The Morning Dish – Saturday, March 6th
Aggies Clinch Share of Big West: No. 23 Utah State clinched at least a share of the Big West regular season title with a 64-60 win at Idaho on Friday night. The Aggies (25-2, 17-1 Big West) got 13 points and 7 rebounds from Nate Harris and 12 points each from Cardell Butler and Spencer Nelson. If Pacific loses against visiting UC-Riverside on Saturday, the Aggies will win the title; a win by Pacific will end the race in a tie and force a coin flip to determine the top seed for the conference tournament, as the teams split in head-to-head matchups.
Tigers Clinch Share of Ivy: Behind 16 points and 12 rebounds from Judson Wallace, Princeton defeated Harvard 60-51 in Cambridge to clinch a share of the Ivy League title. The Tigers (18-7, 11-1 Ivy) held Harvard to just one field goal in the final 12:04 after the Crimson had taken a 44-41 lead with an early second half run.
Only The Quakers Can Do It: With Brown (13-13, 9-4) losing 81-74 at Columbia, only Pennsylvania can catch Princeton now in the Ivy League. The Quakers stayed alive with an 81-59 blowout at Dartmouth behind 18 points (7-11 shooting) from Tim Begley. The Quakers (16-9, 9-3 Ivy) shot 50% from the floor and sent Dartmouth to its 17th straight loss.
Tournament Action: Conference tournament action continued on Friday, with several conferences in action. Some notable results include Illinois State blowing out Bradley 76-56 in the Missouri Valley, Butler knocking off Wisconsin-Green Bay 72-50 in the Horizon League, and the lowest-scoring game in America East Tournament history, New Hampshire’s 43-38 win over Albany.
Southern Mississippi Coach Resigns: James Green resigned on Friday as head coach of Southern Mississippi, effective immediately. Green, who was in the final year of a four-year contract and his eighth season as the head coach at the school, will not coach the final regular season game on Saturday against visiting East Carolina. Green led the Golden Eagles to the NIT in 2000-01 following a regular season Conference USA title, going 22-9. Since then, they have had two losing seasons and are currently 13-13 heading into Saturday’s finale, and attendance at home games has been sagging as well. Green, who posted a 123-109 record at the school, will be replaced in the interim by assistant coach Jeff Norwood.
Francis Done: For a while now, it has basically been a given that Notre Dame sophomore Torin Francis was likely done for the season. On Friday, it became official, as he is planning to have surgery on Monday to repair a herniated disc and will need two to three months to recover. The 6’11”, 252-pound post player averaged 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in 20 games this season before the injury.
Brown Won’t Play Again: Oklahoma senior center Jabahri Brown will miss the remainder of the season for facing marijuana charges. Brown, who is scheduled to graduate in May, will remain on scholarship, according to head coach Kelvin Sampson. He started 25 games this season, averaging 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Tonight’s Menu
Don’t forget to check the latest recaps during Championship Week.
• It’s the last Saturday of the season that includes regular season games, with all tournament games from here on out. No. 1 Stanford tries to finish off its undefeated season in Seattle, where they take on the surging Washington Huskies.
• No. 3 Duke heads across town for the big rivalry game, taking on No. 15 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Also in North Carolina, No. 16 North Carolina State visits No. 11 Wake Forest in another key ACC matchup, while No. 19 Georgia Tech hosts a Florida State team needing a win.
• No. 6 Pittsburgh leads the Big East battles on tap as they host Villanova, while No. 13 Providence hosts Boston College.
• No. 5 Mississippi State tries to complete a perfect road run through the SEC as they take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Also, LSU heads to Auburn and Vanderbilt takes on Georgia in Athens.
• Two key games take place in Conference USA as No. 22 Memphis visits No. 12 Cincinnati and No. 25 Louisville visits Marquette.
• Big 12 leaders are in action as No. 7 Oklahoma State hosts Texas A&M, and No. 10 Texas travels to take on Kansas State. Texas Tech hosts Iowa State in another important game.
• No. 14 Wisconsin travels to Bloomington to take on Indiana in the regular season finale for both, while No. 18 Illinois looks to remain hot in a road trip to Ohio State.
• Conference tournament action continues, including championship games in four conference tournaments. The Atlantic Sun (Central Florida vs. Troy State), Big South (High Point vs. Liberty), Ohio Valley (Austin Peay vs. Murray State) and Southern Conference (East Tennessee State vs. UT-Chattanooga) all have their championship games.
• The Patriot League, Big Sky, Northeast and Sun Belt get their tournaments underway, while the America East, Colonial, Horizon, MAAC, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conference continue their tournaments. Included in the Missouri Valley is No. 17 taking on Evansville in quarterfinal action.
