A great day of hoops

[Olympic Fan]

Any time Duke beats a ranked team big and UNC gets their butt kicked is a good day.

But, seriously, I was snowed in, watching a parade of great basketball (and a little good football -- great finish to the Wyoming-Fresno bowl game). My thoughts (other than the obvious joy about the game in the Garden and the one at that monstronsity in Dallas ... or is it Irving?):

-- Bad day for the SEC with No. 7 Tennessee getting routed at Southern Cal; Florida losing to Richmond (ESPN showed it as a road game for the Gators -- it was actually a semi-home game in the Orange Bowl classic in Sunshine, Fla.); South Carolina losing at Wofford (now that one was a road game).

-- Great, GREAT finish to the Butler-Xavier game. Xavier up three in Hinkle Field House when Butler scores with 35 seconds left to cut it to one. On the inbounds, Butler benefits from an absolutely horrible jump ball call (the defender reached in with one hand and barely slapped the ball). In the last 30 seconds, Butler misses a 3 ... rebounds, loses the ball in the backcourt, gets it back, misses another 3, then wins a scramble under the basket (reminded me of the painful key play in the Duke-Cal NCAA game in 1993) and gets a go-ahead layup with 1.2 seconds left on the clock.

Only there is a clock problem -- something that doesn't only happen at Cameron! -- and it turns out that the game clock froze for 1.3 seconds during the final sequence. It takes about 20 minutes to straighten it out, before they rule that Butler's go-ahead basket was lanuched in time, but that the clock should have run out before it went through the basket -- thereful Xavier doesn't get a chance in the finals second ... game over. As much as I think the earlier jump ball was a terrible call, I think the refs got the timing sequence right at the end.

-- Great finish in the UMass-Memphis game, played at the new Boston Garden (whatever coroporate name it now has). Former Wake guard Anthony Gurley and one-time Duke recruiting target Terrell Vinson were great for UMass ... former Dukie Elliot Williams had maybe his worse game at Memphis -- he missed three shots in the final two minutes, any one of which would have put the game out of reach.

Instead, UMass, down one, has the ball under its own basket with like three seconds left. They try to lob it in to Vinson, but the ball is knocked away. It pingpongs underneath for a second or so, then lands in Vinson's hands. He lays it in for the winning basket.

-- I saw parts of a few other big upsets -- ODU over Georgetown; Georgia over Illinois (was that an upset?); Wichita State over Texas Tech. Oklahoma avoided a stunning upset, beating Northern Colorado by one. West Virginia blew all of a 17-point lead with 15 minutes left against Cleveland State and had to win on a last-second layup.

I only mention these because every time an ACC team has a close call or a bad loss, people flip out. It happens everywhere.

As a matter of fact, to update the conference records, the top leagues ranked by OOC winning percentage (against Division 1 only):

1. Big 12 82.1 percent
2. Big East 80.1 percent
3. ACC 79.3 percent
4. SEC 73.2 percent
5. Big 10 70.4 percent
6. Mountain West 68.2 percent
7. A10 65.0
8. CUSA 64.3
9. Pac 10 58.8

If you want to change the rankings to reflect head-to-head records among the BCS conferences:

1. Big 12 20-8
2. ACC 20-17
3. SEC 21-19
4. Big Ten 17-17
5. Big East 15-16
6. Pac 10 6-22

Not much to chose among the top 3-4 leagues -- the Big 12 has a narrow edge on paper, but I'd suggest that's because they have so many games against the absolutely dreadful Pac 10.

[Kedsy]

As a matter of fact, to update the conference records, the top leagues ranked by OOC winning percentage (against Division 1 only):

1. Big 12 82.1 percent
2. Big East 80.1 percent
3. ACC 79.3 percent
4. SEC 73.2 percent
5. Big 10 70.4 percent
6. Mountain West 68.2 percent
7. A10 65.0
8. CUSA 64.3
9. Pac 10 58.8

If you want to change the rankings to reflect head-to-head records among the BCS conferences:

1. Big 12 20-8
2. ACC 20-17
3. SEC 21-19
4. Big Ten 17-17
5. Big East 15-16
6. Pac 10 6-22

Not much to chose among the top 3-4 leagues -- the Big 12 has a narrow edge on paper, but I'd suggest that's because they have so many games against the absolutely dreadful Pac 10.

Not sure if you're talking about the overall Division I records or the BCS records, but IMO it's very hard to characterize 20-8 vs. 20-17 as a "narrow edge."

[Heelkiller1]

any day Duke wins, and UNC loses is a good day.lol

[crimsondevil]

any day Duke wins, and UNC loses is a good day.lol

Especially when the combined margin of victory is 48!

[Greg_Newton]

Anyone watching GT-FSU? As expected, both frontcourts are quite big and athletic. A lot of above the rim play. Alabi is a monster this year. I think the All American and All-ACC talk for Favors might have been VERY premature though - I've been flipping back and forth a little, but I haven't seen him do anything all half.

[Wander]

The battle of the good recruiters/bad game coaches of the ACC.

Leonard Hamilton just decided it would be a great idea to take a time-out while FSU had a 5 on 4 advantage because a GT guard had fallen on the floor at midcourt. Of course, FSU then proceeded to not get a shot off before the buzzer.