2006
Last night we hit with UCF in a
blowout as our only postseason Wise Guy play so far. We already have two up for Thursday including
the Pac-10 Postseason Game of the Year.
We have three winners in all on our initial report. Note, in the conference tournaments and the Big Dance, we will update
with steam throughout the day. Check
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BYU-Utah
Here are news
and notes from Godspicks.com private clipboard.
They are compiled from hometown newspapers and the team’s own press
releases. Get advanced news and notes ready for opening lines at blog on our home page.
Press Notes
The Utes placed sixth in the Mountain West Conference
during the regular season and earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
opens tournament play against No. 3 BYU (20-7, 12-4 MWC). The Utes have competed in 22 previous conference
tournaments-16 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference and the last six
in the Mountain West Conference-posting a 28-18 (.609) record.
has never lost in the quarterfinals (5-0) and boasts an 8-5 all-time mark in
the MWC Tournament. This year’s sixth seed is the
lowest for the Utes in the MWC Tournament. The Runnin’ Utes are 13-14 overall and placed sixth in the
Mountain West Conference with a 6-10 record.
has gone 5-5 over its last 10 games entering postseason play. Last week, the
Utes closed out the regular season with a 65-59 loss at TCU
on Wednesday night and a 79-70 win over
at home on Saturday night. Before defeating
last Saturday night at home,
had lost its last four games by an average of five points, including one
overtime game. Twelve of the Runnin’ Utes’ games have
been decided by nine points or less, with
going 5-7 in those games.
playing one redshirt freshman and four other newcomers. Through 27 games, 57.7
percent of the Utes’ points, 48.3 percent of their rebounds, 51.5 percent of
their assists, and 54.0 percent of their minutes played have come from
first-year players. The Utes lead the all-time series 123-118, winning 21 of
the last 26 meetings and seven of the last nine. BYU
has a 6-4 edge over
neutral courts.
Arizona-Stanford
Press Notes
forward Hassan Adams was suspended Monday by coach
Lute Olson for the Pac-10 tournament after the senior was arrested on suspicion
of drunken driving during the weekend. Adams, the team’s leading scorer.
is averaging 17.3 points per game this season, third in the Pac-10.
South Carolina-Mississippi
State
Press Notes
leads the series record 10-6. USC, 15-14 and finishing 6-10 in the SEC, will travel to
to play
15-14 and 5-11 in the SEC, in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Thurs.
Clemson-Miami
Press Notes
Clemson has been one of the best teams in the ACC over the
last five games of the season. Oliver Purnell’s
Tigers have a 4-1 record in those games with the only loss an overtime defeat
at Wake Forest, 74-68 on February 22. Statistically, Clemson has a +10.0
scoring margin over the last five games, second only to
Carolina
teams have a positive scoring margin over the last five games. Clemson has
three wins by double digits, second only to
Carolina
game over the last five thanks in part to 43.7 percent three-point shooting.
Idaho-Nevada
Press Notes
won the last three meetings between the two teams, including a 70-44 victory on
Jan. 12 in
decision on Feb. 20 in
regular-season championship, the Wolf Pack brings an 11-game winning
streak into this week’s conference tournament, which marks the team’s longest
winning streak in 40 years.
has also turned in a 14-1 record at
victories in its last six home games. Eighth-seeded
brings a 4-24 overall record into Thursday’s game, dropping its last eight
games, including an 85-80 double-overtime loss at
finished ninth in the WAC standings with a 1-15
league mark.
GA Tech-Maryland
Washington
Both the
sixth-seeded Terrapins (18-11, 8-8 ACC) and fifth-seeded Florida State (19-8,
9-7) head into the ACC tournament probably needing at least one more victory—and
in Maryland’s case, probably more—to lock up berths in the 65-team field.
Back-to-back victories against Miami and Virginia have vaulted Maryland back
into the postseason discussion. Yet the same problems that weighed down the
Terps for the last month—a 2-7 record both on the road and against top-50 teams
in the RPI despite the winning streak—persist. Another factor still working
against the Terps is the absence of academically ineligible guard Chris McCray.
Maryland earned seven of its top 10 wins with McCray and is 5-7 without him.
Wake Forest-Florida State
Baltimore Sun
The Seminoles have gone 6-2 in their past eight, including
a win over Duke. Ordinarily, a 9-7 record in the ACC would mean an at-large
invitation, but
could be undone by a lame nonconference schedule. It
has to beat underachieving 12th seed
won’t be easy in
Missouri-Nebraska
St. Louis
This will be the second consecutive season these teams
have met in the first round. Last year, MU won 70-67
and swept all three games of the season. This year, the teams split the series,
with
game 65-52 on Jan. 28.
never has lost to
Big 12 Tournament, posting a 3-0 record. But an 11th seed has
defeated a sixth seed only once in the nine-season history of the tourney –
upset
Michigan-Minnesota
Detroit
NCAA Tournament hopeful
is facing another in a long list of must-win games when it plays
at
tournament opener at Conseco Fieldhouse
in
(18-9, 8-8) should get an emotional lift because redshirt junior guard Lester
Abram said repeatedly Monday that he expects to play against the Gophers. The
Wolverines, a seventh seed, might have to beat the 10th-seeded
Gophers for the third time this season to get into the NCAA’s
65-team field. Coach Tommy Amaker believes his team
already has a pretty good resume. Abram has played in a total of 77 minutes in
four Big Ten games this season. He has missed 12 games. An All-Big Ten
third-team selection as a sophomore, Abram said he’s not going to hold back and
that he expects to play with the same “reckless abandonment” that he played
before he was injured. He said he doesn’t think stamina will be a concern.
defeated
15 at Crisler Arena without Dion
Harris (ankle) and Abram. But senior guard Daniel Horton was huge in both games
with 32 and 21 points, respectively. Hunter responded with 13 points in his
first start of the season in the second game against the Gophers, but he’s
questionable for Thursday.
Mississippi-Kentucky
Amnews
beat
when the Rebels were without Dwayne Curtis, their top scorer (13.6 points per
game) and rebounder (7.6). He missed the game to
attend his brother’s funeral. Rod Barnes
said there has no concerted effort to have his players rally around him after
it was announced last week that he would not be back as coach.
Akron-Western Michigan
Press Notes
The third-seeded University of Akron men’s basketball team
(21-8, 14-4 MAC) travels to Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena for the
quarterfinal round of the 2006 FirstEnergy
Mid-American Conference Tournament where it will match up with sixth-seeded
Western Michigan (14-16, 10-8) on Thursday at 2 p.m. EST. Akron, which clinched
a first-round bye with a second-place finish in the league’s East Division,
closed the regular season with a 75-67 home-court victory over crosstown rival and East Division champion Kent State last
Saturday.
following a 60-55 first-round tournament win over
on its home floor on Monday. The Zips
are 2-8 all-time, 0-5 in the quarterfinal round, in MAC postseason play. UA and WMU match up in the league
tournament’s quarterfinal round for the second-consecutive season. The Broncos
downed the Zips 66-60 in overtime in last year’s postseason matchup in
(March 10). This is the third time the programs have meet in the MAC tourney,
with UA notching a 90-83 win in first-round action in