My Beloved 95 Bloggees:
Florida does not have a history of playing well against SEC West teams, especially on the road. That is why Sunday's game at struggling LSU without injured red-hot Chandler Parsons was a concern for Gator Nation.
In the first half against LSU's man defense, UF pounded it inside and was successful giving the Gators a 40 - 25 point halftime lead. Then LSU head man, Trent Johnson, switched to zone. Without consistent perimeter shooting, especially from 2-guard Kenny Boynton, it posed problems for the Orange and Blue who still hung onto a 68 - 61 victory http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102200319 . Between you and me, I hope other teams don't see the game film and duplicate LSU's zone strategy. I don't even want to think about a Syracuse matchup-zone . NEXT
On Saturday, Alabama kept its unbeaten home record intact for the year at 14 - 0 by defeating Arkansas 69 - 56 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102190006 . Tony Mitchell has taken his game to a different level as evidenced by his career-high 27 points on 11 for 15 shooting along with 9 rebounds. It is the 6th time out of his last 7 games that he has scored 20 points or more. Coach Anthony Grant's pressing defense resulted in 11 steals by the Crimson and White as the team is reflecting the no-nonsense, business-like personality of its outstanding coach.
Next Tuesday's showdown in Gainesville against the Gators is certainly anticipated -- a battle between the two SEC Division leaders and mentor (Billy Donovan) versus his former assistant coach, Grant. NEXT
The SEC East is showing its muscle with 5 teams in the top 37 with respect to RPI. Georgia is at the 37th position with an 18 - 8 record and all 8 losses have been to Top 50 teams http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/polls?poll=5 . Saturday's 69 - 63 win at Knoxville helped in its attempt to impress the NCAA Committee. Thursday's game at Florida and the season-ender at Tuscaloosa against the Tide could be pivotal.
With respect to Tennessee (32), the Volunteers must avoid falling below .500 in the Conference. They are currently 6 - 6 with a road game at Vandy tonight and a home matchup against Kentucky, sandwiched around a home date against Mississippi State and a road trip to South Carolina. If they continue to receive production from just Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris, they might be in trouble. NEXT
Conference USA is starting to arouse some interest in terms of multiple NCAA bids, a sentiment echoed by bloggee Arnold in his recently published letter to the Birmingham News (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/02/sound_off_birmingham_news_read.html scroll down to the last letter to the editor).
After UAB's 63 - 58 home win over UCF Saturday night followed by UCF's 74 - 68 win at UTEP on Monday, there is a virtual 5-way tie for first with 4 losses. Based on the RPIs (shown in parentheses) of those five teams, Southern Miss (44), UAB (30), UTEP (60), Memphis (34) and Tulsa (92), it looks like UAB, Memphis and Southern Miss might all go dancing if they finish the season strong. The only remaining regular season game among those three against each other will be on Wednesday March 2nd when UAB travels to Southern Miss. Then of course there is the conference tournament.....what a great time of the year! NEXT
Virginia Tech is trying to hang in there for an at-large bid with its 4th place position in the ACC. However, losing at Virginia 61 - 54 on Saturday did not help its chances. Coach Seth Greenberg showed everyone his faith in his reserves. Only one player came off the bench and he only played five minutes. Check out this unusual-looking box score http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102190618 .
With Duke coming to town next Saturday and a season-ending road game at Clemson, the former Gobblers might need to win one of those two games along with home victories against Wake Forest and Boston College to make it to the Dance. NEXT
Clemson will have a tough time making the NCAA field even with its 63 - 59 victory at the U on Sunday http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102200355 . Thursday night's loss at North Carolina State hurt as does its RPI of 66. I feel they have two chances and neither of them are likely....win at Duke a week from Wednesday or win the ACC tourney. Sorry bloggee Bebe. NEXT
The Horizon League is now well-respected thanks to the success league-members Butler, Valpariso and Wisconsin-Milwaukee have had in March this past decade. However, current 1st place team, Cleveland State, was man-handled by BB-Sweet Sixteen pick Old Dominion (27) on Sunday 74 - 63 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102200447 . ODU showed why it has been out-rebounded in just one game this year by dominating the boards 51 - 22, with 21 on the offensive end. All-BB Frank Hassell gathered 15 caroms and also had 3 steals, 3 blocks and 12 points on 4 for 12 shooting for the Monarchs. With Old Dominion, shooting percentage is not as critical because of their propensity to retrieve its own missed shots.
Here is a short trivia question. Which three schools have the highest RPI among the universities in Virginia? How about three members of the tough Colonial Athletic Association: George Mason (20), Old Dominion (27) and VCU (56). The two members of the ACC, Virginia Tech (66) and Virginia (145) are looking up to their in-state counterparts. NEXT
Jacksonville University played their ideal disruptive defensive game (Florida's players can remember it from their December loss to JU) in its Friday night 75 - 60 home victory over Kennesaw State http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102180281 (and its head coach, March 14th Birmingham Tipoff Club speaker, Tony Ingle). The Dolphins had 12 steals during the game which if duplicated in the Atlantic Sun tournament, could spell trouble for top teams Belmont and East Tennessee State. Birmingham's Ayron Hardy led the way for JU with 15 points on 7 for 12 shooting.
Jacksonville held serve again at home on Sunday with a 74 - 68 victory http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102200281 generating another 11 steals. Of course, to Gator fans, the more JU wins, the merrier. THAT'S IT
Enjoy.....congrats to bloggee Dick who picked 16 out of 16 games correctly in the Birmingham Tipoff Club Contest last week which included big upsets, Kansas State over Kansas and St. John's over Pitt ...guess who is getting a call before I fill out my bracket.....Joe Dean, Sr. spoke to the Club on Monday and it was a thrill to hear a live "String Music" from the podium,
Barry
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