The Morning Dish – Monday, March 15th
Maryland Denies Duke Number Six: The Terrapins entered the ACC tournament as the No. 6 seed but ended the tournament as the ACC champions, cutting off No. 5 Duke’s bid for a sixth consecutive ACC championship. Maryland won a thrilling game that will go down as one of the best ACC championships in history. The Terrapins built a large first-half lead, but Duke rallied to trail by only two at halftime. In the second half, Maryland had to rally from a double-digit deficit, led by sophomore guard John Gilchrist, who finished with 26 points and outplayed his Duke counterpart, senior guard Chris Duhon, who had 21 points. Trailing 77-74, Gilchrist made a driving layup and free throw to force overtime. In overtime, Maryland scored 14 of its 18 points from the free-throw line to upset Duke 95-87.
Kentucky Fried Gators: No. 8 Kentucky claimed the SEC championship with a dominating 89-73 win against Florida. The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the opening minutes and never looked back. Junior forward Chuck Hayes had a sensational game to lead the Wildcats with 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Sophomore swingman Kelenna Azubuike also had a great game with 18 points and nine rebounds, including five offensive rebounds. The Wildcats simply worked harder to get the ball and hold on to it as Kentucky had seven more rebounds and six fewer than turnovers than the Gators. Sophomore guard Matt Walsh led Florida with 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Cowboys Corral Longhorns: No. 7 Oklahoma State claimed the Big XII championship with a 65-49 defensive battle against No. 10 Texas. Oklahoma State’s defense has carried the Cowboys to a No. 2 seed, and it won the game against Texas as the Longhorns shot only 31 percent in the game. Only junior center Jason Klotz reached double figures for Texas, scoring 15 points. For the Cowboys, senior guard Tony Allen was the only player to shoot better than 50 percent, and he finished with 21 points. Senior forward Brian Boddicker fouled out with only two points as Texas never found any offensive consistency. The Longhorns did not help themselves from the line either, missing 7-of-16 free throws.
Wisconsin Takes the Big Ten Crown: No. 11 Wisconsin torched No. 12 Illinois, 70-53, behind hot shooting and sensational defense. The Badgers shot better than 50 percent while holding Illinois under 33 percent shooting. Junior guard Devin Harris was unstoppable with 29 points. The Badgers collected 10 more rebounds than Illinois as Wisconsin seemed to have more energy than the Illini. Sophomore guard Dee Brown led the team with 15 points, and only one other player reached double figures for Illinois. The Illini won the Big Ten’s regular season title, but the Badgers claim the Big Ten conference championship.
Lehigh Returns to the Dance: For the first time in 16 seasons, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks will fly into the NCAA Tournament. By virtue of the Patriot conference’s automatic bid, Lehigh will play Florida A&M in the play-in game for the right to play Kentucky in the first round of the tournament. The Mountain Hawks won a tight game against American as freshman guard Jose Olivero broke a 57-57 tie with a leaner in the lane with four seconds remaining. Senior guard Andres Rodriguez had rallied American in the closing minutes, tying the game with a driving layup and subsequent free throw. He led the team with 16 points, but the rest of his team struggled, shooting only 35 percent in the game. Finishing with 14 points, Olivero was Lehigh’s leading scorer and hero for the day.
Kings of the Brackets: The mayhem of Selection Sunday is over now, and according to the committee in Indianapolis, the best teams are Kentucky, Duke, Stanford and St. Joseph’s. The Hawks’ embarrassing loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament apparently did not warrant a drop to a No. 2 seed. Interestingly, the committee considers Duke the second-best team, rather than Stanford with only one loss this season – on the road at Washington, which is the Pac 10’s second-best team.
Celebration Time: The bubble talk is also over now, and for several teams, it’s time to dance. Some of the last teams in the tournament include UTEP, BYU, Richmond and Air Force. The Mountain West is apparently a good place to be as two of those teams hail from the conference that produced Utah as the conference tournament champion. Air Force sneaks into the tournament despite a cupcake non-conference schedule. But Air Force plays the type of defense that wins games, and the Falcons will have to play strong defense in their first-round game against North Carolina.
NIT Bound: As some teams prepare to dance, others face the disappointment of not making the NCAA Tournament. Some of the better teams that will play in the NIT rather than the NCAA include Colorado, Missouri, Florida State, Notre Dame and Utah State. Utah State only lost three games this season, but one of those losses was in the Big West tournament semifinals, which the selection committee deemed an unforgivable sin.
The Flavor of the Seeds: The selection committee bears the responsibility of not only choosing the field of 65 but also seeding those teams as fairly as possible. Some teams may disagree with the committee’s idea of fair while others probably want to take the committee out to dinner. Maryland is one team that benefited from strong play this weekend. The new ACC tournament champions jumped up to a No. 4 seed, merely two weeks after many critics claimed the Terrapins were a shaky bubble team. On the other hand, Wisconsin and Illinois must be wondering where the love is for the Big Ten. The regular season champion, Illinois, drew a No. 5 seed, and the Big Ten tournament champion, Wisconsin, has an even lower seed, No. 6. Another team wondering about its seeding is Pittsburgh, which is the No. 3 seed in the East Rutherford, N.J., regional. But the Panthers may not complain in the long run because they are in the same bracket as St. Joseph’s, which many consider to be the weakest No. 1 seed.
Tonight’s Menu:
• With just one game on tap tonight – Toledo at Marquette in the first round of the NIT – enjoy the calm before the storm… Grab your brackets, a cup of coffee and take some time to research all of this year’s NCAA Tournament teams on Hoopville!
