Percolating hoops intrigue makes February a fantastic month for sports

It’s February — one of the most underrated sports months of the year.

With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, the biggest event in U.S. sports will command the attention of tens of millions of viewers, generating tens of millions of dollars for everyone associated with the event.

A few weeks later, the NBA All-Star game will show the NFL how exhibition weekends should be run. In my opinion, the NBA All-Star weekend festivities are the best of any pro sport, with baseball coming in a close second. Did anyone actually watch the Pro Bowl last weekend?

We don’t have any winter Olympics this year, but that’s a February event, too.

And then we have college hoops. To casual fans, March is the month of joy. But February is the month that sets the table for March. Dozens of teams are jockeying for position right now, fighting for a better seed and location or merely a bid to the Big Dance.

The schedule-makers know what they’re doing, too. Next Wednesday — just days after the Super Bowl — the top rivalry in college hoops will go down for the first of two meetings in a month when Duke visits North Carolina. That’s a nice way for the NCAA to tell America: “Guess what? Football is over. It’s time to set your sights on the hardwood.”

And of course, as we work through the thick of conference play, we’ll have the rush of bracket projections to feed the hoops addiction. Hoopville will join the fray as usual, starting this Friday. We choose to wait until February because it just feels right. By now, we have a large enough sample size to judge teams’ résumés and make projections that have a good shot of standing up during the final few weeks before Selection Sunday.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Get ready for more technical fouls and a shorter leash on players or coaches who act out. Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog reports that John Adams, the NCAA’s national officiating coordinator, sent a notice to all officials that implored them to clamp down on bad behavior.

Clemson has indefinitely suspended junior Milton Jennings, a former McDonald’s All-American, because of academic reasons, according to the Associated Press. Jennings averages 8.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

Arizona will finish the season without junior Kevin Parrom, who broke his foot in a loss to Washington last weekend, according to a CBS Sports.com report. He averaged 4.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 1.7 apg this season.

Iona is looking to remain one of the premier programs in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the university extended the contract of coach Tim Cluess to help make that happen, according to a CBS Sports.com report.

Don’t mess with a player’s routine. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes shared some of the details of his routine with Andrew Jones of Fox Sports to explain why he changed his shoes at halftime of the Tar Heels’ win against Georgia Tech. Like the rest of the team, Barnes started the game with pink shoes to help promote breast cancer awareness. But he went with his usual Kobes in the second half.

VCU coach Shaka Smart stirred some commotion in the commonwealth during a teleconference Monday, writes Myron Medcalf for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. Smart asserted that Virginia’s best schools reside in the CAA. He didn’t call out the ACC teams in Blacksburg or Charlottesville by name, but Smart felt compelled to give UVA coach Tony Bennett a call to clarify his comments.

The NCAA won’t be seeking any further action against Connecticut freshman guard Ryan Boatright regarding an investigation into his eligibility because of money and benefits that he and his mother received, according to the Associated Press. But the AP reports that the Boatrights’ lawyer isn’t finished with his actions against the NCAA, lambasting the organization for releasing private information.

The only coach to ever lead Canisius to an NCAA Tournament win died Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Joseph Curran, 89, passed away in Mystic, Conn. He led the Golden Griffins to a 76-66 record in six seasons, which included a shocking four overtime victory against No. 2 North Carolina State in the 1956 NCAA Tournament.

Three coaching legends lose on the same day

It’s not every day that three of the greatest coaches ever lose a game on the same day. Yet that’s what happened on another Saturday full of noteworthy games, as Syracuse suffered its first loss on the season, Duke lost at home to put an end to a long home winning streak and Connecticut lost as well.

And it all happened, ironically, on the day that a football coaching legend appeared close to losing his life. On Saturday night, there were conflicting reports about former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, but we did not learn for sure that he had passed until about 10:30 this morning. We send our condolences to Joe’s family and friends at this time.

The last time Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Mike Krzyzewski lost a game on the same day was January 18, 2003. The three coaches have combined for over 2,600 wins, so they have won a little more than they have lost, and one might even be surprised that this wasn’t the first day all three lost.

It started in the middle of the afternoon, with two of the games. Connecticut took on Tennessee in Knoxville, a return of a game played last year. The Volunteers got a double-double from freshman Jarnell Stokes and fended off a late Husky rally for a 60-57 win. Turning the ball over one time in the second half certainly helped, especially as taking care of the ball had been a problem for Tennessee of late. Connecticut shot just 36.4 percent from the field.

Around that same time, Florida State looked like they had a shot to end Duke’s 45-game home winning streak, as they were right there with the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They had leads late in the game as well. And finally, with the game tied at 73 in the final seconds, the Seminoles got the ball up the floor to Michael Snaer in front of his own bench, where he hit a three-pointer just as time expired to give Florida State their second big win in as many Saturdays, a 76-73 decision over Duke.

Not only had Duke not lost at home since North Carolina knocked them off in February 2009, but they also had a longer (64 games) home winning streak against unranked opponents. They had a chance to tie their own ACC record of 46 straight home wins, set between January 13, 1997 and February 9, 2000.

Florida State is now looking more and more like the team some thought they would be this season. In the preseason, a good number of prognosticators thought they might be the third-best team behind Duke and North Carolina. Virginia had emerged as that team, and probably still is, but now the Seminoles look like another formidable team in an ACC that is not looking much better than last year. They are in a three-way tie atop the ACC at 4-1, along with the two teams they have knocked off the past two Saturdays.

By the time the evening came around, one already had a sense that Syracuse could suffer its first loss of the season. The team announced earlier in the day that sophomore center Fab Melo would not make the trip to Notre Dame and Cincinnati and that junior forward Mookie Jones had left the school for personal reasons. The Orange are so deep, it would not have been a shocker if they came away with two wins, but if they dropped one it would not have been a surprise. Sure enough, a Notre Dame team that knocked off Louisville a couple of weeks ago beat Syracuse 67-58 in South Bend.

Notre Dame led throughout the game and beat a No. 1 team for the eighth time, which ties for the fourth-highest total. They did it led by junior big man Jack Cooley, who went for 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Fighting Irish out-rebounded Syracuse 38-25. While Melo’s absence hurt there, it wasn’t a big factor in the Orange’s offensive struggles on the night.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation

With Syracuse losing, that left just one team undefeated: Murray State. The Racers were 82-65 winners at SIU-Edwardsville to improve to 20-0 on the season.

Missouri got perhaps its most impressive win yesterday, going on the road to beat Baylor. That’s two in a row now for Baylor, and it seems that at the moment, Baylor is close, but not there when it comes to the top of the Big 12.

Georgetown got all they could handle from Rutgers, and needed to score the game’s last seven points to eke out a 52-50 win in the nation’s capital.

Louisville continued Pittsburgh’s misery as they went into the Peterson Events Center and left with a 73-62 win over the Panthers, who are now 0-7 in the Big East and have lost eight straight.

UNLV convincingly won a key matchup with New Mexico, the second straight loss for the Lobos as they took on the two favorites in the conference this past week.

Mississippi State won an overtime thriller at Vanderbilt in a key matchup among teams chasing Kentucky in the SEC.

Todd Bozeman returned to the bench at Morgan State, but his team’s struggles continued as they lost for the fifth time in seven games by dropping a 62-61 decision against visiting North Carolina A&T.

Late Saturday night, Long Beach State picked up a key road win at UC Santa Barbara. That makes the 49ers 7-0 in conference play, a full two games ahead of three teams in the loss column.

Several teams get much-needed resume wins on Saturday

Saturday saw a few teams get a victory they needed to jump-start their NCAA Tournament resume. A few others suffered bad losses in games they needed, or missed opportunities, but we’re going to stick with the positive and focus on the teams that got big wins. It’s too early to declare a number of these teams locks after what they did on Saturday, but they are in a better place than they were to start the day.

Let’s start with Florida State, which annihilated North Carolina 90-57 in Tallahassee. The Seminoles had a so-so non-conference run, as they came into Saturday lacking a win against the top 50 in three tries. Beating the Tar Heels is a remedy for that, although they need to make it relevant come March by playing well the rest of ACC play.

Next, we go to Northwestern, a team for whom heartbreak has become a regular occurrence. The Wildcats have had chances to play their way into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in recent years, but haven’t been able to pull out the games they needed to. It looked like this year might be another case of that, too, although they did win the Charleston Classic over Seton Hall, a win that is looking better all the time. They won at mediocre Georgia Tech and lost to Baylor, which is hardly a bad loss. But then they lost at Creighton, got hammered at Ohio State and lost tough ones to Illinois and Michigan by a combined three points. And on Saturday, they knocked off Michigan State in Evanston for their best win of the season. Add that to the Seton Hall win and the Wildcats, who don’t have a bad loss and an RPI of 33 at the start of the week, are in a good place for the moment.

Then there is Oklahoma, a team thought to be rebuilding. But the Sooners knocked off Kansas State 82-73 for their second win against a top 50 team. The Sooners are now 1-3 in Big 12 play, so they have a good deal of work to do. But if they get to .500 in conference and win a game or two in the conference tournament, they may have done enough work by then to be in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament team.  It helps that they don’t have a bad loss.

Lastly, San Diego State knocked off UNLV in a thriller, 69-67. The Aztecs were actually in a reasonably good place before Saturday, but perhaps now they can be called an NCAA Tournament lock if they win the games they should the rest of the way. The Mountain West figured to be rebuilding this season, but that hasn’t been the case thus far as both of these teams look like they will be in the field of 68.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Pittsburgh lost at Marquette, 62-57, and is now 0-5 in the Big East for the second time in program history and first in 12 years. They have never started 0-6, but they play at Syracuse on Monday.

Connecticut freshman Ryan Boatright was suspended by the NCAA and did not play in the Huskies’ 67-53 win at Notre Dame. The NCAA is investigating more eligibility matters with the freshman guard.

Iowa handily took out Michigan 75-59, and continues to be something of a Jekyll and Hyde team.

Jarnell Stokes gave Tennessee a boost in his debut, but Kentucky prevailed in Knoxville 65-62. The thinking is that although it was a loss, Saturday’s game bodes well for the Volunteers.

The Ivy League has started the season a little differently this time around, and Penn has started off 2-0 with wins at Columbia and Cornell. Normally teams play their travel partners over two weeks, save for Penn and Princeton, before the Friday-Saturday weekends start.

No America East team will go undefeated in conference play this season, as Stony Brook had its six-game winning streak end at Boston University, who has won three in a row after losing six straight.

Sacrificial Lamb: Defense does it for the Hall

NEWARK, N.J. – Preparing for ninth-ranked UConn, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard knew the guards would be a priority. Willard decided on defending Shabazz Napier as closely as possible, being defensively disruptive and taking him out of the flow. It all worked to near perfection as the Hall posted a huge 75-63 upset at the Prudential Center.

“We figured (Jeremy) Lamb would get his points,” Willard said. “It was pick your poison so we decided to defend Napier as tough as possible.”

… Continue Reading

North Carolina-Kentucky lives up to the hype

The matchup between North Carolina and Kentucky lived up to its billing. It was a well-played game that came right down to the wire, and was close throughout. The eighth-largest crowd in Rupp Arena history saw it, and even more watched on television. And it’s possible that the game will mirror the teams’ seasons.

Kentucky probably has the most talent of any team in the country, but the Wildcats’ youth hasn’t been hard to see. Their freshmen have had their share of growing pains, from Marquis Teague’s early struggles taking care of the ball to Anthony Davis learning how physical the college game can be. It’s for exactly that reason that senior Darius Miller has never been more valuable than much of the early going this time around.

North Carolina is right up there with the Wildcats, but this is an older and more mature team. Whereas the Wildcats start three freshmen, the Tar Heels only played two freshmen yesterday and both came off the bench. But they start a senior, two juniors and two sophomores, and on the whole this is a team quite a ways from its ceiling just like Kentucky.

In the first half, North Carolina led by as many as nine and was the better team. They were hot from long range, going 6-9 from behind the arc in the opening frame. But Kentucky scored seven in a row at the end of the first and start of the second half, momentarily grabbing the lead and then staying right with the Tar Heels until they took the lead for good on a Davis jumper with less than eight minutes to play.

The Tar Heels had one more chance after Teague missed the front end of a one-and-one with 21 seconds left. They got the ball to John Henson, known more for his shot-blocking than scoring, and in a length-versus-length matchup, Davis got a hand on his short jumper and the Wildcats were able to run out the final seconds for a 73-72 victory.

It’s a game that many would love to see a rematch of, and considering that both teams are a ways from their respective ceilings, no one would be surprised if it materialized in the month of March.

While that was the best matchup of the day, there were a few other teams, conferences and player of note.

Marquette

Winning at the Kohl Center is hard for visiting teams to do, but Marquette pulled it off on Saturday and did so without their starting point guard. Before the game, the Golden Eagles announced that Junior Cadougan was suspended for the game due to a violation of team rules. Wisconsin has lost two straight, but neither is a bad loss as they lost to North Carolina earlier in the week. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are 7-0 with a blowout win over Ole Miss and Saturday’s win at Wisconsin.

Xavier

Xavier is becoming quite the second-half team. On Monday, they trailed by ten in the second half before rallying to beat Vanderbilt in overtime in Nashville. But yesterday they did themselves one better, as they trailed Purdue by 11 at the half and 19 in the second half before coming back to edge the Boilermakers 66-63. In the last 10:44, Xavier outscored Purdue 30-8.

Illinois

It seems like Bruce Weber has been on the hot seat forever in Champaign, but let’s acknowledge not only the job he has done thus far but especially what he is doing this season. After an 82-75 win over Gonzaga on Saturday, the Illini are 8-0 with wins over Richmond and at Maryland as well. Neither of those two is a big NCAA Tournament resume win, but they are worth noting because the Illini haven’t beaten up on a slew of terrible teams and could be 12-0 when they take on Missouri on Dec. 22, though they will have to get by UNLV at home before then. Saturday was the first time all season Gonzaga did not have at least four players score in double figures.

Brigham Young

No Jimmer, no problem for Brigham Young. After Saturday’s 79-65 win over Oregon in Salt Lake City, BYU is 6-2 with a win over Nevada included and the only losses being at Utah State and against Wisconsin. Granted, this isn’t the Oregon team we all thought we would see before the season with the departures of Jabari Brown and Bruce Barron, but the Ducks aren’t pushovers.

Head-scratching in the CAA

A number of conferences have their opening games this weekend before teams resume non-conference play for a little while longer. Perhaps none has had results that might leave one scratching their head as much as the Colonial Athletic Association, where three teams won on the road and preseason favorite Drexel lost to Delaware by 11 (albeit on the road). The Dragons have had a rough go of it thus far, but Chris Fouch is back so they’re closer to having their full team together. Still, Fouch was 0-9 yesterday and the Blue Hens won the battle on the glass by a 40-32 margin over a Drexel team that routinely beats up opponents on the boards.

The one other score that jumps out is Georgia State thumping William & Mary 66-34 in Atlanta. The Tribe didn’t look to be far from being a good team last season, but they’re struggling mightily out of the gates and Saturday may be the low point thus far.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• Ohio State didn’t miss a beat despite Jared Sullinger being out with back spasms.
• College of Charleston lost a wealth of talent and experience from last season’s team, but the Cougars are 7-1 overall and are one of four teams that went 2-0 in early Southern Conference games this weekend. Chattanooga, who the Cougars beat last night and was picked to win the North Division, is 0-2.
• Connecticut got a big lift from Ryan Boatright with 23 points and six assists in his home debut.
• UCLA is now 2-5 after a home loss to Texas that saw them blow an 11-point lead.

Some of Sunday’s Key Matchups

Sunday is a day full of interesting matchups of teams that we’re trying to find out something about. None of these are like North Carolina-Kentucky, but they will be worth keeping an eye on.

• Baylor at Northwestern
• UNLV at Wichita State
• California at San Diego State
• Dayton at Murray State
• North Carolina State at Stanford
• Notre Dame at Maryland
• VCU vs. George Washington (BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center)
• Kansas State at Virginia Tech

Larranaga Jumps Into Shark-Infested Waters

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a roundup of news from across the nation.

1. Miami finally got its man in hiring George Mason coach Jim Larranaga to become the Hurricanes’ next coach, according to the Associated Press. In Larranaga, the Hurricanes get a coach with a Final Four pedigree, and that’s coming out of the Colonial Athletic Conference. The Colonials’ coach has family roots in Florida, and the opportunity was particularly alluring, even though George Mason is a perennial NCAA Tournament contender in the CAA.
2. IUPUI hired its new coach from within in the program, elevating associate coach Todd Howard to the top spot, according to the Associated Press. Former head coach Ron Hunter left the program to coach Georgia State.
3. It’s a little hard to figure what Hollis Thompson is thinking, but the sophomore Hoya announced he will enter the NBA Draft without an agent, according to the Associated Press. Thompson averaged 8.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game this past season — not exactly attention-grabbing stats.
4. As much as Texas faithful don’t want to hear it, the decisions of Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and Jordan Hamilton make a little more sense. All three players will go through the NBA Draft process, according to ESPN’s Dana O’Neil. However, only Hamilton has immediate plans to sign with an agent, though Thompson figures to be a possible lottery pick.
5. Former Wake Forest sophomore guard Ari Stewart is heading to the West Coast to play for USC and coach Kevin O’Neill, according to Pedro Moura for ESPN Los Angeles.com.
6. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, you just won the 2011 national championship. Where are you going next? The weed man? Not a great idea. Police arrested the sophomore swingman April 21 and charged him with marijuana possession, according to the Associated Press.
7. Redemption remains a possibility for Coombs-McDaniel, much like it is for BYU’s Brandon Davies, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. Davies had possibly the most noteworthy sex of any college athlete this year when the news broke in early March that the Cougars would suspend their best big man for violating the university’s honor code, which prohibits premarital sex. However, Davies is confident that he’ll complete the necessary penance to return to campus as a BYU student-athlete, then return to the court as a solid post player for the Cougars.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

The Miami coaching gig is a death trap.

It’s not that the Hurricanes will never succeed, and it’s not that a talented coach can’t attract some talented players to Coral Gables. The problem is that it will be almost always impossible to get fans in the stands, which is one of the primary concerns of athletic departments.

And without a naturally enthusiastic fan base, Miami’s coach must produce fantastic seasons on a regular basis. For new coach Jim Larranaga, that’s a tall order.

The Hurricanes have some talent heading into next season, especially if Reggie Johnson returns to school instead of remaining in the NBA Draft. He would join Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott in south Florida. Unfortunately for Larranaga and the ‘Canes, most people in south Florida are more interested in other teams and activities. The city’s mercurial fan base has the Miami Heat as their primary object of affection on the hardwood. Among the Coral Gables community and student body, ‘Canes football will always be the No. 1 sport on campus.

That leaves Larranaga’s crew fighting for the No. 3 spot in town with other sports teams, including the Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers and Miami Dolphins — NFL lockout permitting. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the allure of the beach and notorious night life. Unless Miami can knock off North Carolina and Duke on an annual basis, getting fans to show up at the BankUnited Center will be a very tough task.

The Hurricanes’ 7,200-seat arena would need about 50 percent of all Miami undergrads present and accounted for just to fill three-quarters of the seats. Larranaga would need to attract some serious talent to generate enough buzz to fill the rest of the arena. And that wasn’t his M.O. at George Mason, nor will ACC rivals like Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Gary Williams and Leonard Hamilton make it easy for him to get the best kids to play at Miami. Within the state of Florida, the Gators have the best shot at recruiting local kids, with Florida State’s Hamilton not far behind.

Despite that shark-infested climate, Miami remains an ACC team with ACC expectations. That means the Hurricanes need to sell out the big games, finish in the top third every now and then, and make a run to at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament when talented recruiting classes come through town. Ask Paul Hewitt and Al Skinner how that goes.

Good luck to Larranaga. This won’t be a vacation.

Globetrotters’ Basketball Soul Outshines Rash of Rough News

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

1. Although Phil Jackson seems pretty convinced that there won’t be a next season for the NBA next season, several college players are gambling that they’ll still be making NBA money within a few months. Here are a few of the players who announced during the past few days that they’ll be entering the NBA Draft.

• Arizona’s Derrick Williams, with agent
• Butler’s Shelvin Mack, no agent
• Connecticut’s Kemba Walker, with agent
• Florida State’s Chris Singleton, with agent
• Kansas’ Josh Selby, with agent
• San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, with agent
• UCLA’s Malcolm Lee, with agent

2. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz breaks down the NCAA Legislative Committee’s proposal to move up the deadline for declaring for the draft. If the Board of Directors approves the measure, players will need to decide by April 10 whether they intend to declare for the draft — and they can’t turn back. It essentially ends the test-the-waters approach, which isn’t good for the kids, Katz writes.

3. One player who won’t be testing the waters this season is Baylor’s Perry Jones, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz writes. Somewhat surprisingly, Jones will return to the Bears, who had a disappointing season but will return a start-studded team, anchored by Jones.

4. Despite the uproar about the early entry deadline, that’s small change compared to the fiasco in San Diego. The Associated Press reported this week that the FBI is investigating former members of the Toreros program for running a sports betting business, and 10 people have been charged in the case, including the team’s all-time leading scorer, Brandon Johnson. In addition to Johnson, former player Brandon Dowdy is accused of fixing games.

5. Jorts-mania could be coming to a town near you. Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson will be launching a Jorts Tour — after his now-famous nickname — to sign autographs and hawk his clothing line, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.

6. As Nebraska prepares to move to the Big 10 next season, the Huskers have reworked coach Doc Sadler’s deal to pay him an extra $100,000 per year, making his salary $900,000 per year through 2015-16, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

7. One of Nebraska’s former Big 12 rivals, Iowa State, is dealing with some drama after police arrested freshman center Jordan Railey for punching a man late Wednesday night along a hot spot for Ames restaurants and bars, according to the Associated Press. Coach Fred Hoiberg has suspended Railey while gathering more information about the incident.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

Man, what a rough week for news in the world of college basketball.

Several players landed in trouble with the law (Nebraska, Florida). An NBA-minded freshman skipped his team’s season-closing banquet to work out in Vegas (Kansas). And speaking of Sin City, the gambling bug apparently migrated south to San Diego, where the very integrity of the game is in question after the FBI unearthed a supposed sports business ring that included former Torero players who are accused of fixing games.

And just to pile on, the NCAA looks pretty selfish and uninterested in the welfare of student-athletes after moving forward with a proposal to give players until about a week after the championship game to decide whether they want to return to school or enter the NBA Draft. Needing only an affirmative vote by the NCAA’s Board of Directors to become official, the proposal applies tortured logic that benefits schools and coaches but not players. And the players already are limited because the NCAA won’t let them profit from their name or likeness in commercial products, such as video games. However, the NCAA is happy to take its cut from those sales.

That’s enough to get you pretty down about the game.

Thankfully, I watched the Harlem Globetrotters play tonight on ESPN. And that evaporated my creeping cynicism. The figure-eight weaves, between-the-legs passes and crowd-pleasing interludes don’t look like traditional basketball. All those fancy moves make for great entertainment, and everyone in the arena is having fun — even the tough-luck Generals.

Basketball is supposed to be fun. Yes, the game can be a means to a career — and a small fortune — for the most talented players. But for the 99 percent of players who don’t come within sniffing distance of an NBA pay check, the game needs to be fun. If it’s not, why play? The Globetrotters take fun to an extreme, but they embody the soul of the game.

Despite the spate of bad news, the game goes on. By November, optimism will be the mood du jour as nearly 350 Division I teams embark on the journey toward a 2012 championship. And with any luck, most of them will have plenty of fun along the way.

Back in Action, With Championship-Level Appreciation

Editor’s Note: We’ve trimmed down the Full Court Sprints because Hoopville’s new design has made some elements redundant. In particular, our new design highlights some of Hoopville’s great coverage in the middle column. In addition, we’ve got recent tweets from Phil Kasiecki and Michael Protos in the right column. There’s no games on tap anytime soon — sadly — so the upcoming games and recent results are irrelevant until November. We do have plenty of news to round up and some quick commentary on recent trends and news.

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

If it’s April, three of the top stories in basketball relate to which coaches are changing jobs, which players are going pro, and which players are transferring. Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman has a list for the latter category. In case you’ve missed some of the player movement of the past few weeks, Goodman lists all the players who have announced that they will play elsewhere.

At ESPN.com, you can track all the coaching movement in Division I in a chart that lists schools, former coach and new coach. As of today, 13 teams are still in the hunt for a new coach.

And if you want to find out whether your team’s best underclassmen will be playing in the NBA or NCAA next season, check out CBS Sports.com’s set of charts.

The most recent team to fill its open coaching position is UNLV, according to the Associated Press. BYU associate coach Dave Rice is moving on from the Mormons’ home base of Utah to Sin City. Rice’s now former boss, BYU coach Dave Rose, said Rice is an excellent teacher and has a history of success, which he’ll be taking to the desert and a Rebels team that has emerged as a perennial Mountain West contender.

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin will begin treatment for prostate cancer after announcing that he was diagnosed with the disease in fall 2010, according to SI.com’s “Fan Nation” blog.

BYU is extending coach Dave Rose’s contract, a rare reward for excellence at the university, according to Fan Nation. Just don’t ask about the financial details.

We already have some drama heading into next season’s North Carolina State vs. Maryland rivalry in the ACC. Granted, in recent years, there’s not much of a rivalry to speak of between those teams. However, Wolfpack Athletic Director Debbie Yow, former boss of Maryland coach Gary Williams, accused Williams of trying to sabotage her search for a new coach. She eventually hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried to replace Sidney Lowe, drawing the ire of State fans who wanted Shaka Smart or another hot name. There’s plenty of bad blood between Yow and Williams, according to the “Lost Lettermen” blog.

UCLA finally knows where the Bruins will be playing home games next season while Pauley Pavilion gets a facelift. Eamonn Brennan, of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog, reports that the Los Angeles Sports Arena will host 14 Bruins home games, with the team playing four others at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Fresh off his third national championship, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun said he will take some to decide whether he wants to retire, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. But don’t think that means he’s taking any time off from the recruiting trail.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

I watched every second of Connecticut’s championship game victory against Butler. And that might officially make me a basketball geek — as if there were any doubt about that.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Huskies’ 53-41 win wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever watched. But there’s been far too much talk about how terrible the game was, and some commentators have even hinted that the NCAA Tournament has a flawed format in which the best team doesn’t win the title.

To that, I say: horse manure.

The NCAA Tournament has one of the most difficult post-season formats of any sport at any level because a champion must win six — at least — games in a row against opponents that play a variety of styles. A championship run is a testament of a coach’s ability to strategize a game plan and adjust it during the heat of the action. It’s a testament of great players performing at a consistently high level for three weeks.

Even the most talented teams in the country will likely face at least one opponent that plays a style that makes the favorite somewhat uncomfortable. For underdogs, the ability to get a team outside its comfort zone, force mistakes and capitalize on opportunities forms the recipe for an upset. VCU took that recipe and repeated it from the First Four to the Final Four.

The Rams got past USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas with a pressure defense that preyed on inconsistent backcourt play. On offense, VCU rode hot three-point shooting to cover up for a size disadvantage in the post. If the Rams met the Jayhawks in an NBA-style seven-game series, there’s no way I could see VCU winning the series. I’d pick VCU to win one, maybe two games in seven against Kansas. But the more talented team — as NBA analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley frequently pointed out during their stint as NCAA Tournament analysts — would likely advance, barring injuries or a major internal meltdown.

And that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament wonderful. To be champion, you must come to play every game for three weeks. Anything short of your best effort could send you home. And even your effort might not be enough if you’re running the wrong game plan.

So don’t tell me Butler’s 18 percent shooting in the championship ruined the tournament or somehow devalues Connecticut’s achievement. In the game I watched, I saw an outstanding defensive effort in which the Huskies limited the Bulldogs to a tiny number of clean looks at the hoop. However, Butler also failed to make in-game adjustments. The team took 51.6 percent of its shots from three-point range, making only 9-of-33 attempts. After Chase Stigall hit a three to open the second half and give Butler a six-point lead, the team didn’t make another shot from the field for seven minutes and only one shot in 13 minutes. During that stretch, the Bulldogs missed 11 three-pointers.

Brad Stevens realized his teams was overmatched in the post, but the Bulldogs just weren’t getting it done from the perimeter. The team’s stubborn insistence on jacking up bombs — and bricks — led to the dismal shooting percentage and put Connecticut on track to the championship.

More simply put, the Huskies executed their game plan more efficiently and effectively than Butler could, and the Bulldogs couldn’t adjust to do anything about that. In a championship game performance, that’s all you can ask from the winning team, regardless of the score.

For Once, College Basketball is Wide Open

Raise your hand if you figured either Connecticut or Butler would be playing for the national championship before the season began.

No hands? No one saw this coming?

It’s not that surprising, really. And it fits the way this season has gone and how many saw the season as it evolved, which is something college basketball fans should be happy about. That is especially true for those who are simply fans of the game.

… Continue Reading

Final Four Teams All Overcame Adversity

Adversity is part of life. Sports are no different, as no team ever goes through a season without adversity of some sort. Some teams and players go through more than others, but it’s all part of competing. This year’s Final Four teams are all studies in exactly that, because each has had to overcome adversity along the way.

VCU had more than its fair share of adversity, some of which wasn’t expected. This is a team picked third in the Colonial Athletic Association before the season, with some picking them second. The non-conference slate went reasonably well, but had some missed opportunities. It included blowing a lead at UAB right before Christmas, then a couple of wins right before CAA play that left head coach Shaka Smart concerned about leadership – not exactly what one would expect of a senior-laden team. Joey Rodriguez remembered going home after the UAB game, namely that it felt like an even longer drive (he drove from Birmingham to his home in Florida) because it was a missed opportunity.

… Continue Reading

Bracket Breakdown: Critical Questions for the Elite Eight

Let’s dive right into today’s Elite Eight match ups between Florida and Butler, followed by Connecticut and Arizona.

(8) Butler 74 (2) Florida 71 OT

In each of the past two NCAA Tournaments that Florida played Butler, the Gators reached the national title game, winning it in 2007 and losing to Michigan State in 2000. These two teams are different from their recent counterparts, and the winner will be one step away from the championship game. … Continue Reading

Breakout Game is Like Old Times For Connecticut Sophomore

STORRS, Conn. – Sunday night was like old times for Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, in more ways than one. It was also long-awaited and much-needed at the same time for the sophomore forward.

Coombs-McDaniel broke out in a big way, scoring a career-high 25 points in the Huskies 75-57 win over Providence. Kemba Walker got him going in the first half, finding him with a couple of nice passes inside for easy baskets, and it continued from there. He established his career high in points early in the second half, and had the kind of game in the box score that he had plenty of in high school.

… Continue Reading

Big East Player Rankings 2.0

In the first update of the Big East player rankings this season, using the Total Impact Quotient, we find Kemba Walker continuing to play at an outrageously high level, while Pittsburgh is building a team that looks like a champion.

As mentioned in our first rankings for Big East players this season, Walker is on pace to post a better TIQ for guards than anyone did last season. The biggest question is whether he can maintain his hot start. In the past three weeks, Walker has made an even bigger contribution in his total impact in points per 40 minutes, elevating his TIQ by 1.4 points. … Continue Reading

After the Feast

Connecticut Flaunts Compliance Rules

The Connecticut Huskies are conducting damage control after the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions released a notice of allegations that contains eight major violations. And the university can only thank itself for allowing this public relations volcano to erupt.

According to the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, two members of coach Jim Calhoun’s coaching staff made hundreds of impermissible phone calls and text messages to Husky recruits. Then they lied to NCAA investigators to cover their tracks.

In addition, the coaching staff improperly passed along tickets to recruits’ coaches, teachers or friends. The infractions committee also cited Connecticut for allowing Josh Nochimson, a former Husky student manager who became a professional agent, to interact with recruits on Connecticut’s behalf.

In sum, the infractions committee said Calhoun and the university failed to promote compliance and adequately monitor the program’s conduct. Those are pretty serious charges against a program that spends $55 million of taxpayers’ money on its athletics, according to the Hartford Courant.

But with Connecticut’s blatant disregard of compliance, an incident like this was bound to happen.

Connecticut is a powerhouse in men’s and women’s basketball and has recently emerged as a major player in the imminently profitable world of Division I football. The recruiting trail is filled with shady figures representing cutthroat competitors. In addition, the NCAA has legislated enough landmines to keep the Committee on Infractions permanently well staffed.

And if you’re a Connecticut executive, you might want to beef up the compliance office when your coach demonstrates a cavalier attitude toward compliance with statements like, “The [rules] manual is 508 pages. Someone could’ve made a mistake,” as reported by Yahoo’s Jason King.

Instead, as of May 2009, Connecticut had the smallest compliance office of any Big East team that plays Division I-A football, as reported by Dave Altimari and Paul Doyle for the Hartford Courant. The Huskies lumped the massive workload of overseeing the conduct of hundreds of student-athletes and dozens of coaches onto two employees. In comparison, Connecticut has already spent $338,000 on law services from Kansas City-based Bond, Schoeneck and King, according to the Hartford Courant, to defend the men’s basketball program against the recent allegations. To do so, the university had to ask the state to double the original three-year contract of $300,000, initiated in April 2009.

Someone in the athletics department — and even the university president or board of directors — should receive some of the blame for this mess. A major program of the Huskies’ magnitude needs major dedication to compliance. Yes, Calhoun has a dubious attitude toward the rules, and he should reconsider publicly antagonizing the NCAA. But the compliance office needs to have more clout and support. If Calhoun is concerned that he or his staff are not following all 508 pages of rules, he should be able to consult the experts and receive a quick reply.

In comparison, journalists have hundreds of Associated Press style guidelines that we’re supposed to follow. I don’t know anyone who has all of them memorized — why even try? But nearly every writer I know has the spiral-bound style guide within reaching distance of their computer. We might not know all the rules, but we know where to look.

Thankfully, the Associated Press doesn’t have an infractions committee to hunt down journalists who write that a game is underway — which is perfectly acceptable according to Merriam-Webster — instead of under way. But if AP style was a requirement for journalists’ performance, we’d be consulting the guide all the time. Writers who opted not to flip through the guide — or worse, knowingly wrote however they wanted regardless of AP style — would be risking professional condemnation.

At this stage, it’s difficult to determine whether Connecticut’s latest embarrassment is a product of negligence or intentional malfeasance. However, these matters likely would not be as prevalent — certainly not as public — if Connecticut’s power brokers placed more emphasis on compliance.

Quick Hitters – April 8, 2010

Some quick hitters as we head toward the weekend:

• The national championship game on Monday night is certainly up there with the best ones I’ve seen. Throughout the game, you never felt like either team was going to run away with it, even though at times Duke looked like they could be one play away from breaking it open.
• Here’s an interesting nugget that CAA blogger Michael Litos pointed out: had Butler pulled off the victory on Monday night, all four postseason tournaments would have a mid-major as their champion. Dayton won the NIT, VCU won the CBI and Missouri State won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

• Connecticut got a commitment last week from Shabazz Napier for next season, provided he gets through the NCAA Clearinghouse. This is significant in two ways. For one, Napier was originally slated for the class of 2011, so they get a player who wasn’t expected to be in college next season although that was always a remote possibility. Also, the Huskies get an elite point guard to run the show, one who went on a big run of improvement over 10 months. Since last May, he has gone from being a gunner to a floor leader, and with that began to show his full potential. He took it to another level during the school season, leading Lawrence Academy to a perfect record en route to a NEPSAC Class C title.

• On a related note, this weekend will start our coverage of travel team basketball with the Boo Williams Nike Invitational in Hampton, Virginia. This year, things are a little different: it’s one of three events Nike is running as part of its Elite Youth Basketball to determine the teams that will play in the Peach Jam in July. It isn’t a tournament, so there is no champion unlike past years. More details and player evaluations will come early next week.

• There is always something striking about the coaching changes, and what leaps out this time around is that there are quite a few even with the season over. Oftentimes, most vacancies have been filled by now simply because of the ability of athletic directors and coaches to meet at the Final Four, but as of now three (soon to be four, according to reports) high-major openings exist, and each could set some dominoes in motion when the new coach is hired. Vacancies at places like Charlotte and Marshall could do that as well.

• Brad Stevens’ new 12-year contract at Butler is not only well-deserved, but a great move because he’s the perfect fit there. He’s an understated guy who loves where he is and at a program that knows what it is and has had a great run of success even before this season.

• UNC Wilmington probably didn’t have in mind what has transpired when they let Benny Moss go during the season. The search has dragged on, and after having over a week to decide former Citadel head coach Ed Conroy opted to take the head coaching job at Tulane instead. It’s anyone’s guess where they go from here, but this hasn’t been the school’s finest hour from a PR standpoint.

• Gene DeFilippo said he wanted the next Boston College head coach to be one who will go out and sell the program to get more people in the seats. While he got a fine head coach in Steve Donahue, I’m not sure he’s getting quite what he wants otherwise. Donahue is a humble and very likeable man, but he’s not a charismatic, rah-rah guy who will go to the ends of the earth to put fans in the stands. One can’t blame Al Skinner for attendance there being spotty considering that Boston belongs to the Red Sox and Patriots first and foremost, with the Celtics a distant third and the Bruins an even more distant fourth before we get to college sports.

In the NIT, Different Feelings Can Lead to Surprises

Being in the NIT means different things for different programs.  Everyone wants to be in the NCAA Tournament, but some have that as an expectation.  In light of that, every year there’s an NIT surprise or two, often one that involves a team that almost made the NCAA Tournament putting up a clunker when they bow out.

On the first night, we probably saw that with Seton Hall being handled easily by Texas Tech.  Another case of this nearly happened in a battle of Huskies that Connecticut barely won over Northeastern thanks to a 9-2 run in the final minutes.

Seton Hall went 9-9 in the Big East but did not make the NCAA Tournament, a result of not getting enough quality wins along the way.  Connecticut had a disappointing regular season, going 7-11 in the Big East and then getting blown out by St. John’s in the Big East Tournament.  It would be easy for either team to play with some disappointment from not being in the NCAA Tournament and then losing a game they shouldn’t, especially a team like Connecticut where the bar has been raised to set expectations of not only reaching the tournament, but making a deep run.

“You’ll see the Northeastern Universities of the world – and I’ve been there, for 14 years – and understand what these games mean to you and the opportunity,” said Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun.

On the other hand, you have a program like Northeastern, which was making just its second NIT appearance in program history and hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991.  For a program like this, in a conference that is typically a one or two-bid conference, NCAA Tournament opportunities aren’t exactly plentiful.  Since their last trip to the NCAA Tournament, Northeastern has twice played in the NIT and played in the CBI last year.  For them, being in the NIT is a big deal.

“I thought it was an honor for our program to be playing at this time of the year,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen.  “I know our kids were excited about it, our fans were excited about it, our student body was excited about it, and I know I was excited about.”

Further demonstrating this is that Northeastern and Connecticut played in front of a crowd of 5,571 (Gampel Pavilion’s capacity is twice that), with a good number of fans for the school two hours away from the campus.  This is Northeastern – a school that has had a hard time drawing even 1,000 fans over the years to its home games in pro-dominated Boston.  Now they had a significant cheering section in an arena that normally is dominated by home fans

Northeastern played like it, too, playing with confidence and a sense of urgency all game long.  Even when Connecticut got going and seemed like they could be a play or two away from breaking the game open, Northeastern kept running their offense solidly and had just six turnovers all game.  They didn’t look like a team reeling from a heart-breaking loss to William & Mary in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament a week earlier; rather, they looked like a team with new life.

Connecticut started the game and the second half very sluggishly, so it’s easy to think they might have been playing with some disappointment.  They insist otherwise, and it’s not impossible to believe considering they weren’t really on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, not after being blown out by St. John’s when they really needed to make a run in the Big East Tournament.

“It’s our fault we’re in the NIT,” sophomore guard Kemba Walker said.  “At this point, we’re only thinking about winning the NIT.  This is where we’re at, and we can’t change it.”

The general thinking seemed to be similar: they would rather be in the NCAA Tournament, but they know this is what they have in front of them.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’d definitely like to be in the NCAA Tournament, but this is the hand of cards we’re dealt and we’re just going to make the best of it,” said senior forward Gavin Edwards.

A night later, it was clear that if Rhode Island had any disappointment about being in the NIT for the third straight season, they got over it pretty quickly.  The Rams played terrific defense all night long against Northwestern en route to a 76-64 win over the Wildcats.  They were aggressive all night long and very loose in the post-game interviews.  Will Martell, who started off strong, was engaging in some self-deprecating humor and happy to be in the tournament.

“Of course we’re disappointed that we didn’t make the NCAA (Tournament),” said the junior big man.  “I think we had an argument.  I think as a team, as a program, we moved on and we realized, hey let’s get to (Madison Square) Garden, that’s the new goal.”

At this point, the Rams have set the goal of getting to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four.  They understand where they’re at, even while some in the fan base aren’t very happy about being in the NIT again.  They want the NCAA Tournament, and some think the coach needs to change because of that.  But the players take a different view, as does the coach, who’s continued to do a solid job of running the program.

“You could put your head down, and I was real concerned when we didn’t get the invite (to the NCAA Tournament),” head coach Jim Baron said.  “To come back and play against a very good Northwestern team that has 20 wins, that beat Notre Dame, beat Iowa State, beat Purdue, beat Minnesota, it’s a heck of a team and it’s a heck of a win for us.”

With the CBI and CollegeInsider Tournament (CIT), the postseason tournaments aside from the NCAA might seem like little more than alphabet soup to the casual fan.  But for a number of teams, it’s an opportunity in a couple of ways.  It’s a chance to play in a tournament recognizing the season they had.  It’s a chance to play for a championship.  And for teams with underclassmen, it’s a chance for more practice days and more games, which can only help.

This year’s CAA champions, Old Dominion, played in the CBI two seasons ago and won the CIT last season.  The Monarchs thus entered this season with a lot of players who gained extra experience from those tournaments, and that had to have helped in their development.  Though they had just two seniors and two redshirt juniors on the roster, this team came in more experienced than that might indicate.

But besides all of that, sometimes there’s a simple benefit to playing in a tournament like the NIT.

“The NIT isn’t the NCAA, but it’s better than sitting at home not playing,” said Rhode Island freshman Akeem Richmond.

Since players play the game, that right there is reason enough to keep competing.

St. John’s Rolls Over UCONN

NEW YORK – There wasn’t a great deal on the X and O side to discuss. St. John’s, from tap to buzzer, simply wanted it more. The Red Storm snapped a nine-game losing streak to UCONN, defeating the Huskies 73-51 in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. “It was a hard physical game,” St. John’s coach Norm Roberts said. “Our guys made plays all day.”
The Red Storm led 35-22 at the break and outside of a brief run or two, were never severely threatened. Sean Evans had a huge game inside with a 19-point, 10-rebound effort to pace St. John’s. The Red Storm placed three in double figures and one, junior forward Justin Brownlee, stepped up to supply 13 points off the bench.
Kemba Walker paced UCONN with 12 points, but was a largely ineffective 4 of 17 from the field. Stanley Robinson added 10 points but was basically a non-factor. The Huskies shot 38 percent from the floor and were guilty of 20 turnovers.
“St. John’s came out with a purpose,” UCONN coach Jim Calhoun said. “They were hungrier.” The Red Storm, not known for prowess beyond the arc, were 7 of 13 from three point range.
From the X and O standpoint a key factor was St. John’s excellent defense on ball screens. “We wanted to stop the penetration of Walker and (Jerome) Dyson,” Roberts said.  They did that to virtual perfection.

The win puts the Red Storm at 17-14. They will face Marquette at 2:30 on Wednesday. UCONN fell to 17-15.

Calhoun said an NIT bid is something he and his staff will discuss. “No disrespect to the NIT,” Calhoun said. “We won it in 1988 and it jump-started our program. Right now we as a staff will sit down and discuss which direction we want to go.”

The eight games of four points or less – all losses – plus the campaign highlighted by inconsistency, has weighed heavily on the entire UCONN program. “For now,” Calhoun said, “there will be no practice the next few days.”
Awards were given following the afternoon doubleheader. Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati earned Rookie of the Year. Syracuse made a big splash with Wes Johnson getting Player of the Year and Jim Boeheim Coach of the Year. Hamady Ndiaye of Rutgers earned Defensive Player of the Year.

Bracket Breakdown: Mock Tournament 6.0

We’re down to the final week before Selection Sunday, and the field is starting to take shape with five teams already in the field: Cornell, East Tennessee State, Murray State, Northern Iowa and Winthrop. While those teams played their way into the field, others appear intent on playing their way out.

For the second consecutive weekend, big losses were rampant throughout the basketball nation. Connecticut’s loss to South Florida gives the Huskies 14 losses, meaning that they would need to become the first at-large team with 15 losses to make the NCAA Tournament unless they find a way to win the Big East tournament this week. Cincinnati finds itself in the same boat after losing its third straight game and fifth in six tries.

In the Big Ten, Illinois paralleled the Bearcats’ poor finish with its third straight defeat Sunday, a 72-57 loss in Champaign to Wisconsin. Illinois has a more compelling case for an at-large bid than Cincinnati does thanks to three wins against the RPI top 25. However, the Illini have 13 losses and an RPI of 73. Illinois will get another crack at the Badgers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, and the Illini might need to win that game to avoid getting bounced off the bubble.

Besides the bubble teams, several others lost big games that affect their seeding in the latest version of the Mock Tournament.

• Kansas State drops to a No. 3 seed after inexplicably losing at home in overtime to Iowa State, ranked No. 113 in the RPI.
• Villanova also drops to the No. 3 line after losing at home in overtime. However, these Wildcats shouldn’t be as ashamed to lose because West Virginia is finishing the season strongly.
• Vanderbilt also suffered a home loss — to South Carolina — and falls to the No. 6 line.

Here are the latest brackets and links to previous projections.

• Mock Tournament 5.0
• Mock Tournament 4.0
• Mock Tournament 3.0
• Mock Tournament 2.0
• Mock Tournament 1.0

Teams in bold have won an automatic bid.

Bracket Breakdown: Mock Tournament 3.0

What a difference two weeks can make. Less than 14 days ago, Connecticut was left for dead after Cincinnati completed a season sweep of the Huskies with a 60-48 win in Storrs. But just when everyone was ready to relegate Connecticut to the NIT, the Huskies flipped the switch and started beating the Big East’s beasts.

Almost two weeks later, Connecticut has wins against Villanova and West Virginia — two marquee wins to brag about, in addition to the No. 2 toughest schedule. As a result of the Huskies’ recent hot streak, Connecticut makes its debut in the tournament as a No. 8 seed. Yes, teams can go from the wrong side of the bubble to a solid middle-of-the-road seed in less than two weeks. With remaining games against Louisville, Notre Dame and South Florida, Connecticut has an opportunity to build a six-game winning streak heading into the Big East Tournament and move up the seed chart.

While Connecticut rises, William & Mary continues to falter. After dropping a must-win BracketBusters game at Iona, the Tribe returned home to lose to Towson, ranked No. 273 in the RPI. That loss gives William & Mary three losses to teams in the bottom 150 of the RPI. That’s just too many losses to bad teams, which neutralizes the strength of quality wins against Wake Forest, Richmond and Maryland. Unless the Tribe make a run to capture the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic bid, the Tribe will once again fail to reach the NCAA Tournament. The team has never gone to the Big Dance since it started in 1939.

Here are some of the other highlights of Mock Tournament 3.0.

• The No. 1 seeds remain the same, but watch Purdue’s performance without Robbie Hummel.
• Baylor and Missouri inch higher in seeding, which reflects the strength of the Big 12 Conference this season.
• Florida State and Virginia Tech are entering bubble trouble, while Louisville can start to feel a little more secure.
• Florida is coming on strong at the right time of year, and Utah State and UTEP are getting closer to earning an at-large bid if they don’t win their conferences’ automatic bids.

Without further ado, here are the Mock Tournament 3.0 seeds. UAB and Cincinnati in the tournament? Florida and Charlotte out? Am I crazy or right on point? Submit a comment to share your thoughts and opinions.

For comparison, also check out Mock Tournament 1.0 and Mock Tournament 2.0. Also, check out a map of NCAA Tournament sites and the schedule for all rounds of the tournament.