OK, I guess I'd best start with what's the biggest news of last night, that being:
Tennessee State 72 - Murray State 68 = And then there were none. I figured the Tigers might give Joe's Racers a game, but I also thought MSU would have learned from surviving a few scares that they needed to close out games. Apparently they haven't, and blew a late lead to drop their first one of the season. Furthermore, they STILL had a chance to pull it out late, but played the sloppiest last 10 seconds you've seen in a loooong time. It started with a stolen pass off an inbounds with the Racers down one, followed by a loose-ball foul off a fumbled dribble, with THAT followed with a fullcourt baseball pass that went to the stands. Pundits are asking if Murray State jinxed itself by printing T-shirts proclaiming them the "last of the unbeaten" . . . much like Syracuse jinxed themselves with their "20-0" shirts earlier this year. Yeah, OK. And the real reason they lost is that Joe forgot to turn his cap inside out.
(That's also the likely reason Middle Tennessee State also won over Western Kentucky last night, thus making it a miserable night for Joe.) Regardless, congratulations to Murray State for getting this deep into the season without a loss.
N. C. State 61 - Georgia Tech 52 = Not an unexpected victory for Jerry's Wolfpack, considering how crappy the Wreck is this year, but one that may have sealed an at-large for State. As this would be their first trip to the NCAAs since they (wrongly, IMHO) fired Herb Sendek, this is big in Raleigh.
Wisconsin 68 - Minnesota 61 (OT) = A very good, hard-fought battle, which unsurprisingly either team could have won. The one odd thing about this game is that the Badgers managed to score only 19 points in the 2nd half, yet tallied 17 in OT. WTF?
Indiana 84 - Illinois 71 = Nothing unexpected here, and maybe the young Hoosiers have gotten their second wind.
Arizona 71 - Colorado 57 = Though I'm not surprised the Desert 'Cats won in Tucson, I did expect more of a challenge from the Buffs. But that's my problem, not yours or theirs. What is germaine is that this result ties these two for 2nd place in the Pac-12 at 8-4, along with . . .
Oregon 82 - Washington 57 = . . . the Ducks, who spanked the Huskies to make that a 3-way for 2nd place. And as for those Huskies, this decisive loss drops them to 9-2 and into a 2-way tie for 1st with . . .
California 75 - USC 49 = . . . da Bears. So what's with all the blowouts in the Pac-12 last night? Or maybe it was for the entire Left Coast, considering . . .
Gonzaga 73 - St. Mary's 59 = Again, I'm not so much surprised by the result as I am with the margin of victory. A good win for the 'Zags, and a pretty ugly performance by the Gaels. And speaking of the Gaels . . .
Tonight's very limited action includes:
Iona vs. Loyola (MD) = Believe it or not, the all-but unknown Greyhounds are tied with the Gaels for 1st place in the MAAC with their identical 11-2 records. I should not need say more as to the importance of this game. One less important in a conference race is . . .
Wisc. Milwaukee v.s Detroit = . . . because the Horizon race seems to involve only Valpo and Cleveland State. Yet this should be a very good game between well-matched teams. Still, if you want to concentrate on those with true league-meaning, you can choose either . . .
Harvard vs. Penn = In the Palestra, so you have to give the 4-1 Quakers a shot at knocking off the 6-0 Crimson. And if they can manage to give Haa'vaad their first Ivy loss, it could move them into a tie with their arch-enemy . . .
Yale vs. Cornell = . . . for with the Eli at 5-1, they too are part of the hotly-contested Ivy race. And keep in mind that the Ivy has NO conference tourney and NEXT TO NO chance of getting more than a single NCAA bid, so each and every league game is almost a must. This is in Ithaca, but unlike the Crimson the Big Red pretty much suck, so I'd go with the Yalies here.
That's gonna be it for me tonight. I'd planned on previewing some early games tomorrow, but with a 300+ million dollar Powerball drawing I've been bugger every couple of minutes with pennyante gamblers who actually think they got a snowball's chance. However, speaking of snowballs, it's supposed to snow a bit tonight, so maybe I'll be slow enough tomorrow to do some work here . . . meaning here on this thread, not here at work. Hey, if I wanted to work, I'd get a REAL job, right? Until later then, enjoy.