Winners advance. Losers take a seat. Plenty of latent chatter surrounds. Take a seat on the Pine and offer some insight.
Colorado State (11) vs. Murray State (6) NCAA West Region Second Round – Louisville, Ky.
The Racers and Rams are meeting for the first time. Colorado State enters the NCAA Tournament with their third straight post-season appearance and are making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and their ninth overall. The Rams finished 8-6 in the Mountain West Conference and had three wins against top- 25 teams in league play. The Rams beat TCU in the opening round of the conference tournament 81-60, then lost to San Diego State in the semifinals 79-69. The Rams are coached by Tim Miles who is in his fifth season in Fort Collins with a record of 71-87. The Rams and Racers have two common opponents from this season in Southern Mississippi and Jacksonville State. The Rams lost to USM (Nov. 19) at home 79- 58 and defeated Jacksonville State (Dec. 29) 79-56 at the Sun Bowl Invitational at UTEP. The Racers won a double-overtime thriller over USM (Nov. 26) 90-81 in the title game of the Great Alaska Shootout.
The Racers are making their 15th appearance in the Big Dance and have a 2-14 record since their first time in the event in 1964. MSU’s first win came in 1988 over North Carolina State. In 2010, MSU knocked off Vanderbilt in San Jose, Calif., and just missed an upset of Butler. The 2011-12 season is one that will go down in Murray State history as its greatest. An OVC record winning streak of 23 straight also doubled as a record start to the season and along the way, MSU enjoyed their first top-10 national rankings. MSU also became the first team in 87 years of their program to go undefeated on the road where they were 13-0 and were the only team in the country to do it. The Racers are the Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion for the third straight time and 23rd time overall. They won the OVC Tournament for the 15th time and are making their third straight post-season appearance after going to the NIT last season.
KANSAS STATE (21-10, 10-8 Big 12) vs. SOUTHERN MISS (25-8, 11-5 C-USA) NCAA Tournament East Regional Second Round
Thursday’s game will be the sixth meeting between K-State and Southern Miss dating back to Dec. 17, 1987 with the series tied at 3-all. After losing a home-and-home series in 1987 and 1988, the Wildcats have won three of the last four meetings (two in a row), including a 74-55 win in K-State Holiday Classic in the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 11, 2008. This will be just the second neutral site meeting (BMA Holiday Classic at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 28, 1991) and the first-ever in the NCAA Tournament. K-State is 25-19 all-time vs. Conference USA, including 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament. These match-ups include games against the current membership of Houston in 1956 (W, 89-70), 1961 (W, 75-64) and 1970 (W, 107-98), Texas-El Paso in 1964 (W, 64-60), Memphis in 1973 (L, 72-92) and Tulane in 1993 (L, 53-55).
Davidson Wildcats (25-7) vs. no. 18 Louisville Cardinals (26-9)
Davidson makes its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, earning the automatic bid as champions of the Southern Conference. The 13th-seeded Wildcats will take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals of Louisville.
This will be just the second meeting on the hardwood between Davidson and Louisville and the first since Dec. 12, 1959. The Cardinals topped the ‘Cats 90-47 at home in that contest. The winner will face the winner of fifthseeded New Mexico against 12th-seeded Long Beach State.
No. 4 WISCONSIN (24-9, 12-6 Big Ten) vs. No. 13 MONTANA (25-6, 16-2 Big Sky)
This will be the 3rd-ever meeting between Wisconsin and Montana … the Badgers are 2-0 vs. the Grizzlies, winning, 76-72, in Madison (12/20/65) and, 78-61, in the Big Island Invitational in Hilo, Hawaii (11/30/97) … UW is 5-0 all-time vs. members of the Big Sky Conference. Montana assistant coach Freddie Owens played at Wisconsin from 2001-2004, including his final three seasons under Bo Ryan … Owens tallied 778 points, 223 rebounds and 108 career assists at UW … Owens made the game-winning 3-pointer with one second left to give Wisconsin a 61-60 win over Tulsa in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
No. 1 Syracuse (31-2/ 17-1 Big East) vs. No.16 UNC-Asheville (24-9/16-2 Big South)
SU and UNC-Asheville have met three times previously, including a 2003-04 season encounter won by the Orange, 81-63. Syracuse also won matchups in 1991-92 and 1997-98.
#12 LONG BEACH STATE (25-8, 15-1 Big West) vs. #5 NEW MEXICO (27-6, 10-4 Mountain West)
Long Beach State will open the 2012 NCAA Tournament against New Mexico in the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. The 49ers are the 12th seed in the West Regional, while New Mexico is the five seed.
Series Record: UNM leads 3-2
Current Streak: UNM won 2
Last LBSU Win: 98-95 (12/20/82)
Last UNM Win: 92-88 <OT>(11/29/86)
Longest Winning Streak: LBSU 1, UNM 2
35/#5 VANDERBILT (24-10) vs. #12 HARVARD (26-4) NCAA 2nd Round, East Regional
No. 12 seed Harvard (26-4, 12-2 Ivy), the Ivy League champion, will face fifth-seeded Vanderbilt (24-10, 10-6 SEC), the SEC tournament champion in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Th e Crimson is making its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1946.
The Commodores hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series against Harvard with the only meeting coming during the 1993-94 season. Th e Crimson dropped a 74-58 decision to Vanderbilt on Dec. 28, 1993 at the Music City Invitational in Nashville, Tenn.
No. 3 Marquette (25-7/ 14-4) vs. No. 14 BYU Cougars (26-8 /12-4)
anybody else disagree with the 4 play in games being labeled the “first round”? C’mon, we can’t have 60 teams with a bye
First round or second round – it probably won’t affect the outcomes of the games.
Colorado State’s Pierce Hornung has 11 rebounds…in the first half.
The Cougars aren’t much for defense in the first half.