Evan Turner hit a deeeeeeeeep three on the run as time expired, giving the Buckeyes a 69-68 win over border rival Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Turner posted 18 points, eight assists and four rebounds, and hit all three of his three-point shots.
Ohio State needed the win to stay alive for a #1 seed. Duke is on its way to a double-digit win over Virginia, so the Buckeyes have kept pace.
Here’s a look:
The conference tourneys are heating up. Here’s a snapshot of the bigger games today. (All times ET.)
12 PM: #4 Duke / Virginia – ESPN2
12 PM: #7 Ohio St / Michigan – ESPN
2 PM: #18 Wisconsin / Illinois – ESPN
3:15 PM: #13 Tennessee / Mississippi – ESPN360
7 PM: #22 Georgetown / Marquette – ESPN
7 PM: #1 Kansas / #24 Texas A&M – ESPN360
7 PM: #19 Maryland / Georgia Tech – ESPN2
7:30 PM: Florida / Mississippi State – ESPN360
9 PM: #8 New Mexico / San Diego St – CBS CS
9 PM: #6 West Virginia / Notre Dame – ESPN
9:30 PM: #9 Kansas St. / #20 Baylor – ESPN360
11:30 PM: #15 BYU / UNLV – CBS CS
Why ESPN isn’t utilizing ESPNU to broadcast these ESPN360 games and the Minnesota/Michigan St. game (in which the Gophers are fighting for a bid) is beyond me. Instead of Kansas/A&M, we’re getting women’s college bowling. Seriously, look it up.
If the Golden Eagles didn’t already have a bid to the NCAA Tournament, they should now. Marquette beat Villanova, 80-76, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Championship.
Joe Lunardi had Marquette as a #9 seed before the win, so they should be a sure thing at this point. They have five losses to ranked teams (Wisconsin, West Virginia, Georgetown, Syracuse and Villanova twice) by a total of 19 points, so they play everyone tough. Plus, they have nice wins against Georgetown, Xavier and now Villanova.
Georgetown beat Syracuse, 91-84, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Championship. The Hoyas shot almost 58% from the field by attacking Syracuse’s zone in the paint via penetration, the high post and lobs to the rim. The Orange didn’t help themselves by turning the ball over 17 times, either.
The game turned when Andy Rautins started to struggle. He scored or assisted on six straight buckets early in the second half, giving Syracuse a nine-point lead, but over the next ten minutes, he took two bad threes and turned the ball over twice, and the Orange trailed by five. He reminds me of Kirk Hinrich when he’s playing well, but I don’t remember Hinrich having long stretches of sketchy play when he was at Kansas.
Chris Wright posted 27-6-6, and Greg Monroe added 15-8-7, making several nice passes from the high post against Syracuse’s zone.
The Orange lost Arinze Onuaku to a knee injury and it’s not clear how much time he will miss. Syracuse is not deep — the Orange only play seven players — so if Onuaku is going to miss significant time, it’s going to be a big blow to Syracuse’s title hopes.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
The Big East consists of 16 teams which would seem to make it perfect for a standard tournament where the #1-seed plays the #16-seed, the #2-seed plays the #15-seed and so on.
But such a format would require the two teams that faced each other in the championship game — two teams likely to play in the NCAA Tournament the following week — to play four games in four days. The conference simply does not want to wear down its top teams before the Big Dance.
Also, the conference recognizes the tournament as its Championship, so the top teams should be rewarded in some way. A double bye gives the top four seeds a couple of days rest before their automatic bid into the quarterfinals. The next four teams get a round one bye, which means that the bottom eight teams have to play in the first round on Tuesday.
Click here to see the 2010 Big East Men’s Basketball Championship bracket.
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