UCLA 77, Stanford 67 (OT) Don't be deceived by the final score, the Cardinal outplayed the Bruins for 40 minutes. I always hate pointing at the officials, but they decided the outcome of this game, most notably this blocked shot with seconds left on Darren Collison. Foul? I don't think so. Two shots, tie game and UCLA ran away with it in OT. You can use this to confirm the Bruins elite status, but I was far more impressed with Stanford. Yes, a month ago or so I believe I called them one of the most overrated teams in the country and at the time I still think that was the case. They play like they did tonight and they could be a final four team again. The key is can Johnson and Goods hit their outside shots. Last night they were falling which makes the Lopez brothers incredibly difficult to defend, particularly when Brook is hitting 10-15 footers. He was awesome, and made me believer at the next level. UCLA is 1-seed material, but Stanford should have won this game.
St. Joseph's 71, Xavier 66 Assuming March cooperates, I'm making it mandatory that we have a rushing the court video daily in this space. The team that lost two straight to St. Louis and Temple, effectively pushing them off the bubble, may have very well played themselves back into the Madness with a huge win over #11 Xavier. I spent most of this game watching the Spartans, but when I did tune in Pat Calathes was solid.
I've been extolling the virtues of Xavier all year so I will take my medicine on this one. St. Jo's simply wanted to win more last night. A bad loss for the mighty X-men who had an outside shot at a 2 seed before the game.
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