Some Michigan basketball fans think it has, and they’re
hoping the Wolverines somehow win the Big Ten Tournament. For
others, there’s still the possibility that other
‘bubble’ teams choke this week, allowing Michigan to
sneak into the bracket. Here’s how four fellow bubble teams
fared last weekend …
Washington Huskies
SEATTLE (AP) — The Stanford Cardinals never got a
chance to pull off another last-second victory.
The top-ranked Cardinals lost for the first time this season
Saturday, falling 75-62 to Washington two days after rallying to
beat Washington State on a buzzer-beater.
“Nobody likes to lose, especially when you have 26 wins
straight,” center Rob Little said. “We can’t
always have a miraculous comeback.”
Tre Simmons scored 16 points for unranked Washington (17-10,
12-6), enjoying its first winning season since 1999.
“I said repeatedly that one day I saw this coming,”
second-year coach Lorenzo Romar said. “I didn’t know it
would happen this year.
“I thought it would be great if we could knock off the No.
1 team and get into the tournament. It’s awfully exciting to
be in this position.”
Stanford was trying to become the first Pac-10 team to finish a
perfect conference season. Instead it joined Oregon State and
Arizona as the only teams to go 17-1. The 26-game winning streak
was the longest in the Pac-10 since Oregon State won 26 straight in
1980-81.
Washington lost its first five conference games, including an
85-72 setback at Stanford, and was in last place in January. Since
then, the Huskies have won 12 of 13 league games to claim second
place. They start four sophomores and a junior.
Missouri Tigers
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — No. 21 Kansas, victimized so
many times over the years at the Hearnes Center, spoiled the final
game at the 32-year-old building.
Freshman reserve David Padgett scored with two seconds left and
Wayne Simien had 22 points and seven rebounds in the
Jayhawks’ 84-82 victory over Missouri on Sunday.
“To beat a team like this at the buzzer, it’s the
best thing that’s happened to me so far,” Padgett
said.
“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” coach
Quin Snyder said. “I feel bad for our seniors, and I think
they feel bad for our fans that we just did not close this
building’s tradition out on a winning note.”
Snyder isn’t sure what this loss means to the
Tigers’ NCAA hopes, although they now likely need a strong
showing in the Big 12 tournament this week in Dallas. Missouri is
seeded sixth and will Texas A&M in the first round on
Thursday.
“We’ve had our share of adversity,” he said.
“There is no answer, except to pick up the pieces and go down
to Dallas and fight like hell.”
Florida State Seminoles
ATLANTA (AP) — In the final home game of his
college career, Marvin Lewis finally stood out.
He scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and tied a
season high with five 3-pointers, helping No. 19 Georgia Tech hold
off Florida State 63-60 Saturday.
Adam Waleskowski and Anthony Richardson each had 12 points for
the Seminoles (18-12, 6-10), who lost their fourth straight and
finished 0-8 on the road in the ACC. Despite five victories over
Top 25 teams, they likely need a run in the conference tournament
to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since
1993.
“I knew going into the game that as a team we were
entering uncharted waters with the importance of this game,”
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “There’s a
certain mind-set that you have to get into to win on the road. I
was hoping, with our backs against the wall, we’d be able to
find it.”
Oklahoma Sooners
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Freshman Lawrence McKenzie hit
a pair of free throws with 21.4 seconds left and Jaison Williams
made a steal on the next possession, helping Oklahoma avert a loss
that would have been disastrous to its NCAA tournament hopes with a
46-41 victory over Baylor on Saturday.
Oklahoma (18-9, 8-8) will probably still need a win or two in
next week’s Big 12 tournament to clinch an at-large berth to
the NCAA tournament. The Sooners, who will be the seventh seed,
will face Nebraska in the first round.
The victory, however, showed just how far the three-time
defending Big 12 tournament champions have fallen this season.
Baylor (8-21, 3-13) ends its painful season here because of
self-imposed penalties stemming from major NCAA violations under
former coach Dave Bliss. The Bears would’ve qualified for the
Big 12 tournament had they been allowed to go — a credit to
first-year coach Scott Drew.
The Bears almost pulled off its biggest win of the year in the
finale.