Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Penn-Princeton
Press Notes
Princeton (11-15, 9-4 Ivy) has
spent the Ivy League season proving that isn’t the team that began the season
with just two wins in its first 12 games. The Tigers will have one more chance
to prove that Tuesday against the Quakers (20-7, 12-1 Ivy), who have won three
straight and eight of their last nine against Princeton.
The Tigers clinched second place in the league standings with a 56-45 win at
Yale Saturday. Penn clinched the outright Ivy title and an NCAA berth when it
defeated Yale Friday and the Tigers lost at Brown. The Quakers were then taken
to overtime by Brown Saturday night before pulling out a 74-68 victory. 52% of Princeton’s
shots this season have come from three-point range. 45% of the Tigers’ points
this season have come from beyond the arc.
Colorado State-TCU
Press Notes
The Rams enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed after a
4-12 conference record while TCU comes in No. 9 going
2-14 in league play on the year. The Horned Frogs hold a 6-24 overall record
and have won just once in their last 10 contests. TCU
closed out Mountain West play Saturday with a 72-61 loss at UNLV
giving them an 0-8 record on the road in conference
play. Colorado State
holds a 59-28 overall record in home games during Dale Layer’s six seasons. Colorado
State has hit 103-of-239
three-pointers (.431) in Moby Arena this year. In contrast, the Rams are
73-of-213 (.343) from behind the arc away from home. After holding opponents to
a .379 field goal percentage in non-conference games, CSU allowed league opponents
to shoot at a .475 clip through the regular season. MWC
foes scored 76.5 points per game on the Rams compared to a
67.0 points per game average in non-conference play.
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Wednesday, March 8,
2006
Xavier-Massachusetts
Press Notes
Xavier, 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Atlantic 10
Conference, lost its regular season finale on Saturday at Massachusetts,
65-56. Xavier has compiled a 15-7 (.682) all-time record in 10 Atlantic 10
Tournament appearances. XU is 3-0 in first round games.
Washington State-Oregon
Press Notes
Washington State
is 2-6 all-time in Pac-10 Tournament games. Ducks have won 10 straight in the
series and 18 of the last 19. Oregon
has won eight of 12 meetings on a neutral floor, including an 8-2 record at the
Far West Classic in Portland, Ore.
Ducks are averaging 68.6 points on offense and give up 64.6 points on defense.
The Cougars lead the Pac-10 in scoring defense (57.4 points per game), field
goal percentage defense (39.0) and 3-point field goal percentage defense
(29.5). Washington State
has led just once at halftime in its last 13 games, 11 of which have resulted
in loss.
Central Florida-East Carolina
Press Notes
The UCF men’s basketball team
has made two-consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, but will have a new
challenge this season as it participates in the 2006 Conference USA
Championship presented by Aeropostale. The Golden
Knights (13-14) earned the fifth seed at the league tournament and will face
No. 12 East Carolina (8-19) in the first round on Wednesday evening in Memphis,
Tenn. Dating back
to the start of the 2001-02 campaign, UCF is 10-1 in
conference championship action. The Golden Knights have won six-straight league
tournament games. UCF has a 4-0 edge in the all-time
series with East Carolina and swept the season series
with the Pirates this year. The Golden Knights closed the regular season in
strong fashion, winning three of their last four games.
Cincinnati-Syracuse
Press Notes
Cincinnati,
19-11, closed regular season play with a 78-75 win over No. 16 West Virginia to
finish eighth in the BIG EAST with an 8-8 ledger. Syracuse, also
19-11, finished in ninth place with a 7-9 record following Sunday’s 92-82 loss
to No. 4 Villanova, SU’s third straight defeat.
Though both teams have won over 70 percent of their home games this season,
neither found the home court to be an advantage when the played each other.
Syracuse beat Cincinnati, 77-58, at UC’s Fifth Third
Arena while the Bearcats retaliated with an 82-65 win over the Orange in the
Carrier Dome, the two teams’ largest margins of defeat at home in 2006. The
Bearcats were rated No. 4 in the RPI and No. 5 in the
Sagarin Index in strength of schedule rankings at the conclusion of the regular
season.
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Thursday, March 9,
2006
BYU-Utah
Press Notes
The Utes placed sixth in the Mountain West Conference
during the regular season and earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament. Utah
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. Utah
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. Utah
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 Wyoming
at home on Saturday night. Before defeating Wyoming
last Saturday night at home, Utah
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 Utah
going 5-7 in those games. Utah is
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 Utah on
neutral courts.
Arizona-Stanford
Press Notes
Arizona
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. Adams
is averaging 17.3 points per game this season, third in the Pac-10.
South Carolina-Mississippi
State
Press Notes
Mississippi State
leads the series record 10-6. USC, 15-14 and finishing 6-10 in the SEC, will travel to Nashville
to play Mississippi State,
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 North
Carolina’s +22.2. In fact, only five of the 12 ACC
teams have a positive scoring margin over the last five games. Clemson has
three wins by double digits, second only to North
Carolina’s four. Clemson has averaged 85.6 points per
game over the last five thanks in part to 43.7 percent three-point shooting.
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