The final five automatic bids for the NCAA tournament were set today, and here they are:
All that remains to fill out the tournament’s field of 65 is tonight’s selection show.
The Oklahoma State
Cowboys run at the Big 12 title has come to an end. The Cowboys lost to the Texas
Longhorns 69-64 in today’s Big 12 semifinal.
The Cowboys hung around the entire game and even tied it up at 64 with just over a minute remaining in regulation, but a huge 3-pointer by the Longhorns’ phenom freshman Kevin Durant sealed the deal.
After starting the season 15-1, the Cowboys have completed one of the most epic collapses in NCAA history. OSU finished the season at 22-12 and has no chance of making the NCAA tournament. The Cowboys aren’t even considered a “bubble team,” so unless a miracle happens it will be a long off-season for OSU. Unless of course the NIT comes calling…
Here is the entire list of teams that have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. These teams have received their berths in the tournament by either winning their conference tourneys, or winning their conference’s regular season title. Teams previously listed will be listed again for continuity purposes.
That’s 26 teams already in the NCAA tournament. With selection Sunday taking place tomorrow, and only five conference tournaments left, Sunday is going to be a BIG day for college basketball fans.
This list also includes all of Saturday’s results.
Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest is in trouble with the law again. It seems as though this guy can’t stay out of trouble. Artest was arrested Monday for domestic violence after a woman said he shoved her to the floor inside his home and prevented her from calling 911, a felony.
Artest has been excused indefinitely from the team. Although he is excused from the team he is not considered to be suspended, therefore, he will continue to be paid.
For those that remember the 2004-2005 season, Artest was at the center of a brawl between Pacers players and Pistons fans. Artest was suspended for 73 games and the playoffs for his role in the brawl.
This latest incident with Artest only adds to the Kings woes who are suffering through a dismal 27-32 season thus far. In the highly competitive Western Conference the Kings are almost assured of missing the playoffs this year.
Last night featured (14) Duke
at (8) North Carolina
, but instead of great basketball, college fans witnessed a scene that was nothing short of assault and battery.
In the closing seconds of an 86-72 North Carolina blow-out, Duke’s Gerald Henderson flagrantly fouled North Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough with a brutal forearm to the face. Hansbrough suffered a small nondisplaced fracture to his nose, and will be fitted with a mask in time for the ACC tournament that begins on Thursday.
Henderson was ejected from the game, and will be suspended for the next game as well. Although everyone involved in this incident says the foul was unintentional, it sure didn’t look that way. Henderson rushed in from the three-point line during a missed free throw and delivered the forearm to Hansbrough. Unintentional or not, Henderson will forever be known as a dirty player, which is not necessarily a good thing.
North Carolina will enter the ACC tournament Friday night as the no. 1 seed, and will face the winner of the Clemson /Florida State match-up. Duke will take on North Carolina State in the first round of the tourney.
A link to the video footage of the incident labeled “Tyler Hansbrough Foul” has been included under the Multimedia tab.
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is expected to return tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ming has been out since he broke his right leg on Dec. 23. This will be a big boost for the Rockets going into the final 23 games of the season. The Rockets were 20-12 in Ming’s absence and currently hold the fifth spot in the Western Conference.
Miami Heat
guard Dwayne Wade
has announced that he will delay surgery and rehabilitate his dislocated left shoulder with the goal of returning for the playoffs. Wade was hurt Feb. 21 at Houston.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Shaun Livingston will miss the remainder of this season, and potentially all of next season following a gruesome landing during a fast break lay-up against the Charlotte Bobcats Feb. 26. Livingston suffered tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) , posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) , medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral meniscus in his left knee. He also suffered a patella dislocation. Hopefully this injury is not career-ending; it would be a shame for the NBA to lose such a great young player.
Several teams have already claimed automatic bids to the NCAA tournament by winning their conference tourneys. These teams are:
That means there are still 59 teams left to fill the NCAA tournament’s 65 spots, there is still plenty of Madness to come!
In a weekend packed full of stars, none shined brighter than Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant
. Bryant won the All-Star game’s MVP honors after putting up 31 points in a 153-132 victory by the Western conference.
The main event was never quite the contest it was hyped up to be. The West led by as many as 33 points before the East put up any serious competition, but by then it was too late. Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire had 29 points for the West and the high scorer for the East was the Cavalier’s LeBron James with 28 points.
In other weekend events, Boston’s Gerald Green won the slam dunk competition and Miami’s Jason Kapono took the 3-point crown with a record-tying final round of 24. Miami’s Dwayne Wade won the skills challenge after posting a time of 26.4 seconds which easily beat Kobe Bryant’s time of 45.8 seconds. The sophomore’s won the Rookie challenge 155-114 with New York Knicks forward David Lee being named the game’s MVP with 30 points. And in the match-up of the weekend Charles Barkley beat Dick Bavetta to win the Race for Charity competition. This was a classic race between Barkley, 44, and Bavetta, 67. Barkley ended up running the final half-length of the court backwards to show up the NBA referee.
The (1) Florida
Gators entered last night’s game against the unranked Vanderbilt
Commodores with a 17-game winning streak and an undefeated mark in the SEC standings. After stumbling to an 83-70 loss to the Commodores, it seems as though Florida (24-3, 11-1) will never break the school record 17-game win streak they have matched three times in the past two years.
The Gators picked the wrong team to take lightly in the Commodores. The Commodores took the lead in the first half and led by as many as 16 points late in the game. Vanderbilt (18-8, 8-4) is 6-6 all-time against no. 1 ranked teams with their last victory coming against then top-ranked Kentucky in 1993.
With four games remaining in the regular season for the Gators, they have plenty of time to fix the problems they had against the Commodores and finish the season strong heading into the conference tournament and a probable no. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. As for Vanderbilt, this should be a game that builds their confidence and hopefully leads to a higher seed in the NCAA tourney.
The Boston Celtics
finally snapped their franchise-record 18-game losing streak on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks
. The previous franchise mark for futility was 13 games. The 117-97 win is the Celtics first victory since Jan. 5.
With the victory the Celtics avoided inching closer to the record the Cleveland Cavaliers would love to shed. The Cavs losing streak spanned two seasons (1981-82 and start of the 1982-83 season) and reached a pitiful 24 games.
Paul Pierce scored 32 points in only his third game back from an injury while Gerald Green chipped in 21.