Durzblog

BET quarters --updated 3/14
Thursday is in the books and its a darn good thing Uconn was not on the bubble. Two things that really work against the Huskies this year are the Providence College Friars and Joe Alexander.
This is the third straight first game tourney loss at the Garden and you can tell Calhoun (who has won six tournaments in New York) is growing awfully tired of it. Uconn has likely gone from a 3 seed to a 5 and will wait to see where they are headed next week.
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In other Garden action, Georgetown was the only favorite to get through as Pitt and Marquette were able to pull off a couple of surprises over Louisville and Notre Dame.

The Pac-10 on the other hand yielded no upsets and that leaves Arizona State and Arizona biting their nails and Orgeon out, ASU has the best chance no matter what Arizona players and coaches are preaching. Dayton losing to Xavier spells the end of the road for the Flyers' dance aspirations. Other NCAA casualties yesterday include the Maryland Terrapins who left no doubt in losing to a bad Boston College squad and, the back-to-back defending champs, Florida Gators suffered a beating from the Crimson of Alabama.

Update 3/12 -- Orange Crushed

Villanova hammers Syracuse in second half and win going away 82-63. An upset tomorrow will have Nova dancing for a fourth straight year. Boeheim and his troops will have no gripe this season as they are off to the NIT for the second year in a row.

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Championship Weeks kicks off for real in a couple of hours. Nova and Cuse square off in a high noon death match at the world's most famous arena. The winner gets a crack at Georgetown tomorrow afternoon and the loser will head off to the NIT. Lots is on the line in this one -- should be a dandy!

Other potential bubblicious tilts in the next couple of days:


Xavier vs Dayton on Thursday -- Dayton will need this game if they are to have any chance at an at-large bid and will need to win their semi game as well.
(PAC 10) should be a ridiculous day of hoops out West on Thursday -- likely match-ups have USC v ASU, WSU v Oregon and Stanford facing Arizona (Zona is looking to qualify for their 24th straight dance and it can't be done without at least one win in the league tourney)

Ohio State v Michigan State on Friday -- Buckeye's need one badly, they might be in without it -- but you never want to leave it up to the committee

Notes: Good luck to Dave Bike and his Sacred Heart Pioneers as the 1986 D-2 national champs go for their first D-1 NCAA birth tonight at the Pitt Center.