Yesterday was an awesome day of basketball.  Washington survived and will move on to play New Mexico on Saturday.  Cal plays today against Louisville and will hopefully go on to the next round as well. 

What happened to Georgetown?

I hit one of my upsets yesterday with Washington over Marquette but lost the other one with San Diego State falling to Tennessee. 

My upsets for today: Minnesota over Xavier and Oklahoma State over Georgia Tech.

Now, GET BACK TO WORK!

Who do you have as an upset?  I personally have Washington over Marquette and San Diego State over Tennessee.

As expected, the Cats were not chosen for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.  Not only did the Cats not make the NCAA Tourney, they were snubbed by the NIT as well.  The Cats declined an invitation to play in the College Basketball Invitational. Coach Miller had this to say about that decision:

That's it for this year's Cats basketball.  I'm sure there is disappointment all around at the McKale center, especially for Nic Wise. 

This year's team was mediocre at best and only came together to play as a team on a few occasions.  Derrick Williams is a stud and will only get better.  I wish Nic the best in the future and will be keeping an eye him on NBA draft day.

The Streak is most certainly over! Arizona falls to UCLA 75-69.

Arizona battled back in the 2nd half to tie the Trojans of Southern California to take it into overtime but even one overtime wasn't enough.  The Cats won in dramatic fashion on the second overtime by beating USC 86-84.   It was the second time in two games that the Cats have had to claw their way back after being down at home in the first half.  This one was a little more dramatic than the UCLA game. 

Arizona fell behind 38-33 in the first half and had a hard time controlling Dwight Lewis all day.  Kyle Fogg attempted a three point shot with two tenths of a second left in regulation.  Fogg got to the line and hit all three free throws to take the game into overtime.  The dramatics didn't end there. Each team battled back and forth and one overtime wasn't enough to decide the victor.

The Cats looked a little more in control in the second overtime and were leading by two points when USC's Marcus Simmons hit a bucket to tie the game with 16.3 seconds left.  Nic Wise, who scored 15 points on the night, and was playing his last home game at McKale Center, hit the game winning layup with 1.5 seconds left in the double overtime.  He drove through traffic and timed his shot perfectly.

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The Arizona Wildcats split the weekend by losing to Cal 95-71 and then beating Stanford 71-69.  Derrick Williams continues to dominate as he scored 17 points against Cal and then 24 points against Stanford.  Derrick Williams should be considered for the Pac-10 player of the year definitely.  

Brendon Lavender scored 14 points against Cal and Lamont Jones scored 16 points (7-15) against Stanford.  Lamont Jones scored the game winner as time expired to beat Stanford.

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The fellas over at California Golden Blogs gave us some more insight into the Pac-10's leading basketball program.  It's going to be a tough one for the Cats on Thursday night in enemy territory.

1. Since losing to the Cats on January 31, Cal has been pretty dominant and sits atop the Pac-10.  What happened?

Everybody else lost?  Seriously, did you see us sleepwalk through an embarassing loss at Oregon State?  Or fall behind by 11 at the half at home vs. Washington State?  Or give up a 25-0 run at USC?  Cal has managed to go 4-2 over the past few weeks, but other than a convincing victory over UW at home, they haven't really looked dominating over that stretch.

That said, as mediocre as Cal has been, everyone else has been even less inspiring, though Arizona State at least has managed to stay close.  First one to 12 wins this conference?

2. Jerome Randle is one streaky dude. What gives?

He's a shooter.  Lots of shooters are streaky.  This Cal team can live and die by the jump shot, so Cal fans have learned to live with the streakyness.

Moreover, I think Randle doesn't quite have the ice cold mentality of some shooters; he can let things bother him, so if he's going up against a guard who is quick enough to keep him from penetrating or active enough to force him into some dumb turnovers, he can get flustered and try to do too much.  When he's not hitting shots, he's either injured (he's played through both leg injuries and debilitating stomach flus this year -- apparently, he threw up during halftime in Cal's loss to UCLA) or he's taking contested shots that he shouldn't.  But man, when he's on, he's crazy-accurate from crazy-deep.  I'm going to miss him, and I'm not the only Cal fan that feels that way.

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Arizona couldn't catch up on Sunday, falling to the Sun Devils 73-69 at McKale.  The Sun Devils were on, hitting 52% of their FG's and were 11-20 from 3 point land.  Arizona didn't help themselves out much by turning the ball over 12 times and having many one and done possessions.  Derrick Williams had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Nic Wise scored 18 and had 3 assists. Kyle Fogg chipped in13 points as well. Solomon Hill (foul king) had 4 personals in 16 minutes of play.

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