Around the Rim, College Basketball

Bucknell does it Again
In January Bucknell broke #10 Pittsburgh’s 48 game home winning streak against non-conference opponents. In March the Bison sent the third seeded Kansas Jayhawks packing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Now you can add the Syracuse Orange to their list of upset victims.

Syracuse trailed most of the first half before going on a late 10-3 run to take a 28-27 halftime lead. Then Bucknell took only 17 shots in the second half, making all but three of them to knock off the 17th ranked Orange 74-69.

"We never take the underdog role," said Kevin Bettencourt, who led Bucknell with 20 points and keyed a late 13-2 run that decided the game. "We think we can win every game."

Zags & Spartans go to Triple O.T.

The college basketball season is still very young but there may not be a better game all season than the one between Gonzaga and Michigan State Tuesday.

There were 13 lead changes in the final 7:30 of regulation, four in the final 1:14. Maurice Ager of Michigan State tied it at 80 at the final buzzer of regulation with his fifth 3-pointer over the final 7:10.

The first overtime ended with Gonzaga having a chance to win, but the Bulldogs missed three shots in the final 9 seconds.

The second overtime ended with the officials putting 0.9 seconds back on the clock after a Michigan State turnover just before the buzzer but Gonzaga couldn't take advantage.

Then, finally, Morrison made two free throws with 19 seconds left in the third overtime to give Gonzaga the lead for good at 107-106. Michigan State freshman Goran Suton missed a layup with 4.6 seconds left.

To bad this game was played in November and not in March. The Bulldogs will play #3 Connecticut for the championship tonight.

Kansas Goes Down in Maui
Aloha means goodbye. The Jayhawks are 0-2 at the Maui invitational proving that this young team doesn’t have what it takes to run with the big boys at this time. Kansas at times has look both very impressive and unimpressive. They have a ways to go still but are a talented team and should be very solid when conference season rolls around. Playing teams like Arizona and Arkansas at the beginning of the season can only make you stronger.

Texas Wins Guardians
The Longhorns struggled in the first half but were solid in the second half and game away with a 68-59 win over # 18 Iowa in the championship game of the Guardians Classic.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out as the Longhorns erased a 7-point halftime deficit. "I think we understood the importance of the game," said point guard Daniel Gibson, who had 16 points. "I think we understood that every night we come out to play, we come out to win. We knew that wasn't one of our better halves, so we took that as motivation."

My Top 10
Here is how I rank the best 10 teams in the country this week.
1. Duke
2. Texas
3. Connecticut
4. Villanova
5. Oklahoma
6. Gonzaga
7. Louisville
8. Michigan St.
9. Arizona
10. Kentucky

NCAA suspends Bradley University basketball players

Yet another basketball post where players are in trouble.

Two Bradley basketball players were suspended by the NCAA on Tuesday for getting paid for work they didn't perform while on their summer jobs.

Two other players also accused of being paid for work they didn't do were forced to repay the money.

Center Patrick O'Bryant was suspended for eight games and point guard Will Franklin must sit out six games. The suspensions were handed down Monday and the school appealed the move. The NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Division upheld the decision on Tuesday, the university said.

photos from yahoo