The March Continues...

2:21 - As day two comes to an end, we find the bubble no more clear than it was at the end of yesterday. Not many teams have decided to step up and make the decision for the committee, and quite honestly this will be one of the toughest years ever when it comes down to those last few teams in the tournament. However, on the day the bubble teams performed better than they did yesterday, which isn't truly saying much. With that said, I should probably note that there weren't many games with true bubble implications today; they all lost yesterday.

Teams whose bubble was burst -

Ohio State - Maybe this team has a slight chance, but I highly doubt they'll be in now. They had 2 legitimately good wins on the season over MSU and Purdue, but given the inconsistency of both teams, neither was a marquee win that other bubble teams can boast. Even the bubble teams that can't boast that one true great win can actually present the committee with solid wins all year long, something Ohio State cannot.

Charlotte - Kidding. Just wanted to mention how sweet of a name Leemire Goldwire is. I'm sad to see him go.

Teams who will be sweating it out on Sunday -

Kansas State - Poor Frank Martin. He has the best player in the country, a total nutjob, and a point guard who is convinced he's the best there is. Outside of that I challenge you to find someone who can name another player. This has showed up recently as they've dropped 5/7 at a time the committee values heavily. Given a blind resume I don't think this team deserves a bid. Don't be fooled by Beasley, this team's profile is about as weak as an apparent "lock" can get - Their best non-conference win was over California, and they totally whiffed on other opportunities against Oregon, Notre Dame, and Xavier; in conference wins over Kansas, A&M, and @Oklahoma. Based on these, I guess they're in, but 6-10 over top 100 an abysmal finish, a team loaded with headcases and cry babies, and a coach named "Crazy-eyes" Martin, and you're not looking so good.

Teams who helped their case -

Virginia Tech - Look, I'm still laughing at the prospect of this team getting in the tournament, but since they're still being mentioned, a win over Miami by 14 certainly looks solid. Still, 0-6 over the RPI Top-50 along with 3 sub-100 RPI losses isn't going to cut it.

Texas A&M - At this point a game against KSU almost became a must-win situation. They had to show the committee that they can play one game consistently, as their stretch of games to end the year was a win by 44, a loss by 27, a win by 14, and then another loss by 17. Given that the committee rewards teams who finish strong and they had lost 5/7, a decent run in the Big 12 tournament was a must. Beating ISU and KSU all but seals up a bid for them. Congrats to Mark Turgeon who has done a horrid job at handling the pressures of a relatively big job and an abysmal job at coaching a team with the talent he was given.

Teams who locked it up -

Arkansas - They're in. They were before, but any doubters are now silent. Not a team I'd like to face in the tournament, cause a lot of match-up problems with guys like Weems, Thomas, and Townes.

Notes -

You know Chris Lofton, it's not ALWAYS necessary to fade-away when no one's on you. Really, you don't have to make it harder for yourself every single time just to show off. You're a great shooter, we know.

Leonard Hamilton shows his great skills at getting every single team he has to finish the season just strong enough to creep a little bit onto the bubble before falling short in the ACC tournament. You can set your watch to it. Same as him picking up big-time recruits, never to be heard of again. Von Wafer knew to get out quick, he did all right for himself. Cheers to you Chris Singleton!

I'm fairly positive I've been totally wrong about Georgetown. I've been blinded by the fact that they've had 4 games almost handed to them in the end. Regardless, this team can play however they want. They can run, they can grind-it-out, pound it down low, and on and on. With guys like Freeman, Macklin, Wallace, and Sapp and their ability to shoot from anywhere on the floor, it's going to open up so many options for a guy as big as Hibbert. JTIII's Princeton offense is run to perfection - you can just tell each of his players are so well coached and so well taught that the offense comes second nature. Their cuts and passes are so crisp time and again.

Vanderbilt, the NCAA Tournament isn't played a Memorial Gymnasium. Just thought I'd remind you, because everytime you're not there you forget how to play, you forget how to shoot. Guess not having the benches under the basket is a huge disadvantage huh?

Seriously though, Dominic James is either really bad or really stupid. It's one of the two. He's the most erratic, streaky, dumb player I've seen in a long time. He's got the talent but he has no idea how to use it, and neither does Tom Crean, but does that surprise you?

Congrats to Illinois. I feel like I brought up the CBI too early and owe them an apology. When they lay a beat down on Minnesota tomorrow for the third time this year and take down the most consistently boring team in America in Wisconsin on Sunday, a 3 or 4 seed is going to be pretty upset. I realize they didn't know how to finish games all year, but there's no way this team should have been 5-13 in what was the weakest Big Ten in recent memory. McCamey is going to be a stud. He's exactly the type of player Weber needs but has failed so horribly in trying to get - but don't worry, the future is bright. And by future I mean Selection Sunday, baby.

I know I've abused Mark Gottfried in a bunch of posts already, but it needs to be said again - he's horrible. This team has the talent in their starting five to match up with anyone in the SEC, and has one of the most underrated players in the country in Richard Hendrix. It's sad to see such talent go to waste every single year there, as he's consistently kept the top talent in Alabama to stay there. (Jamychal Green and Andrew Steele say hello). Maybe one day he'll figure it out, but I doubt it.

On a related note, it's sad to see a guy like Ronald Steele sitting on the sidelines each and every game. He was one of the most promising young players in the country following his sophomore year until injuries plagued him throughout all of last year and now this year. He struggled to consistently get that explosive first step and all of his mobility back, I just hope for him he can come back next year fully healthy and ready to play.

I love trendy Final Four picks every year. I know Xavier is a solid team and all because the media loves to hype up underrated teams that no one else sees just to prove their knowledge, but come on. This is the same team that got bombed by ASU by 22, Temple by 19, Miami (Oh), and has now lost to St. Joseph's twice in 8 days. They're a pretty decent team, I'll give them that, but don't be fooled by how much they dominated the A-10 - the media loves a conference who beats each other up and then blames the lack of tournament bids on that. Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but this team has yet to beat a truly legitimate team. No, Indiana and Kansas State do not count.

In related news, Jamont Gordon is STILL celebrating his big putback in OT.

If you haven't yet figured it out, Tennessee is not very hard to beat. Allow them to shoot all the three's they want, slow the game down and you've got a formula.

Indiana is wonderfully awful. At this point you've got to wonder how much they care, if at all. This team is probably the easiest upset pick in the tourney if there ever was a sure thing.

Tim Floyd's teams play about how he looks. Pretty awful.

If there was ever some stat for jump-stops or most effective use of them, OJ Mayo would run away with it. I don't think I've ever seen someone use them as well or as often as he does. One of the many ways he can create for himself, and although it was disappointing that he missed that last shot due to a hesitation, this team will be deadly next weekend. Who wants to face this type of talent?

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute hurt his ankle tonight falling on Taj Gibson...he's out for tomorrow's game, but I just hope it's not very serious. Hate to see big-time teams go down early because of an injury on a fluke type play.

Final note on the SEC Tournament - Looks like it's going to be played at Georgia Tech tomorrow and tickets will be on a first come first serve basis. Who knows how this is going to work, but it'll be interesting, as the crowd of Kentucky fans alone in Atlanta is probably double what Georgia Tech's stadium can even hold. No word on the times yet, but all signs point to an early morning game between Georgia and Kentucky and the winner of that will play later that night against MSU. Only realistic scenario.

12:28 - Brook Lopez is one of the best big men in the country. He's got a full offensive arsenal, and especially loves that little baby hook from the right corner, along with impressive athleticism for a guy his size. He's so good at getting into the lane and getting garbage points off of offensive rebounds, and is improving defensively, although he could learn from Robin.

12:23 - It always amazes me hearing about unknown players who became stars and their offers/options out of high school. For instance, it was just mentioned that Kyle Weaver had just two offers - Bradley and Washington State. Yet he has become one of the most versatile and best defenders in the country, much less the Pac-10.

12:18 - Washington State's defense is overrated. Just because a team plays a very slow, grind-it-out style and keeps it very low scoring doesn't necessarily mean their defense is good. I've always found that how many points a team gives up in terms of overall defense is a horrible way to judge it.

11:29 - Still no word on what the SEC is going to do about scheduling the tournament from here on out, and quite frankly it's pathetic. There is only one legitimate option and that is to play 2 games tomorrow for whoever wins Kentucky-Georgia. It's unfair, yes, but you can't do it on Sunday, and not a chance it's extended past Selection Sunday. It shouldn't be very hard to announce a time for the games tomorrow - they're leaving thousands hanging here waiting for news. The moment they postponed the game they should have had a plan, otherwise they should have waited as long as possible until they were cleared to play.

10:45 - TUBBY PULLS ONE OUT! FULL COURT HAILMARY PASS TURN AROUND JUMPER FOR THE WIN! BLAKE HOLFLEKWRJWER DRAINS IT!

The basketball gods come through in the clutch for the Tubster. That was one of the craziest endings I've seen in my entire life. Now we get to see Minnesota and Illinois battle it out for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament Final.

10:33 - Minnesota is up 2 with 10 seconds to go. Gordon drives gets fouled with 3.4 seconds left, misses first free throw, purposely misses second...a lucky bounce and DJ White tips in, and one. Misses free throw, loose ball Minnesota fouls DJ White again, misses first free throw makes second. This is the most ridiculous ending I've ever seen.

10:27 - The Kentucky-Georgia game is being postponed until tomorrow. How in the world does that work? Both teams are getting shafted, and by the way, how can you keep fans in the building because it's safer, yet can't play the game?

10:22 - Minnesota leads Indiana 53-48 with 3:22 left. We'll keep you updated as the Tubby train rolls through Indianapolis.

9:57 - To expand on an earlier point, the Dominic James love is hilarious. Dude is 0-11 on the night. Just look at his game log from this year and you'll find much of the same. He's very quick, but settles for the outside shot way too often. If I hear another mention of him in the breath of the best PG's in the country I think I'll be sick.

For reference, he's averaging 12.5 ppg on 40.4% fg and 30.4% 3fg, and 65.1% FT. Amazing.

9:54 - After a 64 minute delay MSU pulls out a close one. Riley got off the best shot he could have with .5 seconds left, rimmed in and out. They now await the winner of Georgia-Kentucky.

9:37 - And the games shall go on - 10 minute warm-up and back on the court to play it out. Great quote from Billy Gillispie via Matt Jones, from Kentucky Sports Radio - Best story though comes from Brett Dawson of the Courier Journal who was standing with Coach Gillispie when it happened. He told me that Gillispie took it in stride and said, “I just thought it was the Kentucky fans coming in.”

9:29 - Pittsburgh continues their romp through the Big East tournament - but honestly, how overrated is Marquette? Every single year they've got the same players, same inconsistency problems and haven't had an actual big man since Robert Jackson back in the D-Wade days.

Their jersey's are sweet though.

9:26 - Indiana down by 7 at halftime to Minnesota. How awesome would a Minnesota-Illinois Big Ten Semifinal match-up be? Considering that Minnesota contributed to half of Illinois' Big Ten wins this year, that would bode well for them. They're looking at the Big Dance, SCREW THE CBI!

8:58 - They hope to resume play within 10-20 minutes. Everything seems to be okay.

On a side note, USC-UCLA is probably the game of the night...USC controlling the game through the first half 34-28.

8:40 - Don't even know what happened, but all of the sudden it sounded like there was a train going through and the building started to shake. The jumbo-tron was going back and forth, and the picture is getting fuzzy due to the cameras. This isn't looking good, hopefully it's nothing severe - they also mentioned there's a tornado warning, maybe it hit? Miss. St. and Alabama were both taken off the floor quickly.

8:38 - But really, this Alabama team was 5-11 in the SEC? That's absolutely horrid, I mean look at their players. Gee, Riley, and Hendrix alone should be able to win at least 9 or 10 games in the SEC, given how weak it was this year.

8:32 - MYKAL RILEY MY MAN-CRUSH CONTINUES! Hits an off balance, awkward, contested 3 pointer for the tie. OT BABY.

8:25 - Surprisingly, they drew up a good in-bounds play to Hendrix, who I believe is one of the more underrated players in the country, but he got stuffed. Jarvis Varnado is an outstanding defensive player, and one of the better shot-blockers in recent memory. Wouldn't want to face this guy.

8:21 - The good news? Alabama has a chance to tie or win it with 20 seconds left. The bad news? Mark Gottfried called a timeout.

7:54 - Illini nation breathes a sigh of relief as they finally pull out a game. Congrats to them, I'm hoping to see them take down the Big Ten title, and at this point, who knows?

Although one does have to wonder, where has this team been all year?

7:40 - In other news, St. Joe's takes out Xavier, guaranteeing a second bid for A-10, which is rightfully deserved, as this conference beat up on each other all season long. Just hope that St. Joe's wins in the final and doesn't bring in a probable third bid.

7:35 - Demetri McCamey. Are you serious?

7:32 - Breaking news - Shaun Pruitt just missed a free throw. Spread the word.

7:29 - Alabama starts off game down 10-0 to Miss. State, yet finds their offensive mojo just like last night and ends the half on a 36-19 run. My man-crush on Mykal Riley stands.

7:26 - Is this the first time Brian Randle hasn't been fouled out of a game all year? Serious question.

7:24 - I'll be the first to admit I am probably overcritical of Georgetown for no reason. They're a good team, but have gotten so many lucky breaks it's hard to like them. However, I'm not sure many teams can look so different on a game-to-game basis than they do. Yesterday? 17/28 from three, Roy Hibbert 0 points. Today? 6/13 on three, Roy Hibbert 21 points.

7:21 - Funny stat of the day: Illinois is the unluckiest team in the country according to Ken Pomeroy and his insanely in-depth statistics. Shout-out to Mike on that one, but who actually looks at that?

7:18 - Does Purdue ever miss? No?

Demetri McCamey is going to be a star - book it.

7:15 - It has become painfully obvious that Illinois shouldn't have been as bad as they were all year. I guess pounding it down low was never an option for this team even though their frontline can be pretty big down there. Hopefully this isn't Illinois' last game, I don't really want to see them in the CBI.

7:11 - I'm back - so what did I miss? I see Ohio State lost their chance to play themselves into the tournament. I see that Vandy found yet another way to lose away from home - color me shocked. I see that Virginia Tech got their first decent win on the year, but the simple fact that Miami is a lock for the tournament is how weak college basketball is as a whole. I see that Tennessee barely pulled one out over South Carolina. I know it's cliche, but there's no doubt South Carolina is the best terrible team in the country. Oxy-moron I know, but true. Didn't miss all that much really, tonight is sure to be awesome though.

2:01 - As Tennessee does their best to show every team how to beat them, I have to leave. On a day like this, I have somewhere to be, not exactly excited about it. I'll be back for more later.

1:42 - While we discuss this Tennessee-South Carolina game I'd like to bring up the fact that Billy Gillispie and Bruce Pearl were co-SEC coaches of the year. Okay, that's great and all that Bruce Pearl is coach of the year, but isn't this award for the coaches who did the BEST JOB with their team? When comparing, you have Tennessee who has far, far more talent than anyone in the SEC, and can match-up in that category with almost anyone in the country. Given that, didn't Pearl just maintain this teams level rather than do a great job with them? How many coaches in the country would die for players like Tyler Smith, Chris Lofton, and JaJuan Smith running your team? Their balance is almost unfair, yet with guys as athletic and as talented as they are, Bruce still doesn't know how to coach a half-court offense.

Gillispie on the other hand was scrutinized throughout the first two months of the season. People didn't quite understand what it takes to install your system into a team that for the past few years had become complacent and almost uncaring - just like Tubby, unfortunately. Kentucky fans got what they wanted in Gillispie, yet weren't quite sure what to do when we weren't winning right away. We never got him as a quick fix to our problems, but for the long-term. Given that, the team struggled. Jasper missed the first 2 months, Meeks has been in and out all year, Bradley missed two SEC games, Harris missed the first four games, and Patterson is now out for the year. The team was never at one point in the year fully healthy, yet with all of this, and the lack of talent left behind by the previous regime, Gillispie was able to right the ship come SEC play. Going 6-7 in non-conference play and left for dead, the players finally bought what Gillispie was selling, and it showed immediately. 12 wins later and Kentucky with a win tonight is an absolute lock for the NCAA Tournament. Try showing that stat to me back in December and I'm laughing fairly hard at you.

This is the coach of the year. I'd even go as far to say National Coach of the year. I could go on and on about what Gillispie has done in terms of the turnaround, the improvement in players more in a few months than in years under the previous staff, the team first attitude, the actual recruiting going on, the new energetic Rupp Arena, and the fact that him and his players actually truly care. It's amazing. I'll spare you the details, but I think it's fairly obvious what's happening here.

1:38 - On the note of overrated head coaches, what's the fascination with Dave Odom? Similar to Tom Crean, he owes Tim Duncan half his pay check every year, as he's done little since that time. Unless of course back-to-back NIT Titles is your thing. Not too sad to see him leave the SEC - will be interesting to see who they get, but I'm guessing if they call Anthony Grant the search will stop there.

1:37 - Seriously though, Tennessee, stop pressing Devan Downey.

1:31 - Texas pulls it out over Oklahoma State...I'm hoping their recent turn around allows Sean Sutton to keep his job. Although I don't believe Gillispie would ever leave Kentucky on his own, I don't want to hear about it. Besides that could only look bad for recruiting.

12:58 - Okay I'm a little upset that Zam Frederick trimmed his beard.

12:53 - Texas is the ultimate enigma - they can beat anyone in the country yet can also lose to anyone in the country. I'm not sure what that means for their tournament prospects, but they better hope they don't see a team like Pittsburgh or Mississippi State in the second round. I always make fun of depth and bench scoring because usually it means your starting five sucks, but in Texas' case, they have absolutely none. Can you name a player that comes off their bench to contribute? Gary Johnson maybe?

12:45 - I'd like to think that people figured out how poor Tennessee's press is. Kentucky, with a horrible lack of ball handlers was able to break it with ease in both of their match-ups. It's so overrated, as is this team as a whole. I mean, how many stupid players can you have on one team?

12:40 - Oh and I forgot to mention - rumor has it that Hansbrough signed a lease to live in the same place with the same guys next year. That must mean he's coming back to school again. How many years of eligibility does this guy have? And if this news surprised you, I'm sorry, but dude obviously isn't going pro.

12:37 - For what it's worth, Leonard Hamilton is among the worst coaches in high D-I basketball. This guy is the definition of "doing less with more". Whatever, I guess his 19-63 record in the NBA is enough to convince players he can do what it takes to get them to the next level. And maybe that's why he got his contract extended this year...for what?

12:36 - Tyler Hansbrough does all the dishes AND invented the game red dot. What a guy!

12:08 - Day two is underway. This afternoon there's really not all that much to watch in terms of the bubble/good match-ups. The three games to keep an eye on -

Michigan State/Ohio State - A win for Ohio State would be it's third in a row, second over MSU. This would put them on the right track towards an at-large bid as they would now actually have 3 quality wins, whereas 2 weeks ago they were on the bubble discussion based on their wins over Syracuse and Florida (who both tanked out in their respective tournaments). Will be interesting to watch a desperate team against a rather inconsistent MSU team.

Miami/Va Tech - Well, I guess Virginia Tech is still on the bubble. Exactly why I'm not sure, but maybe, just maybe they can actually get a few quality wins in the tournament. But really, this team doesn't deserve to be in the discussion at all.

Vanderbilt/Arkansas - If yesterday had been a good day for bubble teams I might be saying this is a must win for Arkansas, but it wasn't. Their profile from a distance is pretty solid, as they can boast wins over Vanderbilt, Baylor, Ole Miss, and MSU, but this is balanced out by their 5 sub-100 RPI losses and their inability to beat any quality opponent on the road - in many chances. With that said, they're in the tournament, and they can thank everyone that participated yesterday - this should be an exciting game though. I mean, who knows, maybe Vanderbilt can win away from Memorial Gymnasium?