So, there are still three more games involving ranked teams (#8 Arizona vs Stanford, #24 Creighton vs Villanova, and #12 Kansas St vs #22 TCU).  But the ranked teams are showing why they are locks for the tournament.

Most of the ranked teams today were playing in their conference tournament quarterfinals, and typically finding themselves up against a bubble team desperately looking for one more victory to boost their resume.

Well – the ranked teams showed today the reason that they are locks for the tournament, and the bubble teams are desperately looking for a victory to boost their resume.  So far, the ranked teams went 11-1.  Some of the games were close – including Marquette who needed overtime.  But at the end of the day, the only team to win was Iowa State to beat #10 Baylor.  It probably isn’t a coincidence that Iowa State is in my bracketology “Traditional Locks” section, as a team with a top 20 NET ranking.

The ranked teams are simply playing for seeding – it is not that they don’t want to win, but they don’t need these games like the bubble teams.  The bubble teams are playing to try to keep their season alive.  And yet, the ranked teams basically won all the games.

I am not saying some bubble teams didn’t help their cause by winning today.  But most of the time that happened was when they were playing another bubble team (like Rutgers over Michigan, Arkansas over Auburn, Oregon over Washington State, or Penn State over Illinois).

Also have to mention it has been a crazy couple of days for coaches.  Kansas’ Bill Self had to go to the emergency room for a “standard procedure” and will miss the rest of the Big 12 tournament.  While I am still angry with Self for his role in some of the cheating scandals investigated by the FBI, I certainly wish that Self has a speedy recovery and feels better soon – the reports I have read looks like he is recovering well which is great news.

Patrick Ewing will not be returning to Georgetown (which is probably long overdue as he went 75-109 over 6 seasons).  I mentioned Jim Boeheim’s retirement – but his post-game interview made it very unclear whether he was choosing to retire or whether Syracuse decided to move on with a new coach.  Which honestly, is classic Boeheim – his press conferences were always strange.  I read a couple stories today about how Boeheim is tarnishing his legacy by the way he is acting in his final days as Syracuse coach.  And I laugh and think to myself, Jim Boeheim has never seemed to care about what the press thinks – so he certainly dosen’t care now what they think about his legacy.

And then there was Texas Tech’s Mark Adams resigning after being suspended for an “inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment.”  Quoting the ESPN story.  “According to the school, Adams was encouraging a player to be more receptive to coaching and “referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.” Adams apologized to the team immediately after the comment, the school said.”  I completely agree that Adams had to lose his mind to think using a Bible verse about servitude would make a player more receptive to coaching.  But it really feels more like he will be leaving the Red Raiders because he is being pushed out by the administration for a 16-16 season.  Maybe I am a little jaded, but I suspect that Adams would be able to quote any bible scripture that he wants if Texas Tech was a top 3 team in Big 12 heading to the NCAA Tournament.  Sadly, if he was winning, he would likely be commended for his strong religious beliefs instead of being criticized for being racist.  He never should have said what he said – but if Texas Tech wants to get rid of their coach, they should be more honest about it.

OK – well, I should probably make a decision to either get some needed sleep before the madness starts, or review some of my “bubble” teams.  At a minimum, I am going to enjoy the rest of the NC State / Clemson game – which has been pretty good so far.