Articles

There may be more attractive games on the schedule this Selection Sunday but with the general opinion being that Penn State has done enough to get into the field of 68 that leave the Atlantic 10 final that bubble teams around the nation will tune into. Richmond got to the title game by holding Temple scoreless for the final 4:33 in yesterday's semifinal, likely giving the conference three spots in the Big Dance (Temple and regular season champ Xavier).

Many fans and pundits alike felt that Ohio State's trip to Madison would be the point where they'd suffer their first loss of the season. But after a first half that didn't do much to separate either team those prospects didn't look good as Thad Matta's group went on a 23-6 run to push their lead out to 15 points with 13:21 left in the game. Thankfully for the Badgers Jordan Taylor and company had other ideas, answering with a 30-8 run of their own and eventually going on to win 71-67 at the Kohl Center.

A lot of the talk leading into Tuesday's matchup between Kentucky and Tennessee at Rupp Arena surrounded the return of Bruce Pearl to the Tennessee sidelines after an eight-game SEC suspension. The Vols won five of eight with associate head coach Tony Jones in charge but there's something to be said in regards to the comfort level a team has when their head coach is on the bench. But the return to normalcy means nothing if you get outworked and that's exactly what happened to the Vols, ultimately falling 73-61 to the 18th-ranked Wildcats.

Tuesday night marks the return of Bruce Pearl to SEC play, and it's just in time for an important matchup between his Tennessee (15-8, 5-3) Volunteers and the Kentucky (16-6, 4-4) Wildcats. The winner remains in the hunt for the SEC East title, and while the loser won't be finished per say with both teams already owning losses to first-place Florida they'd be in a bit of trouble. John Calipari's Wildcats have done what most young teams do: struggle on the road while getting the job done at home, owning a home record of 10-0 on the season.

Heading into Saturday's action the Arizona Wildcats were already up by a game in the Pac-10 standings thanks to their win over Stanford combined with Washington's loss at Oregon State on Thursday night. With a golden opportunity to make themselves the clear favorite to win the regular season title at their fingertips as Washington lost at Oregon earlier in the day, the young Wildcats took a big step in that direction in Berkeley. It's just hard to imagine that anyone involved realized just how much effort would be needed to do so.

There's just one game on Saturday matching ranked teams and surprisingly it comes in the SEC, where #11 Kentucky (16-5, 4-3) heads south to take on #23 Florida (17-5, 6-2). And while the SEC East has shown itself to be somewhat wide-open, John Calipari's young Wildcats would be well-served to win this one and avoid falling behind the Gators by two games in the loss column. But Kentucky also has just one road win in conference play (South Carolina) and they'll have their hands full with a talented group of Gators.

While there are a number of good games on the schedule for Saturday the best matchup may not come until the evening deep in the heart of Texas. Rick Barnes' Longhorns (17-3, 5-0) have been outstanding for much of the season, having won 11 of their last 12 games with the defeat being by one point. But they'll encounter a stiff test in regards to both talent and style as a Missouri (17-3, 3-2) squad that needs a win to remain in the Big 12 title conversation visits the Erwin Events Center. Both squads are solid defensively but they do things in different ways.

Up by as many as 18 points in the second half, Anthony Grant's Alabama Crimson Tide looked to be in good shape after an Andrew Steele gave them a 59-43 lead with 11:31 remaining at Coleman Coliseum. But from that point the Crimson Tide struggled mightily in the face of mounting Kentucky defensive pressure as John Calipari's team finally answered his halftime challenge to "man up". Kentucky held Alabama without a field goal for more than eight minutes before a JaMychal Green tip-in made the score 64-61 with 3:04 remaining.