Mad Crazy March...Madness

This weekend was full of great games, and if you missed them, kick yourself in the face! March is definitely off to a crazy start with some exciting comebacks and shocking upsets. Man I love college basketball. If this weekend's games are any indication of how sick nasty this year's tourney will be, then bring it on!

(6) Duke comeback victory over NC State, 87-86

Coach K almost had to wait another day for his 800th win, but never count out Duke. Doesn't matter th deficit or how sloppy they seem to be playing. A team like that seems to be able to turn it on at the drop of a dime, and that's exactly what they did when they came back to beat the Wolfpack. Down by 13 midway through the 2nd half, Jon Sheyer, DeMarcus Nelson and Kyle Singler came alive and eeked out the win. Congrats to

(2) UNC comeback win over Boston College, 90-80
BC Junior guard Tyrese Rice finished the game with a career high 46 points (34 in the 1st half), the 3rd most points an individual has scored against UNC - ever! But that wasn't enough - never underestimate the power of the Tar Heels! Tyler Hansbrough, in the running for player of the year, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green came up big. Both teams were amazing from the free throw line, a lost art form, and several teams could take some notes on how it's done. UNC shot 88%, hitting 23-26 and BC hit 17-23.

(1) Tennessee barely beat Kentucky, 63-60
Technically they're still the top team, but come Monday they will be #1 no more! But thanks to this won over Kentucky, they won't fall too far. Tennessee has a great starting lineup with Chris Lofton, Wayne Chism and the Smiths, JaJuan, Tyler and Ramar. Kentucky looked good after losing their 6'8" star freshman, Patrick Patterson, to a stress fracture in his ankle. Patterson averaged 16.4 points and 7.7 assists. You wouldn't have known it the way Kentucky played. They were down in the first half and even took a lead in the 2nd, but they couldn't hold off one of the top teams in the country.

(15) Michigan State stomped (12) Indiana, 103-74

And I mean STOMPED! The score was 59-31 at the half with Michigan State shooting 78%. It was one of those games where everything seemed to favor the Spartans who drained 9 threes in the 1st half. The Hoosiers could barely find the basket, and they had way too many turnovers. They won their first 2 games since losing head coach Kelvin Sampson but got whipped (pronounce the h) by the boys in green. This was MSU's last home game and they finished the season undefeated in East Lansing. Drew Neitzel, one of 2 seniors on the team, had 17 in his final home game. Even the fans scored a victory, with them all getting free tacos since MSU scored at least 70 points.

(5) Texas lost @ Texas Tech, 83-80

Ooh, talk about an upset! 16-12 Texas Tech beat 24-5 Texas in one of the biggest shockers of the weekend. I must say though, I'm happy for TTech's head coach, Pat Knight. He has some humungous shoes to fill since replacing his father Bob, who retired in February. People were skeptical of the younger Knight's decision to sign Alan Voskuil, a 6-3, 175 guard, but boy have they been surprised this season. Voskuil had 18 points in this . And the best player for Texas, DJ Augustin put up some major numbers, with 30 pts and 13 rebs, but that just wasn't enough. The Longhorns were on a roll, winning 8 straight before this loss to the Red Raiders. At one point, Texas was down by 13 points. The game was down to the wire in the final minutes, with the Longhorns down by 1 with mere seconds on the clock. But Tech held on for the win, and their fans rushed onto the court after the win. It was awesome to see.

Kansas State lost in (7) Kansas, 88-74

K-State handed the Jawhawks, then 20-0, their first loss of the season. Everyone was talking about Michael Beasley's comments about beating about beating Kansas again, and anywhere in the world. I know he's one of the top players in the NCAA, but he's still 19 years old! I thought he was joking around when he said the Wildcats would beat Kansas "in Africa" but as usual, most people in the media took the lines and ran far, far away with them. Instead, Beasley got in very early foul trouble, 2 in the first 2 minutes, and spent the rest of the game going in during K-State's offensive possessions, and back to the bench during the defensive possessions. I understand Coach Frank Martin not wanting Beasley to get into too much trouble and be limited come crunch time, but come on! Beasley is one of the top candidates for player of the year, and he proved why in a salty loss like this one. He finished strong with 39 points and 11 rebs, his 25th double-double of his freshman season. The kid is amazing, but the Wildcats have lost 4 in a row; they went from a top 25 ranking to a barely there bubble team. They need to get it together - fast. Relying solely on Beasley and sophomore standout Bill Walker has proved it can only take the Wildcats but so far.

**Note: These were the teams rankings going into these games. This weeks rankings were released today and several teams have shifted.