Today we have four great games for you to spend your Saturday attached to your favorite chair. Find out who else is playing today in a big day of conference tournament and end of season games right here ...
Marquee Matchup
2:00pm Rhode Island @ St. Bonaventure
In the last game that St. Bonaventure played Rhode Island, the Bonnies came within one point of upsetting a very good Rams team. Andrew Nicholson had been like an All Atlantic 10 First Teamer all season but was held to only 9 points and 5 rebounds in 22 foul plagued minutes in that game on Jan. 16. That contest was the last one that he didn’t scored in double digits and that seemed to spark him as he ended up scoring over 20 points in five the next twelve. The Bonnies have been on two game losing streak of late and though they will finish the regular season above .500 it would be great if they can get a win before the start of the conference tournament. They have a legit shot at winning this one but only as long as Nicholson plays well. Without him, this could be an ugly game.
4:00pm DePaul @ Syracuse
Kris Joseph is on the verge of closing out his junior season but despite the Orange winning the last two games he’s not been the Joseph of yore. In the last two games, wins over Villanova and Georgetown on the road might I add, but he’s only averaged 5.5 points. Now despite the lack of scoring, he has averaged 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks in those two games which is great to see. Those last two games were narrow wins so to speak and the Orange could have used his scoring for sure but you can’t lose sight that he’s definitely showing he's not a one dimensional player. With this last game against a not so strong DePaul team, at least by Big East standards, can Joseph put it all together just before the start of the conference tournament?
7:00pm Utah State @ Louisiana Tech
The last four games that Olu Ashaolu has played have been a little weird. In two games he posts 18 points and 11 rebounds. In the other two games, he posts 9 points and 4 and 7 rebounds respectively. The team went 1-3 in that span and are now looking to face off against a really, really good Utah State team. This will be Olu’s last regular season game and possibly last game of the year so it would be nice if he could end it off with a bang, especially against a team of the Aggies' quality.
9:00pm Texas @ Baylor
Texas is on a two game losing streak and has lost three of the last four and twice to unranked teams. Not a good sign for the Longhorns as they head into the post season and it smells eerily similar to a dive that happened last season at around the same time. Today they head into their last game of the regular season trying to take down the Baylor Bears who are also working on a 1-3 record in their last four games. Tristan Thompson has been great in that span and had a career high 26 points in the Kansas State loss Feb. 28 along with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. This should be a good game to catch with two teams looking to get off on the right foot, as well as possibly sway some seeding votes, before the post season begins.
And here is where everyone else is playing today …
12:00pm Duquesne @ Richmond
1:30pm Iowa State @ Kansas State – After missing three games with an injury, Jamie Vanderbeken had two straight double-doubles in wins over Nebraska and Colorado. Freshman Melvin Ejim has been a little inconsistent with his scoring over the last month but he’s been rebounding and playing hard D. This will no doubt be a tough win to get against a very good Kansas State team but Iowa State did beat Colorado who beat Texas and this same Kansas State team so a win already so a W is not impossible.
2:00pm Dayton @ George Washington
2:00pm UNC Greensboro @ Western Carolina
2:15pm Binghamton vs. Vermont
2:30pm Drexel vs. Virginia Commonwealth
2:35pm Creighton vs. Missouri State – Jahenns Manigat has been playing well enough since being inserted into the starting lineup for Creighton that it may have hhelped push him into earning himself a Freshman All Conference Team nod. Under the pressure of his first post season game, he played well putting up 7 points, 6 rebounds and an assist in 32 minutes. This contest would be a very good gauge of how comfortable he is in his new role and what he can do in back-to-back games.
4:00pm Oregon State @ Arizona State
4:00pm Arkansas @ Mississippi
4:30pm Lamar @ McNeese State - In McNeese State’s 82-74 loss to Southeastern Louisiana in their last game, Diego Kapelan had his lowest point total in all of February managing only 7 points. With this being the last regular season game for McNeese, Kapelan and company will be looking to get this win and claim the outright championship in their division. Lamar is not a bad team and Kapelan will need to bomb from outside to keep the defense honest in this one. A win here would definitely get the Cowboys on the right track heading into their conference tournament.
5:00pm Texas A&M @ Central Arkansas
6:00pm Cleveland State vs. Butler
6:00pm Marquette @ Seton Hall
6:05pm New Hampshire vs. Boston University
7:00pm Stanford @ California
7:00pm Princeton @ Harvard
7:00pm Brown @ Columbia
7:00pm Yale @ Cornell
8:15pm Hartford @ Maine
9:00pm Nevada @ New Mexico State – The Canadian trio of Hernst Laroche, Tyrone Watson and Christian Kabongo have been very good the last three games and they will all need to get their best games out to snap this losing streak and beat an always tough Nevada team, no matter what the Wolfpack’s overall record is. One of the trio have always come up big when needed so tonight it's just a matter of who will be the one.
10:00pm Arkansas-Little Rock vs. South Alabama
10:00pm UC Irvine @ UC Riverside
10:00pm Seattle @ Idaho
10:00pm Canisius @ Rider