Video Onions: McLemore, Mountaineers, Paul, Franklin and more...

Best way to relive some of last night's best plays, whether it was a dunk or Onions in the bank, is to see the video...

Let's start with Kansas, who barely escaped Iowa State at home, in overtime (97-89). The Jayhawks were down three in the final seconds, when Ben McLemore hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game. Chaos commences at the Phog.



McLemore finished the game 6-6 from 3, and 10-12 from the field, ending with 33 points. Kansas escaped this one and narrowly defeated Temple at home over the weekend. On the other side, The Mayor, Fred Hoiberg, will second guess his strategy not to foul Kansas, when his Cyclones held a 3 point lead under 5 seconds. The #foulordefend debate is a good on. Check out the hashtag on twitter.

Our old friends down in Morgantown, WV had a big road test last night in the Big 12. At Texas, the Mountaineers led by 3 with just five seconds left. They chose not to foul. Any guesses what happened next? From the corner....



Luckily, WVU ended up winning the game in overtime 57-53, which could have saved their season. A nice road win in conference to hopefully get Huggins' crew back on track.

In the Big Ten, it took only 3 minutes and change for Brandon Paul of Illinois to put Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe on a poster.



Mbakwe and the 8th ranked Gophers had the last laugh though, winning 84-67.

Jamaal Franklin of San Diego State got his Dunk Contest resume tape ready last night, going a little Tracy McGrady, off the backboard to himself.



Other games of note in the Big East: Syracuse got a road win at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, beating Providence 72-66. The Orange rallied from a 9 point first half deficit. Rutgers, who is 2-1 after Daily Onions wrote about Mike Rice, got a nice road win over St. John's, while Villanova won its 7th straight game with a victory at South Florida. Nova heads to the Dome on Saturday to square of with Syracuse, and Daily Onions will be there.

Mike Rice Farewell Tour

Tonight marks the start of Big East play for Syracuse, as they welcome Rutgers to the Carrier Dome. The game also marks Rutgers Head Coach Mike Rice's return to the bench after serving a three-game suspension handed down by RU Athletic Director, Tim Pernetti back on December 13th. Rice was suspended without pay and fined $50,000 for foul language and inappropriate behavior, which included throwing basketballs at players' heads. Nice.

For those that have read Daily Onions over the last few years know we are not a huge fan of Rice or his sideline antics. In addition to observing him over the years, we also had the opportunity to work along side Rice at a few basketball camps several years ago. Rice comes off as a high energy, motivated and passionate guy - all things you would want as a coach. He also comes off as arrogant and cocky. Take the good, take the bad, I guess.

After stints as an assistant for St. Joe's and Pitt, Rice got his shot to lead a program at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. In his three years there, he compiled a record of 73 wins and 31 losses. He also earned NCAA berths in his final two years, taking the two seed, Villanova to OT before losing in the opening round of the 2010 tournament. That impressive showing punched Rice's ticket to getting a shot at a BCS conference job.

His time at Rutgers has been highlighted by three victories over top-10 teams in the past two years (Villanova, Connecticut and Florida). While those wins impressive, Rice and the Scarlet Knights have mustered just 5 and 6 wins in the Big East conference during his first two seasons.

Will Mike Rice Change his Ways?

While this is the final year for the Big East as we know it, it also needs to be the final year for Mike Rice as Rutgers head coach. Whether it's getting tossed from a game in the first half for arguing with officials, throwing basketballs at players during practice or ripping into a 19-year old by cursing him out on national television during a game, Rice has shown behavior that has no place in coaching, no matter the level.

When I first read of the suspension, I commended Pernetti for taking that action. A three game suspension and $50,000 fine amounts to about a quarter of Rice's yearly salary, which shows Pernetti wanted to send a message. Others I spoke with thought Rice should have been fired immediately, because it's obvious that Rice's inappropriate behavior was an ongoing issue, not just an isolated event.

With the direction Rutgers University is heading - another solid football season that nearly ended with a BCS bowl berth and the upcoming move to the Big Ten Conference - they cannot afford to have a liability like Rice on the sideline. Yes, Rice was bringing in players and the past two seasons he was coaching one of the five youngest squads in the country.

But when you are trying to build a brand around a basketball team, you don't want the face of the program or the lasting impression of the program, a maniac coach on the sideline.

I'm not questioning whether or not Mike Rice cares about his players. I know he does. He wants them to win and wants them to be successful. That's what we want our coaches to do. However, there is a right way to do that and a wrong way to do that.

Rice says he's learned his lesson and I hope he has. I just don't know if you can flip a switch to turn on and off the passion, or at least channel that passion into a positive, acceptable behavior.

Tonight as Rice returns, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim looks to move into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list. Ironically, if Boeheim can take care of the hot-headed Rice and Rutgers tonight, he'll move ahead of another coach that had a few flare ups on the sideline, Bobby Knight.

Hometowners: College Hoops Happenings Back East

After spending over a week back in our home state of New Jersey, we thought it'd be important to highlight some of the surprises, both good and bad, for the area college teams in the NJ/Philadelphia area.

Temple over Duke: Storm Worthy (pic: The700level.com)

Temple: If Temple would have lost to Duke last night, would we be writing this post? Probably not, but whatever it takes to spark an idea. The Owls took down third-ranked Duke last night 78-73 at the CoreStates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Temple has a knack for knocking off Top 10 teams, as they took down tenth-ranked Georgetown last year and third-ranked Villanova two years ago. Temple should challenge Xavier for the top spot in the A-10, behind the leadership of PG Pepe Sanchez Juan Fernandez, who averages 12 ppg and 4 assists (have we overdone the strikethrough text yet?).

Villanova: Not going to lie, as a 'Cuse alum, love seeing the Wildcats struggle. It's been a rough go round for Nova thus far. Cats have already dropped games to St. Louis, Santa Clara, Missouri, Temple, St. Joe's, West Virginia and Marquette. Not saying that any of these games are AWFUL losses, but you are used to seeing Jay Wright's squad win these games. Gone are the two Coreys (Stokes and Fisher, not Feldman and Haim), and bottom line the Cats lack talent. A few years ago, Villanova lost their best recruiter in Fred Hill, who went on to be the head guy at Rutgers but only lasted a few disappointing seasons. Maybe Hill was the guy that was getting the players, maybe Jay Wright is spending too much time on his wardrobe, maybe the Cats will be looking at the NIT this year.

Rutgers: Every time we talk about Rutgers, we'll start with this. Mike Rice needs to chill out a little bit on the sideline. In order to be the savior of RU Hoops, we need to make sure Rice doesn't have a heart attack thanks to his over the top sideline antics. Rice has a VERY young team this season, with 3 of his top 4 scorers being freshmen (the other one is a sophomore). They've gotten a huge boost from freshman Eli Carter (Eli - sounds like a good name for a big time player), who is averaging 23 points in their last 3 games, 10 above his season average. The Scarlet Knights started the season with loses against Illinois State and Princeton at home, but pulled off a huge upset last week defeating Top 10 team Florida. How did Rutgers follow-up the big upset? Two point loss at USF and got blown out at home last night to West Virginia. Growing pains for a young team to say the least. It will take time, but Rice could have Rutgers relevant in the next few years.

Jordan Theodore's 19 pts helped upset UConn (NY Post)

Seton Hall: Not too far from Rutgers sits Seton Hall. The Pirates got absolutely smoked last week by top ranked Syracuse by 26 points. We watched pretty much that entire game, and Seton Hall just looked like a really bad basketball team. Well, they aren't. Talk about bouncing back. Three days after getting trounced by the Orange, the Hall put one on West Virginia, beating the Mountaineers by 19. The Pirates proved that win wasn't a fluke by going out in their next game and beating the defending National Champs, UConn by 12. If you are a 'Cuse fan, have to be happy you got them out of the way early.

Monmouth: Huh? How did The Mouth make it in here? Well with one of our loyal readers being a Monmouth man, we figured we'd give the Hawks some love - something they need at this point. The Mouth is bringing new meaning to "Down With the King", as new head coach King Rice is just 2-12 in his first season. Of their 14 games, Monmouth has lost seven of them by at least 20 points. Only two games have been within a ten point spread. I guess its no big deal we won't be catching Monmouth live, like we did last year

It Ain't Over Until.....

The fat lady sings? Til its over? Or in the case of Rutgers vs. St. John's in the Big East Tournament, it ain't over until there are 3 seconds left on the clock and the refs decide to turn off their brains. At least that's the way it seemed.

The final few seconds of Wednesday's second round game have been discussed and dissected all afternoon. If you haven't seen it yet, give a look here. Prior to the plays seen here, there were a few other questionable no calls that didn't go the way of the Scarlet Knights. Let the "St. John's back on a national stage playing at MSG" conspiracy begin.

Daily Onions isn't going to talk conspiracy theory. But here's what we will talk about. We are going to talk about how the refs completely shut it down a few seconds early. We are going to talk about Mike Rice doing what he does best, freaking out on the sideline. And we are going to talk about St. John's Justin Brownlee not knowing how to win, but we are sure this is a lesson that he never forgets.

First things first: To referees Jim Burr, Tim Higgins, and Earl Walton - go to your room. Why don't you sit the next few games out, because we aren't going to need you at the Big East Tournament any more. Three veteran officials making a horrible mistake. Bottom line, they didn't close out the game (and you thought the Miami Heat were the only people that didn't know how to close out a basketball game). They reffed for 39 minutes and 57 seconds. Three seconds is all it takes to stir up a pretty big controversy and give Big East officials a black eye. Should these refs be penalized? Absolutely. This wasn't a judgment call that could have gone either way. This was the refs blatantly ignoring two or three violations in the final three seconds that directly effected the outcome of the game. If we were the Big East, we'd suspend them for the rest of the tournament, and then leave it up to the NCAA to decide whether they ref in the Big Dance.

Guessing Rice didn't like this particular call (US Presswire)

Next on the list is Rutgers head coach, Mike Rice. Let's say this first. We love your passion for the game of basketball, and we think you will turn the Rutgers program around in the next 2-3 years. With that said, the sideline antics need to be toned a bit. We've been saying it all season long. In Wednesday's game, with three seconds left, you were so worried about a no foul call, that you didn't even see that there was a possible travel, an out of bounds violation and the ball being tossed into the crowd. Not that seeing those plays happen would have changed the outcome (since there was no whistle blown, the plays were not reviewable), but maybe if you weren't ready to take out Jim Burr, he would have gotten his butt in position to make a call. It seems like this year in college basketball has been one of the worst officiating years in recent memory, as well as a lot of coaches gone wild on the sidelines. Both parties need to lock it up. We'll give Rice credit though in his post game press conference. He was calm, said that the refs made a mistake, he admitted that he himself made some mistakes and lost self-control, and that was that. 

And finally, we come to Justin Brownlee. Young man, you should be thanking Mr. Burr, Mr. Higgins and Mr. Walton for their horrendous mistakes, which makes your end of game antics moot. First of all, play the game until the final buzzer goes off. Second, when that buzzer does go off, act like you have won a game before. Sure, its fine to get excited and celebrate with your team. But chucking the ball into the 200 level of Madison Square Garden? Not sure if you were aware, but its Wednesday afternoon at the Big East Tournament and not Saturday night. The good thing for Brownlee is that it's not the end of the world. He'll get a chance to step back on the court tomorrow against Syracuse. Guarantee from here on out he plays the rest of the games until he sees three zeros on the clock.

Mistakes happen. It's what we, along with the refs, Rice and Brownlee, learn from these mistakes that is the most important thing. It's unfortunate that there had to be controversy to end what was otherwise a great game. As long as coaches, players and refs at all levels are able to learn from this, then we'll all be better off in the end.

Things Fall Apart

Shout out to my high school freshman year Honors English class in today's title. A little Chinua Achebe references for the literature buffs. Daily Onions wants to show its more than just basketball. I'd say its 99.9% basketball, and 0.1% of random mentions.

So, what exactly fell apart last night in the college hoops world? Where to start? North Carolina, Villanova, Syracuse?

Let's begin close to our heart. Syracuse and Georgetown. One of the classic rivalries in college basketball. After a back and forth first half, in which Cuse took a two point lead into the locker room, there was more of the same in half number two. Coming down the stretch though, it seemed like the Orange were taking control of the game. The surprise was that they were doing this with Rick Jackson on the bench in foul trouble. Daily Onions favorite CJ Fair did what he does, 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Baye Mousa Keita patrolled the middle of the lane (4 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks) with Jackson out. With about five minutes left, "I'm Sorry" came back into the game with Cuse holding a slim lead. From that point on, it was all Hoyas. G-town ends the game on a 14-3 run (two touchdowns to one field goal), and that's that. It seemed like the game just evaporated before the Orange's eyes. And with the loss, they've dropped three straight at the Carrier Dome.

Less than an hour later, off the NJ Turnpike, the Rutgers-Villanova game was coming to end. With 4:28 left in the game, Nova's Corey Fisher drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 67-54 lead. Time to head for the exits right? Not so fast, my friend (Corso, Lee). Four minutes later, James Bell drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 75-70 lead with 17 seconds left. Let's leave now, beat the traffic, all Nova has to do is make some free throws. Nope. A three by Rutgers made it 75-73 with 11 seconds left. They foul Corey Fisher with 9 seconds left. Fisher, a NJ native and a 79% FT shooter, could seal the game with two makes. He makes one. As a Villanova fan, you have to think, "That's ok, we are still up three with 9 seconds left, there is no way we should lose this game in regulation. At worse, we go to OT." Hmm, not quite. Rutgers makes a three with 0.8 seconds left.....and gets FOULED! Now, when you watch the replay the call is definitely questionable. It looks like there was some contact on the elbow, but that play probably doesn't get called just as much as it does. Jonathan Mitchell makes his free throw, and the Rut pulls off their biggest win of the Mike Rice Era.

Right around that time, down in Durham, North Carolina, arguably the best rivalry in sports was underway, Duke vs. North Carolina. Blue Devils were the preseason favorite, but with an injury to their top player, they've shown they are beatable. UNC has started to turn things around recently, winning 7 of their first 8 conference games.  But this game was at Cameron Indoor, so most experts were picking Duke to win this one. Three minutes into the game, the score was 10-2. North Carolina. At the half, UNC led 43-29. Just like everyone expected. Dukies, have no fear because you got two guys by the names of Nolan Smith and Seth Curry. Smith went for 34, and Curry went for 22, as they combined for 21 made buckets. The comeback, granted it was at home, shows that Duke's still got it (even with out Kyrie), and is one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the country.

So what team had the bigger collapse last night? Congratulations, Villanova. No reason you should give up a 13 point lead to Rutgers in the final four minutes, and no reason you should even be close enough to someone shooting a three with two seconds left that the official could mistakenly think you fouled him. I'm sure Jay Wright already has this game in their rear view though. They have Pitt coming to town on Saturday night. Should be a real dog....I mean cat fight.