The Maniac has made no attempt to conceal his affinity for this year's Duquesne Dukes squad. Aside from the fact that Papa Maniac once proudly roamed the campus, it's truly one heck of a story. Not only have they not made the Tournament in over 30 years, but considering the off-court trauma they suffered several years ago with the shootings, et. all... it's really one of the best stories no one (aside from MarchManiacs!) has been covering
If the Dukes wanna dance, they'll need a repeat of last year's win over X
.
Today they host conference giant Xavier in a battle for first place in the A-10. Duquesnes used their mulligan last week losing to St. Bonnaventure. Because of their complete lack of a quality non-conference win, they probably don't get another one. Not that a loss to Xavier would be a "bad loss" by any stretch, but the only clear path for the Dukes to make their long awaited return to the promised land of post-season relevance is to win the A-10 regular season crown.
That only happens if they defend their home floor this afternoon.
Very quietly Xavier is erasing their slow start and easing into "tourney lock" status. Today's 85-62 win at Richmond gives the Muskies a two game cushion over the Spiders and Temple Owls, plus they have already earned head-to-head wins over both.
Junior Tu Holloway, the nation's sixth leading scorer, continued his A10 Player of the Year campaign by scoring a career high 33 points, including a sure-fire highlight when he inbounded the ball off the unsuspecting backside of a Richmond player and picked up the carom and laid the ball in the basket for a thrilling halftime buzzer beater. His continued excellent play doesn't get a ton of national attention, but he is certainly in the mix for second or third team All-American status.
More importantly Holloway and backcourt-mate Mark Lyons showed the poise and steady ballhandling that made it not only impossible, but foolilsh to try to press the Muskies. They were able to break the pressure with ease all afternoon. Then on the defensive end, both helped spearhead the 1-2-2 zone that stymied Richmond for the second consecutive year.
With the win Xavier moved to 15-5 (7-0), and remains in a first place tie with the surprising Duquesne Dukes. For Richmond, their bubble-status gets even dicier with the loss and puts some real pressure on the Spiders to avoid many more missteps if they hope to earn a repeat trip to the Big Dance. Their next four games are all should-wins that have now become must-wins for Richmond.
UP NEXT:
XAVIER: @Charlotte, St. Louis, @Georgia
RICHMOND: St. Joeseph's, @Fordham, @George Washington
For Xavier, it's business as usual. Despite some early season non-conference struggles the Muskies are off to a perfect 6-0 start in Atlantic Ten play and look to be on pretty safe footing for earning their tenth trip to the NCAA Tournament in eleven seasons.
Junior point guard Tu Holloway has been the steadying influence all season, meriting All-American consideration averaging 20.4 ppg and 5.4 assists. Tonight he got a little help from his teammates, namely Mark Lyons who, like Holloway, scored 22 points in the Muskies 81-74 home win over George Washington.
The win pulls Xavier to 14-5, and a perfect 6-0 in Atlantic Ten play - good for a first place tie atop the standings.
Their fellow leader? It's not Richmond or Temple, both of whom expect to make a repeat appearance to the tournament this season. It isn't Dayton who returns their three top players from last year's NIT Championship team either. Rather it is the Duquesne Dukes taking the A-10 by surprise, making a true push to earn their first Tournament appearance in thirty five years. To go back to the last time the Dukes actually won an NCAA Tournament game you'd have to search all the way back to the 1968-1969 season.
They won only one game in the 1969 tourney, yet made it to the yet-to-be-named "Sweet Sixteen." How is this possible you ask?? Because back then they were 25 teams invited to the tourney, all seeded and bracketed strictly by their geography. There was no shuffling of locations to make sure teams were seeded fairly by ability and record. If you were in the West and the second best team in the country, suck for you, because you're gonna see UCLA in the opening weekend!
So, yeah, it's been a little while for Duquesne...
After tonight's 91-72 win over Fordham Duquesne extended their winning streak to nine games, the school's longest in more than three decades. It is also their best start in conference play since joining the Atlantic 10 in 1976. Their unlikely run at the conference crown is a storyline even the most jaded fan can't help but pull for. Beyond just the rather pedestrian history of Duquesne basketball, it is really the first time Duquesne has garned basketball headlines rather than the sordid and tragic headline revolving around the shooting incident in 2006. (If you are not familiar, google it if you choose - I'm going to keep it on-the-court related for today).
More impressive than the Dukes 14-5 (6-0) record and their winning streak is the manner in which they are carving up one of the country's best non-BCS conferences. Their narrowest margin came in their first conference game, a 75-63 win at St. Joe's. Since then, they have won by an average of 17.2 points per contest - including the eye-opening 78-66 win last weekend over Temple.
Duquesne has yet to travel to any of the conference's elite teams and have a fortunate scheduling break in not having to play Xavier or Temple on the road. However, they will have several formidable tests before the season is over. Sunday's visit from Dayton will be an excellent test - pass that on and the Xavier game on February 13th becomes absolutely enormous.
The Dukes still have a lot of work to do before getting into the Tourney, but it is a team and a feel-good story worth watching over the next month and a half.
UP NEXT: Xavier - @Richmond, @Charlotte, St. Louis Duquesne - Dayton, George Washington, @St. Bonaventure
I've decided to queue the Atlantic 10 update until tomorrow (or late tonight) to allow tonight's Richmond v. Dayton game to unfold.
The reason being, tonight's game is absolutely enormous in shaping the destiny and "to-do list" for each of the teams in regards to earning a ticket to the Dance.
Richmond, on paper, seemed to be the slight favorite about a month before heading into conference play - narrowly edging out Temple, well ahead of Dayton and Xavier with Duquesne nowhere on the radar. Just a short month later, it's the Spiders who find themselves in the tangled web of bubble-dwelling status, having balanced their wins over VCU, Seton Hall and Purdue with equally bad losses to Bucknell and Georgia Tech.
Dayton entered this season with similarly high hopes, fresh off last season's NIT Championship, and returning their electric scoring combo guard, Chris Wright. However the Flyers, despite having the same record as RIchmond find themselves well on the outside of the bubble. They lack a true quality win (Seton Hall, George Mason and New Mexico are their three best wins), and each time they have faced a top-level opponent they have gotten embarassed. Their early season 68-34 drubbing by Cincinnati the most jarring.
A win tonight at home would solve two of Dayton's big problems; they'd earn a quality win and they'd remain in the A-10 regular season race. The conference, as good as it is, will not be sending their fifth or sixth place teams to the tourney as at-large bid recipients. Particularly if they are as devoid of a marquee win as are the Flyers.
Tonight's game is huge in the jostling for position that will take place the next six weeks. Richmond, at 4-1, enters trailing only Xavier and Duquesne (5-0), with opportunities to play both at home without having to go on the road to return the favor. As long as they remain close, you have to like the Spiders' odds.
Dayton on the other hand has already lost to Xavier, and still has a home & home with Duquesne remaining. They will control their destiny somewhat, but falling to 3-3 and two full games behind the Spiders (plus losing the tie breaker) will likely be too much to overcome.
I honestly think both of these teams are NCAA-quality; certainly as much as any third place team from the ACC or Pac 10, however hostory shows us no more than three A-10 schools are dancing, no matter how rosy Lunardi's outlook appears in early February (he had SIX going last year...ooops).
I like Dayton at home tonight, earning a win that makes this conference one of the nation's most interesting in the final five weeks of the season - every bit as clogged at the top as the Big Ten and Big 12, only with a lot more on the line, because all five or six WON'T be getting to the Tourney.
Maniac's Pick: Dayton -2
Dayton is going to need a big performance from the team, and their home crowd.
Tonight's matchup between little-guy heavyweights Butler and Xavier will take on a different tenor than last year's thrilling buzzer-beater classic. In 2009, both schools were already thinking about seeding and subsequent deep runs in the Tournament. This year? The loser finds themself as one of the first teams getting an early spot on the dreaded "bubble."
Butler enters at 4-3 with losses to Louisville, Evansville, and Duke. Their best wins are over Siena and Loyola-Chicago. Xavier enters at 5-2 with losses to Miami (OH) and Old Dominion but even their wins have been a little uneasy, needing overtime for IPFW and Wofford.
This year's game features a matchup of two of the better guards in the country, Butler's Shelvin Mack and Xavier's Tu Holloway. However this game will likely be won by the team that can control the boards and the paint.
Maniac's Pick: Give me the hometown Muskies laying the two.
The headlines will all be clamoring about the "huge upset" of #1 Wake Forest. Don't let that fool you. Yes, Wake has been playing great ball, but by no means was this the construct of a team built to run the table. When Carolina fell at BC, Indiana's 32-year stranglehold on perfection remained safe.
If nothing else, last night's Virginia Tech victory told us two things; One, the ACC is good. Expect 6 or 7 teams to dance. Virginia Tech is in that mix, and last night's win helped advance that cause. Their record isn't stellar, but look at some of their losses (an OT loss to Xavier in Puerto Rico on a 50-foot buzzer beater). Two, parity is king this season. Last year all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four for the first time. Don't expect a repeat this season.
Relax Dino, It's Gonna be that kinda year...
Case in point; Arkansas defeated two Top Ten Big 12 frontrunners. The Hogs are now 0-3 in a "down" SEC. Boston College slayed UNC in shocking fashion. They then turned around and lost to Harvard. BC is at best a long shot to make the field of 65.
It is going to be a roller coaster ride to the finish, but as Dickie V so incessantly reminds us. "at least we find out the champion on the court."
Amen Dickie.
Wednesday Recap:
Clemson's pasting in Chapel Hill told the nation what Tiger fans were hoping to suppress; "here we go again." The Tigers were ranked as high as ninth, deservedly so, but after their past two less-than-impressive performances against the conference big boys their reputation takes a huge ding. Not only that, but if they suffer a few losses to the likes of Va Tech, NC State, Miami and FSU, "bubble" talk might be appropriate in Clemson.
How in the hell did Florida lose that game?? If you haven't seen it yet, check out the youtube clip. For South Carolina, it keeps their tourney hopes buoyant, as the SEC West looks dreadful, it is not impossible to sneak in four from the east...
The Mountain West is the best of the non-BCS conferences, however their balanced parity is going to cost them bids in March. UNLV pulled off a road win at BYU last night. Both of them appear to be in decent shape to dance, despite being unranked, but New Mexico, Utah and TCU will all provide tough competition to the end. The beatings they are giving each other could drive them all down to around 9-10 conference wins. That would necessitate winning the confernce tournament to enjoy a stress-free Selction Sunday. For the rest, that is an NIT equation.
Arizona is screwed. Last night's come-from-ahead loss to instate rival Arizona State dropped the Cats to 2-5 in Pac 1o play and a long way from the bubble. The rebuilding has officially begun, only it doesn't really seem as if "rebuilding" is the proper term. "Chaos" seems more apropos. I bet Brandon Jennings is ecstatic he (couldn't get admitted)chose to play overseas... I feel badly for Chase Buddinger. He is playing really well in what appears to be a historically poor season in Tuscon when he easily could have left for the NBA last season.
The A-10 might be Xavier and the dozen dwarfs, but the games are crazy exciting. Two more went to overtime last night, with Duquesne dropping a nail-biter to St. Joes 99-98, and Charlotte nipping UMass in OT. Add in Rhode Island losing by three at Richmond and you have one heck of a balanced league. And of course, just one NCAA bid.
The SEC West is winnable at 9-7. LSU pasted 3-0 Mississippi State last night. Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss are all over the place, and who knows what to make of Arkansas. In a year of parity, their is no better example of the grab-bag between #20 and #50 in the country than in the SEC West.
The MVC has a lot of good teams. However they appear to lack a great one. I wonder if the balance in the Big 10, ACC and depth in the Big East will leave two or three sitting on the sidelines in March. Illinois State, Creighton and Evansville appeared to be the strongest early on (with some consideration for Drake as well), however Northern Iowa has stormed out to a 7-1 conference record and a two-game lead on the field. The problem? They had five losses before entering conference play. Only Marquette was ranked (the others, Iowa,Iowa St, Illinois-Chicago and Wyoming). Not exactly the way to get multiple bids for a non BCS league. The MVC's conference tournament will not only be great basketball, but very meaningful hoops as well.
And how about the Northwestern Wildcats? They rewarded the Maniac's proclamation that the Minnesota loss to Northwestern was not a "bad loss" but rather a "good win" for a good Northwestern team with a road victory over conference-unbeaten Michigan State. With their next two contests against Michigan and Indiana, it is not ridiculous to think Northwestern could put themselves squarely in NCAA Tourney conversation. If you are scoring at home the Wildcats now have wins over Florida State, Minnesota and Michigan State, three teams likely dancing in March.
And as much as we have had some bumps and bruises since it first appeared likely... the dream of the February 11th #1 vs. #2 Duke - Carolina shootout still seems possible.
The Dayton Flyers have a pretty good ballclub, and are certainly the A-10's best hope for a second team dancing behind Xavier. However "Flyers" seemed an inappropriate moniker for tonight's Titanic Struggle (shot out to Ohio's Marty Brenneman of Reds' fame...) with Miami of Ohio.
Final Score: Dayton 45- Miami (OH) 40. The teams shot 35 and 32% respectivly, and were a combined 5-29 from behind the arc (about 17%).
Yuck. People went to a sporting event and nearly got subjected to a soccer match...
A full deck of Saturday games across the country, and a few teams tipped their hand a bit. Here is a recap of some of the more interesting developments.
Memphis - Can't score in a half-court set. Yes, Georgetown plays smothering defense, but the Tigers struggle when they can't rely on the athleticism of the up-tempo game. They are going to have to find some shooters in a half court set, or expect teams to zone them to death the rest of the season.
Xavier - is really good. Their composure in the Crosstown Shootout left a little to be desired, but CJ Anderson, Dante' Jackson and Terrell Holloway handled the trapping pressure of Cincinnati's defense with aplomb. This team is emerging as a legit Final Four contender.
Atlantic 10 - is not interested in being a "mid-major" conference. Temple dismantled #8 Tennessee, UMass survived for a one-point win against #24 Kansas. Xavier laid it to cross town rival, Big East Cincinnati. Even Duquesne and Richmond looked solid in 5 & 1 point losses respectively to West Virginia and VCU. A good day for the A-10.
Davidson - better keep their eyes open all year. It is easy to have a letdown after the big-opponents they have tangled with so far. After the narrow escape against Chattanooga (1-7) it would be wise to remember the giant bullseye that will be on their back throughout conference play all season. Call Mark Few, he can tell you all about it.
Oklahoma - is good enough to handle some adversity. Blake Griffin was held scoreless from the floor - and they STILL won by 18 over a decent Utah squad.
Kentucky - will be an interesting team to keep an eye on. Yes, Indiana is not good. BUT - if they can bring the same intensity they opened up with Saturday (jumping to 19-2 lead), they have a shot to win a very down SEC.
LSU - needs to play somebody already. The easy wins might pad the record, but here's hoping the selection committee isn't fooled come March.
Tyler Hansbrough - is nine points shy of breaking the all time scoring record at UNC. Yes, he went 4 years where others only played three (Michael Jordan, etc) but anytime you are number one a list that included Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Jerry Stackhouse, and more...you've done something right.
The losses keep piling up, someone needs to say it. The SEC could (should) be a 1 or 2 bid league at this point. They will still get 3 or 4, but how is 9-7 in the SEC any more impressive than 9-7 in the A-10 or Mountain West??
Dayton stockpiled an important non-conference scalp by taking down #15 Marquette yesterday. It is also a big win for a A-10 conference that has disappointing early (Charlotte, St. Joes, UMass) other than Xavier.
Dayton was led by a surprising scoring outburst from junior guard Rob Lowery. Prior to the Marquette game, he had scored: 5,9,2,5 and 2 points respectively.
Round One has come and gone (someone tell Vandy the Tourney started!?!), and it is time to give the conferences their first quarter grades
Big East: A
Perhaps no conference asserted itself like the Big East in Round One. Yes, the UCONN loss wasn't a good one. But, it is just one loss and an overtime buzzer-beater at that. Villanova capped off a wild day in Tampa, making it 4 for 4 for double-digit seeds. Louisville, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Pitt all won easily and convincingly. Marquette and West Virginia were impressive in evenly matched power-conference tilts (defeating Kentucky and Arizona respectively)
With a legit possibility for 5 or more teams to advance past the first weekend, the Big East justified it's record-tying 8 bids.
Big 12: A
Texas and Kansas were gimmes, but Kansas St, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma were all very impressive and solid wins. The only blemish was Baylor's lackluster performance, but the Maniac gives the conference a pass on that one, if Baylor was seeded appropriately (as a #2 Seed... in the NIT!!) it would have been a perfect opening round for the Big 12
Big Ten: B-
Michigan St and Purdue looked sharp, Wisconsin won in a relatively easy tilt. Indiana laid a big fat stink bomb against a mediocre Arkansas club. With only 4 teams in the Dance, at least 2 need to win this weekend to salvage the tourney for the Big 10.
Pac 10: C+
I know, I know, UCLA and Stanford could be in the Final Four. BUT, Arizona, Oregon and USC all looked pathetic coming out of what was alleged to be the "deepest and most balanced" league in the nation. With losses to similarly middling teams from the Big 12, Big East; it is tough for the Pac 10 to make that claim today.
SEC: C-
Georgia actually GETS points for the loss, they had X on the ropes for 32 minutes. Kentucky did nothing to embarrass themselves either, losing a reasonable game to a better Marquette squad, and Arkansas represented well. However the Vandy loss remains the most inexplicable no-show of the tourney. Losing by 20 to Sienna is flat-out inexcusable for a team with that much talent. Add in the Mississippi St. loss and a lackluster effort by Tennessee (watch out for Butler taking them OUT tomorrow) and it is a disappointing show for a "down" SEC.
ACC: C
North Carolina had a bye, and so did Duke... oh wait, Duke needed a bucket with 12 seconds to go to preserve a win over BELMONT. Is anyone really convinced the Charmin-soft Dookies get by West Virginia this afternoon? Miami looked good, but stands little chance against a much better Texas squad and Clemson looked offensively inept losing a 16 point lead to Villanova. Any lingering doubts as to whether the RPI had a clue after ranking the ACC as the NUMBER ONE conference in the nation have been squarely put to bed!
Atlantic 10: D
Xavier won in a game that took more effort than a traditional 3-14 match-up. Temple and St. Joe's had their doors blown off by good, not great, teams in Michigan St and Oklahoma. For a league that was flirting with 5 bids to the dance as recently as four weeks ago, an extremely underwhelming effort to gain national respect.
