FSU vs ND - In game thread - 2nd Half

Hansbrough is really getting after it on defense.  It doesn't seem to matter right now though as the 'Noles have already scored 9 points in the first 4 minutes.

FSU scored 57 against A&M on Friday.  They already have 43 with 15:50 remaining.

The guys from the WarChant.com are telling me that FSU never shoots like this.  I believe them.  50% from three is a pretty good number.  The lower seeded team has done very well from that distance this weekend.

Abromaitis is noticeably frustrated.  We are well on our way for both of the "home" schools to lose tonight.

ND is down 19  at 47 - 28 and for the first time tonight, I think they are going to lose.  They need Hansbrough to take over because he's the only one not playing tentative out there right now.

Notre Dame has 6 losses this year.  Five are by double digits.

It's 52-29 at the under 12 minute TV timeout.  FSU is shooting better than 50% from the field and from deep.  ND is stuck at 28% and 13% respectively.  OUCH.

Brey is really working the sidelines.  He's going to be exhausted after tonight.  He's like a 6th defender as ND has none gone to a press.

Hansbrough just hit a three and Snaer picked up a technical.

It's an 11-0 run for the Irish and the pro-Irish crowd has come to life.

There are some pretty witty FSU fans behind me.  Sounds like they enjoyed themselves well before coming into this dry arena.

It's 54-40 at the under 8 minute TV Timeout.  That's 11-2 since the last one.  ND needs a similar type run to really give themeslves a chance to win.

Abromaitis is 0-5 from deep and a couple of them have been wide open.  He's killing them.

FSU should go right after Hansbrough.  He's got 4 fouls  and this game would be put to bed if he fouled out

It's 62-47 at the under 4 minute TV Timetout.  This one is over.  I'm gonna ask Mike Brey about the Big East.  I asked Thompson the other day what he thought.

ND is 4 for 25 from three.  Georgetown had the same problem.  I wouldn't say that either are flawed.  Given their roster's, what strategy would have been better.  Neither have good big man.  You can blame the coach for recruiting and that's valid.  But that's how both of these teams had to play to win.

Hansbrough just fouled out and the crowd is killing him.  He's taking it pretty well.  The house stat channel has the name HANSBROUGH written in just like that.

FSU barely got by A&M the other day.  I figured they had a better chance at beating ND.  I was right.

Abromaitis has hit a couple of meaningless 3's.  His box score won't look as bad now.  They had no impact on the game.

Final FSU 71 ND 57

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

There is a steady drip from the ceiling a few rows behind me.  Some ND fans are complaining about it.  I'd love to know what the usher is supposed to do about it.  I bet they wish it was raining 3's.

Well this is now the only game on TV right now.  They delay is about 7 seconds.  I like it.

The FSU dance team is ridiculous.  I mean that in a good way.

The FSU radio play-by-play guy reminds me of Jim Ross.

ND fans left way too early.  I'll never understand that move.  It's not just their fans.  It's fans of every team in every sport.  They spend a lot of time/effort/money to get to games and then they leave early.

The drum that starts the Tomahawk Chop is insane.  It puts the ones at DC United games to shame.  Sorry fellas.

FSU vs ND - In game thread

Florida State is up early but it's Fool's Gold so far.  ND is off to a horrible shooting start (4-15) but FSU has already has 8 turnovers and is only up 5.  The Irish will at some point start hitting shots.  Won't they?

So I just found out Syracuse lost.  That's awesome.

Notre Dame guard Scott Martin is really laboring around the court.  I'm not sure what's wrong with him but something is definitely not right.

Hansbrough is having a hard time getting to the hoop.  Micahel Snaer is doing a great job of staying all over him without fouling.

Florida State's length is really bothering ND.  That's the bad news.  FSU struggles to score at times and goes through long droughts.  That's the good news.

Halftime FSU 34 ND 23

That is a low half for the Irish.  1-10 from deep isn't going to get it done for them.  They are about to pull a Georgetown if they don't watch out.  I think they will get back in this.  Abromaitis won't stay cold all night.

ND is actually outscoring FSU in the paint while FSU holds the advantage from long distance.  It's the exact opposite of what you would expect.  Up is down and black is white here in Chicago.

Getting back to Abromaitis - he has thrown up a couple of bricks.  Not like him at all.  Dude can't flat out shoot.



United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

27 minutes sounds like a long time.  It's not.  It's impossible to catch both press conferences of the previous teams and hit the locker rooms without missing a considerable amount of the next game.  I missed about 8 minutes of game time.

There's more FSU fans here than you would think.  Well at least more than I would think.

The FSU radio guys do the tomahawk chop with the rest of the crowd.  I like it.  I'm sure I would hate it if this were a football game though.

Just got the notes from the Purdue and VCU press conferences.  I did not know that Purdue was the Old Gold and Black.  So who's the Young Gold and Black?

VCU vs Purdue - In Game Thread 2nd Half

Up 11 on Friday against the Hoyas, the Rams came out and put the game away early.  Purdue has already show more life shooting the ball than Georgetown ever did on Friday so I expect them to make VCU earn it a bit more.

Purdue needs to go down low more and they have on both of their opening possessions to start the half.  And now they hit a three and it feels like the entire arena is rooting for the Boilers.

VCU has withstood the first attempt by Purdue to cut into the lead and has actually increased it to 15 with 14:15 remaining.

After watching VCU torch Georgetown from behind the arc, Purdue is really up on the shooters.  This is leading to some nice penetration and assists for VCU.  You can't guard both.  VCU is doing a good job of making one have to guard 2.

I really think Purdue is panicking.  They aren't using their inside advantage at all.  They have already hoisted up 19 shots from deep, making only 6.

We are halfway through the 2nd half and its VCU 65 Purdue 48.  I'm calling this one right now.

Purdue had given up 70 or more four times in 33 games this season.  VCU has 82 with 3:30 left.

I hope the AD at VCU has a list of coaching candidates for men's basketball because Shaka Smart won't be in Richmond much longer.  I dare Oklahoma to hire him.  I wonder if Jeff Capel is watching

Final VCU 94 Purdue 76

Ok I need to go get some quotes for a real story.

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

Does anybody not know the words to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer?

Their is a VCU cheerleader that walks up and back the length of the court on her hands.  I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it on Friday.  Tonight I am.

VCU vs Purdue - In Game Thread

If VCU beats Purdue tonight they will become the second team from the Richmond area to end up in the San Antonio regional later this week joining the Spiders of Richmond.  That's crazy if you think about it.

VCU has been able to make this an up tempo game so far.  Their 3 point shots haven't been falling and as a result the lead has gone back and forth.  They are pressing on their makes and it's causing some trouble for Purdue.

Uh oh Boilermaker fans, the Rams are on a 13-0 run.  The 3's are starting to drop and the lead is up to 12.

Rodriguez has been making good decisions for the most part.  The few bad passes he has thrown have been on breaks and his teammates have bailed him out by saving the would-be turnover.

Halftime VCU 42 Purdue 32

The Rams were up 11 on Georgetown.  It's a little bit more of a high scoring game at this point.  VCU has made 18 field goals at the break.  By comparison they made 18 field goals against Georgetown in the entire game.  They just haven't hit as many 3's or free throws (yet).

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round


I hope the Florida State radio guy is getting paid a lot because he has been working his tail off to get his operation ready for the next game.

I love how they announce scores that have been a final for hours inside to the public as if it's the 1960's and everybody is lost without a paper the next morning in their driveway.

The VCU band is tremendous.  They have been the musical class of the Chicago site and it's not even close.

Well John Thompson Jr. is still here.  Unfortunately that's about the only familiar face today.

The guys from something called WarChant.com are sitting next to me.

It's almost halftime and the FSU radio guy is still trying to connect all of the cables and wires that he needs to get on the air.  It's exhuasting to watch.

It's really hard to turn the channel on the TV down here.  TNT HD is on ch 61.6 and it takes forever to get there.  I went with SD for awhile.  So, yeah, that's how hard it is.

Just got my one minute "conversation" out of the way with JT2.  If he didn't favor one of his legs and he could walk faster, they would be more 15 second "conversations".

Peace brah

Purdue 65 - St. Peter's 42 - Final

Nothing like a nice little 7-0 to start the half for the Boilermakers to push their lead to 40-17.  The St. Peter's fans behind me are really into their team.  I'm glad somebody is.

I've never heard fans cheer so hard for a team getting totally destroyed.  It's nice.  I think.

St. Peter's is starting to get some stuff from their press and has cut the lead to 16 at 50-34.

In other news the Georgetown section is starting to fill up.  I know that the Hoyas had to request more than their original allotment of 550 tickets.  But as expected ND and Purdue fans are the big fan bases at this event.

St. Peter's is constantly looking for the back door cut.  They aren't getting it and have thrown a couple of bad passes trying to open it.

One more media timeout and this baby is over.  53-36 in favor of Purdue.

This one looks over.  I'm going to really miss the Peacock mascot.  That's one good looking bird.  I'm seriously considering getting a picture with him after this one is over.

St. Peter's did not give up but they just didn't have it.  I figured this would be the worst game of the day and it has been, so far.

Now it's time for the big time.

Game 3: Purdue (3) vs Saint Peter's (14)

Purdue (25-7)

Starters
E'Twaun Moore G
Lewis Jackson G
Ryne Smith G
JaJuan Johnson F
D.J. Byrd F

Saint Peter's (20-13)

Starters
Nick Leon G
Wesley Jenkins G
Steven Samuels G
Darius Conley F
Ryan Bacon F

I think this will be the one blowout of the day here in Chicago.  St. Peter's just doesn't have the height and they only decent team that beat this season was Alabama.  Purdue has two pros on their roster.  It's gonna take a lot from the Peakcocks tonight.

The arena is filling up better than I thought.  Everybody I talked with said the Purdue fan base wasn't rather apathetic toward their basketball team even thought it's been more successful than their football team.

It's 24-13 with under 5 minutes left in the first half.  I guess you could say that St. Peter's is hanging around.  I think it's more of Purdue just screwing around.

There are mismatches at all 5 positions on the court.  I'm sure it's been a great season for St. Peter's but it's about to end and end badly.

Halftime

Purdue 33
St. Peter's 17

It feels like 133 to 17.

There's not much to say about this one.  So I won't.

In between the doubleheaders 3-18

There was not much time in between the doubleheaders tonight.  

I went back and caught the last half of the Texas A&M press conference.  I can't imagine anything worse than having to interview the losing team - especially the seniors that know they aren't playing at the next level.

I was wondering what the Big Ten was going to do with the buffet today because of the whole "no meat on Friday's" thing during Lent.  They played it safe and went with grilled cheese and soup.  It was alright.  I've had worse.

The good thing about an A&M loss is that I think FSU can beat Notre Dame.  The bad thing is that the A&M media guys were very friendly and informative.  They are going home.  The second good thing is that a lot of space just opened up to my right.  I've not got total control of the HDTV at the end of my row.  It's about 30 seconds faster than the internet version of the game.

The guys from Richmond covering VCU are all wearing WRIC shirts.  I kinda want one.

It's starting to get real around these parts.  The Georgetown assistant coaches are sitting a few seats to my left.  I'm starting to see a few Hoya fans I recognize.  

I think today is a good day to start a winning streak.

Peace brah