We almost had the triple knockout in the Big12. Early, Nebraska lost to Okie State, and now we will not hear the words "nebraska," and "tournament," in the same sentence for the rest of the year. Unless the sentence is: "nebraska is not going to the tournament."
Baylor lost in the evening, ruining the slim chances they had of making the tournament. In the middle, however, was Colorado, who barely beat last place Iowa State. This win means nothing to me. If they had lost, it woulda been disasterous. BUt I am of the school, and you should be too, that you don't qualify for the tournament by beating Iowa State. I dont think any differently of Colorado then I did 12 hours ago.
Marquette winning in the big east all but sealed up their tournament entrance. This, combined with the St. Johns Screwjob, and the Big East has their dream realized with 11 tournament teams. Villanova will still be in. Unless Colorado wins a couple more games, USC wins a couple games, Michigan State wins 3 games, and two other bids totally get stolen, Villanova will be in.
The game I forgot to mention yesterday ended up being the most exciting. Long Island won the NEC tournament in OT, and will be going to the big dance. Across the country, Northern Colorado defeated Montana, and won the Big Sky.
Tomorrow:
The drama shifts to the Big10, SEC, ACC, and Pac10. Michigan State (-7.5) and Penn State (-4.5) must win. Boston College (-13), Virginia Tech (-5) both must win. Something tells me that Virginia Tech is going down tomorrow..... I would pick BC to lose as well if Wake Forest werent so God awful. UGA (-11.5) must beat Auburn. USC (-3) needs a win, and the Apple Cup III (Wash -5.5) has tons of intrigue all of a sudden. All in all, most teams "should" win - most are projected tournament teams playing the bottom feeders of their conference, after all. I predict 3 will lose; and Ill say theyre VT, Penn State, and USC.
The other big game of the day is Kansas State vs the aforementioned colorado.
And to close, my nightly, at least for the next three days, PAC-10 Tournament experience blog. Myself and about 600 other people showed up to watch Oregon State beat Stanford and Oregon make every shot against Arizona State. Whats great is that despite the low attendance, I saw a fan of every single team. Not just saw the Washington State section, but saw someone in the concourse or outside. All 10 teams will be represented at Staples this weekend. Stanford shot 11.8% in the first half, scoring 18 points. They then scored 16 points in the first 4 minutes of the second half. It wasnt enough in the end, and they failed to get a shot of down 2 with 6 seconds left.
Oregon came out guns blazing, hitting their first five threes. Some of this was aided by ASU playing air defense. In addition, Oregon didnt play very good defense themselves. All in all though, I can see Oregon posing a small threat to UCLA, despite the bruins playing a virtual home game. ORegon proved they can hit shots, which is more than can be said for Stanford.
There was a lot of powder blue in the stadium tonight, and that was without UCLA playing. Tomorrow figures to be rowdy, with it only increasing from there. If USC wins early, and UCLA wins in the third time slot, the final four games of the tournament set up to be an insane atmosphere. Wash plays Wash State tomorrow in the late game. Then, the final four would be Arizona v. USC, and UCLA v. one of the washingtons. Any combination of those would be a great final. USC UCLA final would cause me to go to Philipes French Dip three hours before the game and down 5 french dips with honey mustard and have 50 cups of their 9 cent coffee. This isn't the most far fetched scenario either.
Its starting to get good folks. Four more days until selection Sunday. Games will only keep getting better and better between now and then. As JR used to say as Austin's glass broke: "BUSINESS IS ABOUT TO PICK UP!!!!'
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