My Beloved 95 Bloggees:
Kentucky and Duke are very similar this year.....impossible to beat at home and vulnerable on the road.
On Saturday, Kentucky showed its home court advantage with a convincing 76 - 68 victory over the 13th ranked Gators http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/men/boxscore.php?gameid=9469 . The Wildcats had pinpoint accuracy shooting 51.7 % for the game with Darius Miller leading the way with 24 points on 9 for 15 shooting. Kentucky also was effective from the perimeter shooting 50 % on 7 for 14. The final nail to the Gators' coffin was allowing Kentucky's Josh Harrelson to gather 12 rebounds, 6 offensively.
When Kenny Boynton has a solid offensive game like he had on Saturday scoring 21 points for the Gators, it usually results in a victory. But the power and mystique of Ashley Judd Arena proved to much for another visiting team. For a more detailed recap from bloggee Kevin who was at the game, click here http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20110226/ARTICLES/110229558/1056/gatorsbasketball?Title=No-13-Gators-fall-at-Kentucky
On the other hand, Duke displayed once again why they are not the typical Duke when not playing in front of the Cameron Crazies (now just 10 - 3 with a suitcase). On Saturday night at Virginia Tech, the Hokies rallied in the second half to defeat the top-ranked Blue Devils 64 - 60 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201102260620 virtually securing an NCAA bid for 19 - 8 Virginia Tech who are also 9 - 5 in the ACC . Bloggee Bob had to be ecstatic with his alma mater's performance, especially outrebounding Duke 42 - 35 and limiting sharpshooter Seth Curry to 0 for 2 shooting in his 15 minutes before fouling out. Remember Seth's dad, Dell Curry, a sharpshooter himself, starred at Virginia Tech before his stellar NBA career. NEXT
Like Florida, Alabama could not maintain its winning ways before their showdown on Tuesday night. The Tide fell Saturday at Ole Miss at the "Tad" 68 - 63 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260365 . Alabama is hoping that freshman point guard, Trevor Releford, is not getting "Bruce Ellingtonitis" or running out of gas down the stretch the way his South Carolina counterpart continued his descent with a 3 for 12 shooting performance and zero assists in Saturday's 64 - 48 loss at Georgia http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97663 .
Against Ole Miss, Releford had his second consecutive game with a "bagel" in the assists column and a poor field goal shooting percentage, 3 for 9 accuracy after a 1 for 4 performance on Wednesday against Auburn http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97701 As the late legendary coach and broadcaster Al McGuire always emphasized, "you cut the head off, you kill the body". In other words, if you can take the opposing point guard out of his game, you have a good chance of winning. Apparently the Tide's opposing teams are starting to listen to Al's sage advice. NEXT
Saturday's game at Knoxville between Mississippi State and Tennessee is a "poster child" of why it is crazy to bet on college hoops. The Starkville Bulldogs just finished losing at home to lowly LSU 84 - 82 on Wednesday. The Smoky Mountain Volunteers figured they wrote their ticket to Jim Nantz Land with its Tuesday night upset at Vanderbilt 60 - 51. Then what happens?
Mississippi State pulls off a last second 70 - 69 upset with a dunk http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260580 . Scotty Hopson played his normal outstanding game with 22 points on 8 for 16 from the field, but not much else was contributed offensively by the Vols. Check out some of Bruce Pearl's strong postgame comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Lz16GpZXU "we have competitors but not leaders"..... starters Scotty Hopson, Tobias Harris and Melvin Goins are significantly better than their backups". Ouch.
With the second toughest schedule in the nation and an RPI of 34 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/polls?poll=5 , the 17 - 12 (7 - 7 in the SEC) Vols still look like they are dancing if they can win one of their two last games, at South Carolina or at home against Kentucky. I don't want to see anyone in the NCAA's with a sub-500 conference record unless they win the conference tourney. NEXT
Look who has sole possession of first place in Conference USA? The UAB Blazers, after its 68 - 55 road win at Houston http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260254 are now in a unique position for them....leading the pack in March. Freshman 6 ' 5 guard Preston Purifoy is capitalizing on his increased playing time because of Cameron Moore's injury (who is now back playing limited minutes), with his second straight double-digit scoring game, this time with 17 points. It was also his second consecutive game shooting 3 for 6 from beyond the arc http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97359. Aaron Johnson had 10 assists solidifying his position as # 1 in the country with 7.6 assists a game http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/stats .
So now, coach Mike Davis can get the critics off his back, including me, with a victorious final week of the regular season which should take the Blazers and their current 31 RPI to the Big Dance. It starts off with a revenge game at Southern Miss (41 RPI) and coach Larry Eustachy, who dropped out of first place on Saturday with a heartbreaking 65 - 64 road loss to UCF on a deep three-pointer with less than 4 seconds left http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-02-26/sports/os-ucf-southern-miss-basketball-0227-20110226_1_rompza-sophomore-guard-marcus-jordan-gary-flowers . (It did help the Gators who lost to UCF in December). Then UAB closes its season on Saturday hosting East Carolina and former Auburn coach and Tar Heel standout, Jeff Lebo, who seems to have righted the Pirates ship with back-to-back victories including a gigantic 83 - 76 upset of UTEP last Wednesday http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/eac/schedule . NEXT
The University of Texas players along with bloggee Kevin must have been strutting with their thumbs in their armpits with their 22 - point lead at Colorado in the first half on Saturday. Then they got "Alec Burks-ed" when the 6' 6 guard laid a double-double on them with 33 points on 10 for 21 shooting and 10 rebounds leading the Buffaloes to a 91 - 89 comeback win over the Longhorns http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260125 . A month ago, bloggee Charlie from Big 12 country in Kansas warned me about this guy, touting him as a future NBA player http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88801 . Those watching in Boulder during this game had to agree with Charlie.
The Horns can't lay much blame on the loss to Gator transfer Jai Lucas. He only played 5 minutes missing his only shot attempt, a three-pointer. NEXT
FSU has now won 4 out of 5 and are a lock for an NCAA bid with its 20 - 8 record, third in the ACC (10 - 4). Even though their superstar, Chris Singleton, is out for the year after foot surgery, the 'Noles keep winning such as in Saturday's 65 - 59 win against state rival, Miami http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260213 .
In the first half the Seminoles limited the Hurricanes to the BB (Barry's Blog) standard of defensive excellence, less than a point a minute or 16 points while enjoying a 20-point lead at the break. Then Miami's 6 ' 10 303 lb center, Reggie Johnson, started getting funky with his 17 points on 7 for 11 shooting and 12 rebounds with 8 on the offensive end. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/81078 . But FSU's Okaro White and Deividas Dulkys scored 17 points each to hold off the 'Canes who will probably be playing in a three-initial post-season tournament. NEXT
What is a college basketball blog without mentioning All-BB Frank Hassell and Old Dominion. So I have to point out that the Monarchs outrebounded Bill and Mary on Saturday 46 -14 on their way to their 77 - 58 victory http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102260447 . Hassell had another double - double with 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 12 rebounds. Do you think this 5th-year senior is counting the days to post-season? NEXT
The Gators are hoping the NCAA Selection Committee is looking the other way with respect to Saturday's game at DeLand, FL when Stetson defeated the Gator killers, Jacksonville University 70 - 62 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201102260548 . The Hatters were playing their final game for their coach, Derek Waugh, who is stepping down after 11 season. Waugh's 120 wins are second-most in Stetson history.....blogee Coach Glenn Wilkes, Sr has those honors with 552 victories. By the way, his son, Glenn Wilkes, Jr just surpassed that win total with 553 as head coach of the Rollins College Lady Tars in Winter Park, FL. That is a lot of family victory cigars! THAT'S IT.
Enjoy.....the Birmingham Tipoff Club speaker in about an hour is former Purdue head coach and current St. John's special assistant/adviser, Gene Keady http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6fd54a8f218a491abcd9850ecab8a643.html ...Gators and Alabama on ESPNU at 6:00 CST...a bunch of Tide fans and I will be watching at Buffalo Wild Wings on 280, come on by you locals...even though it is a home game for the Gators in Gainesville, it will feel like a road game here in Birmingham,
Barry
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