The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–Elite 8 Saturday

We are down to the Elite 8, and after today’s East and South Regional Finals, there will be six teams left in the field.  We’re just 24 hours away from knowing which of these best teams of all time (1960-2019) will make the Final Four.

If you haven’t been following this simulation since its beginning, we took 68 of the best NCAA basketball teams between 1960 and 2019.  No school could have teams from consecutive seasons, or else this would have been the UCLA Invitational.

The games were simulated by actually playing the college made version of Statis-Pro Basketball, a game made by Avalon Hill and Sports Illustrated between the 1970’s and 1980’s.  Our Captain solved the codes for that game and applied them to college.

Here are the results for the East and South Region Championships.

 

EAST REGION

 

Wolf Pack Dominates On Boards/Towe Magnificent

 

1974 North Carolina St.	75
2019 Virginia	64

In it’s first three games in this tournament, Virginia had been able to limit turnovers and force the opponent into bad shots.  In the Elite 8, the Cavaliers committed just seven turnovers, but they could not prevent North Carolina State from getting open shots.  Thanks to point guard Monte Towe’s excellent passing, the Wolf Pack shooters were open more often than a normal UVa opponent.

Towe dished out 10 assists in the game, five in both halves.  Towe also contributed 22  points, hitting all eight of his foul shots in the second half when North Carolina State increased their lead from five to 11 points.

Boxscore
North Carolina St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Tom Burleson	C	8	13	0	0	4	6	4	6	10	0	0	3	2	2	20
Tim Stoddard	F	2	5	0	0	2	3	1	7	8	1	0	1	1	2	6
David Thompson	F	5	11	1	3	6	8	3	7	10	2	1	2	2	2	17
Mo Rivers	G	2	7	1	4	1	2	0	3	3	1	1	0	2	3	6
Monte Towe	G	5	12	4	9	8	9	0	1	1	10	2	0	3	0	22
Phil Spence		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	2
Greg Hawkins		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	0	0
Steve Nuce		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	2
Mark Moeller		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		24	52	6	16	21	28	9	30	39	14	4	7	11	13	75
Virginia	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Mamadi Diakete	C	1	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	0	0	1	0	5	2
De’Andre Hunter	F	2	7	0	3	3	4	1	4	5	1	0	0	2	4	7
Ty Jerome	F	5	12	2	6	3	4	0	4	4	6	1	0	2	5	15
Kyle Guy	G	6	14	3	8	3	3	0	4	4	2	0	0	1	4	18
Kihei Clark	G	2	5	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	3	1	0	1	3	5
Braxton Key		5	9	1	2	1	2	1	4	5	0	1	0	1	2	12
Jack Salt		2	5	0	0	1	2	0	3	3	1	0	0	0	2	5
Jay Huff		0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team										2
Totals		23	57	7	22	11	15	4	22	28	13	3	1	7	26	64
Player of the Game	Monte Towe

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
N. C. State	34	41	75
Virginia	31	33	64

 

 

WEST REGION

 

Brunson and Bridges Bring Back The Wildcats

 

2018 Villanova	75
1970 UCLA	69

 

Trailing by six points eight minutes into the final half, Villanova’s Jalen Brunson and Michael Bridges scored a combined 19 points to bring the Wildcats back into the lead at 68-67 with less than two minutes remaining.  Foul shooting and multiple missed three point shots sent the Bruins back to Westwood.

 

Boxscore
Villanova	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Omari Spellman	C	0	2	0	1	0	0	2	4	6	0	0	1	1	5	0
Eric Paschall	F	2	5	1	3	6	6	1	5	6	0	0	2	0	2	11
Michael Bridges	F	7	12	3	5	5	5	1	7	8	0	0	0	2	1	22
Phil Booth	G	2	4	2	3	4	6	0	2	2	3	1	1	2	2	10
Jalen Brunson	G	7	17	3	5	6	8	0	1	1	6	2	0	2	3	23
Donte DiVincenzo		2	6	1	4	2	3	0	2	2	3	1	0	3	1	7
Collin Gillespie		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree		1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	2
Team										3
Totals		21	50	10	21	23	28	4	22	29	12	5	4	10	15	75
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Steve Patterson	C	5	11	0	0	2	2	2	7	9	1	0	1	2	4	12
Sidney Wicks	F	7	15	0	2	3	5	4	8	12	3	1	2	5	4	17
Curtis Rowe	F	6	12	1	3	2	3	2	8	10	1	2	0	2	4	15
John Vallely	G	4	8	2	6	3	4	0	2	2	5	1	0	3	3	13
Henry Bibby	G	4	10	2	7	2	2	1	1	2	2	1	0	2	4	12
John Ecker		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Jon Chapman		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Bill Seibert		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Team										3
Totals		26	56	5	18	12	16	9	26	38	12	5	3	15	26	69
Player of the Game	Jalen Brunson

 

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Villanova	40	35	75
UCLA	41	28	69

 

Coming Tomorrow: The Midwest and West Region Finals

 

Midwest Region Championship: 1968 UCLA vs. 1968 Houston

West Region Championship: 1972 UCLA vs. 1982 North Carolina

 

The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–The Sweet 16 Friday

After last night’s games, we are down to just 12 teams left, and before tonight’s action ends, we will have the Elite 8.  Then, by the end of  the weekend, we’ll be down to the Final Four.

Tonight’s Sweet 16 action involves games in the Midwest and West Regions.

MIDWEST REGION

 

Jabbar Destroys Duke

 

1968 UCLA	83
2015 Duke	57

 

The number one seed in the Midwest Region has reached the Region Finals with relative ease.  The 1968 UCLA Bruins quickly dispatched 2015 Duke with a 19-4 run to begin the game.

UCLA took a 20-point lead at 34-14 after back to back baskets by Kenny Heitz and Mike Lynn.  Once down by 20 points, Duke never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

By the time the UCLA reserves entered the game for good, the Bruins led 74-42.  Duke ended the game on a 15-9 run.

 

UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	C	14	23	0	0	3	5	7	9	16	1	1	5	3	1	31
Mike Lynn	F	3	6	0	0	4	6	1	4	5	3	3	0	1	3	10
Lynn Shackleford	F	2	5	0	2	2	2	1	5	6	2	2	1	2	3	6
Lucius Allen	G	3	8	2	5	5	6	0	2	2	4	3	0	3	1	13
Mike Warren	G	4	7	2	4	2	2	0	3	3	3	1	0	4	2	12
Jim Nielsen		0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kenny Heitz		2	5	1	3	1	2	0	1	1	2	2	0	1	1	6
Bill Sweek		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neville Saner		1	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	2	2
Gene Sutherland		1	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	3
Team										3
Totals		30	61	6	17	17	23	11	26	40	16	12	7	15	13	83
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Jahlil Okafor	C	3	9	0	0	0	1	1	4	5	1	1	0	2	4	6
Justise Winslow	F	4	11	2	5	4	5	1	2	3	0	0	1	6	4	14
Quinn Cook	F	3	8	1	5	3	5	1	3	4	2	1	0	3	3	10
Matt Jones	G	5	10	3	6	0	0	0	5	5	1	2	0	4	4	13
Tyus Jones	G	4	12	1	4	3	4	0	3	3	5	2	0	3	2	12
Grayson Allen		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	3	1	2
Amile Jefferson		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	2	0
Marshall Plumlee		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	1	0
Nick Pagliuca		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										3
Totals		20	52	7	20	10	15	6	21	30	9	6	1	23	21	57
Player of the Game	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	50	33	83
Duke	33	24	57

 

 

Cougars Survive Incredible 3 OT Game–Hayes Is Magnificent

 

1968 Houston	122	3 OT
1976 Indiana	121

Elvin Hayes played 52 out of a possible 55 minutes, leading the 1968 Cougars to an incredible triple overtime win to advance to the Elite 8 against an historic rival for a shot at the Final Four on Sunday.

Hayes scored 49 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, connecting on 21-35 from the field and 7-11 at the foul line.   Forward Theodis Lee and guard Don “Duck” Chaney combined for 47 points backing up the Big E.

Indiana appeared to have the game won in the first overtime.  A basket and made foul shot by Bobby Wilkerson, followed by a three-pointer by Tom Abernathy gave the Hoosiers a 102-95 lead with 1:08 remaining.  In the final 68 seconds, Houston forced three turnovers on the Hoosiers.  Hayes hit two baskets, and a three-pointer by George Reynolds tied the game with 12 seconds remaining.   A desperation shot by Quinn Buckner at the buzzer was off target.

In the second overtime, Indiana led 111-108 and had the ball with 12 seconds to go.  Wilkerson went to the foul line with a chance to put IU up by five and missed both foul shot attempts.  Kenny Spain rebounded the ball for Houston and found Chaney open for the tying three-pointer at the buzzer.

In the third overtime, it was Houston’s turn to take the lead and watch Indiana mount a comeback.  With a 120-113 lead, the Hoosiers sent Cougar players to the foul line.  Hayes, Lee, and Chaney combined for 2-6 in the final Houston’s final three possessions.  Indiana crept back with a three-pointer by Wayne Radford and baskets by Scott May and Kent Benson to cut the Houston lead to 122-120.  After the Cougars turned the ball over, Hayed fouled Benson as Benson tried to tie the game up.  Benson hit the first shot and missed the second.  Lee rebounded and threw the outlet pass to Chaney to end the game.

Houston now faces a familiar opponent.  In reality in 1968, the Cougars beat the Bruins at the Astrodome in the Game of the Century, but UCLA blew the Cougars off the floor in the Final Four.  Very few people since realize that Reynolds did not play for Houston in the NCAA Tournament.  He has been eligible in this tournament.

Boxscore
Houston	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Elvin Hayes	C	21	35	0	0	7	11	6	12	18	2	1	4	4	3	49
Ken Spain	F	5	11	0	0	2	4	5	10	15	1	2	3	2	5	12
Theodis Lee	F	11	24	1	5	3	6	3	7	10	3	0	1	2	4	26
Don Chaney	G	7	17	3	8	4	7	2	6	8	8	3	0	5	3	21
George Reynolds	G	4	9	2	5	4	5	0	5	5	6	2	0	4	3	14
Tom Gribben		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Vern Lewis		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	3	0
Carlos Bell		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Niemer Hamood		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team										4
Totals		48	97	6	18	20	33	16	41	61	22	9	8	18	27	122
Indiana	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Kent Benson	C	10	18	0	0	4	5	2	9	11	2	0	2	2	4	24
Scott May	F	10	21	3	7	6	7	1	7	8	5	2	0	4	4	29
Tom Abernathy	F	8	14	5	11	2	2	2	5	7	2	0	1	3	2	23
Bobby Wilkerson	G	4	13	1	5	4	6	1	7	8	4	1	2	5	5	13
Quinn Buckner	G	4	9	1	3	3	4	1	3	4	6	3	0	3	4	12
Wayne Radford		3	7	1	2	2	3	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	3	9
Jim Wisman		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
Rich Valavicius		2	3	2	3	0	0	1	2	3	0	1	0	0	3	6
Jim Crews		1	2	1	2	2	2	0	2	2	1	1	0	1	2	5
Mark Haymore		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jim Roberson		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team										5
Totals		42	90	14	34	23	29	8	37	50	23	8	5	19	31	121
Player of the Game	Elvin Hayes

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	OT	OT	OT	Final
Houston	45	44	13	9	11	122
Indiana	41	48	13	9	10	121

WEST REGION

 

Undermined Miners Scare Bracket’s Overall Top Seed But Fall Short

 

The 1972 UCLA Bruins began the game looking like they would advance to the Elite 8 with very  little trouble.  Leading 39-20, UCLA went cold, while Texas Western ran their fast break and scored 12 straight points to cut the lead to 39-32.  After Jamaal Wilkes hit a three-pointer, TW scored the final seven points of the half to cut the lead to three points.

Texas Western actually took the lead briefly in the second half when Orsten Artis hit a jumper to put the Miners of 59-58.  UCLA held a slim 68-66 lead when the Bruins went on a 12-2 run to take an 80-68 lead.  TW couldn’t cut the lead under 10 points until the final possession.

 

Boxscore
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Bill Walton	C	9	17	0	0	6	10	5	11	16	5	1	3	2	4	24
Jamaal Wilkes	F	7	14	3	7	2	2	3	8	11	0	0	1	1	2	19
Larry Farmer	F	2	5	1	2	0	0	1	4	5	1	1	0	2	3	5
Greg Lee	G	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	0	0	3	3	2
Henry Bibby	G	8	16	3	7	4	4	0	3	3	6	2	0	5	2	23
Tommy Curtis		4	9	2	5	1	2	0	1	1	3	1	0	4	2	11
Larry Hollyfield		2	6	1	3	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	0	2	4	5
Swen Nater		2	3	0	0	1	2	2	3	5	0	0	0	0	3	5
Team										4
Totals		35	72	10	24	14	20	11	36	51	17	5	4	19	23	94
Texas Western	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Nevil Shed	C	1	5	0	0	0	0	1	4	5	0	0	0	0	5	2
David Lattin	F	7	15	0	0	2	3	3	11	14	1	1	0	1	1	16
Harry Flournoy	F	4	7	0	0	0	0	2	7	9	2	1	1	2	4	8
Orsten Artis	G	5	14	3	9	3	4	0	2	2	4	3	0	3	3	16
Bobby Joe Hill	G	7	17	4	10	5	7	0	1	1	3	2	0	4	2	23
Willie Cager		4	8	1	2	5	6	1	3	4	1	1	0	1	2	14
Willie Worsley		1	5	1	4	3	5	0	0	0	3	2	0	2	1	6
Team										3
Totals		29	71	9	25	18	25	7	28	38	14	10	1	13	18	85
Player of the Game	Bill Walton

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	42	52	94
Texas Western	39	46	85

 

 

Jordan Puts Tar Heels On His Back–Carolina Going To Elite 8

 

1982 North Carolina	83
1960 Ohio St.	72

 

The 1982 North Carolina Tar Heels needed someone to step up.  Trailing 61-52 midway in the second half, Michael Jordan took matters into his own hands connecting on 6-7 from the field after making just one of his first seven shots.  Three of those six made shots were three-pointers, and he added four foul shots.  His 19 points in the final 10 minutes brought Carolina back fro the brink.  Jordan’s three-pointer with the Buckeyes leading 68-66, gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the game.  Once Ohio State was forced to foul at the end, North Carolina hit seven of eight foul shots.  Ohio State could not connect from behind the arc in crunch time, as UNC pulled away in the last two minutes to win by 11.

 

Boxscore
North Carolina	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Sam Perkins	C	6	11	0	0	5	6	2	5	7	2	0	1	3	3	17
James Worthy	F	7	12	0	0	3	4	2	5	7	3	1	2	1	3	17
Matt Doherty	F	2	5	2	4	5	6	0	3	3	1	0	0	1	2	11
Michael Jordan	G	7	13	3	7	6	8	1	4	5	3	2	0	3	2	23
Jimmy Black	G	3	7	1	3	3	4	0	2	2	5	1	0	2	3	10
Jim Braddock		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	2	0
Chris Brust		1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	2	2
Buzz Peterson		1	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	0	3
Warren Martin		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		27	53	7	16	22	28	6	24	33	17	6	4	13	18	83
Ohio St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Jerry Lucas	C	9	16	1	2	5	6	3	8	11	3	0	2	2	3	24
Joe Roberts	F	3	8	0	0	1	2	1	3	4	1	0	0	3	4	7
John Havlicek	F	7	14	2	5	4	5	2	7	9	4	3	0	1	4	20
Larry Siegfried	G	4	11	2	6	3	4	0	2	2	3	1	0	3	2	13
Mel Nowell	G	2	5	1	3	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	0	3	3	6
Dick Furry		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	2
Richie Hoyt		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Bob Knight		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
Team										3
Totals		26	56	6	16	14	19	7	22	32	13	5	2	15	20	72
Player of the Game	Michael Jordan

 

Coming Tomorrow: The East and South Regional Finals

East: 1974 North Carolina St. vs. 2019 Virginia

South: 1970 UCLA vs. 2018 Villanova

The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–Round Three Saturday

Good Saturday morning sports fans.  This is Greg Humble in the studio along with my colleagues here at See BS–Charles Parkly Clark Post, and Kenny Jones. We’re just moments away from a great slate of Saturday games, and at the end of the day four teams will punch their tickets to the Sweet 16.

We’re going to start everybody out with the top-seed in the East, the 2001 Duke Blue Devils taking on the eight seed Kentucky Wildcats of 1978.  Let’s send it out to our See BS crew, Ian Falcon, Jim Snorkel, and Jamie Herdall.

 

EAST REGION

Wildcat Inside Muscle Too Much For The Region’s Top Seed

 

9 Kentucky 1978	89
1 Duke 2001	80

Unassociated Press: The 8-Seed 1978 Kentucky Wildcats took advantage of a huge rebounding edge to hold off the top seed in the East, the 2001 Duke Blue Devils.  The Wildcats enjoyed a huge 51-30 rebounding advantage with the Blue Mist’s Twin Towers both recording double figure boards.

Kentucky broke open a close game midway through the second half.  With a 56-53 lead, the Wildcats went on a 16-5 run to take a commanding 72-58 lead.  Duke frantically mounted a comeback with three-pointers from Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, and Nate James to cut the lead to 76-70, but the Wildcats chose to keep the ball in the hands of Kyle Macy down the stretch, and Duke was forced to foul one of the all time great foul shooters.

 

Boxscore
Kentucky	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Rick Robey	C	5	8	0	0	4	6	3	8	11	2	0	4	2	2	14
Mike Phillips	F	2	5	0	0	2	3	2	10	12	0	0	3	4	3	6
Jack Givens	F	5	11	1	3	4	5	1	5	6	3	0	0	1	1	15
Truman Claytor	G	2	6	1	4	0	0	1	1	2	2	2	0	2	1	5
Kyle Macy	G	4	9	3	7	10	11	0	1	1	5	0	0	3	2	21
James Lee		4	8	0	0	1	2	2	4	6	0	0	0	2	3	9
Chuck Aleksinas		2	3	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	0	0	2	2	2	4
Jay Shidler		4	7	4	7	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	1	12
LaVon Williams		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	2
Fred Cowan		0	0	0	0	1	2	1	2	3	0	0	1	1	2	1
Team										3
Totals		29	59	9	21	22	29	12	36	51	15	3	10	18	18	89
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Carlos Boozer	C	5	9	0	0	2	3	2	5	7	0	0	0	1	5	12
Shane Battier	F	7	18	1	3	4	6	1	4	5	2	2	1	1	3	19
Mike Dunleavy	F	5	15	2	7	2	2	0	1	1	3	1	0	2	2	14
Nate James	G	3	5	2	4	0	0	1	2	3	3	2	0	0	5	8
Jay Williams	G	4	10	3	8	3	4	1	1	2	4	1	0	1	3	14
Chris Duhon		1	4	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	2	1	0	0	2	3
Casey Sanders		2	3	0	0	2	3	1	4	5	0	0	0	1	4	6
Matt Christensen		2	6	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	2	4
Team										4
Totals		29	70	8	23	14	20	7	19	30	15	7	1	6	26	80
Player of the Game	Kyle Macy

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Kentucky	46	43	89
Duke	44	36	80

 

 

Tiny Towe Blitz’s Cardinals Press To Lead Pack To Impressive Win

 

4 North Carolina St. 1974	96
12 Louisville 1980	82

 

Unassociated Press: Five foot, six inch guard Monte Towe proved to be impossible to trap by the vaunted Louisville 2-2-1 press defense.  Time and time again, he broke the press and drove until he found an open teammate, forcing Louisville to call the press off.  By the time the Cardinals stopped pressing, the Wolf Pack had turned the ball over twice, but they scored easy baskets or went to the foul line enough times to take a 10-point lead in the first 12 minutes of the game.

A three-minute stretch to end the first half found N.C. State turning the ball over in their own halfcourt four times, while Louisville warmed up from the field and cut the lead to two points.

The Wolf Pack maintained the lead throughout the second half, and once they held a five point lead, they forced Louisville to foul down the stretch, where Towe was 8 of 8 at the charity stripe in the final minutes to preserve the win.

1974 North Carolina State now faces 1978 Kentucky in the Sweet 16 in what should be an incredible matchup, as the two teams have similar styles.  David Thompson and Jack Givens should be worth the price of admission.

Boxscore
North Carolina St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Tom Burleson	C	9	14	0	0	4	6	2	11	13	1	0	3	4	3	22
Tim Stoddard	F	3	5	0	0	2	2	1	8	9	0	0	1	1	2	8
David Thompson	F	6	11	1	2	9	12	3	6	9	2	1	2	3	2	22
Mo Rivers	G	1	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	2	4	3
Monte Towe	G	3	7	2	5	11	11	0	1	1	8	3	0	3	1	19
Mark Moeller		3	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	3	7
Steve Nuce		1	3	0	0	3	4	2	2	4	1	0	0	0	2	5
Phil Spence		2	4	0	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	2	1	6
Greg Hawkins		1	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	2	2	3
Bill Lake		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Buurma		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bruce Dayhuff		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Craig Kuszmaul		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dwight Johnson		0	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Team										3
Totals		29	55	5	12	33	41	9	33	45	15	6	6	18	20	96
Louisville	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Wiley Brown	C	4	8	0	0	2	4	3	2	5	0	1	0	1	5	10
Rodney McCray	F	4	10	1	4	4	5	2	3	5	1	3	0	3	3	13
Derek Smith	F	5	11	0	0	1	2	4	7	11	0	0	1	2	5	11
Darrell Griffith	G	6	17	3	9	4	5	3	3	6	2	1	0	4	4	19
Jerry Eaves	G	2	6	1	5	2	2	1	2	3	5	1	0	2	2	7
Poncho Wright		3	8	1	3	2	3	0	1	1	1	2	0	0	5	9
Roger Burkman		2	7	2	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	6
Tony Branch		2	5	0	0	1	1	1	2	3	1	1	0	1	5	5
Daryl Cleveland		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Greg Deuser		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
Marty Pulliam		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Steve Clark		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										3
Totals		29	75	8	28	16	22	14	21	38	11	9	1	13	37	82
Player of the Game	Monte Towe

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
N. C. State	47	49	96
Louisville	45	37	82

 

Cavaliers Put Hoyas To Sleep With Slow Pace

 

3 Virginia 2019	60
14 Georgetown 1984	52

Unassociated Press: The 2019 Virginia Cavaliers slowed the game down to 59 possessions, forcing Georgetown to pass away from Patrick Ewing, and then trapping Ewing when he caught the ball in the post.  The tactic worked, as Ewing could only take seven shots in 35 minutes of action.

This had the look of a game where both teams would struggle to score 40 points, as neither team could solve the other’s defense.  Eight minutes into the game, Georgetown led 7-6.  At this point, Braxton Key entered the game for Virginia and gave the Wahoo offense a shot in the arm with six quick points to give the Cavaliers a 16-13 lead, a lead they would not relinquish.

Virginia held the Hoyas to 34.6% shooting in the second half, as Ewing could only score one basket in the final stanza.

Boxscore
Virginia	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Mamadi Diakete	C	1	4	0	0	1	2	2	5	7	1	0	1	2	1	3
De’Andre Hunter	F	5	12	0	0	4	4	2	3	5	2	0	0	1	1	14
Guy Jerome	F	2	6	1	4	0	0	1	5	6	2	0	0	0	1	5
Kyle Guy	G	2	5	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	3	1	0	1	3	5
Kihei Clark	G	4	11	2	3	2	3	0	2	2	3	0	0	2	1	12
Braxton Key		6	10	2	4	5	6	2	6	8	1	1	0	1	2	19
Jack Salt		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	2	2
Team										3
Totals		21	50	6	14	12	15	7	26	36	12	2	1	7	11	60
Georgetown	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Patrick Ewing	C	4	7	0	0	1	2	2	7	9	0	0	2	0	1	9
Reggie Williams	F	3	8	0	0	0	0	1	4	5	1	1	0	0	3	6
Fred Brown	F	3	9	1	6	0	1	1	3	4	2	1	0	1	2	7
David Wingate	G	3	8	2	5	1	2	1	4	5	1	1	1	2	2	9
Michael Jackson	G	4	12	2	7	4	5	0	2	2	2	0	0	1	1	14
Michael Graham		1	2	0	0	1	2	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	2	3
Horace Broadnax		2	6	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	4
Gene Smith		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0
Bill Martin		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										1
Totals		20	53	5	19	7	12	7	24	32	9	4	3	5	12	52
Player of the Game	Braxton Key

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Virginia	33	27	60
Georgetown	29	23	52

 

Hoosiers Limit Mistakes, Play Excellent Defense In Impressive Win

 

10 Indiana 1987	78
2 North Carolina 2005	63

Unassociated Press: The Hoosiers committed just seven turnovers while limiting North Carolina to 40.7% shooting.  Indiana opened a 15-point lead in the first half, and North Carolina never cut the lead to single digits, getting to within 10 points three times.

The Tar Heel starting front court was held to 10-26 shooting, while the Hoosiers’ front court was 17-34.

This sets up an interesting Sweet 16 game between 1987 Indiana and 2019 Virginia Thursday night.

 

Boxscore
Indiana	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Dean Garrett	C	6	11	0	0	2	4	2	7	9	1	0	0	2	3	14
Daryl Thomas	F	9	14	0	0	4	6	1	6	7	3	2	0	1	2	22
Rick Callaway	F	4	9	1	3	3	4	0	7	7	2	1	1	1	2	12
Keith Smart	G	3	7	1	3	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	1	9
Steve Alford	G	5	12	3	6	5	6	0	1	1	5	0	0	1	2	18
Steve Eyl		1	4	0	0	1	2	1	1	2	0	1	0	2	2	3
Joe Hillman		0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		28	59	5	13	17	24	4	24	31	16	6	1	7	13	78
North Carolina	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Sean May	C	8	19	0	0	3	4	1	8	9	0	0	2	2	3	19
Jawad Williams	F	2	5	1	3	0	0	1	6	7	1	0	0	0	1	5
Jackie Manuel	F	0	2	0	2	2	3	1	5	6	2	1	0	3	4	2
Rashad McCants	G	4	9	4	9	3	4	2	4	6	1	1	0	5	3	15
Raymond Felton	G	7	16	3	7	2	2	2	2	4	3	2	0	2	4	19
Marvin Williams		0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	1	0	0	1	0
Melvin Scott		1	2	0	0	1	2	0	2	2	2	0	0	1	3	3
David Noel		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Team										4
Totals		22	54	8	21	11	15	8	28	40	10	5	2	13	21	63
Player of the Game	Daryl Thomas

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Indiana	41	37	78
N. Carolina	29	34	63

 

SOUTH REGION

 

Top Seed Falls To Quick Bruin Quintet

 

8 UCLA 1964	97
1 Kentucky 1996	89

 

Unassociated Press: UCLA’s great backcourt duo of Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich combined for 61 points, and the UCLA full-court press was just as devastating as Kentucky’s matchup press.

Kentucky led for most of the first half and the first six minutes of the second half.  With the Wildcats ahead 61-54, the Bruins reeled off 14 point in the next three minutes to take a 68-66 lead.  After Kentucky tied the score at 68-68, back-to-back three point field goals by Hazzard gave UCLA the lead for good.

Boxscore
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Fred Slaughter	C	2	6	0	0	2	5	3	8	11	4	2	0	5	3	6
Keith Erickson	F	4	9	0	0	2	3	2	9	11	6	3	0	2	3	10
Jack Hirsch	F	3	8	1	4	1	2	2	5	7	1	1	1	4	4	8
Walt Hazzard	G	9	22	3	10	8	11	1	6	7	2	2	0	3	2	29
Gail Goodrich	G	10	17	5	8	7	9	0	1	1	4	2	0	3	2	32
Kenny Washington		3	6	0	0	2	3	4	2	6	0	1	2	3	3	8
Doug McIntosh		2	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	1	1	1	3	4
Kim Stewart		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
Team										4
Totals		33	72	9	22	22	33	13	34	51	17	12	4	21	22	97
Kentucky	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Walter McCarty	C	4	9	0	2	3	5	2	6	8	0	0	1	4	4	11
Antoine Walker	F	7	15	1	2	2	3	1	8	9	0	2	0	1	3	17
Derek Anderson	F	3	7	0	1	0	0	1	4	5	2	1	0	2	5	6
Tony Delk	G	5	13	3	7	4	5	1	3	4	3	2	0	4	2	17
Anthony Epps	G	2	6	1	4	2	3	0	1	1	6	1	0	5	5	7
Ron Mercer		5	8	2	3	3	4	2	3	5	3	2	0	1	2	15
Mark Pope		1	3	0	2	2	2	1	4	5	0	0	1	1	4	4
Jeff Sheppard		2	4	2	4	2	2	0	1	1	1	1	0	2	1	8
Wayne Turner		2	5	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	4
Allen Edwards		0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		31	72	9	27	18	24	8	31	42	16	9	2	21	30	89
Player of the Game	Walt Hazzard

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	44	53	97
Kentucky	48	41	89

Bruin Muscle Proves Too Much For Cardinals

 

4 UCLA 1970	100
5 Louisville 2013	82

Unassociated Press:  The trio of Steve Patterson, Sidney Wicks, and Curtis Rowe flexed their muscles, scoring almost at will at times in the paint and getting multiple offensive rebounds with putbacks.

After beginning the game matching baskets, the score was knotted at 17-17 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.  UCLA opened a 12-point lead in the next eight minutes, and Louisville could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

When the Cardinals cut the lead to seven at 69-62, a Bruin 9-2 run moved the lead out to 14, and Louisville began to rush their offense, committing crucial turnovers that allowed the lead to ballon to 21 points at one point.

The 1970 Bruins now face the 1964 UCLA Bruins in a game of contrasts between 1964’s speed and 1970’s muscle.

 

Boxscore
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Steve Patterson	C	6	13	0	0	2	3	2	6	8	1	1	1	2	2	14
Sidney Wicks	F	9	15	0	0	6	8	5	11	16	0	3	4	3	3	24
Curtis Rowe	F	6	11	0	0	4	6	3	9	12	2	2	2	1	1	16
John Vallely	G	6	12	3	6	3	3	0	2	2	5	1	0	4	2	18
Henry Bibby	G	6	14	3	8	5	7	0	3	3	9	1	0	3	2	20
John Ecker		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	3	2
Kenny Booker		1	3	0	1	1	2	1	2	3	0	0	0	1	2	3
Terry Schofield		1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	3
Bill Siebert		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Andy Hill		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0
Team										3
Totals		36	71	7	16	21	29	11	35	49	20	9	7	17	18	100
Louisville	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Gorgiu Dieng	C	7	15	0	0	2	4	2	4	6	1	0	1	2	4	16
Chane Behanen	F	3	8	0	0	1	2	1	6	7	2	0	0	1	5	7
Wayne Blackshear	F	4	11	2	6	2	3	2	6	8	3	1	1	5	4	12
Russ Smith	G	4	9	3	7	6	7	0	4	4	1	2	0	3	3	17
Peyton Siva	G	5	12	2	5	3	3	0	3	3	2	1	0	4	2	15
Luke Hancock		2	4	1	2	0	0	2	1	3	0	0	0	1	4	5
Montrezl Harrell		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	1	0	0	0	1	2
Stephan Van Treese		2	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	2	2	4
Kevin Ware		1	3	1	3	1	2	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	2	4
Team										2
Totals		29	69	9	23	15	21	7	28	37	14	6	2	19	27	82
Player of the Game	Sidney Wicks

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	52	48	100
Louisville	37	45	82

 

Grant Hill Puts Blue Devils’ Hopes On His Shoulder To Bring Duke Back To Victory

 

6 Duke 1992	78
14 Kansas 1997	73

 

Unassociated Press: In a game with many twists and turns, Duke blew a 10-point first half lead and trailed by as many as nine points in the second half until Grant Hill took control of the game, scoring 14 of his game high 20 points in the final 11 minutes of the game.

Kansas went on a 24-7 scoring run that covered the last six minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half to take a 49-42 lead.  After Duke cut the lead to three several times, the Jayhawks scored six straight points to take a 59-50.  That’s when Hill went to work, scoring 14 of Dukes’ final 28 points.

 

Boxscore
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Christian Laettner	C	7	13	0	0	5	7	3	5	8	0	0	1	2	3	19
Brian Davis	F	2	5	0	0	0	0	1	7	8	2	1	0	1	1	4
Grant Hill	F	6	11	2	3	6	6	0	5	5	4	1	0	3	2	20
Thomas Hill	G	5	9	2	4	3	4	0	2	2	2	2	0	2	1	15
Bobby Hurley	G	3	7	1	3	4	4	0	1	1	5	0	0	2	0	11
Antonio Lang		1	2	0	0	1	2	1	2	3	1	0	0	1	2	3
Cherokee Parks		2	4	0	0	2	3	2	3	5	0	0	1	0	3	6
Marty Clark		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0
Team										3
Totals		26	52	5	11	21	26	7	26	36	14	4	2	12	13	78
Kansas	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Scot Pollard	C	8	15	0	0	3	4	1	6	7	2	0	0	2	4	19
Raef LaFrentz	F	7	12	0	0	1	2	2	5	7	3	0	2	1	2	15
Paul Pierce	F	8	14	0	0	3	5	2	3	5	2	2	1	0	3	19
Jerod Haase	G	2	5	2	5	0	0	0	3	3	2	1	0	3	4	6
Jacque Vaughn	G	2	6	2	5	2	2	0	2	2	4	2	0	1	4	8
Ryan Robertson		1	3	1	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	4
Billy Thomas		0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	2	0
T.J. Pugh		1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Team										3
Totals		29	60	5	14	10	15	6	20	29	14	6	3	8	24	73
Player of the Game	Christian Laettner

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Duke	37	41	78
Kansas	31	42	73

 

 

Wildcats Hot For Three Minutes, But It’s Enough To Advance

 

2 Villanova 2018	64
7 Florida 2007	51

 

Unassociated Press: Villanova couldn’t buy a basket for 3/4 of the game, but then neither could the Gators as both teams had trouble finding the range.  Then, a brief barrage of baskets on 4 of 7 shooting that included a couple of three-point shots broke open a close game to allow ‘Nova to pull away to a safe lead.  Leading just 39-38 in the second half, an 11-0 run gave The Wildcats a 12-point lead.  Florida never could mount a move at this point, and Villanova cruised to victory.

Villanova advances to Thursday’s Sweet 16 round against 1992 Duke.

 

 

Boxscore
Villanova	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Omari Spellman	C	3	6	0	0	2	3	2	4	6	0	0	1	3	2	8
Eric Paschall	F	4	7	0	0	4	4	1	8	9	1	0	2	1	1	12
Michael Bridges	F	5	12	2	5	0	2	3	5	8	0	2	0	2	3	12
Phil Booth	G	3	9	1	4	3	4	1	3	4	3	1	0	5	2	10
Jalen Brunson	G	3	7	2	6	4	5	0	2	2	2	1	0	2	4	12
Donte DiVincenzo		3	9	1	4	2	2	1	3	4	1	0	0	1	2	9
Collin Gillespie		0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	0
Team										5
Totals		21	51	6	19	16	22	8	26	39	7	5	3	14	16	64
Florida	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Joakim Noah	C	6	11	0	0	3	5	2	8	10	2	0	2	1	2	15
Al Horford	F	5	10	0	0	2	4	3	6	9	0	0	3	1	4	12
Corey Brewer	F	3	12	1	7	3	3	1	5	6	1	2	1	2	3	10
Lee Humphrey	G	2	9	1	4	0	0	0	2	2	3	0	0	3	4	5
Taurean Green	G	1	7	0	5	2	4	0	1	1	2	0	0	5	2	4
Walter Hodge		1	2	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	3	2
Chris Richard		1	1	0	0	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	0	0	1	3
Dan Werner		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Team										2
Totals		19	52	2	17	11	18	7	25	34	9	4	6	14	20	51
Player of the Game	Eric Paschall

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Villanova	26	38	64
Florida	23	28	51

Sweet 16 Schedule For East and South Regions

 

East 

4 – North Carolina St.  1974 vs. 9 – Kentucky 1978

3 – Virginia 2019 vs. 10 – Indiana 1987

South 

4 – UCLA 1970 vs. 8 – UCLA 1964

2 – Villanova 2018 vs. 6 – Duke 1992

 

Coming Tomorrow–Third Round Action From the Midwest and West Regions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 29, 2020

Saturday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Abilene Christian	Central Arkansas	9.4
Alabama	South Carolina	6.1
Albany	Stony Brook	-3.1
Alcorn St.	Southern	-0.5
Appalachian St.	Coastal Carolina	4.4
Boston U	Bucknell	8.1
Bradley	Loyola (Chi.)	1.9
Brown	Pennsylvania	-1.8
Buffalo	Akron	-1.0
Butler	DePaul	9.4
Cal St. Bakersfield	New Mexico St.	-6.7
Cal St. Northridge	Cal St. Fullerton	3.7
California	Utah	-0.2
California Baptist	Seattle	5.3
Campbell	UNC Asheville	5.2
Canisius	Saint Peter’s	-0.9
Central Connecticut	St. Francis (NY)	-4.9
Charleston	Drexel	8.6
Chattanooga	UNC Greensboro	-3.3
Clemson	Florida St.	-3.3
Colgate	Army	11.3
Colorado St.	Air Force	10.4
Columbia	Dartmouth	-0.8
Cornell	Harvard	-7.5
Denver	Western Illinois	5.5
Drake	Northern Iowa	-5.7
Duquesne	George Mason	8.3
East Carolina	Connecticut	-7.3
East Tennessee St.	Western Carolina	11.0
Eastern Kentucky	Morehead St.	4.1
Eastern Michigan	Central Michigan	4.4
Evansville	Illinois St.	-0.4
Florida Gulf Coast	North Alabama	2.0
Fresno St.	Wyoming	10.9
Furman	Citadel	21.7
Georgia	Arkansas	-1.7
Georgia Tech	Miami	6.6
Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s	13.3
Grambling	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	10.9
Grand Canyon	UT Rio Grande Valley	3.6
Green Bay	Cleveland St.	8.3
Hampton	South Carolina Upstate	4.4
Hawaii	UC Riverside	4.0
Hofstra	James Madison	14.3
Holy Cross	American	-8.4
Houston Baptist	McNeese	-5.7
Illinois Chicago	Oakland	3.8
Indiana St.	Valparaiso	4.5
Iowa	Penn St.	2.9
IUPUI	Detroit	-0.1
Jackson St.	Mississippi Valley St.	17.1
Jacksonville St.	Tennessee Tech	8.5
Kansas St.	Kansas	-12.9
Kennesaw St.	NJIT	-7.8
Kentucky	Auburn	5.3
La Salle	St. Bonaventure	-1.3
Lafayette	Navy	5.1
Lipscomb	Liberty	-9.6
Little Rock	Louisiana	9.4
Loyola (MD)	Lehigh	5.3
Loyola Marymount	San Francisco	-4.8
LSU	Texas A&M	12.3
Maine	UMBC	-2.7
Marquette	Seton Hall	2.4
Maryland	Michigan St.	1.6
Maryland-Eastern Shore	Delaware St.	5.1
Mercer	Wofford	-0.1
Miami (O)	Bowling Green	-2.5
Milwaukee	Youngstown St.	1.4
Missouri	Mississippi St.	-0.2
Missouri St.	Southern Illinois	5.1
Morgan St.	Coppin St.	5.9
Mount St. Mary’s	Fairleigh Dickinson	3.5
Murray St.	Austin Peay	4.6
Nevada	San Diego St.	-5.8
New Hampshire	Binghamton	9.6
New Mexico	Utah St.	-6.7
Niagara	Iona	-2.4
Nicholls	New Orleans	9.9
Norfolk St.	Howard	14.8
North Carolina St.	Pittsburgh	8.5
North Dakota St.	Omaha	7.8
Northern Arizona	Montana St.	4.6
Northern Colorado	Eastern Washington	6.4
Oklahoma St.	Iowa St.	4.2
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	9.1
Oral Roberts	Purdue Fort Wayne	10.8
Pepperdine	BYU	-9.5
Prairie View A&M	Alabama St.	12.4
Presbyterian	Charleston Southern	0.5
Radford	Gardner-Webb	6.9
Richmond	Massachusetts	12.2
Robert Morris	St. Francis (PA)	0.2
Sacramento St.	Montana	0.5
Sacred Heart	Long Island	6.3
Saint Joseph’s	Fordham	2.8
Samford	VMI	-0.4
San Diego	Pacific	-2.8
San Jose St.	UNLV	14.2
Santa Clara	Portland	11.2
SIU-Edwardsville	Eastern Illinois	-4.1
South Alabama	Troy	10.4
South Carolina St.	North Carolina Central	-1.9
South Dakota	North Dakota	6.8
Southeast Louisiana	Northwestern St.	-0.9
Southern Utah	Idaho	13.0
Stephen F. Austin	Lamar	12.0
Stetson	Jacksonville	0.1
Syracuse	North Carolina	5.4
TCU	Baylor	-8.3
Tennessee	Florida	-0.5
Tennessee St.	Belmont	-8.0
Texas A&M-CC	Incarnate Word	10.3
Texas Southern	Alabama A&M	10.7
Texas Tech	Texas	9.6
Toledo	Ball St.	1.9
Tulane	Memphis	-6.9
Tulsa	Central Florida	6.5
UC Davis	Long Beach St.	8.3
UC Irvine	UC Santa Barbara	6.7
UCLA	Arizona	-5.6
UMass Lowell	Vermont	-10.6
UMKC	Chicago St.	22.5
UNC Wilmington	Delaware	-3.3
USC	Arizona St.	3.3
UT Martin	Southeast Missouri	3.7
VCU	George Washington	14.4
Villanova	Providence	8.2
Virginia	Duke	-6.3
Wagner	Bryant	-3.4
Wake Forest	Notre Dame	0.2
Weber St.	Portland St.	-1.4
West Virginia	Oklahoma	7.7
Western Michigan	Northern Illinois	-1.8
William & Mary	Elon	9.2
Winthrop	High Point	17.9
Yale	Princeton	12.1

 

Saturday’s Important TV Games

 

Games in which both teams are competing for an at-large NCAA Tournament Bid or a regular conference championship in a one-bid league

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
12:00 PM	Fox	Villanova	Providence
12:00 PM	BTN	Iowa	Penn St.
12:00 PM	ESPN	Texas Tech	Texas
2:00 PM	ESPN	TCU	Baylor
2:00 PM	ACCN	Clemson	Florida St.
2:30 PM	Fox	Marquette	Seton Hall
3:45 PM	CBS	Kentucky	Auburn
4:00 PM	ESPN2	West Virginia	Oklahoma
6:00 PM	ESPN	Virginia	Duke
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Brown	Penn
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Yale	Princeton
8:00 PM	ESPN	Maryland	Michigan St.
8:00 PM	ESPN+	Murray St.	Austin Peay
8:00 PM	ESPNU	USC	Arizona St.
8:30 PM	SECN	Alabama	South Carolina
10:00 PM	ESPN2	Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s
10:00 PM	ESPN	UCLA	Arizona

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology for February 17, 2020

Date	2/17/2020
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Baylor	Gonzaga	Kansas	San Diego St.
2	Duke	Dayton	Maryland	Florida St.
3	Seton Hall	Penn St.	Louisville	Villanova
4	Auburn	Oregon	Creighton	West Virginia
5	Kentucky	Colorado	Butler	Michigan St.
6	Iowa	Ohio St.	Marquette	Arizona
7	LSU	Michigan	BYU	Texas Tech
8	Houston	Wisconsin	Illinois	Rutgers
9	Oklahoma	USC	Saint Mary’s	Xavier
10	Rhode Island	Florida	Arizona St.	Virginia
11	Wichita St.	Indiana	Northern Iowa	East Tennessee St.
12	Stephen F. Austin	Yale	Georgetown	Cincinnati	Purdue	Utah St.
13	Vermont	Liberty	North Texas	New Mexico St.
14	Akron	Colgate	Wright St.	Hofstra
15	Little Rock	Winthrop	UC-Irvine	Murray St.
16	South Dakota St.	Montana	Prairie View	St. Peter’s	Robert Morris	Norfolk St.

 

The Rest of the Bubble

69	Richmond
70	Arkansas
71	Stanford
72	Mississippi St.
73	North Carolina St.
74	Alabama
75	South Carolina
76	VCU
77	Syracuse
78	Minnesota
79	Furman
80	Memphis

 

A Look At The One-Bid Leagues & Their Conference Tournaments

 

America East: 8 teams with superior seed hosting every game

Vermont (11-1/21-6) has a 2 1/2 game lead over Stony Brook (8-3/17-9), and it would be a major upset if any team other than the Catamounts won this tournament. The race for third place between Albany (7-4/14-12) and Hartford (7-5/14-13) is important, because the 3rd place finisher would get to avoid Vermont until the Championship Game. Of course, second place is still up for grabs, and in the semifinals, the second place team would host the third place team if they both won their quarterfinal round games.

Atlantic Sun: 8 teams with superior seed hosting every game (North Alabama not eligible)

What looked like a cake walk to the conference championship in December has turned into anything but. Liberty (10-2/24-3) was coming off a season in which the Flames won a game in the NCAA Tournament and returned a ton of talent. But, the Flames are not currently in first place in the A-Sun. North Florida (11-2/18-10) not only has a one half game lead over LU, they beat the Flames earlier this year. The rematch is this Thursday at Liberty.

Don’t rule out the third and fourth teams in this league. Stetson (9-3/15-12) has never been to the Division 1 NCAA Tournament, but the Hatters have been in contention in recent years. Lipscomb (7-6/12-14) is the hottest team in the league, having won five of six including a 12-point victory over UNF. The Bisons still have games remaining with the top two teams before tournament play begins.

 

Big Sky: 11 teams in regular bracket at Boise, ID

There is no dominant team inside the league this year. Defending champion Montana (12-3/16-10) was supposed to have a rebuilding season after losing five of the top seven players from consecutive conference championship teams. Give Travis Decuire a lot of credit for his ability to recruit to Missoula and then teach his players to play as a team. The whole is much better than the sum of the parts, and Decuire rates high on our coaches ready to move on to Power Conference schools list, as he is close to leading the Grizzlies to their fourth conference championship in his six years at the school.

Eastern Washington (10-4/17-8) and Northern Colorado (10-4/17-8) are the next two in line in the Big Sky, but EWU has already been swept by Montana, while UNC is one of the three league teams to pin a loss on the Grizzlies. Keep an eye on 6th place Southern Utah (7-7/14-11). The Thunderbirds have been in a bit of a tailspin in the last month, but if they can pull out of it and play like they did in December, they could be a tough out for any of the top five in the league.

Big South: 11 teams. The first round is played at the home court of the higher-seeded team. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds are then played at the #1 seed’s home floor. The Championship Game is then played on the higher-seeded team’s home floor.

With first place vital in this conference, Winthrop (13-2/19-9) and Radford (12-2/17-9) have separated themselves from the pack and will most likely share the regular season title with identical 16-2 conference records. Since they split their season series with both teams winning on the road against each other, the #1 seed would be settled in a tiebreaker by looking at how these two co-champs fared against the next team in the standings and so forth until the tie is broken. Winthrop’s other conference loss was to 7-6 Gardner-Webb, while Radford’s loss was to 6-8 UNC Asheville. Radford has the advantage here, but remember that Winthrop won at Radford in the regular season, and the Eagles have the superior inside game, which tends to play more of a factor in March.

Big West: 8 teams in regular bracket. All games in Anaheim

UC-Irvine (9-2/17-10) lost some big-time talent off a team that won a game last year’s Big Dance and took Oregon to the final minutes in the Round of 32, but Coach Russ Turner has his Anteaters in first place again this year, and UCI is running away with the regular season race.

The real race is between the second through eighth place teams. First, the ninth place team does not qualify for the tournament, and at the moment, just two games separate second from ninth. Any of the eight teams other than UCI could miss out, while any of the other eight teams could end up with the number two seed. UCSB (5-5/16-9) matches up well with UCI and has a victory over the Anteaters, but they have been swept by Cal St. Northridge (6-5/11-16) and handily defeated by UC-Davis (6-5/12-15). UC-Riverside (4-7/14-13) is a team to watch if they don’t miss out and finish in ninth place. The Highlanders have a very tall lineup that can control the boards and get inside shots when they can control the pace of their games. They are capable of winning three times in three days at the Honda Center.

Colonial Athletic: 10 teams in regular bracket. All games in Washington, D.C.

This is a somewhat down year for the CAA as there are no teams that look capable of winning a second round NCAA Tournament game. The conference race is an interesting one with seven better than average teams.

Joe Mihalich led Niagara to four conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances before coming to Hofstra (11-3/20-7). This is his seventh season in Hempstead, and he’s won two CAA Championships thus far, inlcuding last season. This Gaels team is in line to make it number three, but Hofstra has yet to win the CAA Tournament in this time. This teams isn’t as good as last year’s, so it’s hard to say that the Gaels are big favorites to make it to the Dance for the first time since Jay Wright was coaching there in 2001.

Willliam & Mary (10-5/18-10), Delaware (9-5/19-8), and Towson (9-5/16-11) are next in line, but the potentially more dangerous teams are behind them. Charleston (9-6/15-12) and defending Conference Tournament champion Northeastern (7-7/13-13) are talented enough to steal the bid from Hofstra yet again. Charleston is probably the team to watch in the CAA Tournament.

Conference USA: 12 teams in regular bracket. All games in Frisco, TX.

This is a really unique way to host a conference tournament in the Dallas Cowboys practice facility. The league places two playing floors separated by a curtain, and it is possible to sit in such a way that you can see two games at once.

There is quite an advantage here, as the tournament takes place in the backyard of North Texas (12-2/18-9), the current league leader. The Mean Green are undefeated in conference play on their home floor, and they would have to be considered the prohibitive favorite to claim the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Western Kentucky (11-3/18-8) defeated UNT in Bowling Green earlier this year, but the Hilltoppers suffered a crippling blow when sure NBA Draft choice big man Charles Bassey’s season ended with a leg injury.

Louisiana Tech (10-4/19-7) plays tough defense, handles the ball well, and they frequently get extra scoring opportunities, so the Bulldogs are a top contender in the conference tournament. If any other team should sneak through and cut the nets at Jerryworld Headquarters, they would most likely be looking at a 16-seed and possible trip to Dayton.

Horizon: 10 teams. The first two rounds are played at the higher-seeded teams’ home courts. Also, after every round, this league re-seeds its remaining teams like the NFL Playoffs. The final two rounds will then be played in Indianapolis, and the top two teams receive byes to the semifinal round, so finishing first or second is extremely important.

Like they have in recent years, this has been a two-team race, and it’s almost a sure thing that Wright St. (13-2/23-5) and Northern Kentucky (11-4/19-8) will be the top two teams. Wright St. is enjoying its best season in their 14-year run as the class of the Horizon League. However, the Raiders did not have a strong out-of-conference schedule, and we would be shocked if they were to win a game in the NCAA Tournament.

Northern Kentucky is transitioning with a new coach, and the Norse are not as strong as they were under former coach John Brannen, who took NKU to two NCAA Tournaments in his final three years.

Ivy: 4 teams in regular bracket. Games will be played at Harvard.

The Ivy League probably has the correct format for a smaller conference. Only the top four teams qualify for the conference tournament, meaning the champion is at least one of the league’s deserving teams.

As of today, the interesting part of this league is that five teams are competing for four spots. All tied for third with 5-3 conference records and six games to go are Harvard (16-7), Penn (13-8), and Brown (12-9).

Yale (6-2/18-6) and Princeton (6-2/11-10) are only a game ahead of the other three, and both teams must finish their regular season playing four road games and two home games. So, one of the co-leaders could easily fall to 8-6 or 7-7 in league play and finish fifth.

Harvard hosts the tournament, and the Crimson have four home games and just two road games remaining. But, those four home games are versus the other four contenders.

Dartmouth (2-6/9-14) is three games behind the contenders, but the Mean Green have the perfect remaining schedule with four home games, while their two road games are against the two weakest teams in the league. It isn’t impossible for Dartmouth to finish 7-7, and then hope that two of those 5-3 teams come back to the pack.

Metro Atlantic: 11 teams in regular bracket. Games will be played in Atlantic City, NJ

What we have here is an almost sure trip to Dayton for the Conference Tournament champion. The MAAC is quite weak this year, and the automatic bid will go to a team that will immediately become an underdog in a first round play-in game unless some 20-loss team pulls off a conference tournament upset.

Saint Peter’s (10-5/13-11) has gone 8-2 in their last ten games. Former Seton Hall star Shaheen Holloway is in his second year with the Peacocks, and his team is the best in the league in defense and rebounding. As hot as the Peacocks have been, there is one team even hotter. Siena (9-5/13-10) has won six of their last seven games, and the six wins were by an average of more than 16 points per game. The Saints have been on a three-point shooting tear in this winning streak, hitting 40 of 103 from behind the arc, while limiting opponents to just 29-106.

Mid-American: 12 teams in regular bracket. First round games at higher-seeded teams. Remaining rounds in Cleveland.

This is not a particularly strong year for some Maction. This is a definite one-bid league, while in past years multiple teams have made the Field.
This is also the only league that continues to divide its teams into divisions. At the present time, the East is a bit stronger than the West, as it has the top four teams in the league. Bowling Green (10-3/19-7) has a slim half-game edge over Akron (9-3/19-6), while Kent St. (7-5/17-8) and defending MAC Champ Buffalo (7-5/15-9) are right behind.

In the West, Northern Illinois (8-5/15-11) leads Ball St. (7-5/14-11) by a half-game with Central Michigan (6-5/13-11) another half-game back, with all three teams tied in the loss column.

Akron and Kent St. have played stronger schedules than the rest of these teams, but neither has pulled off a big win. The Zips probably give this league its best chance to compete as a double-digit seed in the second round of the Dance.

Mideastern Athletic: 10 teams in regular bracket. All games will be played in Norfolk, VA

North Carolina Central (8-2/12-12) and Nofolk St. (8-2/12-13) hold slim leads over North Carolina A&T (8-3/12-14) and Florida A&M (8-4/10-13), but FAMU is not eligible this year. This is a league where past history showing the #1 seed winning the conference tournament over half the time, and teams finishing fourth or fifth tending to win most of the other times.

There are three teams in contention for fifth place where a 9-7 conference mark should be sufficient to qualify as that dark horse contender. They are: Morgan St. (7-5/13-14), Bethune-Cookman (6-5/12-13), and South Carolina St, (6-5/11-12).
Should either of the top three teams run the table in the league and the conference tournament, there is a chance they could avoid a play-in game in Dayton.

Missouri Valley: 10 teams in regular bracket. All games will be played in St. Louis (Arch Madness)

This is one of two leagues where the regular season champion could still get an at-large bid if it loses in the conference tournament. Northern Iowa (11-3/22-4) has worked its way up the ladder where if they win out, the Panthers could earn a single-digit seed in the Field of 68. If UNI were to lose in the Valley Championship Game and finish the regular season at 28-5, they will probably steal an at-large bid away from a big league like the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, or Big 12.

Loyola of Chicago (10-4/18-9) isn’t nearly as strong as they were two years ago when they surprised the nation with a Final Four run, but the Ramblers are good enough to beat UNI in the Conference Tournament if they handle the ball well and play tough defense. Both of their regular season games with the Panthers went to overtime, with the teams splitting the two games.

Bradley (9-5/18-9) did not match up well with the two teams above the Braves in the MVC standings, while Southern Illinois (9-5/15-12) lacks the offensive firepower to win three games in three days in March.

Keep an eye on a team coming from off the pace to challenge UNI in the MVC Tournament. Drake, Indiana State, Valparaiso, and Missouri State are all tied at 7-7 in the league. It might be advantageous to finish 6th and avoid UNI until a potential championship game. While Arch Madness is usually won by one of the top two seeds, it has been won from the middle of the pack before.

Northeast: 8 teams in regular bracket. All games will be played at higher-seeds’ home courts. Merrimack is ineligible during their transition to D1, while the bottom two teams of the remaining 10 will be eliminated from the tournament.

The rule forcing transitioning teams to be ineligible for the NCAA Tournament is just plain stupid. The NEC has a dominating team in Merrimack (12-2/18-9), who should at least get a chance to prove themselves with an NIT bid. If a team is good enough to win their conference championship and conference tournament, why punish the team and their league? Merrimack doesn’t have an advantage moving up in classification. It’s understandable that a team moving down might should be punished with ineligibility until all of its former Division 1 players have graduated, but this is a team moving up to D1.

The eventual tournament champion is a sure bet for banishment to Dayton and the play-in game. The contenders are all quite weak and none of these teams should be expected to compete against more athletic play-in opponents. The best of the rest include Robert Morris (11-3/15-12), Saint Francis (PA) (10-4/17-8), and Sacred Heart (9-5/16-11). With a five-game winning streak and the best offense in the league, SFPA should be considered the team to beat.

Ohio Valley: 8 teams playing in a special format in Evansville, IN. The OVC brackets their tournament in a method similar to the finals of the Professional Bowlers Association. First, only the top eight of the 12 league teams qualify for the tournament. In the first round, teams 5-8 play, with the two winners advancing to the quarterfinals to play teams 3-4. The two teams that win this round then advance to the semfinals to play teams 1 and 2, so finishing in the top two gets you a two-round bye to the semifinals.

There are four teams in contention for those two double byes, and this league is strong at the top, but not strong enough to sneak a second team into the field like last year.

Murray St. (12-2/19-7) and Austin Peay (12-2/18-9) have been tough rivals for years in the OVC and have enjoyed their share of success in the NCAA Tournament. Belmont (11-3/20-7) beat Temple in the NCAA Tournament last year, but the Bruins have nearly beaten top-rated teams in the NCAA Tournament before, like when a last second shot nearly missed that would have knocked out Duke. Fourth place Eastern Kentucky (10-4/13-14) has averaged 83.5 points per game in their last nine games, using a pressure defense to come up with a lot of steals and fast break points. The Colonels don’t have the same talent as the other three contenders, but they are likely to come with a reckless abandon attitude, while the others might be a bit tight.

If a team from the back of the pack has a chance, it might be Tennessee State (8-6/16-11). The Tigers have the talent to put it together and as a 5-seed, beat the numbers 8, 4, and 1-seed to get to the Championship Game.

Patriot: 8 teams playing in a regular bracket with the higher seeds hosting all games.

Colgate (11-3/20-7) looked like the class of the field until yesterday, when the Raiders fell second division Loyola of Maryland (5-9/13-14). Colgate also lost twice to Lafayette (8-6/16-9). Second place Boston U (10-4/16-11) has won six of seven, but the Terriers lost twice to Colgate. American (9-5/13-12) is in third, while the aforementioned Lafayette rests in fourth place, which probably irritates Colgate, because that would put the Leopards and Raiders on the same side of the Conference Tournament bracket.

Southern: 10 teams playing in a regular bracket with all games played in Asheville, NC.

This is the other league besides the Missouri Valley where a second team could earn an at-large bid. This league is dangerously good at the top of the standings. East Tennessee (12-2/23-4) won at LSU by double digits. Furman (12-2/22-5) lost in overtime at Auburn. UNC Greensboro (11-3/21-6) has road wins against Georgetown and Vermont as well as a close loss at Kansas. Plus, UNCG plays a very unorthodox defense that is difficult to face the first time. Additionally, the fourth through seventh place teams, all with records of 8-6 or 7-7 in league play (Western Carolina, Wofford, Chattanooga, and Mercer) are strong enough to probably win other Mid-Major leagues like the NEC, Patriot, and Big Sky).

If the two championship game participants include ETSU and either Furman or UNCG, the loser of this game deserves an at-large bid, especially if it is at the expense of a power conference team with a losing conference record.

Southland: 8 teams playing in a regular bracket with all games played in Katy, TX, and the bottom five teams in the standings eliminated from the tournament.

Stephen F. Austin (13-1/22-3) will not get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they do not win the automatic bid, even though the Lumberjacks won at Duke. The rest of their schedule has not been strong enough to allow them this pass. Should they lose in the SLC Tournament, SFA will actually be a team capable of winning the NIT,but that’s not what they want.

Who could possibly upset SFA in the Conference Tournament? The team to watch would be Nicholls State (11-4/17-9). The Colonels full court press the entire game, and nobody wants to face that pressure in pressure-packed games. At 10 steals per game out of 73 possessions, it leaves little room for error for the team that commits a few too many additional turnovers. Opponents turn the ball over better than one out of every four possessions.

Southwest Athletic: 8 teams playing in a regular bracket with first round games at the higher seeded teams’ home courts and all the final two rounds in Birmingham, AL.

If you follow this incredible conference steeped in great history, you are in for quite a treat at this year’s SWAC Tournament, because as many as seven teams have the ability to come through and get the automatic bid. This might be the most exciting tournament from game one to the Championship Game!

Prairie View (9-2/13-11) and Texas Southern (8-3/11-13) lead the pack at the present time. Both teams have played some very good games on the road against heavy favorites, and both have won games that prove they could contend and maybe scare a heavily-ranked team if one of these teams could sneak into a 15-seed.

After the top two, there are five teams tied for third at 7-5 (Grambling, Alcorn St., Jackson St., Southern, and Alabama St.). We believe that Texas Southern gives the SWAC its best chance to win a play-in game as a 16-seed, while Prairie View is the only team capable of sneaking up to a 15-seed.

Summit: 9 teams playing in a regular bracket with all games played in Sioux Falls, SD.

When your conference tournament is played inside the state where two of your league’s top three teams play, the odds are stacked in the favor of the two in-state teams. South Dakota St. (11-2/20-8) has basically become the Kentucky of the Summit League. The Championship comes through Brookings and then Sioux Falls becomes Frost Arena II, where the Jackrabbits have won five of the last eight Summit League Tournaments.

North Dakota State (10-2/19-7) finished behind SDSU last year in the Summit League race, but then the Bison won the Summit Championship, then won their play-in game in the NCAA First Round, and then stayed within single digits of Duke for 30 minutes in the Second Round.

Don’t forget South Dakota (9-4/19-9) or Oral Roberts (7-6/14-12). Both teams can score a lot of points, and a hot streak by either team could see them cutting down the nets.

Sun Belt: 10 teams playing in a special bracket. The first three rounds will be played at the higher-seeded teams’ home courts, while the semifinals and finals will be played in New Orleans. Teams 7-10 only will play in the first round. The two winners will then play at seeds 5-6 in the second round, and the two winners in that round will play at seeds 3-4 in the third round. The top two seeds get byes to the semifinals in New Orleans, so the regular season conference race will be a mad dash to the finish.

The SBC plays a 20-game conference schedule, and with four games to go, Little Rock (12-4/18-9) holds a slim lead over (Georgia St. (11-5/18-9). Texas St. (10-6/17-10) and Georgia Southern (10-6/17-11). Two other teams, South Alabama and Appalachian St., are 9-7 in the league and still in the race for second place.

All these teams have had nights where they played a good Power Conference team close in a loss, but none of these teams have a big win this year. The champion of this league is likely looking at a quick second round exit as a 15-seed.

Western Athletic: 8 teams playing in regular bracket with all games played in Las Vegas. California Baptist is ineligible.

New Mexico State (12-0/21-6) is such a heavy favorite that it would be a bigger upset if they lost in the WAC Tournament than if the New York Knicks won this year’s NBA Championship. The Aggies have won this league three years in a row and seven times in the last eight seasons.

With second place Cal Baptist (7-3/18-7) not eligible, the next best team is Grand Canyon (7-4/12-13) with Texas Rio Grande Valley next at (7-5/11-14).

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For February 14, 2020

Date	2/14/2020
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Baylor	Gonzaga	Kansas	San Diego St.
2	Duke	Dayton	Louisville	Maryland
3	Seton Hall	Florida St.	West Virginia	Auburn
4	Villanova	Butler	Penn St.	Oregon
5	Kentucky	Creighton	Michigan St.	Colorado
6	Marquette	Iowa	Arizona	LSU
7	Arizona	Rutgers	Wisconsin	Michigan
8	Ohio St.	Texas Tech	Illinois	Houston
9	USC	Purdue	Rhode Island	Saint Mary’s
10	Oklahoma	Florida	Xavier	Wichita St.
11	Stanford	Indiana	Northern Iowa	Arkansas	Virginia
12	East Tennessee St.	Yale	Stephen F. Austin	Cincinnati	Arizona St.
13	Liberty	Vermont	New Mexico St.	North Texas
14	Colgate	Wright St.	Akron	Winthrop
15	Hofstra	Little Rock	Murray St.	UC-Irvine
16	South Dakota St.	Montana	Prairie View	Rider	Robert Morris	Norfolk St.

 

Bubble Contenders

 

69	VCU
70	N. Carolina St.
71	Mississippi St.
72	Utah St.
73	Georgetown
74	Richmond
75	Minnesota
76	Memphis
77	Furman
78	Notre Dame
79	Alabama
80	Tennessee

 

First Four Games

11–seeds: Arkansas vs. Virginia

12–seeds: Cincinnati vs. Arizona St.

16-seeds: Prairie View vs. Robert Morris

16-seeds: Rider vs. Norfolk St.

 

Best PiRate Rating Criteria To Win National Championship

Duke

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 11, 2020

Tuesday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Akron	Bowling Green	9.0
Ball St.	Northern Illinois	6.8
Boise St.	Air Force	11.4
Central Michigan	Eastern Michigan	5.4
Colorado St.	Utah St.	-2.0
Davidson	Fordham	14.5
Dayton	Rhode Island	9.6
Illinois	Michigan St.	-1.7
Kansas St.	Oklahoma St.	2.3
LSU	Missouri	10.7
Maryland	Nebraska	17.3
Ohio	Western Michigan	5.7
Ole Miss	Mississippi St.	-1.8
Purdue	Penn St.	3.0
Saint Joseph’s	St. Bonaventure	-6.9
San Diego St.	New Mexico	16.7
Syracuse	North Carolina St.	3.1
Tennessee	Arkansas	-0.3
Toledo	Miami (O)	10.2
Vanderbilt	Kentucky	-9.8
Virginia	Notre Dame	3.3
Wake Forest	North Carolina	0.3

 

The Captain’s Table

 

Top Games on TV Tuesday

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
6:30 PM	BTN	Purdue	Penn St.
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Akron	Bowling Green
7:00 PM	SECN	Tennessee	Arkansas
7:00 PM	ESPN2	Syracuse	North Carolina St.
7:30 PM	CBSSN	Dayton	Rhode Island
9:00 PM	ESPN	Illinois	Michigan St.
9:00 PM	ESPN2	Virginia	Notre Dame
9:30 PM	CBSSN	Colorado St.	Utah St.

 

Captain’s Musings

 

Where the NCAA Selection Committee Gets It Wrong

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee has issued its first preliminary seeding of top 16 teams, and we at the PiRate Ratings are happy to say we predicted all 16 teams on the correct seed line.  Predicting seed lines and teams accepted to the Big Dance isn’t all that difficult, because the NCAA clearly shows its cards.  With the exception of Team 68 and occasionally Team 67, determining in advance which 68 teams receive Dance Invitations is almost as exact as multiplication and division.

Usually, when our Bracketology, or our friends on the Internet that supply their own Bracketology, are finalized on Selection Sunday, the only differences in the brackets come on the lower seed lines.  Many times, predictions for a seed line were accurate, but the Committee had to move a team up or down one seed in order to obey the NCAA’s rules about facing an opponent from the same conference in the opening rounds.

Basically, the process is done correctly every time, and when Team number 69 is left out, no matter who that team is, the folks at CBS and ESPN immediately cross-examine the Committee Chairman as if a major slight has taken place.  That is done strictly to get the public to keep watching their Selection Sunday special show, because face it, the public could just as easily wait 30 minutes and quickly see the entire field in the bracket on their computer or phone.

We have no issues with the Selection Committee every year.  They do a great job, and it isn’t easy to get a dozen highly opinionated people to agree on whether Teams 67, 68, 69, and 70 deserve to be in or left out.  The consensus usually is right.

Our problem hangs entirely on the process itself, and we have one major complaint that we believe needs to move high up on the priority line.  That statistic is where a team finishes in its own conference.

Why continue to even have conference play if a team that finishes in third place sweeps the 7th place team and then watches the 7th place team get an NCAA bid, while they have to go to the NIT.  Do you think this doesn’t happen?  Unfortunately, this, or something similar, happens almost every year.

Take a look at South Carolina last year.  The Gamecocks handily beat Florida in Gainesville, and they wiped Ole Miss off the floor.  They split with Mississippi St.  All told, USC finished a game ahead of the two Magnolia State teams and two games ahead of Florida.  Yet, they were the team left out of the NCAA Tournament, while the three teams below them in the standings all went to the Big Dance.

What good is having a conference race at all, if it means absolutely nothing, other than that the regular season champion is guaranteed a spot in the NIT if it fails to make the NCAA Tournament?

If we were named the Commissioner of College Basketball, there would be changes made.  First, we would flip the rules on automatic NCAA Tournament bids.  We’d award an automatic NCAA Tournament bid to the regular season champion of each conference and then guarantee an NIT bid to all Conference Tournament winners that did not receive an NCAA Tournament bid.

Let’s look at a possibility that would make this rule show how much better the tournament might be flipping the automatic bids.  Look at this year’s Southland Conference.  Stephen F. Austin is talented enough and well-coached enough to challenge for a Sweet 16 appearance if not more.  The Lumberjacks won at Duke in one of those games where the zebras tried their hardest to give the big team the win.  SFA players were whistled for fouls just for occupying the same city block in Durham, while Duke players had to commit felonious assault before they were whistled for fouls.  Still, SFA won the game, and had this game been played with totally unbiased officials, the Lumberjacks would have actually blown Duke off the Cameron Indoor Stadium floor.

SFA (12-1/21-3) is three games ahead of its nearest conference foe.  They are likely to enter the Southland Conference Tournament at 28-3 and no worse than 27-4.  And, for this incredible run, the Lumberjacks will be guaranteed only an NIT bid.  They will have to win the SLC Tournament to get into the Field of 68.  What if a team like Nicholls State catches SFA on a cold shooting day and upsets the Lumberjacks?  Nicholls will go bye bye in the opening game, while SFA will probably be forced to play a road NIT game and receive the same type of home-cooking officiating that they faced in Durham.

Under our system, The Lumberjacks would still go to the NCAA Tournament, while Nicholls State would be guaranteed that NIT bid or be allowed to accept the CIT bid if they preferred.  The Colonels might finish four games in back of SFA, and after a 20-game conference schedule, when one team finishes 19-1 in the league and the second best team goes 15-5, it is quite clear which team is better and more deserving of the NCAA bid.

The same holds true in the Power Conferences.  Let’s look at the crazy Big Ten race this year.  Currently, three teams, Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan, are tied for 12th place at 5-7 in the conference.  Minnesota is a half-game ahead of the trio at 6-7.  However, if you look at the criteria used by the NCAA Selection Committee, Minnesota is barely on the bad side of the Bubble and looking at the NIT, while the other three teams are in the Field.  The Big Ten plays a 20-game conference schedule, so if any number of these four teams get in the Field, the preference should be to take the team(s) that finish higher in the standings.  20 games are enough to determine which teams are better than which teams.  Using advanced metrics is great, and we are devoted Sabermetric devotees, but we realize that actual results trump theoretical results.

 

The 2020 R+T Rating Revision

Recently, we were asked to explain how our power ratings are computed, and we gave a detailed explanation of how we rely on the “Four Factors” of basketball and then apply weightings to each of the four offensive and four defensive factors and then adjust the data based on strength of schedule and a constant (that changes a little every year).  What we basically end up with is something similar to baseball’s weighted on-base average and WAR, where instead of estimating how many wins the players on a baseball team are worth, we estimate how many points better or worse than average each team is worth.

In that explanation, we relied heavily on something that has been obvious in Major League Baseball through the “Moneyball” years.  As Oakland Athletics’ General Manager Billy Beane has so succinctly said in the past, “My stuff doesn’t work in the playoffs.”  He didn’t use the word “stuff” but the PiRates refrain from using foul language.

What Beane said was proven to be correct over and over again.  The analytics that show a team how to win 90+ games don’t apply to winning in the playoffs, and there is a reason for this.  Let’s use last year’s Tampa Bay Rays as an example.

The Rays finished 96-66 and made the playoffs.  Tampa Bay played Baltimore and Toronto 19 times each.  They played Kansas City and the LA Angels seven times and Detroit and Seattle six times.   Even against good teams like the Yankees, Twins, Indians, Astros, and Athletics, they faced those teams’ number four and number five starting pitchers between one third and 40% of the time.

In the playoffs, the Yankees are not going to use their number four and number five pitchers, except in mop up duty.  In a seven game series, they might send their number one ace out there to start games 1, 4, and 7, if he can pitch on three days rest.

Moneyball statistics and all the evolved improved statistics are meant to be used over the course of an entire season’s worth of games.  After 100 games played, the strategies of going for big innings and limiting strategies like sacrifice bunting, hit and run, stolen bases, and hitting to the right side of the infield prove to be less efficient and successful in scoring runs on the whole and even winning games.  Small ball doesn’t work when almost every team now plays in a “band box” ballpark.

However, in the playoffs, when a team is facing the opposing ace or number two pitcher, and when they face the top relievers earlier in the games at the highest leverage, attempting to draw walks and hit three-run homers isn’t going to pop those cheap champagne bottles in the clubhouse.  When Justin Verlander takes the bump in October, you beat him by scratching out a couple runs here and there and hoping your pitching staff can hold the Astros in check for a 3-2 or 2-1 victory.  If you expect to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the 6 or 7 innings he’s on the hill, you stand a big chance of putting up a run of goose eggs.

The same theory holds true in college basketball.  Over the course of a season, shooting the ball and preventing the other team from shooting the ball is going to determine the winner more times than not.  A team that can get to the foul line and hit 75% of their foul shots to win might go 13-5 in their conference and 24-7 overall.  They might get a fat #4 seed and then promptly lose to the #13 seed from a Mid-Major conference.  And, when you look at that Mid-Major team, they weren’t great shooters, but they could clean the glass better than Windex.

At tournament time, unless your team is playing a 20-loss patsy that got hot and won their post-season tournament, or your team has a number one seed and faces a 16-seed that is far outclassed, your team better be able to rebound the ball and avoid turnovers.

Thus, through the years of the 64 to 68-team NCAA Tournaments, basketball’s “Moneyball” system of trying to win the shooting wars for six or seven games just doesn’t work like it does in the regular season, when a team might win four out of every five games all year to record a 28-7 record.  The only record that matters after the Ides of March is 6-0 or 7-0.

How does a team go 6-0 or 7-0 in the NCAA Tournament?  In almost every case, said team is incredibly proficient in getting extra scoring opportunities.  How does a team get extra scoring opportunities?  They grab more rebounds on the offensive end and prevent the other team from doing the same. They force more turnovers on the opponent than they commit, and they capitalize on steals for easier scoring opportunities.  A steal is much more valuable than any other turnover, because more points per possession are scored following a steal than any other situation.

Thus, for many years, we tried to simulate how many potential extra points a team might experience through superior rebounding and protecting the ball.  We created our R+T Rating and used this formula with great success to predict which teams might advance to the later rounds of the tournament, the Final Four, and the Championship.

In many of the seasons, if the top R+T Rating belonged to a Power Conference team, we made them our favorite to win all the marbles, and we were rewarded multiple times.  We even picked a couple of upset dark horses along the way like Wichita State, Virginia Commonwealth, and Butler to make it to the Final Four.  We even isolated on Connecticut to make a run in the year where they broke all the criteria and won the Championship from way back in the pack.

In this time of advanced statistics, we have been trying to improve upon our R+T Rating with a new calculation, one that relies of rate stats over counting stats.  Rebound and turnover margin and steals per game have done well for us for two decades, but we realize there is a difference between rebounding margins.  If a team wins the rebounding battle 33-28, they have done much better than a team that wins the rebounding battle 43-37.  The R+T shows that the 43-37 result is better than the 33-28 result, but that is incorrect.  The 33-28 team retrieved better than 54% of the missed shots, while the 43-37 team only retrieved 53.8%.  Additionally, because offensive rebounding is so much more difficult than defensive rebounding, we really cannot tell which team did a better job.  What if the team that had 37 rebounds from among the four listed above happened to shoot a very low percentage in their game against the team that had 43 rebounds?  What if from the 80 rebounding opportunities in their game, 48 were at their offensive end of the floor and just 32 were at their defensive end of the floor?  What if this team had 14 offensive rebounds on the 48 rebounding opportunities at their offensive end and 23 rebounds from the 32.  By using the Rebounding Rate of the Four Factors, the team that lost the rebounding battle 43-37 actually performed a little better than the team that got the 43 rebounds by the count of 29.2% to 28.1%.

Thus, we are working on a new R+T Rate.  We have been trying to work out a linear regression line with six variables and a constant, and our friends, that is really hard to do, since it involves changing weights and constants over and over until the results are tighter and tighter to the line.  After a couple months, the line is getting there.  We have settled on the handicapping of each component of the stat and only have to deal with a constant that gives us the best back-tested accuracy.  We hope to debut the new R+T Rate just before the NCAA Tournament commences in Dayton.

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For February 10, 2020

Date	2/10/2020
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Baylor	Gonzaga	Kansas	San Diego St.
2	Duke	Dayton	Louisville	Maryland
3	Seton Hall	Florida St.	West Virginia	Auburn
4	Villanova	Butler	Oregon	Penn St.
5	Kentucky	Michigan St.	Iowa	Creighton
6	LSU	Colorado	Marquette	Illinois
7	Arizona	Rutgers	Wisconsin	Michigan
8	Houston	Texas Tech	BYU	Ohio St.
9	USC	Purdue	Wichita St.	Arkansas
10	Saint Mary’s	Rhode Island	Oklahoma	Florida
11	Xavier	Indiana	Northern Iowa	Stanford	Virginia
12	E. Tennessee St.	Yale	S. F. Austin	Mississippi St.	VCU
13	Liberty	Vermont	New Mexico St.	North Texas
14	Bowling Green	Wright St.	Colgate	Hofstra
15	Winthrop	Little Rock	Murray St.	UC-Irvine
16	South Dakota St.	Montana	Prairie View	Rider	Robert Morris	N. Carolina A&T
The Bubble Contenders
69	Arizona St.
70	Cincinnati
71	Memphis
72	Utah St.
73	Minnesota
74	N. Carolina St.
75	Richmond
76	Syracuse
77	Notre Dame
78	Furman

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For February 7, 2020

Date	2/7/2020
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Baylor	Gonzaga	Kansas	San Diego St.
2	Duke	Dayton	Louisville	West Virginia
3	Seton Hall	Florida St.	Maryland	Villanova
4	Butler	Auburn	Oregon	Michigan St.
5	Penn St.	Creighton	Kentucky	Iowa
6	LSU	Colorado	Arizona	Marquette
7	Illinois	Ohio St.	Rutgers	Houston
8	Texas Tech	Wisconsin	Michigan	Wichita St.
9	BYU	Arkansas	USC	Saint Mary’s
10	Indiana	Rhode Island	Florida	Stanford
11	Xavier	Memphis	Northern Iowa	Virginia	Purdue
12	East Tennessee St.	Yale	Liberty	VCU	Cincinnati
13	Stephen F. Austin	North Texas	Vermont	New Mexico St.
14	Wright St.	Colgate	Bowling Green	Little Rock
15	Hofstra	Winthrop	Murray St.	UC-Irvine
16	South Dakota St.	Northern Colorado	Prairie View	Monmouth	Robert Morris	North Carolina A&T
The Bubble Contenders
69	Oklahoma
70	Mississippi St.
71	Arizona St.
72	Minnesota
73	Georgetown
74	Tulsa
75	Utah St.
76	Richmond
77	North Carolina St.
78	Providence

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 5, 2020

Wednesday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Albany	Binghamton	10.5
Army	Boston University	-3.3
Butler	Villanova	3.7
Cal Poly	Long Beach St.	1.8
Cal St. Fullerton	UC Riverside	-0.7
Chattanooga	East Tennessee St.	-5.1
Drake	Bradley	-0.8
Evansville	Southern Illinois	-4.6
Florida	Georgia	8.8
Florida Intl.	Florida Atlantic	3.4
Furman	Mercer	12.9
Georgetown	Seton Hall	-1.4
Holy Cross	Loyola (MD)	-2.9
Incarnate Word	Sam Houston St.	-14.2
Indiana St.	Loyola (Chi)	0.1
Lamar	Central Arkansas	5.4
Lehigh	Colgate	-7.7
Louisville	Wake Forest	15.6
Memphis	Temple	8.1
Miami	North Carolina St.	-0.6
Minnesota	Wisconsin	2.7
Missouri St.	Illinois St.	6.2
Navy	American	3.1
Northwestern St.	Abilene Christian	-5.1
Notre Dame	Pittsburgh	5.7
Oklahoma St.	TCU	2.8
Ole Miss	South Carolina	0.4
Omaha	North Dakota St.	-1.8
Providence	Creighton	-1.5
Purdue	Iowa	1.2
Purdue Fort Wayne	Western Illinois	7.6
Saint Louis	Duquesne	2.9
Samford	Western Carolina	-5.1
Southeast Louisiana	Houston Baptist	5.4
St. Bonaventure	George Washington	8.3
Stephen F. Austin	Nicholls St.	8.5
Stony Brook	UMass Lowell	12.2
Texas A&M-CC	McNeese St.	-0.9
UMBC	Hartford	0.9
UNC Greensboro	Citadel	20.0
Utah St.	UNLV	10.9
Valparaiso	Northern Iowa	-6.4
Vanderbilt	LSU	-10.0
Vermont	Maine	21.9
Virginia	Clemson	6.3
VMI	Wofford	-5.6
West Virginia	Iowa St	12.5

 

Top Eight Basketball Games on TV Wednesday

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
6:00 PM	CBSSN	Indiana St.	Loyola (Chi)
6:30 PM	FS1	Butler	Villanova
7:00 PM	BTN	Purdue	Iowa
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Saint Louis	Duquesne
7:00 PM	ESPNU	Florida	Georgia
7:30 PM	ESPN+	Stephen F. Austin	Nicholls St.
8:30 PM	FS1	Georgetown	Seton Hall
9:00 PM	BTN	Minnesota	Wisconsin