The last time Central Florida made the NCAA Tournament, it was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
The last time Utah State advanced to the NCAAs, it was in the Western Athletic Conference.
Though their absences haven’t exactly been decades of futility, a lot has changed since 2005 for UCF and 2011 for Utah State. Both are likely in excellent shape to make their return to the NCAAs, though-or at least should be-after huge wins on Saturday-the Knights over Houston 69-64, the Aggies 81-76 winners over Nevada-that should put an exclamation point on their being the rare ‘bubble’ teams that are excelling down the stretch.
UCF picked up not just a signature win, but what the Orlando Sentinel called the biggest win in school history, and did so on the road at Houston. Facing a charged up crowd as ESPN’s College GameDay crew graced the teams with a visit while taking a rare break from hyping Duke or Kentucky, the Knights spoiled the party by making the plays in the final two minutes. The loss for Houston was just its second of the season in 29 games, and also ended the Cougars’ 33-game home winning streak.
Central Florida outplayed a rugged Houston team inside and beat one of the best defenses in the country for more-than respectable 46.9% shooting. The Knights-notorious for being an awful free-throw shooting team-also had a big advantage there, making 18 of 24 from the line while the Cougars hit just 12 of 24.
UCF has continued to display underrated depth late in the season, and in this one it was Collin Smith scoring a season-high 21 points. The 6-foot-11 sophomore transfer from George Washington has had the potential to be an X factor for the Knights all season, and he was huge here leading the way. Aubrey Dawkins also added the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:38 left, a big-time onions shot coming after the Cougars had just scored eight straight points to rally from six down and take the lead.
If the NCAA selection committee continues its mindless and completely narrow-sighted focus on Quadrant 1 wins above all, UCF may still have work to do as of course this was its first in that category. A much more rational view of this team would see a 7-5 mark against the top two quadrants while eight of those 12 games have been on the road. Barring a total collapse the rest of the way, the Knights deserve to be dancing.
Utah State’s sudden rebirth has been one of the turnaround stories of the country this season. A perennial power that ran up some gaudy records in the Big West and later the WAC under longtime coach Stew Morrill, the Aggies started to slide ever so slightly at the end of their WAC tenure and had slipped to also-ran status after stepping up to the Mountain West in 2013.
It felt like an eternity since USU’s last NCAA tourney trip that was just eight years ago, but head coach Craig Smith has engineered a turnaround this year that should have him on the short list of candidates for national coach of the year. Smith having success shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who saw what he did in quickly building South Dakota into a Summit League frontrunner, but no one would’ve expected just how fast the Aggies would again have the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum rocking again. Craig Smith also has displayed how quickly he can adapt to the talent on hand; his South Dakota teams ran offense that included more motion and cutting and less dribbling, whereas at Utah State his team is more likely to spread out four players on the perimeter and drive.
Utah State simply outplayed touted Nevada, holding the Wolf Pack to 36.4% shooting and getting 29 points from star Sam Merrill while the bench also contributed 29 points. For as much of a veteran team as Nevada is, the Aggies were the far more composed team down the stretch and sent the Pack to just their third loss of the season.
Like UCF, Utah State is thin on those precious Quadrant 1 victories that apparently tell the selection committee about everything they need to know about a team, as this was their second of the season. A 24-6 record, a likely Mountain West regular season title, a strong strength of schedule and 10 road wins though ought to say NCAA Tournament team any year, and least of all in a bubble wasteland this year littered with teams possessing 15-14 records that are supposedly in contention for at-large spots.
Side Dishes:
- Phil Kasiecki has his final Saturday Notes of the season, recapping all of the day’s biggest games.
- Looking at Saturday’s top performances, it’s always great to see seniors do well as their careers wind down. That’s especially the case for those who have been on teams with some struggles. Elon was a team that looked to be on the rise in the CAA a couple years ago but has had a tough go of it since, but senior Steven Santa Ana had a day to remember Saturday, finishing with 34 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Phoenix won at Towson 86-66.
- The only thing that might’ve made Santa Ana’s day better would’ve been if it came on Senior Day. Ironically, a number of the day’s best performances came on the road. Air Force junior Ryan Swan scored a career-high 37 as the Falcons continued to be very competitive in the Mountain West with an 80-72 win at Wyoming. Also blowing up on the road was Wofford’s Fletcher Magee, who scored 36 points and hit eight three-pointers as the scorching-hot Terriers drilled Samford 85-64 to complete an 18-0 regular season run through the Southern Conference, an incredible achievement with that leagues’ strength this year.
- Some big games came in defeat on Saturday. Pepperdine guard Colbey Ross scored 36 points, but the Waves lost at home to Pacific 73-72. Seton Hall sharpshooter Myles Powell also scored 35, nearly half of his team’s points, but the Pirates lost at Georgetown 77-71 in double overtime, and Youngstown State’s Darius Quisenberry scored 32 in the Penguins’ 89-80 overtime loss at home to Cleveland State.
- The Ohio Valley Conference could almost have a segment reserved for this every night it plays. Jacksonville State’s Jason Burnell scored 30 and added 13 rebounds in a 97-72 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, while Ja Morant scored 27 points and added 13 assists and six rebounds in Murray State’s entertaining 94-83 win over Austin Peay in front of more than 9,000 fans at the CSFB Center (capacity: 8,600).
Today’s Menu:
- St. John’s takes on DePaul in another Sunday morning game in the almost all-Catholic Big East (Noon Eastern, FS1). Anything for television. The Johnnies have some questionable losses of late and already lost the teams’ first meeting, not handling the Blue Demons’ size well. Later in the day just to the north, Creighton is at Marquette (3 p.m., FS1). The Bluejays have shown a little life in the last week with wins at DePaul and against Georgetown, and they should’ve beaten the Golden Eagles in their first matchup in Omaha.
- South Florida is at Connecticut (Noon, CBSSN). The Bulls have backslid since their terrific start in the American, but still a nice job by Brian Gregory with this team. Also in the AAC: Wichita State goes to SMU (2 p.m., CBSSN), Tulane is at Temple (2 p.m., ESPNU) and-the wonder of this conference’s television package-even East Carolina at Tulsa is on the tube (4 p.m., ESPNU).
- Louisville hosts Notre Dame (1:30 p.m., CBS). The Cardinals need to get it turned around at home against the young Fighting Irish.
- The final day of the Metro Atlantic season has Quinnipiac trying to earn a share of the regular season title when it hosts Manhattan, even as Iona has already clinched the top seed in the MAAC Tournament.
- Easily the best game of the day is Michigan at Maryland (3:45 p.m., CBS). The Terrapins are due for a bounceback after a bad showing at Penn State last time out.
- Speaking of bouncebacks, Washington sorely needs one after its egg at California. The Huskies finish the Bay Area trip at Stanford (4 p.m., ESPN2).
- And another: Arizona State, fresh off being shredded by Oregon by 28 points, now faces Oregon State, which lost at the buzzer to Arizona on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPNU). Plenty of individual talent in this game (Luguentz Dort, Zylan Cheatham, Tres Tinkle, OSU’s Thompson brothers).
Enjoy your Sunday. Two weeks to Selection Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
