The King’s Court - Friday’s College Basketball

March 15th, 2008 · No Comments

College Basketball Recap 3/14

If I told you Blake Hoffarber made a shot last night that may give him the opportunity to win his second ESPY in four years, would you believe me? More importantly, would you have any inkling of who Blake Hoffarber is?

Kudos to anyone that can tell me about the young man. The truth is, he has been on the finishing end of two of the all-time improbable basketball games. In 2005, it was Hoffarber who made a shot from his rear as time expired to tie the Minnesota Class 4A title game in overtime. His team went on to win the game in double overtime.

Friday night, no overtime was necessary. Hoffarber’s Minnesota Golden Gophers trailed the Indiana Hoosiers by a single point following a D.J. White free throw with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. While every Golden Gopher fan in the building thought of 1992 and Christian Laettner, few could truly believe something of that nature could happen to their team. Well, in the future, it may be wishful fans thinking of 2008 and Blake Hoffarber. Hoffarber caught a 75-foot pass from teammate Travis Busch, quickly spun to his left, and tossed up a 15-footer with his left hand as time expired. By now of course you know he made the shot, but do yourself a favor and find the highlight. Not only was this an incredible shot, it vaulted Minnesota right into the Big 10 semifinals, against fellow surprise winner Purdue.

The early afternoon was not quite as exciting for fans of the Big 10. In the opener, Michigan was held to 34 points against Wisconsin. Talk about painful to watch. That game was followed by Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel doing his best to keep the Buckeyes of Ohio State out of the NCAA tournament, dropping 28 points in a seven point victory. Frustrated fans that stayed for the night games were rewarded however. Prior to the Hoffarber miracle shot, the Illinois Fighting Illini upset the second-seeded Purdue Boilermakers in overtime. With Illinois and Minnesota squaring off today, both teams without any chance at making the Big Dance without winning the tournament, the Big 10 has a reasonable chance at sending a surprise team. The winner of their game will meet the winner of Michigan State vs. Wisconsin.

Blake Hoffarber aside, the wildest conference of the day had to be the SEC. The day started with Tennessee and South Carolina fighting to the final buzzer. The Volunteers trailed by a point with under 12 seconds to play when clutch shooter Chris Lofton nailed a 22 footer, giving Tennessee a two point lead it would not relinquish. The Vols are still hoping a conference tournament championship will lead them to a Number One seed in the NCAA tournament. That game was followed by Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt. The Hogs, seeming to be on the right side of the bubble before the game, solidified their resume by beating nationally ranked Vanderbilt by a count of 81-75. The inside presence of Darian Townes and company proved to be too much for Shan Foster and the Commodores, who are not to be forgotten come next weekend.

When games got back under way in the evening, it was Alabama squaring off vs. Mississippi St. In a game that was close throughout, Alabama’s Mykal Riley hit a three-pointer to force overtime as the buzzer sounded. That’s when things really started to get interesting. With 2 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in overtime, a severe thunderstorm tore through Atlanta, causing damage to the Georgia Dome. Holes were ripped, causing water to be sprayed throughout the dome, and things hanging from the walls seemed shaky. It was a scary time for all involved, and the teams were sent to the locker rooms for over an hour. When play finally resumed, Mississippi State was just barely able to hold of the hot-shooting Crimson Tide, and advanced into the semifinals. Who that will be against is still anybody’s guess as of this morning however. The nightcap, Georgia vs. Kentucky was postponed after the weather problems, and the SEC decided to move the tournament to Georgia Tech. Georgia and Kentucky will tip off at noon today in the final game of the quarterfinals. The Georgia-Kentucky winner will have to play Mississippi State tonight at 8:30. That game will follow Tennessee-Arkansas.

In ACC country, fans looking for some upsets from the underdogs were not to be rewarded. All four higher seeds advanced, and all four won by double-digits. In the most impressive performance of the day, the Clemson Tigers destroyed Tyrese Rice and Boston College, winning by a final tally of 82-48. If nothing else, fans expecting the classic North Carolina vs. Duke championship had to take notice of the Tigers. Clemson and Duke will follow North Carolina and Virginia Tech today in Charlotte.

Out West, UCLA, led by Kevin Love’s 19 points and 10 rebounds, held off USC by three points. They will meet Stanford in the finals today, who topped Washington State 75-68.

In the Big 12, Texas and Kansas appear to be on a collision course for each other, with the winner possibly owning a Number One seed come Sunday evening.

In Madison Square Garden, the surging Hoyas of Georgetown ended West Virginia’s two game run, winning by 17 in a game that was never too close. They will meet the Pittsburgh Panthers in the championship game tonight. Amazingly, it will be Pitt’s seventh appearance in the Big East title game in the past eight seasons, after defeating Dominic James and Marquette last night.

To round out the Top 25, BYU made their way to the MWC final, beating San Diego State by nine. Xavier, on the other hand, will not be making their way to any finals. The Musketeers were defeated by St. Joseph’s, who may be re-opening a case for their at-large selection. Actually, the Hawks may not even need an at-large bid, if they can beat Temple today in the A-10 championship game. Finally, Memphis was led by Derrick Rose’s 25 points, eliminating Southern Miss, and reaching the C-USA title game.

As exciting as the past few days have been, it’s down to Conference semifinals and championships today. My advice is to not stray too far from your televisions.Men’s College Basketball

Conference USA championship game, Memphis, CBS, 11:30 a.m.

America East Conference championship game, ESPN2, noon

Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals, Charlotte, ESPN, 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Big Ten Conference semifinals, Indianapolis, CBS, 1:40 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Big 12 Conference semifinals, Kansas City, Mo., ESPN2, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Pacific-10 Conference championship game, Los Angeles, CBS, 6 p.m.

Atlantic 10 Conference championship game, Atlantic City, ESPN, 6 p.m.

Mid-American Conference championship game, Cleveland, ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Mountain West Conference championship game, Las Vegas, Versus, 7 p.m.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship game, Raleigh, N.C., ESPN Classic, 8 p.m.

Big East Conference championship game, New York, ESPN, 9 p.m.

Western Athletic Conference championship game, Las Cruces, N.M., ESPN2, 9 p.m.