Saturday's Madness

Seeing as championship week has officially started, we are going to be doing a new daily madness segment. Here, you can find the daily scores and schedules for every conference tournament game that day as Trizzle will once again be taking over BIAH. For a full schedule of the conference tournaments and a listing of the automatic bids, click here.

The theme of Friday basketball was "pop". Not the soda. Not your father. As in bubbles. The bubble picture got a whole lot clearer as a number of teams played their way out, another group of teams played their way in, and Duquense and Temple made sure there was one less spot to go around.

GAME OF THE DAY: Utah State 71, New Mexico State 70

It was a wild one out in Reno for the WAC semifinals. Utah State jumped out to an early 10 points lead, but NMSU came storming back. A 21-6 run to close the first half put NMSU up 47-34 going into the break. It was a different story in the second half, as USU put their #1 defender, Tyler Newbold, on Jonathon Gibson. Gibson had 14 first half points (including nine in the run at the end of the half), but he didn't score until there was 1:42 left in the game. This allowed USU to make a push, getting the lead down to three on a few occasions. They were down 68-60 with just over four minutes left in the game, but USU scored 11 of the last 13 points of the game. With 32 seconds left and USU down one, Hernst Laroche missed a front end. Gibson grabbed the board, but he was almost immediately tied up by Newbold with the possession arrow favoring USU. At the other end, Newbold knocked down a four foot jumper with 3.1 seconds left to win it. NMSU missed a 40 foot heave that would have won it at the buzzer.

Tyler Newbold hit the game-winning shot against New Mexico State.
He also locked down the best offensive player. Good night.
(photo credit: Rich Pendrencelli/AP)

PLAYER OF THE DAY: Greivis Vazquez, Maryland

It looks like Maryland may be dancing after all. The Terps have now won two games in the ACC Tournament after beating Wake Forest 75-64 on Friday. The win might be just enough to push the Terps into the dance, as they avenged a 65-63 defeat not two weeks ago. Vazquez was the best player for Maryland, as he finished with 22 points, 9 assists, and 8 boards. Maryland had taken a 36-31 lead into the break, but it was a 14-2 run to start the second half that blew the game open. Vazquez only had a three pointer in the run, but he assisted on three of the other five baskets. The Terps defense was as good as it as been all season, holding the Demon Deacons to under 30% shooting from the field.

TEAMS OF THE DAY: San Diego State

The Aztecs might have locked up a bid to the NCAA tournament by beating BYU, the top seed, in the MWC semi's. Lorrenzo Wade scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half, including 12 in the final six minutes (see the video) to help SDSU fend off a tough Cougar team. Wade's two free throws with 7.6 seconds left sealed it.



As I said before, this win almost locks SDSU up with a bid. They would do well to beat Utah tomorrow, thus earning them the automatic bid and ending all speculation, but as of right now they are in.

Friday's Results

CHAMPIONSHIPS

Patriot Finals (Campus Site):
- #1 American 73, #2 Holy Cross 57


Atlantic Coast Quarterfinals (Atlanta, GA)
- #1 North Carolina 79, #8 Virginia Tech 76
- #4 Florida St. 64, #12 Georgia Tech 62
- #7 Maryland 75, #2 Wake Forest 64
- #3 Duke 66, #6 Boston College 65

Atlantic 10 Semifinals (Atlantic City, NJ)
- #4 Temple 55, #1 Xavier 53
- #6 Duquesne 77, #3 Dayton 66

Big East Semifinals (New York City, NY)
- #1 Louisville 69, #4 Villanova 55
- #6 Syracuse 74, #7 West Virginia 69 OT

Big 10 Quarterfinals (Indianapolis, IN)
- #1 Michigan St. 64, #8 Minnesota 56
- #5 Ohio St. 61, #4 Wisconsin 57
- #2 Illinois 60, #7 Michigan 50
- #3 Purdue 79, #6 Penn St. 65

Big 12 Semifinals (Oklahoma City, OK)
- #9 Baylor 76, #5 Texas 70
- #3 Missouri 67, #7 Oklahoma St. 59

Big West Semifinals (Anaheim, CA)
- #1 Cal State Northridge 67, #4 UC-Santa Barbara 60
- #3 Pacific 65, #2 Long Beach State 60

Conference USA Semifinals (Memphis, TN)
- #2 Tulsa 70, #3 UAB 67
- #1 Memphis 74, #5 Houston 49

Mid-American Semifinals (Cleveland, OH)
- #3 Buffalo 64, #2 Ball St. 52
- #5 Akron 63, #1 Bowling Green 55

MEAC Semifinals (Winston-Salem, NC)
- #1 Morgan St. 75, #5 Coppin St. 67
- #3 Norfolk St. 74, #2 South Carolina St. 71

Mountain West Semifinals (Las Vegas, NV)
- #4 San Diego St. 64, #1 BYU 62
- #2 Utah 68, #6 Wyoming 55

PAC-10 Semifinals (Los Angeles, CA)
- #4 Arizona St. 75, #1 Washington 65
- #6 USC 65, #2 UCLA 55

SEC Quarterfinal (Tampa, FL)
- #W1 LSU 67, #E4 Kentucky 58
- #W3 Mississippi St. 82, #E2 South Carolina 68
- #E1 Tennessee 86, #W4 Alabama 62
- #W2 Auburn 61, #E3 Florida 58

Southland Semifinals (Katy, TX)
- #6 UT-San Antonio 57, #2 Jackson St. 55
- #1 Stephen F. Austin 63, #4 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 60

SWAC Semifinals (Birmingham, AL)
- #2 Jackson State 66, #3 Prairie View A&M 53
- #1 Alabama State 63, #4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 55

Western Athletic Semifinal (Reno, NV)
- #1 Utah St. 71, #5 New Mexico St. 70
- #2 Nevada 77, #6 Lousiana Tech 68


If Friday's theme was "pop", Saturday's is ... what is the opposite of a bubble popping? Twelve tournament bids are going to be decided today, so get ready to start filling in those brackets.

Saturday's Games

CHAMPIONSHIPS

America East Finals (campus site)
- 11:00 AM: #6 UMBC @ #1 Binghamton

Atlantic 10 Finals (Atlantic City, NJ)
- 6:00 PM: #4 Temple vs. #6 Duquesne

Big East Finals (New York City, NY)
- 9:00 PM: #1 Louisville vs. #6 Syracuse

Big 12 Finals (Oklahoma City, OK)
- 6:00 PM: #3 Missouri vs. #9 Baylor

Big West Finals (Anaheim, CA)
- 12:00 AM: #1 Cal State Northridge vs. #3 Pacific

Conference USA Finals (Memphis, TN)
- 11:35 AM: #1 Memphis vs. #2 Tulsa

Mid-American Finals (Cleveland, OH)
- 8:00 PM: #3 Buffalo vs. #5 Akron

MEAC Finals (Winston-Salem, NC)
- 7:00 PM: #1 Morgan St. vs. #3 Norfolk St.

Mountain West Finals (Las Vegas, NV)
- 7:00 PM: #2 Utah vs. #4 San Diego St.

PAC-10 Finals (Los Angeles, CA)
- 6:00 PM: #4 Arizona St. vs. #6 USC

SWAC Finals (Birmingham, AL)
- 9:00 PM: #1 Alabama State vs. #2 Jackson State

Western Athletic Finals (Reno, NV)
- 10:00 PM: #1 Utah St. vs. #2 Nevada


Atlantic Coast Quarterfinals (Atlanta, GA)
- #1 North Carolina vs. #4 Florida St.
- #3 Duke vs. #7 Maryland

Big 10 Quarterfinals (Indianapolis, IN)
- #1 Michigan St. vs. #5 Ohio St.
- #2 Illinois vs. #3 Purdue

SEC Quarterfinal (Tampa, FL)
- #W1 LSU vs. #W3 Mississippi St.
- #E1 Tennessee vs. #W2 Auburn