Thurs update

Likely the past post for til Sunday...leaving one of the better weekends in sports to hang with my younger daughter in Central Texas this weekend. In a few years, when she decides I'm stupid, I'll have plenty of time to watch basketball.

Today, we've had Villanova get drilled by Georgetown...Boone State beat TT in the NIT Elimination game...the Tulsa Golden Hurricane upset the UAB Blazers in the CUSA tourney, and UTEP pulled one over one the Houston Cougars, which didn't help either's NCAA hopes. UAB's RPI was 49 heading into the loss, and UH was 67. Welcome to the NIT.

West Virginia and Pitt solidified their claim to an at large bid by upsetting UConn and Louisville, respectively. Baylor lost to Colorado. However, I believe their 33 RPI rating should carry them into the tourney. Alabama put a stake in the heart of the two-time defending champion Gators in the first round of SEC action. Talk of Florida being a bubble team while sporting a 65 RPI is optimistic, particularly with many of the automatic qualifiers sporting significantly lower numbers. Putting in the Gators and shunning Illinois State, or St. Mary's would be a travesty.

Charlotte won again today, they may make it to the A-10 finals to get crushed by Xavier. Xavier is led a the guard position by former Sooner transfer Drew Lavender. Just to connect the dots for you...Scottie Reynolds signed with OU, stars at Villanova; Damion James starts for the Longhorns; 6-10 Jeremy Mayfield grabs four boards per game for UAB. If they would have all stayed, we coulda been a contender...

Predictions for what happens while I'm away...
Colorado - Oklahoma has an interesting story line after Capel mentioned how disgusted he was with his team's play after their loss in Boulder. CU coach Bidzik seemed to take exception with that. Now they can settle it on the court. I expect the Sooners to win the game, then get drilled by the Longhorns. We haven't beaten Rick Barnes' Longhorns in several tries. A real journalist would look it up. I don't see it happening (victory or research at this point). Though it pains me to say it, I think the Longhorns win Big 12 championship. As for the other conferences, for the single bid conferences, I don't know enough about them to offer up analysis. For the larger conferences, the tourney's first couple of days can be more important than the finals; it's a chance for a team with little hope of winning their conference to make statement for their position in the NCAA as one of the dreaded 'bubble' teams.