A Time of Madness

[ryaldin]

:bowes to Timber's superior redneck semantics:

Yeah, but...I kind of liked Duke... [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

Georgia gave UK a good game there for a moment:
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ATLANTA (Ticker) - Cliff Hawkins made sure Kentucky avoided the rarest of hat tricks.

Hawkins scored a career-high 23 points as the eighth-ranked Wildcats held off Georgia, 69-60, in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal game after losing twice to the Bulldogs in the regular season.

Georgia (16-13) erased an 11-point deficit and appeared on the verge of becoming the first team to beat Kentucky three times in the same season since Tennessee in 1978-79.

Rashad Wright, who also scored 23 points for the Bulldogs, hit a 3-pointer to tie the contest, 52-52, with 5:35 left.

But the Wildcats (24-4) took control down the stretch as Hawkins' crucial 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining ignited an 8-0 spurt in 48 seconds that gave Kentucky a comfortable 64-55 cushion.

With the contest still tied, 52-52, Jonas Hayes had a chance to give the Bulldogs the lead but missed two foul shots with 4:41 to play. Georgia hurt itself badly from the line, making just 6-of-16 free throws.

Georgia (16-12) vs. No. 8 Kentucky (23-4) 1:00 pm EST Southeastern

[Timber Loftis]

Despite a lack of interest in this topic, I will continue to post updates -- for the moment.
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UK's Easy Win

ATLANTA (AP) -- Tubby Smith might get excited if Kentucky wins the national title.

But another Southeastern Conference championship? Hold back the yawn.

"It was a very efficient win for us," Smith said. "We executed our game plan to beat three good teams."

Ho-hum? Perhaps. But leading Kentucky to its 25th SEC tournament title -- more than every other league school combined -- served a greater purpose Sunday for Smith, the Wildcats' seventh-year coach.

Led by tournament MVP Gerald Fitch and 23 points from Chuck Hayes, Kentucky beat Florida 89-73 to earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

Smith only hopes the eighth-ranked Wildcats play well enough to avoid an upset. Last year's team had won 26 straight before Marquette ended Kentucky's dream season in the Midwest Regional final.

The Wildcats, winners of nine straight entering this year's tournament, play Friday night against the winner of a play-in game Tuesday between Lehigh and Florida A&M. If Kentucky (26-4) wins, the Wildcats' second-round opponent will be Washington or UAB.

"When you get to this point in a season, every opponent knows every play you've ever run," Smith said. "So it's no accident that they come in and perform well."

Kentucky kept Florida (20-10) winless in four trips to the SEC title game as the Georgia Dome felt more like Rupp Arena with the vast majority of 22,024 fans supporting Big Blue.

Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose Gators are seeded fifth in the East Rutherford Regional and face Manhattan Thursday, knew his team would struggle to hold back the Wildcats with swingman Matt Walsh battling a bloody blister on his right foot.

Walsh, who entered with a 15.7 scoring average, finished with 17 points, but he limped badly after the game.

"I'm concerned about Walsh," Donovan said. "To start the game, he had to have an injection in his foot."

The Gators were all but finished after failing to score on their first seven possessions of the second half. Kentucky was 0-of-6 after halftime, but it led 54-40 after Chuck Hayes' layin with 15:38 remaining.

Fitch scored 18 points, giving him 42 over the last two days. Sophomore guard Keleena Azubuike, the least-heralded of Kentucky's starters, had another strong game -- especially in the early, tone-setting minutes. He had 18 points and a team-leading nine rebounds.

Erik Daniels stirred the Dome into a frenzy with 7:25 remaining. Alone under the basket, Daniels took a sharp pass from Hayes for a dunk that made it 75-54.

Hayes, a junior forward, dominated the lane, shooting 10-of-14 and grabbing eight rebounds. While Kentucky is known for its 3-point shooting, the Wildcats used their size advantage to outscore Florida 38-16 in the paint.

"I just let the game come to me," said Hayes, who also had a game-high eight assists. "They didn't do a lot of double-teaming. They were letting me get the ball in the post pretty easy."

Fitch, returning to the starting lineup after coming off the bench to score 24 points in a semifinal win over South Carolina, let himself enjoy the moment.

"I like being the MVP, but we've still got games to play," Fitch said. "I'll celebrate for a day. But the real big tournament is coming up. We want to get to the Final Four."

Florida left the Dome with another disappointment in an up-and-down season that turned bizarre when Christian Drejer left school last month to sign a professional contract with a European team. The unranked Gators held the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll in December.

"Our team has a lot of resiliency," junior David Lee said. "I have no doubt we are going to move forward and be a dangerous team in the NCAA."

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On to the Tourney:
Dicki V's picks -- Advanced Bracketology 401

http://espn.go.com/dickvitale/vcolum...ionSunday.html

[Davros]

Did I hear somewhere that St Joes only got ranked third?

[Timber Loftis]

St. Joe got ranked 3rd among the 1st-ranked teams, behind KY (No. 1 [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] ) and Duke (which got downgraded because it lost the ACC conference title to Maryland). Still, St. Joe's is still ranked first in its bracket -- there are four brackets, just FYI. To get to the final 4, St. Joe's big hurdles will likely be Wake Forest/Florida (a tough call between them) and Pittsburgh/Ok. State (another tough call). In short, I think they have the easiest road.

The other top 1 teams face tougher brackets. In the St. Louis bracket, KY will face a tough road with Kansas and then with Gonzaga (or, just maybe, GA Tech). Duke's region, Atlanta, boasts the toughest road all around, with Cincinnati, Illinois, North Carolina, and Mississippi State as big contenders. In Phoenix, Stanford will face trials with Syracuse/Maryland and North Carolina/UConn, all big contenders.

Oh, and FYI, Sunday's loss to Michigan was Duke's first loss in the ACC tournament since 1998. Those BASTARDS!

[Timber Loftis]

No. 12 ranked Manhattan pulled off the 1st upset in the 1st game by beating No. 5 ranked Florida (which had taken down No. 2 rankes Mississippi State in the SEC conference tourney last week).

Ah, the Madness that comes ere the Ides of March. Buggers screwing up my bracket picks already. I'm already losing money before it has even left my hand.

[Timber Loftis]

DePaul just beat Dayton in a very interesting double-OT game. Crappy and good free-throw shooting were a decisive factor.

[Donut]

Originally posted by ryaldin: GO MSU!!! Oh wait, they're a tiny team from Montana who made it into the 64 once, only to be eliminated.... Now, why on earth is everybody so hard on duke?!?!

Also an acronym for Mid Stream Urine!

[ryaldin]

...or Maniacal Squid Uprising. Though back home we call it Montana State University.