Today is March 1st. The Madness is basically here. While we won't have Gus Johnson calling the games on CBS, TNT, TBS, TruTV, etc this year (still can't quite process that thought), we got a treat last night in Evanston.
Northwestern, who has never made the NCAA Tournament....yes, NEVER...was hosting Ohio State. A win for the Wildcats and they'd basically punch their ticket to the dance. A loss wouldn't eliminate them, but it'd leave them with some work to do.
Speaking of doing work, here is Gus Johnson on the Big Ten Network completely losing his mind when Northwestern hits a long three to tie the game up in the final 10 seconds.
In case you don't know how this game finished, Ohio State went the length of the court in about 2 seconds, lobbed one into Jared Sullinger, and his layup with 3 seconds left gave the Buckeyes a two point lead. John Shurna's three-point heave at the buzzer came up just short (God only knows what would have happened to Gus if that shot fell).
Heartbreak once again for the Cats and their purple faithful. They finish the regular season with a game at Iowa (who has been playing well of late), and then it's on to Indy for the Big Ten Tournament. If the season ended today, I think Northwestern would be in. However the season does not end today. Two more Ws, they are in comfortably. One more win, hold your breathe on Selection Sunday. Zero more wins, hello NIT.
Welcome to March.
(video courtesy of the Big Ten Network)
Showing posts with label Northwestern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northwestern. Show all posts
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Weekend that Was
I promise to make it through this entire post.....unless an undetectable injury forces me to stop halfway through, and even if you see my standing around, walking around, disinterested, riding a stationary bike, I promise you, I am really hurt.
Road Warriors: Playing away from home on Saturday wasn't that big of a deal, as a couple of road dogs pulled off impressive wins early in the day. Ohio State remained unbeaten and even had to come from behind in the second half to put away Illinois. Daily Onions favorite Jared Sullinger had a ho-hum day at the office with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Despite starting the game on an 18-3 run at home, a place where they've won 69 straight games, #2 Kansas loss for the first time this season to #11 Texas. One concern for the Jayhawks is the inconsistent play of freshman standout Josh Selby. Over the last 6 games, he alternates between scoring right around 15 points, or under 5 points. They'll need him to step it up down the stretch, the Morris brothers can't do it all.
Villanova shot lights out from behind the arc in the first half, which led them to a victory at Syracuse. The Wildcats were 8-13 from 3 in the first 20 minutes of the game and shredded the Cuse zone to own a double-digit lead at the half. The Orange threatened a few times in the second half, but never tied or took the lead. This game brought up the question, what is Jim Boeheim's tipping point to get out of the zone? If shooting 62% and building a 13 point lead doesn't do it, not sure what does. While Nova cooled off from outside in the second half, Syracuse's D still couldn't "stop a nose bleed". Another concern for the Orange had to be the play of Scoop Jardine, who had just 2 points on 1-8 shooting, and looked out of it all game. Despite losing two in a row, Daily Onions doesn't think its time to panic in Boeheimburg. Losing to Pitt and Nova happens in the Big East. Cuse needs to make sure it takes care of business at home against the Hall, and then puts on a show for Daily Onions in person at Marquette next Saturday.
The Jimmer Update: Ninth-ranked BYU won at Colorado State and The Jimmer put up his second 40 point game of the year, dropping 42 on the Rams. Jimmer's 42 consisted of 4 3 pointers, and going 16-17 from the free throw line. Daily Onions "can't wait" to see Wednesday's game when the Cougs host unbeaten and soon to be top 5 team, San Diego State. Now if we only knew what channel CBS College Sports Network was...check your local listings.
Two out of three ain't bad: You can't spell Northwestern without an N or a T, and I guess we'll have to find the I somewhere else. The Wildcats quest for a first-ever NCAA tournament berth has been knocked off track. N'western is already 3-5 in conference play (including a 78-46 loss to Wisconsin yesterday) and has Minnesota, Ohio State and Illinois as its next three. Ouch.
Road Warriors: Playing away from home on Saturday wasn't that big of a deal, as a couple of road dogs pulled off impressive wins early in the day. Ohio State remained unbeaten and even had to come from behind in the second half to put away Illinois. Daily Onions favorite Jared Sullinger had a ho-hum day at the office with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks.
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| KU messed w/ Texas, and lost. |
Villanova shot lights out from behind the arc in the first half, which led them to a victory at Syracuse. The Wildcats were 8-13 from 3 in the first 20 minutes of the game and shredded the Cuse zone to own a double-digit lead at the half. The Orange threatened a few times in the second half, but never tied or took the lead. This game brought up the question, what is Jim Boeheim's tipping point to get out of the zone? If shooting 62% and building a 13 point lead doesn't do it, not sure what does. While Nova cooled off from outside in the second half, Syracuse's D still couldn't "stop a nose bleed". Another concern for the Orange had to be the play of Scoop Jardine, who had just 2 points on 1-8 shooting, and looked out of it all game. Despite losing two in a row, Daily Onions doesn't think its time to panic in Boeheimburg. Losing to Pitt and Nova happens in the Big East. Cuse needs to make sure it takes care of business at home against the Hall, and then puts on a show for Daily Onions in person at Marquette next Saturday.
The Jimmer Update: Ninth-ranked BYU won at Colorado State and The Jimmer put up his second 40 point game of the year, dropping 42 on the Rams. Jimmer's 42 consisted of 4 3 pointers, and going 16-17 from the free throw line. Daily Onions "can't wait" to see Wednesday's game when the Cougs host unbeaten and soon to be top 5 team, San Diego State. Now if we only knew what channel CBS College Sports Network was...check your local listings.
Two out of three ain't bad: You can't spell Northwestern without an N or a T, and I guess we'll have to find the I somewhere else. The Wildcats quest for a first-ever NCAA tournament berth has been knocked off track. N'western is already 3-5 in conference play (including a 78-46 loss to Wisconsin yesterday) and has Minnesota, Ohio State and Illinois as its next three. Ouch.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Say it Ain't 'Sota: The Conference Schedule is Here (Updated w/ Video!)
Just last Monday, Minnesota was ranked 14th (AP poll) in the country, with an 11-1 record. Then the Big Ten Conference schedule started. Loss at Wisconsin, loss at Michigan State. In this week's poll, the 11-3 Gophers aren't ranked. Ahh, welcome to conference play everyone. Granted, losing on the road to the Badgers and Spartans isn't anything to get too worked up about, but it is a reminder that this is the time questionable out of conference schedules get sniffed out. Luckily, Minnesota has a shot to get back on the winning track tonight against a rebuilding Indiana Hoosier team.
We don't have to leave the Big Ten to look at another team suffering from early Conference-itis. Northwestern, a team that has never made the NCAA tournament....ever, started this season 9-1. Two games into conference play, two losses (at #12 Purdue, #18 Michigan State). Again, nothing to be ashamed of, but at some point, you need to beat some good teams for your tournament resume.
And with that, we head to the Big East. Don't look now (seriously, don't...because their upcoming schedule is brutal and I'm worried the curse of Daily Onions will take over), but St. John's is 3-0 in the Big East. Steve Lavin and his gel have the Johnnies playing good basketball with road victories at West Virginia and Providence, as well as an exciting 3-point win at the Garden last night against 13th ranked Georgetown (who is now 1-2 in the Big East, by the way). How exciting was it? Well, on one of the final plays of the game, Bill Raftery got so excited about a crossover he couldn't even complete his patented "lingerie on the deck" call. Instead it came out like this, "Oh my goodness.....Lingerie...!" As we mentioned on our Christmas List, we want St. John's to be important again, and they are definitely on their way (even if their next 7 games are against teams currently ranked in the Top 25...Lavin's gonna need some more hair gel to survive that stretch).
With conference play upon us, some teams will look for the quality wins to get them into the field of 68, while others will look to just survive, aka The Big East. Currently with 7 teams in the top 25, the Big East tends to beat up each other during the regular season and the conference post-season tournament only to fizzle in the Big Dance. Last year, 8 teams from the Big East made the tourney and only 2 (Syracuse and WVU) made it to the Sweet 16. So for everyone that is giving 4th-ranked Syracuse a hard time for not playing a "true road game" yet this season, maybe Jimmy B knows what he is doing. After all, its much more fun to travel in March and early April then it is in November and December.
We don't have to leave the Big Ten to look at another team suffering from early Conference-itis. Northwestern, a team that has never made the NCAA tournament....ever, started this season 9-1. Two games into conference play, two losses (at #12 Purdue, #18 Michigan State). Again, nothing to be ashamed of, but at some point, you need to beat some good teams for your tournament resume.
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| Lavin's LA Looks in NYC (NY Daily News) |
With conference play upon us, some teams will look for the quality wins to get them into the field of 68, while others will look to just survive, aka The Big East. Currently with 7 teams in the top 25, the Big East tends to beat up each other during the regular season and the conference post-season tournament only to fizzle in the Big Dance. Last year, 8 teams from the Big East made the tourney and only 2 (Syracuse and WVU) made it to the Sweet 16. So for everyone that is giving 4th-ranked Syracuse a hard time for not playing a "true road game" yet this season, maybe Jimmy B knows what he is doing. After all, its much more fun to travel in March and early April then it is in November and December.
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