College Basketball @ MindSay

I basically took a 4-day weekend to watch the first and second round of the NCAA tournament, the first two days of which were largely spent at a bar down in Fairfax, VA.  While I could go into great detail about the games, I found a quote from ESPN columnist Bill Simmons that pretty accurately sums it up:

"Nothing unites basketball fans like hanging out in a bar and rooting against Duke."

In addition to the Duke/Belmont game, the Western Kentucky/Drake was one of the best in recent tournament memory, and it was absolute pandemonium when WKU hit the impossible buzzer beater in OT.  Unfortunately, local team George Mason was out of their game within a few minutes of tip-off.  Nonetheless, quite a fun weekend of great basketball. 

I love March Madness!  Best sporting event of the year, for sure.

Saturday afternoon/evening I headed down to Chapel Hill, NC to visit a few of my college buddies, one of which lives there.  Saturday night happened to be the Duke/UNC game, with the ACC regular season championship on the line.  Not sure if you saw the game, but it was down to the wire with UNC pulling it out at the end.  Needless to say, bedlam ensued on the streets of Chapel Hill. 

In the pictures, UNC fans going crazy and setting fire to Duke merchandise.  Best time I've had in a while

The #6 Kansas Jayhawks handed the Texas A&M Aggies their worst home loss of the year. The Jayhawks defeated the Aggies 72-55 to claim at least a share of the Big XII crown. If the Texas Longhorns lose today then the title belongs to KU alone.

 

Darrell Arthur got the Jayhawks started in the first half. He had 12 points going into the half with KU leading 36-26. He only scored 4 more points after the half, but Mario Chalmers picked up the slack.

 

Arthur finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Chalmers finished with 16 points and 4 steals. Russell Robinson scored 11 and Brandon Rush scored 10. Sherron Collins came off the bench to add 13 points, 7 assists and 3 steals.

 

KU had 44 points in the paint compared to only 12 for A&M. KU shot 57.1% from the floor compared to 31.9% for the Aggies.

 

The win makes KU 28-3 on the season with a conference record of 13-3. KU is 12-1 in the all-time series against Texas A&M. KU has won four Big XII regular season titles on a row.

 

KU will next play in the Big XII Tournament which starts Thursday in Kansas City.  

 

The #7 Kansas Jayhawks avenged their first loss of the season by defeating Kansas State 88-74 last night. The Jayhawks were aided by a rocking crowd at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas State's Michael Beasley still went off for 39 points and 11 rebounds despite KU's tough defensive effort.

 

KU improved to 26-3 overall. They have a conference record of 11-3. KU has won 13 of the last 14 home meetings against the Wildcats. KU leads the all-time series 175-90.

 

KU grabbed 23 offensive rebounds. KU's bench outscored State's bench 27-11.

 

Brandon Rush scored a season-high 21 points to lead KU. Sherron Collins had 18 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Russell Robinson had 14 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur each scored 10.

 

KU will host Texas Tech Monday night on ESPN at 9pm Eastern.  

I haven't really been paying attention to Michigan's basketball team much this season, but I did see that they lost to Harvard yesterday.  Harvard?  Yikes!  Of all the things Harvard is known for, I don't think its basketball team is among them.  To add insult to injury, Harvard is now coached by former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker.  It sounds like it's not going to be a very great season.