(Cal’s Ayinde Ubaka, 8 points in overtime, 29 for the day, and a weirdly blue tongue)
Other than Pokey Chatman and Mike Hampton (whom, Maura Johnston notes, “should have plenty of time to volunteer for the PTA“), was it :
1) UCLA, whose 76-69 OT loss to Cal — the Bruins 2nd defeat in a row — will probably cost them a no. 1 seed.
2) West Virginia, 82-71 double OT losers to Louisville in the Big East, and probably on the outside looking in come Sunday evening.
3) Brad Holland, suddenly pounding the pavement after being let go by San Diego.
4) Duke, who thanks to Freshman Brandon Costner, crashed out of the ACC Tournament on Day One with an 85-80 overtime loss.
5) Whoever had to be reminded he or she once fucked this guy.
6) Jeff Bzdelik’s Air Force (whom I by far prefer to Michael Wynne’s Air Force), knocked out of the Mountain West tourney by Wyoming, 67-62, and are most likely awaiting an NIT invitation. The Falcons started the year 17-1 before losing 7 of their last 13, including today’s 4th defeat in a row.
Despite their success over the past four seasons, Air Force has never won a Mountain West tournament game. They keep losing in the first round.
Maryland also probably dropped a couple of spots by losing to Miami, and Clemson is almost certainly out after losing to Florida State. And Arizona’s 19 point loss to Oregon is probably pretty painful to those who care about that. But choosing from those listed above, I think it’s got to be Air Force. At least they can rest assured that, as long as BYU is throwing a bunch of 25 year olds fresh off their Mormon missions out there, they’re still the second most loathsome team in their conference.
The real Worst Thursday Award, though, should probably go to anyone who watched more than a few minutes of Michigan/Minnesota. Excruciating. Luckily, it was on TV in NYC instead of any of the SEC games. Thank goodness.
caught the 2nd half of Miami/Maryland on a Jet Blue flight today and was very frustrated at not being able to find Darryl Strawberry in the stands on the tiny screen. damn you, Dave Checketts and your econo airline.
Wake/Georgia Tech has been surprisingly fun fun fun, but not as big a surprise as “now I wanna be your dog” as the muzak for “Dancing With The Stars” (hint, the “ultimate dancing challenge” is a tasteful allusion to Heather Mills’ prosthetic leg). I still can’t believe Anthony Mason Sr. didn’t make the cut.
Northwestern throwing the ball away unguarded in the backcourt down three to Michigan State with ten seconds to go would unfortunately make my “worst” list.
I think West Virginia gets in.
Jon
I also think West Virginia gets in–and if it means leaving out an impossible to watch big ten team then I’m really all for it. Dave is right for big ten games this year you have to cut Lawler’s Law in half–first one to 50 wins.
Really with the exception of 2004 when they won the whole thing, MD has been chronically disappointing in the ACC tourney. Yesterday reached a new low, thoroughly depressing. If you want to beat them next week–zone defense, high pick and roll offense. Wake picks the last week of the season to try to play well. Thornton gets an “iffy” call. Duke isn’t actually good at all, really.
If Ga Tech gets left out expect Duke bashing to reach an all time high. The devils are surely in but if you compare the teams’ seasons and you’d have to wonder why.
As for Air Force, I choose to support our troops. Email your congressperson to pass a resolution calling on the committee to include the Falcons in the tournament. I require more “modified” princeton offense in my monitors!