Murray St

While injuries in recent seasons have dropped a team a seed line few have hovered over a region like the right quadriceps injury to Syracuse center Arinze Onuaku. The Orange were rightfully rewarded for their overall body of work, giving them a one seed. However, how much were the penalized for the fifth-year senior’s injury? Thought by many to be a lock along with Kansas and Kentucky, Syracuse was actually slipped in behind Duke and all the way out to Salt Lake City.

#13 Houston over Maryland

#14 Montana over New Mexico

#13 Murray St over Vanderbilt

#14 Oakland over Pittsburgh

#14 Sam Houston over Baylor

#13 Siena over Purdue

#13 Wofford over Wisconsin

Other (Discuss Below)

Murray State Racers

Ohio Valley Conference (30-4, 17-1)

 

Cornell got things started on Friday night with their third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and three more guaranteed themselves spots in the Field of 65 on Saturday. In the most anticipated of the three finals it was Murray State picking up their 30th win of the season, dethroning defending Ohio Valley champ Morehead State 62-51 in Nashville. Isaiah Canaan scored 16 points off the bench to lead the way for Billy Kennedy's team, who will represent the OVC in the Big Dance for the first time since 2006.

Bad news hit West Lafayette and Columbia on Thursday afternoon, with Purdue's Robbie Hummel and Missouri's Justin Safford both going down for the remainder of the season with torn ACLs. The more important ligament on a national level: clearly that would be Hummel's, and his injury could be the difference in seed lines for the Boilermakers. Many have used Kenyon Martin's broken leg back in 2000 as the comparison to Purdue losing Hummel, but that's a bit off when you further examine the cases.

Does Thursday represent Conference USA's "last stand" in regards to possibly avoiding the fate of being a one-bid league? Probably not but an upset by Tulsa at Duke would go a long way in giving the conference at least two bids. The Golden Hurricane can give the Blue Devils some trouble inside due to the presence of an NBA-caliber big man in senior Jerome Jordan.

 

Random facts, tidbits, thoughts, and comments about a big day of college basketball..

#7 Michigan St at Minnesota - 12:00 CBS
When Blake Hoffarber scores 10+ points, Minnesota is 9-0. They've lost 6 in a row when he hasn't hit that mark. The inconsisent junior is coming off 2 bad games in a row (2 losses), but if he gets hot, expect a Gopher upset.

Auburn at Vanderbilt - 1:30

The first Big Monday of the season was supposed to be tipped off with an entertaining affair from the Big East between Villanova and Louisville. With both teams entering the game undefeated in league play there was no reason to think otherwise...until the game got underway. When it was all said and done there were sixty-seven fouls, ninety-four foul shots, forty-four turnovers...and one 36-point performance from Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds scored sixteen points in the final six minutes of the game on Monday night, leading the fourth-ranked Wildcats to a 92-84 victory.