John Fanta
Badalière and journalist of university basketball
NCAA tournament tickets are struck in the middle of the middle of the middle finger. The power conference tournament supports are under adjustment. The stars are born through America and are transformed into household names.
March is in full swing and next week will be glorious. For what? Because you really never know what to expect. On Saturday, we saw Siu Edwardsville – better known as Siue – saying that his first NCAA tournament place behind the star goalkeeper Ray’Sean Taylor won 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 69-48 victory against Southeast Missouri State during the Ohio Valley conference match. While the cougars, who joined division I in 2008, made history on Saturday, Auburn And Alabama Has played the game of the year to date.
Who would not register for two other laps between the Tigers and Tide with another potential force test in the dry tournament, as well as a point in the NCAA tournament? The Tigers equaled the match at 91 on a second opportunity and a triple of Johni Broome, sending the jungle to a frenzy and leaving the coach of Alabama Nate to play a game with 14 seconds for the victory. Mark Sears took a step on one of the best defensive guards in America, Denver Jones, and the All-American took advantage of it with a franc buzzer runner.
While Sears scored only nine points on a shot 3 for 9 from the ground, this testifies to the tide offensive that they still pulled 52%. What has changed in this revenge match so that Alabama takes revenge on home loss that it has suffered three weeks before?
Alabama was the most physical team in key moments, with Grant Nelson delivering 23 points and eight rebounds, while Cliff Omoruyi showed why he was such a large Rutgers transfer port, offering 15 points and eight rebounds. With Labaron Philon providing 15 points in victory, he masked part of what was missing. The other non -negotiable against Auburn is that you must provide some resistance to his 3 -point shot. The rear area of the tigers was sometimes able to find a rhythm, and Tahaad Pettiford was very good with 19 points and six assists on the bench, but the rear starting area of coach Bruce Pearl finished with a shot 4 for 13 to 3 points. Broome collected 34 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, three assists and three interceptions of defeat, which testifies to the ability of Alabama to punch and counter.
(In relation: The latest projections of the Mike Decourcy NCAA tournament))
Here are six other things that stood out from the weekend:
Zuby Ejiofor struck a Buzzer drummer for St. John’s in the opening of the program road to Providence, a 16 -point return victory that really changed the course of the red storm season at the time. After a furious rush in overtime on Saturday, the great junior man once again cashed to the buzzer to give the Johnnies an 86-84 victory against Marquette classified 20th.
The fact that the Johnnies equaled a single season record for regular season victories with 27 and correspond to the team of the UCONN national championship last year with a conference record 18 championship victories in a season is incredible. RJ Luis, who, I believe, will be the player of the year of Big East, collected 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Kadary Richmond should not be outdone. The native of Brooklyn obtained the first triple-double of the program (10 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) since Metta Sandiford-Arttest (formerly Ron Artest) did in 1999. Coach Rick Pitino was on “The Tonight Show” Thursday and finished a regular season which is as good as any program on Saturday. He is the king of the world at the moment and should be at the top of the vote of the national coach of the year.
And Mark Pope and Kentucky? The Wildcats equaled a university basketball record with their eighth Top-15 victory of the season, spoiling the Missouri senior day with a 91-83 victory. Kentucky can be an offensive wagon, and he showed on Saturday when Otega Oweh scored 22 points, Koby Brea sneered deeply with 17 points, and Andrew Carr had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Carr’s leadership means so much for this team and, obviously, a healthy butler Lamont in good maintains organized Wildcats. They could lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament or sit in the elite eight.
Byu won eight in a row and is one of the most popular teams of the conference, powered by Richie Saunders and the first Prospect Egor Demin. That said, the story of Big 12 still belongs to coach Kelvin Sampson. So that Houston went to 19-1 and went to Steam to another regular season title – this one with four games – is an incredible testimony of Sampson. Cougars have a 34-4 file in two years in the Big 12 competitions.
Duke finished a record of 19-1 in ACC Play to take the lead n ° 1 in the conference tournament, and the Blue Devils could be the reason why the North Carolina is prevented from the NCAA tournament after having retired in the second period to win 82-69 behind a balanced attack. Cooper Flagg? Generational. Fifteen points, nine rebounds, six interceptions, four blocks. Combine this with Kon Knueppel having 17 and the duo of Tyrese Proctor and Sion James combining for 32 to show why they are team n ° 1 in the net, Kenpom and Torvik. Coach Jon Scheyer has a team that can win everything in San Antonio.
The Illinois is back in my top 25 after three consecutive victories, two of which were classified against Michigan, and more recently, purdue on Friday. The way Illini has gone stopped together on the drivers of drivers during the 88-80 victory, closing the match on a 13-1 race, was really impressive. Firing fell on the offensive for the Illini, while Brad Underwood’s team pierced 11 triples. With a potential choice of the first five in the draft of the NBA in Kasparas Jakucionis and a solid core of veterans who do not fail to make the right games, there is a reason to believe that this team can do the second weekend of the big dance. The new recruit Will Riley collected 22 points in the victory, while Tre White collected 20 points and nine rebounds. When White, a transfer from Louisville, obtains more than 11 points in a match, the Illinois is 10-1. Jakucionis collected 10 points and seven assists, and even if it was not his best offensive day, he still made the match.
Finally, Bubble Watch! With Duke’s victory over North Carolina, the 1-11 record in Quad 1 seems to be the reason why the selection committee may not include the Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament. Indiana may have struck its ticket for the Big Dance with a 66-60 victory against Ohio State, giving the Hoosiers a nine victories combined in Quad 2. For Ohio State, its net is 35 and its six quad 1 victories are a real differentiator. Boisse State lost by 10 Friday evening against Colorado State. The Rams were led by Nique Clifford with a 36-point career summit in their Mountain West-Finching Victory tournament against the Broncos. Meanwhile, Xavier did everything in his power in the last month to go to a 12-3 file. The musketeers obtained 46 points combined on Saturday from Zach Freemantle and Ryan Conwell on the day senior during the victory against Providence and won the seeded n ° 4 in the Big East tournament. They will meet Marquette Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals. Obtaining a second Quad 1 victory probably stamping Xavier’s offer. Even with a loss, less than an extreme number of auction thieves, the musketeers are a team of metrics among the best 50 with an 8-1 file against Quad 2 and no bad losses.
With that, here is my update top 25:
1 and 1 Duke (28-3)
2 Houes (27-4)
3 and 3 Auburn (27-4)
4 Florida (27-4)
5 Saint-Jean (27-4)
6. Alabama (24-7)
7 Michigan state (26-5)
8 Tennessee (25-6)
9. Texas Tech (24-7)
10 Clemson (26-5)
11 Maryland (24-7)
12 Louisville (25-6)
13 Byu (23-8)
14 Iowa statement (23-8)
15 Male (26-5)
16 Wisconsin (23-8)
17 Kentucky (21-10)
18 Saint mary (27-4)
19. Texas A & M (22-9)
20 Missouri (21-10)
21 Illinois (20-11)
22 Purge (21-10)
23 Oregon (22-8)
24 UC San Diego (28-4)
25 Duck (29-3)
John Fanta is a national basketball and writer for Fox Sports. It covers sport in a variety of capabilities, from the call for games to FS1 to serve it as a main host on the digital network of Big East to the supply of comments on the field of the 68 media Network. Follow him to @John_fanta.
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