Month: March 2025

Recent trends for major league teams……..
National League
Arizona- Missed playoffs six of last seven years, but in that one year, they got to the World Series, losing to Texas in five games. Last two years, Arizona was 84-78/89-73.

Atlanta- Made playoffs the last seven years, but made only one World Series in those years, beating Houston in six games in 2021. Braves’ last losing season? 2017. 

Cubs- Missed playoffs last four years, went 83-79/83-79 the last two years. From 2015-20, they made the playoffs five times in six years, winning 2016 World Series.

Cincinnati- Missed playoffs 10 of last 11 years, losing 2-0 to Atlanta in Wild Card round in 2020. Hiring Terry Francona as manager figures to be a huge upgrade for the Reds.

Colorado- Missed playoffs the last six years, losing 101/103 games the last two years. Since they got swept in the 2007 World Series, Rockies have made playoffs three times in 17 years.

Dodgers- Made playoffs the last 12 years, winning World Series in 2020/2024, losing Series in 2017/2018. Their last losing season was in 2010, when they were 80-82.

Miami- Marlins made playoffs twice in last four years, ending a 17-year drought; they went 62-100 last year, after making playoffs in 2023. They have their third manager in four years.

Milwaukee- Made playoffs six of last seven years; their last losing season in a 162-game schedule was 2016. Brewers won 92+ games in three of their last four seasons.

Mets- Made playoffs two of last three years, have made playoffs only four times since 2007. Mets fans are lucky to have a very wealthy owner who is also a fan and really wants to win.

Phillies- Made playoffs the last three years, ending a 10-year drought; From 2013-20, Phillies weren’t over .500 in any season. Phillies lost World Series to Houston in six games in 2022. 

Pittsburgh- Missed playoffs the last nine years, after making it three years in a row under Clint Hurdle, from 2013-15. Won 76/76 games last two years, after winning 61/62 in 2021-22.

St Louis- Missed playoffs last two years, after making it four years in a row before that; they’ve made the playoffs eight times in 13 years since winning the 2011 World Series.

San Diego- Made playoffs three of last five years, lost NLDS 3-2 to the Dodgers last year. Their owner died last year; is still unclear if the new ownership will still be spending $$$. 

San Francisco- Made playoffs once in last seven years; they were 107-55 in 2021, haven’t been over .500 since then. Made playoffs twice in last 10 years, since winning 3 WS in five years.

Washington- Won 2019 World Series, have had five losing seasons in a row since, but still have same manager/GM. They let Bryce Harper/Juan Soto/Trey Turner walk.

— Famous birthdays, March 27th:
Dick Ruthven, 74
Cliff Stoudt, 70
Randall Cunningham, 62
Quentin Tarantino, 62
Ed Pinckney, 62

Buster Posey, 38
Clay Holmes, 32
Brandon Nimmo, 32
Brycen Hopkins, 28
Tyler Kolek, 24

American League
Baltimore— Won 101-91 games the last two years; four years ago, they were 52-110, so a huge turnaround down by manager Brandon Hyde. Last World Series title: 1983.

Boston— Missed playoffs last three years, winning 78-78-81 games; they’ve made playoffs once in six years, since winning 2018 World Series- they’ve won four World Series since 2004.

White Sox— Were 41-121 last year, a historically bad season; they lost 101 games the year before, two years after they went 93-69, losing the ALDS. LY, they were 13-29 in one-run games.

Cleveland— Guardians made playoffs six of last nine years; they finished over .500 in 10 of their last 12 seasons. Cleveland was 10-3 in extra-inning games last year.

Detroit— Made playoffs last year for first time in 10 years; they were 21-12 vs lefty starters, 65-64 vs RHP. Detroit was 21-10 when Tarik Skubal was the starting pitcher.

Houston— Made playoffs the last eight years, winning World Series in 2017, 2022. Changed up some this year; Altuve will play LF, Christian Walker 1B, Paredes 3B. 

Kansas City— Made playoffs last year for first time since winning 2015 World Series; last year, Royals were 33-19 against AL Central rivals, 53-55 vs everyone else.

Angels— Have had nine straight losing seasons; Mike Trout has been in big leagues 14 years, has played in three playoff games. They still owe Anthony Rendon $77M+ the next two years.

Minnesota— Missed playoffs three of last four years; since 2006, they’re 3-18 in playoff games. Last year, Twins were 18-28 vs NL teams, 10-21 vs AL East, 29-23 vs AL Central rivals.

Bronx— Made playoffs 12 of last 16 years; lost World Series LY, their first WS since 2009. Last year, they were 73-46 vs lefty starters, only 21-23 vs lefties.

A’s— Last three years, lost 102-112-93 games; they were in the playoffs in 2020. .Will play home games the next three years in Sacramento. LY, from July 1st on, A’s were 39-37.

Seattle— Have made playoffs once since 2001; losing 3-0 to Astros in ALDS. Last year, Mariners were 32-20 vs AL West rivals, 53-57 vs everyone else- they missed the playoffs by a game.

Tampa Bay— Missed playoffs LY for first time in six years; they were 80-82, 30-22 in one-run games. This year, Rays are playing in a spring training stadium in Tampa; their dome got shredded by a hurricane this winter..

Texas— Made playoffs once in last eight years, winning 2023 World Series. Bruce Bochy has won four World Series, in his last 12 years as a manager. Rangers were 9-2 in extra innings LY.

Toronto— Made playoffs three of last five years, but went 0-6 in playoffs; last year, Blue Jays were 14-22 vs lefty starters, 19-30 in one-run games. 

— Baylor 75, Mississippi State 72
Baylor shot 55.3% inside arc, had 16 offensive rebounds.
Miss State shot 72.7% inside arc, only 10-30 on arc.
Baylor has won its last seven first round games.
Miss State lost its last six NCAA Tournament games.

— Ole Miss 71, North Carolina 64
Ole Miss led 44-26 at halftime.
Coach Beard is 6-0 in first round games, for four different schools.
Tar Heels shot only 5-24 on the arc.
UNC was 2-6 this year in non-ACC games vs top 100 teams.

— Saint Mary’s 59, Vanderbilt 56
Vandy led 29-22 at half 0f a slow-paced (59 possessions) game.
Saint Mary’s out-rebounded the Commodores, 41-28
Vandy finished 20-13, making their first NCAA since 2016.
Saint Mary’s-Alabama Sunday will definitely be worlds colliding.

— Colorado State 78, Memphis 70
Rams outscored Memphis 47-34 in second half.
Colorado State was 11-30 on arc, Tigers 6-23
Memphis star Haggerty was only 7-23 from the floor.
Rams have now won 11 games in a row.

This was first time since 2017 that a #12-seed was favored over a #5-seed.

— Iowa State 82, Lipscomb 55
Cyclones shot 68.3% inside arc, led 40-24 at halftime.
Last six years, #3-seeds are 16-8 ATS in first round.
Lipscomb was 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 16-29-27 points.
Iowa State-Ole Miss will be fun to watch Sunday.

— Alabama 90, Robert Morris 81
Most points a #2-seed allowed in a 1st round win since Arizona in 2017..
Underdog Colonials led by a point with 7:01 left to play.
Alabama shot 75.7% (28-37) inside the arc.
Horizon teams have now covered their last six NCAA Tourney games.

This was the most points a #2-seed was favored by Arizona in 2015.

— Maryland 81, Grand Canyon 49
Dismal performance by the Antelopes, who shot 32.1%
Could’ve been worse; Terps were 12-24 on foul line.
Maryland has won 13 of its last 16 games.
Maryland plays Colorado State in the 2nd round Sunday.

— Duke 93, Mt St Mary’s 49
Awful game; Duke led 54-28 at halftime.
Duke had only two turnovers in 70 possessions.
#1-seeds went 4-0/2-2 in first round (wins by 20-38-44-26 points)
Blue Devils play Baylor Sunday.

— Famous birthdays, March 22nd:
William Shatner, 94
Matthew Modine, 66
Jimbo Covert, 65
Brian Shaw, 59

Ramón Martínez, 57
Shawn Bradley, 53
Marcus Camby, 51
Reese Witherspoon, 49

Marques Tuiasosopo, 46
Dexter Fowler, 39
Ike Davis, 38
JJ Watt, 36

— New Mexico 75, Marquette 66
Marquette led by 3 with 12:29 left in the game.
Lobos were 18-21 on foul line, Marquette 7-12.
Mountain West is 2-2 SU in NCAA’s this week; previous three years, they were 3-16.
Lobos play Michigan State in second round Sunday. 

— UConn 67, Oklahoma 59
Sooners led by a point with 9:03 left in the game.
UConn shot 58.1% inside arc, 6-25 on the arc.
Oklahoma shot 32.1% from the floor.
Huskies won 6 of last 7 games, after a 6-6 stretch.

— Kentucky 76, Troy 57
Kentucky led 35-27 at the half, pulled away in second half.
Amari Williams only had 5 points, but had 12 rebounds, 4 assists.
Troy took lot of 3’s, but made only 8-32.
Kentucky-Illinois should be a good game Sunday.

— Illinois 86, Xavier 73
Illini out-rebounded Xavier, 45-25.
Xavier was +9 in turnovers (14-5)
Illinois is in bottom 5 in country at forcing turnovers.
Illini shot 57.1% inside arc, scored 1.21 points/possession.
Last year was the first Sweet 16 for Illinois since 2005.

— Michigan State 87, Bryant 62
Bryant actually led 19-15 midway thru first half.
Spartans out-rebounded Bryant, 54-29.
Michigan State shot 10-26 on arc, scored 1.23 points/possession.
This was Bryant’s second trip to NCAA’s in last four years.

— Florida 95, Norfolk State 69
Gators won easily, led 53-32 at halftime.
Florida shot 67.9% inside arc, scored 1.44 points/possession.
Florida had 21 offensive rebounds, Norfolk 14 defensive rebounds.
Gators-UConn is an interesting matchup for Sunday.

— Arizona 93, Akron 65
Arizona out-rebounded the Zips, 53-22.
Wildcats outscored Akron 52-34 in second half.
Akron shot 33.3% from the floor.
Arizona shot 12-25 on the arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.

— Oregon 81, Liberty 52
Ducks sprinted out to 25-8 lead, jogged to an easy win. (do ducks jog?)
Oregon out-rebounded Liberty, 43-27
Liberty shot 8-37 on the arc.
Oregon won nine of last ten games; they play Arizona Sunday. 

Thursday was March 20, 2025, which reminded me of something………

Back in 1978, Warren Beatty starred in a movie, Heaven Can Wait; he played a QB for the Rams (Joe Pendleton) who got hit by a truck while riding his bicycle. An over-anxious angel sent his body to heaven but he hadn’t died in the accident, but by the time they realized this, it was too late. His body had to stay in heaven.

Buck Henry played the angel; James Mason was his supervisor. When the supervisor asked the angel to research when Joe Pendleton was supposed to die, the angel looked it up and came back with a sheepish look on his face.

“March 20, 2025”

In real life, Warren Beatty turns 88 on March 30th.

— McNeese State 69, Clemson 67
McNeese led 40-16 early in the second half.
Brandon Murray scored 21 for McNeese; he didn’t start.
McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager in college……at Clemson.
Last 5+ years, #12-seeds are 9-12 SU vs #5-seeds.

— Purdue 75, High Point 63
Purdue out-rebounded the Panthers, 45-24.
Junior G Smith scored 20 points, had 6 assists, played all 40:00.
Purdue-McNeese State should be fun to watch Saturday.
Purdue is 6-2 ATS in last eight first round games.

— BYU 80, VCU 71
VCU was 15-38 on arc, only 4-6 on foul line, a bad combination.
BYU shot 58.8% inside the arc
BYU has the #6 eFG% offense in the country.
Cougars have won 10 of their last 11 games.

— Wisconsin 85, Montana 66
Wisconsin shot 72.7% inside the arc.
Badgers out-rebounded Montana, 41-29.
Big Sky teams haven’t won an NCAA game since Montana, in 2006.
BYU-Wisconsin will be one of the better games Saturday.

— Creighton 89, Louisville 75
Bluejays shot 11-24 on arc, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 14-21 on foul line, Louisville 7-8.
6-5 senior Neal scored 29 points, had 12 rebounds, 6 assists.
Creighton wins its fifth straight first round game.

— Auburn 83, Alabama State 63
Auburn led 32-31, ended first half on a 9-0 run.
Auburn was only 18-32 on foul line, Alabama State 11-19.
Tigers were 11-35 on the arc, 16-25 inside the arc.
Last five years, #1-seeds are 17-3 SU/10-10 ATS in 2nd round. 

— Gonzaga 89, Georgia 68
Zags raced out to an early 27-3 lead.
Gonzaga shot 12-20 on the arc.
Zags are 24-0 in games decided by 9+ points, 2-8 in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Georgia finished 20-13; this was their first NCAA Tournament since 2015.

— Houston 78, SIU-Edwardsville 40
#1-seed Houston led 52-24 at halftime.
Underdog SIU-E shot 2-24 on the arc.
Houston is 5-1 ATS in last six first round games.
Houston-Gonzaga is an interesting game on Saturday.

— Famous birthdays, March 21st
Tom Flores, 88
Manny Sanguillén, 81
Gary Oldman, 67
Matthew Broderick, 63

Shawon Dunston, 62
Scott Williams, 57
Tony Horne, 49
Carlos Carrasco, 38

Frankie Montas, 32
Sebastian Joseph-Day, 30
A’Shawn Robinson, 30
Nick Mullens, 30

— Drake 67, Missouri 57
Drake has four starters who were playing D2 basketball last year.
Drake has won 19 of its last 20 games.
Missouri shot only 33.3% from the floor.
Bulldogs had two starters play 40:00; no one else played more than 25:00.

— Michigan 68, Cal-San Diego 65
Michigan led 41-27 at halftime.
Tritons led 65-63, but didn’t score in last 2:29.
Michigan survived going 11-20 on foul line.
Wolverines play Texas A&M Saturday.

— Texas Tech 82, NC-Wilmington 72
Red Raiders led only 38-34 at halftime.
Tech shot 13-46 on arc, 14-23 inside arc.
First time in six years a CAA team covered in NCAA’s.
Texas Tech-Drake Sunday; the two head coaches are good friends.

— Arkansas 79, Kansas 72
Arkansas led by 11 early in second half.
Kansas led by 3 with 3:10 left in game.
Arkansas was +6 in turnovers (16-10)
Razorbacks have won six of their last eight games.

— Texas A&M 80, Yale 71
Just third win in last eight games for Texas A&M.
Aggies led 40-29 at halftime.
Texas A&M shot 71.4% inside the arc.
6-9 junior Payne had 25 points, 10 boards; he didn’t start.

— Tennessee 77, Wofford 62
Stress-free win for Vols, who shot 61.5% inside arc.
Senior G Lanier scored 29 points, shot 6-13 on arc.
Under Barnes, Tennessee is 3-2 in second round games.
SoCon teams are 1-3 SU/2-2 ATS so far this week.

— UCLA 72, Utah State 47
Stress-free win for Bruins, who led by 12 at halftime.
UCLA shot 10-24 on arc, scored 1.22 points/possession.
Mountain West is 2-17 ATS in its last 19 first round games.
UCLA-Tennessee Sunday should be quite the defensive struggle.

— St John’s 83, Omaha 53
St John’s shot 14-37 on arc, tied for most 3’s they made in a game this year.
3:07 into the game, Omaha led 7-0; Johnnies led 33-28 at halftime.
Omaha shot 5-36 on the arc.
St John’s-Arkansas should be the featured game Saturday. 

— Final Four by seed, the last five tournaments:
2024- 1-1-4-11 (NC State was #11)
2023- 4-5-5-9 (Florida Atlantic was #9)
2022- 1-2-2-8 (North Carolina was #8)
2021- 1-1-2-11 (UCLA was #11)
2019- 1-2-3-5

Last five tournaments, only six #1-seeds made the Final Four

— Final Four by conference, the last five tournaments:
2024- ACC, Big East, Big 18, SEC
2023- ACC, Big East, C-USA, Mountain West
2022- ACC (2), Big East, Big X
2021- AAC, Big X, Pac-12, WCC
2019- ACC, Big 18, Big X, SEC

5- ACC
3- Big East, Big X
2- Big 18, SEC
1- AAC, C-USA, Mountain West, Pac-12, WCC

First round trends…….
— Last four years, #1-seeds are 9-7 ATS in first round games.

— Last three years, #2-seeds are 8-4 ATS

A #2-seed has been upset in first round in three of last four years.

— Last five years, #3-seeds are 13-7 ATS.

Last seven years, only 2 of 28 #3-seeds lost in first round.

— Last six years, underdogs are 16-8 ATS in 4-13 first round games.

— Last five years, underdogs are 11-9 ATS in 5-12 games.

— Last six years, the underdog is 6-0 SU/ATS in the 6-11 game in the Midwest region; this year, #6-seed Illinois will play the Texas-Xavier play-in winner.

— Last six years, underdogs are 14-10 SU/20-4 ATS in 8-9 games.

— Famous birthdays, March 18
Jeff Mullins, 83
Dwayne Murphy, 70
Vanessa Williams, 62
Pat Terrell, 57
Andre Rison, 57

Rob Johnson, 52
Brian Griese, 50
Adam Levine, 46
JT Realmuto, 34
Trey Mancini, 33

Conference trends:
— Last three years, ACC teams are 11-4 ATS in first round
Since 2018, ACC teams are 18-8 ATS in second round.

— No team from the A-15 has made the Sweet 16 since Dayton in 2014.

— Last three years, Big East teams are 9-5 ATS in first round
Last three years, Big East had a team in Final Four (Villanova-UConn-UConn)

— Since 2006, Big Sky teams are 0-17 SU/3-13-1 ATS in first round games.
Last Big Sky team to win an NCAA game: Montana 87, Nevada 79 in 2006.

— Last three years, Big 18 teams are 13-8-1 ATS in first round
Last four years, Big 18 teams are 9-12 ATS in second round.

Last four years, only one Big 18 team made the Final Four (Purdue LY)

Last Big 18 team to win a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Since 2019, Big X teams are 21-11 ATS in first round
Since 2021, Big X teams are 6-16 ATS in second round

— Since 2015, Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2013, CAA teams are 0-11 SU/5-6 ATS in first round
Last five years, CAA teams are 0-5 ATS

— Since 2015, U-USA teams are 6-3 ATS in first round

— Last three years, Horizon teams are 5-0 ATS in play-in/first round games.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round.

— Since 2010, MAAC teams are 3-12 ATS in first round (3-2 in last five)

— Since 2017, MAC teams are 6-2 ATS in first round

— Last three years, MVC teams were 0-3 ATS in first round
From 2013-21, MVC teams were 11-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round

— Last three years, SEC teams are 9-12 ATS in first round
Since 2016, SEC teams are 11-18 ATS in second round

— Last six years, SoCon teams are 5-1 ATS in first round.

— Last five years, WAC teams are 2-3 SU?5-0 ATS in first roun

We’ll get into the games more as the week goes on, but here are some quick thoughts, facts after seeing the brackets/Field of 68.

— #8-seeds are a prominent group: UConn, Gonzaga, Louisville, Mississippi State.

How would you like to be a #1-seed and see the two-time champ Huskies in your bracket? 

Auburn-Louisville would be in Lexington, KY; Bruce Pearl must be thrilled with that, though that game being an afternoon tip-off probably helps Auburn a little bit.

Gonzaga has made nine straight Sweet 16’s; they’re going to have to upset Houston to make it ten in a row.

— Brackets came out out between 6-7 pm; Maryland coach Kevin Willard was on a CBS brackets show at 8:30- he said his team had already had a film session on Grand Canyon, their first round opponent in Seattle Friday.

These teams don’t waste any time studying their opponents.

— Iowa State point guard Keshon Gilbert is out for the NCAA Tournament; he missed four of the Cyclones’ last seven games, and Iowa State went 1-3 in those games.

— Clemson-McNeese State is a first round game; McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager at Clemson, later a grad assistant coach there.

Wade’s Wikipedia page says that he is the new coach at NC State, which might be wishful thinking by whoever posted that note.

— Teams that played on Sunday who have a tournament game this Thursday:
VCU, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, all in Denver, in high altitude. Tennessee plays in Kentucky.

Sunday/Thursday is a quick turnaround, especially if a lot of travel is involved.

— Arkansas-Kansas; John Calipari vs Bill Self, with the winner probably playing against Rick Pitino’s St John’s team. Lot of Hall of Famers in that bracket. 

St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000, which is also the last time they won the Big East tournament (before this week).

— With no Pac-12 this season or next, there was an extra at-large bid this season; two years from now, the Pac-12 will be back, and the tournament will have one fewer at-large team. 

— Famous birthdays, March 17th:
Cito Gaston, 81
Patrick Duffy, 75
Kurt Russell, 74
Gary Sinise, 70

Danny Ainge, 66
Arye Gross, 65
Sam Bowie, 64
Rob Lowe, 61

Kyle Korver, 44
Juan Lagares, 36
Cordarrelle Patterson, 34
Rhys Hoskins, 32

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament; Texas was the lowest ranked of the 14- they play Xavier in a play-in game in Dayton.

— #1-seeds won 17 of the 31 conference tournaments this year.

Some trends on conferences in the NCAA’s:
— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round games.

New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State are in this year’s tournament.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round games; Yale is a 7.5-point underdog against Texas A&M Thursday.

— CAA teams are 0-11 SU in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, 0-5 ATS in the last five. NC-Wilmington is a 15.5-point underdog against Texas Tech Thursday night.

— Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in their last ten first round games; the last five years, five different schools have represented the Big West.

Was surprised to see that Cal-San Diego is only a 3.5-point underdog vs Michigan in their first round game. This is the first year the Tritons were eligible for March Madness- they’re 30-4 and have won their last 15 games. They’re 3-2 vs teams ranked in the top 100.

— There must be a lot of $$$ involved with the advertising involved in these bracket pools; ESPN pushes their contest pretty hard.

— I’m off to do more studying; will be back tomorrow with some more knowledge. 

Lot of conference tournaments going on; here is what we know:

— SEC
Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Crimson Tide outscored Kentucky 54-35 in second half.
Alabama had three subs score in double figures
Crimson Tide is shooting 59.9% inside the arc (#3)

Auburn 62, Ole Miss 57
Fewest points Auburn has scored since January 25 vs Tennessee
Game was tied with 6:26 left; then Auburn went on a 10-1 run.
Teams shot a combined 10-44 on the arc.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Auburn-Tennessee…….Florida-Alabama

— Big X
Arizona 86, Texas Tech 80
Caleb Love scored 27 points for Arizona.
Wildcats shot 8-16 on the arc, scored 1.26 points/possession.
Texas Tech’s best player was sick, barfing during timeouts. 

Saturday’s final: Arizona-Houston

— ACC
Duke 74, North Carolina 71
Duke star Flagg didn’t play, is done for the weekend.
Duke led 45-24 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 8-39 on the arc.
Blue Devils are 26-1 since Thanksgiving.

Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Cardinals led 69-54 with 3:24 left, held on for dear life.
Lousiville’s wins last two nights were by 2-3 points.
Cardinals have won 11 games in a row.
Loss snaps Clemson’s nine-game winning streak.

Duke-Louisville is Saturday’s ACC final

— Big East
St John’s 79, Marquette 63
6-9 Ejiofor scored 33 points, had nine rebounds.
Marquette led 24-9 early on, 37-35 at halftime.
Marquette is 5-7 in its last 12 games.
St John’s is in Big East final for first time in 25 years.

Creighton 71, UConn 62
Bluejays had only 4 turnovers, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 13-18 on foul line, UConn 2-4
Creighton is shooting 60.6% inside arc (#1 in country)

St John’s-Creighton is the Big East final Saturday

— Big 18
All four games Friday were decided by 10+ points. 

Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
Badgers shot 19-32 on arc, 12-17 in first half.
UCLA split its last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Wisconsin-Michigan State
Michigan-Maryland

— Mountain West
Boise State 72, New Mexico 69
#1-seed New Mexico led 34-28 at halftime.
Boise State shot 64% inside the arc.
Broncos won 11 of their last 13 games.

Saturday’s final is Boise State-Colorado State

— Big West
Cal-San Diego 69, Cal-Santa Barbara 51
Gauchos led 27-26 at halftime.
Cal-San Diego shot 62.5% inside the arc.
Tritons have won their last 14 games. 

Saturday’s final is Cal-San Diego/Cal-Irvine.

— Famous birthdays, March 15th:
Judd Hirsch, 90
Mike Kruczek, 72
Clay Matthews, 69
Stump Mitchell, 66

Harold Baines, 66
Terry Cummings, 64
Eva Longoria, 50
Kevin Youkilis, 46

Tavon Austin, 35
Nick Ahmed, 35
Taylor Heinicke, 32
Matt Gay, 31

— American
Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Wichita led 20-10 early in the game.
PJ Haggerty scored 42 points, shot 16-23 inside arc.
Tigers have won six in row, 14 of last 15 games.

Bubble teams all over America are rooting for Memphis; if they lose in this tournament, whoever wins AAC tournament would be a bid stealer. 

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Memphis-Tulane…….North Texas-UAB

— MAC
Miami OH 72, Kent State 64
Kent State led by a hoop with 4:57 left to play.
Golden Flashes were only 11-21 on the foul line.
Miami is 19-4 in its last 23 games.

Saturday’s final is #1-seed Akron vs Miami.

— Atlantic 15
St Joe’s 73, Dayton 68 OT
Dayton led by 4 with 0:18 left in regulation.
St Joe’s was 20-28 on foul line, Flyers 7-11.
Hawks have won seven of their last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals: Saint Louis-VCU…….St Joe’s-George Mason

— Conference USA
Jacksonville State 70, Middle Tennessee 68
Middle Tennessee played a 2pm game, after playing a 2OT game Thursday nite
Blue Raiders shot 11-24 on arc, but were only 9-17 on foul line.
Jax State senior G Pierre played all 40:00, scored 19 points.

Saturday’s final: #1-seed Liberty vs Jacksonville State

— WAC
Grand Canyon 75, Cal Baptist 66
Grand Canyon led 25-16 at half; 2nd half had a faster pace.
Grand Canyon is trying to win WAC tourney for third year in a row.
Antelopes have won eight of their last nine games.

Saturday’s final: Utah Valley-Grand Canyon

— Metro Atlantic
Iona 81, Quinnipiac 73
Iona shot 59.2% inside arc, upsets top-seeded Quinnipiac
Iona has been in six of last eight NCAA tournaments.
Quinnipiac shot 9-29 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 29.8% on arc (#346)

Saturday’s final: Iona-Mount St Mary’s