— Big X
Cincinnati 72, Kansas 52
Playing without its two best players, Kansas shot 3-20 on the arc.
Jayhawks lost four of their last five games.
Kansas State 78, Texas 74
K-State was only team Wednesday that was outside the Field of 68, and beat a team that is (right now) in the Field of 68.
— ACC
Boston College 76, Clemson 55
BC won decisively the last two nights, by 16-21 points.
Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
Wake Forest-Pitt Thursday seems like an elimination game.
— SEC
Arkansas 90, Vanderbilt 85 OT
Vandy led by 15 with 16:55 left in game.
Arkansas’ Khalif Battle was 13-14 on foul line.
Vandy’s whole team was 13-21 on foul line.
— Big East
Xavier 76, Butler 72
Bulldogs lost six of their last eight games.
Subs in this game scored a combined total of only 5 points.
— Pac-12
USC 80, Washington 74
USC is 14-12 when Collier plays, 1-5 when he doesn’t.
Trojans shot 56% inside the arc.
— Big Sky
Montana State 85, Montana 70
Montana State was +12 in turnovers (15-3)
Bobcats win Big Sky tournament for third year in a row.
Favored Montana led 38-32 at halftime.
— Patriot
Colgate 74, Lehigh 55
Raiders shot 74.3% inside the arc.
Colgate has won this league five of last six years.
— Southland
McNeese State 92, Nicholls State 76
Cowboys are in NCAAs for first time since 2002.
McNeese has won 25 of its last 26 games- they won at VCU, UAB.
— Big West
Cal-Riverside 83, Cal-Bakersfield 78
Bakersfield led 40-21 late in first half.
Riverside was 24-34 on foul line, Roadrunners 9-11.
— MAAC
Fairfield 68, Iona 63
Gaels had won six of previous eight MAAC tournaments.
Fairfield started season 1-6, is 20-5 since then.
— Only two teams have won 25+ games the last four years:
Houston and………..the Drake Bulldogs.
— Good news/bad news for Marquette basketball:
Marquette coach Shaka Smart is 22-9 SU in conference tournament games.
Marquette’s star G Tyler Kolek (oblique) isn’t playing this week, so they’re a long shot to win the Big East tournament this year.
— Famous birthdays for March 14:
Michael Caine, 91
Billy Crystal, 76
Dave McKay, 74
Larry Johnson, 55
Corey Stoll, 48
Steph Curry, 36
Albert Einstein was born on this day, 145 years ago.
— Knicks are first NBA team since 2012 to hold three straight opponents under 80 points.
— A #5-seed has never won the NCAA Tournament:
#4’s- UConn 2023, Arizona 1997
#6’s- Kansas, 1988
#7’s- UConn 2014
#8’s- Villanova, 1985
— 14 conference tournaments are finished; here are the winners, by seeds:
#1-seeds- 7
#2’s- 3
#3’s- 1 (Morehead State, OVC)
#5’s- 2 (Longwood Big South, Montana State Big Sky)
#6’s- 1 (Wagner, NEC)
— Word of the Day: Integrity- being honest and having strong moral principles.
Baseball stuff……
— White Sox traded P Dylan Cease to San Diego, for three prospects and another player.
— Bronx ace Gerrit Cole has an elbow issue, is out at least 1-2 months.
— With all the pitching injuries, I’m surprised an older pitcher or two hasn’t tried to become a knuckleball pitcher, to prolong his big league career.
Tim Wakefield, RA Dickey are the most recent pitchers who had success with the knuckler; Matt Waldron of the Padres dabbles with it these days.
NFL stuff…….
— backup QB happenings……..
Jets signed Tyrod Taylor
Colts signed Joe Flacco
Titans signed Mason Rudolph
Bears signed Brett Rypien
— Tennessee also signed WR Calvin Ridley, for four years, $92M.
— Chargers released WR Mike Williams, saving $20M on the salary cap. Williams was a Charger for seven years, catching 309 passes for 4,806 yards and 31 TD’s.
— Washington signed LB Bobby Wagner for one year, $8.5M ($6M guaranteed).
— Rams signed CB Darious Williams, who helped LA win a Super Bowl three years ago, before going off to Jacksonville.
