If you can make sense of this crazy college basketball landscape, you could make a ton of money this spring.
Most of us are scratching our heads. Even members of the NCAA Tournament selection committee will be making their best guess while filling out the final bracket — and those folks are living hoops 24/7 these days.
Are any of these power schools all that powerful? Right now, the answer is apparently not.
Could half the teams that make the bracket win the whole thing? You could make that case. Consider what happened this weekend:
Michigan stormed to another Big Ten Tournament title, once again winning four times to claim the trophy. The Wolverines upset arch-rival Michigan State 75-64 Saturday and Purdue 75-66 Sunday to complete their run in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Also at the Big Ten tourney, Penn State upset Ohio State 69-68 before falling to Purdue. The Nittany Lions (21-13) likely needed to topple the Boilermakers, too, in order to earn a NCAA tourney bid. Now they can only sit and await their fate.
Texas finally located some perimeter shooting while toppling West Virginia 87-79 Saturday. The Longhorns ranked as the Big 12’s worst offensive team coming into the game, but somehow they knocked down 11 3-pointers. Can Texas build on that victory, make a run at the Big 12 Tournament and get to the Big Dance?
Oklahoma State stunned Kansas once again Saturday, beating the Jayhawks 82-64 to complete their regular season sweep. But the Cowboys (18-13) have marginal credentials otherwise, so they head into the Big 12 tourney with work to do.
As the Jayhawks are a typical college power this season. They are far from invincible. They won another regular season conference title and they could yet emerge as a No. 1 seed, but coach Bill Self still has his doubts.
“To win the league is a pretty remarkable accomplishment for this group,” Self told reporters. “But we don’t put fear in anybody. We used to play people and there was doubt before they played us whether or not if they could play with us — there’s not that doubt this year,”
PUNCHING THEIR TICKETS
Do you know the difference between the Atlantic Sun and the Sun Belt conferences? How about the difference between the Big South, the Southern and the Southland conferences?
That gets a bit tougher, with UNC Asheville is in the Big South and UNC Greensboro in the Southern. Who can keep these leagues straight?
For the record, (Don’t Call Me Robert) Lipscomb won the Atlantic Sun Tournament by outlasting Florida Gulf Coast 108-96 to gain entry to the NCAA tourney. And Radford won the Big South’s automatic berth by edging Liberty 55-52 in the league tourney’s title game.
Over in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, Loyola beat Illinois State 65-49 to earn its first NCAA berth in 33 years. The Ramblers (28-5) won at Florida earlier this season and they will be a dangerous low seed in the bracket.
OTHER WEEKEND WINNERS
Syracuse edged Clemson 55-52 to remain in contention for a NCAA bid. Keep an eye on the Orangemen in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. “There was a feeling we had at the beginning of the season that’s back now,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim told reporters.
After suffering a bad loss to Washington State, Oregon bounced back to beat Washington 72-64 and move back into NCAA tourney contention. Now the Ducks need to win games at the Pac-12 Tournament. Sounding like dozens of his colleagues at this point of the season, Oregon coach Dana Altman offered up this after the Washington game: “We’ve had our opportunities and we just haven’t finished enough of them. We can’t change any of that. New seasons starts now and we got to go to Vegas to see what happens. We have to man up and get ready to go.”
The Houston Rockets ran their winning streak to 15 games by edging the Boston Celtics 123-120 Saturday. They have scored 120 or more points in six of their last 12 games while locking into postseason mode. “Yeah, every game from here on out is going to be a playoff game, playoff atmosphere, playoff intensity, physicality, everything,” Rockets star James Harden told reporters. “So, we’re going to treat it like it is.”
The Nashville Predators remained the NHL’s hottest team, earning 4-3 overtime victories at Vancouver Friday and Colorado Sunday to run their winning steak to eight games. The last four victories came on the road and now they return home for a four-game homestand. Don’t bet against them these days.
Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin wowed scouts at the NFL combine with his bench press, snapping off 20 reps at 225 pounds like it was no big deal. This is notable because he was born with a congenital condition that prevented his left hand from fully developing, so he lifts weights with the help of a prosthetic device.
OTHER WEEKEND LOSERS
Middle Tennessee was making a case for an at-large NCAA bid before losing to Marshall 76-67. Now there will be more pressure on the Blue Raiders to win the Conference USA Tournament.
Creighton, another bubble team, suffered lost 85-81 at Marquette to edge closer to the bubble. The Blue Jays will need to win a game in the Big East Tournament to feel better about their chances.
Not only did the Cleveland Cavaliers lose to the Denver Nuggets 126-117 Saturday — for their fourth loss in six games — they also lost Tristan Thompson to a sprained ankle for several games. Oh, then there is also the lingering drama of LeBron James praising the 76ers after Philly came to town and won 108-97.
The Philadelphia Flyers did not enjoy their weekend in the Sunshine State. They lost at Tampa 7-6 in overtime, then fell 4-1 in Sunrise to the Florida Panthers. Fill-in goaltender Petr Mrazek has allowed 14 goals in his last three starts and the Flyers lost their defensive edge. “It’s tough to get momentum when you give up three or four breakaways in a game,” Flyers center Sean Couturier told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “So we have to be better. We have to be more aware.”
Nobody hurt himself more at the NFL scouting combine that Oklahoma tackle Orlando Brown. Either he didn’t take the event seriously or he is just an oaf. His 19.5-inch vertical jump and his 82-inch broad jump would be the worst of any player ever drafted and his 5.85 40-yard dash time would be the second-worst.
