A Great Night of College Hoops

Duke didn't play today, but ESPN decided to show basketball anyway. Here's a recap of some of the action.

UCLA 85, Arizona 79. Jordan Farmar reinjured his ankle, but once again Darren Collison stepped it up in his place, and guard Arron Afflalo went 8 of 11 from the field for a UCLA team that shot 61% overall. Nine Bruins took the court, all of whom were freshmen or sophomores. This is a dangerous team...as long as they don't have to face a skilled big man. If Ryan Hollins or Michael Fey ever recover from the heart transplants Ben Howland ordered for them, look out. The Pac 10 race is wide open between Arizona, Washington, UCLA, and Cal. My latest revised prediction for the conference is: 1. Cal; 2. UCLA; 3. Arizona; 4. Washington.

Villanova 76, Louisville 67. Watching Rick Pitino look on helplessly as his team gets beaten shouldn't make me giddy, but it does, and it never gets old. Villanova took it to the Cardinals from the opening tip and never let up. If they can play with that kind of intensity consistently, they're a final four team. (Yes I know that calling the #3 team in the country a final four team isn't much of a leap.)

Ohio State 104, Penn St. 69. If anyone knows of a casino that will let me bet right now that the Buckeyes will cut down the nets in Georgia, April 2, 2007, please drop me a line.

Illinois 60, Michigan State 50. Remember the old NBA Jam video game that was 2-on-2 basketball, and if your player made three consecutive baskets he'd be on fire and virtually unstoppable? His shot would have flames on it when it was released and he could do crazy somersault dunks; and if you were on the opposing end all you could do is either wait it out or goal-tend. That's how Michigan State must have felt tonight while trying to guard Dee Brown. Brown finished with 34 of the the Illini's 60 points and put the blindingly bright orange crowd into a frenzy.
The one player who impressed me for Michigan State was Paul Davis. He looked like a NBA lottery pick to me. Of course that might just be because I watch a lot of UCLA hoops, and so I'm impressed anytime a center can actually catch a pass cleanly and then attempt to score without either tripping or losing grip of the ball on the way up.