19 Feb18 - Clawbacks [GROUPSEED]

Volume XXIII, No. 16 - 19 Feb18: GROUPSEED - [] Top 25 Ballot Clawbacks In several conferences, lead teams had chances to put the regular season title out of reach only to have contenders score Clawback wins to keep those races in play.      In the SEC, Tennessee handled pretender South Carolina (@85-73). Meanwhile, in a knockout game between second-place teams, LSU rallied to edge Kentucky on the road (73-@71 on Kavell Bigby-Williams' game-winning/buzzer-beater putback). Then, UK routed Tenn (@86-69) in a huge Clawback win. Elsewhere, Mississippi edged Auburn on the road (60-@55).      In the BIG 10, both co-leaders dropped a game: Michigan fell at forgotten Penn State (69-@75 as cLamar Stevens[26p12r] starred) while Maryland shut down Purdue (@70-56 only allowing one double-figure scorer); Mich did bounce back to beat Md (@65-52). Meanwhile, Michigan State won twice to make it a three-way tie for the lead: the MS-Spartans won on the road at Wisconsin (67-@59) and dumped Ohio State (@62-44); OhioSt earlier fell at home to lowly Illinois (@56-63). Elsewhere, forgotten Nebraska edged Minnesota (@62-61 on gJames Palmer Jr.'s game-winning free throws).      In the BIG 12, Iowa State won on the road at Kansas State (78-@64) to claw back the KS-Wildcats to a mere one-game lead; Kansas kept in contact with an overtime road win at TCU (82-@77[OT] on xDevon Dotson[25p5a10r]'s star turn); Texas Tech knocked Baylor off the pace with rout win (@86-61). Elsewhere, forgotten Oklahoma won on the road at tumbling TCU (71-@62 as xKristian Doolittle[21p10r5a] starred).      In the BIG EAST, St. John's rallied to knock off Villanova (@71-65), clawing back the V-Wildcats into a first-place tie with Marquette.      In the ACC, first-place Duke escaped on the road at Louisville to win (71-@69 as cZion Williamson[27p12r] starred, coming back from down 23 points) and then thumped North Carolina State (@94-78 as fWilliamson[32p6r] and xR.J. Barrett[23p10a11r] both starred). Virginia clawed back North Carolina into a tie for second place with a road win (69-@61 led by pTy Jerome[15p11a], shutting down xLuke Maye[4p11r]). Elsewhee, NCSt dumped Syracuse (@73-58). Surprising Liberty tied up the ATLANTIC SUN race with a Clawback win on the road at soaring Lipscomb (74-@66).      Bucking the trend, unbeaten Wofford dumped second-place UNC-Greensboro (@80-50). That, combined with a loss at forgotten Furman (57-@67 as cMatt Rafferty[26p10r] dominated) effectively knocked UNCG out of the SOCON race.      Buffalo righted things in the MID-AMERICAN with a road win over West-leader Toledo (88-@82 as xNick Perkins[26p10r] dueled 24p10r from xJaelen Sanford) to complete the sweep (but the B-Bulls still share the East/overall lead with surprising Bowling Green).      In the PACIFIC-12, Arizona State stayed relevant with a road split: first, tripping at Colorado (73-@77 as cTyler Bey[22p17r] dominated) and then winning at Utah (98-@87). (But Washington still had a gap.)      In the IVY LEAGUE, Harvard stayed in contact with two road wins: first, winning at Princeton (78-@69 on bBryce Aiken[33p5r]'s star turn); then, escaping in overtime at disappointing Penn (75-@68[OT]). Meanwhile, first-place Yale won on the road at Cornell (98-@92 despite 35p6r from bMatt Morgan).      In the MISSOURI VALLEY, two losses clawed back Loyola(Illinois): first, the Ramblers fell at forgotten Bradley (54-@61); then, they tripped at home against Missouri State (@61-65 as the MS-Bears shot 63 percent), allowing Drake to tie for first place.      In the OHIO VALLEY Wars, Murray State edged Austin Peay on the road (73-@71 as pJa Morant[32p7a6r] dueled 25p8r from fTerry Taylor) to keep its share of first place (along with Belmont).      In the WEST COAST, unbeaten Gonzaga continued to cruise, handling Loyola Marymount on the road (73-@60).      In the WAC, New Mexico State kept its gap lead, beating Utah Valley (@84-77). COLON/Hofstra edged forgotten College of Charleston on the road (99-@95 in an all-star shootout) to keep its gap. HORIZ/Wright State clawed back Northern Kentucky with a (squeak) home win (@81-77) to tie for first place. C-USA/North Texas fell out of contention with two (road) losses, falling at Florida Atlantic (47-@57) and also at Florida International (59-@69). BIGW/UC-Irvine maintained its gap with a home win over UC-Santa Barbaa (@83-70). PAT/Bucknell beat Lehigh (@87-75) as pK Mackenzie[27p5a] starred) to complete the sweep and open a gap lead, but fell victim to a Clawback, tripping at Holy Cross (71-@72 on Matt Faw's game-winning three). SUMMIT/Omaha edged South Dakota State in a Clawback win of its own (@85-84 on tMitch Hahn's game-winner) to tie for first place. SLAND/Sam Houston State lost for the first time, tripping at Lamar (72-@75) but still had a gap. BIGS/Radford tripped at Charleston Southern (52-@53). MAAC/Quinnipiac edged tumbling Rider in overtime (@98-88[OT] on tCameron Young[25p5a8r]'s star turn). NEC/Robert Morris fell at lowly Mount St. Mary's (62-@76), then resurgent St. Francis(Pennsylvania) edged the RM-Colonials (@72-69) to lead outright. SKY/Montana held onto first place, edging Weber State on the road (83-@80 as cSayeed Pridgett[29p16r] dueled 30p2a from gJerrick Harding). MEAC/Norfolk State won on the road at Florida A&M (66-@54 as gNic Thomas[26p3a] starred). SWAC/Prairie View A&M held onto its gap with a road win at Jackson State (79-@66). - - - - - - In hopes of parlaying its stellar showing of FOUR-STRAIGHT 32-SPLASH WINS in the NCAA tournament into multiple bids, CONFERENCE USA held the final four games on its regular season schedule in reserve until the first head-to-head round-robin was completed. Then, the 14 teams were locked into three seeded groups: [1-5], [6-10] and [11-14]. You play the final four games round-robin within your seed group (and you're guaranteed to be seeded within the range of your group for the conference tournament [even if you finish 0-4]). (Remember, for the C-USA tourney, only the top 12 teams qualify with the top four receiving first-round byes; so there's plenty to play for [especially, in the top and bottom groups].)      Group 1 was slated as 1-Old Dominion, 2-(forgotten)Western Kentucky, 3-Southern Mississippi, 4-Texas-San Antonio and 5-UAB. (Preseason co-favorites [forgotten]North Texas and [forgotten]Marshall headed Group 2 slated 6 and 7.) Unfortunately, C-USA isn't having the strongest year -- it barely rates at the bottom of The Red Swirl with its top team, ODU, rating below Splashworthy status -- so multiple bids aren't in the cards and the tight race means ODU is nowhere near Anti-Spoiler status, either. So Year One of this new strategy is moot. It'll be a "win or bust" tourney for this 1BC-league, which hasn't seen multiple bids since 2012 or multiple teams win NCAA games since 2005. - - - - - - Duke hosts arch-rival North Carolina (Wednesday) with first place in the ACC on the line. Michigan hosts arch-rival Michigan State (Sunday) in the BIG 10 Game of the Year (Part-I). UNC finishes a tough week hosting Florida State (Saturday). LSU hosts Tennessee (Saturday) in a first-place showdown in the SEC. Texas Tech hosts Kansas (Saturday) in a knockout game in the BIG 12 race. Iowa hosts Maryland (Tuesday) - - only a skirmish in the BIG 10 Wars.      Virginia has a tough week on the road, visiting undermanned Virginia Tech (Monday) and Louisville (Saturday).      Yale can break open the IVY race with a home win over forgotten Harvard (Saturday).      COLON/[1]Old Dominion hosts forgotten [2]Western Kentucky in the Re-Group Game of the Year (Saturday). -- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Virginia-@Virginia Tech(VA), @NCA&T-NorfolkSt,

Tuesday:

@IowaSt-Baylor, Maryland-@Iowa, @Davidson-Dayton,

Wednesday:

@Duke-N Carolina(NC), @Syracuse-Louisville, @Lehigh-ArmyWP,

Thursday:

Michigan-@Minnesota, @Cincinnati-UCF, @UCSantaBarbara-Hawaii, @SDState-PurdueFW, @Radford-Winthrop, @MDBaltimoreCo-Vermont, @StFrancisPA-StFrancisNY,

Friday:

@Buffalo-KentSt,

Saturday:

Duke-@Syracuse, @Gonzaga-BYU, @Kentucky-Auburn, Virginia-@Louisville, Tennessee-@LSU, @NCarolina-FloridaSt, IowaSt-@TCU, @Maryland-OhioSt, Kansas-@TexasTech, @Nevada-FresnoSt, @StJohns-SetonHall, @Yale-Harvard, @TexasSt-Louisiana, @[1]OldDominion-[2]WeKentucky, @StFrancisPA-LongIsland, @RobertMorris-StFrancisNY, @CConnecticutSt-SacredHeart(CT)(CT6),

Sunday:

MichiganSt-@Michigan(MI), @UNCGreensboro-ETennesseeSt, @IllinoisSt-Drake,

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Kansas-KansasSt(KS), @Montana-NoColorado.

---

Top 25 - 19 Feb18: GROUPSEED - [] Column

1. Duke (23-2)
2. Gonzaga (24-2)
3. Kentucky (21-4)
4. Virginia (22-2)
5. Michigan State (21-5)
6. Michigan (23-3)
7. Purdue (18-7)
8. Tennessee (22-2)
9. North Carolina (20-5)
10. Louisiana State (21-4)
11. Iowa State (19-6)
12. Maryland (19-7)
13. Kansas State (19-6)
14. Houston (25-1)
15. Kansas (20-6)
16. Marquette (21-4)
17. Nevada (23-1)
18. Villanova (20-6)
19. Texas Tech (21-5)
20. Cincinnati (21-4)
21. Washington (20-5)
22. Iowa (20-5)
23. Florida State (20-5)
24. Buffalo (21-3)
25. Wofford (20-4)

Honorable Mention:

Penn State (9-16), St. John's (19-7), - - - - - - Wright State (14-11), [1]Old Dominion (21-6), - - - - - - Liberty (18-5), St. Francis(Pennsylvania) (12-11).