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  1. NCAA hopefuls, beware of those pesky ‘Bid Thieves’

    Mar 2, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT

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    The bid thief doesn’t linger very long. It gets in, gets out, and handles it’s business. The bid thief is one of the last things a desperate bubble team wants to see in early March. The longer a bubble team or potential at-large team can stay alive in a conference tournament, the better their chances…

  2. Championship Week: Day 5 Preview

    Mar 2, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

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    Over the next 13 days, the brackets will start to take shape. Teams with no at-large aspirations will make one final push at the post-season. Teams on the bubble will look to assert themselves as worthy members of “The Big Dance”, and contenders will start priming their engines for a national Championship run. While “March…

  3. Scoop Jardine’s senior season has made a good story great

    Mar 2, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT

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    When Big East play got underway I was lucky enough to see, in-person, the then undefeated Syracuse Orange play consecutive games. The Orange ran over Providence on a Wednesday, then defeated Marquette three days later in the Carrier Dome. At the top of my pad of paper I carried with me, I kept a running…

  4. Weekend Preview: What’s going on with the bubble?

    Mar 2, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT

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    You want to see a list of every game that has bubble implications this weekend? Well, here’s a list of every game that has bubble implications this weekend. Click here to see our Weekend Preview of the top games. Sat. Pitt @ UConn, 12 p.m. (ESPN): Here’s my issue with the fact that UConn’s bubble…

  5. Weekend Preview: Duke and UNC highlight the best games

    Mar 2, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

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    Game of the Weekend: Sat. No. 6 UNC @ No. 4 Duke, 7 p.m. (ESPN) It doesn’t get much better than this. Last day of the regular season. Duke and North Carolina. An ACC title on the line. A potential No. 1 seed in the balance. And the icing on the cake? The last time…

  6. A Butler loss means a new Cinderella must emerge

    Mar 2, 2012, 10:00 AM EDT

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    I can see it now: Americans who treat March Madness like the Olympics scratching their heads and banging their remotes. “That Butler team has gotta be somewhere on my television dial.” /fumbles around the living room “Marge, do we get….um…truTV? I can’t find Butler. Where is Butler?” After serving as the National Championship runners-up for…

  7. Darius Miller is indispensable, shows why on Senior Night

    Mar 2, 2012, 9:30 AM EDT

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    Kentucky has been driven by their stellar underclassmen this season, but Senior Night in Lexington reminded us of one thing: Darius Miller is going to be just as important for the Wildcats as they pursue a national title. The senior guard Miller had 17 points, including 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range, pacing Kentucky in their…

  8. VCU, South Florida, Colorado St. sneak into our latest NCAA bracket

    Mar 2, 2012, 8:58 AM EDT

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    Welcome to March.  Three new teams have joined the bracket: Colorado State, South Florida, and VCU.  Sliding out: Northwestern, Dayton, and St. Joseph’s. It’s going to be an interesting nine days until Selection Sunday. The race for No. 1 seeds continues with Goliath matchups this weekend.  Michigan State hosts Ohio State and the Spartans can wrap…

  9. Championship Week recap: Day 4′s best game, top player

    Mar 2, 2012, 8:30 AM EDT

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    Over the next 13 days, the brackets will start to take shape. Teams with no at-large aspirations will make one final push at the post-season. Teams on the bubble will look to assert themselves as worthy members of “The Big Dance”, and contenders will start priming their engines for a national Championship run. While “March…

  10. The Morning Mix

    Mar 2, 2012, 8:05 AM EDT

    -  Pat Forde believes that Ben Howland has lost his way. That’s all you get about UCLA today – It wouldn’t be Friday without Luke Winn’s Power Rankings – Just one of the many articles explaining why this Kentucky team is the most special of all the Calipari teams – The USC Trojans are not…

  11. UCLA routs Washington St. in first game since SI report

    Mar 2, 2012, 1:04 AM EDT

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    Maybe UCLA’s players don’t read the news. Or maybe they motivated to play well for their coach. Either way, it worked. UCLA, playing its first game since an unflattering article about coach Ben Howland and his program emerged this week, had no trouble against Washington State Thursday night. And that might be an understatement. The…

  12. Southern Conference tournament preview

    Mar 2, 2012, 12:41 AM EDT

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    Stephen Curry isn’t walking through that door. That doesn’t mean Davidson isn’t any good, however. The Wildcats dominated a relatively mediocre SoCon, winning the league by a full four games. And when I mean relatively mediocre, I mean that a grand total of three teams in the league finished above .500. In the Northern Division,…

  13. Photo of the Day: Florida St. turns an ejection into elation

    Mar 2, 2012, 12:06 AM EDT

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    Had Thursday’s Photo of the Day selected, cropped and ready to go. Then Florida State threw a kink in the plans. Luckily, both are of the Seminoles. So we’ll use ‘em both. No. 22 FSU blew a first-half lead and looked like it was toast against No. 24 Virginia when senior center Bernard James –…

  14. Hardaway Jr., Burke are great, but Jordan Morgan is Michigan’s X-factor

    Mar 1, 2012, 10:18 PM EDT

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    Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 25 points. Trey Burke went 7-13 from the floor.  Zach Novak was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Neither of these three players were the Wolverines most important player tonight. While his impact will not be strongly reflected in the box score it’s Michigan’s starting big-man, Jordan Morgan,…

  15. Where would Virginia be without the heartbreak?

    Mar 1, 2012, 10:00 PM EDT

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    For a team like No. 24 Virginia, a team that is trying to qualify for its first NCAA Tournament since 2007, having finally crept its way back to the top of the ACC, this kind of heartbreak is hard to bear. It was hard the first time, and the second time, and the third time,…

  16. Pitino hopes Blackshear can alleviate Cards’ scoring woes

    Mar 1, 2012, 8:45 PM EDT

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    Wayne Blackshear played 20 minutes in his Louisville debut on Feb. 11, but has logged 21 total minutes – including a DNP vs. Cincinnati – in the five games since. That may soon change. As the No. 19 Cardinals prepare to face No. 2 Syracuse on Saturday, coach Rick Pitino says playing the freshman wing…

  17. Plenty of ex-UCLA players come to Ben Howland’s defense

    Mar 1, 2012, 7:39 PM EDT

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    For a coach who reportedly either berates or ignores players, Ben Howland had more than a few of his former guys come to his defense the last few days. A Sports Illustrated story casts the UCLA coach in an unflattering light and prompted an immediate reaction – and fairly soft defense – from the school.…

  18. Missouri’s fabulous season ‘bittersweet’ for Laurence Bowers

    Mar 1, 2012, 6:05 PM EDT

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    One of the few Missouri people not fully enjoying the Tigers’ fabulous season happens to sit on the bench. But not by choice. Forward Laurence Bowers tore the ACL in his left knee during an October pick-up game. That resulted in season-ending surgery for a guy who would’ve been a starter after averaging 11.6 points,…

  19. Colonial Athletic conference tournament preview

    Mar 1, 2012, 4:50 PM EDT

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    Unless you have a dog in this fight, here is your homework: root for Drexel and VCU to make it to the CAA title game. Root as hard as you can. Because if you are one of those people — like me — that would rather see a quality mid-major basketball team that has put…

  20. Seems #LetDelvonPlay now a thing. A very good thing.

    Mar 1, 2012, 4:01 PM EDT

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    UPDATE, 6:27 p.m. ET: MSU athletic director Mark Hollis announced Thursday afternoon via Twitter that he won’t request a waiver to allow Delvon Roe to play. He’ll instead sit with the team on the bench and be involved in Senior Day festivities. “The NCAA staff provided great compassion in allowing Delvon to participate in a…