Auto Bid Alert: WINTHROP and MURRAY STATE

Two more bids snatched up yesterday.

First, Murray State picked up the last auto bid up for grabs yesterday, pulling away at the end of a tight defensive battle against Morehead State in OVC championship game. This team is a genuine Cinderella threat. They've won 30 games, they play really good defense, and they sport a fairly balanced offense. With an RPI of 62, I'd guess they'll end up with at least a 13 seed, and depending on the matchup, they could be this year's Cleveland State.

Second, Winthrop reasserted its recent dominance over the Big South by going on the road and defeating the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. (What is a Chanticleer, you ask? CCU thought you would.) After a one year hiatus, Winthrop returns to the Tournament for the 5th time in 6 years. An 11th-seeded squad pulled a first round "upset" three years ago against Notre Dame (in quotes, because in truth, it was an entirely unsurprising result). It'll be a tougher task this time around. With an RPI of 178, the Eagles are going to have trouble getting much farther than the 15 seed line.

Incidentally, Coastal Carolina is coached by ex-Auburn and ex-Clemson coach Cliff Ellis. Though he was denied a trip to the Dance this year, Ellis has a storied connection to March Madness. He was the coach of the Clemson team that was on the wrong end of one of the more dramatic buzzer beaters in Tournament history:

That's poor Cliff looking glumly down court at about 2:12. But just a few seconds later, you get an even better reaction shot of Elden Campbell, certainly one of the most iconic "what the hell just happened?" reactions to a buzzer beater in Tournament history.

The Chase for the Top Line

I don't know how they did it, but Kansas State just managed to lose to Iowa State (yes, that's "3-13 in the Big 12" Iowa State) ... on their own home floor. This craptacular result solidifies Duke's hold on the fourth 1 seed. For now, anyway. In about 10 minutes, the Blue Devils will have their own chance to cough up a spot on the top line.

Auto Bid Alert: EAST TENNESSEE STATE

Last year, an underseeded East Tennessee State team very nearly became the first 16 seed to defeat a 1 seed in the Tournament. This year, returning just one starter, and featuring five underclassmen in their starting lineup, few expected that they'd get another shot at that feat. But the Bucs are back.

ETSU was seeded 5th in the Atlantic Sun conference tourney, but because of upsets elsewhere in the bracket, they only had to defeat the 4th, 8th, and 6th seeded teams to go Dancing. They just finished it off today with a 72-66 win over Mercer. With an RPI of 125, they've got a shot at a 15 seed, but a second straight chance to make history as a 16 is a reasonable bet.

Orange Crushed

Not a bad way to close the doors.

In the last-ever game at the historic Freedom Hall, before a jubilant throng that included such legends as "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison, Louisville just finished spanking the (soon-not-to-be) number one team in the country by 14 points. On an afternoon full of pomp and emotion, it was the improbable performance of unheralded sophomore Kyle Kuric, who scored 22 points in 18 minutes, that stole the show. The win means that when they turn out the lights at Freedom Hall, they'll get to keep the celebration going all the way to the Big Dance.

Auto Bid Alert: CORNELL

The Big Red has booked the first automatic bid to the tournament, clinching the Ivy League championship with a 19-point pasting of Brown last night. The win officially extinguished The March's slim hopes that their alma mater might go dancing for the first time ever.

Readers may remember Cornell for its near-upset of Kansas, in Lawrence no less, in January. Failing to close the deal there doomed them to finishing the season without any especially impressive wins. But with a 26-4 record and a top 50 RPI rating, they have a shot at a 12 seed, which would be the highest for an Ivy since Penn nabbed an 11 seed in 2003.

Rivalry Week Recap (Part 1)

I've largely made good on my promise to dive face-first into Rivalry Week, so far catching five games featuring 8 teams in the top 14, 6 in the top 10, and 4 of the top 5. In a number of cases, this was my first chance to take a close look at the top contenders this season, and on initial impression, I have to say it's a relatively unimpressive lot. You can't fully judge a book by reading just one chapter, so I'll be sure to revise my views as I get through the backlog of games on my DVR and as the rest of the season unfolds. But for now, color me lukewarm.

Let's take a closer look at some of these games (AP ranking in parentheses).

Villanova (4) at West Virginia (5) - The week got started with a pretty lackluster game in front of a pretty lackluster crowd. I guess the 'Eers fans have been chastened by the national scolding they've received for using their home floor as a dumpster, because they sat on their hands for about 35 minutes. You had to know things would be tame after Bob Huggins pulled a Sam Wyche on the home fans, only without the triumphant insult of the rival fanbase:

(Side note: For years, I used to cap off agitated rants by telling people that they didn't live in Cleveland, they lived in Cincinnati. It's really satisfying, try it.)

Admittedly, there wasn't a helluva lot to cheer about, with the home team putting in a thoroughly mediocre performance in an 82-75 loss. They have a chance to redeem their Rivalry Week though with the return game in this year's edition of the Backyard Brawl. As I type, that game has just landed in my DVR queue.

As unimpressive as West Virginia was, Villanova really wasn't that much better. Scottie Reynolds put on a great performance and salvaged an otherwise forgettable contest, but there are more systemic problems with the Wildcats. I watched their game against Georgetown over the weekend, and both times, their defense showed a disconcerting lack of discipline and positional fundamentals. They tend to exert a lot of energy, running around frantically, but end up getting caught out of position and, most problematically, failing to close out on open 3-pt shooters. If they can't correct these issues down the stretch, their

March could be shorter than expected.

Kansas (1) at Texas (14) - Perhaps these are my preconceived notions talking, but Kansas does seem to be the one team that, as expected, stands out head and shoulders from the rest. They play really tough defense, especially inside (where they were double-teaming Dexter Pittman to good effect), and they have a bunch of offensive weapons. Plus, they've got that most cherished of March Madness treasures - a senior point guard leader.

As for Texas, aside from Damion James showing that he's developed into a pretty terrific all-around player, it was a pretty middling performance in front of (another) pretty middling crowd. Rick Barnes' perpetual underachievement is a constant source of bemusement for the March's blogging tandem, and this year looks like it'll be no exception. But it does seem to me that the key for Barnes is getting a really great point guard, a la TJ Ford and DJ Augustin. Those teams have been his best, and the ones that have underachieved relative to their talent level have visibly struggled for lack of floor leadership. J'Covan Brown was one of the two bright spots for the Longhorns on Monday night, and maybe that means that he's ready to step up to the plate in this regard. But I remember Varez Ward having a good game or two a couple years ago, and I'm not sure he even plays anymore. So we'll see, I guess.

Tennessee (12) at Vanderbilt (22) - It's always fun to watch Bruce Pearl lose, but it's especially fun when it happens on one of my favorite courts in the country, where the benches are on the baseline and the court is is elevated above the floor.

I've long held that Pearl needs an offensive coordinator, and this game was a good example of why. Watching his halfcourt offense is a masochistic exercise. Yes, it's made barely tolerable by the fact that sometimes, his players' random 1-on-1 moves actually accomplish something. And indeed Tennessee pulled back into this game that way after a characteristically excruciating first half. But this is not an offensive system that optimizes the potential of its players, and until Pearl figures out how to do that, his teams won't consistently perform and get over the hump. (Now, having said all that, the Vols are the only team to put down Kansas this year, and I haven't seen that game, though I will. Maybe after watching that, I'll take it all back. Or maybe it'll just show how much the team underachieves in other games.)

Vanderbilt, on the other hand, runs a pretty effective team offense. With freshman sharpshooter John Jenkins hospitalized with the flu, they executed a balanced attack. I was disappointed not to see Jenkins play, as I'd been excited to catch a glimpse of the guy that was so praised for his shooting skills in high school. But it gave me a chance to focus on Vandy's other players, and I came away somewhat impressed with Jeffery Taylor. The big man is pretty versatile. That said, their defense was kind of so-so. If they can tighten it up, they could make a run in March.

* * *

I'll be back with more thoughts on Purdue-Michigan State and Syracuse-UConn. I won't be back with more thoughts on Duke-UNC, because even though the Comcast viewer guide told my DVR that the game was on ESPN, it was actually blacked on in favor of a local broadcast on some random local network. Yet another disastrous consequence of living in ACC country.

"They thought they were better, but they weren't."

I'll have more to say about Rivalry Week shortly, but for now, news of an important, if unsurprising, scientific finding:

In a novel study that used historical tape of a thrilling overtime basketball game between Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, brain researchers at Duke have found that fans remember the good things their team did much better than the bad.

. . .

Rubin said the Duke fans and the UNC fans did equally well on the recall test, though the Duke fans tended to answer quicker and tended to be more sure of themselves. "They thought there were better, but they weren't," he said.

Yes, that's right. Science has finally provided support for my longheld claim that the Duke fanbase has the most noxious combination of arrogance and ignorance of any in America.

Hat tip to my co-blogger, who will be joining the March in earnest at the end of the month.