Trav's Thoughts

Scheduling update:

March 22: More hoops through the rest of the evening, a full nine hours.

March 23: Eight more games today, all day.

March 27-28: Four games each evening.

March 29-30: Two games each day.

April 5: Two games in the Final Four.

April 7: Championship game in the evening.

In between there will be Manic Monday posts, performance reviews for Dancing with the Stars and recaps of results, plus encore videos, and maybe a Thursday 13 or two. Who knows what thoughts will come to me during the week. I am nothing if not versatile.

We've got four games in progress now: Purdue vs Xavier, Marquette vs Stanford, Notre Dame vs Washington State, and UNLV vs Kansas.

Whew! Lots to keep an eye on now.

Xavier handled the frantic pressure from Purdue, made their foul shots, and hung on to advance to face West Virginia in the next round.

Washington State's strong half court defense is stifling Notre Dame's up tempo offense, and the Cougars have pushed out to a double digit lead at the half.

Marquette went on an 18-4 run to take a lead on Stanford with about two minutes to play in the first half. And Stanford's coach has been ejected after receiving two technical fouls. Yikes! I don't know how that happened, but that's an irresponsible thing to do to your kids. The Cardinal did finish the half strong to cut the lead to six.

Kansas has the lead on UNLV about half way through the first half.

All caught up now? Good!

With the other games at halftime, we'll take a look at UNLV vs Kansas where the Rebels have taken a two point lead over the Jayhawks with about six minutes to play in the first half. The lead doesn't last very long as Kansas gets a driving lay up with a foul for a three point play. And the Jayhawks turn up the defensive screws to extend that lead to 5.

WSU is extremely well prepared for this game. They are in complete control of the tempo and Notre Dame has been unable to adjust to the half court game. The Irish need to get more pressure on the Cougars to force some turnovers and missed shots so they can get out in the open floor and pick up some fast break baskets.

Notre Dame made a run, but WSU countered with 8 unanswered points to re-establish control. It doesn't look like the Irish have any kind of game plan to take advantage of their strengths.

Stanford has come back to tie Marquette behind the 7' Lopez twins. Marquette is struggling now to contain them on both ends of the floor. It's tough enough to deal with one talented big man, but two? Stanford has surged to a six point lead and has forced Marquette to foul as they try and contend with the big men inside.

Inexplicably, the Stanford assistant coach (who took over after the head coach was ejected in the first half) has pulled both of the Lopez twins for an extended rest. Marquette has taken advantage and battled back to take the lead. Why take your foot off the gas just because you're going downhill?

Marquette has completely stolen the momentum and surged back to a six point lead. That's a 12 point turn around by pulling both Lopez kids at the same time.

With the Lopez kids in the game, Stanford has re-taken control on the defensive end. The Marquette players have to adjust their shots to try and score over them, and both big men are adept at blocking shots without fouling. They are also quick jumpers...once they have come down after a blocked shot they can get back in the air to secure the ball.

WSU destroyed Notre Dame in the second half. The Irish were never able to adjust to the defensive pressure, and they were unable to effectively score from the outside. The Cougars get the 20 point win, and advance to the Sweet 16 to possibly play #1 seed North Carolina, assuming the Tarheels beat Arkansas.

Robin Lopez is fouled with about 8 seconds to play. He misses the first free throw, but gets the second to tie Marquette at 71. The Golden Eagles miss a three point shot to win and the game goes to overtime.

They can't handle Brook Lopez down low. Marquette is countering his dominance by hitting three point shots.

And now Stanford trails by one with the ball and a chance to win with 9 seconds to play. They get the ball to Brook Lopez who makes an awkward 5 foot shot from the baseline to put the Cardinal ahead by one with just 1.3 seconds to go.

Marquette is unable to get a last second shot and Stanford wins behind 30 points from Brook Lopez and 18 from Robin, plus the rebounds and defensive dominance.