• Cracked Sidewalks: “I don’t know what to say here. I’m not sure the Bradley Center has ever been louder. And ever been more sad, as news quietly spread from person to person, that Dominic James career was likely over. … When the clock wound down, the sadness was palpable, as fans realized they’d seen the last of James on the court, what that means to him and his family, the team, and the immediate future. … Fate has been so cruel to Marquette at the end of the past few seasons. Travis Diener, Jerel McNeal, now Dominic James, cut down before they could complete the year — likely aborting a chance at a deep run in March once more.”

  How can you feel anything but sadness for Marquette and Dominic James at this point? Having been doubted all year long (I’m sure Marquette fans are tired of the words: “but your last five games”), Marquette loses a close game against UConn, but more importantly, loses Dominic James. Marquette and its fans might unfortunately never be able to tell the rest of the country that they were wrong (and that Marquette is for real). I feel worst for Dominic James, who probably should have left for the NBA after his freshman or sophomore season. We, as college fans, always remind collegians of (a) the players who stayed and for whom it paid off, and (b) the players who went and made the wrong decisions. But I think to the athletes themselves, they probably think more regularly of (c) the players who didn’t go at the right time. Just a sad story around.

• Villanova Viewpoint: “Nobody would wish a winless Big East slate on anyone, particularly when it hasn’t happened in 15 years. Unfortunately, the #10 Wildcats came unpleasantly close to permitting DePaul from escaping that ignoble record on Wednesday, February 25, in Rosemont, Illinois. The Wildcats were down eight at halftime and still down by one with as late as the 12:23 mark in the second half, prior to escaping Chicagoland with a far-too-suspenseful victory over woeful, winless DePaul. The Blue Demons entered the game trapped in the Hades of the Big East, with a 0-14 conference slate, 8-19 record overall.”

  Question: If DePaul had won that game, would the fans rush the court? An upset the size of DePaul over Villanova is much bigger than it sounds (DePaul is a team that lost earlier this year to Northwestern to the tune of 63-36). But it would be a bit weird to storm the court, because an equally good reason (besides beating Villanova, #10 in the country) is your lone win in the Big East. And that sounds like something rather pathetic to storm the court over.

• Matt’s UConn blog: “Need to mention Price again. When the senior wasn’t scoring tonight (12-for-20 from the field overall), he was screaming. After 3s, after jumpers, after big plays — he made a habit of silencing the 19,000-plus at the Bradley Center and then filling that void with a battle cry. Price is very humble when he speaks with the media, but he plays with a noticeable swagger and confidence. When he took Jerel McNeal off the dribble midway through the second half, dropping the Marquette guard to his back-side, Price made sure to look him off before nailing a 15-foot jumper from the wing. Some may call that cockiness. A New York point guard will call that necessary.”

  All the press has gone to Hasheem Thabeet and how he’s a game changer. Let me tell you: if UConn didn’t have AJ Price, they would have many, many fewer victories. That said, Kemba Walker will be an absolute star at UConn in years to come.

• Friar Blog: Not much else needs to be said:
  
  
  

• Pitt Blather: “If you know your Pitt basketball, then you know that Pitt has never won more than two games in the NCAA Tournament. In modern parlance that has meant not getting past the Sweet 16. In the early-70s, Pitt couldn’t get past the Elite 8. … Well, Pitt Blather made it into the Elite Eight of the Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament. I’m not optimistic as Blather goes against the strongest #1 seed out there in Mondesi’s House.”

  I’m spechless.

• And last but not least…

  

  Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Addendum: A reader writes in to ask what would happen if Marquette and Villanova end up with identical records — who would win the tie break and receive the 1st round bye. Well, dear reader, I refer you to my seminal blog post in 2007: Big East Tiebreaker. In this case, Marquette and Villanova would have (a) equal records, and (b) equal records against each other. Now, basically, you’d have to go down the list of top teams in the Big East and see if Marquette or Villanova had a better record. It’s still too preliminary to tell what’s going on there, though — Marquette still plays Louisville and Pitt, and Pitt still plays UConn and Marquette. If Marquette can pull out a victory against Louisville and Louisville is ranked higher than Pitt at the end of the season, it looks like Marquette will win the tie break, because Marquette will have a better record against Louisville than Villanova. But honestly, it’s still too early to tell, given the rules for tiebreaking. We’ll keep you updated, though.

Categories: BlogWatch, donald
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