With 4 1/2 left, Marquette is on the verge of putting the game against BYU out of reach. Maybe I'll have a final before I finish this, but as for last night:
Vermont 71 - Lamar 59 = The Catamounts take care of business in a very competent manner, and move on to face UNC tomorrow.
South Florida 65 - California 54 = So maybe I was wrong about the Pac-12 being under-rated, though after seeing how lousy that Colorado/Arizona championship game in the league finals was, I have no good excuse. On the other hand, I guess the Golden Bears did do pretty good at making their loss somewhat respectable, considering they scored only 13 stinkin' points in the first half.
In afternoon action today:
Murray State 58 - Colorado State 41 = Congratulations to Joe's Racers for knocking off the Rams to advance, though CSU helped them a ton in the 2nd half with bad shots and TOs. As this is the first time I've seen Joe's boys all year, I have no idea if this game was typical of their play or not. But from what I saw they have very nice perimeter defense, a few pretty effective scorers, and the hustle to force some action and create some of those loose balls. On the other hand, I have to say that, if you assume that Hornung kid is not the new Kurt Rambis, I fear that if they don't learn to box out a little better some team down the road is gonna kill them off the glass.
Kansas State 70 - Southern Miss 64 = The Manhattan 'Cats made enough good plays down the stretch to edge out a feisty SM team, who made enough late plays of their own to keep the issue in question until under a minute to go. All in all, a pretty good game on both sides.
Wisconsin 73 - Montana 49 = Both teams normally want a glacial style of play, but for the Badgers to rack up that many points . . . well, for them that's Runnin' Rebels scoring. I didn't get to see this, but they must have cleaned up on the defensive boards off Montana misses to get that many possessions, and maybe even a few breakaways.
Louisville 69 - Davidson 62 = Here's another game I did not see, but I'm not surprised the Wildcats gave Pitino so good a fight. Firstly, they have a pretty good team themselves. Secondly, the Cards have played down to their opponents all year long, so why should that be any different today?
As I figured, I now have that final:
Marquette 88 - BYU 68 = The Cougars fell 'way behind the Iona Gaels in their play-in game, yet came back to grab a victory. Well, they could not do the same today. The Golden Eagles jumped on them early and often, and kept the pressure going well enough to cruise into their match-up with Joe's Racers on Saturday. So Joe, if your guys really truly believe they should have gotten a higher seed, they can prove it then by knocking Marquette out of The Dance. From what I saw, that won't be easy.
Syracuse has taken control of their game against UNC-A, and are up 8 with 2:10 to go. It ain't over, but it is looking better for the Orange faithful. All the other games are too early and too close to even mean anything yet.
Back later.