Thursday's 2/24 Recap

Michigan St. (20-4, 11-2) 77 - Wisconsin (17-7, 8-5) 64
Listen to that silence around you. It is the critics off of Michigan St.'s back (well at least until they lose to another ranked team) Wisconsin fans I have some bad news for you. The NCAA tournament is not at the Kohl Center. 13-1 at home and 4-6 away from home. Not a good indicator for the Badgers.

Arizona (24-4, 14-2) 57 - Washington St. (10-14, 5-10) 56 OT
I guess Washington St. is one of those teams that Arizona just can't figure out. At least they come away with the win. By the time selection Sunday comes around everyone will have forgotten how close this was. Still on pace for a #2 seed. If they win out they have a shot at the #1 seed depending on how everything plays out. First things first. They have to beat the other Washington team. They will have to play much better than tonight to accomplish that.

Cincinnati (21-6, 9-4) 80 - Marquette (18-9, 6-8) 68
Too many teams ahead of Marquette now for them to capture an at large bid. This was their absolute last chance to get in the at-large conversation. Sub .500 records don't get bids in Conference USA. For Cincinnati they keep pace with the pack that is following the Conference USA leaders.

Oregon St. (15-11, 7-8) 84 - Stanford (15-10, 9-6) 83
Just when people start to believe Stanford is tournament quality material they go and do this. This loss isn't the end of the world, but their margin of error just got reduced to zero. A home win at Washington to end the season would do wonders for their resume.

UCLA (15-9, 9-7) 90 - USC (12-16, 4-12) 69
UCLA crushes its rival. Big road game at Notre Dame next. Win at Notre Dame + two winnable home games against the Oregon schools = Tournament bid.

Washington (22-4, 12-3) 90 - Arizona St. (18-10, 7-9) 82
Well played game. Washington is just the better team. For Arizona St. they should be kicking themselves, but this loss isn't the reason why. With Arizona St. dispatched, Washington can get ready for the monster matchup against Arizona. While many east of the Mississippi will overlook this game, over at the Madness blog we look forward to it. Remove the Pac-10 Showdown title from the game and replace it with ACC Showdown and this would be hyped beyond belief. Stupid move on the Pac-10's part on signing that contract with Fox.

St. Mary's (23-7, 10-3) 81 - San Francisco (14-12, 5-8) 77
Tied at halftime, tied at the end of regulation, tied after one overtime, tied again after 2 overtimes. Finally, St. Mary's pulls it out in triple overtime. St. Mary's couldn't afford a loss here. Kudous for pulling this one out.

Gonzaga (22-4, 12-2) 84 - Portland (15-14, 4-10) 68
Gonzaga gets a needed easy win and will stop the chatter about the closeness of some of the recent victories. Gonzaga continues to march towards a high seed. For those of you who don't believe in Gonzaga. Too bad. The committee is going to rank them high. The Zags will probably be around a 3 seed. Only time will tell if they are seeded correctly.