My Beloved 100 Bloggees:
The Kentucky Wildcats spoiled Senior Night at Knoxville including the retirement of the jersey of all-time Vols scoring leader Allan Houston. Led by the shutdown defense of DeAndre Liggins on Scotty Hopson, limiting him to 2 of 10 shooting and 13 points http://articles.centralkynews.com/2011-03-06/news/28660944_1_liggins-defense-scotty-hopson-uk , Kentucky "uglied" its way to a 64 - 58 win over Tennessee http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103060580 .
With both teams shooting under 40 %, Kentucky brought their lunch pails for a "blue-collar" road win. Brandon Knight who was held scoreless for all of the first half except the last 3 seconds, finished the game with 19 points leading the Cats offensively. Even Gator transfer, Eloy Vargas, contributed 3 points to the win making his only field goal attempt in his 7 minutes of play.
If Kentucky continues to get that type of defense from Liggins, that by itself will move the Wildcats up my bracket. Are the Vols in trouble at 18 - 13 and 8 - 8 in the SEC? With an 8 - 6 record against teams in the Top 50 based on RPI and important wins at Pitt and Vandy, they are probably still in.
Jay Bilas made some interesting comments on ESPN GameDay Saturday. He rebutted Bobby Knight's claim that the Selection Committee should first look at a team's bad losses, by indicating that a team's wins against top teams should be emphasized. His point was in the tournament, most of the time, "bubble teams" will be playing top teams so that should be the barometer for determining who gets into the tournament. Also, he is not a fan of RPI, calling it a Real Poor Indicator.
Speaking of Bilas, when he spoke to the Birmingham Tipoff Club a few years ago, he related his experience trying out for the Dallas Mavericks. After Coach Don Nelson saw him participate in practice, he came up to Bilas and asked him how well did he speak Italian? Hello, overseas basketball. NEXT
Gator victim, American University and its coach, former Virginia star player and head coach Jeff Jones, lost a heartbreaker and a bid to the NCAA's in double overtime 73 - 71 when 13 - 18 sixth-seed Lafayette's Jim Mower hit a three-pointer with less than a second left in the Patriot League championship game http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103060014 . It is games like these during tournament week that make college basketball so special http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JSy_SDhQnE . NEXT
John Brady's Arkansas State squad was upset in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament 59 - 52 by state rival Arkansas Little-Rock http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103060022 . Brady's Red Wolves had won the West Division during the regular season with an 11 - 5 rocord.
The overall winner of the Sun BeltConference, East Division winner and Gator victim, 13 - 3 Mike Jarvis's Florida Atlantic, also was upset in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament by North Texas 79 - 64 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103060221 . The Mean Green's Tristan Thompson deserves mention with his 36 points including, get this, 7 for 11 from the field including both three-point attempts and converting all 20 of his free throws!
By the way, also in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals, Isiah Thomas's FIU Golden Panthers had a BB (Barry's Blog) no-no...they scored less than a point a minute in its 73 - 38 loss to Kermit Davis's Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201103060359 . It was a tough week for MTSU basketball as a member of the women's team, Tina Stewart, was stabbed to death on Wednesday by her roommate. At the end of this game, Davis inserted Stewart's boyfriend, walk-on K.C. Anuna, for the last three minutes in front of a supporting crowd, chanting “K.C., K.C., K.C.” NEXT
Emily London Update. The nation's top free throw shooter in Division I (men's and women's, recently passing Ole Miss's Chris Warren and his 93.5 %), hit all 6 of her free throws on Sunday, leading Samford to a 68 - 66 overtime thriller in the semi-finals of the Southern Conference tourney over host Chattanooga http://samfordsports.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/030611aaa.html . So far in the tournament she is perfect from the gift lane making all 14 free throws and for the season is now an unbelievable 110 for 117 for just over 94 %.
At 3:00 CST today on SportSouth, London and her # 2 seeded Samford Bulldogs try to earn a bid to the NCAA tourney with a win over top-seeded Appalachian State...Father and Daughter Bloggees Jeff and Alison are there.....Go Dogs! (She just hit her first two free throws in the finals.) NEXT
Below is the all-BB (Barry's Blog) team of relatively unknown mid-major players (sorry Jimmer...everyone knows you). Three of the five played on Sunday and all advanced to conference tournament finals on Monday;
Kenneth Faried - Morehead State - With his team's automatic bid as the Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion, he will be showcasing his talent next week as the nation's leading rebounder at a ridiculous 14.5 per game (second is Ryan Rossiter of Siena at 13.2, third is Jordan Williams of Maryland 11.6). Faried is also the nation's leader in field goal percentage at a whopping 64.4 % (second is Leon Powell at Southeast Missouri State at 63.0, third is Brian Qvale of Montana at 62.7 %) http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/stats
Tu Holloway - Xavier - In the previous blog, I erroneously indicated that Holloway scored 25 in a conference tournament game. It was actually the regular season finale at St. Louis.
Frank Hassell - Old Dominion - In a CAA Conference tournament semifinal 77 - 69 victory over tough Hofstra, he was 6 for 9 from the field and 10 for 12 from the free throw line on his way to 22 points. His presence on the boards was unusually silent with just 4 rebounds http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103060447 .
Noah Dahlman - Wofford - In the Southern Conference tournament semiinals, the nation's 5th best in field goal percentage, scored 18 points on uncharacteristic sub-.500 shooting, 9 for 15, but did hit 8 of 10 free throws leading the Terriers to a 86 - 72 victory over Western Carolina http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103060644
Andrew Goudelock - College of Charleston - In the Southern Conference tourney semifinals, even though he scored 31 points Goudelock had a poor shooting night, 8 for 28, taking more than half of his team's shots. His 12 for 14 free throw shooting was key to his team advancing past Furman into tonight's finals, 63 - 58. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103060107 . THAT'S IT
Enjoy....in a battle of all-BBs, Dahlman vs Goudelock tonight at 8:00 on ESPN 2.......at 6:00 CST on ESPN all-BB Frank Hassell against VCU coached by former UF assistant, Shaka Smart,
Barry
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