Blogging away the Saturday with BIAH

- Sorry we haven't been here, BIAH had to take care of some things today (specifically, making sure that a Big East Tourney trip was in order). So without further ado, here is a look at today's slate of games.

- Obviously, the biggest game of the day was UConn heading to Pitt. The Panthers had never beaten a #1 team in the country before this season, but after a 70-60 win this afternoon, they have now done it twice this season. Both times, it has been the Huskies.

Sam Young scored 31 points, after scoring 25 in the Panther's February victory, as Pitt opened up a 14 point lead in the second half. UConn would make a run, cutting the lead to 52-50, the Panthers were just too much. What this game came down too was the little things - Pitt made their lay-ups, UConn didn't; Pitt came up with every loose ball; UConn missed too many free throws. I could go on.

In the match-up that everyone was waiting for, Hasheem Thabeet bested DeJuan Blair, who was in a bit of foul trouble again. Thabeet finished 14 points, 13 boards, and 5 blocks to Blair's 8, 8, and 3. Although Thabeet did put up the better numbers, Blair and company were the ones that made the important plays. UConn had made a comeback, and the lead was at 56-53. Thabeet got the ball in the post, but thanks to some defensive pressure by the Pitt frontline, Thabeet missed two point blank lay-ups. Pitt would score at the other end, and the next time down, UConn tried to get the ball into Thabeet on the block against Blair, but Blair was able to make a steal. The Panthers hit a three at the other end to go up 61-53 with under four minutes left. Game.

AJ Price led the Huskies with 19 points, although he generally struggled from the floor (5-15) as did UConn as a whole (23-61). Brad Wanamaker had 13 points for Pitt, and Levance Fields contributed 10 points and 12 assists.

- The bigger issue now becomes who will be first place in the Big East. Clearly, if Louisville wins, they get the top seed and the outright Big East title. But if West Virginia can knock off the Mountaineers, then there becomes a three-way tie atop the Big East standings. The way the Big East does tiebreakers with more than two teams is the best record against the group - Pitt beat UConn twice but lost to Louisville, so they are 2-1 and thus would receive the top seed. Louisville beat Pitt but lost to UConn, and is 1-1. UConn would then be the #3 seed because they are 1-2.

- So while we are still waiting to see who wins the Big East, we have already determined the Big XII and the Pac-10 conference champs.

In the Pac-10, Washington knocked off Washington State 67-60 to lock up an outright Pac-10 title. The Huskies were ahead for most of the second half, but a valiant performance by Taylor Rochestie kept things interesting until the last few minutes. Quincy Pondexter led the Huskies with 16 points, while Justin Dentmon added 12 points and Jon Brockman grabbed 18 boards. Rochestie led the Cougars with 23 points.

Staying in the Pac-10, Arizona State got 27 and 10 boards from Jeff Pendergraph, 20 from James Harden, and 12 points and 11 assists from Derek Glasser as they jumped out to a 24-11 lead early and never looked back, beating Cal 83-66. UCLA also blew out Oregon 94-68 on the strength of Josh Shipp's 28 points.

In the only other Pac-10 game that matters, Arizona beat Stanford 101-87 in a game they needed to win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.

- In the Big XII, Kansas held their destiny in their own hands, needing only to beat Texas to win an outright conference title. Texas looked like they were going to run away with it, opening up a 44-30 lead near the end of the first half, eventually heading into the break with a 44-37 lead. Damion James led the way, scoring 20 first half points.

But things changed in the second half for the Jayhawks. James would only score six points in a foul plagued second half, and AJ Abrams finished the game just 2-11 from the floor as Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich led the Jayhawks back. Kansas took their first lead since early in the first half on a putback dunk by Markief Morris, and while Texas was able to hang around for a while, the Jayhawks put the Longhorns away in the last four minutes, going on a 8-2 run to open a 79-71 lead.

Both Missouri and Oklahoma had a chance, given a Kansas loss, to sneak their way into a shared conference title. The Sooners took care of business, beating OK State 82-78. Blake Griffin returned to his usual dominant form, going for 33 points and 14 rebounds. The Sooners were in control for the entire second half, but they just could not shake the Cowboys. The biggest reason for that was the play of James Anderson, who finished with 37 points. His three with with two minutes left on the clock got the Cowboys within three, but Willie Warren hit a triple with 28 seconds left to ice it.

Oklahoma had lost three of four coming in, but with the win here they are still in contention for a #1 seed in the dance. OK State, on the other hand, probably could have used the win to lock up a bid. More on that in a bit.

Missouri played Texas A&M, well, "played" Texas A&M. The Aggies jumped all over the Tigers, using a 24-6 run midway through the first half to open up a 42-20 lead over the Tigers. The Aggies pushed the lead to 26 early in the second half, but Mizzou went on a couple different runs, getting it down to 7 at one point. But Donald Sloan, who had 16, and company were able to hang on. A&M got a balanced effort, with nine players scoring between 6 and 16 points. A&M has now won six in a row and looks to have locked up the NCAA tournament bid that looked so distant when they started out 3-7 in the Big XII. Missouri, on the other hand, was blown out for the third time this season on the road. As much fun as the Tigers are to watch, and as talented as their team is, I think this team thrives too much on their crowd at home to be considered a serious threat to do much in the tournament.

Kansas State also won today, beating Colorado 76-64 on the strength of 24 points from Denis Clemente. This means that the Big XII finishes the season with four teams sitting at 9-7 in league play - K-State, OK-State, Texas A&M, and Texas. Out of the four, K-State has by far the hardest road, as their RPI is 77 and they have nothing impressive out of conference. The other three should be in, as they all are in the top 35 in the RPI.

- Kentucky and Florida played what was essentially and elimination game in Gainesville (although UK needed the win much more than UF did), and the Gators controlled the game throughout, winning 60-53. Jodie Meeks was just 6-18 from the floor, and while Patrick Patterson had 18 and 13, no one else on UK could get anything going. Walter Hodge led the Gators with 18 points. Kentucky now needs to win the conference tourney, or at least get to the finals, to have a chance. Florida is a bit more intriguing. The Gators are now 22-9 overall and 9-7 in the SEC. They have an RPI of 53 and an SOS of 91. They are 2-6 against the top 50, but 8-8 against the top 100. The Gators have also won just two games on the road. Have they done enough to get in yet? I don't think they have.

- In other SEC news, South Carolina picked up a much needed win, knocking off Georgia 68-51. Now, South Carolina has a good record and may very well end the season tied for first in the SEC East (pending Tennessee tomorrow), but the Gamecocks have not beaten one team ranked in the top 50 in the RPI. Their best win of the season - Baylor, who is ranked 66 in the RPI and no where near the team they were expected to be.

LSU got blown out by the suddenly relevant Auburn Tigers 69-53. The Tigers (Auburn version), have now won eight of nine games to move into second place in the SEC West. They probably still have work to do if they want to earn a trip to the dance, but in that streak they have beaten both Tennessee and now LSU. One win in the SEC tourney may be enough for Auburn.

- Today is ripe with bubble games, but more importantly there will be three conference regular season titles decided today - the Big East, the Big XII, and the Pac-10. The first meaningful game of the day is UConn @ Pitt, and as upset as it might make you, I'm taking off the journalistic hat and hopefully cheering my Huskies to a Big East title. I will be back here to update you on anything and everything college hoops starting around 2:30.

Let's hope we don't see this again: