Texas A&M/Baylor ‘08 thinks Texas/Oklahoma State ‘07 is child’s play.  It’s officially the longest game in Big XII history.

–UPSET–Baylor 116, No. 18 Texas A&M 110 (5OT). Meeting number 196 between the schools was the best one. Seriously, I’m pissed. I didn’t catch this game at all…oh, wait…IT WASN’T ON TELEVISION. After my post from yesterday I searched and searched for what local channel/network the game might air on. Nothin’. That’s a story for another time. The irony: This is a game that ultimately will have little effect on either team. Firstly, it wasn’t available to selection committee eyes. Plus, I mean, c’mon, Baylor steals a great one on the road, but if you’re the selection committee you can’t really punish A&M for falling in a freaking FIFTH overtime; Baylor exploded for 17 in the fifth extra session to pull away.

Allow me to ramble a little further about this one…both teams scored 35 and 29 in each half, there were 21 players that saw PT (nine of them in double-digits), Curtis Jerrells (Baylor) had a game-high 36 along with a team-high 8 assists, Bryan Davis led A&M with 30. Seventeen blocked shots, 30 turnovers (not that bad), Baylor was a hideous 7-for-34 from 3s. Too boot: Baylor remains undefeated in the conference.

Here’s the last good tidbit from the AP story, “The game lasted so long that even one of the referees got confused. In the break before the start of the fourth overtime, a referee approached a member of the media and asked if triple overtime was about to begin. When told it was four, he shook his head and walked off.”

–UPSET–Rutgers 80, No. 18 Villanova 68. I KNEW IT. I sense something really wrong with this ‘Nova team ever since their loss against DePaul a few weeks ago.  A loss to Rutgers (and the Wildcats’ third loss in six games) seems to be molding this team into quite the bubble outfit.

–No. 1 Memphis 56, Tulsa 41. You know, it’s funny how teams are really trying to turn their games against Memphis into a molasses mess. Holding this team in the 50s will only cause this sort of embarassing offensive result for the competitor. I say take your chances, huck up some 3s and hope for the best.  

–No. 2 Kansas 83, Iowa State 59. As it should be. I have nothing to write about with this team until they are challenged inside the conference again.

–No. 5 North Carolina 98, Miami (FL) 82. Psycho T gets 35 (a season high for him) and completely decimates the ‘Canes by his lonesome. Frank Haith was quoted as saying, “He just completed dominated.” Uh, yeah. I still have to put UNC as third-best overall right now. They are almost assuredly a 1-seed.

–No. 7 Indiana 65, Iowa 43. Not exaclty Knight/Alford anymore here. I’d offer my analysis, but what’s the point? We had a 5 OT game last night.

–No. 13 Pittsburgh 81, St. John’s 57. This game was flipped off the television for good once Pitt took a 22-13 lead on a wide open 3. Seems like the Johnnies are never coming back to relevance, right? Don’t allow these wins to misguide you to what the Big East really is this year. I have to see a lot more from Pittsburgh.  

Notable:

Kent State 75, Akron 69. Their combined record: 29-8. Akron is clinging now, but Kent State has created a little bit of wiggle room for themselves.

St. Joseph’s 81, Massachusetts 77. Good win here for the Hawks—who really needed this one—and get the win at home against the M’men. Despite a GREAT game from Ricky Harris (and he looked really good) UMass was outhustled and playing from behind for the entire game.

Brigham Young 59, San Diego State 56. Bigtime ball in the Mountain West and the Mormons get the W. SDSU suffers their first loss in conference. Trent Plaisted had 17 and 12.

Purdue 64, Penn State 42. That’ll about officially close the lid (yes, it was shortly opened) on Penn State’s at-large chances. Meanwhile, you’ve got the Boilers, who, rather surprisingly, have turned into a 14-5 team. I’m telling you: Beware for their more-than-probable upset possibility this weekend against Wisconsin.

Florida State 69, Virginia 67. Seminoles are trying to become a Top 5 team in the Atlantic Coast, now they are 13-7 overall, yet only 2-3 inside of it. A win like this also does them a lot of good. Consequently (and I’ll get more into this with the Dancing on the Bubble post today—it’s coming, I swear) this hurts Virginia, but also a team like Syracuse, who beat the Cavs in December.

Florida 73, South Carolina 71. This just in: Florida has played 20 games so far this year and only lost three of them. Yeah, NO ONE had that. How amazing would an Elite 8 run for this team be? I’m rooting for it. (Dad’s a UF alumnus.)

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