Better Late than Never?

The public outcry has been tremendous. The calls from Andy Katz, Ken Pomeroy, and Joe Lunardi have meant a lot. No call yet from Pat Forde, but all of his hits on the Buffet's Blog, presumably for column "research," can only be construed as unqualified support. So, late, and a bit lighter than you may have come to expect ... but, for the first time in 2010 -- LET'S HIT THE BUFFET.

Before we begin, let's focus on something far bigger than college hoops, the Buffet, and the NCAA tournament. For those of you that have missed, and judging from the ratings and rapid decline in quality, chances are you have (free Buffet subscription from the Buffet reader that can identify the movie that line is loosely borrowed from) -- an incredible thing has happened. Tthis season's 24 brought us the return of Freddie Prinze Jr. to the small screen, and the name of his character? Cole Ortiz. WAIT. So, the originator of the Ryan Dunne t-shirt, borrowed heavily by your Buffet editor every synagogue Saturday during his James E. Rogers College of Law days, has come out of tv-exile sporting the same name as said editor's alter-ego during some of his better formed nights on 4th Street? Coincidence? The Buffet thinks not...

Cole? Coincidence? The Buffet is on to you, Prinze, Jr.

Now, let's dive in... Several plates have been handed out

We'll go tourney by tourney -- those that have already played, we'll preview the conference champions and name conference All-Tournament teams, those that haven't (or are in progress) we'll preview, and for the BCS conferences (and non-BCS with hope) we'll give you the waiting line prospects...

Welcome back ... to the Buffet

America East Conference

March 6-7 (Hartford Chase Arena); March 13 (on court of highest remaining seed)

A clear divide between have and have nots led to a conference tournament with the top 4 seeds expecting to play on semi-final sunday -- although the race for the regular season conference championship was left without a ton of suspense in mid-January when Vermont dropped three straight conference games and both Maine and Boston University dropped 3 of 5 ... the cleared the path for Stony Brook, led on the perimeter by Muhammad El-Amin, Bryan Dougher, and Chris Martin and up front by stat-filling swingman Tommy Brenton (averaging nearly 10 points per game and leading the team in assists) to capture the regular season title (by one game when all was said and done and a 22 point loss to New Hampshire closed out the regular season).

The tournament begin in turmoil, when defending conference tournament champions Binghamton withdrew itself from the AmEast proceedings -- this season was, for lack of a better word, GROSS, for Binghamton. It started when star point guard (and one time Syracuse recruit and UMass player) Emanuel "Tiki" Mayben was arrested for felony possession of crack cocaine, five other players were dismissed soon thereafter -- including leading scorer DJ Rivera (whom Buffet readers may remember was the source of controversy last year when he lead the conference in scoring, but wasn't included on the all-conference team because AmEast coaches were skeptical about his eligibility) and key cog, Malik Allen, who was arrested in November for stealing condoms from a Wal-Mart (11.5 pts, 3.7 assists). Which doesn't even mention Miladin Kovacevic, who left a classmate in a coma after brawling in a bar in May, 2008. Other fun activities in Binghamton? The resignation of the A.D., a sexual harassment lawsuit against two department members by a fund-raiser, an audit by the SUNY chancellor found Jim Harrick-like academic fraud, payout to players, athletes out of control, and cover-ups of everything (which seems redundant -- because if all this was going on but it took an investigation to uncover it, aren't cover-ups obvious?). Did we mention the assistant coaches were reassigned, including one in particular who had been text messaging players about arranging cash payments and completing that player's work assignment (When can we all learn when breaking NCAA rules or cheating on your gorgeous wife with low-budget strippers -- PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE. Hear me Tiger?)

However, basketball was played in Hartford between the 8 remaining America East teams who don't cheat profusely...

Saturday, March 6

(1) Stony Brook v. (8) Albany

In game 1, top-seeded Stony Brook cruised to the semifinals with a 68-59 win over Albany that featured 10 minutes, 15 seconds of zero field goals by the Great Danes. Tommy Brenton had 13 points, 16 rebounds (7 offensive) and 3 assists to lead the Seawolves all night long -- Chris Coldplay Martin added 15 points and 7 rebounds,AmEast Player of the Year, Muhammid El-Amin and Bryan Dougher each added 12 points. For the Great Danes, Mike Black had 17 points, Logan Aronhalt had 16 pts and 6 rebounds, while Will Harris chipped in with 15 points and 6 rebounds.

(4) Boston University vs. (5) Hartford

Sometimes playing on your home court in conference tournaments help ... sometimes you're the Hartford Hawks. In the 2nd largest blowout in AmEast tournament history, BU clobbered Hartford 87-46 -- leading by as many as 45, Jake O'Brien had 28 points and 7 rebouds and super-sub Corey Lowe added 26 pts, 5 rebounds and 4 assists to earn the Terriers a date with top-seeded Stony Brook. Without the benefit of, say, help (including a 2-16 shooting clinic form Morgan Sabia), Joe Zeglinski had 11 points and 5 rebounds, and was the only Hawk in double-figures.

(2) Vermont v. (7) Maryland-Baltimore County

Maurice Joseph's 19 points and Marqus Blakely's 18 points and 12 rebounds ended the tournament early for last year's AmEast tourney runner-up UMBC, 76-59. Blakely, a two-time player of the year who narrowly lost the 2010 award to Stony Brook's El-Amin, had his 16th double-double of the season and included 5 assists and 3 blocks to his stat line. The Retrievers finished a 4-26 season with 17 points from Shawn Grant and Adrian Satchell's double-double (18 pts, 12 rebounds). This set up a semi-final..

(3) Maine v. (6) New Hampshire

chalk walk? Not quite. A 24-6 run just after halftime, and the 13-16 and 6th seeded Wildcats of New Hampshire upset Maine 68-57 ... Brian Benson had 13 points and 9 rebounds, and Alvin Abreu added 13, but the real key was Colbey Santos contributing 1/3 of the points in the 24-6 run. A disappointing ending for the Black Bears, who have only themselves to blame, hitting only 10 field goals in the final 14:07 of the game and shot 21-34 from the FT line -- don't blame Sean McNally, his 16 points and 12 rebounds kept his team in for as long as they were.

Sunday, March 7th

Boston U vs. Stony Brook, 4 PM Buffet time (Now C.S.T.!)

New Hampshire v. Vermont, 6:30 PM BT

(both can be seen on ESPN 360)

The Buffet says... Predictions after 1st round results count, right? Despite the momentum and rest accompanying their ridiculous blowout, the Buffet sees Stony Brook pulling of the hat trick of W's against BU, and Vermont having an easy time with New Hampshire -- leading to a Marqus Blakely vs. Muhammid El-Amin -- America East Conference Player of the year battle between (1) Stony Brook and (2) Vermont. Look for Vermont to pull the mini-upset in the POY grudge match.

Atlantic Coast Conference -- March 11-14, Greensboro, North Carolina

Already eating:

Duke: likely a #1 seed, although should they fail to win the ACC tournament, Ohio State has a shot of snatching it from them.

YOUR 2010 Conference co-champion Maryland Terrapins: The Buffet projects them currently as a 4/5 seed, but a run to the ACC tourney final could put them in 3/4 range, with an outside shot of a 2 should they win the ACC tournament. Prediction: 3 or 4.

Virginia Tech: a strong road win yesterday over Georgia Tech propels the Hokies into the Buffet, in our opinion. Because of their 3rd place ACC finish, they are unlikely to have an opportunity at another bad loss (provided Clemson/Wake out of the 6th spot doesn't drop a silly one to North "is it really as bad as the devastation in Haiti Roy? Really?" Carolina or the Miami "Hey Rick, when Miami is bounced in the first round, maybe you can bring Frank Haith back to Texas so someone can coach the team from November to March, after you quit working once signing day ends" Hurricanes. Right now, the Buffet sees them as a 9/10 seed, an win or two in the ACC tourney puts them in 8 seed orbit, and a shocking ACC title would give them a shot at a 6 or 7 -- if they do lose to Miami or UNC, this could drop to a 10/11. Prediction: 9 seed.

Florida St: A quick home stumble against Clemson was righted with a 4-point home win over the up-and-down, but RPI strong Demon Deacons and then avoided last minute bad loss disaster with a 61-60 win over Miami yesterday. Right now this team is in the 7/8 seed range, a couple of ACC wins should solidify that 7, maybe bump them up to a 6, and a ACC tourney win would get them in the 6 line solidly. If they can't avoid the 5/12 game and can't avoid an upset loss, this could drop to 9/10. Prediction: 7

Clemson: After losing 5 of 6 in late January, Clemson turned it around with a red-hot stretch run that included winning 5 of 6 (doesn't hurt to play Florida St twice, Miami, Virginia and Georgia Tech in that run) with the only blemish the Maryland 9-point payback on February 13th. Clemson is safely in, and right now sit in the 7 seeded slot, with Wake Forest on the docket tonight. A win there and a nice tourney run, and Clemson could really be red hot at the right time and rocket to a 5/6 seed. Prediction: 6

In the Waiting Line...

Wake Forest: DANGER WILL ROBINSON. Whoa. What happened here? Remember when this team was good, William & Mary was the ACC conference leader, and the Deacon won 8 of 9, including 3 thrillers over RPI top 25ers Richmond, Xavier & Maryland? Well, they went and got torched by Duke 90-70, won 5 of 6, and then dropped four straight to finish the season, including losses to the bottom-feeding North Carolina schools (including a loss the NC St where they shot 0-12 from 3), 7 points from Al-Farouq Aminu in the past two game combined, and utter lack of offense. Wake should be ok, right now, the Buffet sees them as an 8 seed, but losing 4 straight to close the season puts you in the Waiting Line..., even if there's many many teams behind you. Prediction: 8 seed.

Georgia Tech: Speaking of yuk ... that's how you'd describe Georgia Tech season finish -- they've lost 6 of 9, and now have to avoid losing to North Carolina in the ACC tourney (in Greesboro) to keep themselves out of a close discussion. After all of the carnage, they slot into the 10/11 range, and a loss to UNC would push them to 11/12/The Brink ... Prediction: 11 seed.

Due to time constraints, we'll have to pick up the previews later on ... for now, here (sadly, shockingly, but better late than never -- as the topic suggests) is the first Buffetology of 2010 (Sunday, March 7 games have not been factored in)...

1 SEEDS: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky Duke

2 SEEDS: Kansas St, West Virginia, Villanova, Ohio St

3 SEEDS: Purdue, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, New Mexico

4 SEEDS: Maryland, Temple, Baylor, Vanderbilt

5 SEEDS: Michigan St., BYU, Texas A&M, Tennessee

6 SEEDS: Missouri, Butler, Xavier, Gonzaga

7 SEEDS: Florida State, Texas, Wisconsin, Clemson

8 SEEDS: Northern Iowa, Oklahoma St, Wake Forest, Notre Dame

9 SEEDS: Marquette, Florida, Richmond, Virginia Tech

10 SEEDS: UTEP, UNLV, Illinois, Louisville

11 SEEDS: Illinois, California, Cornell, Utah State

12 SEEDS: Mississippi, Old Dominion, San Diego St, Saint Mary's

13 SEEDS: Kent State, Memphis, Wofford, Siena

14 SEEDS: Weber St, UC-Santa Barbara, Murray St, Oakland

15 SEEDS: Morgan St, Sam Houston, East Tenn St, Troy

16 SEEDS: Stony Brook, Quinnipiac, Winthrop, Lehigh, Jackson State

Last 4 In: Memphis, St Mary's, Mississippi, San Diego St (*note* we narrowly lost a Waiting Line spot today as ODU just upended VCU in OT sparing Memphis, for now.)

First 4 Out: Arizona State, Rhode Island, Alabama-Birmingham, Washington

Next 4 Out: Dayton, Mississippi State, Seton Hall, Wichita St.

Next 4 Out: Minnesota, Connecticut, South Florida, Charlotte

Next 3 Out: New Mexico State, South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth