As everyone knows, yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. With that said, this ridiculous photo comes courtesy of njdevs.com

We’ll just call them that since they come from that great game between Ohio rivals Xavier and Ohio State. We neglected to mention that Thad Matta recruited the players who starred for the Musketeers in that battle before leaving to coach the Buckeyes three years ago. He was replaced by assistant Sean Miller. It made for another interesting storyline. Here are some nice pics from it which are definitive proof why this tournament has such special meaning:

“College basketball!“

Those were the words of superb CBS play-by-play man Gus Johnson yesterday after he called Ron Lewis’ tying three from 26 feet out which saved the top seeded Buckeyes from being upset in the second round to the Musketeers as The Battle of Ohio went down to the wire. The dramatic shot was part of the senior’s late game heroics in scoring a game high 27 including the tying trey with elimination two seconds away.

And what was on display in this great game along with many other second round match-ups with two others needing two OTs was why the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament is the best thing going every year. Because for all the lack of upsets and close games in Round One was how “scintillating sensational” to borrow a couple of Dick Vitale’s words Saturday’s first batch of the second round was. No tournament can match this one. Not even the Stanley Cup playoffs which btw are great if you watch every year.

And why? Well, let’s just say there’s something better about watching college players compete with so much on the line every game. Unlike professional sports, no seven-game series are played. It’s win or go home. Just ask top seeded Uconn last year what happened to them when destiny’s darlings George Mason clipped them in another great game in the Regional Final to make history by representing the Colonial Athletic Association into the Final Four. Making every small school’s dream in this 65-field tournament come to fruition. It didn’t matter how many pros Jim Calhoun’s Huskies had that day when Verne Lundqvist shouted, “By George!” Mason was better on that day. And that’s what makes this tournament so exciting. One minute, you got it all figured out. The next, your bracket is destroyed by some little known bracket buster unless you’re one of those nerds like Jay Bilas.

If you love the underdog, anything is possible this time of year. And that’s why Duke went home when they were beaten by VCU, who came very close to also taking out Big East power Pittsburgh. But they fell short in two OTs.

Just ask Ohio State coach Thad Matta what he was thinking when his team fell behind ninth seeded Xavier by 11 with under eight minutes left. Was Cinderella about to get the slippers out and destroy about 75 percent of those office pools? It sure seemed like it after Drew Lavender sank a near impossible fadeaway three with the shot clock expiring sending the crowd into a frenzy.

There’s little doubt that Ohio State showed the true mettle of a one seed when they slowly chipped away at that deficit and gave themselves a chance at the end. With super freshman center Greg Oden struggling with foul trouble, the Buckeyes went small and that’s when Lewis took over. From draining a three from the parking lot to an unbelievable driving layup before completing a three-point play, he wouldn’t allow his mostly inexperienced team to lose. It was a great performance by someone who got lost in the shuffle with sensational frosh duo Oden and Mike Conley, Jr. getting most of the accolades. Without him, they lose and it’s not even that close. He stepped up.

But at the same time, Xavier stopped being aggressive down the stretch and paid the price. They began milking the clock and got out of their offensive rhythm which allowed OSU to get enough critical stops to get back in it. Any time you do that, it’s usually ends up in disaster. As someone who scored Berkeley Carroll High School Varsity Boys games, I witnessed a fourth quarter collapse which ended up with them losing on their own home court on a trey at the buzzer. And the biggest reason was they stopped playing to win.

This seems to happen a lot in basketball. And while Xavier played a brilliant second half, they left the jar slightly open and the Buckeyes were good enough to capitalize. Still up two after OSU missed three shots before Oden fouled Justin Cage with 9.3 seconds to go down two. Cage had been the big star for the Musketeers all second half, scoring his team best 25 a variety of ways including taking Oden off the dribble with some success. If he made both, the Buckeyes were sank as Oden watched from the bench after fouling out. He made the first but the second rattled in and out giving Ohio St. one more shot. They’re prayers were answered when they executed a perfect backcut screen to free Lewis who stepped right into the tying trifecta which once it left his hands was good. That’s how well it was released off the clean look. And when Lavender’s 75-foot prayer fell way short, it produced Johnson’s excited call to which he ended with his enthusiastic, “HAHA.”

There’s little question that the CBS ‘caster and Knicks radio/TV announcer is great at calling these games. We’d take him anyday over Jim Nantz and one of my all-time faves Dick Enberg. Both are very solid but Johnson is just better. His delivery is smooth and he is just great at calling dramatic conclusions like this one. Maybe one day CBS will reward him for how good he is.

So, what went wrong on that final play for Xavier aside from the fact Oden’s shove should’ve resulted in an unpopular intentional foul which really would’ve spelled the end for his college basketball career. Oh well. For another day. Bottom line is they didn’t have the guts to call it because of the circumstances. Who wants to see a highly competitive game with so much at stake decided that way? Even if I believe it should’ve been called, the bottom line here is if Cage makes both at the charity stripe (he was 6-for-8), nobody is even discussing that.

We ranted about how much free throws can decide these games. Akron should’ve been in the Big Dance but they missed a free throw and Miami of Ohio banked in a three at the buzzer to get in.

Cage said he wasn’t nervous and shot them like he always does. I believe him because he was making them down the stretch and his second easily could’ve stayed down. It just didn’t. What transpired afterwards was poor defense by Sean Miller’s Musketeers. The former Pitt star’s guys first mistake was backing up and allowing themselves to get screened which freed Lewis for the clutch shot from deep. You can’t be so unaggressive there. If anything, a foul means they go to the line down three with a couple of ticks left at the very most. That wouldn’t have been the worst play. The other problem was that he was unguarded. Someone has to pick him up over that pick. They didn’t. And if you don’t, someone better switch quickly and get a hand in his face to make it a tougher shot. Contested shots usually in that situation spell the difference. The other aspect was that aside from Cage at the line, nobody was in the lane meaning Ohio St. once they rebounded the miss had a free ride up the court without pressure. Having a couple of guys in the lane would’ve made the task more difficult. Even if it’s just two, you still have three guys back guarding the three-point line.

The Musketeers failed to execute and that spelled doom. Once it went to OT, you knew they were cooked. In it, the talented Conley Jr. took over, scoring seven straight points to open up a five-point lead his team never relinquished. By the time it was over, he finished with 11 of his 21 in the extra session which propelled the Buckeyes to an improbable 78-71 win to put them into the Sweet 16. There must’ve been a lot of deep breaths exhaled afterwards.

Now there were other close games. Third seeded Texas A & M nearly fell to sixth seeded Lousiville. But despite Rice product Edgar Sosa’s huge game of 31 including 15-of-17 from the line, the New York City guard turned into the goat late which was kind of sad, missing his only two free throws with his team down one. He also would misfire on a three from the left wing before A & M sealed it at the line to hold on for a 72-69 victory. For Sosa, it had to be extremely hard to lose in that fashion. But he’s a freshman and will learn from it. He’s gone through similar heartbreaking losses before and become better for it. Rick Pitino’s talented kid will only get better next year. For A & M, they were led by star guard Acie Law IV, who finished with 26 including 13-for-15 at the charity stripe. Dominique Kirk added a season high 21 and Joseph Jones chipped in with 12 to provide the Aggies with enough balance to overcome the Cards. Sosa and Terrence Williams combined for 48 of their team’s 69 with nobody else reaching double figures.

There also were two other games which went overtime tying the record of three for most NCAA games on one day which were forced to OT. The third seeded Panthers held off 11th seeded VCU 84-79 in a wild one despite blowing a 19-point second half lead with only 12 minutes on the clock. Their pesky Colonial opponent never went away. Instead, they knocked down shots and even took a two-point lead with 52 seconds left. It was their only lead of the game. But seconds after Jesse Pellott-Rosa (20 2nd half points) put his team up, the Panthers’ Sam Young tied it with a transition bucket, victimizing the VCU press. Why they didn’t at least have someone back was beyond us. You just worked so hard to get back in it and took a lead. Wouldn’t you at least want your opponent to have to earn the tying bucket or potential go-ahead? I saw this happen in a high school championship game last month in which Staten Island Academy worked extremely hard to comeback from 11 or 12 down and had just tied it up with 26 seconds left. But they allowed Friends Semenary to score the winner in transition on a lay-up. It’s one thing to pressure when you’re down because you need to force turnovers. Quite another to do it when tied or up with not much time remaining. Because if you give up an easy one, you’ll regret it.

In any event, Pitt’s Levance Fields had a chance to win it in regulation at the line with two seconds left but bricked both free throws forcing sudden death. But in it, he would atone for it by sinking a deep three which crushed VCU’s hopes of a second consecutive upset. Fields made two more treys than free throws (0-for-3). Go figure that one, right? The reason the game needed OT besides VCU’s resiliency was that the Panthers missed 11-of-27 at the line while VCU made 14-of-17. Maybe Jamie Dixon’s club should practice that when they face ex-coach Ben Howland’s UCLA Bruins for a shot at the Regional Semis next week. We’ll see. How much you want to bet that game is in the 50’s?

UCLA meanwhile heldoff Indiana 54-49 thanks to some solid guard play from star Arron Afflalo late which helped fight off the Hoosiers’ comeback. Afflalo- a cool name with a serious game only scored 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting but when his team needed someone to step up, he made all the plays and was six-of-seven from the line in helping them survive. It would’ve helped if Kelvin Sampson had saved a timeout. It cost his Hoosiers when they failed to in-bound a pass down two. Maybe if they had a TO left, it wouldn’t have gotten stolen by a great defensive club, who sealed it at the line. The Hoosiers didn’t do a good job coming to the ball. Your big guy should always flash. That never happened and cost Sampson’s seventh seeded Hoosiers a chance to knock out the second seed. Maybe if he had saved a timeout. CBS’ James Brown pointed out a minute earlier that with both teams out of them (when does that ever happen late in a game) that whoever executed better and had good practice habits would prevail. He proved to be prophetic.

There was one other game which went to OT but it needed two extra five minute sessions to decide a winner. Sixth seeded Vanderbilt eliminated third seeded Washington St. 78-74. It never would’ve gotten to the second overtime if not for Derrick Byars’ heroics. The star Commodore hit five three-pointers in scoring a game high 27 to lead his team to the Sweet 16. But his biggest play came with seconds to go in the first overtime. With the game knotted at 69, Washington State appeared ready to win it with a last second bucket in transition. After the Cougars’ Taylor Rochestie stole an in bounds pass, he drove the length of the court and went up. But Byars raced back and blocked the potential winner with his left hand to force a second OT. It was an unbelievable defensive play. Even more amazing was that he was playing with four fouls with three minutes left in regulation. But it never fazed the SEC Player of The Year. They got four points from Ted Skuchas which helped send Vandy into the Sweet 16. It was another thrilling game which is what makes this tourney so special.

Another second round winner included Georgetown, who posted a seven-point win over former Big East school Boston College to setup a showdown with Vanderbilt at The Meadowlands next week. After jumping out to a quick 12-2 start, the Hoyas struggled to solve BC’s zone D and fell behind 30-26 at half. They got a big second half from big man Roy Hibbert, who scored 15 of 17 and also added 12 boards. Big East Player of the Year Jeff Green also chipped in with a double double (11 and 12). Though he didn’t score much, he had two huge three-point plays down the stretch which proved to be too much for Jared Dudley (19 and and underrated guard Tyrese Rice (22 pts, 6 boards, 3 assists) to overcome in what was a physical old fashioned Big East battle. The Hoyas also got 15 from Jonathan Wallace including two treys and Patrick Ewing, Jr. came off the bench for six points, four rebounds and three assists. He also had a cool reverse jam which looked like his Dad. Not bad for the IU transfer, who while admittedly isn’t his father is an extremely valuable player for John Thompson III.

Top seeded North Carolina also moved on with an 81-67 win over fiesty ninth seed Michigan State. The Tar Heels pulled away down the stretch but it was much closer than the score. After star guard Drew Neitzel connected on one of his six three’s, the Tom Izzo Spartans led 57-54 with 8:48 remaining. But Roy Williams’ Heels went on a 14-4 run and pulled away thanks in large part to Tyler Hansbrough, who scored a game high 33. The most for a Tar Heel in the tournament since Al Wood’s 39 in the 1981 Final Four against Ralph Sampson’s Cavaliers. The sophomore power forward shot 10-for-17 and was 13-of-17 from the line. Freshman guard Ty Lawson added 20 points, five boards and eight assists to help offset Neitzel’s 26 and Raymar Morgan’s 19.

The Heels will next the play the winner of today’s Texas-USC match-up.

There was one “upset.” Well not really. If you were like me, then you took fifth seeded Butler to knock off fourth seeded Maryland. Just kidding. In what was another very close game, the Bulldogs edged the Terps 62-59 to advance to their second Sweet 16 in four years. They got 19 from A.J. Graves, including four-of-nine from downtown. Butler hit for 12 three’s (12-26) doubling up Maryland (6-11) in that key category. Though Mike Jones scored a game high 21, they limited guard D.J. Strawberry to eight points and forced him into five turnovers. Brandon Crone chipped in with 13 including three trifectas. Pete Campbell also added three three’s. The Terps certainly had their chances late but couldn’t get off a shot on its last two possessions twice down 61-59. After a free throw made the deficit three, the Terps turned it over with less than a second left allowing Butler to run the clock out. The biggest decision in this one was by Gary Williams, who elected to not foul down two with about a five second differential between game and shot clock. It backfired. Why he chose not to extend the game out with that little discrepancy is beyond comprehension. But it didn’t workout as planned and the Bulldogs sent the Terps packing.

Butler will now await the winner of today’s Florida-Purdue game. Is anyone still questioning their high seed? Didn’t think so.

See ya’ll later!

This was my recap of another frustrating Ranger loss:

We almost put the hex on the Ducks of Oregon. But they held off Miami of Ohio, posting a 58-56 win to advance. Miami made things interesting down the stretch slicing a nine-point deficit to two. But they weren’t able to pull it off.

So much for Albany. Unlike last year where as a 16 seed they gave top seeded Connecticut a scare, the Great Danes were no match for Virginia this year as a 13th seed. The Cavs’ guard tandem of J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary combined for 51 of their 84 points in a 27-point rout of Albany. In particular, Reynolds who entered the tournament in a funk (9-for-44 the previous three games) came out firing by making his first seven shots en route to a game high 28 in which he was 9-of-13 including a crisp 5-for-7 from downtown. With Reynolds in sync from the outside and Singletary slashing his way to the basket setting up teammates with nine assists, Virginia was in good shape. Defensively, they made it extremely difficult for Albany, who came out ice cold falling behind 19-2. They were unable to recover though senior guard Jamar Wilson did finish with 25 in defeat.

The Cavs will next face fifth seeded Tennessee, who put up a whomping 121 points in a 121-86 win over 12th seeded Long Beach St. There were some critics who believed the Volunteers could be ripe for the picking against the offensive minded 49ers. They were right that their opponent could score but didn’t know that star guard Chris Lofton (game high 25 points) would get so much help. Jajuan Smith had 24 and Ramar Smith added 22 as five Volunteers hit for double digits. Dane Bradshaw helped set them up with 11 dimes. Both teams shot extremely well from downtown with the two combining for 26 treys (Tenn: 14-27, Long Beach: 12-21). The difference was that Tennessee outrebounded Long Beach St. 41-26 and had 14 more assists (25-11) and nine more steals (11-2).

So, what will give between the 2nd round battle between ACC vs SEC? We might favor the team that plays better defensively. It certainly won’t be dull.

The one upset was one that wasn’t a huge surprise as another 11th seed knocked off a 6 when Winthrop topped Notre Dame 74-64. The Fighting Irish had to know that the Eagles were a dangerous opponent who just fell short the past couple of years of getting their first ever NCAA tourney win. And when Notre Dame was ahead 26-19 late in the first half, it looked like they were in good shape. But Winthrop closed the half on a 13-2 run, including two huge three’s in the final minute to go to the locker room suddenly up 32-28. Continuing to make it difficult on Notre Dame’s perimeter game and executing well offensively, they came out and scored the first 10 of the second half to extend the lead to 14. They would go up by as much as 20. But that’s when the Irish made a huge run. From 54-34 down, they went on a 29-8 spurt to edge ahead 63-62. But after a missed free throw by Luke Harangody, the Eagles reeled off the next five including a huge three from Chris Gaynor with 1:30 left. Trailing by four, the Irish would have a tough call go against them when one of their players was whistled for a block on what clearly looked like a charge. It would pretty much finish them. Craig Bradshaw put the exclamation point on the upset with a dunk in transition. He finished with a game high 24. Torrell Martin added a double double (20 and 11). So what was the difference? Aside from holding Irish leading scorer Russell Carter to only 12 (0-6 from three), they forced sharpshooter Colin Falls into a 2-for-10 day from beyond the arc as Notre Dame finished a paltry 4-of-22 on trifectas. Live by the three. Die by the three. Conversely, Winthrop was 8-of-21 from downtown. They also dished out 10 more assists (20-10) and outrebounded the Irish 40-32.

Still though, one of the more disturbing things coming out of this wild back and forth contest was the lethargic free throw shooting. The two teams combined to misfire on 18 of 32 free throws. Winthrop’s inability to make free throws almost cameback to bite them as they blew their big lead. They were 10-for-19. The Irish fared no better, making just four-of-13 the entire day including an inexcusable 1-for-5 from freshman guard Tory Jackson.

More and more, inefficient free throw shooting is becoming a disturbing trend. Just last night, Duke missed 12 from the charity stripe in their two-point loss to VCU, finishing 20-for-32. Their opponents only missed six, going 18-for-24. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why the Blue Devils lost.

Being able to make uncontested shots from just 15 feet away shouldn’t be this hard. But in today’s game where so much emphasis is put on the three-point shot and on making SportsCenter with cool dunks, making free throws has gotten overlooked. Many of these close games come down to who can make them. Just last weekend, it cost a team a league championship as their opponent came down and banked in a three to beat them. So instead of going to the Big Dance, they were left out and watched the other team celebrate. March Madness turned into March sadness.

If more teams had players who could make free throws under pressure, it would help put away games.

There were other games on the schedule including No.2 seeded Wisconsin’s rally from double digits down to comeback and beat Texas A & M CC by 13. UNLV also was a four-point winner over 10th seeded Georgia Tech. In another anticipated 7-10 match-up, Nevada prevailed in overtime over 10th seeded Creighton 77-71. And another shaky 2 seed Memphis fought off a slow start to post a 15-point win over North Texas.

It looks like third seeded Oregon will advance. They lead 14th seeded Miami of Ohio by eight with less than four minutes left.

On schedule tonight, Niagara who played their way in battles top seed Kansas. The battle of the Wildcats between Villanova and Kentucky also takes place. And the Gators begin their defense when they meet Jackson St. Kevin Durant debuts with Texas against New Mexico St. Keep an eye on Holy Cross against Southern Illinois.

If you’re a college basketball fan, then you remember this classic photo of a disappointed little Dukie rooting on his Blue Devils as they fell to the Terps in the ACC title game a couple of years ago. If you’re a Duke hater, then tonight was your night as the sixth seeded Dukies went down to defeat in a very good gamem falling to 11th seeded VCU 79-77. Twice, they rallied from double digits on the strength of their three-point shooting (9-for-16). They cameback from 13 in the first half and from 11 down in the second half to make it a nailbiter. And in crunchtime, guard Eric Maynor was the difference. Everytime his team needed a big play, he made it. Getting to the basket at will, he wouldn’t let VCU lose despite career efforts from Duke sophomore duo Greg Paulus (25 points) and Josh McRoberts (22 pts). When the Blue Devils’ Demarcus Nelson went coast-to-coast for a layup, it tied the game with only 10.3 seconds to go. But just as Maynor had demonstrated several times down the stretch, he calmly drove the lane and nailed a 15-foot jumper which proved to be the dagger, forcing Duke to call timeout with only 1.8 seconds left. Needing a similar miracle up in HSBC Arena that Duke all-time great Christian Laettner pulled off, they couldn’t execute it this time with the ex-star who led them to back-to-back championships watching. Paulus’ desperation half court short went off the backboard to give VCU the upset. It was their first NCAA tourney win since 1985 when they beat Marshall. They’ll play No.3 seed Pittsburgh for a chance at The Sweet 16 as the Panthers were well on their way to an easy victory over 14th seeded Wright St.

For Duke, it was the first time they lost in the opening round since a 1996 defeat to Eastern Michigan when Earl Boykins helped string the upset. In fact, the Blue Devils had a run of nine straight Sweet 16 appearanced stopped. Quite an accomplishment for any program. Even if you loathe the Blue Devils with a passion, you have to admit it’s pretty hard to win at least two games at the Big Dance for that long a stretch. Especially with how competitive teams are today, increasing the propensity for an upset during the first weekend. But today, Mike Krzyzewski’s kids didn’t get it done and they’re going home much to Dick Vitale’s dismay, baby!

On a day where there weren’t any other major upsets unless you think two 9’s over 8’s qualifies (Xavier over BYU by 2 and Michigan St. over Marquette by 12), that was the major story. Certainly not one which surprised us. Anyone who followed Duke knew they were vulnerable. Maynor scored six points in the final minute-plus, pacing VCU with 22 and eight assists. He was big time. We’ll see how he fares against the Panthers on Saturday.

One seeds Ohio State and North Carolina posted 21-point wins. But the way they got there couldn’t be more different. While Greg Oden (19 pts and 10 boards) and Co. cruised over Central Connecticut State, Tyler Hansbrough (21 points) and the Tar Heels nearly blew a 27-point lead before finishing off pesky Eastern Kentucky. At one point, they cut it down to four but the Tar Heels locked down on D and their frenetic pace wore out their opponents.

Meanwhile, another bubble team which squeaked in didn’t distinguish itself. Eleventh seeded George Washington was dismantled by sixth seeded Vanderbilt, losing by 33 in embarrassing fashion, 77-44. So does anyone think another team would’ve put up a better fight? We’re sure WFAN’s Mike & The Mad Dog are salivating about this one along with Stanford’s 20-point loss in an awful showing to another good sixth seed in Louisville.

Meanwhile, No.2 seed Georgetown looked pretty strong in recovering from a slow start to rout 15th seeded Belmont 80-55. They’ll next face seventh seeded Boston College, who bested Texas Tech by nine. It sets up a classic match-up between former Big East rivals. But while BC should be competitive, look for the Hoyas’ superior inside presence with big man Roy Hibbert and solid D to be the difference on Saturday. If the Eagles didn’t suspend shot blocking presence Sean Williams, they would’ve been a much higher seed and more dangerous. Still, they’re formidable and should pose an early challenge to Georgetown.

One intriguing second round match-up will feature third seeded Texas A & M against sixth seeded Louisville. If the Cards play like yesterday, watch out. The Aggies did pull away from a game Penn squad to post an 16-point win thanks to sensational All-American guard Acie “Long Arm Of The” Law IV. When Penn cameback from 13 down to take the lead, he made many key plays by driving to the hoop with blinding speed and either setting up a putback or finishing it off himself. Law finished with a game high 20. For Penn, big man Mark Zoller caught our eye. After a quiet first half, he scored 16 of his 19 in the second and was really tough in the post. He also made two treys in defeat.

And finally, as seventh seeded Indiana was putting away 10th seeded Gonzaga to avenge a second round loss last year, the quote of the night belonged to CBS’ analyst Len Elmore after a dunk gave them a 13-point lead with 1:18 remaining. Making reference to the Zags about to exit the tournament, the astute commentator candidly remarked to partner James Brown:

“You hear that engine. That’s the bus warming up.“

Well, it’s the first day of the NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament and here are our initial thoughts:

-Stanford getting beaten by a Rick Pitino coached Louisville team isn’t surprising. But getting blown out of the building in as uncompetitive a 6-11 match-up as possible just reaffirms why Stanford didn’t belong in the tournament. No matter what NCAA committee member Gary Waters said earlier this week. You’re telling me Air Force, Drexel or Syracuse wouldn’t have given a better showing? Well, just remember, Stanford was “one of the best 34 at-large teams.” I guess that’s all that matters.

-Texas Tech played matador D all game against Boston College and lost 84-75 in a high scoring affair, making it a tough day for Bob Knight. BC didn’t play much D either but saved their best for the final six minutes to pull away late. They got big games from Sean Williams (21), Tyrese Rice (26) and ACC Player of The Year Jared Dudley (19) despite three first half fouls. We’ll see if Al Skinner can ge away with playing Dudley that way against probably 2nd round opponent Georgetown. The 2nd seeded Hoyas tipoff in 20 minutes against 15th seeded Belmont.
-Congrats to Davidson freshman Stephen Curry on his big game. He finished with a game high 30 points going 9-for-21 including 5-of-15 from beyond the arc. He also was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, a lost fundamental art in basketball. All this in what was a losing effort as his team fell to fourth seeded Maryland 82-70 in what was a competitive game. At one point in the second half, Davidson led by eight but the Terps got balanced scoring with six players in double figures. Mike Jones paced them with 17 including half of their six treys. D.J. Strawberry chipped in with 12. Davidson’s three-point shooting which started out 6-of-14 finished 10-for-37, meaning they only made four of their final 23 attempts.

-As Louisville closes in finally on a 20-point win over overmatched Stanford, the sixth seeded Cardinals could be waiting for third seeded Texas A & M, who is set to tipoff with Ivy League champ Pennsylvania at the top of the hour. The Cards used a press to force turnovers and a frenetic pace. They also got 16 points from freshman Edgar Sosa. The Rice standout shot 6-of-13 knocking down three treys. They also got 16 from David Padgett. Ironically, leading scorer and do it all player Terrence Williams didn’t score a point (0-4 FG) and had three fouls. If they do get the Aggies in Round 2, that can’t happen if they are to have a chance at an upset.

Before we get into how backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault actually could’ve posted his 37th career shutout (first in over three years), let’s just flashback to what was said in this space last night:

“With his team six points behind first place New Jersey, Sid The Kid will get one more shot at the NHL great Wednesday in The Swamp. A win would close the gap to four. Don’t bank on it.“

So much for that statement. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who believed all the Devils had to do was show up to the arena to shutdown the Pens once again. So too was WFAN Devils color analyst Tom Chorske. But what else is new here? The first-year analyst has sucked down more Kool Aid than anyone this season, making proclamations that “the comeback is on” when the club trailed by three in another game. This has been the norm where even the Devils announcers have become as spoiled as their fans, who booed their heroes during tonight’s 3-0 shutout loss to Pittsburgh. But oddly enough, it was the season high fourth straight defeat at The Swamp. The Devils have lost only nine times all season. So before that, they were pretty much indestructible there. What’s happened lately might be a product of not having Brian Gionta. The Mighty Mite makes a huge difference in front of the net and on the power play. But after last night, he missed his 11th game in the last 13 due to a groin injury.

The Pens were coming off their emotional 5-4 shootout home win over first in the conference Buffalo, where prior to faceoff, part-time owner Mario Lemieux announced that the club was staying in front of their 17th sellout crowd in the past 19. They celebrated by getting a shootout winner from superstar Sidney Crosby. They entered six points behind the Devils and trailed Buffalo by eight. With this being the final meeting of the series, the Pens knew they needed to get the victory in regulation. Martin Brodeur and Thibault traded some sparkling stops to keep it scoreless.

The Devils had one golden opportunity to take the lead but John Madden misfired on a shorthanded breakaway, missing the net.

Oddly enough, it was a flukey bounce which produced the first goal when Pens’ antagonist Jarkko Ruutu centered one off Travis Zajac and in. Ironically enough, Ruutu tallied twice in another Pens’ win last month at CAA. Not exactly the guy you’d expect to kill you unless he was taking a cheapshot. Just ask Brad Lukowich. The defenseman was mighty ticked at him in the second yelling before a break. That’s Ruutu.

The Devs never got untracked. Even in the third when down, they couldn’t muster much of an attack. It didn’t help that they lost Patrik Elias and John Madden to slight groin pulls, shortening the bench. The Pens upped their lead to two when underrated forward Erik Christensen rocketed one past Brodeur’s glove inside the crossbar. Trailing by two, the Devs would get one power play with about five minutes left to try to get back in it. How they got it was kind of funny. Off a draw, Crosby got tripped accidentally by his teammate and caught a stick in his visor. So he was limping back to the bench for a change when the puck came to his skate. And with someone getting on, he kicked it forcing the refs to call a bench minor for Too Many Men. But the Devs were way too tenative on it to capitalize. Scott Gomez had two chances to put it on net with someone in front but opted not to. The Pens easily killed it off and would then seal it on a beautiful passing play worked by rookies Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. The Russian made a nifty backhand saucer feed to a wide open Staal in front, who then outwaited Brodeur and tucked a backhand into the open side for his 28th. The play was made possible by the overlooked Michel Ouellet, who pick pocketed Colin White to set it up. It put an exclamation on an impressive victory for the Pens, who got 24 Thibault saves to get the shutout and improve to 5-0-1 in their last six, slicing the Devs’ Atlantic Division lead to four. Believe it or not, Jack Adams candidate Michel Therrien’s club is only six behind the first place Sabres. But while they and the Devils have 12 games remaining, the Sabres have 13. So it’s unlikely they’ll come all the way back stealing the Atlantic and then leaping over Buffalo and stealing the conference.
For the Devs, it’s back to the drawing board as they hit the road for Carolina Thursday night and try to hurt the defending champs’ playoff hopes. It should be an interesting battle down in Raleigh.

From the penthouse to the outhouse. That explains the past few days for the Knicks, who went from a great one point win at Washington on Steve Francis’ vaulting into the eighth spot and basking in the glow of Coach/GM Isiah Thomas’ multi-year extension to crashing back to reality as they fell to the Raptors up at Air Canada Centre 104-94. The defeat dropped the Knicks to 29-35. Combined with Orlando’s 101-90 win over Utah and the Nets’ back-to-back victories at Memphis and New Orleans, the Orange and Blue fell to a tie for eighth. But Orlando leads by percentage points putting them ninth.

This loss can be summed up this way: Too much T.J. Ford and Chris Bosh. After the Knicks built a 10-point lead early in the second half, the dynamic duo took over. Ford wreaked havoc in the lane, matching a career high with 18 assists (one off Damon Stoudamire’s franchise record). He also finished with 18 points including 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Eastern All Star starter Bosh had 22, eight boards and four assists. No.1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani added 18 including four from downtown. Jorge Garbajosa also chipped in with a career high 20 points.

The Knicks wasted another brilliant effort from Stephon Marbury, who finished with a game high 31 along with nine dimes and five rebounds. The problem was that Coney Island’s Finest got little help. Eddy Curry only had 13 and Steve Francis added 17. They compounded it by combining for 13 of the team’s 19 turnovers. Way too many to have success against a solid first place club such as Toronto. With nobody else in double digits and the Knicks losing Quentin Richardson (6 pts in 9 minutes) to a sore back, there weren’t enough options to pull out a victory.

It won’t get much easier for Marbury and Co. as they play host to the Hornets Friday before a Garden rematch against the Raptors Sunday. After that, they only host the league’s best in Dallas next Tuesday. No matter the level of competition, it’s do-or-die for Thomas’ Knicks.

The good news for the Knicks was that the stumbling and bumbling Pacers lost yet again for the 11th straight time, falling at home to the Wizards 112-96. It means that the Knicks, Pacers and Magic are all six under .500. But by virtue of playing two more games and winning one more game, Orlando leads by a technicality. Here is the four team race for the final two spots:

7.Nets 30-35 -

8.Magic 30-36 0.5
9.Knicks 29-35 0.5

10.Pacers 29-35 0.5