1. On hand for the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden, Hoopville’s Phil Kasiecki recounts the officiating debacle at the end of the St. John’s vs. Rutgers game, in which the officials blew several calls. The worst offense was Justin Brownlee grabbing a loose ball with seconds to go and then stepping out of bounds, without a call to stop the clock. The missed call robbed the Scarlet Knights of an opportunity to win at the buzzer.
2. St. John’s might wish the Red Storm lost against Rutgers. In the next game against Syracuse, senior guard D.J. Kennedy tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season, according to an ESPNNewYork.com report.
3. The Associated Press reports that the NCAA declared Baylor’s Perry Jones ineligible for receiving improper benefits in high school. Without Jones, Oklahoma blew out the Bears in the first round of Big 12 Tournament, likely relegating Baylor to the NIT.
4. Baylor isn’t the only Texas team in trouble with the NCAA. The NCAA accepted self-imposed recruiting restrictions and a two-year probation because SMU coach Matt Doherty’s staff sent about 100 impermissible text messages to recruits’ parents, according to an Associated Press report. Doherty and his staff received bad information from SMU’s compliance director, which led to the violations.
5. Unlike Baylor, Washington found a way to win without a suspended player. Coach Lorenzo Romar suspended Venoy Overton, who was arrested and charged with providing alcohol to a minor Tuesday, for the Pac-10 Tournament, according to an ESPN News Services report. Without Overton, the Huskies beat Washington State for the first time in three tries this season.
6. With March, we have the joys of March Madness. But we also have the pain of lost jobs, and several coaches will be looking for new employment this spring. That includes Texas Tech’s Pat Knight, Bradley’s Jim Les, Northern Illinois’ Ricardo Patton and Towson’s Pat Kennedy and at Pepperdine, coach Tom Asbury retired.
7. Stanford athletes won’t find as many easy A’s in class after the university discontinued a list of recommended class that many athletes regarded as relatively easy compared to other courses, according to an ESPN News Services report.
8. If you’ve got a clear path to the basket, the last things you’d expect to bring you down is baby powder or pie, right? Maybe you should think again, according to a “College Basketball Nation” blog post by Diamond Leung.

3/7
• Gonzaga 75, Saint Mary’s 63
• Old Dominion 70, VCU 65
• Wofford 77, Charleston 67
• Saint Peter’s 62, Iona 57

3/8

• Butler 59, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 44
• Oakland 90, Oral Roberts 76
• Arkansas-Little Rock 64, North Texas 63
• South Florida 70, Villanova 69
• Princeton 70, Penn 58

3/9

• Long Island 85, Robert Morris 82
• Northern Colorado 65, Montana 60
• Connecticut 79, Georgetown 62
• Marquette 67, West Virginia 61
• St. John’s 65, Rutgers 63
• Oklahoma State 53, Nebraska 52
• Oklahoma 84, Baylor 67

3/10

Game-day tweets and retweets from Phil Kasiecki’s season-long tour:

CAA Championship: Old Dominion vs. VCU

Almost time to tip off the CAA title game with No. 4 VCU vs. No. 2 Old Dominion, a rivalry renewed with an NCAA bid on the line.

Game is delayed to wipe off the floor after VCU’s Ed Nixon nearly wiped out going in for a layup.

Game is delayed to wipe off the floor after VCU’s Ed Nixon nearly wiped out going in for a layup.

At the last media timeout of the half, ODU leads VCU 31-21 with 3:41 left and Hassell to shoot one after the basket.

The Richmond Coliseum is about as loud right now as any arena I’ve been in before as VCU is now down by two with 4:57 left.

Old Dominion was picked to win the CAA last year and did it. They were picked to win this year and are about to do it again.

Connecticut vs. Georgetown

Some St. John’s fans are chanting “New York hates you!” to Kemba Walker while at the line. Just childish.

Connecticut has used second chances to open up a 37-22 lead with 3:23 left in the half. Guards have several of those second chances.

Connecticut is wrapping up a win over Georgetown, will face No. 1 Pittsburgh to open tomorrow.

St. John’s vs. Rutgers

St. John’s leads Rutgers 23-17 inside of four minutes to go in the first half despite not playing well thus far.

St. John’s runs the lead to 51-41 after a nice possession with good, aggressive ball movement to get a basket. 9:29 left.

At the last media timeout, St. John’s leads Rutgers 60-56, 3:09 left. St. John’s has had answers when Rutgers has rallied in the second.

Mike Coburn ties it at 60 and can put Rutgers up at the free throw line with 57.9 seconds left, trying for a conventional three-point play.

Sean Evans gets the steal, makes two FTs, 64-61 St. John’s with 17.7 left. St. John’s calls timeout to set the defense.

Final score: St. John’s 65, Rutgers 63.

Pittsburgh vs. Connecticut

Ashton Gibbs is hot early, with eight point as Pittsburgh leads 15-8 over five minutes in.

Now a loose ball fall on Okwandu. Connecticut already in some trouble as they’re down 20-8 and early foul trouble may be mounting.

Oriakhi follows Napier’s miss to tie it at 39. Pittsburgh calls a timeout with 39.1 seconds left in the half.

Walker with a chance to put Connecticut up as he’s at the line for two. This was unthinkable not so long ago.

Gary McGhee picked up his fourth foul right before the under-12 media timeout. Pittsburgh leads 58-54, 11:44 left.

At the last media timeout, we’re tied at 69 with 3:26 left. It’s another classic in the Big East Tournament between these two.

Ashton Gibbs then ties it at 74 with 47.9 seconds left, timeout Pittsburgh (their last).

Kemba Walker hits the step back jumper at the buzzer to give the Huskies a 76-74 win over Pittsburgh in another classic between these two.

Michael Protos shares his thoughts and observations from around the hoops nation.

The Sun Belt Tournament is a hot mess. If North Texas holds on vs. WKU, 5 of top 6 seeds will be out. Tourney winner likely headin to Dayton

This will be one of the Big East Tournament memories I never forget @LostLettermen: Remember when Allan Ray’s eye popped out?

Who woulda thought 6 weeks ago that Villanova would be playing in Big East Tourney opening round and Syracuse would have a double bye?

Karma: USF player slips on Reese’s logo on MSG floor and Corey Fisher (90%) misses front end of 1 and 1

Deceptively important bubble game: Marshall “versus” UTEP. It’s only versus in name: C-USA tourney is in El Paso. Herd need the road win.

Bubble teams makin it easy on selection committee: baylor, nebraska and uab lose in 1st game of conf. tourneys. and ok st. needed to beat KU

3/11
• ACC quarterfinals
• Atlantic 10 quarterfinals
• Big 12 semifinals
• Big East semifinals
• Big Ten quarterfinals
• Big West semifinals
• Conference USA semifinals
• MAC semifinals
• MEAC semifinals
• Mountain West semifinals
• Pac-10 semifinals
• Patriot League championship: Lafayette at Bucknell
• SEC quarterfinals
• SWAC semifinals
• WAC semifinals

3/12

• ACC semifinals
• America East championship: Stony Brook at Boston University
• Atlantic 10 semifinals
• Big 12 championship
• Big East championship
• Big Ten semifinals
• Big West championship
• Conference USA championship
• De facto Ivy League championship: Princeton vs. Harvard at Yale’s arena
• MAC championship
• MEAC championship
• Mountain West championship
• Pac-10 championship
• SEC semifinals
• Southland championship:
• SWAC championship
• WAC championship

3/13 – Selection Sunday

• ACC championship
• Atlantic 10 championship
• Big Ten championship
• SEC championship

Your job is to make sure a competitive NCAA game is officiated fairly and every close call is made correctly. You receive no public accolades for doing a good job, but you’ll be on the front pages of newspapers and first topic on TV programs if you commit an egregious mistake.

And that’s what three Big East officials did Wednesday in the St. John’s vs. Seton Hall game.

Justin Brownlee grabbed a loose ball and tossed it into the stands in celebration of the Red Storm’s tight win vs. Rutgers. But he stepped out of bounds before the clock expired, and the refs missed it. As a result, the referees have excused themselves from the rest of the tournament.

Like every team that makes the NCAA Tournament, these referees should be judged by their total body of work. If this mistake is the first error that this team has made this season, it’s no worse than a dominant team dropping a road game at a winless conference opponent. Yes, it’s a horrible loss, but it doesn’t erase all the quality work that team did before that game.

In this case, these officials should be judged based on the accuracy of their previous work before they receive an invitation to participate in the NCAA Tournament or any other conference tournament. If they have outstanding grades in previous games, why omit them from the most important games of the year because on one major error? But if they have a history of mistakes in various games, capped by this atrocious error, then we don’t want them to be anywhere near the Big Dance.

But the bottom line is that referees should face the same standard that NCAA Tournament teams must pass. Your total body of work matters more than your performance in any one game.