Updated: 3/12/2011 at 3:47 PM -

Automatic Bids Update:

Bracketology Bracket: (3/12/2011 – 11:00AM)

NCAA Tournament/Conference Tournament Updates:

3/12/2011 – 3:48 PM -

• Memphis has just won the C-USA tournament beating UTEP 67-66 earning the conference’s auto bid to the Dance. Memphis trailed by as much as 12 in the 2nd half before rallying for the title. This helps Penn State’s at large chances. UTEP was not considered a contender for an at-large bid and had they held on for the victory, they would have stolen C-USA’s auto bid, still leaving Memphis on the bubble.
• In other autobid news: Old Dominion captures the Colonial autobid when they beat VCU 70-65 for the CAA Championship and Boston University earned the program’s first NCAA bid when they beat Stony Brook 56-54 for the America East title.

3/11/2011 – 11:16 PM –

• PENN STATE UPDATE –
  

• With the victory over Wisconsin tonight Penn State has made a HUGE step towards getting into the NCAA Tournament. Even with only 36 points score on the evening, the Nittany Lions pulled off the victory. That really is unbelievable. They scored 36 points in forty minutes. Jimmer Fredette scored 52 on his own tonight! Anyways, Southern Cal also lost tonight, and Virginia Tech is currently losing. If both teams lose, Penn State as of right is one of the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament.

3/11/2011 – 10:44 PM –

• You hear that? It is the sound a bubble or two popping across the country after some of those late afternoon games from earlier today. Let’s review what happened, and what is happening right now…

• The game of the day was no doubt Alabama vs. Georgia in the SEC Tournament. Alabama may have locked up an NCAA Tournament spot after an overtime victory over the Bulldogs. The Crimson Tide were down late by 10 points and managed to send the game into overtime. Georgia meanwhile is going to be sweating it out the next two days with a lot of questions on if they will be in or not. The Bulldogs have a solid resume, but they have failed to close out more than their fair share of games. They are exciting to watch and can compete with anyone, the question is though, will the selection committee let them play? Alabama has come a long way since losing three consecutive games to Saint Peter’s, Seton Hall and Iowa earlier in the season.

• Speaking of teams who had slow starts, Michigan has also climbed out the cellar and potentially locked themselves into the NCAA Tournament as well. The Wolverines outscored Illinois by 16 points in the second half, and a erased a 12 point deficit to move on to the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament. Tim Haradaway Jr., Darius Morris and Zach Novak all had double digit scoring days for the young up and coming Wolverines. While Illinois didn’t need to win today to stay in the NCAA Tournament, their seeding was hurt significantly and they may be in danger of playing in one of the “First Four” play-in-games.

• Didn’t really buy into the Clemson hype – well, I look like an idiot now after the Tigers squashed Boston College today in the ACC Tournament by 23 points. The Tigers are not necessarily a lock for the NCAA Tournament, but now they set themselves up where one more win will allow them to rest comfortably on Selection Sunday. Boston College meanwhile is already starting to sweat out their wait for the brackets to be released. The Eagles don’t have too many strong wins, so unless teams start quickly falling apart, they will struggle to have an upper hand on any bubble team.

• In the Conference-USA Tournament, Memphis and Texas-El Paso cruised in their games and will now meet to decide who will grab the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

• The Bucknell Bison won the Patriot League this evening and will make their first NCAA Tournament since 2006 back when they were a 9 seed. Not the same team they were back then, but hey once a giant killer – always a giant killer.

• What rhymes with Michigan State? Lock. Well, not really, but the point is that Michigan State has finally entered lock status for the NCAA Tournament after a surprising route of Purdue. If Michigan State continues to play this in the NCAA Tournament, then they will be the most dangerous and unfair double digit seed of all time.

• Colorado staged a small comeback in the Big XII Tournament against Kansas to avoid getting absolutely spanked. The Buffaloes are still on the bubble, but many consider them safe. So this game will most likely not have much meaning in the long run. That being said, if a few teams turn into bid-thieves then Colorado may be in a little trouble.

• The reason this blog is a little late going up is because of my Connecticut fan hood. The Huskies took Syracuse to overtime yet again, but this time the game ended after one session. Kemba Walker has etched his name into Big East Tournament history with another outstanding game, tonight he went for 33 points against the Orange. Out of no where, Connecticut will now challenge to earn a 2-seed or 3-seed if they can win the conference tournament tomorrow night.

• Teams With NCAA Tournament Connections –
  

• Tennessee – The Volunteers led most of the game, but Florida scored 56 points in the second half to run away with it. Tennessee is not in bubble trouble, but their seed will now take a hard hit.

• New Mexico - The Lobos are currently down by 6 to BYU as they look to climb back into the thick of things with their third victory over the Cougars. It doesn’t help the Lobos when Jimmer Fredette has 44 points with 7 minutes remaining in the game.

• Penn State – With only 5 minutes remaining, the Nittany Lions find themselves up by 4 points on Wisconsin. Some think this win would put Penn State into the NCAA Tournament, I still think they would need one more win after tonight. If the Nittany Lions can close it out however, it appears they will at-least have some suspense regardless on Selection Sunday.

• Richmond – Richmond is holding onto their NCAA Tournament lives, and a 5 point lead right now over Rhode Island. The Spiders cannot afford a loss tonight, but a win will make their “somewhat-safe” NCAA Tournament slot a lot safer.

• Southern Cal – The Trojans are currently losing by 7 to Arizona late in the second half. USC may not need the victory, but it is hard to imagine them getting in without this victory. USC has an impressive out of conference resume, but they need a win over a team like Arizona to really cement their spot in the big dance.

• Virginia Tech - Is anyone else better at blowing their NCAA Tournament chances than the Hokies? Nope. Virginia Tech only has 19 points at the half as they are losing to Florida State. A loss in the ACC Tournament second round should be enough to do in the Hokies and have them just miss the NCAA Tournament yet again.

3/11/2011 – 2:30 PM –

• How about those three games that just ended? Pretty solid finishes and a good start to the day.

• Xavier erased an early deficit of 21-3 and took a late lead, but Dayton‘s Luke Fabrizius hit two late free-throws for the eventual game winning points. Dayton isn’t on the bubble, but they are a dangerous team with wins over teams like George Mason and New Mexico. A run in the Atlantic-10 Tournament could be possible.

• So Ohio State did not look like the superman team that dominated Indiana, Penn State and Wisconsin last week. That being said, the Buckeyes held off Northwestern in overtime to advance and end all hope of an NCAA Tournament bid for the Wildcats. Ohio State only hit 3 three-pointers, but was helped out by Northwestern’s inability to close the game out in the final minutes. Ohio State should now have no difficulty getting a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

• Yesterday Miami erased a 10 point lead with under one minute remaining to shock Virginia in the ACC Tournament. This afternoon they said, “hey your turn” to North Carolina, as they blew a late second half 19 point lead and lost the game at the buzzer. Tyler Zeller’s layup as time expired at the end of regulation was the dagger in the hearts of the Hurricanes that killed a potentially impressive ACC Tournament run. Miami is not on the bubble, so there are no implications in that respect – but, North Carolina is still fighting for a 1 or 2-seed, and losing this game would’ve killed those chance. Personally, with only two impressive wins (Kentucky and Duke), I don’t think North Carolina has done enough to earn a 1 or 2-seed. My opinion won’t matter in the end though, because if the Selection Committee thinks like ESPN then the Tar Heels will have a good seed if they keep on winning.

• SEC Tournament – LIVE – Georgia vs. Alabama
• The Bulldogs currently holds an 8 point lead over the Crimson Tide in a must win for the surprise team from Alabama. Travis Leslie has 21 points and is shooting lights out for Georgia who is now just starting to get big man Trey Thompkins going. Once again, this is not a must win for Georgia, but the same can’t quite be said about Alabama.

3/11/2011 – 12:46 PM –

• Welcome back to the live blog here on this Friday before Selection Sunday

• Last night another bubble team, Washington State, fell off the map with a loss. The Cougars lost by 2 points to their in-state rivals Washington in a tough battle in Los Angeles. Klay Thompson scored 43 point for Washington State, but with the loss they are now stuck on the outside looking in barring some sort of miracle.

• Let’s take a look at some of the first games in action today and their implications…

• Big Ten Tournament – LIVE – Northwestern vs. Ohio State
• This game isn’t a true bubble game, but Northwestern might be able to play themselves onto the bubble if they can upset the Buckeyes. They almost did once this season, so on a neutral floor anything is possible.

• SEC Tournament – 1:00PM – Georgia vs. Alabama
• This could be the most intriguing bubble match-up of the day with huge bubble implications. Alabama is playing their first game of the tournament and this is a basic must win for them. A loss would make them sweat out Selection Sunday, but a second win over the Bulldogs in two weeks could put them into lock status. Georgia on the other hand knocked off Auburn yesterday, and can all but lock themselves up for the NCAA Tournament with a win today. Their resume is better then Alabama’s, so a loss may not be as crippling – but it will make them have an uneasy weekend.

• Big Ten Tournament – 2:00PM – Michigan vs. Illinois
• Both teams are safe for now, but the loser may feel a little heat if one or two teams steals a bid from another conference. Illinois may be in better shape than Michigan, but the Wolverines are on an absolute tear and should be the favorite to win this game. The winner is a lock, but the loser still isn’t in bad shape for the NCAA Tournament

• ACC Tournament – 2:00PM – Boston College vs. Clemson
• The only difference between these two teams is that Boston College has one more loss. Both are bubble teams and are fighting for their lives in this elimination game. Clemson is a weird team in terms of bracketology, a lot of people have them in, but a lot of people have them out. Those that have them in even struggle to agree on where they are at. You get the sense that if either team can afford a loss it would be Boston College. That being said, both teams want to win – and a win would send that team into near lock status with 21 wins on the season. Boston College lost to Clemson in the first meeting a month ago in South Carolina.

• Conference-USA – 4:00PM – Texas-El Paso vs. Tulsa
• The Miners, with the exit of Alabama-Birmingham, are now the favorites to win the Conference-USA Tournament on their home floor. The two teams split the home and home, and Tulsa is no push over. A loss would make Memphis the favorite for the automatic bid, but as of right now Texas-El Paso is in the drivers seat.

• In the Atlantic-10 Tournament right now there is quite the interesting contest. Xavier has closed the gap to 10 points, but at one point they found themselves down 21-3 to Dayton in Atlantic City.

• North Carolina is down early to Miami (FL), who pulled off an unbelievable comeback yesterday, in the ACC Tournament second round. The Tar Heels are a long shot to earn a 1-seed, but a loss here may knock them down to a 3-seed or even 4-seed. We will keep an eye on this game.

• There will be an update in a few hours, or if anything happens in between.

3/10/2011 – 9:54 PM –

• We will be updating this blog throughout the next couple days at a “live” pace with updates on conference tournaments, bubble teams and anything in-between.

• Let’s start with a look back at what has happened throughout the day…

• How about the UConn Huskies? While playing four games in four days will take a toll on them, the Huskies did a lot for their NCAA Tournament seeding by knocking off top-seeded Pittsburgh. With the win, the Huskies should be able to earn a 3-seed or 4-seed on Selection Sunday. Also in the process, UConn proved that they are still as good as they looked when they beat Texas in Austin back in January. Kemba Walker’s buzzer beating shot avenged a blowout loss against Pitt from December, and moved the Huskies on to the Big East Tournament semi-finals to face Syracuse.

• Pittsburgh on the other hand took a small hit from the loss due to the fact people think this is going to be the “same old story” from the Panthers this March. They still should be a one seed due to their ridiculously impressive resume, but with another evident early March let-down Pittsburgh’s Final Four stock may have dropped again. The same may go for Kansas if they do not look impressive in their Big XII Tournament semi-final game against Colorado. Kansas won today when Oklahoma State’s last second heave fell short, and still almost lost despite the fact the Cowboys had three players foul out with about 5 minutes remaining in the game. The Jayhawks have a bit of an overrate resume, so even with a 1-seed all but locked up, Kansas needs to be careful by not getting completely exposed in the conference tournament.

• Notre Dame and Syracuse helped their NCAA Tournament seeds by pulling off Big East Tournament victories over Cincinnati and St. John’s respectively. Notre Dame might be in line for a 1-seed with Pittsburgh’s loss, and it also helped that they dismantled the Bearcats by 38 points in Madison Square Garden. Freshman Fab Melo finally burst onto the Big East scene with a 12 point game for Syracuse as they edged home crowd favorite St. John’s. At one point the Orange had lost 6 of 8 games, but now they have won 6 games in a row and are in line for a seed on the top-4 seed line.

• Now time for some quick hits across the country -

• ACC – Boston College romped lowly Wake Forest and is now in-line to gain almost certain lock status if they knock off Clemson tomorrow afternoon. Miami (FL) is not really in the NCAA Tournament talk, but they were down 10 points with :40 seconds remaining to Virginia and ended up winning overtime. Pretty crazy finish that will go overlooked because of the irrelevancy of both teams. Speaking of irrelevancy, Georgia Tech is playing right now against a very relevant Virginia Tech squad. With a nearly 20 point halftime lead over the Yellow Jackets, it appears the yearly bubble team Virginia Tech will live to fight another day.

• Big XII – The Colorado Buffaloes used a huge second half and 60% shooting performance to knock off Kansas State for their third consecutive victory. The Buffaloes almost ended their NCAA Tournament hopes against Iowa State yesterday but escaped in the final minutes. Boy what a difference one day makes as Colorado hammered Kansas State in the second half. A win over Kansas will lock Colorado into the NCAA Tournament as it would be their seventh Top 70 RPI victory of season. A loss won’t do too much in terms of resume, but Colorado would have to sweat out Selection Sunday. Texas hammered Oklahoma for a meaningless victory, while their rivals Texas A&M is currently dominating Missouri in a seed-boosting game.

• Big Ten – Northwestern beat Minnesota in a battle of two teams needing miracle runs in the conference tournament. Minnesota ended the season losing 10 of 11 games after starting the season with an impressive 16-4 record. What an incredible downward spiral that was fueled by controversy and injuries. Michigan State may have finally punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament tonight after their win over the pesky Iowa Hawkeyes. It is tough to gauge how close to be a lock Michigan State is, but a good RPI and SOS should be enough to push them in as of right now. Penn State on the other hand is on the outside looking in, but picked up a good boost this evening with a close win over Indiana. The Nittany Lions need to beat Wisconsin tomorrow and then win another game to have a realistic shot at the NCAA Tournament.

• Conference-USA - Down go the Blazers! Down go the Blazers! Alabama-Birmingham had to go far in the conference tournament before losing a game if they wanted any at-large considerations. Well, they did just the opposite by losing to the eight ranked team in the conference in East Carolina. The Blazers will get serious looks come Selection Sunday, but right now they have fallen far down and off the NCAA Tournament board.  Memphis and home team Texas-El Paso are the two teams to beat now in the Conference-USA Tournament. The Tigers look pretty outstanding at times, while sometimes they can lose to teams like Rice and SMU. Texas-El Paso meanwhile is very athletic but also sporadic (much like their coach Tim Floyd) so they are a bit of a risk to take a pick on. Really, the conference tournament and who will grab the automatic bid is a bit of a toss up.

• Mountain West - The Jimmer showed up today late in the second half as Brigham Young pulled away from TCU in their first game of the tournament. San Diego State is currently clobbering Utah and might now be the favorite to win the tournament in Las Vegas with a very impressive performance tonight. Nevada-Las Vegas plays their “home game” against a tough Air Force team as they look to please the home crowd this weekend. The game of the day was won by New Mexico who improved their NCAA Tournament hopes by knocking off Colorado State 67-61 this afternoon. Colorado State was looking to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive but continued their downward spiral with a loss. New Mexico now gets a chance to beat Brigham Young for a third time this season. The Lobos are on a tear winning their last four games, and could jump into serious at-large consideration with a win.

• Pac-10 – In a straight up elimination game Southern Cal absolutely pounded California in the last three-fourths of their game earlier today, as the Trojans continue their late season resume boosting run. If the Trojans can knock off Arizona, in a revenge game for head coach Kevin O’Neil, then Trojans could very well be feeling comfortable come Selection Sunday. In the “wait, that score is for real?” game of the day – Oregon is currently beating UCLA by nearly 20 points in the Staples Center. The same team that lost to Idaho, Virginia, Arizona State and San Jose State is clobbering the Pac-10′s second best team in their home city. The Pac-10 is a pretty bad conference again this year, and their other bubble team, Washington State, will put their “talents” on display later tonight when they fight for their NCAA Tournament lives against Washington.

• Southeastern – Georgia didn’t exactly lock up their slot in the NCAA Tournament, but they may have set themselves up better by knocking off Auburn 69-51 today in Atlanta. The Bulldogs face Alabama tomorrow in a semi-elimination game for an NCAA Tournament spot. Alabama, despite beating Georgie once already, needs the win more due to their mediocre resume. A win and they should be in, but a loss may end their dreams. Georgia can enter lock-status territory with a win, but will put their NCAA Tournament hopes in serious question with a loss. Tennessee avoided, and got rid of the ridiculous bubble talk that surrounded their week in Atlanta by holding off Arkansas. So can we just finally admit that Tennessee is in, and in for good people?