Kansas ran into a problem with the ends of the alphabet, ie A-Z in its 81-55 loss at Texas last night. "A " as in Aldridge and Abrams and "Z" as in zone. LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points on nine of ten shooting and added 8 rebounds, while A.J. Abrams had twelve points, all from four for five shooting from the three point line. Ahead by only two in the first half at 21-19, Texas went on a 15-8 run to lead at halftime 36-27 and never looked back. Texas' defense, mainly its zone defense, forced Kansas to shoot four of fifteen from the three point arc. Kansas was also outrebounded 34-17 as PJ Tucker (19 points, 8 rebounds), Brad Buckman (12 points, 9 rebounds) and Aldridge dominated the glass. Texas' also shot 55 percent from the field and 89 percent from the foul line (16 of 18). Kansas was led by Julian Wright who had 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting but had 0 rebounds. With the win Texas has sole possession of first place in the Big 12 at 12-2 (24-4 overall) and can clinch the outright #1 seed in the Big 12 conference with a wins at Texas A&M and home to Oklahoma. Kansas is now 11-3 in the Big 12 and 20-7 overall.
The MVC should no longer stand for the Missouri Valley Conference but the Messy Valley Conference after yesterday's action. First, Southern Illinois held onto defeat Northern Iowa 46-45 and put themselves back in the NCAA at large bid mix while putting the Panthers squarely on the bubble themselves. With the win the Salukis moved into a tie for second place in the MVC with Creighton and Missouri State at 12-6. This is because Missouri State defeated Creighton 60-54.
Due to head to head tiebreakers, the Salukis actually are the second seed, Missouri State the third seed, and Creighton the fourth seed. Northern Iowa with their loss to the Salukis fell into a fifth place tie with Bradley at 11-7 and due to their 2 losses to Bradley are the sixth seed in the tournament. This brings out two very interesting and potentially NCAA at large bid determining games in the SECOND ROUND of the MVC tournament as #3 seed Missouri State faces #6 seed Northern Iowa and #4 seed Creighton faces #5 seed Bradley. If Northern Iowa wants to ensure a bid to the NCAA tournament, they must beat Missouri State and most likely defeat Southern Illinois (who has no easy task in defeating most likely second round opponent Evansville, who they lost to earlier in the week). The only team seemingly guaranteed a berth from the MVC in the NCAA tournament is #1 seed Wichita State (14-4 MVC, 23-7 overall) who unless is upset in the second round of the tournament should make the dance.
Virginia may have seen its slim at large hopes fade away after getting pasted by Clemson 90-64. Virginia falls to 14-11 and 7-7 in the ACC. With games at UNC and at home vs. Maryland, the Cavaliers seem unlikely to finish the ACC regular season over .500, which they would at least need to have a claim at an large berth for the NCAA tournament.
Nevada may have dealt the death blow to Utah State's at large bid hopes and clinched their own at large bid to the dance by crushing the Aggies on their home court 75-57. Nick Fazekas led Nevada with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Nevada is now first in the WAC with 11-3 record, two games up in the loss column on Utah State, New Mexico State, Hawaii and Louisiana Tech.
Finally two SEC teams seem headed in opposite directions. First, Arkansas most likely clinched their at large bid to the tournament with a come from behind win on the road over #10 Tennessee 73-69. Darian Townes and Jonathan Modica combined for 29 points for the Razorbacks who are now 8-6 in the SEC West and 19-8 overall. Tennessee drops to 20-5 and 11-3 in the SEC East. Meanwhile LSU just about clinched the SEC West division and put Kentucky on the bubble with a 71-67 win at home over the Wildcats. Glen Davis led the Tigers with 28 points on 9 of 14 shooting from the field plus 9 of 9 from the charity stripe. Davis also had 15 rebounds. The Tigers are now 12-2 in the SEC West, 3 games up on Alabama. The Wildcats are now 8-6 in the SEC East and 18-10 overall. Randolph Morris led the Cats with 17 points.
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