08 Mar17 - Mad Hoops Beyond Thunderdome

Volume XII, No. 20 - 08 Mar 17

Mad Hoops Beyond Thunderdome

Holy Crap!!! I was at the Mississippi State-Alabama game in the SEC tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta when a tornado hit the area. With two minutes left in overtime, I heard a rumbling and I thought it was some heavy drumming from the bands until I realized the sound was coming from above, not below. Now the Dome ceiling is an elaborate metal skeletal framework that supports a thick white tarp that is the actual skin of the roof. From that scaffolding, the massive center court scoreboard hangs, the vast array of overhead lights hang, plus there's a catwalk at the very top with a guy manning cameras taking pictures of the entire arena crowd. So I look up and this heavy tarp roof is rippling furiously like it's a paper-thin sail on a boat, making a huge roaring noise. I thought, "H'm. I've never seen it do that before." Then, one part started flashing white like it was on fire and I knew this was no ordinary rainstorm. (The outer roof must have some lightning rods that were taking hits.) I was never particularly panicked -- I was in the second-floor mezzanine seats, so I wasn't directly under the part that was rippling (and the overhanging fixtures that were swaying). But the people in the ground level seats freaked out and started filing up the aisles for the sides underneath the mezzanine. Some confetti-type debris floated down (and apparently some nuts and bolts fell as well). The CNN Center next door actually had windows blow out and people had some injuries (and the whole downtown area is strewn with debris). The game was delayed an hour before they resumed -- MSU escaped 69-67(OT) -- and they actually cancelled the Kentucky-Georgia game that was supposed to follow. The game only went into OT in the first place on a miracle three-pointer from Alabama's gMykal Riley, and it's actually quite fortuitous. If the game had ended in regulation, the crowd would have been filing outside right when the worst of it hit the area. Luckily, I had taken the MARTA rail to the game instead of driving my car -- otherwise, people were getting flat tires from all the mess on the ground all around downtown Atlanta. They moved the rest of the tournament from "Thunderdome" over to Georgia Tech's "Thrillerdome", which seats much fewer people, so they only allowed player families, cheerleaders and bandmembers to attend the rest of the games.

OK. Let's try and backtrack and take in everything that happened the past week:

In the holdover finals from the previous week, we had a mixed bag on the Anti-Spoilage front. Gonzaga couldn't do any better than St. Mary's and also lost to host [3]San Diego, 62-@69, in the WCC final. Spin doctors touted "the strength of the WCC" because it garnered three bids, but this result is a sign of weakness, not strength. SDIEGO wouldn't have made the postseason as an at-large -- (that would have been a true sign of league strength) -- while both GONZ and STMARY failed to live up to their tournament seeding. Bad for the league, bad for the NCAA tournament.

George Mason picked up the spare for VCU by beating [5]William & Mary @68-@59 in the Colonial final. The Patriots are a quality team with a few too many close losses to have gotten in at-large, but their presence doesn't tarnish the NCAAs in the least. They're winners -- cWill Thomas and tFolarin Campbell started in the '06 Final Four. Similarly, Western Kentucky (led by bCourtney Lee) bailed out South Alabama's miscue by beating [4]Middle Tennessee State 67-57 in the Sun Belt final. Both South Alabama and VCU blew it in front of hometown support. USA, which took Vanderbilt to double-overtime on the road and beat Mississippi State, still got a bid (and a #10-seed); VCU, which lost to Miami(Florida) and Arkansas, had to settle for the NIT as regular season champs.

Davidson completed its thorough destruction of the Southern Conference, winning 65-49 over [7]Elon in the final (for a tally of 23-0 for the season in league play). Likewise, Butler pulled away from [2]Cleveland State with a @70-55 win in the Horizon League final. Kent State escaped @49-@47 against [5]Miami(Ohio) in the semis and crushed [3]Akron @74-@55 in the final of the MAC. BUTLER, KENT and DAVID join DRAKE as dominant mid-major champs who hit the NCAAs with realistic dreams of making the Sweet 16.

At the first-round splash level, Siena showed how great guards make a great center irrelevant as they rolled past Rider (and cJason Thompson) in the Metro Atlantic final, @74-53. (Don't forget, they beat Stanford in December, albeit when only lesser twin cRobin Lopez was in the lineup.) Oral Roberts held off rival IUPUI, @71-64, in the Summit League final for its third straight NCAA berth. SIENA and ORAL plus veteran squads from WINTHP (four straight NCAAs) and BELMT (three straight NCAAs) are teams who won't have any first-time jitters in the Big Dance.

In BCS land, with a few minor exceptions, most everyone made it through their conference tournaments in pretty good shape. The big winner was Pittsburgh, which won four games on the way to the Big East crown, taking out Louisville 76-69(OT), Marquette 68-61 and Georgetown 74-65. Remember, the Panthers were a Top 10 team at their zenith when they edged Duke in overtime back in December before losing two starters to injury. Now that at least bLevance Fields is back, they've broken through to that level again. Kansas held off resurgent Texas A&M @77-71 and bested Texas @84-74 to win the Big 12 crown (and earn a #1-seed for the NCAA tournament). Form held perfectly in the Pac-10 as UCLA edged USC @57-@54 and Stanford @67-@64 to win the tournament crown and secure their own NCAA #1-seed. (cKevin Love's back problems are a slight worry, though.) In the ACC, Clemson finally broke the psychological barrier to claim an elite win, beating Duke 78-@74 in the semis (breaking a streak of 22-straight losses to the Blue Devils, and reaching the ACC final for the first time since 1962), and played well in the final against North Carolina. UNC looked more than fine, though, as cTyler Hansbrough's jumper sank Virginia Tech @68-66 in the semis before gWayne Ellington led the way in UNC's @86-81 victory in the final. (UNC gained the overall #1-seed in the NCAA tournament to boot.) Wisconsin won the Big 10 tournament, coming back late to beat Michigan State 65-63 in the semis and having an easy time over [10]Illinois 61-48 in the final. Both Indiana (buzzer-beater @58-59 losers to [6]Minnesota) and Purdue (@67-74 losers to the Illini) failed to live up to their seeds.

In the SEC, Vanderbilt couldn't keep pace with Arkansas, losing 75-81, and Alabama got up 40-14 on Florida before cruising to an 80-69 win. Tennessee couldn't shake either opponent, needing a superstar three-pointer from gChris Lofton to beat [E5]South Carolina 89-87 but losing out to Arkansas 91-92 in the semis on cSteven Hill's turnaround jumper. No team in the nation has a bigger contingent of travelling fans than Kentucky. So imagine how strange it was for them to play in front of only a handful of supporters (in their first game of the tournament) against Georgia. [E6]UGA shocked UK 60-56 at 12NOON and then recovered to beat Mississippi State 64-60 at 8:30P on Saturday. At 3:30P on Sunday, the Bulldogs somehow completed their incredible run, beating Arkansas @66-57 as a few more (mostly UGA) fans were allowed in for the final. Without the "Act of God" intervening, it's doubtful things would have unfolded anywhere near the same, so you can pretty much discount all of those results as far as telling you anything meaningful about those teams.

Memphis rolled through the Conference USA tournament with no trouble (as both UAB and Houston failed to reach the semis -- and neither one got an NCAA bid). [2]UNLV drubbed [1]BYU @76-61 in the Mountain West final (on their own home floor). In the Atlantic 10, St. Joseph's beat Xavier 61-53 in the semis before losing to [2]Temple 64-69 in the final. [3]Cal State-Fullerton rolled through the Big West tournament (including a @83-@68 win over [2]Cal State-Northridge). [4]Boise State resolved the four-way tie in the WAC, beating [1]Utah State 88-78 and then outlasting host [2]New Mexico State 107-@102(3OT). (For all their troubles, NMST got no bid whatsoever, no NCAA, no NIT and not even a CBI.)

By the time the dust had settled, there were only some minor quibbles with who got at-large bids for the NCAA tournament and who didn't. For my part, I would have taken Ohio State and Arizona State over Villanova and Kentucky; but neither of those teams did anything in their conference play to improve their standing, while [9]Villanova drubbed [8]Syracuse 82-@63 in the Big East tournament. Kentucky actually lost to Georgia and somehow didn't lose any ground. [4]Virginia Tech lived up to its seed in the ACC tournament and gave North Carolina all it wanted, but was passed over for a bid in favor of [5]Miami(Florida) [which VATECH beat 63-49 in the quarters]. The argument given after the fact was that the NCAA Selection Committee looks at all teams as independents and takes no note of conference play and standings. It's ridiculous. There's no way that every game carries the same import in isolation whether in-conference or out-of-conference.

A surprise that Duke wasn't assigned to the Raleigh pod. The explanation was that, because Georgetown was seeded ahead of them, the Hoyas had first choice. The Washington, DC pod actually qualifies as the Hoyas' home court (so they were never eligible to play there), so the most convenient available pod was Raleigh. That sent the Blue Devils to play in Washington, DC. As far as seeding goes, perhaps Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Miami(Florida) didn't perform as well on the weekend to warrant where they were placed. The teams that seem underseeded, Washington State, Gonzaga, Indiana, BYU, St. Mary's and Baylor, all failed to do anything to improve their reputations.

The Naismith Meteor Shower (the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament) should have lots of highlights. Unfortunately, either GC cMichael Beasley(Kansas State) or GC bO.J. Mayo(USC) only has one college game left as those two meet in the first round on Thursday evening. The other GC-led squad, Syracuse, had to settle for being a top seed in the NIT. Things look a lot better for the MM teams, draw-wise. Drake, Butler, Kent State and Butler all have it pretty good.

Hope you caught ESPN's special BLACK MAGIC, featuring stories about great players and coaches from historically black colleges. There's a bittersweet quality to all of it. HBCU's arose out of necessity because of segregation, and integration is viewed with mixed feelings because more mainstream opportunities drained the talent that use to have no other options. The MEAC and SWAC regularly rate as the two weakest in the entire NCAA, so I wasn't sure why the NCAA never pit those two champs against each other in the Play-In game. After watching this special, I realize that it isn't "political correctness" that's behind it, it's atonement. (In the past, they purposely forced blacks schools to play off against each other to limit the number who got to participate.)

Let the games begin!!!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Tuesday:

OpenRd/128s PRELIMINARY PLAY-IN @ Dayton OH

• [E17]Mt St Mary's v [E17]Coppin St
  

Thursday, Saturday:

1stRd/64s POD @ Anaheim CA

• @ [W1]UCLA v [W16]MS Valley St
  
• [W8]BYU v [W9]Texas A&M
• 
  
• @ [S3]Stanford v [S14]Cornell
  
• [S6]Marquette v [S11]Kentucky

1stRd/64s POD @ Omaha NE

• @ [M1]Kansas v [M16]Portland St
  
• [M8]UNLV v [M9]Kent St
• 
  
• [M3]Wisconsin v [M14]Cal St-Fullerton
  
• [M6]USC @ [M11]Kansas St

1stRd/64s POD @ Washington DC

• [W2]Duke v [W15]Belmont
  
• [W7]W Virginia v [W10]Arizona
• 
  
• [W3]Xavier v [W14]Georgia
  
• [W6]Purdue v [W11]Baylor

1stRd/64s POD @ Denver CO

• [S4]Pittsburgh v [S13]Oral Roberts
  
• [S5]Michigan St v [S12]Temple
• 
  
• [E4]Washington St v [E13]Winthrop
  
• [E5]Notre Dame v [E12]Geo Mason

Friday, Sunday:

1stRd/64s POD @ Raleigh NC

• @ [E1]N Carolina v [E17]MtStMarys/[E17]CoppinSt
  
• [E8]Indiana v [E9]Arkansas
  
• [M2]Georgetown v [M15]MD-Baltimore Co
  
• [M7]Gonzaga @ [M10]Davidson

1stRd/64s POD @ Little Rock AR

• @ [S1]Memphis v [S16]TX-Arlington
  
• @ [S8]Mississippi St v [S9]Oregon
  
• [S2]Texas @ [S15]Austin Peay
  
• [S7]Miami-FL v [S10]St Mary's

1stRd/64s POD @ Birmingham AL

• @ [E2]Tennessee v [E15]American
  
• [E7]Butler @ [E10]So Alabama
  
• [E3]Louisville v [E14]Boise St
  
• [E6]Oklahoma v [E11]St Joseph's

1stRd/64s POD @ Tampa FL

• [M4]Vanderbilt v [M13]Siena
  
• [M5]Clemson v [M12]Villanova
  
• [W4]Connecticut v [W13]San Diego
  
• [W5]Drake v [W12]We Kentucky

NIT

Tuesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ [e2]Massachusetts v [e7]Stephen F Austin
  
• @ [m1]Ohio St v [m8]UNC-Asheville
  
• @ [e1]Syracuse v [e8]Robert Morris
  
• @ [w1]Arizona St v [w8]Alabama St
  
• @ [e4]Minnesota v [e5]Maryland
  
• @ [w3]Creighton v [w6]Rhode Island
  
• @ [w4]So Illinois v [w5]Oklahoma St
  
• @ [e3]Florida St v [e6]Akron
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ [m3]Dayton v [m6]Cleveland St
  
• @ [s4]VCU v [s5]UAB
  
• @ [m2]Illinois St v [m7]Utah St
  
• @ [s2]Mississippi v [s7]UC-Santa Barbara
  
• @ [m3]Nebraska v [m6]Charlotte
  
• @ [w2]Florida v [w7]San Diego St
  
• @ [s1]Virginia Tech v [s8]Morgan St
  
• @ [m4]California v [m5]New Mexico
  

Thursday-Saturday, Monday week:

16s on-campus

• @[e1]Syracuse/[e8]RobertMorris v [e4]Minnesota/[e5]Maryland
  
• @[e2]Massachusetts/[e7]StephenFAustin v [e3]FloridaSt/[e6]Akron
  
• @[m1]OhioSt/[m8]UNCAsheville v [m4]California/[m5]NewMexico
  
• @[m2]IllinoisSt/[m7]UtahSt v [m3]Dayton/[m6]ClevelandSt
  
• @[w1]ArizonaSt/[w8]AlabamaSt v [w4]SoIllinois/[w5]OklahomaSt
  
• @[w2]Florida/[w7]SanDiegoSt v [w3]Creighton/[w6]RhodeIsland
  
• @[s1]VirginiaTech/[s8]MorganSt v [s4]VCU/[s5]UAB
  
• @[s2]Mississippi/[s7]UCSantaBarbara v [s3]Nebraska/[s6]Charlotte
  

Tuesday-Thursday week:

Qtrs on-campus

Tue 1 Apr, Thu 3 Apr

Semis,Finals @ New York NY

CBI (COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL)

Tuesday:

1stRd/16s on-campus

• @ [e1]Virginia v [e4]Richmond (VA)
  
• @ [e2]Old Dominion v [e3]Rider
  
• @ [m2]Ohio U v [m3]Brown
  
• @ [w2]Nevada v [w3]Houston
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/16s on-campus

• @ [w1]Washington v [w4]Valparaiso
  
• @ [m1]Bradley v [m4]Cincinnati
  
• @ [s1]UTEP v [s4]Utah
  
• @ [s2]Tulsa v [s3]Miami-OH
  

Monday week:

Qtrs on-campus (by region)

• @[w1]Washington/[w4]Valparaiso v [w2]Nevada/[w3]Houston
  
• @[m1]Bradley/[m4]Cincinnati v [m2]OhioU/[m3]Brown
  
• @[e1]Virginia/[e4]Richmond v [e2]OldDominion/[e3]Rider
  
• @[s1]UTEP/[s4]Utah v [s2]Tulsa/[s3]MiamiOH
  

Wednesday week:

Semis on-campus (re-seeded)

Mon 31 Mar, Wed 2 Apr, (if necessary: Fri 4 Apr):

Finals on-campus (Best of 3)