On the pro golf circuit, it’s known as Moving Day, that pivotal third round that separates the pretenders from the contenders. Or as ESPN broadcaster Sean Farnham referred to Saturday’s enticing and important men’s college basketball slate: “Separation Saturday.”
But however you viewed this weekend’s schedule, it was overloaded with prove-it-to-me games for both the NCAA tournament selection committee and conference championship résumés.
Whether it was No. 3 Oklahoma versus No. 6 Kansas in a Big 12 showdown, No. 22 Kentucky at unranked but Southeastern Conference co-leader South Carolina or our own University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs at East Tennessee State University in a Southern Conference matchup, Saturday was a day to frame the rest of the regular season – and quite possibly, the postseason.
That trio of important contests were only slightly sexier at Saturday’s dawn than No. 7 Virginia at Duke, No. 15 Texas A&M at LSU, No. 18 Purdue at Michigan and Alabama at Florida.
Even better, all of them were over before 8 p.m., which is every newspaper copy editor’s dream come true.
So what did we learn from UTC’s 76-68 victory over ETSU? And Kentucky’s 89-62 road rout of South Carolina? And the Jayhawks’ stunner of the Sooners in Norman, where Oklahoma superstar Buddy Hield – a 90 percent foul shooter – missed a free throw late to leave his team one point behind in an eventual 76-72 loss? And LSU’s 76-71 win over reeling Texas A&M, which is certain to fall out of The Associated Press Top 25 after its fifth straight SEC loss?
Moreover, is Duke poised to defend its national championship after holding off Virginia on a last-second shot? Is Michigan again Michigan after outlasting Purdue? Is anyone in the country doing a better coaching job than Avery Johnson, who is in his first season at Alabama?
First of all, Matt McCall’s Mocs won the kind of game good teams win when they outlasted talented ETSU just two days after delivering a stinker at Western Carolina. No, it won’t keep them from falling far in the eyes of the selection committee, which now has them among the first four out despite nonconference road wins at Georgia, Illinois and Dayton. Now they’ll almost certainly have to win the Southern Conference tournament to make the Big Dance.
But that might actually be a blessing, because if you’ve done what they’ve done in nonconference play and you’re still considered an outsider, you’re far better off to know your requirements up front. Win and you’re in. Otherwise, you’re in the NIT.
Then there’s Kentucky, which blew a 21-point lead 12 days ago at Tennessee in a loss that left the Wildcats looking like anything but a team capable of returning to the Final Four for the fifth time in six years. But in its three games since then, Big Blue has beaten Florida, Georgia and the Gamecocks by an average of 27 points, including winning at South Carolina pretty much without head coach John Calipari, who was ejected by official Doug Sirmons less than three minutes into the game following back-to-back technical fouls.
Said UK associate head coach Kenny Payne afterward of Cal’s TKO: “I thought it set a fire within our guys. I thought they played with (the mindset of), ‘You try and take one of our guys out? We’re coming out and going to play with more energy, more effort. We’re going to fight more.'”
With LSU continuing the Aggies’ swoon and the Gamecocks having the easiest remaining schedule of the Bayou Bengals, Wildcats and South Carolina, the SEC regular-season title figures to be a fight to the finish. But the Wildcats, playing as they did Saturday against a team that hadn’t lost at home all season, also figure to be a very tough out for everyone going forward. Especially if Cal can just stay out of the way.
As for the national scene, let’s assume Kansas, on the heels of Saturday’s win, goes on to win its 12th straight Big 12 title under Bill Self. In the modern one-and-done era of college hoops, is there a single more impressive coaching mark than that?
OK, Duke winning back-to-back titles after losing three first-round draft picks might be almost as remarkable, and if sophomore Grayson Allen can keep muscling his way through defenders without offensive foul calls (as he did in last year’s national title game and Saturday’s win over the Cavaliers), the Blue Devils just might repeat.
The Dookies play at North Carolina on Wednesday in what often seems like an unofficial holiday for ESPN, and if Mike Krzyzewski can add the Tar Heels to this week’s big wins over Louisville and Virginia, you should count Coach K’s kids out at your own peril.
But no matter who winds up in the NCAA tournament, you could argue Bama’s Johnson should be the league’s coach of the year after Saturday’s 61-55 win at Florida, which makes the Crimson Tide 15-9 overall and 6-6 in the SEC with six games to play.
The Tide probably already have too many league losses to capture the conference, but with five league wins in their past six games, they may have a huge impact on who wins the league.
Yet no matter which conference you call home, the words of UTC junior forward Tre McLean – said on the eve of Saturday’s win at ETSU – apply to everyone who wishes to play basketball beyond their league tournaments.
“If we want to achieve greatness and be the team we want to be,” he said, “we’ve got to get back to work.”
Some, such as Texas A&M and Florida, just may have a little more work to do to impress the selection committee than they did before taking the court Saturday.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.