Not the quite the crazy weekend of sports that I had anticipated, but an entertaining one nonetheless, especially for the final event of UNC/Clemson last night.
–UPSET–West Virginia 79, No. 10 Marquette 64. League play ain’t easy. Marquette has all the statistics you could want in a team according to www.kenpom.com, but couldn’t get a win in their first conference road game. The Mountaineers rocked their ugly gray while distracting Marquette to shoot only 41.5 percent from the field. Huge explosion for the Mountaineers, as the scored an even fitty points in the second 20-minute session. Oh yes, and of course, Georgetown will now be “widely considered” to be Top Dog in the Big East. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
–No. 1 North Carolina 90, No. 19 Clemson 88 (OT). Best game of this season so far—that’s not arguable—and win number 15 might be the hardest one UNC gets this entire year. I was going to do a post by itself on this game, but that was only if Clemson won the game or if it got to a second overtime. Wayne Elllington was the premier performer, but let’s chronologically break down the final seconds of OT: Danny Green fouled out with 13.9 to go and put freshman Demontez Stitt on the line. He sank both. Then, UNC’s offense was about to play itself out of the game with a sloppy setup, but Roy Williams called a timeout with 5.4 to allow for a reset. It was then that Ellington (36 Big Boy points on the night) was setup for a WET three point shot that fell after Clemson’s David Potter gambled for a steal and whiffed. Great game, hope you were able to catch it.
What does the outcome mean? Well, Carolina might get a few less votes for #1, but I’ll keep them there in my BlogPoll ballot. As for Clemson, I’ll have them in the top 15, for sure. They should’ve had this game; the Tigers were up by a 3-7 point margin for most of the second half, but tightened up in big spots. Combine that with clutch play from UNC and you’ve got yourself a heartbreaking loss.
–No. 17 Villanova 64, No. 13 Pittsburgh 63. And the slide really begins here for the Panthers, who are feeling the losses of Mike Cook and Levance Fields rather quickly. Hardly an upset (here at CHJ, it needs to be greater than a five seed difference for an upset to qualify) too, but it’s a really good win for Villanova, who lost to DePaul on Thursday night. Credit Ronald Ramon for the loss for Pittsburgh. The froed foe who suits up in Pitt colors lost the ball in the final seconds and didn’t allow the Panthers did get the win. Fifteen lead changes in this one, too. Another “Student Section Supports” lives up to the billing!
–No. 9 Duke 81, Cornell 67. Cornell actually had the lead late in the first half and kept this one close enough to make me dance back-and-forth on the HDTV of mine. Is it a game that a school with much more talent and assets uses to take advantage of Duke in the future? Possibly, but recognize the fact that Duke did a lot of chucking (and subsequent bricking) in this game. They seem pretty unprepared, actually. Nelson led Duke with 23 and 8.
Notable:
Drake 71, Evansville 68. Drake is now 12-1, in control of the Missouri Valley Conference, and looking more and more like the team that will lose in the MVC tourney and miss out on the dance. Just an ill-advised hypothesis right there.
Xavier 80, Auburn 57. Oh, don’t mind them. The Musketeers will launch back into the Top 25 (probably for the rest of the season) on Monday after this drubbing of another Big 6 school. B.J. Raymond had six treys for the Muskies.
