Daily Bubble Talk (Wednesday)

*** this post will be updated throughout the day ***

Update 730pm pacific/1030pm eastern. While quantitatively only one team could win, Providence gained some points on the qualititative part as they played reasonably well and the Mountaineers were raining threes (17/31, new Big East conference tourney record). Certainly this game was favorable for both teams compared to 49-48 slugfests in the Big 10 and *gasp* the Pac-10... Speaking of West Virgina, their schedule was supposed to be stronger, they were supposed to face Virginia Tech and Southern Illinoins in the inaugural Disney tourney, but because of unpredictable results they ended up playing... This sets up a rematch of the 2005 Elite 8 game between Louisville and West Virgina (same coaches, different players)... In the battle of the Fallen coaches in the Coaching-Rehab conference Larry Eustachy beat Matt Doherty... In another squeeker St Louis beat Duquesne... The Big East forgot to announce one more regular season award, the 420 player of the year:, Kyle McAlarney of Notre Dame... Hello NCAA: Central Connecticut State. No NIT automatic bids rewarded for the NEC as Central CT St was the regular season champ as well...

Update 6pm pacific/9pm eastern FSN's coverage of the Pac-10 tourney started with the three analysts stressing how important defense is. Why is that funny? Because the three analysts are Don McLean, Paul Westphal, and Marques Johnson: all three were defense-optional in their time as players/coaches... ESPN's night-shift studio crew is Tom Brennan and Doug Gottlieb (does he ever sleep?)...

Update 4:50pm pacific/7:50pm eastern (Time-warp corrected) Tubby Smith on "Five Good Minutes" on PTI addressing the criticism and being on the hot seat. Tubby seems to be in a good mood and brushing aside the pressure as "part of the job" and "monday morning quarterbacks", and praising the Kentucky fans as "the best basketball fans". Also: "I enjoy coaching at Kentucky", "this is home for me", "Florida is the best team"... Tubby-mania continued at the 3pm SportsCenter. Doug Gottlieb compared Kentucky's recent record with the other big programs (Carolina, Kansas, UCLA) and said that the criticism is fair when comparing at that elite level. They also played back soundbites from Pitino's "defense" of Tubby on Mike and Mike.

Update 3:30pm pacific/6:30pm eastern: Two more Big East first round games on ESPN and the two Pac-10 opening round games later on FSN. Check the TV listings below for airtimes... Tired of the Ron Arrest (intentional mispelling) stories? How about some Good News in College Sports?

Update 1:50pm pacific/4:50pm eastern: Syracuse breaks away from UConn in the 2nd half, UConn goes full court, gives the Orange some cause for concern, but too little too late and Syracuse moves on to face the Digger Phelps Fighting Irish of Notre Dame tomorrow. A good win for Syracuse, but I wouldn't put them in as a lock because of that horrible out of conference at-home schedule... Rice beats UTEP and Morris Almond continues to hope for an NCAA appearance with three more wins... Fordham beats Richmond in a tight game and moves on to take #4 seed surprising Rhode Island with Digger's former assistant as a head coach... Meantime a new twist in the Tubby Smith vs disgruntled Kentucky fans saga: Rick Pitino defends Tubby, just days after Billy Donovan did...

Update 12:40pm pacific/3:40pm eastern: UConn is giving the Orange and their new unis all they can handle. Will UConn be this year's Syracuse in the Big East tourney?... Details on the Nike Hoops Summit rosters via Recruiting Wars... Thanks for the link to the March-to-Madness blog!

Update noon PT/3pm eastern: Syracuse is breaking out the new aerodynamic snuggly Spandex uniforms by Nike. The Orange are one of four schools (Florida, Ohio State and Arizona) breaking out new Nike unis during Championship Week... Fired: The Southern Utah coach, continuing the "Pink Slip Madness" which runs in parallel to March Madness.

Update 1130am PT/2:30pm eastern: DePaul was trailing Nova all along and lost a relatively close game. DePaul didn't hurt themselves by playing poorly or getting blown out although Nardi only made guest appearances because of his injury. But DePaul didn't help themselves either. Now they can hope that all the teams they beat do well (eg Kansas wins the Big 12 handily) and wait for things to unfold. As far as Nova, while there are rumors of Jay Wright to the Sixers, Jay Wright will be busy this summer cooking up the next generation of the four-guard offense, with the two Coreys (Fisher and Stokes) and Malcolm Grant coming in next year, along with Scottie Reynolds (unless of course he goes the Lowry-way (bolts for the NBA)). In the post-game interview Wright called Nardi the team's "spiritiual leader". The ESPN games are called by the entertaining trio of Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery and role-player Sean McDonough, which is a plus in case the games get boring or they are blowouts... You can watch the games live for free online at espn360.com... Digger is a Jim Boeheim cheerleader... Dayton beat Charlotte handily and will face Xavier tomorrow in a #1 vs #8 game...

Update 9am PT/noon eastern: Seth Davis, Steve Lapas and Rutgers coach Fred Hill were guest analysts on MSG's "College Basketball Weekly" previewing the Big East Conference tourney. The predictions? Lapas and Fred Hill picked Marquette, Seth Davis picked Louisville, and the nameless show host picked Pitt. They will return at 330pm pacific/630pm eastern to preview the next two games (Providence/West Virginia, St Johns/Marquette). The show airs nationally on Fox College Sports.


As the Big East tourney is about to begin in what is an elimination game for DePaul...

TV Listings for Wednesday March 7, 2007
*** all times pacific; add +3 for eastern ***
*** some online tv listings for March 11 and later on may not be not adjusted for the earlier start of DST (daylight saving time) that got some computers confused. I adjust my tv listings before I post them, but double-check if looking at other websites.
*** start times for games at the same location may slip if the previous games take longer (or have overtimes, or someone breaks the backboard, etc, etc)

9am, 11am, 4pm, 6pm, Big East Round 1 games, ESPN.
* 9am #9 Villanova vs #8 DePaul
* 11am (1120am really) #12 UConn (wow! they was #1 last year) vs #5 Syracuse
* 4pm #10 Providence vs #7 West Virginia
* 6pm (620pm really) #11 St Johns vs #6 Marquette

4pm, NEC final, #2 Sacred Heart vs #1 Central Connecticut State, ESPN2. If Central Conn St loses, they have an automatic NIT bid.

6pm, Big Sky final, Weber State vs NAU, ESPN2. If Weber State loses they have a guaranteed NIT bid.

6pm, 830pm, Pac-10 first round games, FSN/FSN+/FoxCollegeSports
* Some regional FSNs may show them tape-delayed or on FSN+, so pls check local listings
* 6pm, #8 California vs #9 Oregon
* 830pm #7 Washington vs #10 Arizona State

10pm, College Gamenight, ESPN
Repeats and Classic games

830am, 330pm, College Basketball Weekly, an MSG (TV network) production, Fox College Sports. A preview of the Big East Conference Tourney with Seth Davis, Steve Lapas and Mr Jersey Fred Hill. The four Big East coaches who don't make their conference tourney become TV analysts right after that! Look for Gonzo (Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez) to do a lot of TV work for CSTV during the NCAA tourney.

11am, Cal at USC, Fox College Sports (regular season game)

1pm, Cal Poly SLO - CSF, Fox College Sports (regular season game)

130pm, 5pm, 1130pm, ASU at Cal (regular season), CSN

5pm, 530pm, Hardwood Heavens featuring Illinois's ASsembly Hall and the Phog (Allen Field House) in Kansas, INHD. Yes it has a small feature on the "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU" chant so if you are allergic to that chant, turn down the volume :-)

1am, Knight School reruns, ESPN

5am, BC at Ga Tech, Fox College Sports

three high school games on Fox College Sports



Bubble Talk

Three more tickets issued for the dance: Wright State, North Texas and Oral Roberts. Bubble teams in general were crying as Butler is very likely to get an at-large bid well ahead of the bubble teams.

No NIT bids were awarded last night. Two of them could be awarded today if Weber State or Central Conn State lose their conference tourney final. A total of four automatic NIT bids so far.

Catch up with the latest state of the bubble with Warren Nolan's Nitty Gritty Repor(t), color-coded for an easy read. For that repor(t) it looks like Eastern Kentucky, North Texas and Niagara will battle it out for the opening round game. But there will be a few more low RPI teams coming in, and Niagara is on a 10-0 winning streak so they will probably get a higher seed as a "hot team".

The Injury Repor(t)
Courtesy of Detroit News. Some significant ones:

Arizona, Jawan McClellan (knee bothering him) according to the Pac-10 preview on FSN-Arizona

Alabama, Ron Steele (as usual)

Dayton, Nick Stafford (flu)

Dirty Dookie Gerald Henderson suspended for Thursday's game against NC State in the ACC tourney.

Kansas, Jeremy Case

Louisville, Palacios questionable (as usual)

Marquette, Jerel McNeal doubtful

NC, Tyler Hansbro, probable

Penn State, Ben Luber, out for the season

Providence, Sharaud Curry, probable (finger)

StJohns, done for the year: Showtime Hill and Lamond Hamilton

Stanford, Anthony Goods, questionable. Stanford would sleep easier if they beat USC in the Pac-10 quarterfinals and Goods gives them a good-er chance of doing that :)

Nova, Nardi probable

For all the details visit the above website



Dirty Dookies Exposed, Part III

Yesterday it was national sportsmanship day and fittingly Tyler Hansbrough spoke out for the first time about the incident, trying to diffuse the situation. It sounded like he had spoken with Dean Smith before talking to the media :-)

Thankfully Jim Rome is not afraid of Coach K, so once again in "Jim Rome is Burning", he called out Coach K's spinning and nonsense of "open hand" vs "elbow". "Does Henderson rebound with his elbows?"

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