Thursday, January 23, 2003
just 8 days after pat summitt became the first, texas coach jody conradt became the second women's coach to notch 800 career victories as her longhorns upset texas tech 69-58. and in the I-couldn't-make-this-up irony department, who'll be the next coach, men's or women's to get that incredible 800th victory? texas tech's bob knight - he's at 798 and counting.
speaking of the men's side, duke lost their second acc game in a row, falling 80-71 at nc state. and while arizona wasn't looking ahead to saturday (in beating az state), kansas might've been (getting upset by colorado 60-59). florida, kentucky, maryland, and louisville were all easy winners - and how well are those four teams playing right now, eh?
my boilers lost their first big 10 game of the season, 75-62 at illinois, and I got a rare opportunity to see them on television in the process. it was a good game, and (to haul out one of the hoariest sports cliches around) not as close as the final score. well, except for the fact that the illini held purdue without a field goal for the final 6-plus minutes of the game. purdue's d really is tenacious, but that hurts on the other end - by late in the game, the boilers were so damned beat from chasing dee brown around the court all game that they just couldn't hit their shots - even when they were wide-open. purdue's still going to have a say in who wins the big 10, however, and who knows? the way they've been playing, they might have more than that to say. on the same night, iowa fell for the first time in conference as well, 74-61 at wisconsin. and then there's the x-factor, sitting alone atop the big 10: michigan is 5-0 conference and has won 12 in a row after taking down minnesota 75-63 in ann arbor. the conference announced yesterday what it would do in the event of the wolverines winning both the regular-season and conference tournament titles, since they've put themselves on ncaa probation this season in the wake of the "fab five" scandal: the regular-season runner-up would get the big 10's automatic bid. what's interesting here is it would end up making the tournament irrelevant. now, sure, we've got fields to plant and rows to hoe before that happens, but it's an interesting scenario to consider, and one which could have implications for who from the conference is dancing in march... stay tuned.
speaking of the men's side, duke lost their second acc game in a row, falling 80-71 at nc state. and while arizona wasn't looking ahead to saturday (in beating az state), kansas might've been (getting upset by colorado 60-59). florida, kentucky, maryland, and louisville were all easy winners - and how well are those four teams playing right now, eh?
my boilers lost their first big 10 game of the season, 75-62 at illinois, and I got a rare opportunity to see them on television in the process. it was a good game, and (to haul out one of the hoariest sports cliches around) not as close as the final score. well, except for the fact that the illini held purdue without a field goal for the final 6-plus minutes of the game. purdue's d really is tenacious, but that hurts on the other end - by late in the game, the boilers were so damned beat from chasing dee brown around the court all game that they just couldn't hit their shots - even when they were wide-open. purdue's still going to have a say in who wins the big 10, however, and who knows? the way they've been playing, they might have more than that to say. on the same night, iowa fell for the first time in conference as well, 74-61 at wisconsin. and then there's the x-factor, sitting alone atop the big 10: michigan is 5-0 conference and has won 12 in a row after taking down minnesota 75-63 in ann arbor. the conference announced yesterday what it would do in the event of the wolverines winning both the regular-season and conference tournament titles, since they've put themselves on ncaa probation this season in the wake of the "fab five" scandal: the regular-season runner-up would get the big 10's automatic bid. what's interesting here is it would end up making the tournament irrelevant. now, sure, we've got fields to plant and rows to hoe before that happens, but it's an interesting scenario to consider, and one which could have implications for who from the conference is dancing in march... stay tuned.
# posted by Thomas : 7:00 AM
