John Fanta
University Basketball Broadcasters and Reporters
Ah, March! The glorious month arrived on a loaded slate on Saturday. As if the Southeastern Conference hadn’t fully flexed the group’s muscles throughout the season, the league reminded the country that it had posted a historic campaign by offering three top 20 matchups on the first day of the best college basketball month.
And in Knoxville, we got a taste of a moment of insanity when Tennessee’s Jamai Mashak hit a 40 footer on the buzzer to give Alabama a 79-76 victory to the volunteers. Rick Burns’ team spins from 76-72 in 36 seconds, earning the final seven points of the game in wild fashion.
Elsewhere in college basketball on Saturday, Auburn and Duke showed why they are the country’s top two teams.
The Tigers hugged Kentucky without a field goal in the near 11th minute, earning a 94-78 victory at Lexington. The Blue Pal teams have shown they need to win a full SEC regular season title with victory, moving 27-2 overall and get the chance to play A+ games and beat them. why? Miles Kelly drilled nine triples and scored 30 points, while Chad Baker Mazara scored 22. What about Johnny Bloom? He shot 9-3, but Denver’s Jones double digit scorer attempted only two shots, but that wasn’t a problem remotely.
This team defends at a great level and is a complete nightmare for your opponent to be on guard as the Tigers can answer all the questions. I’m actually a bit confused as to why Auburn doesn’t talk more about being a great college team to a generation. The Tigers lost only one league match and took the title in the SEC. This tracks sending 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament.
[Related: Mike DeCourcy’s latest NCAA Tournament projections]
When we talk about domination, what about Duke? The Blue Devils won six straight games. Each has scored at least 18 points.
After Cooper Flag left the first half with an eye injury, Cameron Indoor Stadium had some nerves about his future first pick in the NBA Draft. However, the superstar freshman returned to the second half, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in Florida’s 100-65 loss. John Shayer’s team was out without Tyrees Proctor due to a knee injury but should be back in the near future. Duke is number one in Kenpom.
We’ve been leading Auburn and Duke all season, but I think we’re looking at Florida having every shot this April to cut down on San Antonio’s net. The Gators were offensive juggernauts, shredding the Top 10 Texas A&M defense on Saturday night, beating the Aggies 89-70 with 14 made triples.
I think the biggest testimony of how good Todd Golden’s team is on the scores is the fact that all-American guard Walter Clayton shot 13-3 from the floor and 8-8 from downtown, so it didn’t make a difference. That’s because senior guard Will Guard was a flamethrower Saturday night, shooting 13-for-9 from the floor, earning 25 points. Meanwhile, big man Thomas Howe was a big matchup issue for the Aggies, earning 17, 7-7 from the floor. How about 21 assists at night? On the other side, the Gators shut down Wade Taylor IV and tuning was three-in-11 as the Aggies dropped it for the fourth straight time.
Three other weekend takeouts:
St. John’s Red Storm isn’t just coming back. They are champions. For the first time since 1985, Johnny is the Big East regular season champion after leading by 21 points in a 71-61 victory over the title clinch 71-61 Seton Hall in front of Madison Square Garden’s third straight capacity weekend crowd. Rick Pipino’s Hall of Fame career has raised St. John’s College, 72, to a level he has never seen in 40 years, so he wrote one of the best chapters ever. He was the first college coach to win regular season conference titles at five different schools, and with his 880th career victory on Sunday he passed Dean Smith for the seventh time in history. What a story in Manhattan.
Iowa and Texas Tech issued a statement on Saturday. The Red Raiders won the Allen Field House and demonstrated why they could become a dangerous team on the big dance floor to drill 15 triples in the process. The acquisition of JT Toppin from the transfer portal by Grant Mackasland was Slam Dunk. In Ames, the Cyclone revenges in Arizona and shows why they are still dark horses to reach the final four. When they get an offensive balance like Saturday, they’re special as their defense doesn’t shake when they score five points on the double figure and Milan Mamacolic causes matchup issues with his 3.
Life in the bubble continues to intensify, with bubble winners and losers over the weekend. The biggest brow-raising result was that John Calipari and Arkansas had a 19-point loss to the weaker South Carolina team. That should have pushed the Razorback out of the predicted field for now. Georgia completely changed hopes this week after winning Florida in a dominant road victory in Texas. The Longhorns must be out of the predicted field, and Rodney Terry’s seats are heated.
In the Big Ten, Indiana passes Washington behind such talent, Mariklenaud, showing why Mike Woodson kicked him out of the portal. If the Hoosiers win in Oregon on Tuesday night, they belong. Either way, Saturday’s home game against Ohio State is a huge showdown. Nebraska should be very hilarious after causing a bad loss to Minnesota.
And in the Big East, Xavier helped himself with a 22-point victory over Clayton. Zach Freemantle and Ryan Conwell matched up at 43. They are underrated as great duoes in the sport. The musketeers won five times in a row. If Xavier wins with Butler and beat Providence this week, it should be on the right side of the bubble.
Here are my top 25:
1. Auburn (27-2)
2. Duke (26-3)
3. Houston (25-4)
4. Florida (25-4)
5. Tennessee (24-5)
6. St. John’s (26-4)
7. Alabama (23-6)
8. Michigan (24-5)
9. Texas Tech (22-7)
10. Clemson (24-5)
11. Iowa (22-7)
12. Wisconsin (22-7)
13. Louisville (23-6)
14. Maryland (22-7)
15. Memphis (24-5)
16. St. Mary’s (27-4)
17. Missouri (21-8)
18. Purdue (20-9)
19. BYU (21-8)
20. Marquette (22-7)
twenty one. Michigan (22-7)
twenty two. Kentucky (19-10)
twenty three. VCU (24-5)
twenty four. Vanderbilt (20-9)
twenty five. UC San Diego (26-4)
John Fanta is Fox Sports’ National College Basketball Broadcasting Station and Writer. He covers sports in a variety of abilities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as the lead host of the Big East Digital Network, to providing comments in the 68 media network area. Follow him in @john_fanta.
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