College Basketball Notes: Tournament Hopes, Conference Races

Congratulations are in order for Ivy League champion Cornell, the first team to punch its ticket to the Big Dance.  With the long-time dominance of Penn and Princeton it must have felt good for the Big Red to bust through and grab the crown.  It must feel even better to be 12-0 in Ivy League play.

Anybody notice UNC Asheville lately?  They'll play Tuesday for first place in the Big South.  What's more important is that big man Kenny George is back and badder than ever. 

During the five game stretch in which George played a total of 11 minutes, the Bulldogs went 1-4 and dropped behind Winthrop in the standings.  He's averaged 19 minutes, 14 points and five rebounds in three games since then.  And we all know that the attention his 7'7" frame commands is just about as important as the stats he puts up.

Ho hum... Davidson went 20-0 in conference play... and they won 16 of those games by double digit margins... why is this team still on the bubble?

Which school would you rather visit for an away match-up this time of year—St. Mary's or Bowling Green?  Apparently, Kent State prefers St. Mary's.  How the Golden Flashes managed to follow up last week's Bracket Buster surprise with a loss to a mediocre MAC team, I do not know.

Kentucky is up 44-43 against Tennessee as I type this sentence.  If they keep it close or win it and you've got to love the Wildcats' tournament hopes.  Could the committee put in Vandy or Florida or Arkansas over Kentucky?  Of course, the Wildcats need to take care of business against South Carolina and Florida to make this a relevant argument.  It might help to win some in the SEC tournament, too.

Drake lost their three conference games by an average of less than three points.  People might just see the number of losses getting higher and start to pass judgment, but I've got a feeling that those three games were good for the Bulldogs.

Is it just me or does Bruce Pearl have the face of a WWE superstar?

The guys on ABC mentioned this yesterday: UNC may be a better team because of Ty Lawson's ankle injury.  I would tend to agree with that.  Guard Quentin Thomas was thrust into a sea of minutes and he's turned into somewhat of an assist machine.  Now, Roy Williams doesn't have to worry so much about hurrying Lawson back into the line up.  On top of that, the Tar Heels will have a back-up PG with significant minutes under his belt come tournament time.  That means no rest for opposing defenses.

I'm still waiting for Vandy's signature road win... 

I would implore everyone not to sleep on Michigan State.  Tom Izzo is too good of a coach to let Drew Neitzel and the crew stay in this late season funk.

Ohio State is done.  A decisive loss to Minnesota in Minneapolis sealed the Buckeyes' at-large hopes.  Do they have the firepower to make a Big 10 tournament run?  Nah, probably not.  Unless, of course, Jon Diebler decides to play like the big-time freshman he was supposed to be.

Wow.  I was hoping for an OT, but Tennessee escaped with the win today.  I still like Kentucky's tournament chances.  They're still third place in the conference.

I'm out like Michael Beasley in June.