Nova Benches Reynolds/Fisher

Villanova guards Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher did not start in the NCAA tournament opener against Robert Morris. A team spokesman said coach Jay Wright benched the pair as a "minor teaching point," and they will play in the game.

Listen I love this. Send a message early to these players. DP and I have suggested doing this with the Celtics and even URI. Sometimes a little wake up call is all a team needs. Well now there is no doubt in my mind that Nova is going to the Final 4, and Reynolds is going to go fucking off.

College Basketball Recap

(3) Mizzou 102, (2) Memphis 91

Has anyone else been more impressive this tournament than Mizzou? JT Tiller had a career night for Mizzou as he broke Memphis' 27 fluff game win streak. Tiller finished with 23 points on the night. Mizzou almost blew it as they let up a 24 point lead to 6, but free throws really sealed the deal for them. Freshman point guard Tyreke Evans finished with 33 points for Memphis, but the problem of course (again) was free throws. Memphis only hit 18 of 32 from the line, I guess Calipari should start taking them a little more seriously figuring it has cost them two tournament games.

(1) UConn 72, (5) Purdue 60

After cruising through the first two rounds in the tournament, UConn found itself in a little bit of a challenge yesterday until late in the second quarter. Hasheem Thabeet had his coming out party scoring 15, rebounding 15, and blocking 4 shots. But what the stat line won't show you is his overall defensive dominance. Since Purdue lacked size, it was close to impossible to score from the paint due to Thabeet's size.

(1) Pittsburgh 60, (4)Xavier 55

Does anyone else hate having Pitt as their winner? Levance Fields was star of the game hitting one of the most ill advised three point shots with 50.9 seconds left on the clock and hit it. Pitt was trailed 54-52 before Fields hit that three pointer to put the Panthers up for good. Sam Young led led Pitt with 19 points, Fields had 14 and DeJuan Blair had 10 points and 17 rebounds as they needed it to overcome a 8 point deficit at halftime. Pitt finally got over the sweet 16 hump and is on to the elite for the first time in 8 years.

(3) Villanova 77, (2)Duke 54

Dante Cunningham had 14 points and 11 rebounds and the third seeded Wildcats beat the Blue Devils for the first time in more than 50 years. Villanova took advantage took advantage of Duke's pathetic shooting 27% to advance to the elite eight. Kyle Singler had 15 and Jon Scheyer had 13 but went 3-18 and "star" Gerald Henderson had the worst shooting performance I have seen in my life going 1-14 finishing with 7 points.

76 Villanova, 75 Marquette

This is when I start getting excited about the NCAA tournament. At one point Marquette was down by 16, and it seemed hopeless as their stars Maurice Acker, Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler were ice cold, however, the second half belonged to Marquette until 3 seconds were left on the clock. Marquette was led by Jerel McNeal who was spot on and did a hell of a job playing for the injured Dominic James. The Nova team was on fire purely based on the play of Scottie Reynolds who scored 21 and Corey Stokes who scored 20. With Nova down by one with 12 seconds left they ran this ridiculous looking play where it seemed Reggie Evans run around all over the place. As Reggie was penetrating he caught Jerel McNeal staring at the ball and laid the ball down for Dwayne Anderson for the game winning lay up.

Great game. If Dominic James was playing they would have a much more productive tournament run.

Around The NCAA

102 Nova, 84 Marquette

Scottie Reynolds scored 27 points and Corey Fisher 21 as the 13th ranks Villanova continued it's impressive big east run as it upended number 10 Marquette. Villanova knocked off its third top 25 team in its six game win streak.

54 #9 Michigan State, 42 Michigan
Looks like BMack's team won again as they beat rival Michigan last night. Freshman Delvoe Roe scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half and Kalin Lucas scored 13 of his 15 after the half. State has now moved 2.5 games ahead of Ohio State and Illinois.