- The Overall #1 goes packing... Ohio State took it on the chin 62-60 to Kentucky last night thanks to a big-time game winner from Brandon Knight... Jon Diebler hit a deep 3 to tie it with around 20 seconds to go, but Kentucky took the ball (without a TO), got it to Knight, who pulled up on Aaron Craft and ice-colded the game winner... Sullinger had 21 and 16 for OSU, but got bottled up late, and the Buckeyes shot a wildly uncharacteristic 32% from the field on the night highlighted by 0-5 from Craft, and a crazy 2 of 16 from William Buford... for Kentucky, big man Josh Harrellson led the way with 17 and 10, but the key was Deandre Liggins to me... 15 big points off the bench including big time play down the stretch...
- The 2 blowouts... Kansas dismantled Richmond... leading by 19 at half and cruising to a 20-point win... 18 points for Brady Morningstar and a 12 point, 14 rebound game from Thomas Robinson off the bench did in the Spiders... and UNC crushes Marquette... the final 18-point margin wasn't indicative of the destruction that took place... the Heels led 40-15 at half, and pretty much went to sleep after that... 27 and 12 for Tyler Zeller, 14 and 12 for Henson, and 20 & 9 from Harrison Barnes... that tells the story... too much size... too much talent... and Marquette simply couldn't afford to shoot as poorly as they did in the first half... 15 points?!...
- The VCU cinderella story rolls on... an inbound pass for a layup with 8 seconds to go in OT was the difference in their 72-71 win... Bradford Burgess with 26 points for VCU in the biggest game of his life... for FSU, it was basically their offensive ineptitude late that did them in... it's really tough to lose a game when you win the rebounding battle 45-25 (wow) but if you shoot 36% and only 66% from the line, it's a lot more real... congrats to the Rams...
Elsewhere...
- New Orleans forward David West is out for the year with a torn ACL... huge blow for NO in their playoff quest... they still have an outside chance of holding on to a spot, but gun-to-my-head I'm going against them without West... just not enough scoring options there...
- NBA Check - Speaking of the Hornets, Chris Paul led them to a road win in Phoenix in their first game w/o West with 22 and 7... Portland knocks off San Antonio 98-96... Anthony Randolph is suddenly playing well again? The young enigma had 24 and 15 in their road loss in OKC... Durant with 23 in the win... Dwyane Wade had a monster 39/11/8 in Miami's home win over Philly 111-99... there was a Brandon Jennings sighting for Milwaukee... 37 points tonight as they beat the Knicks in NY... turmoil for New York... and Boston drops a home game... to Charlotte!?!?... Big time concerns from Celtics fans (namely, Simmons) after this one.... too early to suggest they are fatally flawed though...
- Brad Lidge to the DL for the Phillies... the injury rash continues for PHI with Utley and Brown already down... this one doesn't hurt them nearly as much with Ryan Madson actually a better pitcher than Lidge (FYI), so nothing to see here...
What to watch for...
- Southeast Regional Final - Butler vs. Florida - CBS 4:30 - This is a tough one to call... I like what I've seen from Florida all year, and they've been impressive recently... I think their size/athleticism will finally be the demise of Butler... I just don't see how they matchup with Tyus, Macklin, and even Parsons up front... That said, I do like Butler's guards and these type of tourney games are often decided there... Gun to my head, I like Florida....
- West Regional Final - Arizona vs. UConn - CBS 7:05 - Even tougher... Kemba and Derrick Williams have been the best 2 players in the tournament (apologies to Jimmer), and they face off here... if there's any homecourt to be had, it'll go to Arizona (as the game is Anaheim), but I think this comes down to the secondary guys... if MoMo Jones plays how he did on Thursday, Arizona wins... if Lamb and Napier play how they did on Thursday, UConn wins... I'm taking Arizona... but that's a pure guess...
- Nets @ Hawks - SportSouth/NBA-TV 7:00 - If you want to watch the maddening Hawks against the Deron Williams-less Nets at the same time as an Elite 8 game... be my guest...
- Cubs vs. Rangers - 4:00 ESPN2 - I know it's Spring Training... but if you honestly hate basketball, it's on....
Enjoy the day...
No comments:
Post a Comment