Today on another installment of Super Saturday, we have four great games to take you from your hangover brunch to t-shirt time. Find out who else is playing today right here ...
Marquee Matchup(s)
12:00pm Syracuse @ Georgetown
Kris Joseph has been great all season for Syracuse but you would never have known that from the Orange’s win over Villanova this past Monday. Playing all but one minute in the narrow 69-64 win, he only had 7 points going 2-of-7 from the floor including 0-of-4 from the three line. That’s not to say that he played a totally bad game, because he didn’t at all. He had 8 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and a block in the game showing that he’s far from a one trick pony. But this game just exemplifies that Joseph is a player that has two sides to him: the offensive juggernaut and the well rounded do everything utility man. He’s played this way throughout the entire season and one always seems to hide when the other comes out to play. Now against this Georgetown team that is minus Chris Wright, can Joseph combine both these guys together? With the Big East and NCAA Tournaments around the corner, can he do it in time?
4:00pm St. Bonaventure @ Saint Joseph’s
St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson has been, to put it in youngin’ terms, beasting all of February and has a real shot at winning Atlantic 10 player of the month honors. He’s averaging 21.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in his last seven games which include a win over Duquesne, a two point loss to Dayton and two blowout wins at home. Saint Joseph’s is currently sitting in the spot in the conference standings that the Bonnies were predicted to occupy at the start of this season so a win for Nicholson and company should be likely. With the St. Bonaventure in a three way tie for seventh place in the conference, look for a huge game from Andrew in this one to get some separation with three games remaining in the regular season.
4:30pm Nicholls State @ McNeese State
In Diego Kapelan’s last five games, he’s averaging 21.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in just over 31 minutes per contest. He also made an incredible 24 of his 42 trey ball attempts in that stretch, good for 57.1%, including 9-of-13 in his game against Northwestern State February 19. What’s most importantly, the team was 4-1 in that span and is looking very good at the right time in the season. After slumping for most of December, Kapelan has come alive and looks like he will be leading the team into a possible conference championship. But first they must get through Nicholls State and it will be fun to watch pure shooter in this one who seems to have found his hot hand.
9:00pm Gonzaga @ San Diego
After some unimpressive performances against some lesser conference teams of late, Rob Sacre came out and played his best one in a little while scoring 13 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in 27 minutes in the overtime win over Saint Mary’s two nights ago. With Coach Few seemingly changing the teams playing patterns almost nightly, this is a good sign for Sacre since he’ll be relied on in the middle rather heavily going forward. The Zags will be taking on a relatively weak San Diego team that sits at the bottom of the WCC standings but you can’t really count out any team in this conference. Remember that the Zags lost to Santa Clara and San Francisco earlier this season. FYI, Kelly Olynyk seems to have played well in very limited action and Manny Arop has been, well, MIA for a little bit. UPDATE: As per our good friends at The Slipper Still Fits Sacre has been battling a slight wrist injury. The extent of the injury is still a little unclear but that may have been hindering the beast that he's been for the most of the season.
And here is where everyone else is playing today …
12:00pm Missouri @ Kansas State
1:00pm UNC-Wilmington @ Northeastern
1:30pm Arkansas @ Auburn
1:45pm Nebraska @ Iowa State
2:00pm Green Bay @ Cleveland State
2:00pm Temple @ George Washington
2:00pm UNC Greensboro @ Davidson – Since Nik Cochran’s 22 point outburst January 12 against Furman, he’s scored in double digits 11 of the last 14 games. That happens to include four 20+ point games including a career high 29 points in the 83-75 Davidson win over Elon two days ago. He’s averaging 19.8 points over the last four games and with this being his last one before the conference tournament it could be a big one.
2:00pm Central Connecticut State @ Long Island
4:00pm Drexel @ Towson
4:00pm American @ Lafayette – In Lafayette’s 67-46 crushing of Army three days ago, Jared Mintz only scored 7 points. That is his first single digit scoring contest in 16 games and his second this season. Against American today, look for him to get the rock up a lot on his Senior Day.
4:00pm Army @ Bucknell
4:00pm Central Arkansas @ Southeastern Louisiana
4:05pm Arkansas-Little Rock @ Arkansas State
4:30pm Michigan @ Minnesota
4:30pm Coppin State @ North Carolina A&T
4:30pm Bryant University @ St. Francis (NY)
4:30pm Charleston @ Western Carolina -
6:00pm Harvard @ Yale
6:00pm Columbia @ Princeton
6:00pm California @ Oregon State
6:00pm Stanford @ Oregon
7:00pm Cornell @ Penn
7:00pm Richmond @ Charlotte
7:00pm Wagner @ Robert Morris – Wagner needs this win to today to give them a slight edge in the conference tournament seedings and it may fall to Tyler Murray to get it done. The Seahawks have lost their last three games, all by six points or less, but Murray has averaged 15.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a steal in about 35 minutes. Murray is clearly the team’s most dynamic player and will need to be the one to pull his team to this win today.
7:00pm Mount St. Mary’s @ St. Francis (PA)
7:05pm Drake @ Bradley
7:30pm Arizona State @ USC
7:30pm Elon @ Georgia Southern
7:30pm Belmont @ Kennesaw State
7:30pm Morehead State @ Tennessee-Martin
8:00pm Louisiana Tech @ San Jose State – With three games left in this season, Olu Ashaolu and Louisiana Tech still have their sights trained on getting a good spot in the conference tournament in a few weeks. Olu has been on a tear of late having had two straight double-double games before his 9 point, 4 rebound night in the 71-58 loss to Hawaii on the road. With lead guard DeAndre Brown no longer in games now, it will be on Ashaolu’s broad shoulders that his team’s fortunes will rest on tonight if they want to inch closer to a spot in the conference tourney.
8:05pm IPFW @ UMKC
8:30pm Pacific @ UC Irvine
8:45pm Eastern Kentucky @ Murray State
9:00pm Northern Iowa @ Creighton
9:00pm Grambling State @ Arkansas-Pine Bluff
9:00pm Jacksonville State @ Tennessee Tech
10:00pm Pepperdine @ Santa Clara – After some decent games over the month of February, Marc Trasolini had exploded in Thursday night’s win over Loyola Marymount going off for 31 points, grabbing 9 rebounds while also getting 2 assists and 2 blocks. With this last game against Pepperdine being the tempo setter for the coming conference tournament, look for Traz to possibly go off in this one.
10:00pm Seattle @ Cal Bakersfield
11:00pm Portland @ Saint Mary’s – After averaging 17.5 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in the previous six games before the San Diego game February 24, Nem Mitrovic only managed 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the win to the Toreros. After only sinking one three ball in that game, it will be interesting to see how he performs in this game which will definitely be a tough one especially since Saint Mary’s is coming a tough OT loss to Gonzaga two night ago.
12:00pm New Mexico State @ Hawaii