First off, to finish something from Saturday, yes indeed, Cliff Tucker hit a trey for Maryland at the buzzer to steal a W from the 'reck. We have seen this stuff before, but rarely from a backup guard who never takes the shot. Good for him . . . he now has at least one thing to tell his grandchildren.
Alright already, let's get to the balance of the meaningful action this weekend. For the rest of Saturday we saw:
Kansas 94 - Colorado 74 = Sorry, I said "meaningful" didn't I, and this has damn little. It's a good enough win for the Jayhawks, I reckon, but totally expected, and unlikely to affect their NCAA seeding one dang bit, one way or the other.
Mississippi State 60 - LSU 59 = Speaking of schizo teams, Ripper, what about these Bulldogs? They are tied atop the SEC West with the Razorbacks, yet eek out this game against the Tigers . . . who remain perfect in conference play, at 0-12.
Memphis 76 - SMU 63 = The meaningful thing here is that
these Tigers are still in the hunt for the CUSA, just one back of UTEP. The meaningless thing here was Coach Doherty going postal on the Memphis fans behind the visitor's bench. My take? STFU, Matt.
Penn State 55 - Michigan 51 = Now here's a real shock to me. For a while there I thought the Logans were getting their act together, but I was obviously wrong. Or maybe the Nuttin'ly Lions are finally getting theirs instead. Hey, after losing 12 inna row, this gives them a two-game winning streak, against Northwestern and now UM . . . both on the road. ON THE ROAD!!
New Mexico 59 - Air Force 56 = Well, at least this ranked team edged out a win against this lousy Falcons team. How lousy? Well, they are now 1-11 in the Mountain West, and 9-16 overall. Yet somehow the AP voters seemed to think this squeeker warranted moving the Lobos UP in the rankings. Hey, not if I had a vote, you betcha!
California 64 - Oregon 49 = Coupled with that Battle of the Desert, coming up below, this keeps a few people interested in the Pac-10 anyway.
Brown 57 - Princeton 54 = And had the Tigers mauled the Bears, as I expected, this would have done much the same for the Ivy . . . i.e., kept the race interesting for
another conference that won't do squat come March. But now Cornell has their fate totally in their own hands.
Kentucky 58 - Vanderbilt 56 = I put this last since, as usual, the Wildcats completely outclassed and dominated their hapless opponent from the tip-off to the final horn, and the issue was never in doubt. Why, it's men against boys, each and every time they take the court.
On Sunday, we had the following:
Arizona State 73 - Arizona 69 = A tight and well-fought battle, with the Sun Devils keeping that one lone one-half step behind Cal for the Pac-10, and one step ahead of the Trojans. If nothing else, the next few games will be meaningful, if not notable.
Marquette 79 - Cincinnati 76 - Another tight one, between two more of those bi-polar programs.
Duke 67 - Virginia Tech 55 = I thought this one might be a bit closer, and had the game not been held in that ramshackled stinky old tobacco barn in Durham, it may have been so. But it's awfully hard for a visiting team to concentrate with all those fruitbats and poultry flying about.
Ohio State 74 - Michigan State 67 = And another tough fight between a pair of teams with Final Four aspirations.
Pittsburgh 70 - Villanova 65 = Pretty much the same as above, save that I'd have thought 'Nova could best the Panthers . . . and likely would, 3 outta 5.
Wisconsin 70 - Northwestern 63 = Hey, am I correct in thinking Northwestern was actually in the rankings earlier this year? Or was I dreaming that? Nah . . . I must have been dreaming, or drunk.
Tonight has very little going on at all, but there are two games for you to watch:
West Virginia vs. U. Conn = The Mountaineers are not as good as they want you to believe, and the Huskies are not as bad as they have played too often this season. Could be fairly close.
Kansas vs. Oklahoma = This one's in the House of Phog, so I wouldn't expect an upset. Truth be told, I wouldn't expect any sort of contest at all.
Though that's some mighty slim pickin's, I urge you, as always, enjoy.