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March Madness Notebook: Day 12

Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 11:31AM

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Wow, Jimmer Fredette's outburst was impressive Friday night. The BYU star made 22-of-37 shots, including seven three-pointers, and finished with a Mountain West Conference Tournament record 52 points. The Cougars avenged two regular-season losses to New Mexico with an 87-76 win, advancing to the MWC championship game against San Diego State today at 7 p.m.

Today's Tidbits
+ Teams vying for top seeds have suffered through some struggles in their conference tournaments. Ohio State needed overtime to beat Northwestern, Kansas escaped Oklahoma State and had trouble putting away Colorado and Pittsburgh and Notre Dame both got bounced from the Big East. North Carolina never led Miami until a basket at the buzzer won it, and BYU struggled with a terrible TCU team in the Mountain West quarters on Thursday.
+ What Connecticut is doing in the Big East Tournament is incredible. But I can't help but think back to Syracuse's four wins in four days in 2006, only to take an empty tank into a first-round upset loss to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament a few days later. I hope the Huskies don't meet a similar fate because they're fun to watch.
+ Two of three virtual play-in games proved to be nailbiters. Alabama beat Georgia in overtime of the SEC Tournament, and Virginia Tech nipped Florida State when a 'Noles buzzer-beater was taken off the board. And Clemson destroyed Boston College.
+ I must say I'm not one bit surprised that Michigan State pounded Purdue. Sparty wins games in March.
+ I doubt anyone noticed this, but in Mike Marra's 22-point effort in the Big East quarterfinals on Thursday, the Louisville sophomore made one of the prettiest jump shots I've seen in a while. Taking a bounce pass in the corner, he showed great lift, perfect form, nice arc and rotation. The ball seemed to stay in the air forever. Of course it swished through the net as one of Marra's six three-pointers in the blowout over Marquette. Pay attention around the 25-second mark in this video.

Top Four Seeds
+ EAST — Ohio State: A Northwestern wake-up call will have the Buckeyes looking sharper today.
+ SOUTHEAST — Notre Dame: The Irish looked like world-beaters on Thursday and lost in overtime to a good Louisville team on Friday. Hardly a crime in college basketball right now.
+ SOUTHWEST — Kansas: The tournament's No. 2 overall seed.
+ WEST — Duke: Wins today and tomorrow and this line belongs to Coach K, but how serious is Nolan Smith's toe injury?

On The Bubble
+ Colorado — I think the Buffs got in with their Big 12 quarterfinal win on Thursday, but an upset of KU would have clinched it yesterday. CU will have to sweat it out.

Work To Do
+ Penn State — Beating Wisconsin was huge Friday. A win over Michigan State will be difficult, but not impossible.

Today's Top Read
+ The geniuses at Bracketology 101 hava an updated Bracket Breakdown out this morning.

What To Watch
+ Kansas vs. Texas, ESPN, 6 p.m.

Your Tournament Video Of The Day
Just watch:

John P. Wise |

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October 7, 2011 |

monian

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