March 6th and 7th Men's Basketball Recap

In today’s post I am going to go over the meaningful games from March 6th and 7th along with their potential impact on the bracket. There are a lot of games to cover and I want to make an updated bracket so the recaps may be brief. 

March 6th

18. Saint John’s vs Seton Hall (72-65)

Saint John’s clinches a share of the Big East title, taking down Seton Hall on Friday. A big win for Pitino and the Red Storm as they wait to see if a bad Marquette team can beat UConn to claim the outright Big East Championship. Update: Marquette beat UConn, Saint John’s are your Big East Champions. 

19. Miami OH vs Ohio (OT 110-108)

What. A. Game. If you didn’t watch this game then you missed out on some amazing Maction Friday night. In a back and forth, high scoring no defense game, Ohio missed the game winning three pointer and the Red Hawks of Miami finished the regular season 31-OH. The refs did everything they could to give the game to Ohio, calling five technical fouls on Miami. This team is a tournament lock and like I have been saying, they should be a top six seed.

Drake vs Belmont (100-79 MVC QF)

I included this game because it was the upset of the conference tournaments so far. Belmont were heavy favorites to win the Missouri Valley but Drake had other plans for them. Auto-bid is wide open now. 

Northern Illinois vs Akron (55-94)

The MAC Tournament favorites take care of business against NIU. The Zips are the betting favorites to get the auto-bid over Miami OH and would be stealing a bid from another team. Who knows if Miami will ever lose, but if they do it will be to Akron. 

VCU vs Dayton (68-62)

VCU gets a big win at Dayton, keeping them securely in the tournament with other bubble losses this weekend. This was a big win for the Rams, especially at a hard place like Dayton. VCU will be feeling good going into the A-10 tournament, especially with the way Saint Louis has been playing. The A-10 being a two-bid league is certainly in play. 

UCF vs West Virginia (62-77)

Awful loss for UCF as they are on the wrong end of a losing streak. They need to turn things around in the Big 12 tournament if they want to lock up an NCAA tournament spot. UCF has been the most consistent streaky team this year. Since mid-January, they have won 2 and lost 2, and then back to back won 3 and lost 3. If you like betting the streaks, I would bet that UCF is going to win three games straight.

March 7th

17. North Carolina vs 1. Duke (61-76)

Duke gets their revenge over North Carolina, winning in their regular season finale at home. The biggest takeaways from this game were not the stats, but the injuries. Caleb Wilson is out for the season and I think this likely ends their shots at a deep tournament run. Duke was without Patrick Ngongba and lost Caleb Foster during the game. If these two injuries are long term, this could mean trouble for Duke in the tournament. 

4. UConn vs Marquette (62-68)

Rick Pitino and Saint John’s better be sending a nice thank you note to Milwaukee this week because out of nowhere, Marquette takes down UConn and hands the Big East title to Saint John’s. This was a game where UConn did not play well at all and Dan Hurley got tossed right at the end of the game. I wouldn’t write UConn off just yet, but one to keep an eye on. 

10. Texas Tech vs BYU (76-82)

Since going to Ames and beating Iowa State, Texas Tech has struggled now losing two games in a row. Texas Tech now drops to fifth in the Big12, missing out on the triple bye. BYU stops their losing streak and gets their season back on the right foot heading into conference tournament play. The Cougars could boost their confidence heading into the NCAA tournament if they make a deep run. 

Wisconsin vs 15. Purdue (97-93)

A lot of the talk has been about Purdue and their struggles this season, but this game was about Wisconsin. They were without Nolan Winter and still managed to go on the road and pick up their fourth top-15 win of the season. Nick Boyd and John Blackwell are the best backcourt in the country and they are consistently helped by the bench play. Wisconsin is a scary team going forward and I would not want to play them. Purdue sees their legendary seniors go out on a poor note, losing in their final game at Mackey Arena. This was not the season the preseason number 1 team was hoping to have, but conference tournament time starts a whole new season. 

Auburn vs 16. Alabama (84-96)

Can we finally be done talking about Auburn as a tournament team? They are now 16-15 and play Mississippi State on Wednesday, a team they lost to recently. Auburn is now 2-8 over their last 10 games and should be firmly nowhere near the NCAA tournament. A good win for Alabama, should have a lot of confidence going into the SEC tournament. 

25. Saint Louis vs George Mason (57-86)

Saint Louis is struggling right now and got blown out by George Mason. I would say that the A-10 is now firmly up for grabs as Saint Louis, VCU, or even George Mason could win the tournament and snatch an auto-bid. Could the A-10 be a 3-bid league? Probably not but you never know!

Cincinnati vs TCU (63-73)

TCU is now a tournament lock with this win over Cincinnati. The Bearcats have been giant killers over the last few weeks but couldn’t get the job done this time. TCU picks up the win they needed and are feeling good going into the Big 12 tournament. 

New Mexico vs Utah State (90-94)

What a difference a few weeks makes for New Mexico. At one point they were on the outside of the top 25 and now they are on the outside of the tournament. They have not been playing well and likely blew the chances of the Mountain West being a 2-bid league. Good win for Utah State as they stay on top of the conference and should be a lock for the NCAA tournament no matter the outcome.

Ohio State vs Indiana (78-91)

This game means one big thing, Ohio State is in the tournament and Indiana is out. This was a needed win for both teams and Indiana couldn’t keep it close or get it done. They will need a deep Big Ten tournament run to have even an outside shot at making the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State will be liking their chances going forward and should be making the big tournament either way, but one win in the conference tournament would go a long way.