Everyone that cares even a little bit about college basketball knows by now that the undefeated, top-seeded Memphis Tigers are facing their toughest test to date on Saturday night when they host the second-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. In fact, the Bottom Line on ESPN has already started to count down the seconds until the big game. It’s going to be hard to avoid hearing about it if you flip your TV on to any sporting event during the day on Saturday — particularly since you’re likely to be limited to hoops and hockey, and the NHL announcers, in an effort to be relevant, might give the big game a shout-out.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s going to be a hell of a game, and I’m sure to be watching tomorrow night. But, it’s far from the only interesting game on tomorrow’s slate, and it may not even have the biggest impact on the tournament. Let’s face it, if Memphis loses tomorrow, unless they go in the tank — pretty darn unlikely in that conference — they’ll end up with a #1 seed in an NCAA tournament bracket. If the Vols lose, they could conceivably fall to a #2 seed, but losing to the top team in the country isn’t exactly something that’s going to kill them. It’s not going to help, but Tennessee will probably have to stumble again during its regular season slate or early in the SEC tournament to fall precipitously in the tournament seedings.
I propose that the biggest game tomorrow with regard to the NCAA tournament is between Brown and Cornell. Cornell’s Big Red are in the process of running roughshod over the Ivy League, accumulating a 9-0 record since the conference slate began. Brown has been impressive in its own right, improving to 7-2 in the league following a 67-52 win over Columbia on Friday night.
It’s pretty apparent that these two teams are the class of Ivy League hoops this year, with the undefeated Big Red looking particularly impressive. In fact, Cornell was listed as “also receiving votes” in this past week’s Associated Press top 25 poll (admittedly, it was a single one). Still, there is some hope for the Bears to emerge as the conference champs.
That glimmer of hope would all but disappear, however, should the Bears fall tomorrow. With the Ivy League’s decision not to hold a conference tournament, a Brown loss to Cornell would virtually hand the league title to the Big Red, who would take a commanding three-game lead over the Bears in the league standings with four games remaining on the Big Red’s slate. The undefeated team would have to lose its final four league games while either Brown or the Penn Quakers ran the table to allow another team to improbably earn the automatic NCAA tournament berth.
In a meeting between the two teams earlier in the year, Cornell’s leading scorer Ryan Wittman scored 21 points — 15 off three-pointers — and sophomore guard Louis Dale added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists as the Big Red won 75-64 in Providence. Meanwhile, Brown’s second-best scorer, Damon Huffman, was limited to four points, more than 10 below his season average. He’ll need to rebound with a big game for the Bears to have a chance to keep the rest of the season schedule meaningful.
Meanwhile in the Division I Independents, it seems like every game NJIT has played this year has been meaningless. The Highlanders have already tied a Division I record in their second year at the level, joining the 2004-05 Savannah State Tigers and the 1991-92 Prairie View A&M Panthers as the most futile teams in history by posting an 0-28 record on the year. Saturday afternoon, they will try to salvage the season — as best they can — with a win against the Utah Valley State Wolverines. Utah Valley comes into the game with a record of 13-14, but is in the midst of a six-game home winning streak that began on December 31 of last year. In ten home games this season, the Wolverines have posted a 7-3 record. One of the team’s six road wins came in Newark on February 2 when Utah Valley prevailed, 81-69, over the Highlanders.
New Jersey Tech arrives in Orem, Utah looking for revenge, and, more than that, relief from the infamy of a winless season. This game will certainly have no effect on any post-season tournaments, but in many ways this is NJIT’s chance to dance.
The qualifying for the Summit League’s conference tournament, set to begin March 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, could conclude Saturday night. A win by the Missouri Kansas City Kangaroos (9-19 overall, 4-11 conference) over the Centenary Gentlemen (9-18 overall, 3-12 conference) would mathematically eliminate Centenary from post-season tournament contention and ensure the Kangaroos a berth in the conference tournament.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Centenary’s athletic program may have been conceived prior to Title IX? I haven’t done any further research on this, but I hope they call their women’s teams “the Centenary Lady Gentlemen.”
And while I’m giving my thoughts, allow me to say that I expect Tennessee to knock off Memphis on Saturday night (the formula disagrees), but cannot say the same for NJIT against Utah Valley State.
Should be a hell of a day of college basketball!
