Armadillo Sports
Sunday’s 6-pack
Teams getting highest %age of their points on 2-point shots:
64.1% of their points on 2-point shots— Long Beach State
62.6%— Wright State
62.2%— Cleveland State
61.9%— St John’s
60.7%— Rider
60.5%— IUPUI
Quote of the Day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or…….
we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln
Sunday’s quiz
Which NFL team drafted John Elway, then traded him to the Broncos?
Saturday’s quiz
Hall of Famer Bill Russell won 11 titles in 13 years playing with the Celtics; the St Louis Hawks drafted Russell, then traded him to Boston, for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan.
Friday’s quiz
Ja Morant played his college basketball at Murray State.
***************************
Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a college basketball Saturday…….
Big 14
— Iowa 112, Michigan State 106 OT— Hawkeyes outscored MSU 23-10 in last 1:34 of regulation to force overtime. 23 points in 1:34; hard to do. Iowa made 17-36 on the arc.
Spartans are 5-7 in their last 12 games; Iowa split its last six games.
— Indiana 79, Purdue 71— Purdue loses for fourth time in six games, after a 22-1 start. Their guards aren’t good enough to win a national title with. Other than big guy Zach Edey, Purdue shot 30.4% from the floor. Indiana is 10-3 in its last thirteen games.
WCC
— Gonzaga 77, Saint Mary’s 68— Zags shot 63% inside arc, finish tied for first in WCC with the Gaels. Gonzaga had four players score in double figures; Saint Mary’s had one guy score more than 10 points. Chances are these teams will have their rubber match at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas a week from Monday.
ACC
— Florida State 85, Miami 84— Hurricanes led 56-31 early in 2nd half; they lose on 25-footer at the buzzer, which ends their 7-game win streak. Loss drops Miami into a 3-way tie for second in ACC with Virginia/Clemson, game behind Pitt in loss column.
— Clemson 96, NC State 71— This was 55-29 at halftime; impressive win for the Tigers, who are on the bubble and need wins like this. Tigers made 10-22 on arc, scored 1.37 points/possession, which is almost a perfect day on offense.
— North Carolina 71, Virginia 63— Tar Heels get their first Quad 1 win over struggling Virginia, which scored 57.3 ppg in splitting their last four games.
— Pitt 99, Syracuse 82— Natives are restless in central New York; Syracuse lost six of its last nine games, is 9-9 in a down year for the ACC and Jim Boeheim is 78 years old.
Big X
— TCU 83, Texas Tech 82— Horned Frogs led by 12 with 7:39 left, blew the lead but pulled the game out at the end, just their second win in last seven games. Mike Miles is back for TCU; he scored 24 points- he was out for most of their 1-6 skid.
— Kansas State 73, Oklahoma State 68— Damaging loss for OSU, which is squarely on the bubble; they led by 8 with 11:39 left. Cowboys have now lost four games in a row, K-State snapped a 4-game road losing streak; they’re 10-6 in Big X, after going 13-41 the previous three seasons.
SEC
— Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 62— Bulldogs won seven of their last nine games, are right on the bubble; they shot 65% inside arc in this game. Chris Jans is a good coach; he made the NCAA’s three of four years at New Mexico State, was 21-12 in his only year at Bowling Green.
— Alabama 86, Arkansas 83— Arkansas led by 9 at halftime, but Alabama scored 58 points in second half. Brandon Miller is probably the best player in the country, as a freshman; he had 24 points in this game, after scoring 41 the last game.
Mountain West
San Diego State 73, New Mexico 71— Lobos led by 13 early in second half, but after being the last unbeaten team in country, they’ve now lost seven of their last nine games. Aztecs have a 2-game lead in Mountain West, with two games left in regular season.
Pac-12
— Arizona State 89, Arizona 88— Kid on Sun Devils drained a 55-foot desperation heave at the buzzer as ASU pulled the upset; Arizona led by 10 with 6:30 left. Wildcats were only 23-34 on foul line; ASU was 6-10.
Big West
— Hawai’i 72, Cal-Irvine 67— Anteaters led by 9 with 14:27 left, but lost their second straight game; they’re in a 3-way tie for first with Riverside, UCSB; Fullerton/Hawai’i are a game behind them.
Upsets of the Day
Florida State (+14.5) 85, Miami 84
George Mason (+11) 74, Dayton 69
Eastern Michigan (+7.5) 75, Ball State 68
Indiana (+7.5) 79, Purdue 71
Oklahoma (+7) 61, Iowa State 50
Tex-San Antonio (+7) 95, FIU 91
Clemson (+6) 96, NC State 71
Big Sky
Idaho State 71, Eastern Washington 63— First conference loss for the Eagles, who hadn’t lost since December 13th. Doesn’t really matter; EWU needs to win Big Sky Tournament to make NCAA’s anyway, but a red flag since Idaho State is 11-19.
Conference USA
— UAB 72, Western Kentucky 60— Blazers won five in row, nine of last ten games; star guard Walker is back from an injury, and a UAB-Florida Atlantic showdown in C-USA Tournament seems likely to happen.
— FAU 75, UTEP 49— Owls are 26-3, having a great season; their subs play 10th-most minutes in country, which figures to help them in the C-USA Tournament.
Horizon League
Milwaukee 81, Cleveland State 72— Vikings’ loss gives Youngstown State the regular season title; Cleveland State, Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky all tie for 2nd.
Ivy League
— Yale, Princeton, Penn are in a 3-way tie for first with one game left. The Ivy tournament is four teams; Brown leads Cornell by a game for 4th place, but Brown plays Yale and Cornell plays Columbia next week, so a tie for 4th and one-game playoff is likely.
— Conference tournaments start next week; Atlantic Sun tournament starts on Monday, as one of the best times of the year is about to begin.
