Blue at the Buzzer: Marquette Beats Davidson in Tourney

So, we've got our first sort-of buzzer beater in this years NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Third Seeded Marquette topped off a furious finish beating 14th Seed Davidson 59-58 on a last second layup by guard Vander Blue (yes, that's his name)

The Golden Eagles trailed Davidson most of the game and were down by 6 with less than 6 minutes to go. Blue and Jamil Wilson got Marquette within one with 5 seconds left. Davidson followed with a turnover.

That's when Blue went to work, driving to his left, he swept by his defender, laying the ball high over the rim for the game winner as the buzzer went off.

Marquette moves on in the East Region, they'll play Butler on Saturday.

Your game winner (at least until its pulled)

Big East Turns Into Bat Cave

((HT: blueduke19))

This is, probably, the only positive pub the Big East has gotten in the last few months... and it doesn't have the slightest bit to do with an actual win or loss.

Someone got into the Marquette-Providence game without a ticket and made sure to hang around and dive bomb whatever it could for a while...

Here's the proof...


They even tried to turn the lights out to encourage said bat to leave...
Here's the highlights in the 81-71 win for Marquette...
((HT: Big East/ESPN))

It's Official: Hoops Only Schools Leave the Big East

Yes, like most, we reported on this story a couple of days ago.

Now it's official.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova have voted unanimously and as a group to "Withdraw" from the Big East. (*Note-Official Date not yet set)

And the days of one of the few remaining "Power Conferences" existing in College Basketball, are officially numbered.

The teams, who again, aren't football schools, felt it in their best interest to leave as the Big East expands to take on several former Conference USA schools (Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF and eventually Tulane) along with Boise St. and San Diego St in football. East Carolina and Navy join for football in 2015. And lest we forget Pitt and Syracuse leave after this year too.

If the league still exists.

Follow all that?

At this point, the only thing that could keep the conference from going away? Football money. Mind you, they turned down a $100+ million a year TV deal just a couple of months ago. With this roster of schools, they won't get it now.

And in the "Name" of better competition, it should be noted the automatic "BCS" berth the Big East once had--it's gone too.

So...what does this all mean?

It means ESPN is stuck with Big Monday's with little schools in the Winter time. It means the conference of Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony will never be the same. It means that college sports continues down its road of ultimate greed and selling out for one thing and one thing only.

The almighty $.

Don't let ANY college president, athletic director, coach or other tell you something different. Maryland  didn't leave the ACC for better academics...or a conference they can ever win in Sports. They left for the money. It's all TV revenue, specifically football. And it is all driven by ESPN. They've been quoted as advising multiple schools. They've been the one's paying obscene amounts of money for the "Super Conferences" (which by the way cable subscriber--comes out of YOUR pocket whether you are a fan or not). They've been the driving force in it all.

And to an extent, we can't totally blame the "Catholic Seven" here either. They are looking out for their only interest and that interest wasn't the Big East's. They'll be fine. They'll form their own conference and might cherry pick a couple other Atlantic 10 schools.

So, college sports has officially jumped the shark. Yes, it's the only way you can pay your head football coach $4 million a year. Which by the way, won't stop him from jumping to another school who will pay him more at any time during the contract. Or you from paying him if he doesn't win the BCS title in year 2.

That's all, we'll get off our horse, you can call this cynical or not being "Up with the Times" and you aren't wrong. But sometimes, someone has to call a "Deal with the Devil" for exactly what it is....

In case you missed it: Late NCAA results, 2 more in the "Elite 8"

They weren't a high seed and didn't "Wow" anyone during the regular season, but the Florida Gators now find themselves playing for a berth in this years Final Four.

They got there with a late Thursday night 68-58 win over Marquette.

The reason they won?

Freshman Bradley Beal.

Beal had 21 points, Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton chipped in 11 each for the 26-10 Gators who move on to face Louisville this weekend.

That matchup features Louisville coach Rick Pitino and his protoge', Florida coach Billy Donovan. You can bet, that will be all they talk about in the pre-game hype.

Your highlights from SI.com:



And the other game, the "Battle of Ohio". Ohio State and Cincinnati, two schools a couple of hours apart who haven't played since the 1960's when Oscar Robertson ruled the college basketball world.

This time, the game went to the guys in Columbus.

Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes on a 17-1 run in the 2nd half and Ohio State cruised to an 81-66 win over the University of Cincinnati and a shot at the "Elite 8".

The Bearcats played tough for part of the game, they were up 4 with just over 11 minutes to play, but that is when Mr. Sullinger and company stepped on the throttle and took care of business.

Ohio State will square off with Syracuse on Saturday evening, the winner will get a berth in the Final Four.

Highlights from SI.com:

Marquette Buzz: Coach Goes Dancing On Rival Floor

And the dance by Warriors Golden Eagles head coach Buzz WIlliams after being down to West Virginia in Morgantown didn't go over well with the home folks...

See for yoursself...
((HT: ESPN))


Williams held out four starters for the ever-popular "undisclosed violation of team rules" for the first half in Morgantown before coming from behind in the one-point win.

The HQ knows Huggy Bear will remember this one...

Early Upsets In Hoops: Davidson Goes All Honey Badger On KU

((HT: SI.com))

Two upsets last night... the first was at the Sprint Center so more than 17,000 could see Davidson knock off Kansas- which they have done before...

Davidson was 11 for 33 in three-point field goals to pace the win...
((HT: ESPNU))


The other was with LSU taking out Marquette, who still does not have a football team that could help the Big east football conference...

Ralston Turner had 22 in the win...
((HT: FSNSouth))