Notes from Last Night

There were a lot of interesting games last night. Here is some stuff that happened.

DAYTON 74, ALABAMA 62:  Dayton managed to flip it's season on it's head once more, salvaging a bit of the season they ruined after having a nice season going, and that makes total sense if you know what I'm talking about.  After losing back to back games to terrible teams Buffalo and Murray State, this win over #15 Alabama is exactly what they needed.  Needed to fuel their delirium that this is an NCAA Tournament caliber team, because everything about Dayton, the team and the city, is terrible.  If ever there was a town that needed the Black Plague, that's it.

LAFAYETTE 61, PENN STATE 57:  Quite the competition we have going here between Penn State and Iowa to see who can be the most embarrassing program in the Big 10.  First Iowa loses to Campbell.  Then Penn State loses to St. Joe's.  Then Iowa gets blown out by both Clemson and Northern Iowa.  Then tonight Penn State tops 'em all with a tremendously horrible loss to LaFayette, a team ranked #245 in the country by kenpom.com - for reference Campbell is ranked 180.  This is like watching Jim Abbott and Helen Keller try to play tennis.

VIRGINIA TECH 78, RHODE ISLAND 67:  A road win against a non-terrible opponent by a team the Gophers already beat.  Thus an RPI boost for your favorite team, which is always a positive.  Granted it's a small boost, but like the sign that homeless dude at the ramp entrance by my house says, "Every little bit helps."


FLORIDA 78, ARIZONA 72 (OT):  The gators somehow managed to survive one of the worst overall performances I've seen from a really good team.  Their incredible backcourt (Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, Bradley Beal, and Mike Rosario) combined to 12-44 through a combination of terrible decision making and unprecedented brick-laying and as a total team the Gators shot 15-32 from the free throw line and the numbers were only that good because they got hot in overtime.  Even more alarmimg, however, was their defense which was lackluster at best and lazy at worst, allowing open layups and three-pointers to Arizona most of the night (like watching a Gopher game).  I had considered Florida to be one of my possible Final Four sleeper teams, but after a showing like that on the defensive end I'm not so sure. 

ILLINOIS 48, ST. BONNIE'S 43.  Obviously things didn't go as planned for the Illini seeing as how they scored just 48 points, and they were almost the second Big 10 team to go down last night, trailing the Bonnies 39-30 with five minutes to play (and almost the third if you count Purdue who only beat Western Carolina by 5).  St. Bonnie's is a good team with a very, very good player you've probably never heard of in Andrew Nicholson, but Illinois couldn't lose this game if they were going to be what they think they're going to be this season.  Luckily, Brandon Paul suddenly realized "hey, I'm playing a bunch of fools from a school named after a girl, maybe I should take the ball to the rack."  And so he did, tallying up eleven points and an assist in the final five minutes of the game to bring Illinois back.  I honestly have no effing clue what to make of Illinois.  None.


So, uh, yeah, I guess.  I thought I would probably write more but then I got sick of looking at your face.