Games 681-682: Southland Wednesday

682 - Nicholls women at Lamar
January 30 at Montagne Center in Beaumont, TX
ESPN +

681 - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Abilene Christian
January 30 at Moody Coliseum in Abilene, TX

espn3

I didn't get the names of the broadcasters, but late in the first half of Abilene Chrsitian's 78-71 win (it's first over A&M in 10 all-time meetings) the play-by-play man said "he's been out-athleted at the basket".

So we can't let him get away with that.

Game 325 - College of Staten Island vs. CCNY

CUNYAC (Div. III) championship game
February 24 at Nat Holman Gymnasium in New York, NY
espn3.com

CCNY, the No. 2 seed, led top-seed Staten Island 44-43 about four minutes into the second half, but a 12-0 run, aided by great work from Kevon Murphy, helped Staten Island pull away and win 77-66 for the school's 14th league championship.

CSI finished 17-0 in CUNY play and advances to the Division III national tournament, which begins next week.

Murphy scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, and six of those came on three consecutive baskets during the run. Sensational point guard Frank Schettino, who was coming off a 11-10-13 triple-double in a semifinal win over fourth-seeded Baruch, was held to 11 points and six assists and turned the ball over five times, but the key for Schettino and the Dolphins was only one of the team's 14 turnovers came in the second half.

Staten Island's defense also clamped down at the right time, holding CCNY without a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes (missed nine straight shots). By the time the drought ended, at the 9:40 mark on March Richards' lay-up, Staten Island still held a nine-point lead & it was nothing worse than a three-possession game the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Khaleeq Baum poured in 21 and 11 to take home tournament MVP honors. I thought Murphy should've been MVP, though, after he had a near double-double (20 points, nine rebounds) against Baruch & was huge over the final 20 minutes of the final.

* Two quick things:

1. Color commentator Sean Couch said "pure as the driven snow with that jumper," so we can't let him get away with that.

2. This CCNY logo is terrifying

Game 287 - Georgetown at Villanova

February 7 at The Pavilion in Villanova, PA
FS1

Georgetown, in desperate need of a big win for its NCAA Tournament resume, fell short against the defending national champions, losing 75-64.

The Hoyas had nearly erased a 17-point deficit when they got within two points on a Rodney Pryor free throw at the 2:18 mark, but couldn't get any closer. The Big East's top scorer, Josh Hart hit a 3-pointer - his first field goal of the second half - with 1:20 left to make it 66-59 and later added a lay-up and a pair of free throws to polish off a 25-point night.

Pryor, the league's third-leading scorer, finished with 20 points and L.J. Peak scored 18 of his team-high 21 points in the second half.

Villanova is an incredible 58-8 in Big East regular season play since the start of the 2013-14 season.

* Play-by-play man Tim Brando said "Pryor gets that nylon song to ring," so we can't let him get away with that.

Game 272 - Rider at Canisius

January 30 at Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, NY
espn3.com

Canisius came into the night first in the MAAC and 30th nationally in scoring at 81.3 points, but fell well below that in a 72-66 setback.

Huge road win for Rider, which helped keep a few other trends going Monday night.

The Broncs came in leading the conference in three-point field goal defense, and Canisius made only 6-of-25 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Canisius defense is in the bottom 25 nationally in field goal percentage defense and Rider hit half of its shots (23-of-46).

* Play-by-play man Doug Sherman called Donyell Marshall an "NBA star", so we can't let him get away with that.

Game 256 - Maryland at Iowa

January 19 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, IA
ESPN

Late in the first half, play-by-play man Karl Ravech said "dunk you very much", so we can't let him get away with that


Other games watched:

Appalachian State women at Georgia State
Western Carolina women at Chattanooga

Games 210 & 211 - Two remain

NCAA national semifinals
211 - (10) Syracuse vs. (1) North Carolina
210 - (2) Oklahoma vs. (2) Villanova
April 2 at NRG Stadium in Houston, TX
TBS

When the first of the following phrases were said by the announcing team:

* Grant Hill's first time calling Bill Raftery "Coach" - 14:21 left in first half

* Jay Wright dresses well. The reason I know this is because the announcers mention it EVERY SINGLE TIME VILLANOVA PLAYS. Hill invented yet another GQ/Jay Wright nickname and it was "JQ" (9:15 left in first)

* "Blow by" - 1:10 in first

* "Dribble drive" - 18:52 in second half

Some other made-up nonsense:

"Post rubs" (said twice)
"Space dribble (2)
"Trying to body search"
"Value the ball"
"Pick and pop" (2)

* And finally, Raftery said "they gotta get into the game a little bit, Oklahoma, the sooner the better" and "a little ricochet romance!", so he wasn't getting away with either of those things.

Game 208 - (10) Syracuse vs. (1) Virginia

NCAA Tournament regional final
March 27 at United Center in Chicago, IL
TBS

I didn't think Syracuse deserved to even be an at-large team, and now the 10th-best team in the ACC is headed to the final four.

The path was a bit easier for the Orangemen, who were fortunate to avoid No. 2 Michigan State in the round of 32 and No. 3 Utah in the Sweet 16, but they were still an 11 seed that came back to beat Gonzaga in the regional semifinal, then erased a 16-point lead in the final nine minutes to stun top seed Virginia 68-62.

Also, after the game ended Kevin Harlan said "Syracuse, back from the dead on Easter Sunday", so we can't let him get away with that.

Game 141 - (7) Stetson at (2) NJIT

Atlantic Sun Conference quarterfinals
March 1 at Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, NJ
espn3.com

The finest month of the sporting year tipped off on Tuesday night as freshman Derick Newton was outstanding (28 points on 10-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds) and Divine Myles added 21 points as Stetson pulled a huge upset, 82-67.

I'll argue with anyone at Happy China Buffet ($6.95 lunch buffet, Monday-Friday) that the NCAA Tournament is by far our country's greatest sporting event, but nearly as enjoyable and exciting is the two weeks of conference tournaments. I love four-game days, brackets, upsets, small conference championship games, the moment you turn on an ACC semifinal game and realize that, yes, that is still Dick Vitale. And Clemson somehow.

Everything that is good about sports is on display during these league tournaments.

And as much as I love watching the national championship game each year, it's also a sad day because I then have to wait seven months for college basketball and almost 11 for a conference tournament game.

But that doesn't matter now. What matters is the 11-21 Hatters won their first A Sun tournament game since 2013.

Is Hatters the best nickname in college athletics?

* One, final thing. Play-by-play man Matt Provence said "the Highlanders the last few games with more charges than American Express" so we can't let him get away with that.

Game 126 - Oklahoma State at Kansas

February 15 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS
ESPN

We've got to go over a few things from this Kansas 94-67 win. First, a little segment I like to call Please, Please, PLEASE, Calm Down.

(Please)

About 3 1/2 minutes into the game, play-by-play man Brent Musberger said this:

"(Kansas coach Bill) Self up and looking concerned for the first time tonight."

Brent: they've played 3 1/2 minutes.

Please, please, PLEASE, calm down.

* Some other Basketball Phrases/Assorted Nonsense to go over:

- Color commentator Fran Fraschilla: "He's a no-mistake guy." (Just say he doesn't make mistakes. You tried to invent the phrase 'no-mistake guy' and as far as I'm concerned you didn't get away with it.)

- "Joey brackets" was said.

I don't know what that means.

- And I've had enough of the phrases "Tobacco Road", "running through the gauntlet" and "floor burns".

- Kansas has an upcoming game at rival Kansas State. KU is 22-4 and ranked No. 2 in the country, KSU is 14-11 and 3-9 in the Big 12 through Monday's games. Musberger, speaking about Kansas: "they're going to be the favorite (pause), probably...but it's always tough in K-State."

Probably?!

Game 38 - Liberty at Radford

December 3 at Dedmon Center in Radford, VA
Liberty Flames Sports Network

Radford showed it could win without shooting well from the field (32 percent) or from three-point range (19 percent). The Highlanders were excellent on the offensive glass, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds, which led to 20 second-chance points. Rashun Davis (16 points and five assists) & new Scoochie Smith All Star Ed Polite (10 points and eight rebounds) led the way.

* I spend a lot of time on this site and many others making fun of announcers, and I think it's justified - a majority of sports announcers stink.

But the duo of Matt Warner and Paul Nazigian do a nice job, especially Warner, who is a really solid play-by-play man.

Of course, Nazigian did say "keep going back to the buffet 'til they cut you off", so we can't let him get away with that.