My Beloved 99 Bloggees (Welcome Kap, Bruce, Barbara and Gregory)...we are so close to triple digits:
UAB, UAB, UAB. That is the cry on the Southside in Birmingham after the Blazers clinched at least a tie for the Conference USA regular season championship with a dramatic 67 - 66 road win over Southern Miss on Wednesday http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103020521 . After stud Gary Flowers gave Southern Miss a 2-point lead with 22 seconds left on a tough 18-footer, UAB freshmen, Preston Purifoy, nailed a rainbow three-pointer with less than 4 seconds for the gigantic victory.
It was a crazy game for UAB:
- They were 4 for 14 from the charity stripe for less than 29 %.
- The nation's leader in assists per game, UAB's 5 ' 8 Aaron Johnson, padded his lead with 14 against the Golden Eagles http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/stats . However, he was only 3 for 9 from the field.
- Their leading scorer, Jamarr Sanders ,was scoreless during the first half, but then scored 18 in the second half.
See the highlights of this program-changing win for the Blazers. http://www.abc3340.com/global/category.asp?c=189742&clipId=5624821&topVideoCatNo=189741&autoStart=true
For you bracket fillers, UAB could be a sleeper especially with star 6' 10 Cameron Moore making his first significant impact since his hand injury. He had a double-double with 12 points on 6 for 12 shooting and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes (the most important statistic). NEXT
North Carolina did their impersonation of UAB in its Wednesday road 72 - 70 win over FSU http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103020213 . Down by 1 with 3 seconds left, the Heels also were bailed out by a freshman's three-pointer, as Harrison Barnes nailed the game-winner on his way to 18 points. See the highlights at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6176364 .
John Henson and his 6' 10 frame had a double-double with 19 points on 7 for 11 from the field and 12 rebounds. Alabama transfer Justin Knox played 15 minutes scoring 2 points with three rebounds. FSU surely missed injured star Chris Singleton who is out for the year. Sorry bloggee Pete, I will have them one and gone in my bracket because of his absence.
Now it is time for the Duke Blue Devils to invade the Dean Dome on Saturday night with the # 1 seed in the ACC tourney at stake (Does Dick Vitale kinda like this game?). I wouldn't be surprised if these two teams meet again in the finals in a week. NEXT
Tony Barbee has shown the basketball world that he can definitely coach. There is no better evidence than Wednesday night's 76 - 73 comeback victory over Mississippi when his War Eagles roared back from a 20 - point deficit for the win http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103020028 . These are the same players who I witnessed getting beat decisively 79 - 68 by the Samford Bulldogs in Auburn's new arena on November 19 and losing to Presbyterian 62 - 59 on December 18th.
When Barbee has more talent, it will be scary. You may remember, medical redshirt star, Frankie Sullivan, did play a few games this year and during that short stretch, they were undefeated including a 65 - 60 victory over NCAA-bound FSU, within a week of the Seminoles beating Duke. If Tony Barbee were a stock, I iwould nvest in him heavily. (Speaking of stocks, once again, look at my first cousin's company, Chembio Diagnostics, CEMI or CEMI.PK on Yahoo Finance now at ..45....they announced great earnings yesterday, have an amazing pipeline of patented rapid testing of HIV, TB and syphilis and apparently rebuked buyout offers not reflecting the true future value of this company. I know nothing except what everyone can see on the internet, but the upside is frightening and worth the small investment.) NEXT
All-BB (Barry's Blog....got to let the new blogees know our lingo) player, Xavier's Tu Holloway, had a disappointing game from the field Wednesday, just 1 for 6, including 5 empty shots from three. The good news, he contributed 8 assists, deciding to pass to seniors during their last home game in the Muskateers 68 - 48 win over Charlotte http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103020682 . I like Xavier going to the Sweet Sixteen with their recent dominating play, winning 15 out of 16. (Of course my predictions now may vary once seedings are announced). NEXT
Clemson had a tough assignment on Wednesday...win at Duke on Senior Night to earn a ticket to the Dance. The Tigers were just down by 2 at the half and by 6 with 2 minutes left, but went scoreless the rest of the way in their 70 - 59 loss to Duke http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103020173 . Clemson shot just 30.4 % on 21 of 69 but did have 14 steals, harrassing Blue Devils star, Nolan Smith, into 8 turnovers.
Some still say Clemson is barely in. Sorry bloggee Bebe, unless they perform miracles at the conference tournament, I believe their postseason appearance will begin with hosting an NIT game. NEXT
The Binghamton Bearcats defeated Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers on Thursday night 91 - 65 in the first round of the America East Conference tourney http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103030346 . Besides being ESPN's Tony Kornheiser's alma mater, what is significant about Binghamton? Their coach is all-time Temple and Atlantic 10 scoring leader, Mark Macon http://www.bubearcats.com/sports/mbask/coaches.html .
The Bearcats have had a tough year, 4 - 12 in the conference and 7 - 22 overall. Macon has the difficult job of reviving a program that was associated with the dreaded word------scandal. Maybe this is a start http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/sports/ncaabasketball/12binghamton.html . NEXT
Tennessee is certainly in the Dance, but last night's performance has to continue the worry of Vol Nation. In its 73 - 69 victory at South Carolina on Senior Night http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103030525 , once again, other than the Tobias Harris and his 25 points along with Scotty Hopson and his 24 points, the Vols did very little else offensively. They were also hammered on the boards 33 - 22.
Their saving grace was going to the gift lane 21 more times than the Gamecocks, 34 versus 13 and Gamecocks freshman (former sensation) Bruce Ellington suffering another sub-30 % shooting performance, 3 of 13 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97663 .
My apologies to bloggees AJ, Pace, Karen, Eli, Paul, Bebe and other Orange checkerboard supporters, but I would not plan travel to any of the Sweet Sixteen sites. NEXT
Great story on the Birmingham ABC local sports about BB-favorite, the nation's top Division 1 women's free throw shooter and Southern conference player of the year, Samford's Emily London. Check out the 90-second clip http://www.abc3340.com/global/category.asp?c=189742&clipId=5616358&topVideoCatNo=189741&autoStart=true .
This just in. Friday morning, in Samford's quarterfinal 57 - 48 win over Western Carolina http://samfordsports.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/sam0304.html Emily made all 8 of her free throws boosting her percentage to 93.7% . Gulp. She is also second in the country among the ladies in three-point shooting. After this morning's 1 for 3 , she is 78 for 160 or 48.8 %. Holy Toledo! NEXT
Jacksonville University suffered an upset loss 68 - 64 to crosstown rival North Florida in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun tourney http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103030281 on Thursday. Florida fans were rooting for JU to win the tourney to show the NCAA committee that its early season overtime loss to them was to a NCAA-bound midmajor.
Plus, I had them winning the tourney in a pool (no money, just bragging rights) I entered, thanks to bloggee Kevin # 1, where you have to pick each of the conference tournament winners...no easy task. I am already out of the Big South, picking Charleston Southern in another upset reach. Here are my picks of the early tournaments that have already started or will have started through the weekend, so you can vicariously participate with me in this unique pool:
America East, - Vermont
Atlantic Sun, - Jacksonville - OUT
Big Sky, - Weber State
Big South, - Charleston Southern - OUT
Colonial Athletic, - Drexel
Horizon, - Butler
Metro Atlantic, - Fairfield
Missouri Valley, - Creighton
Northeast, - Quinnipiac
Ohio Valley, - Morehead State
Patriot, - American
Southern, - Wofford
Summit, - IUPUI
Sun Belt - Arkansas State
West Coast. - Gonzaga
THAT"S IT
Enjoy....Samford men play tonight in the first round of the Southern Conference tourney.....hoops galore continue for the next month....my DVR will have smoke coming out of it,
Barry
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