Weekend Rewind
By Brian Edwards
Florida has to be the bubble team that hurt itself the most this past week, especially Saturday night at the O-Dome. Xavier brought its No. 20 RPI rating to Gainesville and slammed the Gators by a 76-64 count as a four-point road underdog. Jason Love had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordan Crawford had 18 points and four assists. UF lost at South Carolina earlier in the week, making just 10-of-23 free-throw attempts. In the loss to Xavier, the Gators were 12-for-23 at the charity stripe.
North Carolina momentarily stopped the bleeding in its 74-61 home win Saturday over N.C. St. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tar Heels, who took the cash as seven-point home favorites against the Wolfpack. They lost at home to arch-rival Duke last Wednesday and also lost Ed Davis and Travis Wear most likely for the rest of the season. Davis averages 13.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game. UNC’s Tyler Zeller isn’t expected to return for another week or two. The Tar Heels, who are 14-11 SU and 8-15 ATS, have lost seven of their 10 ACC games. They return to the court Tuesday at Ga. Tech before Saturday’s game at Boston College.
We can put a fork into UConn unless, of course, the Huskies win outright at Villanova tonight. Jim Calhoun’s return to the sidelines Saturday was no help whatsoever, as Cincinnati went into Storrs and emerged with a 60-48 win as a seven-point road underdog.
The ‘over’ is on a 14-4 run for ‘Nova, but the ‘under’ is in the midst of a 7-3 surge for UConn. Tonight’s total: 157 ½.
Cornell responded to its costly Friday night loss at Penn by handing Princeton its first loss in Ivy League play. The Big Red knocked off the Tigers 48-45 Saturday, but that wasn’t enough for Cornell backers laying five points in the road win. The Big Red owns a 7-1 record in Ivy League play, while Harvard is 6-2 and Princeton is 5-1. The winner of the regular-season title gets the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Sunday’s win at Syracuse had to be very gratifying to Rick Pitino, who has taken some heat in the media and from me during last week’s edition of the Power Hours. With Louisville firmly sitting on the bubble and coming off a bad loss at St. John’s, it went into the Carrier Dome and beat the Orange 66-60 as a 7 ½-point road underdog. The Cardinals hooked up money-line backers with a plus-300 payout (paid $300 on $100 wagers). U of L is now 16-9 overall and 7-5 in Big East play. With the win at the ‘Cuse, I think Louisville would be “in” if today was Selection Sunday.
Northwestern trailed for much of Sunday’s crucial home game vs. Minnesota. But the Wildcats got hot late in the second half and rallied into the lead. Leading by three in the final seconds, Minny’s Blake Hoffarber hit a last-second three to tie the game and send it into overtime. The home team controlled the extra session and collected a 77-74 win. Bill Carmody’s team is now 17-8 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten.
Kentucky has as much talent as any team in America, but I still don’t think the ‘Cats are going to get to the Final Four. And I know they aren’t going to win the national championship. This UK team has too many attitudes and too little discipline and, if being honest, we don’t feel like the head coach is much of a tactician, either.
No. Iowa center Jordan Eglseder has been suspended for three games after being arrested early Sunday for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Eglseder is the Panthers' second-leading scorer with a 12.2 points-per-game average.
I’ll give Georgetown a mulligan for Sunday’s 71-68 loss at Rutgers in terms of my expectations for the Hoyas in the postseason, but I’m not sure the selection committee will do the same with their seeding. That’s just a terrible loss against the Scarlet Knights, who have a 124 RPI ranking.
If you missed Sean Sutton’s mug shot, you can check it out here.
--My Top 25:
1-Kansas
2-Syracuse
3-Kentucky
4-Villanova
5-Purdue
6-Ohio St.
7-Kansas St.
8-West Virginia
9-Michigan St.
10-Wisconsin
11-Duke
12-Wake Forest
13-Georgetown
14-Texas
15-New Mexico
16-Temple
17-Gonzaga
18-Vanderbilt
19-Baylor
20-Pittsburgh
21-Tennessee
22-Va. Tech
23-Butler
24-Texas A&M
25-Xavier
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