AP Photo

March 22, 2009 | AP Press

BOISE, Idaho — B.J. Raymond scored 15 points and Xavier finally broke through Wisconsin’s defense midway through the second half, pulling away to a 60-49 victory Sunday in the second round of the East Regional.

The Musketeers (27-7) struggled as the Badgers controlled the pace for the first 30 minutes, before Xavier pulled away with a 13-4 run and hung onto the lead from the foul line.

Wisconsin (20-13) kept Xavier off balance, but the tight defense wasn’t quite enough to overcome 29 percent shooting. The Badgers were just 16-for-56 from the floor and made three of 20 3-point attempts.

Marcus Landry scored 18 and Trevon Hughes had 17 points for the Badgers.

Derrick Brown added 15 points and C.J. Anderson pulled down eight rebounds for fourth-seeded Xavier, which will play in Boston on Thursday despite the sloppy performance — the Musketeers were 18-for-46 from the floor and just 18-for-26 from the foul line.

Wisconsin patiently worked the shot clock and even led by a point with about 9:10 remaining before the Musketeers cracked through.

Dante Jackson hit two free throws to give Xavier a 38-37 lead with 8:57 left, starting the 13-4 run that put the Badgers away. After Jackson’s foul shots, Jamel McLean blocked a shot by Landry, then ran down to the other end and took a pass from Terrell Holloway for a two-handed dunk and a 40-37 lead with about 8:30 left.

McLean had another power dunk that put Xavier up 44-39 with 6:06 remaining, and after Landry answered with a dunk for Wisconsin, Jackson banked in a shot and Raymond hit a 3-pointer that stretched the lead to 49-41 — the largest of the game to that point.

Tim Jarmusz hit a 3-pointer for the Badgers, but Kenny Frease got a layup to roll in and Brown hit two free throws for a 53-44 lead with only 1:42 remaining.

Xavier didn’t make field goal for the first three minutes of the second half — even a dunk attempt by Love bounced off the rim — as the Badgers opened with a 6-1 run. Hughes scored on a reverse layup for the first points of the half, then spun 360 degrees for another layup that put Wisconsin up 33-26 and prompted a time out by Xavier with 17:15 left in the game.

Wisconsin led 27-25 after an ugly first half that was just fine with the Badgers, who slowed the game by working the shot clock and keeping the Musketeers from getting any transition opportunities. Xavier was 8-for-23 in the half, only slightly better than Wisconsin’s 8-for-24 performance.

Hughes missed seven of his first eight shots, but made all eight of his free throws and had 10 points at halftime. Xavier committed eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes and didn’t score for the first four minutes of the game.

AP Press

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

BOISE, Idaho — Xavier countered Portland State’s usual barrage of 3-pointers with a much more efficient attack.

The Musketeers shot 54 percent from the field and were 8-for-19 from 3-point range while rolling past Portland State 77-59 Friday in the opening round of the East Regional.

C.J. Anderson led the Musketeers’ well-balanced scoring with 14 points, followed by 13 apiece by Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond and Dante Jackson.

Xavier also had just seven turnovers and flustered the Big Sky Conference champion Vikings into a cold stretch in the second half that turned the game into a rout.

“We’re not a team that wins a lot of shootouts. Our players really stuck with it,” coach Sean Miller said. “We’re a very good team when we take care of the ball and I thought we did that today.”

While Portland State entered the tournament with the reputation for slinging 3-pointers — averaging more than 25 attempts per game — the fourth-seeded Musketeers (26-7) were the better shooters from beyond the arc. Portland State didn’t hit a deep try in the second half until less than seven minutes remained and Xavier already led by 20.

Xavier matched Portland State’s total with eight 3-pointers on two fewer tries.

When the Musketeers weren’t hitting from the outside, they got the Vikings (23-10) off balance with constant movement that opened up the inside for easy shots.

“Everybody gets to touch the ball and everybody has confidence in the other players’ ability to put it on the floor or make the right decision,” Raymond said. “We love to share the ball and see our teammates succeed.”

Portland State was in the tournament for just the second time. Although it went better than last year’s debut against eventual national champion Kansas, the Vikings couldn’t keep up with the tournament-savy Musketeers, who are in their the field for the fourth straight year.

Portland State’s only lead of the game lasted all of 14 seconds.

“They acted like it was nothing to them,” Portland State coach Ken Bone said. “They’ve been there before and they played like it.”

Xavier, which improved to 22-0 when leading at halftime, faces Wisconsin on Sunday.

Jamie Jones led the Vikings with 16 points. Andre Murray finished with 14 points and Jeremiah Dominguez, the Vikings’ sparkplug point guard, finished with 13.

Phil Nelson, the Vikings’ third-leading scorer at 11.2 per game, finished without a point and Portland State didn’t hit a 3-pointer in the second until less than seven minutes remained. Xavier was already up by 20 at that point.

“They’re just so solid on defense and the offensive side,” Dominguez said. “We put ourselves in a hole and we couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

Portland State, the No. 13 seed, finished 22-for-46 from the field, but made only seven of 16 free throws. As the foul shots continued to clang off the rim, the Vikings’ hopes faded.

Dominguez went 0-for-2 from the line with 9:31 left to play and Xavier already up 61-45. After the misses, Anderson muscled through a foul for a layup, then Redmond hit a 3-pointer to start a 13-0 run that put it away for the Musketeers.

“What I didn’t expect was them to shoot so well,” Bone said. “When they got a good look they buried it.”

Portland State started its second NCAA tournament game well, shooting 56.5 percent in the first half and hanging right with the sharpshooting Musketeers early.

Murray hit a 3-pointer that gave Portland State a 25-24 lead, but Brown hit a jumper 14 seconds later and Brad Redford followed with a 3-pointer to start a 13-2 run for the Musketeers. Jackson made a steal and passed it to Raymond for an easy layup, then Jackson hit a 3-pointer to put the Musketeers ahead 37-27 with 4:19 remaining in the half.

After Brown’s put Xavier up 42-32, Portland State held out for the final shot, taking — of course — a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. Murray hit the shot from the corner and the Vikings were within 42-35 at halftime, giving the Portland State band reason to strike up the theme from “Rocky” before the second half.

The optimism diminished quickly in the second half as Raymond hit a 3-pointer, Jackson drove for a layup and lofted a perfect alley-oop pass for Brown during a 7-2 run that put the Musketeers right back up by double figures again.

“I thought our defense and size really started to wear them down,” Miller said. “I credit those guys for sticking with it.”

AP Photo

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

MINNEAPOLIS – Dayton is haunted by Bob Huggins no longer.

Chris Wright scored a career-high 27 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the 11th-seeded Flyers to a 68-60 win over sixth-seeded West Virginia on Friday in the Midwest Regional, their first victory in the NCAA tournament in 19 years.

They’ll play third-seeded Kansas in the second round Sunday. The Jayhawks defeated North Dakota State 84-74 earlier in the day.

“There’s times that we don’t play very well,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “But we never back down.”
Charles Little added 18 points for once-mighty Dayton (27-7), which had been 1-13 against Huggins’ teams dating to his days storming up and down the Cincinnati sideline.

These Flyers aren’t as easily intimidated by his huffing and puffing.

They’ll play third-seeded Kansas in the second round Sunday. The Jayhawks defeated North Dakota State 84-74 earlier in the day.

“There’s times that we don’t play very well,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “But we never back down.”

Darryl Bryant had 21 points and Devin Ebanks added 14 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (23-12), which had won at least two games in the NCAA tournament in each of its last four appearances.

Wright, the highest of the Flyers from Dayton, threw down a one-handed goal-shaker off an inbounds pass and then a soaring tomahawk dunk in transition to give them a 46-37 lead with 14 minutes left in the game. He converted two three-point plays off dunks, with teammate Mickey Perry’s mother hollering “Put them in the hole Superman!” while the free throws splashed through.

“I don’t know after watching them on film that our guys knew they were as explosive as they were,” Huggins said.

But Bryant hit two 3-pointers, Ebanks dunked and Da’Sean Butler kissed a jumper off the glass to pull West Virginia within 48-47 with 11 minutes to play.

That’s when the Flyers really locked down defensively, holding the Mountaineers to just seven free throws over the next eight minutes to regain control.

Wright’s fifth dunk of the game, a LeBron-like hammer in transition, punctuated Dayton’s first NCAA tournament win since an 88-86 triumph over Illinois in the first round in 1990.

“It’s hard to even put it in words at this time, to be honest with you,” Gregory said.

This was every bit the knockdown, drag-out, parking lot brawl expected from two teams run by hard-nosed coaches who stress defense, rebounding and grit as the only way to victory.

Gregory’s Flyers hounded every ball-handler, contested every pass and met each cutter through the lane with a sturdy shoulder and scowl.

AP Photo

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

MIAMI — On the eve of Arizona State’s first NCAA tournament game since 2003, James Harden had teammates laughing when he teased point guard Derek Glasser about being reluctant to shoot.

So when Harden had trouble getting going Friday against Temple, guess who came to the rescue?

Glasser scored a career-high 22 points, and the Sun Devils overcame a second consecutive subpar performance by Harden to win 66-57.

“It was one of those games where my shot wasn’t falling,” said Harden, the Pac-10 player of the year. “My teammates picked it up, definitely — Derek throughout the entire game.”

Harden scored nine points, less than half his average. And while he made only one shot, it was a big one: a 3-pointer with 4:02 left that helped to squelch a Temple comeback.

Glasser also connected from behind the arc. The junior went 4-for-5 on 3s as Arizona State (25-9) reached the 25-win milestone for the first time since 1975.

Seeded sixth in the South Region, the Sun Devils will play Sunday against Syracuse (27-9), which beat Stephen F. Austin 59-44.

No. 11-seed Temple (22-12) was eliminated in the opening round for the second year in a row and hasn’t won a tournament game since 2001. Senior Dionte Christmas scored 29 in his final game for the Owls.

“If you would have told us that James Harden would have ended up with nine points and I would have had 29 points and we lost the game, I would have thought you were crazy,” Christmas said.

Harden went 1-for-8. The performance was reminiscent of last week’s Pac-10 tournament championship game, when he missed a free throw, layup and 3-pointer in the final minute and scored 10 points in a loss to Southern Cal.

Against Temple he went more than 14 minutes in the first half without an attempt. He encountered heavy traffic every time he penetrated and had three shots blocked, but he did finish with seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. He went 6-for-9 from the line.

“The best part about James is he’s all about the team,” coach Herb Sendek said. “Just because it wasn’t his day, because he wasn’t the centerpiece, he didn’t disengage from his team. He recognizes the contributions other guys make.”

Temple never led and trailed by eight midway through the second half before making a charge. Christmas scored three consecutive baskets to cut the margin to 52-49, its smallest deficit since early in the game, but the Owls could get no closer.

After Harden missed his first six shots, his 3-pointer put Arizona State ahead 56-49. He sank a pair of free throws on the Sun Devils’ next possession, and they led by at least four the rest of the way.

“The last couple of minutes I started to be a little more aggressive and just create,” Harden said. “Throughout the game I didn’t play my best, but the last couple minutes I wanted to give my all and go out with a fight.”

Temple went 0-for-5 in the last 3:45. The Sun Devils held Christmas without a basket in the final 5:02.

“Those guys paid a little bit more attention to me than they were in the beginning of the game,” Christmas said. “Those guys were switching off more aggressively on me.”

The Sun Devils clinched the win by making six consecutive free throws in the final 40 seconds, including four by Glasser.

While Harden struggled offensively, his teammates combined to shoot 19-for-31 (61 percent). Jeff Pendergraph went 8-for-14 and scored 22 points. Glasser had 17 points in the first half alone.

“Our offense just created open looks for me,” Glasser said. “I was open, so I took them.”

“Derek has been playing his career-best basketball here the last couple weeks,” Sendek said. “He’s a significantly better shooter. He has really worked hard on that part of his game, and it has helped our team tremendously.”

Arizona State made six shots in a row, including three by Glasser, to build its biggest lead at 29-16 less than 12 minutes into the game.

The Sun Devils went the next eight possessions without a point, and Temple closed to 29-26. Glasser then sank consecutive 3-pointers, giving Arizona State a 35-26 lead.

Christmas played all 40 minutes and finished 5-for-11 from 3-point range, but the rest of the Owls shot only 11-for-35 (31 percent) from the field. Semaj Inge went 0-for-10.

“We had our looks,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We did not take advantage of it, as we need to in a game of this magnitude.”

AP Photo

March 19, 2009 | AP Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Stanley Pringle scored 19 points, Andrew Jones had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Penn State withstood Rhode Island’s backcourt pressure in an 83-72 victory Thursday night to advance to the NIT quarterfinals.

The Nittany Lions (24-11) didn’t hit a field goal the last 8:53 of the game, and the Rams (23-11) closed a 16-point deficit to 72-66 with about 2 minutes left. But Penn State sealed the win at the foul line, making 14 of 17 chances down the stretch.

Jimmy Baron had 24 points to lead Rhode Island, including several from well behind the 3-point arc, while Kaheim Seawright added 17.

Rhode Island never led, but got to within single digits several times late in part because of withering defensive pressure.

Pringle’s jumper with 8:53 left was Penn State’s last field goal of the night, but the team came through at the line.

Minus starting forward Jamelle Cornley because of a left shoulder injury, the Nittany Lions also had to play without leading scorer Talor Battle for the last three-plus minutes. Battle hobbled back to the bench after being treated for an apparent ankle injury but didn’t return.

The lightning-quick point guard is Penn State’s best clutch shooter, as evidenced by his buzzer-beating 3-pointer on Tuesday night at the end of regulation against George Mason in the first round of the NIT.

They didn’t need Battle down the stretch on Thursday. Comfortably ahead much of the night, Penn State overcame the Rams’ chippy defense with free-throw shooting.

The Nittany Lions, who shot 64 percent on the season from the line, went 27-of-31 (87 percent) to help them win consecutive postseason games for the first time since advancing to the NCAA regional semifinals in 2001.

Rhode Island trailed by 15 early before a 12-0 run midway through the first half fueled by defensive pressure. The Rams forced four turnovers off inbound plays during a three-plus minute stretch to close to 20-17.

But Rhode Island never got closer as Penn State avenged a 77-72 loss to the Rams in during a tournament in November.

AP Photo

March 19, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, Ohio — Dayton says it has reached an oral agreement with basketball coach Brian Gregory to extend his contract five years through the 2017-18 season.

Athletic director Tim Wabler says both parties will hammer out a written contract after the season. Gregory told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday that a long-term commitment is essential for recruiting.

The 42-year-old Gregory has led the Flyers to 49 victories the past two seasons, their highest two-year total since winning 50 from 1954 to 1956. He has a 124-67 record in six seasons at Dayton, which plays in the Atlantic 10.

Gregory is in Minneapolis preparing his team for a first-round NCAA Tournament game against West Virginia on Friday.

March 18, 2009 | Richmondspiders.com

RICHMOND, Va. – Junior David Gonzalvez scored 27 points and sophomore Kevin Anderson had 20 as Richmond overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to defeat St. John’s 75-69 Wednesday in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.

Richmond improved to 19-15 overall and advance to play Bobby Cremins and the College of Charleston on Monday night in the CBI quarterfinals at the Robins Center.

Gonzalvez made 9-of-17 field goals, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, on his way to his to his fourth game scoring 25 or more points in his career, including his third this season. This was the fourth time in his career that he has made at least five three-pointers in a game. He also dished out four assists.

With his 27 points, Gonzalvez jumped from 25th to 22nd on the Spiders’ all-time scoring list with 1,177 points, passing Tom Green (1,159), Kevin Eastman (1,162) and Butch Lambiotte (1,163). He also took over sole possession of fifth on the school’s all-time list for career three-pointers with 156.

Anderson scored 20 points for his fifth-straight 20-point game. The second-team All-Atlantic 10 selection has 10 20-point games this season, including seven in the last 10 games.

Spider senior Jarhon Giddings helped keep his career going with 16 points and five rebounds. Giddings made 5-of-8 field goals, including a season-high three three-pointers in four attempts.

The Spiders scored 70 points for the 19th time this season, the most 70-point games for Richmond since the 1993-94 team also had 19. Richmond has held 10 of its last 11 opponents under 70 points.

Richmond was out-rebounded 48-25 and St. John’s had 21 second-chance points, but the Spiders picked up their defensive pressure after allowing the Red Storm to shoot 62.1 percent (18-29) in the first half.

St. John’s had won three of the last five and four of the last seven against Big East competition, including two victories over Georgetown in the month of March.

The Red Storm came out of the gates aggressive, forcing a Richmond team averaging an Atlantic 10 leading 11.9 turnovers per game to six turnovers in the first six minutes. St. John’s led 19-5 seven minutes into the game and had the lead back to 14 at 29-15 and 37-23 with 4:18 to play.

Richmond went on a 10-2 run to cut the gap to six in the final minute of the half and went into the locker room down 41-33. The Spiders quickly cut the lead down to tow (44-42) four minutes in and took their first lead since the opening minutes on an old-fashioned three-point play by Kevin Anderson with 14:30 to play.

The Spiders built a seven-point lead with 11:12 to play, but St. John’s came back to tie the game at 61-61 with 6:06 to play. Giddings scored five-straight as the Spiders pushed the lead to four and a three-pointer by Anderson, followed by a pair of free throws had Richmond up nine with 2:26 left.

AP Photo  

March 18, 2009 | AP Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech got 33 points from A.D. Vassallo and 23 from Jeff Allen and the Hokies scored on their first five possessions in the second overtime to outlast 46 points from Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson in a 116-108 NIT first-round win Wednesday night.

With the victory, the Hokies moved to 19-14 overall on the season and advanced to the second round where they will host the winner of the Georgetown-Baylor game.

Duquesne (21-13), making its first postseason appearance since the 1994 NIT, closed out its best season since the 1971 team went 21-4.

Tech appeared to have the game under control in the first overtime, leading by six with under a minute to go. But the Dukes rallied and tied the game at 94 on Jackson’s layup with less than 2 seconds left.

In the second overtime, Vassallo scored 10 points and the Hokies made all 10 of their free throws to put the game away.

March 18, 2009 by Ryan Pohle | A10CollegeHoops

Bracket Predictions – Enjoy!

East

First Round

Pittsburgh over East Tennessee St. – A tough break for East Tennessee St. drawing Pitt as they deserved a 14-15 seed.

Oklahoma St. over Tennessee – A tough game to pick as the teams appear evenly matched, so I’m going with the team that finished the year 8-2 with the losses being @ Oklahoma and to Missouri.

Wisconsin over Florida St. – Many thought Wisconsin was more of a 9-10 seed so this isn’t a huge typical 12-5 upset.  FSU doesn’t have much after Douglas.

Xavier over Portland St. – Some people are talking about a potential upset here, but X just has too much experience and talent to exit this quick.

UCLA over VCU – VCU is another popular upset pick playing close to home and having the talented Maynor.  But UCLA just has too many weapons for them to shut down.

Villanova over American – American only played three quality teams this year, and they lost each one by 16+.  No chance of a stunner here.

Texas over Minnesota – Not the easiest game for Texas, but it’s a tough matchup for the Gophers as they aren’t a 3 point shooting team and Texas defends inside well.

Duke over Binghamton – Duke barely survived Belmont in the first round last year, so you never know.  Still, it would be a huge surprise to see them go down.

Second Round

Pittsburgh over Oklahoma St. – As talented as Oklahoma St. is, Pittsburgh will likely be able to score at will in this one as the Cowboys don’t have the size to matchup with Blair.

Xavier over Wisconsin – It’s going to be a tough game no matter who Xavier plays in the 2nd round, but they’re the better team and the Badgers are just too inconsistent.

UCLA over Villanova – Despite this being practically a home game for Villanova, the better team will come out the victor.  Villanova just doesn’t really stand out, and they did lose at home recently to Georgetown.

Duke over Texas – Texas has been too shaky offensively throughout the year to come up with the upset.  Duke is better and peaking at the right time.

Sweet 16

Pittsburgh over Xavier – This is actually a pretty solid matchup for Xavier as they can defend inside against Young and Blair.  It just seems unlikely that Pitt goes down this early.

UCLA over Duke – Collison, Aboya, and Shipp are not going to go out easy.  These seniors have been through it all and if they can beef up their defense a little bit, a run to the Elite 8 is certainly possible.

Elite 8

Pittsburgh over UCLA – It’s hard to imagine UCLA making a run past this.  Pittsburgh is just a little bit better in every regard.

Midwest

Louisville over Morehead St. – Louisville will take on Morehead St., who should have been preparing Tuesday night while Chattanooga played in their place.

Ohio St. over Siena – There’s been some love for Siena, but they haven’t been able to beat a tournament team in four tries.  Ohio St. just made the Big Ten final and is playing too well.

Utah over Arizona – This game could likely go either way, but with Arizona’s holes defensively and struggles at the end of the year, I’m leaning towards Utah.

Cleveland St. over Wake Forest – Wake is a young team going against a Cleveland St. squad that starts four seniors.  They are so tough defensively and could very well pull off the upset.

West Virginia over Dayton – A tough break for Dayton as many thought they should’ve been in the 9-10 seed range, and on top of things they draw a tough 6 seed in West Virginia that recently knocked off Pitt.

Kansas over North Dakota St. – The Bison start four seniors and Kansas is pretty young.  Ben Woodside dropped 63 in a game earlier this year, and he’s going to have to have another big game to get the W for ND State.

USC over Boston College – A good draw for USC getting a BC team that many had in the 10-11 seed range.  BC is young and weak defensively.

Michigan St. over Robert Morris – Robert Morris shoots 40% from deep as a team so if they get hot they could stay in this game for awhile.

Second Round

Louisville over Ohio St. – OSU’s nice run to finish the season ends here.  They just have too many holes on defense and won’t be able to muster up enough points against Louisville.

Utah over Cleveland St. – It doesn’t seem like too many have them going to the Sweet 16, but why not?  Utah shared the regular season MWC title and then won the conference tournament.  They have a win over Gonzaga, too.

Kansas over West Virginia – This will be one heck of a game if it happens.  But everyone has doubted Kansas all year and Self will prepare them well for this one.

Michigan St. over USC – An upset wouldn’t be out of the question considering MSU has had some surprising losses during the year.  But the better team should prevail.

Sweet 16

Louisville over Utah – The Cards are just a little too strong and the Utes are just a little too weak.  It could be a game for awhile but eventually Louisville will pull away.

Michigan St. over Kansas – These two met earlier in the year and the Spartans came out with a 13 point win.  Despite that game being in East Lansing, it’s hard to imagine that big of a swing.

Elite 8

Louisville over Michigan St. – As we’ve seen in Michigan St.’s losses, they just get too pedestrian like on offense.  And with how good Louisville is on defense, it’s hard to see them making the Final Four.

South

UNC over Radford – For what it’s worth, Radford starts all upperclassmen and will be used to UNC’s fast paced style.

Butler over LSU – Brad Stevens always gets his boys ready for big games, and always does a great job in close games.  LSU finished the year losing 3 of 4.

Illinois over Western Kentucky – Another fairly popular upset pick, but I’m not seeing it.  WK did beat Louisville, but they lost to a lot of bad teams.  Illinois is too tough defensively, even without Frazier.

Gonzaga over Akron – Akron’s defensive minded and slow tempo approach could keep them in it for awhile, but in the end Gonzaga should pull away.

Temple over Arizona St. – Dionte’s not going out without a fight.  The Owls have a lot of size and defend the paint well which is how the Sun Devils like to score.

Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin – Stephen Austin will surprise the Orange with how good they are on defense.  But these teams are on completely different levels in terms of talent.

Clemson over Michigan – I’ll ignore Purnell’s tournament struggles because Clemson is definitely the better team.  Michigan does not have much size and will struggle defending Booker and Sykes.

Oklahoma over Morgan St. – If a 15 were to knock of a 2 this year, Morgan St. would be the one.  That’s wishful thinking, though.

Second Round

UNC over Butler – Too much talent on UNC’s side and too much inexperience for Butler to pull off a shocker.  But their style of play may frustrate the Tar Heels at times.

Gonzaga over Illinois – Illinois is pretty young and lacking enough talent to hang with the red hot Zags.  This one probably won’t be all that close.

Syracuse over Temple – Syracuse has won 7 of 8 so it’s hard to see them not reaching at least the Sweet 16.  A10 teams always have seem to give them trouble, though.

Clemson over Oklahoma – Oklahoma has lost 4 of 6 headed into the tourney so they seem like a good team to fade.  Clemson has plenty of talent to pull off the upset.

Sweet 16

Gonzaga over UNC – A lot of people talked up St. Mary’s in the past week, and Gonzaga crushed them by 25 in the WCC finals.  Kansas exposed UNC’s defensive woes last year and the Zags will, too.

Syracuse over Clemson – Sticking with the red hot Orangemen.  Flynn, Devendorf, and Harris have been a very tough trio for their opponents.

Elite 8

Gonzaga over Syracuse – Gonzaga is well balanced and much more under the radar than they have been in the past.  Syracuse is a little too weak defensively for their run to continue any further.

West

UConn over Chattanooga – Very easy matchup for UConn as Chattanooga has 25+ point losses to Tennesse, Missouri, and USC.

BYU over Texas A&M – In a rematch of a 1st round match last year, BYU avenges it’s loss to A&M.  They are much improved and have a deadly good trio in Cummard, Fredette, and Tavernari.

Purdue over Northern Iowa – UNI has only played one tournament team all year, and that was a 30 point loss to Marquette.  They will be well overmatched.

Washington over Mississippi St. – Mississippi St. is hot and could give Washington a nice run for their money.  But Washington is hot and too good on defense.

Marquette over Utah St. – Marquette is tough to read since their only win since James has been out is over St. John’s.  Still, you have to think they find a way to win this one.

Missouri over Cornell – The Big Red can stroke it from deep.  But they struggle on defense and didn’t play well against any of their tougher opponents this year.

California over Maryland – Another fairly popular upset pick, but Maryland doesn’t have anything after Vasquez, and the Terps won’t be able to shut down Randle, Christopher, and Boykin.

Memphis over Cal St. Northridge – Memphis hasn’t given up 50 points in their last four games.  That won’t happen again as CS Northridge plays a very up tempo style, but they’ll have a lot of bad possessions.

Second Round

UConn over BYU – If a one seed were to exit this early, it would likely be by the hands of BYU.  How far UConn can go without Dyson is a question mark.

Purdue over Washington – Purdue is beaming with confidence after winning the Big 10 Tourney, and they will pose matchup problems for Pondexter and Brockman.

Missouri over Marquette – Marquette hasn’t proven that they can win a big game without James.  Missouri has flown under the radar going 28-6 overall including winning the Big 12 Tourney.

Memphis over California – If Cal can find a way to put up points Memphis will be in for a long game.  Memphis needs to shoot the 3 ball well at some point.

Sweet 16

UConn over Purdue – People forget that Purdue is still a young team, and they haven’t shot the trey ball as well this year.  Too much UConn for them to handle.

Memphis over Missouri – Memphis’ defense would appear to be too good for the Tigers, especially inside as they can shut down Lyons and Carroll.

Elite 8

Memphis over UConn – The Huskies look to be a little too weak on offense to make a run further than this, as they haven’t had anyone step up with Dyson out.  They will have a very hard time putting up points in this contest.

Final Four

Louisville over Memphis – As good as Memphis is, they just don’t have the perimeter shooting that they’ll need against Louisville to pull of a victory.  It’ll be a grind it out type of game but in the end Louisville will prevail.

Gonzaga over Pittsburgh – Pitt has quietly been weak defensively (especially on the perimter) and it’s been exposed recently against West Virginia and Marquette.  Gonzaga can stroke it from deep and stop you on the other end.

Championship Game

Gonzaga over Louisville – I’m definitely going out on a limb picking Gonzaga to win it all, but UNC and Pitt are too weak defensively for my liking, as are Louisville and UConn on the offensive end to dodge six landmines in this tournament.  Gonzaga is solid on both ends of the floor, and has the talent and experience to pull off an incredible run to win it all.

AP Photo

March 17, 2009 | AP Press

LEWISTON, N.Y. — Kahiem Seawright scored 20 points in the second half — including all 10 for Rhode Island during its critical run — and the Rams beat Niagara 68-62 in an NIT first-round game on Tuesday night.

Jimmy Baron scored 20, including hitting six free throws in the final 40 seconds, for the sixth-seeded Rams (23-10), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Seawright finished with 23 points for the Rams, who are making their 13th NIT appearance and improved to 7-6 in tournament-opening games.

Rhode Island plays Penn State in the second round.

Anthony Nelson scored 14 for the poor-shooting Purple Eagles, who finished 21-of-59 from the field, and 7-of-27 in 3-point attempts. Third-seeded Niagara (26-9) had a seven-game home win streak snapped.

The Purple Eagles were also denied an opportunity to match a school record for victories, and dropped to 9-13 in making their 13th NIT appearance. Niagara was coming off a 77-70 loss to Siena in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship game last week.

Seawright, who added 10 rebounds, was the difference for a Rhode Island team that spent the past week still stewing over a 78-74 loss to Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament quarterfinals last week.

The game was decided with 38 seconds left when Niagara’s Bilal Benn was charged a technical foul for touching the ball out of bounds in attempting to deny an inbound pass. Baron hit the two free throws, putting Rhode Island up 62-57. Baron was then fouled on the Rams’ next possession, and once again hit two free throws to extend the lead to seven.

Otherwise, the Rams took control early in the second half — after they trailed by as many as nine in the first.

With Rhode Island trailing 41-34, the Rams gained momentum courtesy of Seawright, who sparked a 10-2 run by hitting a free throw after he missed the first attempt.

The senior forward was then nearly perfect, scoring 10 straight over a span of 2:42 that put the Rams ahead 43-41 with 12:20 remaining. Seawright hit a tough 16-footer from the baseline and completed a three-point play after being fouled on drive to the basket.

Niagara recovered briefly, and regained the lead — 46-45 — when Rob Garrison hit a 3-point shot.

The Rams responded and took the lead for good when Jason Francis scored on a putback after Keith Cothran missed a 3-point attempt.

Rhode Island’s 23 wins are the third most in school history, and the most since the program went 25-9 in 1997-98.

Tyrone Lewis added 13 points for Niagara, but went 4-of-17 in field goal attempts and missed 11 of 14 3-point shots.