Whose torch will be extinguished next...
It's the 9th Day of Conference Tourneys ... which means more Waiting Line Eliminators...
Florida St. v. Wake Forest, ACC Tournament, 9 AM BST -- At 18-13, with an RPI of 64 & a SOS of 20, Fla. St has some work to do, especially when their 121 non-conference SOS, loss versus South Florida, 8-11 mark versus the Top 50 is taken into account. There are some nice wins (sweep of Miami (Fl), win over Clemson, and over other Waiting Line members UAB & Florida) ... FSU also comes in winning 4 of 5 ... but the 'Noles must MUST start with a win over Wake Forest, or they can go hang out in the Admiral's Lounge with Syracuse.
Villanova v. Georgetown - Big East semifinals, 9:00 AM BST - Yesterday's 2nd half against Syracuse was a thing of beauty, between Nova's wide-open three, "Hey JB, maybe a 2-3 zone played by a bunch of freshman isn't so effective when a team isn't missing from 3" -- Nova took a giant step towards the tournament, but in the Buffet's opinion, they aren't quite there yet. This is a different sort of elimination game, the Buffet isn't 100% convinced they need to WIN, but they must play G-Town tough. Nova is 20-11, with an RPI of 50, SOS of 52 (but a non-conference SOS of 158) ... if they can add Georgetown to their string of BE wins (UConn, Pitt & WVU), that would make their resume nice and complete, and have them at no worse than 4 of 5 to close out the season.
*Side Note* The Buffet looks for this to become the Buffet Game of the Day ... the last time these two teams faced-off, Villanova was jobbed harder than Hulk Hogan versus the Ultimate Warrior in Wrestlemania VI. Although, if one more Villanova player falls in love with the NBA three, this will be done soon. I wonder if Georgetown could throw it to their unstoppable big man any less than they do.
Dayton v. Xavier - A10 Quarterfinals, 9:00 AM BST - The Buffet didn't have the good fortune to watch this game, according to Buffet subscriber DS, the Dayton/Saint Louis overtime near-Flyer debacle featured more tie-ups than a tic-tac-toe marathon. Dayton's, 2007 Clemson-like collapse, has been temporarily averted, but today, Chris Wright or no Chris Wright, is must-win for Dayton. As discussed with Buffet Subscriber Stephen J. Avillo, this isn't Danger Danny Granger or even Ty Lawson going out. At some point, you quit the Chris Wright-crutch and you start winning some games.
Texas Tech v. Oklahoma - Big XII Opening Round, 9:30 AM BST
They're only MOSTLY dead.Texas Tech & Oklahoma St have very little on their resume --
Oklahoma St played a nice schedule (ranked 15th), but they didn't win many games against it 15-14, 84 RPI ... they do hold a win over Kansas in their back pocket, and took out Baylor & A&M in COllege Station, and don't have a an abundance of bad losses (@Iowa St, @North Texas and vs. Illinois) ... but they just have very few good ones.
Texas Tech is similar, 15-14, but their numbers are bit improved -- 63 RPI, #3 SOS, and a good non-conference win (vs. Gonzaga) -- plus a top 10 win over Texas, and wins over Kansas State & A&M. But they lost 3 of 4 coming down, feel at Centenary, and were 1-10 on the road. 1-10. ugh. This team may be worse than MOSTLY dead.
The only thing the Buffet sees here, and this is iffy, AS BEST, obviously the loser is gone. The winner must be Texas, must beat Oklahoma or Baylor (as in a upset run by Colorado would actually hurt them), and then have Kansas play to a close-run in the final.
North Carolina State vs. Miami (Fl) -- ACC Quarterfinals, 11:30 AM BST -- The Buffet sees the Hurricanes at about 95% in, meaning this isn't necessarily an Elimination game, but the U would be suited to take it anyway. At 20-9, with an RPI of 28, SOS of 32, 3-3 versus the top 50 (including Duke, Clemson, and at Mississippi St (always good to beat non-conference Waiting Line teams) -- they are 15-9 versus the top 200, and a respectable 7-7 on road and neutral courts. These teams could be headed for a whale of a game, in Raleigh earlier they met in a 79-77 overtime win for Sidney Green's Wolfpack.
Saint Joseph's v. Richmond - Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals, 11:30 AM BST -- St. Joseph's wasn't fazed by Bryan Dunston and hammered Fordham. They needed to. The Spiders must meet the same fate -- having lost 6 of 10, a season filled with losses to Holy Cross, LaSalle, St. Louis, and @Duquesne -- St. Joe's is 19-11, with an RPI of 56, a SOS ranked at 62, but a 4-3 top 50 record (wins over Xaiver, swept UMass, non-conference win over Villanova) is offset by those losses listed above that saw them go at 6-4 (101-200)... Saint Joe's needs to do more, and unfortunately Richmond is a play-out, not a play-in.
More Eliminators to come...
3 comments:
" I wonder if Georgetown could throw it to their unstoppable big man any less than they do."
The Buffet
The Brookline Chapter wonders if anybody less impactful on a college basketball game has achieved "unstoppable" status?
Roy Hibbert averages 27 minutes, 13 points, and 6 rebounds. So he has to sit out 1/3 of the game because he has zero endurance, and only averages 2 more rebounds than Georgetown's 6'3" shooting guard. A more over-rated big man I haven't seen in a long time.
So as not to have any faith in the Buffet shaken, the writing staff would like to assure readers that the word "unstoppable" as attributed to Roy Hibbert was meant to be dripping in sarcasm.
Although, the Buffet does feel, as a matter of course, and why Georgetown may have trouble advancing deep in the tournament, they do not give Hibbert the ball enough. But then again, since Villanova apparently decided that 51-50 was as close as they needed to get, and then stopped playing defense, it really doesn't matter.
" I wonder if Georgetown could throw it to their unstoppable big man any less than they do."
The Buffet
The same is true of UCONN, who somehow manages to forget about Hashim Thabeet for inexplicable 5-6 minute periods of crucial games.
Can't believe that a team that scored 39 points against Cincinnati at home is probably a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
Good thing there's plenty of public transportation in NYC or Huggins would be puking on his car again.
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