Today we have a Bronco looking to help his team stand some Gaels. Find out where everyone else is playing today right here ...
Marquee Matchup
8:00pm Santa Clara vs. Saint Mary’s
Did anyone see Santa Clara in this position in November or even in January? They, like most of the West Coast Conference teams, have had a rough go through their conference seasons. The Broncos lose to Portland and Gonzaga and then close the season with wins over Loyola-Marymount and Pepperdine to head into the WCC Conference Tournament where they dispose of LMU again. Now they face conference’s best team in Saint Mary’s in the deciding game to see who moves to the championship. Marc Trasolini had a huge game in the win over LMU yesterday going off for 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block to lead his Broncos to victory. Will he, and Santa Clara, have enough to get past the Gaels?
And here is where everyone is playing today …
12:00pm Central Connecticut State @ Long Island
1:00pm Penn State @ Minnesota
2:00pm Robert Morris @ Quinnipiac
4:00 Rider vs. Iona
5:00pm Lafayette @ American – Lafayette managed to make it into the second round of the Patriot League Tournament and now they have to face the second place American U. In their last meeting, Jared Mintz had 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in a narrow 95-92 loss in double overtime. If this is his last game of his college career, I would think that’d he’d be going out with a bang if not helping get his team into the conference championship game.
6:00pm Wofford vs. Western Carolina – After what started out as a rough year, Western Carolina has a chance to get into the Southern Conference Championship game if they can beat Wofford. Since January, Harouna Mutombo has been playing like the guy who was All Conference Second Team as a freshman. He had 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in the win over UNC-Greensboro and is looking like he be that catalyst for this game. Also note, Keaton Cole played well in that game against Greensboro putting up 10 points and grabbing 5 rebounds off the bench.
7:00pm South Dakota State vs. IPFW
7:30pm Lehigh @ Bucknell – Like Lafayette, Bucknell is one game away from a shot at the Patriot League ‘Chip. Now the Bison have faced Lehigh twice this season and they have won both games handily. Bryson Johnson had been spectacular all season and is averaging 11.5 points against the Mountain Hawks in the two victories. These circumstances are a little different for sure but if Johnson’s 17 point, 3 rebound game against Army to start off the conference tournament are any indication, Lehigh will have to claw for everything against one of the hottest teams in the NCAAs right now.
9:45pm Ark-Little Rick vs. Arkansas State
10:30pm San Francisco vs. Gonzaga - Gonzaga was beat by San Francisco in overtime ealier this season but the Zags would come back and pummel them four weeks later so you can say that this is the rubber match but hte stakes are a little higher with the winner here goes on to the WCC Championship game. Rob Sacre, who had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in the loss, only played 16 minutes in the Gonzaga win over USF and had injured his wrist. With him at full strength and a potential NCAA invite on the line for these bubble Zags look out for a good game.