It appeared Thursday night was going to offer us yet another instance of a top-ranked team losing this season when Virginia looked on its way to a sure loss at Louisville Thursday night. The Cavaliers trailed by four points, and there was less than one second left on the clock.
No problem. All it took was two made free throws, a travel on the baseline by a Cardinals player inbounding the ball, and then a banked in three-pointer at the buzzer.
Voila. Virginia 67, Louisville 66.
On a night when conference tournament play really got cranking, the No. 1 team in the country was the story yet again. Improbably, Virginia snatched victory out of the proverbial jaws of defeat, while Louisville blew a golden opportunity for a signature win that might’ve finally justified the Cardinals appearing in so many NCAA Tournament bracket projections, as they regularly have this year with a less-than impressive resume.
Louisville led 66-62 in the final seconds when it fouled UVA’s Ty Jerome shooting a three-pointer. Not good. If the Cardinals never commit that foul, the rest of the sequence never happens.
Jerome made the first two free throws, but the third was wiped out by a lane violation, which also turned out to be fortunate for the Cavaliers. Deng Adel then traveled while inbounding the ball under Virginia’s basket, and the De’Andre Hunter then banked in a three-pointer from the left wing for the game winner. And for one night, March Madness encompassed far more than tournament play.
Conference Tournament roundup:
- Our first tourney final is set, and the two teams still standing in the Atlantic Sun are no surprise. Top seed Florida Gulf Coast wiped out No. 5 North Florida 95-72 with a balanced effort including five players in double figures. No. 2 Lipscomb also is through after a rock-solid 77-62 win over 3 seed Jacksonville. FGCU and Lipscomb split two matchups this season. This one should be fun.
- The Big Ten’s New York City cash play continued, and per usual we have our annual very low seed moving on. No. 14 Rutgers topped 6 seed Indiana 76-69 in a weird game where the Hoosiers open up a 24-8 lead, the Scarlet Knights answered with a 34-10 run and eventually held on behind 28 from Corey Sanders. Also, Wisconsin pulled a mild surprise with a 59-54 win over Maryland in the 8/9 game; No. 5 Michigan needed OT to eliminate Iowa 77-71 and Penn State took care of Northwestern 65-57, and now gets a shot to win its third this season over Ohio State. It was the second night of play at Madison Square Garden, while Hoopville’s Ray Floriani recapped the first night earlier in the day Thursday.
- The second stage of the Ohio Valley’s ladder saw both higher seeds move on-barely. Defending champion Jacksonville State held off Tennessee Tech 73-70, and the fourth-seeded Gamecocks now get No. 1 Murray State. Also, 3 seed Austin Peay fell behind No. 7 Eastern Illinois by 14 at halftime before roaring back for a 73-66 win.
- The Missouri Valley’s Arch Madness opened with 9 seed Northern Iowa (60-50 over Evansville) and No. 7 Missouri State (83-79 victors over Valparaiso) moving out of the play-in games. We wrote last night about the opportunity available to both teams now to break a long history of those first round winners being quickly taken out in the tourney’s quarterfinals.
- The Patriot League bracket took some hits in the quarterfinals. No. 6 Holy Cross took out 3 seed Navy 81-65, and Boston University stopped a hot Lehigh team in the 4/5 game. Also, top seed Bucknell got a battle before prevailing over No. 8 Loyola (Md.) 83-78. Second-seeded Colgate was the only higher seed to move on comfortably, as it took care of No. 7 Lafayette 76-54.
- The Big South quarterfinals saw the top three seeds win, with No. 1 UNC Asheville edging determined 8 seed Charleston Southern 71-66, No. 2 Radford holding off 10 seed Longwood 59-53 and defending champion and third-seeded Winthrop edging Gardner-Webb 72-68. The only surprise is a very mild one, as Liberty topped No. 4 Campbell 73-59.
- A disappointing season for Monmouth ended in sadly appropriate fashion in the MAAC first round, as slow-paced Saint Peter’s came back from 15 points down in the second half, getting a three-pointer from Nick Griffin with five seconds left for a 60-58 win. The ninth-seeded Peacocks now get top seed Rider. Also winning were 6 and 7 seeds Fairfield and Marist, respectively.
Side Dishes:
- The latest edition of the Talking Hoops with Ted Sarandis podcast was posted on Hoopville yesterday, with Phil Kasiecki joining Ted to discuss a bunch of the sport’s latest happenings. And there’s been a lot to talk about.
- Arizona coach Sean Miller on Thursday vehemently denied ESPN’s report of him being caught on a wiretap discussing payment in recruiting DeAndre Ayton (though anyone with a discerning eye should know that anytime words like ‘knowingly’ are issued in a denial, they should still have some skepticism about word salad). Then, guard Allonzo Trier was reinstated by the NCAA, the organization buying the school’s argument he still had traces of a drug in his system from over a year ago, something anti-doping experts questioned according to a Yahoo! Story. Then, the Wildcats finished the day with a 75-67 win over Stanford as the home fans gave Miller a standing ovation in probably one of the least surprising developments of the entire day. All just another day in Arizona’s 2017-18 season.
- Also in the Pac-12, Washington eked out a 79-77 win over Oregon State, an important not-loss for the Huskies’ postseason hopes.
- Cincinnati and Wichita State are set for a season-end showdown for the AAC regular season title. The Bearcats hold a one-game lead over the Shockers after walloping Tulane 78-49, but Wichita State is still just a game behind after a hard-earned 75-71 win in overtime over Central Florida. The Shockers already defeated Cincy on the road and now get the finale at home.
- There’s no question who the best team is in Conference USA after Middle Tennessee State rolled to an 82-64 win over Western Kentucky in front of another huge crowd for a big conference game. More than 11,000 were in MTSU’s Murphy Center, and the Blue Raiders were superb shooting 55% and also getting balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Nick King scored 18 points, but so did Brandon Walters (18, plus 11 rebounds) and Antwain Johnson added 17. This is far from a one- or two-man team, and Middle deserves to not just be in the NCAA Tournament, but a healthy seed.
- Montana wrapped up the Big Sky regular season title with a convincing 75-57 win over Weber State. Talk about sending a message: the Grizzlies took care of one of their top challengers by shooting 53.4% and outrebounding Weber 42-25.
- A stunner in the Big West has set up one winner-take-all game for the outright regular season title. Long Beach State got a layup by Deishaun Booker at the buzzer to stun UC Santa Barbara 70-69 at the Thunderdome. With that, the Gauchos can do no better than a tie for second in the league. First will go to the winner of Saturday’s game between UC Irvine and UC Davis, the latter of which moved back into a tie for first with a 70-59 win over Hawaii.
- The MEAC settled its regular season crown; sort of. Five teams entered the night with a share of first place, and three remained there at the end of the evening. Bethune-Cookman, Hampton and Savannah State are tri-champions after Bethune defeated rival Florida A&M 89-77, Hampton won at Norfolk State 74-71 and Savannah State won at South Carolina State 94-81. Hampton will be the top seed in the conference tournament and is going for its third tourney title in four years.
- South Carolina Upstate fired its athletic director as well as basketball coach Kyle Perry on Thursday, peculiar moves as both were in their first years in their positions. Perhaps some light was shed on why when news came out that A.D. Julio Friere is being investigated for harassment complaints against him. Upstate went 7-25 in this his first season, taking over just before the season when successful longtime head coach Eddie Payne retired in October. One would sure think there has to be even more to this story; otherwise, firing a coach after one season and taking over under such tough circumstances is unacceptable.
Today’s Menu:
- Tournament play gets going early with the Big Ten quarterfinals starting at Noon Eastern with Wisconsin against No. 1 Michigan State (Big Ten Network).
- Arch Madness in St. Louis really gets cranking with what should be four very competitive quarterfinal games. The best just might be the 2/7 game between Southern Illinois and Missouri State.
- The ancient Southern Conference Tournament opens with old rivals The Citadel and VMI meeting in an 8/9 matchup, plus Samford vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga.
- The OVC semifinals regularly produce great theatre, and they should again with Murray State against Jacksonville State and Belmont facing upstart Austin Peay.
- The Horizon League tips off its tourney in Detroit with 10th-seeded Detroit Mercy against No. 7 Wisconsin-Green Bay which promises to be a high-scoring game, followed by No. 8 Cleveland State and 9 seed Youngstown State.
- The MAAC quarterfinals start with the top two seeds in action, including a terrific all-New Jersey matchup between Saint Peter’s and No. 1 Rider.
- The West Coast Conference tourney opens with first round games including Loyola Marymount vs. Portland in the 8/9 game and 7 seed Santa Clara against No. 10 Pepperdine.
- Regular season play keeps going on in the MAC and Ivy League. MAC East leader Buffalo is at Bowling Green (6 p.m., ESPNU), while Princeton at Brown is a huge game in the Ivy as the Bears are the only team of the four competing for the fourth spot in the league’s tourney that is home for its final two games.
- The Sun Belt also gets another TV showcase game with Texas-Arlington’s Movin’ Mavs at slow-paced, defense-minded Texas State (7 p.m., ESPN2).
- Oklahoma has been a mess the second half of the season, but the Sooners have as good of an opportunity as they’ll get in the Big 12 to get on track heading into the postseason as they host Iowa State (8 p.m., ESPN2).
- Rhode Island at hot-shooting Davidson (8 p.m., CBSSN), and what would’ve already been an intriguing game as one of the Rams’ toughest Atlantic 10 road tests is even more so now after URI was pounded by Saint Joseph’s at home in its last game, while the Wildcats lost a triple-overtime thriller at St. Bonaventure.
Have a terrific Friday and enjoy the tournament action.
