OT- Did anyone see the NCAA play in game tonight?
It was one of the greatest comebacks ever. Western Kentucky (16-18) was down 16 points with 4 minutes left after letting Miss. Valley State (21-13) go on a 15-0 run. So with four minutes left in this game Western was down 16 points, then came all the way back to win it 59-58. And on a side note the Miss. Valley State coach was the point guard for Kentucky Sean Woods who was on the wrong side of the Christian Laettner hail mary to end the Kentucky Wildcats season in the Final 4 in 1992. Also Western Kentucky was (11-18) going into their conference tournament going in as one of the lowest seeds in the Sun Belt.
What a crazy finish to that one. WKU had something like 30 turnovers, but outrebounded MVSU by 30.
Kentucky is going to destroy them on Thursday. Not that that is news, but it is now officially officially official.
They usually have a solid squad, they gave Louisville a scare earlier in the year. I was surprised to see how bad their record is. I for one am praying for a miracle on Thursday.
I believe the Miss Valley State coach is Sean Woods. Keith Smart was a player on the 87 Indiana team as I recall. It was a hell of a game for the last 8 minutes or so.
Edit: when I posted the coach was listed as Keith Smart. Sorry OP, good job on the correction.
was fixing it as you wrote this I think. Nice catch though
I say choke job...one of the biggest choke jobs ever. I feel bad for Mississippi Valley, but yeah...that was brutal
How can you root against a team whose giant red mascot likes to eat children?
March 13th, 2012 at 10:02 PM ^
during my time as a sports writer in Greenville, Miss. about 8 years ago. They had a coach named Lafayette Stribling who had the greatest selection of flamboyant suits anyone has ever seen. He had a plethora of suits like red and green checks for Christmas and a polka dot one that looked like Dusty Rhodes sold it to him. He was a fun guy to cover.
I feel bad they couldn't advance. I would have been so proud.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^
Donald S. Cherry would likely disagree with the suit comment.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
So would Mr. Craig Sager.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^
Yes.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:19 PM ^
Crazy finish. That was some low quality basketball right there, but highly entertaining nonetheless.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:19 PM ^
BYU showing they didn't belong in the tourney. Iona up 44-24 with 6 minutes left in the first half.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
Iona gonna drop 100 easy tonight, hell maybe 120
March 13th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
What's even more impressive is they took care of the ball with 8.2% turnovers despite playing 35 possessions already in 1st half
March 13th, 2012 at 11:56 PM ^
I heard BYU saw your post and were like: "You know what? Lets go make Maize and Blue in OH eat his words"
March 13th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
and Iona will probably take their foot off the gas in the second half. Machado's on pace for about 25 assists.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:34 PM ^
and play Missouri. They'd probably both go over 100.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
Iona was on a holy terror for most of the first half.
March 13th, 2012 at 10:44 PM ^
There's no reason Iona shouldn't have at least 70 here at the half. Sloppy basketball at the end of the half.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
Sorry to bring this up, but for some reason I can't get Loyola Marymount out of my head watching this game.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
Never mind. Upon posting that Iona commenced putting up enough bricks to build a garage, and gave away more than the Three Wise Men.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:19 PM ^
I had MVSU and now my bracket will once again feature a loss during the first game of the Madness.
That being said, after watching this game, I don't think Kentucky will need to even bring their C game to win.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:22 PM ^
Kentucky won't even need Calipari to commit a major violation to win that game.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
Okay, Iona's mascot is flat-out creepy.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^
March 13th, 2012 at 11:43 PM ^
At one point late in the first half Iona had 17 assists and 2 turnovers.
Since then they have 3 assists and 15 turnovers.
These have been two of the strangest games I've ever seen.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:50 PM ^
Iona sucks and likes to blow 25 point leads, this is why you are in a play-in game.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:58 PM ^
When you go from 55 in the first half to 17 in the 2nd half, you get what you deserve.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:04 AM ^
just floored on how the hell they barely got to 70 points and scoring only 15 with 23 seconds left in the game. Wow they were gonna shut up everyone who said they didn't deserve to make it over Drexel or Miami (ytm) but sure enough they screwed that all up.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
Cue Drexel.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:29 AM ^
First game WAS one of the greatest comebacks. But then the second game happened . . . which WAS the GREATEST comeback EVAR!!! Or, maybe more accurately, the greatest CHOKE JOB ever. I can't even begin to imagine being an Iona fan. How, for the love of God, how do you go from 25 up to 6 down? A swing of 31 points? Inconceivable. Oh, the shame, the complete and utter humiliation. This will forever be the poster child game not to "count your chickens before your eggs hatch."
March 14th, 2012 at 12:35 AM ^
March 14th, 2012 at 12:47 AM ^
Looks like I should have watched the play in games tonight.... Not.
Iona: 55 points in the first 15 minutes and then scores only 15 the rest of the game. I don't know if anybody has ever seen that happen before and I thought Iona had the potential to upset Marquette (still think they do have the potential but their lack of depth and conditioning killed them).
Only time I ever watch TruTV
March 14th, 2012 at 11:49 AM ^
Sounds like it was a great game. Too bad it was in the middle of the week when few probably tuned in.
There shouldn't be any tournament games before the Thursday of the first week. Let the teams that get picked have a few days to bask in their accomplishments. Finding out on Sunday night that you have to play on Tuesday is pretty crappy.
is better than finding out on Sunday that you aren't going to play at all, which is what would have happened to all four of the Tuesday-night at-large schools.
I think the play-in games were a good idea: it's hard to sort out the last few at-large teams, so let them decide it on the court instead of making an arbitrary decision. And for the 16 seeds it's a chance for a SWAC team to win a game instead of being sacrificed annually to a 1 seed.