If You Cant Stand the Heat...

There's only a few days left before tournament week. Only a few more days to pad the RPI, beat a top 50 team or win one on the road. A lot of teams are in (i.e UNC, Memphis, and Kansas). A lot of teams are out, see New Jersey Institute of Technology. Here's a list of teams that are still on that proverbial bubble:

1. Maryland- 20 point lead at home with your tourney chances on the line? Perfect time for a collapse. Now Gary Williams and his team needs to rebound and come up big after Sunday's loss to Clemson

2. Syracuse- Not to be outdone by the Terps Syracuse decided Saturday was a great time to give up a late lead and blow one at home. Paul Harris can say he got fouled but he exposed himself to that steal.

3. Ohio State- last year's runner up is hangin by a thread after Tubby Smith and Minnesota rolled over the Buckeyes.

4. Texas A&M- 10 points in a half? Is this the Boys and Girls club team we coach or a D-1 team?

5. Oregon- the Ducks have lost 8 of their last 12 and really don't deserve a shot at the tourney, but if they can win their last 2 games and then make a run in the PAC-10 tourney they may have a chance.

6. Florida- the two-time defending Champs needed a win on Saturday and came up small at home. They play Tennessee on Wednesday and should lose, meaning Saturday's game against Kentucky will probably decide which team goes dancing.

7. St Joe's- They need a win at Xavier and Dayton to close out the season to have any hope. Big 5 rival Temple scored late to beat the Hawks and could be the lone, and surprising, Big 5 rep in the tourney if they keep winning.

8. New Mexico- who cares what theyre record is (its 22-7 though), the Lobos have the best nickname in basketball, the best arena in "The Pit," and have Steve Alford, a national champion and gold medalist, as their coach. They're in.

Yea, none of these teams did anything to help themselves out this week, but they all still have shots, as long as they stop shooting themselves in the foot. We'll be giving you a run down of these teams in the coming days so check back to find out all you need to know about these teams.

THEY DID IT!!!!

NJIT...your Highlanders have finished the season an imperfect 0-29. Worst in NCAA history. Head Coach Jim Casciano credited the poise of his team with the accomplishment:
"We had a lot of young guys who didn't get distracted by talk of winning a game. We had guys like Justin Garris, who is just a freshman, and he had the focus to go 0-for-4 from three-point range. Imagine if he had hit a few of those. We would have been right back in the game."

We're gonna go wash the champagne out of our clothes, but we'll be back tomorrow to tell you why the NCAA and its obedience to police are destroying college football and some college basketball talk.

Highlander Watch: In Pursuit of Imperfection

Eli Manning and the New York football Giants ruined the Patriots perfect season, but in Newark, New Jersey an athletic achievement of greater magnitude is in reach. THE New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders are on the verge of a completely imperfect 0-28 season. In the past 50 years only two teams have gone winless, but the Highlanders 28 losses would tie them with the 2004-2005 edition of Savannah State for the honor of worst team in the history of modern basketball. As the season progresses, we will update you on Head Coach Jim Casciano and the Highlanders as they head toward history.

So it's been awhile since we updated you on the Highlander's but unless you find 20 point losses exciting, you havent missed anything. The magic number is not at one, with Saturday's showdown against Utah Valley being the final hurdle standing in the way of your Highlanders and immortality. In the past three games NJIT has lost by an average of 17 points per game with their closest contest coming against Chicago State in a 86-76 loss. The Highlanders came behind from 15 down to cut the Chicago State lead to three with 2:34 left in the game, before the Cougars regianed control for the win.

The Highlanders have moved past this near disaster though and focused on the prize: their defeated season. Saturday's rematch with Utah Valley will decide whether they become just another one win team or if they become immortals. Check back later in the week for a comprehensive breakdown of the matchups that matter in Saturday's game.

Congrats Eddie Sutton

The Patriots may have failed in their quest for a milestone, but San Francisco head coach Eddie Sutton put down the bottle and was finally able to get his 800th victory in thrilling fashion after his team came back from a 19 point second half deficit to beat Pepperdine, which was not burnt to the ground during the California wildfires, 85-82 in Malibu.
No longer will we mark the end of Sutton's career with memories of him getting toasted and crashing into things. Now we will replace that by remembering him in the same breath as Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, and Bobby Knight (who we already compared him to anyway). So congrats Eddie, you earned this. Now go have a drink and celebrate.

Digger Can't Replace Corso On Gameday

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. College GameDay is a college football institution, and the people at the world wide leader decided to use the same formula for college basketball. What works for football just fails miserably for basketball. So before you get up early on Saturday to check the crew out we have a few reasons why it's just not the same as in the fall.

It's Too Contrived
College football has a strong tailgate culture and that's one of the main reasons for the success of the football edition. It's great seeing 10,000 Auburn faithful outside cheering before they play Florida. There's something genuine about the enthusiasm and GameDay only adds to the energy. For the basketball edition all the energy is sucked out of the formula and replaced with what might as well be recording of cheering. They fill the arena with a couple of thousand fans (nerds?) hours before the game. The show airs from 10am-12, and the game, which is always the prime time ESPN broadcast, does not start until 9pm. No matter what Digger and the crew want to tell you there's no way that those people are staying. The moment the show is done the TV whores in the seats are right back to some place where they can start drinking, so their enthusiasm during the broadcast is far from genuine.

It's Not Even the Game of The Week
The football version does not decide until days before Saturday where they will be traveling, but the basketball edition has its games picked weeks in advance. Football follows great match-ups like California and Oregon or Kansas and Missouri this season. Imagine if they picked their games weeks in advance, do you think game day would have been at that Missouri-Kansas game? Doubtful. Now look at this past week's basketball location: Southern Illinois. The Salukis have been a powerhouse in the MVC for years, but this year they limped into this contest at 4-4 in the conference while their opponent Creighton, another perennial MVC power, came in at 5-3. This match-up does not exactly stir excitement in the average college fan's heart, but nonetheless at 9 am central time Digger, Bilas, and company were there in full force prepping you for this one. The final score? A sloppy 48-44 victory for the Salukis to move to 10-10 for the season.

Digger Is No Corsoe
Oh, the WWL held strict to their formula with this one. Corsoe has been a major hit on the football edition so why not take an old basketball coach from the studio and make him part of the broadcast. Enter Digger Phelps and his color cooridination. Digger flat out sucks compared to Lee (and Lee's pretty annoying himself at times). First, Digger doesn't even fain impartiality, choosing Notre Dame, where he coached, as often as he humanly can. Then there is the point of his tie-to-highlight combo. Does he have OCD or is the queer eye for the straight guy crew working for him? Lee may do lines of coke before he goes on stage but it's way better than Digger's awful voice and highlighter.

Bilas Isn't Herbstreit
Don't get us wrong, we love Jay and Hubert, but does either really look like hes going to go out and enjoy himself on campus like Kirk does? Jay and Hubert are just too innocent to fill the void that Kirk leaves. Neither is obnoxious enough and they certainly wouldn't leave a path of destruction at every sorority house like we know Kirk and those sweet highlights do.

The next two weekends are good match-ups, but that doesn't make up for how bad College GameDay is as a basketball program. Luckily it's only 7 months until this. Sadly we have two months left of this:

What The F*** Happened Last Night? Still Tired

In honor of Baylor and Texas A&M's marathon thriller last night, we're popping open some Red Bulls and trying to stay awake while we break down a few of last nights matchups.

25) Baylor 116 16) Texas A&M 110- First half: we're sitting enjoying this one flipping to American Idol during commercials --some of these people can't be serious with this singing. Aggies up six at intermission.
Second half: Baylor comes back to tie it up. Checked out Moment of Truth during timeouts...flat out retarded. Lot's of dumb questions and not enough destroyed marriages. Switching to ESPN for good.
First OT: decided to do a shot everytime time a three pointer was taken. Cringe with each foul.
Second OT:This one was boring so we tuned out to watch a few minutes of Heath Ledger: A Hollywood Tragedy. We start to cry.
Third OT: A&M up 5 with a minute to go but Baylor comes back. Decide to do man shots. Crying again.
Fourth OT: A&M comes back this time. More man shots.
Fifth OT: Not sure who's more exhausted...us or the teams. Baylor pulls away, we pass out.

18) Villanova 68 Rutgers 80- The dirty Jerz was in all its glory Wednesday night as Rutgers beat a ranked team for the first time in two years. Villanova looked flat out sloppy in this one --except Jay Wright who looked dapper as always -- and got out played from opening tip to buzzer. It was Villanova's third loss in six games as they dropped to .500 in Big East play.

What The F*** Happened Last Night? Billy Ball is Back

It's been a while since Drake University found themselves in this position so in honor of that we're going retro and wearing our best plaid suit and recapping last night's games...

5)Tennessee 66 Kentucky 72- For the second time in 10 days Kentucky beat a ranked opponent at home and are now on the verge of breaking the .500 mark. Bruce Pearl's orange jacket and Chris Lofton's SEC topping three werent enough for the Vols as Billy ball looks to be in full effect in Lexington.

Michigan 61 11)Wisconsin 64- It was only 4 weeks ago that Wisconsin was on the ropes against Texas before Michael Flowers' three pointer lifted the Badgers. Now, they are at the door of the top 10 looking in. It was also a few weeks ago that John Beilein said his team was a bunch of toddlers. Beilein's squad didn't look so bad last night as they took Wisconsin down to the wire behind a strong effort on the boards. Wisconsin needed this one as they start a stretch of games against Indiana and Michigan State (both ranked in the top 10) and a strong Purdue team.

24) Drake 68 Creighton 60- For years Creighton has seemed to be the face of the MVC, and upstart MVC program Drake needed five extra minutes to hold them off in this one. It's been 37 years since Drake went dancing in March, but things are looking good for the Bulldogs after this performance. It would take a Clemson 2007-like performance for them to blow their ticket to the tourney.

Highlander Watch: In Pursuit of Imperfection

Bill Belichek and the Patriots need one more win to finish the perfect season, but in Newark, New Jersey an athletic achievement of greater magnitude is in reach. THE New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders are on the verge of a completely imperfect 0-28 season. In the past 50 years only two teams have gone winless, but the Highlanders 28 losses would tie them with the 2004-2005 edition of Savannah State for the honor of worst team in the history of modern basketball. As the season progresses, we will update you on Head Coach Jim Casciano and the Highlanders as they head toward history.

The Highlanders traveled to the windy city on Saturday to take on the Chicago State Cougars. NJIT kept things close for the first 12 minutes of the contest before Chicago State began to pull away. Nesho "I'm Not Slobodan" Milosevic led all scorers with 20 points, but it just wasn't enough as the magic number now bumped down to 9 for the Highlanders.

Up Next: Texas-Pan American (11-10) on Saturday at 1:00 at the Prudential Center. The Highlanders lost to TPA 76-61 on December 31st.

What The F*** Happened Last Night? Big Monday

We're keeping an Eddie Sutton-like sobriety and bringing you a recap of last nights Big Monday games.

Syracuse 62 9) Georgetown 64- For a time in the second half it looked like the Hoyas we're going to drop their second Big Monday contest in a row. With his defense struggling to contain Johnny Flynn (24 points on like 50 shots) John Thompson III brought in Jeremiah Rivers to ail his teams defensive woes. Rivers, the son of the Good Doctor, was just what Georgetown needed as he shut down Flynn and sparked a late rally to give the Hoyas the victory.

12)Texas 63 Oklahoma St. 61- In a rematch of last year's triple OT thriller, these two Big 12 teams gave fans another electric performance. DJ Augustine dropped 26 for the Longhorns in their victory of Eddie Sutton Jr.'s squad. Ok St. had an opportunity at the end of regulation but rushed the shot under the basket to seal the game.

San Francisco 64 Gonzaga 72- In the night cap, the drunker Sutton, Eddie Sr., was looking for win number 800, but the Zags wouldn't allow it. Josh Heytvelt had six points, seven boards, and a handful of shrooms to lead Gonzaga in this one. Up next for the Zags is undefeated Memphis on Saturday.

What The F*** Happened This Weekend?...We're Back

It's been awhile but hopefully Money Mayweather got you through the weekend. Like O.J. we're out on bail and ready to recap all the upsets this weekend.

Maryland 82 1)UNC 80- It seems like years ago that Maryland lost to American and Miami (OH) -- it was actually a month ago -- because the Terps looked like the Gary Williams teams of old. Senior James Gist tore the Tar Heel defense up for 22 points as Maryland held on for the upset.

USC 72 4) UCLA 63- USC freshmen O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson did their best O.J. Simpson impression as they slashed through UCLA's defense for a combined 41 points. UCLA's own freshman and subject of current NCAA investigation Kevin Love, got his ninth double double of the season but it wasn't enough as the Trojans walked out of Westwood with the win.

9) Texas A&M 54 Kansas State 75- The Aggies hadn't skipped a beat this season since the departure of Acie Law, but Saturday they went into cardiac arrest in this one. Star freshman Michael Beasely dropped 21 for K-State who beat a top 10 team at home for the first time in 4 years.

16) Pitt 59 Cincinnati 62- Keeping up with ESPN's title of "Upset Saturday" Pitt decided it was a good idea to hand this one to the surging Bearcats. Cincinnati, a team that only won two big east games all last season, has beaten two ranked Big East opponents in a week. The way things are looking right now , if you can win 3 road games in the Big East you'll be in the regular season title hunt.

What The F*** Happened Last Night?

The Bruce was on the loose last night in Knoxville, Louisville showed up to play, and A-10 teams keep knocking each other off. All this and more in our daily recap...

14) Vanderbilt 60 7) Tennessee 80- Bruce Pearl rocked the rockytop orange jacket, and his team stepped up the defensive pressure in a route of in-state rival Vanderbilt. The Commodores were ice cold from beyond shooting 14% in losing their second game in a row.

12)Butler 52 Cleveland State 56- Butler was the darling mid major of pundits everywhere, but the Vikings would hear none of it. At 13-5 Cleveland State is no pushover but Butler looked flat in this one shooting 34% from the field.

13)Marquette 51 Louisville 71- Louisville looked like the team that was a preseason favorite for the Big East title in this rout of Marquette. Marquette goes as Dominic James goes, and the senior guard was non-existent in this one with three points and one assist.

21)Rhode Island 61 St. Louis 68- A week after setting a shot clock era record scoring only 20 points in a game against George Washington, St. Louis became the third unranked A-10 to upset their ranked counterparts this week. A good win for Rick Majerus and St. Louis but a bad loss for Rhode Island and the A-10 overall.

Just Leave John Wooden Alone Already

The NCAA has once again proven how much it sucks, announcing that it is investigating a meeting John Wooden had with Kevin Love in 2006. I say, let John Wooden talk to whoever the hell he wants. If John Wooden wants to recruit 3rd graders for UCLA, then let him. For two reasons: first, Wooden was probably the greatest coach in NCAA history. Second, hes a fossil. The guy is 97 years old, do you think he really needs an NCAA investigation right now? The NCAA will feel pretty awful if Wooden dies from all the stress they put on him. So, they should just drop the investigation and let him rest.

But then theres the problem of UCLA fans who apparently want their hero to die of exhaustion. The man is trying to watch a game and you people feel the need to ask him for autographs...for free, no less. How would little Jimmy feel if he is asking Mr. Wooden for an autograph and...BAM the Wizard of Westwood is dead. So Bruin fans join the NCAA and leave him alone, and let the man enjoy his twighlight years.

What the F*** Happened Last Night?

(9) Texas A&M 53, Texas Tech 68- One of our personal favorite coaches of all time, got his 900th win. Congratulations Bob Knight for showing me how to coach my 10-11 youth basketball team strict discipline and for teaching me the value of continued yelling at the volunteer refs. I’ve gotten thrown out of my fair amount of games and mocked those annoying reporters (alright...they were really parents) who keep saying "You aren't playing for fun." Screw that noise I’m trying to win.

(1) North Carolina 83, Georgia Tech 82- Georgia Tech is the only team that Roy Williams hasn't beaten on the road since his hiring, that changed on Wednesday. Hansbrough continues his charge towards player of the year with 27 points and 11 boards. Jeremis Smith kept GT in the game with 15 points.

(2)Memphis 77, Rice 50- Who woulda thought Rice had a basketball team. Another blowout for Memphis has the continue to push for that #1 spot.

(5)Duke 70, Florida State 57- Another solid ACC game, which was closer than the score indicates. Jon "Mr. Pale" Scheyler dropped 21 and with the help from solid FT's down ths stretch the Bluedevils get a solid win.

(20) Xavier 59 Temple 78- For the first time since John Cheney retired Temple actually decided to play some defense. Dionte "I Believe In" Christmas was unstoppable in this one dropping 23 for the Owls who beat a ranked team for the first time in two years.

Highlander Watch: In Pursuit of Imperfection

While the majority of American sports fans anxiously wait to see if the New England Patriots can complete the perfect 19-0 season, we here at Understanding Lou want to introduce you to the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders. The Highlander men's basketball team is on the verge of making history by becoming only the third team in NCAA Division 1 in the last 50 years to go winless for a season. Right now the Highlanders' record stands at 0-17 with the magic number at 12. 12 more games until these athletes can put their names in the record books.
Up next: Ivy League stalwart Cornell before a home crowd in Newark on Tuesday night when junior Nesho "I'm not related to Slobodan" Milosevic and the rese of the squad look to continue their march of futility into history.

What the F*** Happened Last Night?

Virgina 65, (7) Duke 87- Duke overmatched Virgina on defense, leading to easy layups by the white guys and big dunks by the black men (Gerald Henderson, DeMarcus Nelson). Nelson led the way with 20 points in an easy victory against Virgina.

Illinois 58, (11) Indiana 62- Before the game Bruce Weber the coach for Illinois was heard yelling at Eric Gordon "You jerk you were supposed to be on our team." Eric Gordon took that to heart as he scored 17, as the Hoosiers squeaked one out in Big Ten play.

An unwanted NBA note

As most of you have heard, the greatest thing to ever come out of Florida, Joakim Noah is having problems in the NBA. No, its not his ugly jumper or his overwhelming emotion. Joakim has been late for meetings and practice...probably too busy working on his dancing skills. Although his boy Al Horford (the more talented Gator) continues to stick up for his friend, I am seeing in the future a long list of problems that will lead to an early exit out of the NBA,(we can only pray). We will keep you posted.

What The F*** Happened This Weekend?...Recap

It was a long weekend in college basketball with nearly every team playing a game. So like Sidney Lowe we found our best Wolfpack red coat, are dressing like the Kool Aid guy and breaking down a few of the games from this weekend.

4) Washington St. 74 UCLA 81- Wazzu got more love than it could handle as Kevin Love dropped 27 giving Washington State its first loss of the season. The freshman phenom also added 14 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.

6) Michigan St. 36 Iowa 43- The Spartans set modern basketball back a few years with this performance - a school record in the shot clock era. Iowa's Tony Freeman almost single handedly beat Michigan State dropping 22 points. Things were so bad for Michigan State that Tom Izzo's 7 year old son's youth team had a better shooting percentage than the Spartans did on Saturday.

8) Georgetown 72 Connecticut 69- Roy Hibbert shocked everyone with a 20 footer from the wing as the shot clock was winding down. It was the 7-2 center's second three point attempt of the day and his second make of the season.

12) Vanderbilt 76 Kentucky 79- After nearly blowing a lead late in regulation the Wildcats knocked Vanderbilt from the undefeated ranks in double overtime. The win will certainly quiet many of Billy Gillispie's critics who are unhappy with the coach's team who has sputtered to a 7-7 start this season

What The F*** Happened Last Night?...Recap

With the craziest college football season in recent memory over it's time to get your body paint, do your best Bruce Pearl impression and check out our recap of last nights games...

3)Kanas 90 Loyola (Md) 60- This one was over early as the Sherron Collins dropped 18 to lead the undefeated Jayhawks. Next up for Kansas is a trip to Nebraska to take on a strong Cornhuskers squad on Saturday night.

6) Michigan St. 78 Purdue 75- Michigan St. needed a 15 foot jumper from Travis Walton with 20 seconds left to beat Purdue. Kalin Lucas led the way for Michigan St. with 16 points.

8)Georgetown 76 DePaul 60- the 7-2 Roy Hibbert showed coordination en route to 17 points and the blowout victory for the Hoyas.

16)Marquette 65 Seton Hall 61- the Jersey faithful were in full effect for this one, but the Pirates effort wasn't enough to pull of the upset. Jerel Mcneal played Robin to Dominic James' Batman when James hurt his wrist. Dan Fitzgerald - the whitest guy on the court - clinched the win for Marquette with a 3 point jumper from the corner with second left. The Golden Eagles play host to Notre Dame and smoking Kyle McAlarney.

Recap of Top 10

As these teams shake off those cobwebs from the wonderful times during the holidays, its time to get back to basketball.

(2)Memphis 90, Pepperdine 53- As expected Memphis put the game away early with a balanced scoring attack. Douglas-Robert's new white shirt that he got from Santa gave him new confidence to score 14 and grab 5 boards to lead the Tigers.

(3)Kansas 85, Boston College 60- As expected the Jayhawks kept their holiday spirit going by blowing out the Eagles. Darnell Jackson put the game away scoring 12 of his 25 points in a run that put the game away early.

(5)UCLA 70, California 58- Kevin Love before the game helped his father clean off the tree and took it out. After dad cleaned off the tears and promised that christmas will be back soon, the game started with yet another double double 19 points and 14 boards. The game was quickly over as UCLA's pace was too much for California.

(7)Georgetown 58, Rutgers 46- Georgetown started the new year and conference play with a convincingly boring victory over Rutgers. For the second time this season Hibbert faced a comparable opposing center and for the second time he did nothing. The Hoyas kept the spirit of giving alive dishing out 10 assists on 20 field goals.

Upset special
Oregon 84, (21)Arizona 74- As Luke Olsen looks on from a far, like Scrooge looking in the window at Tiny Tim, there was no happy ending for the Wildcats. Malik Hairston scores 29 points for the Ducks and Oregon gets the must needed win in the Pac-10.