Whoa.

Do any of these teams actually want to get into the Buffet?
Do you believe
In what you see ...
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real ...
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe in
What you see ...


Quick aside: By the way, during the post-College Hoops Sportcenter, Paul in Scottsdale tried to get Bob Knight a moment of contrition, in a "Sportscenter Interactive: Knight Insights" segment, he got to ask the former Coach, "If you look back on your 'fantastic' (the Buffet's quotes, not his) career and you had to do one thing differently, what would you do"

The answer this mysterious "Paul" is looking for is clear, and instead Knight listed a bunch of different strategies and sets he would've employed. Which would have been interesting and all, if the only possible rights answers weren't, "I wouldn't have grabbed that kid by his neck" or "I probably shouldn't have accosted the Chancellor of Texas Tech over some romaine lettuce"

Um, yeah, so, does anyone want in this tournament?

Dayton? I guess not.

Massachusetts? Sure doesn't seem that way.

Villanova? Seemed like it for a bit, then not so much.

Maryland? By a long-time Buffet subscribers count, the Terps blew their 4 double-digit lead down the stretch, so no.

Baylor? GROSS. (first #5 seed in the 11-year history of the Big 12 to lose to a #12 seed)

Texas Tech? Sayonara.

Houston? We have a problem.

UAB? U.R.Gone.

New Mexico? Alford still can't coach in tournaments.

Arizona St.? Pendergraph still hasn't made contact with any USC Trojans on that play

Oregon? Tajuan Porter was game, but allowing Wazzou to score 75 is a bit alarming

Arizona? Did someone tell Chase Buddinger the tournament lasted beyond Wednesday
night?

Florida? The Buffet will let Billy Donovan handle this one: "It's in front of our guys, what it takes to win. For whatever reason, I haven't brought it out in them. They're not committed to it. But, I'm not necessarily excited about these guys being sophomore, to be honest. And to be with this group, I don't think just because they're going to be another year older that all of a sudden, everything gets resolved. I don't see that."

Mississippi: Uh, Georgia? No.

The Buffet sincerely hopes Eric Maynor didn't throw away those sneaks just yet ...

What's left after the carnage?

Well, it boosts those teams they did take care of business: Miami, Florida St, St. Joseph's, West Virginia, Texas A&M, Temple.

Sorry UNLV, phantom 3-point plays to stave off home tournament losses to 197th ranked teams does not give you a boost.

So what now?

First, let's see what teams have the opportunity to underwhelm us tomorrow...

Virginia Tech vs. Miami (Fl) - ACC quarterfinals, 11:30 am (approx.) - As one of the few teams to actually git 'r done on Thursday night, Miami actually gets credit from the Buffet. Which means, that Virginia Tech has to be the ACC's choke du jour, but can they survive it? The Buffet thinks not. Virginia Tech's 9-7 ACC record was every bit the mirage it seems. The top 4 teams, RPI-wise, in the ACC, they played only once each. EVERY of their wins came against ACC opponents 62 and higher. There is nary a single impressive non-conference win on their resume (they did take Butler to OT), but lost to Gonzaga by 18, to Richmond, to Old Dominion and Penn State. From here, it seems Va Tech needs the quaterfinal victory, and a semifinal victory before they would even enter a discussion.

Florida St. v. North Carolina - ACC quarterfinals, currently airing - People are split on Florida St., the Buffet thinks they'll be in, they are peaking at the right time (5 of 6), SOS of 23 to go with their 62 RPI and 8 top 100 wins (over tourney teams Miami-Fl (twice), Clemson & Waiting Liners (or, after yesterday, former Waiting Liners - UAB, @Florida, Wake). The losses to the BE also-rans (PC and So Florida) are unhelpful ... so Florida St can beat UNC and cement, or they can lose and sweat it out. If they get blown out, the Buffet seems them waiting in line until 2009.

Oklahoma St v. Texas, B12 quarterfinals, Oklahoma St is just about finito, but if they want ANY hope, then they'll need this big big marquee win, as a start.

Colorado v. Oklahoma, B12 quarterfinals, 12:00 pm, Oklahoma should be safe. But, they'd be wise to pull the non-Baylor and avoid a loss to a team with 19 of their own on the season.

Vanderbilt v. Arkansas, SEC quarterfinals, 12:15 pm, Arkansas should be equally safe - 20-10, RPI at 40 (SOS at 42), 7-5 versus top 100, a win over Baylor, VCU, and a nice win over Baylor. Issues are with their complete lack of anything resembling a good road win (2-7 on the season), and only 1 top 25 win (3 top 50s) ... but given the at-large lanscape, the Buffet doesn't think they need another Vandy win to boost themselves

Saint Joseph's v. Xavier, A-10 semifinal 3:30 pm, St. Joe's has been smart, don't lose, let everyone else do that. St. Joe's has an ok profile, but way way too many bad losses @Duquesne (#129), home v. St. Louis (#135), home v. Holy Cross (#148), home v. La Salle (#162) ... big wins over Xaiver, over UMass twice, and a nice non-conference thrashing of Villanova. However, they could use a go showing againt Xavier today, and may need the win.

Alabama v. Mississippi St, SEC quarterfinals, 4:30 pm, Mississippi St had been spotty on the road until the close of the season (win at Florida, 1 pt OT loss at Vandy), otherwise they have a nice 12-4 conference record, a 7-2 close to the season, and wins over fellow Waiting Liners: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and @Florida. That said, don't lose to Alabama.

Charlotte v. Temple, ACC semis, 6:00 -- Charlotte's upset of UMass deprived Temple of their first chance at a good win, the Owls need this win, but it alone doesn't do all that much for them.

Texas A&M v. Kansas State, Big 12 quarterfinal, 6:20 pm, not sure either team is out with a loss here ... in fact, instead of an Eliminator, this could simply be a very good quarterfinal matchup...

Miami (Oh) v. Kent St, MAC semifinal, Kent's number are solid, 27 RPI, 61 non-conference SOS, but they just haven't done much else (a nice NC win over Illinois St, and a huge bracket buster win at St. Mary's, the loss to Toledo sort of diminished the St. Mary's win. A loss to #73 Miami (Oh) would be deadly, but they should probably get to the final in order to be very very safe.

One message two games:

Georgia v. Kentucky, SEC quarterfinals, 6:45 pm & Utah v. UNLV, Mountain West semifinals 9:00 pm -- UNLV lucked out last night, phantom foul calls are nice in home-standing tourneys, but one message to Kentucky -- don't lose to your mediocre opponent tonight.

Kentucky would likely surprise, UNLV would not.