Pittsburgh, Florida And Irish Survive

Florida 62, North Carolina State 61
This game made the national highlight reels because of the miracle 75 footer by Chandler Parsons to win this game at the buzzer, but we can't forget that games like this are underrated when it comes to bubble implications. Florida got a lot of buzz early in the season, getting up close to 10th in the national polls, but they might still end up on the bubble. A loss to NC State would not have done them any favors. Florida survived despite shooting 3-for-24 behind the arc (obviously that means 2-for-23 if we don't include the Parsons Prayer). One thing they will have to learn is to stop shooting the ball from deep if they're not going down. I'm already having nightmares about a potential brick-fest between them and Tennessee, another team that never knows when to stop chucking up deep shots. Anyway, Florida now moves into SEC play with an 11-3 record and wins over Michigan State and Florida State, and only one bad loss (South Alabama). They should lock up an NCAA bid if they can get to 10-6 in the SEC, and would have an excellent shot at 9-7. With a win against Holy Cross tonight, NC State will also get to 11-3 in out-of-conference play, but against an inferior schedule than Florida faced. Their best wins were over Marquette and Auburn, and that loss to Arizona is looking increasingly bad. They do play in a tougher conference, however, and still will have plenty of opportunities to earn an at-large bid.

Pittsburgh 74, Cincinnati 71
Yancy Gates had perhaps his best game of the season, and Cincy is really starting to show some of the potential I thought they had coming into the season, but it wasn't enough to stop a red hot Pittsburgh team that is proving that the win over Syracuse wasn't a fluke. Pitt has been under the radar because they scheduled such a bad out-of-conference schedule (they went 10-2, but their best win was over Wichita State), but they have jumped out to a 3-0 start in the Big East with two very nice wins. The success this season is a testament to the hard-nosed system that Jamie Dixon has installed at Pitt, that they've been able to just plug in new pieces after so many key players left after last season. I don't think we can consider them a Big East contender, but they're off to a great start towards earning a Tournament bid. As for Cincinnati, I have to say that I was impressed with Lance Stephenson. He came out of high school with a reputation as an extremely slefish player, but he showed some very nice passing ability here. If Mick Cronin can continue to push the right buttons, I can see Stephenson having a 10-12 assist game at some point. He is so important because of the way that Yancy Gates always disappears and reappears throughout games. It's hard to exp;ain to someone only looking at a boxscore how a player can have 16 points and 14 rebounds and disappear for periods of time, but you just have to watch Gates play. He will look like an All-American for a five minute stretch on both sides of the floor, and then you won't hear his name called for the next five minutes. Deonta Vaughn is good, but he can't do it by himself, and being able to let Stephenson shoulder the offensive load at times when Gates is unfocused is the difference between this year's team and last year's team. Even with the loss, Cincy is 2-1 in the Big East with a win over UConn, and 10-4 overall with additional wins over Vanderbilt and Maryland, and zero bad losses. Their next seven games are about as easy of a seven game Big East stretch as I can remember for any team recently, and they have to end with a very brutal final few games, which means that the Bearcats have to run up a nice Big East record over the next few weeks if they're going to be in good shape for a Tournament bid.

Notre Dame 74, South Florida 73
I was actually driving my car in Indiana when this game was going on, and caught much of it on the Notre Dame radio network, whose announcers informed listeners that South Florida's administration has told them and other media folks from around the country that they want the team to be referred to as "USF" or "The Bulls", and not to say "South Florida". They should hire whoever did the job for LSU, because when was the last time you heard anybody call them Louisiana State? Anyway, USF (I'll play along) will do more for their national reputation by winning some games, the same way their football team has gained national respect recently. Luke Harangody was the difference here, as he usually is whenever Notre Dame wins, putting together 36 points on 13-for-23 shooting. Tim Abromaitis also played well, and has actually had a pretty good season in general. Many Big East fans don't know about him because he didn't play much as a freshman in 2007-08, and then sat out all of last season, but they'll get to know him soon. This was a very important victory for Notre Dame because it moves them to 2-1 with a very tough upcoming schedule (vs West Virginia, at Cincinnati, vs Syracuse). With a loss here they'd have been in a position to potentially start out the Big East season 1-5. As for South Florida, they actually have played much better this season than in any other season since they've joined the Big East. They went 10-2 out-of-conference with wins over Virginia and Central Florida, and a loss to Central Michigan, but these are the types of games that at-large teams win. They now fall to 0-2 in Big East play with Syracuse and West Virginia looming. South Florida will be in contention for an at-large bid if they can get to 9-9 in Big East play, but that could look increasingly unrealistic with a potential 0-4 start looming.