My Beloved 100 Bloggees (Welcome Alison, taking us to triple digits!):
The Gators won sole possession of the SEC title Saturday with an impressive 86 - 76 win at the difficult Vanderbilt Rec Center http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/men/boxscore.php?gameid=9471 .
The highlight of the game was Kenny Boynton's outstanding defense on blog-favorite John Jenkins . Boynton fought through picks all night defending him, and Jenkins' numbers at the end (22 points on 9 for 15 shooting, 3 for 8 deep) did not tell the story of how well Boynton (and Scottie Wilbekin) defended such a great shooter, especially in the half court. When Jenkins was given just an inch to shoot, he showed in the second half that he is deadly.
A key play of the game was at the 8:20 mark of the second half when Boynton stripped Jenkins of the ball and then on the other end his Gator teammates set a triple pick (through which Jenkins navigated poorly) freeing him for an open three-pointer which he nailed to stretch the lead to 65 - 54. Just over a minute later, Boynton had his 6th four-point play of the season. You can't say enough about Boynton who expended so much energy shadowing the SEC's top scorer and still leading his team in scoring with 17 points.
Florida had great balance with the other four starters scoring no less than 13 points and Patric Young had effective minutes off the bench contributing 9 points and 5 rebounds along with 2 blocks. Erving Walker's clutch 10 for 11 free throw shooting, so crucial down the stretch, took Gator fans back to Taurean Green and his reliable efficiency from the stripe during the national championship years of 2006 and 2007. For a recap of the game from bloggee Kevin # 1 who was in Nashville, click here http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20110305/ARTICLES/110309697/1136?Title=Gators-own-sole-possession-of-SEC-title NEXT
Alabama finished the season undefeated at home (16 - 0) on Saturday with a critical 65 - 57 victory over Georgia, http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=310640333 . It should lock up a bid for the Tide who finished 12 - 4 in the Conference, 20 - 10 overall. If a team wins 75 % of its games in a power conference, it should be going dancing, especially with 20 wins.
Charvez Davis hit 5 of 10 three-point attempts to give the Tide the offensive boost it needed. Like Boynton on the Gators, when Davis hits his shots, Alabama is very difficult to beat.
With Georgia's 20 - 10 record (9 - 7 in the Conference), an RPI of 40 and 8 - 5 record on the road, the Dogs should join the Tide at the Prom. Its early season win against UAB turned out to be more helpful than originally thought at that time...see just below. NEXT
At Bartow Arena, Three Dog Night should have been there playing "Celebrate" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXI6CdTVJ-0 as the UAB Blazers won the Conference USA Championship outright for the first time in 21 years with a convincing 66 - 48 home victory over East Carolina on Senior Night http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050034 . The nation's leader in assists, senior Aaron Johnson, finished his regular season career with 9 assists and 11 points, joining 4 other teammates in double figures, including fellow senior, Jamarr Sanders who led the team with 15.
The Blazers achieved the BB standard of defensive excellence in the first half, allowing less than one point per minute, when the Pirates scored just 12 points! Listen to me NCAA Selection Committee, UAB must be invited to the Big Dance with their 28 RPI and this regular season championship. This is not the old Conference USA....6 teams are among the top 55 in RPI. NEXT
Look out for Belmont as they handily won the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament to seal an NCAA bid by defeating 6th seeded North Florida 87 - 46 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050047 . The Bruins outrebounded the Ospreys 37 - 18, with 21 coming on the offensive end. Mick Hedgepeth at 6' 9 235 lbs had 23 points, on 10 of 17 and just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds. I look for Belmont to continue its excellent postseason and could become the next Gonzaga....a mid-major teams fear each year in the NCAA tournament . NEXT
Jimmer Fredette showed why he may be the Player of the Year with 38 points in BYU's last home game, crushing Wyoming 102 - 78 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050068 . Fredette hit 12 of his 24 shots, 4 of 9 from "way downtown" . Even after this big win, I still think your brackets need to stay away from BYU to go far in the NCAA's after losing its leading rebounder, 6' 9 235 lb Brandon Davies, for the rest of the year due to school "honor code" violations.
Speaking of Fredette, check out this video of Jimmer, former BYU football coach LaVell Edwards and former BYU basketball 7' 6 giant Shawn Bradley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_v_NNkMCR0 . Thanks to my former high school baseball teammate Bloggee Pete for sending me the video. By the way, Pete won't mind if I tell you he is one of the founders of the Legends Poll (previously called the Master Coaches Survey). It is an advisory poll comprised of 19 former college football coaches such as Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, Frank Broyles and Gene Stallings . They have their own college football rankings after viewing most of the games on DVD's that are sent to them weekly. http://www.legendschannel.com/ . NEXT
Regular season champ Coastal Carolina couldn't get it done in the finals of the Big South tourney under their coach Cliff Ellis, losing to UNC-Asheville 60 - 47 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103050122 . The Chanticleers were hampered by injuries and grades and eligibility issues during the latter part of the season that were too much to overcome. NEXT
North Carolina, an NIT participant last year, will definitely have momentum going into the ACC tournament next week as the # 1 seed. The Heels soundly defeated its archrivals, the Duke Blue Devils, 81 - 67 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050413 . As a team, North Carolina shot 52.4 % on 33 for 63, including Tyler Zeller sinking 7 of his 11 shots.
Freshman point guard sensation Kendall Marshall had a double-double, with 15 points and 11 assists (surpassing Duke's team total of 9). Duke's downfall was led by the continuing disappointing shooting of Kyle Singler who made just 3 of his 14 field goal attempts, coming up empty on his 5 three-point shots http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/72826 . Seth Curry scored 20 points for Duke including 6 for 11 from beyond the arc. His teammates missed all 16 of their three-point attempts. NEXT
Below is the all-BB (Barry's Blog) team of relatively unknown mid-major players (sorry Jimmer...everyone knows you). Notice how they all excelled on Saturday:
Kenneth Faried - Morehead State - In the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, the nation's leading rebounder and also tops in field goal percentage http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/stats scored 24 points on 7 of 9 and had 15 rebounds to help lead the Golden Eagles to the NCAA's with a 80 - 73 victory over Tennessee Tech http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050375 .
Tu Holloway - Xavier - In the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament quarterfinals, he had 25 points on 7 of 13 shooting, converting 3 of his 4 deep shots http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050536 .
Frank Hassell - Old Dominion - In a CAA Conference tournament quarterfinal 59 - 50 victory over Delaware, he was 9 for 13 from the field on his way to a double-double.....24 points and 10 rebounds http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050447 .
Noah Dahlman - Wofford - In the Southern Conference tournament quarterfinals, the nation's 4th best in field goal percentage, scored 21 points on 9 for 15 shooting leading the Terriers to a 69 -56 victory over Appalachian State http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050659 .
Andrew Goudelock - College of Charleston - In the Southern Conference tourney quarterfinals, he scored 25 points on 9 for 17, including 5 for 11 from the perimeter http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103050107 . THAT'S IT
Enjoy......great conference tournament games continue through next weekend...SEC broadcaster Dave Baker is speaking to the Birmingham Tipoff Club on Monday,
Barry
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