than Afflalo (.508), Rush (.425), Jeff Green (.432), Aaron Brooks (.474) and Al Horford (.486).., ie, Hunt scores at a better clip than just about anyone in the country on a top team. The lone exception is Tyler Hansbrough, who at 18 ppg in 30 mins, scores at a .601 per minute clip.

Collegehoops.net

23/03/07

Michigan State assistant interviews for Utah job

SALT LAKE CITY -- Michigan State assistant Jim Boylen said he met with Utah athletic director Chris Hill to discuss the Utes' coaching vacancy Wednesday.

Boylen would say only that he spoke with Hill in San Antonio, where the Utah AD was for this weekend's NCAA Tournament games. Hill is a member of the NCAA selection committee.

Hill has declined to comment about the coaching search ever since Ray Giacoletti resigned one day before the end of the regular season.

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17/03/07

Big Ten Not Looking So Bad After First Round

By Bob McClellan, Rivals.com College Basketball Staff Writer

At least through games in the first round of the NCAA Tournament the oft-maligned Big Ten Conference can hold its head high.

The league's six teams went 5-1 as the field was trimmed to 32, and it easily could have gone 6-0 but Illinois fumbled away a substantial lead in the final minutes against Virginia Tech.

The Big Ten had the best winning percentage of any league that got multiple bids. The ACC went 5-2. The Pac-10 and Big East went 4-2. The SEC was 4-1. The Big 12 was 3-1. All of the two bid leagues went 1-1.

Other than Ohio State and Wisconsin, not many people had nice things to say about the Big Ten this season. But it has every reason to be excited until the second round gets under way on Saturday.

The Illini were a 12th seed anyway, so you can argue they were supposed to lose to a five seed such as the Hokies. The rest of the Big Ten acquitted itself quite well despite only two teams seeded higher than seventh. Ohio State, a No. 1 seed and the No. 1 team in the country, did what it was supposed to do in dispatching of 16th seed Central Connecticut State, 78-57.

Wisconsin, a No. 2 seed, struggled for 34-35 minutes against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. But the Badgers wound up winning 76-63, and it should be noted the Islanders probably could have received a higher seed than 15th.

The other three Big Ten teams to win weren't necessarily the favorites in all corners of the bracket-picking world. Many experts were whispering that No. 8 seed Arizona had the speed and athleticism to give Florida fits in the second round. What they failed to mention was that the Wildcats would have to win their first-round game, and they couldn't. Ninth-seeded Purdue smacked Arizona in the mouth, 72-63, behind 21 points and 13 rebounds from All-Big Ten senior forward Carl Landry.

Seventh-seeded Indiana also had an unexpectedly easy time with tournament-savvy 10th seed Gonzaga. The Hoosiers got huge games out of Roderick Wilmont and D.J. White to blast the Zags 70-57.

The Big Ten prevailed in another 8-9 game as well when Michigan State, the ninth seed, whipped Marquette 61-49. Spartans coach Tom Izzo schooled former protege Tom Crean as his team defense overwhelmed the Eagles.

So the Big Ten went 3-0 as the higher seeded team in the first round and 2-1 as the lower-seeded team. The conference had better get all its bragging in quickly, though, because things get much tougher from here. The winner of the 8-9 game draws a No. 1 seed, meaning Michigan State has a date with North Carolina and Purdue gets defending national champ Florida.

The news isn't much better for Indiana, which now must face second-seeded UCLA. Not only are the Bruins loaded, but they'll be playing not too far from home in Sacramento.

Maybe the Big Ten won't emerge with much to talk about from the second round. But if it can go another round with only one loss everyone will be talking about the conference. And then it will be only in glowing terms.

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05/03/07

Western Kentucky 86, Florida Atlantic 81

March 5, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Tyrone Brazelton had a season-high 23 points including a key three-pointer with 1:04 left, helping lead Western Kentucky to an 86-81 win over Florida Atlantic in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Sunday night.

Brazelton had 14 points in the games first 12½ minutes and his last seven in the closing 2:21 for the third-seeded Hilltoppers (22-10).

The game included 25 lead changes and neither team led by more than six points until Brazelton's three-pointer gave Western Kentucky an 81-74 lead.

DeAndre Rice, who had Florida Atlantic's final nine points in the closing 1:31, drove for a layup with 54.4 seconds left to cut the margin to five, but Western Kentucky made three of four free throws in the final 33 seconds.

Courtney Lee added 20 points for Western Kentucky, which took the lead for good with 5:24 left on two free throws by Orlando Mendez-Valdez.

Rice finished with a game-high 28 points for the Owls (16-15), including six three-pointers. Carlos Monroe added 19 points and Brent Crews scored 15 for Florida Atlantic.

26/02/07

Hawaii 67, San Jose State 55

Feb. 24, 2007

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -Ahmet Gueye had 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots Saturday night to help Hawaii beat San Jose State for the ninth straight time, 67-55.

Matt Lojeski added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors (16-12, 6-8 WAC), who are assured of their school-record eighth straight winning season, sending coach Riley Wallace into retirement as a winner.

Wallace, who is stepping down after 20 seasons at Hawaii, has posted 16 winning records during his tenure at the school.

This was a rare road win for the Rainbow Warriors, who have won just six of 25 road games in conference play the past three seasons. Half of those wins have come at San Jose State (4-24, 3-12).

The Rainbow Warriors trailed by two at the half before scoring the first seven points after the break. Matt Gibson had five points during the spurt, which put Hawaii ahead for good.

Lojeski then scored six points during a 9-2 run midway through the half, giving Hawaii a 54-43 lead with 8:40 to go. The Rainbow Warriors coasted from there.

Julian Richardson scored 12 points to lead the Spartans, who have lost five straight after winning two of three to start the month. Menelik Barbary and Carlton Spencer added 10 apiece.

Gibson and Bobby Nash each scored 11 points for Hawaii.

A technical foul called on San Jose State's Kerry Woolridge midway through the first half helped spark a 9-0 run that gave Hawaii a 25-16 lead. But the Spartans responded with a 13-2 run of their own and went in into the half with a 32-30 lead after Richardson's off-balance 3-pointer with 42 seconds remaining.
Gueye had a dominant half, scoring 10 straight points for Hawaii in one stretch, and finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.

Before the game, San Jose State coach George Nessman presented a retirement gift to Wallace. There was a ceremony at halftime as well, honoring San Jose State's football team for winning the New Mexico Bowl.