Friday’s Quick Conference Tournament Notes

Some of the things that caught my eye on Thursday during the conference tournaments:

I hate to admit it because I really don’t like them, but Georgetown impressed me. They beat up on Villanova by shooting the lights out and by absolutely smothering Villanova’s offense, and that did it despite not getting a single point out of Roy Hibbert. They are now the top team in the Big East in my mind based on how they have played their last two big games, and on how lousy Louisville looked in their overtime loss to Pittsburgh. On the other hand, UCLA went into the tournament last year just like Louisville will this year – with two straight losses – and it turned out pretty well for the Bruins.

Speaking of UCLA, it was good to see them get over their recent habit of just doing enough to win. A week ago they needed that crazy Josh Shipp circus shot with 1.5 seconds left to get past Cal. Yesterday they blew them out by 22. The more I look at how the bracket is setting up, the more I like UCLA’s chances.

It’s amazing to me how many of the bubble teams came out flat today – Dayton, Arizona State, Florida, Villanova, Baylor. The worst loss was Baylor – tournament teams do not lose to Colorado.

Michigan won by nine today over Iowa. This is the first chapter in a future Disney movie – team of destiny comes from nowhere to shock the world and make the Final Four despite only nine regular season wins. Us Michigan fans deserve that after the last decade. Unfortunately, Wisconsin stands between us and our fate. Oh well, it was fun to dream.

I was disappointed by the poor performance by Connecticut. They lost to West Virginia by six thanks to a career high 34 points from junior forward Joe Alexander. The Mountaineers will put up a good fight against Georgetown, but I am disappointed that we won’t see the Hoyas and the Huskies – that one was circled as a potential gem in my book.

Chris Douglas-Roberts is going to have a very, very big tournament. I’m very high on him, and his play today did nothing to change that. A good performance could vault him up into the lottery where he belongs.

I can’t wait to see what the Mountain West can do in the tournament. Their tournament is shaping up to be as interesting as any.

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