2B
SPORTS THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do."
John Wooden, former UCLA coach
FACT OF THE DAY
Sherron Collins is one of six finalists for the Bob Cousy Award given to the nation's top point guard. Villanova's Scottie Reynolds, Duke's Jon Scheyer, Ohio State's Evan Turner, Maryland's Greivis Vasquez and Kentucky's John Wall are the other finalists.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who was the Bob Cousy Award winner in 2009?
A: North Carolina's Ty Lawson. He helped the Tar Heels secure the national championship.
SCORES
NCAA Men's Basketball:
NCAA Men's Basketball:
No. 22 Georgetown 69, South
Florida 49
Texas Tech 82, Colorado 67
Nebraska 75, Missouri 60
Oklahoma 67, Oklahoma State 81
Iowa State 75, Texas 82
NBA Basketball:
NBA Basketball:
Charlotte 102, Philadelphia 87
Memphis 111, Boston 91
Utah 115, Detroit 104
LA Clippers 97, Miami 108
Denver 110, Minnesota 102
New Orleans 83, Oklahoma City
98
New Jersey 87, Dallas 96
New York 87, San Antonio 97
Uncertainty reigns in tourney
MORNING BREW
For me, conference tournament week really is the beginning of March Madness. It's like the stretch before the workout.
Some teams have tournament hopes and need to do well in their conference tournament to get an at-large bid. These teams can do one of two things: They can fall out early, or they can pull off upsets to improve their overall resume enough to get in.
Some teams have their spots in the tournament locked up. Those teams are playing to fine-tune plays or to perfect offensive or defensive schemes that they've been working on. They're playing to keep or gain momentum heading into the tournament.
BY MAX VOSBURGH
mosborgh@tiankan.com
www.twitter.com/MVSports
What's interesting to watch is what will happen unexpectedly. Last year, North Carolina, which was a heavy favorite throughout the season to win the NCAA tournament, lost a couple games late in the season and then lost in the semi-finals of the ACC tournament. When Louisville, which had lost quite a few games earlier in the year, went on to win the Big East Tournament, it was awarded the No. 1 overall seed over North Carolina.
If Kansas State had not lost to Iowa
State in its season finale this year, it would be playing for a No. 1 seed this week in the Big 12 Conference Tournament instead of playing for a 2-seed. If Kansas State loses its first conference tournament game, it will most likely receive a 3-seed, when only a week ago it was projected to be a 1-seed by ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi. But you never know what the selection committee is thinking and where it will seed teams. Craizier things have happened.
Teams such as Missouri, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma State will most likely be going to the NCAA tournament regardless of how well they do in the conference tournament. However, a strong showing in the conference tournament could mean a higher seed for them
in the NCAA tournament.
The most exciting thing about conference tournaments happen when teams who have no possibility of receiving an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament make deep runs in their conference tournaments. Teams that win their conference tournaments automatically receive a bid to the NCAA tournament.
I hope something exciting happens in one of the BCS conference tournacles because it would be really fun to watch a school like South Carolina, which is most likely NIT-bound, upset Kentucky (again) in the finals of the SEC Tournament for a bid to the Big Dance.
- Edited by Allyson Shaw
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Georgetown gears up to take down Syracuse
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
NEW YORK - Georgetown made it look easy.
The eighth-seeded Hoyas steamrolled their way into the Big East quarterfinals with a 69-49 drubbing of ninth-seeded South Florida on Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. But don't expect Georgetown to manhandle regular-season league champion Syracuse when the two clash for a Big East Tournament record 13th time in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"We have to make shots and guard our guys," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said, referring to the Orange, which defeated his team twice during the regular season. "They are a good team. They can hurt you in many different ways. They have a terrific defense. So we just have to come out and execute at both ends of the floor."
Executing that game plan against Syracuse will be tough. But Georgetown, ranked No. 22 nationally, implemented it to a T against South Florida and its one man show, Dominique
Jones.
Jason Clark and Greg Monroe each had 16 points and Chris Wright added 15 for the Hoyas (21-9), who breened to a 31-19 halftime lead.
South Florida, which defeated DePaul, 58-49, in the opening game of the tournament, pulled to within 35-29 when larrid Famous converted a conventional three-point play 3:08 into the second half. But the Bulls (20-12) failed to put together any significant runs against a taller, more physical Georgetown team.
The Bulls' only chance of an upset rested on the shoulders of Jones, the Big East scoring leader. But the 6-4 guard struggled from the start and got no help from his teammates. Jones was 6-for-18 from the field, including 0-for-5 from three-point range. He scored 12 of his team's 19 points in the first half and finished with 21.
"But I'm real proud of our team." Bulls coach StHeath said. "We never gave up. We kept fighting. We just couldn't get it done today."
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
Softball
vs. Valparaiso,
3 p.m.
TODAY
Women's basketball vs. Oklahoma State, Kansas City, Mo., 5 p.m.
Men's basketball vs. Texas Tech, Kansas City, Mo., 11:30 a.m.
FRIDAY
Softball vs. Missouri State, 2 p.m.
Softball
vs. Valparaiso, 4 p.m.
Baseball at LSU, Baton Rouge, La., 7 p.m.
Women's rowing at University of Oklahoma Invitational, Oklahoma City, Okla., all day
Track
at NCAA Indoor
Championships,
Fayetteville, Ark., all day
Women's swimming at Zone D Diving Championships, College Station, Texas, all day
SATURDAY
RDAY
Softball
vs. Valparaiso, 1 p.m.
Baseball at LSU, Baton Rouge, La., 2 p.m.
Women's tennis vs. Saint Louis, 3 p.m.
Softball vs. Missouri State, 3 p.m.
Women's rowing at University of Oklahoma Invitational, Oklahoma City, Okla., all day
Are you going to catch up, get ahead or just stay on track? Wherever you're going, UMKC has summer courses to help you get there. And with the UMKC Metro Rate undergraduate students from Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas can attend summer sessions at the low in-state tuition rate.
SUMMER SESSION
Visit www.umkc.edu/summersession for a complete list of courses available Registration starts April 26.