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Post by Commissioner on Mar 21, 2021 0:00:10 GMT -5
Saturday, March 20.
Michigan 82, Texas Southern 66. No contest. Iowa 86, Grand Canyon 74. Luka Garza had 24, and Iowa led coast-to-coast. Maryland 63, UConn 54. A good night for the Big 10.
Ohio 62, Virginia 58. Jay Bilas called this one, and it had the feel of an upset (to me, anyway) even as Ohio trailed for all but a few early seconds in the first 32 minutes. The Bobcats eventually got the lead and hold off the Cavaliers, making 6 of 6 from the line in the game's final minute (and 12 of 13 for the game). Jason Preston had 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists for OU, and Ben Vande Plas led the team in scoring with 17 points. Ohio faces Creighton in the second round, and is capable of winning that game.
Creighton 63, UC-Santa Barbara 62. Bilas called Santa Barbara to win this one, but just missed. Had Santa Barbara been able to pull this off, we would have had a #12/#13 seed match up in the second round with Ohio. This was a close game all the way, but the Gauchos led by 6 with 5 minutes to play. Creighton went on a 9-0 run to take the lead with just under two minutes left. Santa Barbara scored, got a stop, and took the lead on free throws by Amadou Sow, but Creighton countered with two free throws with 16 seconds left. On the final possession, Santa Barbara got the ball to the 6-9 Sow, and Sow got off a contested layup with a 2 seconds left that rolled around the rim and off. Creighton advances.
Gonzaga 98, Norfolk State 55. No surprise here, and not as close as the final score indicates.
UCLA 73, BYU 62. USC 72, Drake 56. No Final Four for Drake this year. Colorado 96, Georgetown 73. Georgetown was a trendy upset pick. Never go for the trendy picks. Oregon over VCU, uncontested. VCU got Covided out of the tournament. Shame to win this way, but overall, an excellent day for the PAC 12.
Abilene Christian 53, Texas 52. This was an ugly game, but an inspiring one, to end the night. ACU really played their hearts out, were clearly exhausted at the end of the game, and pulled out the win when Joe Pleasant, a 59% free throw shooter, knocked down a pair with 1 second left. Abilene won despite shooting just 3-18 from three and under 30% overall. But they played aggressive, non-stop defense that forced Texas into 23 turnovers and kept the Longhorns out of synch all night.
Oklahoma 72, Missouri 68. An 11-2 run beginning with 6 minutes to play gave Oklahoma an 8 point lead, the biggest of the game for either team, and the Sooners held off a late Missouri rally.
Kansas 93, Eastern Washington 84. Eastern Washington, which is located in Chaney, Washington, landed a haymaker in the opening minutes, jumping to a 9-0 lead. Kansas recovered to go up by 6, but the Eagles outscored the Jayhawks 24-10 over the last 7:20 to lead by 8 at the break. They maintained the lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but Kansas finally overpowered the Big Sky champs. Brothers Tanner and Jacob Grove combined for 58 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks for Eastern Washington.
Louisiana State 76, Saint Bonaventure 61. Alabama 68, Iona 55. Pitino had his Gaels within a point at halftime.
Florida State 64, UNC-Greensboro 54. As I noted in yesterday's scoreboard, this is the first tournament without a North Carolina team in the second round since 1973, when the tournament was just 25 teams.
NIT Memphis 71, Dayton 60 Mississippi State 74, St. Louis 68.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 22, 2021 0:03:20 GMT -5
Sunday, March 21
Spring is in the air! And two double digit seeds advance to the Sweet 16 today.
Loyola 71, Illinois 58. Loyola never trailed, and Illinois was never closer than 6 in the second half.
Houston 63, Rutgers 60. For a time, it looked like Rutgers would save some Big10 honor today, as the Knights overcame an early deficit to lead by 10 in the second half. But Houston outscored the Knights 13-2 in the final 5 minutes.
Baylor 76, Wisconsin 63. The Big 10's tournament woes continue. I thought Baylor looked awfully good today, and Wisconsin did about as well as anyone could have.
Oregon State 80, Oklahoma State 70.
Syracuse 75, West Virginia 72. Exciting finish, but my Mountaineers went down. Arkansas 68, Texas Tech 66. Exciting game.
Oral Roberts 81, Florida 78. The dynamic duo of Kevin Obanor and Max Abmas combined for 54 points. Obanor added 11 rebounds and 4 steals, Abmas 7 assists. The two have combined for 110 points in the first two rounds. ORU is only the 2nd 15th seed to reach the Sweet 16, after Florida Gulf Coast in 2013. Cleveland State transfer Tyree Appleby had 14 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals for Florida, which had led by 11 early in the second half.
Villanova 84, North Texas 61.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 22, 2021 6:51:34 GMT -5
I said to a friend during the Ramblers/Illini game that Loyola was "old schooling" Illinois to death. Lots of ball movement, lots of player movement, drives to the basket, etc. Illinois seemed content to stand around dribbling. They focused on getting the ball to Cockburn in the second half, but by that time it was too late. Something a lot of people don't realize about Porter Moser is that after 17 years as a head coach, this is only his second trip to the NCAA tournament. Maybe something to think about for anyone considering him at a high major program.
Oral Roberts was a fourth seed in their conference tournament. They are on a magic ride.
Baylor looks like mid season Baylor. That week off of practice seemed like it really helped them.
I turned away from the Houston game and didn't realize they came back and won until hours later.
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Post by fan on Mar 22, 2021 9:24:18 GMT -5
MC Sam, some call it "old school" but it's really about style. Loyola and more so Syracuse have really taken the old (80 years old) Clare Bee LIU style ( or Red Holsman @ CCNY) and up graded it with better shooting and speed, and use it so effectively. It is amazing how year after year in these game, teams can't figure out the old Syracuse zone. Every year Boeheim gets a run and gets wins in the games, usually because of the zone. Yesterday WVU, a better team with a old time, old line coach got beat by that zone. When you watch the Syracuse zone, it starts with a 2-3, goes 3-2 then 2-1-2, then looks like a match up, drive a team into bad shoots and turn overs all the time.
That Loyola game is the way college basketball should be played and a joy to watch. The Ok State/ Oregon State is everything a college basketball should not be.
Run and gun, bad ball handling, bad passes, the whole nine yards, two bad performing teams, teams like that usually go home early.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 22, 2021 9:40:25 GMT -5
MC Sam, some call it "old school" but it's really about style. Loyola and more so Syracuse have really taken the old (80 years old) Clare Bee LIU style ( or Red Holsman @ CCNY) and up graded it with better shooting and speed, and use it so effectively. It is amazing how year after year in these game, teams can't figure out the old Syracuse zone. Every year Boeheim gets a run and gets wins in the games, usually because of the zone. Yesterday WVU, a better team with a old time, old line coach got beat by that zone. When you watch the Syracuse zone, it starts with a 2-3, goes 3-2 then 2-1-2, then looks like a match up, drive a team into bad shoots and turn overs all the time. That Loyola game is the way college basketball should be played and a joy to watch. The Ok State/ Oregon State is everything a college basketball should not be. Run and gun, bad ball handling, bad passes, the whole nine yards, two bad performing teams, teams like that usually go home early. I didn't see the OSU vs OSU game, but it's an ugly box score. Poor shooting percentages and over 80 foul shots. (Props to both teams for shooting so well from the line, though.)
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 23, 2021 7:47:02 GMT -5
Monday, March 22
Michigan 86, LSU 78. Who'd have though Michigan would be the only B10 team survive the first weekend?
Oregon 95, Iowa 80. Things continue to go wrong for the Big 10. Luka Garza did have a nice game for the Hawkeyes, with 36 points and 9 rebounds in what was presumably his last collegiate game. That scoring outburst lifted him past Antoine Davis into second nationally in points per game, at 24.1 to Davis's 24.0, and of course means that even if Oral Roberts' Max Abmas is totally shut down in his next game (he'd need just 6 points to stay ahead of AD), Antoine won't become the first Titan to lead the nation in scoring--at least not this year.
Alabama 96, Maryland 77. Finishing off every B10 team save UM.
Gonzaga 87, Oklahoma 71. Any stopping Gonzaga?
Florida State 71, Colorado 53.
USC 85, Kansas 51. A total blowout; complete domination. A rather stunning result.
UCLA 67, Abilene Christian 47. Abilene looked exhausted at the close of their Saturday win over Texas. You'd have been a fool to pick another upset. The PAC 12 advances all 4 of its entries to the Sweet 16.
CBI Stetson 53, Bowling Green 52. Playing without leading scorer Justin Turner (19.3 ppg), Bowling Green (14-12) was upset by Stetson (12-14).
Bellarmine 77, Army 67. Since joining D-1, Bellarmine (14-7) has never failed to make the post-season, and never lost a first round game.
Coastal Carolina 93, Bryant 82. Pepperdine 80, Longwood 66.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 23, 2021 8:52:28 GMT -5
"First final is in and it's a surprise. East Tennessee State University, 30-4 last season, gets blown out by Abilene Christian, 70-47. Great start to the season for the ACU Wildcats."
I posted this in the Perry Drugs scoreboard after the first game of the year. Turns out it was no fluke. ACU went 24-5, won the Southland Conference title, and upset Texas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Bravo, Wildcats.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 23, 2021 21:25:53 GMT -5
Tuesday, March 23
Coastal Carolina 77, Stetson 72 (OT).
Pepperdine 82, Bellarmine 71. Bellarmine ends a pretty good inaugural season at 14-8.
Coastal Carolina and Pepperdine for the CBI title on Wednesday.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2021 20:54:01 GMT -5
Wednesday, March 24
Pepperdine 84, Coastal Carolina 61. Pepperdine (15-12) wins the 13th College Basketball Invitational, joining Tulsa, Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, Pitt, Santa Clara, Siena, Loyola, Nevada, Wyoming, North Texas, and South Florida for the right to hang a CBI championship banner from the rafters.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 25, 2021 16:33:49 GMT -5
Pepperdine was 6-26 the year before Lorenzo Romar was named head coach. They were 16-18 in year one, 16-16 in year two, and finish year three at 15-12 with a CBI title. I'm sure the fans, players, and coaches are all glad they chose to play in the CBI.
I think the Titans could have beaten every team in the CBI. Not saying for sure they would have won it, but they had a shot. I am disappointed that we didn't play if we were truly offered the chance.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 25, 2021 17:31:52 GMT -5
Four NIT games tonight on the ESPN Family of Networks:
#4 Mississippi State vs #2 Richmond 6:00 PM ESPN 2 Former Titan assistant coach Ernie Ziegler is still on staff with the MSU. Despite the higher seed, Richmond is a four point underdog.
#3 North Carolina State vs #1 Colorado State 7:00 PM ESPN ACC vs the Mountain West. The Wolfpack are slight favorites.
#2 Boise State vs #1 Memphis 9:00 PM ESPN Memphis is probably the favorite to win the NIT at this point, having won 11 of their last 14.
#4 Louisiana Tech vs #3 Western Kentucky 10:00 PM ESPN2 The top two teams in Conference USA hook battle it out.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 26, 2021 6:45:35 GMT -5
Thursday, March 25
Mississippi State 68, Richmond 67. What's not to like? Fifteen lead changes, 8 ties, the biggest lead for either team was 8 points in the first half. Finally, with 2 seconds left, DJ Stewart nailed a three to send the Bulldogs (17-14) on to the NIT semifinals. The unfortunate goat was Richmond junior guard Andre Gustafson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 8 seconds left. Gustafson was a 77% free throw shooter, both this year and last. Mississippi State was a 4th seed in the field.
Colorado State 65, North Carolina State 61. Score one for the mid-majors in this NIT semifinal.
Memphis State 59, Boise State 56. Memphis (18-8) came out on top in an ugly but close game. Including this one, the Broncos (19-9) lost 5 of their last 6.
Louisiana Tech 72, Western Kentucky 65. Tech (23-7) made the NIT final four behind Kalob Ledoux, who made 6 of 7 three point attempts.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 27, 2021 12:59:06 GMT -5
The Big Dance resumes today:
Oregon State vs Loyola 2:40 PM CBS The clock strikes midnight for one of these teams.
Villanova vs Baylor 5:15 PM CBS Nova with a down year and stung by injury, still makes the Sweet Sixteen. Baylor looked primed in their last game.
Oral Roberts vs Arkansas 7:25 PM TBS Gotta think that ORU's run ends tonight.
Dave Bing vs Elvin Hayes 9:55 PM TBS Houston is a 6.5 point favorite, but Syracuse is playing very well right now.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 28, 2021 0:57:01 GMT -5
Saturday, March 27
Oregon State 65, Loyola 58. Talk about a strange game. Oregon State went over 6 minutes from the opening tip before hitting a field goal, and when they finally did, Loyola was itself in the midst of a stretch of nearly 10 minutes without a field goal. More than eleven and a half minutes in, neither team had reached double figures in points, and the Beavers led 24-18 at the half. The second half, however, was a high scoring affair, but Oregon State never gave up the lead. The Beavers, picked to finish last in the PAC 12, will make their first Elite 8 appearance since 1982.
Arkansas 72, Oral Roberts 70. The game of the night. ORU came close to becoming the first 15th seed to reach the Elite 8. The Golden Eagles led most of the way, and by as many as 12 in the second half, but Arkansas rallied behind Northern Kentucky transfer Jalen Tate. Tate scored 10 points in the final 5:35, and got the assist on Davonte Davis's game-winning jumper with 4 seconds remaining. Oral Roberts's Max Abmas was able to dribble three quarters of the court and get a pretty good look on the last possession, but his hurried three was just off and Arkanssa survived. Tate finished with 22 points and 6 assists. Abmas had 25 for Oral Roberts clinching the individual national scoring title. Baylor 62, Villanova 51. Villanova held Baylor, the nation's top three-point shooting team at 41.5%, to 3-19 from the arc, but Baylor still rallied from a 7 point halftime deficit. This Baylor team is really good.
Houston 62, Syracuse 46.
Memphis 90, Colorado State 67. Meanwhile, over in the NIT, Memphis (19-8) looked like an NCAA Sweet 16 team in demolishing Colorado State (20-7).
Mississippi State 84, Louisiana Tech 62. It'll be Mississippi State/Memphis is a down home NIT final. Grab yourself some boiled peanuts and tune in to ESPN Sunday at noon.
Northwest Missouri State 80, West Texas State 54. NW Missouri State won the NCAA D-2 championship for the 3rd time in 5 years--including last year, when the championship was cancelled. What does a guy have to do to get promoted around here? You'd think Bearcat Coach Ben McCollum would be up for a D-1 job--in the last 7 D-2 tournaments, he's won 3 title and made the Sweet 16 3 other times. He's won 85% of this games over the past 10 years (278-47), winning 7 straight conference regular season titles, and won't turn 40 until next month.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 28, 2021 5:55:48 GMT -5
There were some surprising displays of offensive ineptitude in yesterday's games. Loyola scored 16 points in the first half, and only trailed by by 8. Baylor scored 23 points in the first half and held Nova to 21 points in the second. Houston shot 38% from the floor, 27% from three, and 64% from the free throw line. And STILL won by 16.
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