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Sunday, March 7th, 2010report | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

College basketball winners and losers

College basketball winners and losers

College basketball winners and losers

By Jason King,

College basketball’s regular season will end the same way it began – with Kansas on top.

The second-ranked Jayhawks will almost certainly catapult back to the top of the Associated Press rankings following Saturday’s 77-56 throttling of Missouri in Columbia.

Kansas’ impending ascension, though, wouldn’t be possible without some serious help from Louisville, which pulled a 78-68 upset of No. 1 Syracuse in the final game at Freedom Hall.

Two of Syracuse’s three losses this season have come against the unranked Cardinals, who almost certainly stamped their ticket to the NCAA tournament by beating the Orange for the second time this season. Syracuse only other loss came against Pittsburgh. Louisville finished the regular season with a 20-11 overall record and an 11-7 mark in the Big East.

“These seniors have never gone to the NIT,” Cardinals coach Rick Pitino told reporters after the game. “And now they never will.”

Pitino added that it was nice to close out the 54-year-old Freedom Hall in style.

“This is a special place,” he said. “I’ve never felt pressure coaching in two championship games, but tonight, I felt a lot of pressure.”

Luckily, reserve guard Kyle Kuric was there to help Pitino relax.

Kuric scored all of his career-high 22 points in the second half to lead the Cardinals to a victory in front of a record crowd of 20,135.

“It was an unbelievable moment,” Kuric said. “It’s what every kid dreams of.”

Now more of Saturday’s winners and losers.

WINNERS

Carleton Scott – The same player who complained about a lack of playing time earlier this season is coming up huge for Notre Dame down the stretch. He forced overtime by hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer against Marquette, and the Fighting Irish capitalized with a 63-60 victory. Scott finished with 14 points. He’s averaging 14.3 points over his last three games.

Bill Self – The Big 12 has never been stronger, yet Kansas (15-1) still managed to win the conference title with a four-game cushion over Baylor and Kansas State, which tied for second at 11-5. Self has now won 10 league titles in his last 12 years as a head coach, including six straight at Kansas.

Quincy Acy – Baylor’s sixth man had 24 points, two blocks – and 10 dunks – in a 92-77 victory over Texas. The win clinched the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament for Baylor and gave the Bears a three-game winning streak over Texas for the first time since the 1982-83 season. LaceDarius Dunn had a game-high 30 points for Baylor.

South Florida – Are the Bulls back on the NCAA bubble? They could be after defeating Connecticut 75-68 in the regular-season finale. South Florida finished 9-9 in the Big East – which is easily the toughest conference in college basketball. A win or two in next week’s league tournament may be enough to get Stan Heath’s squad in the Big Dance.

Austin Freeman – Six days after being diagnosed with diabetes, Georgetown’s standout guard scored 24 points to lead his squad to a 74-47 victory over Cincinnati. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Freeman told reporters. “It was just good to be out there again, playing with my teammates and just doing what I do.”

West Virginia – The Mountaineers will enter the postseason high on momentum after a 68-66 overtime road win against Villanova. Da’Sean Butler scored 21 points – including the decisive basket with five seconds left – to propel his team to victory. West Virginia has won five of its last six games.

Tom Crean – No one needed a win more than Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers, who had lost 11 straight before defeating Northwestern 88-80 in overtime. Indiana, which battled injuries all year, finished the regular season with a 10-20 record overall and a 4-14 mark in the Big Ten.

Memphis – A few weeks ago the Tigers weren’t even in the NCAA tournament discussion. But now they’ve worked their way onto the bubble following a 75-53 victory over Tulsa in the regular-season finale. Josh Pastner’s squad is 23-8 overall and finished 13-3 in league play. The Tigers probably need to reach the championship game of the Conference USA tournament to earn an at-large big.

Ole Miss – The Rebels kept their NCAA hopes alive by rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Arkansas 68-66 on the road. Chris Warren had 31 points in the victory. Ole Miss ended the season with four straight wins.

Cal, Arizona State and Washington – The thought all along has been that the Pac-10 will receive its automatic bid and nothing else. But don’t be surprised if one of these teams makes the field as an at-large. All three were victorious Saturday and have surpassed the 20-win plateau.

Iowa State – Injuries, suspensions and transfers have made things rough on the Cyclones, but they finally played up to their potential by defeating No. 5 Kansas State in overtime in Manhattan. Craig Brackins scored 19 points for Iowa State, which had lost 21 straight games against ranked teams.

Winthrop, East Tennessee State, Murray State – All three schools earned automatic berths to the NCAA tournament by winning their respective league tournaments. Montoris Robinson scored 14 points in Winthrop’s victory over Coastal Carolina. Justin Tubbs scored 18 points off the bench to lead ETSU past Mercer in the Atlantic Sun. Isaiah Canaan scored 16 points to lead Murray State past Morehead State in the Ohio Valley. Also, on Friday, Cornell earned a berth by clinching the Ivy League championship.

Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler – The Duke standouts entered their regular-season finale against North Carolina as the second-highest scoring trio in the country. They combined for 65 points in the Blue Devils’ 82-50 whipping of the Tar Heels.

Derrick Caracter– The Louisville transfer scored four points in the final 39 seconds to help UTEP rally from a 10-point halftime deficit in a 52-50 victory against UAB. Caracter’s dunk with one second remaining was the game-winner.

Purdue – Playing without injured star Robbie Hummel, the Boilermakers clinched a share of the Big Ten title for the first time in 14 years with a 64-60 victory over Penn State in State College. JaJuan Johnson led Purdue with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

LOSERS

Sylven Landesberg – Virginia’s star player was suspended for the remainder of the season for failing to meet academic requirements. His future with the Cavaliers’ program is in question.

Villanova – The Wildcats lost 68-66 in overtime to West Virginia and will enter the postseason on shaky ground. Jay Wright’s squad has dropped four of its last six games.

Georgia Tech – The Yellow Jackets don’t deserve a bid to the NCAA tournament. Not after finishing with a 7-9 record in the mediocre ACC – and certainly not after getting blown out at home by Virginia Tech. Paul Hewitt’s squad has grossly underachieved this season. He’ll enter the 2010-11 campaign on the hot seat.

Buzz Williams – Not many coaches in college basketball have done as good of a job this season as Marquette’s Williams. Still, he should’ve instructed his players to foul in the waning seconds of regulation against Notre Dame. Instead Fighting Irish standout Carleton Scott hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, and the Golden Eagles eventually lost.

Pat Knight – The Texas Tech coach will enter the 2010-11 campaign under pressure after losing seven straight to end the regular season. At 4-12, Texas Tech only improved by one game over last year’s 3-13 Big 12 record. The final loss – a 101-90 setback at Colorado on Saturday – was particularly embarrassing.

Cincinnati – Could someone please explain why bracketologists continue to list the Bearcats as a “bubble team?” Cincinnati (16-14) is barely .500 after getting embarrassed by Georgetown.

Nikola Vucevic – USC coach Kevin O’Neill can’t be happy with the sophomore forward. The Trojans appeared to be on their way to victory leading Arizona 69-66 as the final seconds ticked away in regulation. But Vucevic fouled Wildcats guard Kyle Fogg on a 3-point attempt with two-tenths of a second remaining. Fogg made all three free throws, and Arizona rallied to win 86-84 in two overtimes. It was the final game of the season for USC, which will not compete in the Pac-10 tournament because of a self-imposed ban.

Texas – Less than two months ago the Longhorns were 17-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. Now they’ll enter the postseason with losses in seven of their last 13 games following a 92-77 massacre at Baylor. No team has been a bigger disappointment than the Longhorns, who at 9-7 barely finished in the top half of their own conference.

Connecticut – Talk about a choke job. The Huskies may have squandered their NCAA hopes with a loss at South Florida. Connecticut needs to win at least two Big East tournament games – and maybe three – to have a shot of earning a bid. With players such as Jerome Dyson, Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson on the roster, this team is way too talented to be playing in the NIT.

North Carolina – A few weeks ago coach Roy Williams asked if things could “get any worse” for his Tar Heels. They did at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Duke embarrassed Williams’ squad 82-50. It was the worst loss of the season for North Carolina – and one of the worst in Williams’ Hall of Fame career. Before this season Williams had never lost more than 12 games in a season. That happened during his first season as a head coach at Kansas in 1988-89. This year’s North Carolina team is 16-15.

Dayton – The Flyers – who were ranked in the Top 25 in some preseason polls – will have to settle for the NIT after losing 71-66 at home to Saint Louis.

Rick Stansbury – Bulldogs fans can’t be happy with their coach following a 75-59 loss to Tennessee. In a game that meant everything to its NCAA tournament hopes, Mississippi State clearly wasn’t ready to play. The Bulldogs fell behind 17-0 to start the game and never recovered. And it’s not like this was a road game. It was in Starkville. Stansbury’s team looked lifeless.

Kansas State – Losing to unranked Iowa State at home will be costly for the Wildcats, who can forget about their chances of earning a No. 1 seed. The setback also means Kansas State has to share its second place Big 12 finish with Baylor. Any chance Frank Martin had of earning National Coach of the Year is also gone.

UAB – Let’s end this NCAA “bubble” talk regarding the Blazers. Mike Davis’ squad blew a double-digit halftime lead against UTEP and ended up losing 52-50. It was the second straight setback for UAB, which lost to Memphis earlier in the week and finished four games out of first place in Conference USA.

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