Championship Week, Day One

March Madness truly starts today. I agree Cleveland State and also Green Bay (later in the tourney) could give Butler a run for their money.

What’s interesting about the Big South is that Radford, despite going 15-3 in conference, didn’t win one Division 1 game in their non-con. VMI did beat Kentucky and had the best non-con record. Also, two of Radford’s three losses were to VMI and Liberty.

Radford and UT-Martin do have NIT bids secured.

Big South

VMI 96, Coastal Carolina 76 (F)
UNC-Asheville 76, Winthrop 68 (F)
Radford 82, High Point 58 (F)
Liberty 88, Gardner-Webb 77 (F)

No upsets there. Seth Curry scored 30 on 9-for-20 shooting (and 9-for-10 from the FT line…so I guess he drives a lot?).

Horizon League

UI-Chicago 73, Youngstown State 68 (F…upset!)
Wright State 68, Valpo 56 (F)
Cleveland State 56, Detroit 43 (F)
Milwaukee 44, Loyola-IL 21 (16:19 left)

First upset of Championship Week, and it’s a 7 over a 6. Woo.

Ohio Valley

Morehead State 74, Eastern Kentucky 59 (5:00 left)
Eastern Illinois 44, Austin Peay 36 (13:17 left)
UT-Martin 43, Tennessee Tech 33 (19:52 left)
Murray State 43, Tennessee State 36 (1:17 left, 1st half)

If Eastern Illinois holds on, that’s pretty big (a 7 over a 2). Otherwise, ho hum.

…Peay has cut the lead to 45-43 with 9:30 left, btw. I’m sure the chants of “Let’s Go Peay!” are loud right now. Anyhoo, EIU has a guy on the team named Ousmane Cisse. I thought I recognized this name, so I looked into it—turns out I recognize this name for two reasons. Mizzou actually recruited a dude named Ousmane Cisse back in the 2000-01 range, but he ended up declaring for the 2001 draft and going in the second round (one pick after Loren Woods and three before Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje). This is NOT that guy. The Ousmane Cisse playing for EIU (averaging 8.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG) is the same Ousmane Cisse who signed to play for Jim Wooldridge at K-State before Wooly was fired. Apparently “Ousmane Cisse” is the “John Smith” of the Ivory Coast.

And yes, I realize nobody is reading this. It’s entertaining me, and that’s all that matters.

…(while watching a HORRENDOUS Auburn-Alabama game)…I saw that UT-Pan American won by 14 at N.J.I.T. tonight. All I can say is…how much does it suck to be a D1 independent in basketball?? I mean, wouldn’t it be better to be in D2 but actually have, like, conference rivals? And not have to go 1800 miles on a Tuesday night just to have an opponent in the first week of March? Couldn’t UTPA jump down into the Lone Star Conference? Couldn’t N.J.I.T. move to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (or, you know, just drop basketball)?

If I ever see that FinallyFast.com guy in the street, I’m punching him in the face.

All along, I thought I was the only one who followed the Big South quarterfinals.

I love this.

Best week of the year, without question. Love it, love it, love it.

Great idea, I might have to do this.

IT’S MARCH!!!

IT’S MARCH!!!

IT’S MARCH!!!