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Championship Saturday | Open Thread
By Paul Gotham
Championship games are taking place today in the Big East, Big 12, Mountain West, Great West, Big West, American East, MEAC, Pac 10, Southland, WAC, SWAC, MAC, and Conference USA. Semi-final tilts in the Atlantic 10, ACC, SEC, and Big Ten.
Sounds like travel in the northeast will be limited to row boat.
What’s a hoops junkie to do?
Take a spot on the pine. Let us know what you’re watching. Tell us what you think. Do you have a report on a high school game? Post it on the pine.
We’re going live on Pickin’ Splinters.
11: 36 Tip off at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. UTEP and Houston get the day going. The Miners last loss came on January 13th to…the Houston Cougars. This is the third meeting of the season between the two – familiarity breeds contempt. UTEP’s streak is at 16 – Randy Culpepper is the straw to the Miners’ drink. Houston’s Aubrey Coleman is the nation’s leading scorer.
11:37 The first basket of the day is a back door cut: Kendrick Washington to Kelvin Lewis. It’s gonna be a good day. 2-0 Houston.
11:55 AM Heineken commercial. Geez…I guess I’m not in college any more.
12:10 Did I mention how much I enjoy watching Randy Culpepper? Conference USA’s best player is 6 of 8 from the field. 13 points with four and half to go in the first half. He just had a great reverse layup.
12:14 Houston’s Sean Coleman was just compared to Shane Battier. That is some lofty praise.
12:22 Halftime – UTEP by 5. Aubrey Coleman has six points. Culpepper has 15. Time to check in at the Roy L. Patrick Gymnasium for the American East final: Boston University Terriers and the Vermont Catamounts. The mere mention of the Catamounts is a dagger in the hearts of Syracuse fans – remember 2005?
12:27 Ever notice how much the volume on your television varies depending upon the station being watched?
12:28 This game is a great example why the field does NOT need expanding. Top seed gets home-court advantage. There is not an empty seat in the house. Pom poms waving. What a great atmosphere.
12:29 The better half comments: “I keep thinking I am watching a hockey game; the floor is so light.” Kinda ironic considering Boston U is playing.
12:35 Vermont Catamount head coach Mike Lonergan: “Enjoy the moment. You have worked all year for this.”
12:41 Carlos Strong hits his second three in a row for the Terriers. The second, a step back move from an offensive rebound.
12:47 Commercial break – props to the Nazareth Lasers!!! One more time to the New York State Final Four!
12:51 Vermont’s Evan Field lost his mother to cancer this past Tuesday. The team did NOT know of her illness until after her death.
12:57 Marquis Blakely hits and Vermont has an eleven-point lead at half.
12:59 Back to Conference USA. UTEP by three with less than 13 to go.
1:10 “Pearl” Washington gets a mention. He is given credit as the “author” of the cross over dribble. I submit this to the Pine for discussion. Did “Pearl” give us the cross over?
1:12 Clarifying an earlier statement – the field should NOT expand. Today’s games are great because of the urgency created. Add more teams to the field and you decrease the importance of the conference tournaments.
1:29 Developing story – Kelvin Lewis hits his sixth three of the afternoon to give the Cougars their first lead of the day. Lewis’s dad, Kevin, is an associate coach for the Cougars. Houston came into the game 18-15/ 7-9. They need the automatic bid.
1:34 “Upset brewing!” Houston winning by six under a minute.
1:41 “Houston, we have lift off.” The Cougars are going to the Dance for the first time since 1992.
1:43 Vermont by three under ten minutes remain.
1:45 Daughter #2: “Why isn’t the Duke game on?”
1:50 First media timeout: Singler with the drive and dish and Mason Plumlee gets the dunk. If nothing else, daughter #2 has impeccable timing.
1:56 Andre Dawkins is getting some run in the first half. Has he found his way out of the dog house?
2:01 Vermont by eight. Again, this is a GREAT college atmosphere.
2:09 Scheyer is on the pine…er…bench with two fouls. Zoubek, Mason Plumlee, and Thomas are on the floor at the same time. Plumlee grabs the rebound with his right and scores with the left.
2:15 A 10 semi-final – it does not look good for Rhode Island. Fernandez dishes to Michael Eric = dunk. Temple is up by 19.
2:18 Just a thought – of the four teams remaining in the ACC (Miami, G Tech, NC State, and Duke) only the Blue Devils are assured a spot in the tournament.
2:22 Coach K gets a tech. I have no comment.
2:26 Both Frank Haith and Krzyzewski have removed their coats.
2:29 Miami closes the half on a 17-2 run to take a three-point lead at half.
2:30 Temple leading by 19.
2:53 Kentucky is on a 13-2 run. I don’t know if it’s the lightning or the bottle, but Tennessee can’t find what they had earlier this season.
3:17 Temple is in the A10 finals.
3:22 Ohio State is on a 20-0 run.
3:35 Less than a minute to go in a single-digit game, and Brian Zoubek is on the floor for Duke. A year ago, I did not think that possible.
3:39 North Carolina High School Boys State Championship action – Brother Rey’s Goldsboro High team is trailing late in the third – 42-30.
3:44 Duke advances after a hard-fought game with Miami. Remember the name Durand Scott. The Miami guard scored 21 today. He is an early candidate for pre-season All-Casey team.
3:46 Kyle Singler is chatting up Erin Andrews. He expresses some lucid thoughts despite the fact that he knows his teammates will never let him forget this moment. Begs the question: What’s better? Winning the Super Bowl MVP and getting a trip to Disney? Or, a college basketball player who has a good game and gets the post-game interview with Ms. Andrews?
3:52 It’s off to Jersey and more A10 action. Xavier is up early, 15-9. Xavier and Richmond went into double overtime last month at the Cintas Center. Xavier won that game 78-76. The Spiders hit 12 of 29 from behind the three-point arc. Right now, Richmond is 0-6 from long range.
3:57 Goldsboro is down 53-37 with 2:48 remaining.
3:58 Good news – Brad Redford is on the floor for the Musketeers. The sophomore has been hobbled of late with an injured hip.
4:00 Jordan Crawford hits a turnaround jumper on the baseline. Rivals.com has him ranked behind Oklahoma State’s James Anderson as the number two shooting guard in the country. Note to self – make a point to see Anderson play before commenting on this.
4:04 Goldsboro is down 10 with 1:00 to go.
4:15 From the Goldsboro News-Argus game blog at the North Carolina state championships:
“GAME OVER
MONROE WINS 62-46
Teams meet for post-game handshake and medal presentation. Goldsboro played for its 4th state title in men’s basketball history and is now 1-3 all-time in those contests. Each member of team will receive a silver medal for his efforts this season, and the team will receive a plaque in silver recognizing their accomplishment. Remember, Patrick Reynell is the 4th Goldsboro head coach in the past 4 seasons, and the first to take a Cougar team to the state finals in his first season as head coach. Goldsboro native Davis Whitfield, the new executive director of the NCHSAA, presented the post-game awards.”
4: 18 Richmond timeout. Xavier on a 12-2 run.
4:20 Mark Lyons takes a charge. The red shirt freshman has eight points, two rebounds, a steal, and an assist.
4:48 David Gonzalvez scored 14 in the first half for the Spiders. Dante Jackson draws the second half assignment of slowing down the Spider. This could be interesting.
4:57 Redford for threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels good to type that.
5:19 Xavier is back to man to man after three possessions that saw Richmond score six points. Rebounding in the zone was a problem for the Musketeers. Kevin Anderson scored twice in the sequence.
5:24 Lyons takes his second charge of the day. Xavier by 5 inside two minutes.
5:29 Dante Jackson = thief in the night!!
5:58 Richmond wins in overtime. POTW alert! Kevin Anderson from Richmond – more on that later. Two years ago we added a sports package that included the CBS College Sports Channel to our cable selections. It runs us $1.95 a month. Being able to watch today’s Richmond – Xavier game makes it worth every penny. Not to mention we get NBA TV in the package. But that’s beside the point.
6:02 Oh boy. 3:20 remaining and NC State is up on G Tech.
7:24 Halftime at the Big 12 title game. Zero combined fast break points for Kansas and Kansas State. The Wildcats have NOT shot a free throw yet. Kansas was whistled for only six fouls during the first 20:00
7:27 I’m scratching my head after watching a Muscle Milk commercial. Wouldn’t it make sense that Old Spice and Geico already have a corner on the silly/ deadpan humor?
7:45 Aldrich comes back into the game with three fouls. While he was out, K-State made it a one-point game.
7:48 Washington 61 California 60. What happened to the Pac 10 this year? I can understand the Tar Heels having a down year…well maybe not considering they have more McDonald’s Americans on their roster than most conferences in the country. But anyway, how does an entire conference have a down year? I realize they have had players leaving early, but so does every major conference. And not to mention, the Pac 10 did not exactly light it up during the college football season.
7:57 Unintentional humor – Bobby Knight questioning Frank Martin’s courtside decorum. “Oh no. Frank get back there.” Martin earns the tech.
8:03 ESPN is showing a replay of K-State in the huddle with Jacob Pullen imploring his teammates. Holly Rowe is trying to tell us what Pullen was saying. Funny, Holly didn’t utter one cuss word, and I’m pretty sure, based on Pullen’s body language, that he dropped a few. Rowe quoted him while he was getting after the big guys saying we are getting you the ball. You got to dunk that stuff. Yeah, that’s what he said. 
8:17 K-State players impersonating their coach, Frank Martin. Great stuff. “You are the laziest…who recruited him?”
8:25 Aldrich has fouled out with :35 remaining and a seven-point Kansas lead. Can this matter? K-State is at line. Missed the front end of the one-and-one.
8:27 Leave it to Brent Musberger – the origin of the “Rock, chalk, Jay hawk” cheer.
8:28 Mountain West final on the Versus network – UNLV and San Diego State. Two coaches with Final Four experience – Steve Fischer (SDSU) took Michigan to the final weekend of play as Lon Kruger (UNLV) when he coached Florida in the 90s.
8:35 SDSU by 1 with 8:00 remaining. Gotta hand it to Steve Fischer. He has left behind the “Fab Five” and the shrapnel from that tenure. Fischer has managed to keep his nose clean out west.
8:36 Washington just beat California. Is the Pac 10 going to get two teams in the tournament?
8:43 Something to keep in the back of your mind – San Diego State has one senior. UNLV has two. These teams will be good next year. Extending that idea in the Mountain West – New Mexico has just one senior, and Brigham Young – three.
9:01 SDSU’s Kahwi Leonard just grabbed his 20th rebound, and he made eight consecutive free throws in the last 2:00 as the Aztecs take the Mountain West 55-45. In case you are wondering, they did not use peach baskets; they played nasty defense.
9:15 West Virginia and Georgetown, Bob Huggins and JT3, De’Sean Butler and Greg Monroe – yeah this should be good. Could be a difficult wake up for 7am mass.
9:35 Did I hear that right? Georgetown has the lowest bench production (points) in the country?
9:48 Trivia time – Three players in WVU history have scored 2,000 points. Name them.
9:54 Just as I was about to say the Hoyas are starting to show the effects of playing games four days in row, Georgetown goes on a 6-0 run to close within two.
9:58 Long Beach has played the toughest non-conference schedule in the country: Notre Dame, West Virginia, Texas Duke, and Kentucky. They also played UCLA and Clemson.
10:39 Spike Lee loves the Hoya rally. WVU leads 43-41. You can’t convince me that the conference title does not mean something to these kids. Great plays being made all over. Chris Wright made a great hustle play diving out of bounds.
11:22 Where have I seen, heard, or read this before: “The Butler did it!”
10 Responses to “Championship Saturday | Open Thread”
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Some live hoops. Off with the boys to the Razorsharks game.
Kevin
Great to hear from you. Let us know the score when you return. Helmet sticker for getting the conversation going.
I’m currently watching the Purdue/Minn game. This is ridiculous..Never thought one guy could make such a difference for one team. With Hummel out, they have absolutely have no chance in the tourney this year. It’s too bad considering they had such a great season
Jeff
Great to hear from you and thanks for the alert! Minnesota by 30?!? Purdue has 35 points with 3:00 remaining? Has anyone else been watching this game?
I have been watching. I was surprised how Purdue held it together in the few games Hummel was out…until now. What a drubbing! Won’t be picking them to survive even a round!
I am not sure, but Tubby Smith might have had to deal with some disciplinary issues early in the year. The Gophers might be catching their stride at the right time.
John Calipari should have his boys watch the Cal/Wash game. I think the teams combined are 27 for 30 from the free throw line.
At least Pac 10 teams can hit free throws. That’s about all they can do this year.
Casey -
Thanks for showing Cougar Nation some love on the Pine! Had a great time and the kids are in great spirits. Congrats to Monroe and Coach Sowell on an excellent season. They are very deserving.
I can’t wait to sit back and watch some basketball WITHOUT taking notes and rewinding every few possessions
And why hasn’t Doug gotten here to extol the Mountaineers Big East Championship?!