Blogging away the Saturday with BIAH

- Greivis Vazquez went nuts as Maryland came back from 16 down in the second half to force OT. In the extra frame, Maryland go some big baskets and timely free throws as they were able to hang on at the end.

Back to Vazquez. He went off to the tune of 35 points, 11 boards, and 10 dimes (ESPN showed a stat saying it was the most points in a triple double against a ranked team). Vazquez is such an inconsistent player, but there is no questioning his talent. When he is playing well (as he was today) he is as good as anyone in the ACC. His three with a minute left in OT gave Maryland their final lead at 84-81.

Ty Lawson played great, but he was the only guy that showed up for UNC down the stretch. Ellington, Green, and Hansbrough couldn't get anything going down the stretch. Lawson is a great player, but UNC needs more from the other guys if they want to make a Final Four.

- Georgetown went ice cold from three in the second half (the only one they hit came in the closing seconds) and Jerel McNeal (he had 22, 6 boards, and 7 dimes) took over down the stretch. The loss may have been the final blow to the Hoyas, who are now 5-9 in the Big East. It is pretty incredible to think that Georgetown, a team with wins over two top five schools (UConn and Memphis) may not reach the dance.

- A couple scores to get you caught up on:

• Louisville 72, Cincinnati 63: Terrence Williams and Earl Clark combined to go for 34 points, 17 boards, and 7 assists as the Cardinals pulled away from Cinci in the second half.
• UConn 64, South Florida 50: Hasheem Thabeet had 21 points, 9 boards, and 6 blocks in his first game after being embarrassed by DeJuan Blair as UConn bounced back to beat the Bulls.
• Oklahoma State 84, Baylor 74: The Cowboys got 23 from Byron Eaton and 20 from James Anderson as OSU got to .500 in the conference and improved their NCAA tourney chances.
• Washington State 42, UCLA 42: This is a halftime score. Remember when these were two of the best defensive teams in the country? Klay Thompson is leading all scorers with 15.
  

- Big win for Kentucky, knocking off Tennessee 77-58 in Rupp. Tennessee is all but in the tournament right now. Yes, they are 7-5 in the mediocre SEC, but they have played the toughest schedule in the country and have six RPI top 50 wins. Barring a collapse they should be alright. Kentucky is a different story. They have an average RPI (mid 60's) and play in a weak conference. But they have some really good wins (West Virginia, swept Tennessee, Florida). At face value, this was an important win for Kentucky because they showed that they aren't just Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson. Meeks had 14 on 4-14 from the field, and Patterson finished with 19 and 5. And the Wildcats still blew out Tennessee. A big reason was the play of Darius Miller, who has looked really good at time over the last few weeks. He finished with 17 points and 6 dimes.

- A couple very entertaining games going on in the Big East right now. Marquette and Georgetown are in the midst of a shootout. Lazar Hayward hit a three at the buzzer to send the teams to the locker rooms tied at 44. Georgetown is 17-32 from the floor and 7-11 from deep. Marquette is 18-29 and 6-12. The question in this game is who is going to get some stops? Georgetown was on fire in the first half against Marquette the first time these two teams played, but the Eagles pulled away at the end to win 94-82. The biggest issue right now for Marquette is finding someone that can guard Wesley Matthews. He had 18 in the first half, and spent most of the game being guarded by one of Georgetown's bigs.

In Cincinnati, Louisville is ahead 37-34 at the half in a game pitting two of the toughest, most athletic teams in the country. Terrence Williams and Earl Clark have been too much for Cincinnati as the Bearcats don't have anyone that can match-up with the versatility of those two. Both had ten in teh first half. Deonta Vaughn is carrying Cinci with 9 points and 5 dimes.

- Some scores to get you up on:

• Miami 69, BC 58: Big win for the Hurricanes. Jack McCinton had 22 as the 'Canes held Tyrese Rice to 11.
• Notre Dame 103, Providence 84: Luke Harangody finished with 18 and 7, K-Mac had 25, and Ryan Ayers went for 28 as the Irish picked up another big win in their quest to go dancing.
• Butler 75, Davidson 60: With less than a minute to go, Butler is going to win this thing. The Bulldogs got 27 and 10 from Gordon Hayward and help Steph Curry to 19 on 6-23 shooting, 2-13 from deep.
• Kentucky 31, Tennessee 22: Patrick Patterson is playing today, and has 8 points and 6 boards at the half.
  

- Just flipped over to the Notre Dame-Providence game (for some reason, CBS is airing Army-Navy instead of Tennessee-Kentucky) because Butler is up 16 on Davidson. Notre Dame is up 84-70 on Providence ... and as I am writing this, Harangody hit a free throw to reach double digits. Ryan Ayers and K-Mac have combined to go 11-22 from three. That is a good sign for the Irish, as is holding Providence - an excellent shooting team - to 4-16 from deep.

So now the Irish play defense and get balanced scoring? Maybe they are good again.

- Gordon Hayward is a beast. He has scored 10 of Butler's 13 points to start the second half, and now has 20 on the game. This is the first time I have seen Butler play, and they are really impressive. They have good big man on the block in Matt Howard and play a spread offense with four perimeter players that can all knock down a three around him. It helps that Hayward is 6'8" and can defend a four.

Butler also has a really good play-making guard in Shelvin Mack. If this team gets hot, they are going to make some noise in March.

- Halftime of three games with huge bubble implications:

Butler is up 34-29 on Davidson. The Bulldogs look like they have a real shot of getting into the dance even if they don't win the Horizon tourney, but with a couple losses of late, beating Davidson could really help. The Wildcats probably need to win the SoCon to get into the dance, regardless of the outcome of this one.

Miami jumped all over BC at the out set and is now up 44-32 at the break. Miami, even if they win out, may be looking at the NIT this year, but BC is in an interesting spot. They have a couple excellent win (Duke and Carolina) but they have two really bad losses (Harvard and St. Louis). They are currently sitting in sixth (just a half game out of second place) which is probably going to be enough to get a bid, especially considering that two of their last three games are very winnable (Georgia Tech and NC State). If 9-7 in the ACC with wins over Duke and UNC doesn't get you dancing, I don't know what will.

Notre Dame looks like they still might have some fight left in them as they are up 49-37 at the half at Providence. ND is probably going to need to win out (or at least get every game besides UConn) if they want to earn a bid. Providence has a much weaker resume, and while they are 8-6 in the Big East and look like they will get to at least .500 in the league, but I'm not sure if that is going to be enough. They have an RPI in the 60's and 10 losses, but they have beaten Syracuse and Cincinnati twice. I get the feeling they are going to be one of the last teams decided upon.

- Butler's Matt Howard has taken over against Davidson. He has the last 8 points, and 10 overall, as Butler has taken a 17-7 lead. Howard isn't an overwhelming athlete, but he really understands positioning on the block and has a nice little jump hook. The Bulldogs defense is doing as fantastic job against Curry. Shelvin Mack and Ronald Nored are taking turns face guarding Steph. Curry doesn't look like the ankle is bothering him too much, but he doesn't seem to have his legs under him just yet. That will happen when you spend six days on the shelf rehabbing.