[The Poet]

Well, those 'net problems came back to bite me, so I never got back with the Sunday games. Let me put on the run-and-jump D, and try to catch up a little.

In the balance of Saturday games:

# 1 Duke 82 - Butler 70 = It was closer than the 20 I predicted, though not by much. Butler hung tight for 30 minutes, but the Blue Devils were just too much in the end.

# 8 Syracuse 65 - N. C. State 59 = You can I suppose look at this two ways . . . either a nice showing by a young (and improving?) Wolfpack, or another win by the Orange that was too damn close for comfort.

# 15 Minnesota 71 - Cornell 66 = Speaking of being too damn close . . . WTF? The Golden Gophers should have licked all the Big Red off Cornell's candy.

California 76 - Iowa State 73 = This gives Cal 3 pretty decent wins, counting Temple and New Mexico. Maybe the Golden Bears are more real than the Gophers. Oh, wait a second . . . they are the ones who only scored 5 points in a half, right? Nevermind.

Miami 79 - West Virginia 76 = And a decent win for the Hurricanes, too.

Boston College 76 - U. Mass 71 = And not a bad one for the Eagles.

Providence 87 - Rhode Island 74 = My Rams let me down in this one, big time. Yeah, I know the Friars had only lost to LaSalle coming into this one, but they really hadn't played anybody of note aside from them. Now, they have, and they won. Perhaps they'll again be something besides an afterthought in the Big Mouth Conference.


Here are the scores from Sunday I found interesting:


USC 73 - # 19 Texas 56 = A loss by the Longhorns does not much shock me. I've said for years Rick Barnes tends to do less with more talent than any other coach I know. But normally they don't collapse this badly until later in the season. A nearly 20-point loss to the Trojans, who've lost to Rider, Bradley, Nebraska, and TCU? Please.

Richmond 67 - Arizona State 61 = As with much of the Pac-10, nobody's sure exactly what the are or what they have. Regardless, this is a good win for the Spiders.

Temple 64 - Maryland 61 = And the Owls needed this one over the Terps also, as they try to right their ship.

South Carolina 64 - Clemson 60 = In case you didn't know it, these two schools don't much like each other. Though neither is likely to be atop their respective conferences, they both remember when they were in the same one, and they always fight hard until the end. This game was no exception.

Virginia 57 - Virginia Tech 54 = About the opposite could be said about this game, in nearly all particulars. Still, it was a very good win for a Cavalier team that hasn't done a whole heck of a lot for too long a time now.


There are not a lot of games this evening, and I only found two of note. Well, one, actually:


# 5 Kansas State vs. Alcorn State = This isn't it. If the 0-6 Braves can stick with the Manhattan Wildcats for more than ten minutes, I'll be stunned.

# 21 Washington vs. Portland = But this one could be a lot . . . a lot! . . . closer. The Huskies may be the class of the Pac-10 (or may not, as it's too soon to tell, or even tell if the P-10 even has any class), but they've proven little so far. Meanwhile, the Pilots are 7-2, losing only to Kentucky and Washington State. However, to be fair, they haven't played much of a schedule either. The Huskies should win by three possessions or so.


That's it for now. Back tomorrow, I hope. If I missed any scores or news you found important, feel free to add those, and I will likely at least comment. Until later then. Enjoy.