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NCAA LIVE BLOG: MWC season done in one weekend as BYU falls
Cougars’ 84-72 loss to Kansas State, coupled with New Mexico’s drubbing at the hands of Washington, ends MWC hoops season
BYU forward Jonathan Tavernari complains about a call during Saturday’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Kansas State at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Kansas State beat BYU 84-72.
Published Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 3:54 p.m.
Updated Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 7:59 p.m.
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BYU falls to Kansas State, 84-72, after hot start fizzles
OKLAHOMA CITY — True, next season has the potential to match and maybe even better the success the Mountain West Conference had on the hardwood this winter.
And after Saturday's action, next season is all that MWC hoops fans have to look forward to.
After New Mexico was pummeled in San Jose by Washington, 82-64, BYU let a double-digit first-half lead slip from its grip in Oklahoma City against Kansas State, falling 84-72 when all was said and done.
Jimmer Fredette struggled all night from the floor, finishing with a tournament-low 21 points on just 5-of-13 shooting. He had trouble shaking free from long-range against the Wildcats' hyper-athletic backcourt, hitting just one of his four 3-point attempts.
The charge for Kansas State was led by junior guard Jacob Pullen, who scored 34 points on 8-of-15 shooting. While Fredette couldn't find air out deep, Pullen hit seven of K-State's 11 treys.
The Wildcats advance to Salt Lake City for their first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 1988, and will face the winner of tomorrow's tussle between Xavier and Pittsburgh.
For BYU, everyone knew the outcome would potentially be told by the rebounding battle, and it sure was. K-State out-boarded BYU, 39-29, including 15 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points coming as a result of them.
The Cougars' loss means the weekend ends with a thud for the Mountain West Conference, which had four teams in the NCAA tournament for the first time in the league's 11-year history.
The first round offered some promise, as BYU and New Mexico both won thrillers, and the two losers — UNLV and San Diego State — each lost 3-point games which came down to the final possession to decide the outcome.
Northern Iowa buries tournament's top overall seed — Kansas — in wild finish, 69-67
OKLAHOMA CITY — On Thursday, when tied 66-66 with UNLV in the closing seconds, Northern Iowa's Ali Farokhmanesh had no choice but to hoist the open 3-point look on the left wing.
On Saturday, up by a point on Kansas in the final minute, instead of trying to dribble around and run out the clock, he launched another — this time from the right wing — and maybe became America's hoops darling in the process.
His fourth trey of the game ultimately proved to be the dagger to the top-ranked team in the land's heart, as Northern Iowa goes to the Sweet Sixteen off of a 69-67 victory over Kansas.
Farokhmanesh finished with a team-high 16 points off of 5-of-12 shooting. After hitting three treys in the first half, that was his lone connection of the second half.
The funny thing? This run might not be over, as beating the winner of Maryland and Michigan State wouldn't be out of the question next weekend in St. Louis.
For Kansas, it's the end of the Sherron Collins era — and perhaps the same for Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry.
Collins — the winningest player in the program's storied history — was just 4-of-15 from the floor with 10 points, four assists and five turnovers. Aldrich had 13 points and 10 rebounds, but couldn't neutralize UNI's Jordan Eglseder, who scored 14 and grabbed five rebounds. Henry, who is one of the nation's top freshmen, finished his non-descript year with eight points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes.
Next up is BYU and Kansas State, and while BYU is a trendy pick in this game, you've got to think that seeing their cross-state rival go down might serve as a nice late shot of adrenaline for the Cats, who are looking for their first Sweet Sixteen berth since 1988.
After one half, UNI holds 36-28 lead on Kansas — the tourney's top overall seed
OKLAHOMA CITY — Well, apparently UNLV should have absolutely no shame in losing to Northern Iowa on Thursday night in the NCAA tourney's first round.
You can call Ali Farokhmanesh's 25-footer with five seconds left which ousted the Rebels a lucky shot, call it what you want, but UNI is beyond for real.
And about 10,000 Kansas fans in attendance today in the Ford Center are quickly coming to that realization.
At the half in Oklahoma City, UNI is half-way home towards upsetting the tournament's top overall seed, leading Kansas, 36-28.
The Panthers were 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half, including a 3-of-3 showing from Farokhmanesh, who leads all scorers so far with 11 points.
7-footer Jordan Eglseder has helped somewhat neutralize Kansas's star junior Cole Aldrich inside, and at the same time, Eglseder has stepped out to hit a pair of treys for the Panthers.
Coming into today, he was 13-of-50 in his four-year UNI career from long range, having never hit two in a game. He just hit two in one half.
A problem all year for Kansas has been a lack of intense effort — especially at the start of games — and the absence of the proverbial "killer instinct." In the first half, the 33-2 Jayhawks hadly looked like a team which realized a game was going on.
Senior All-American guard Sherron Collins played 19 minutes in the first half and hardly did anything of note, with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting, two assists and two turnovers.
Meanwhile, UNI is making KU uncomfortable by not just sucking the air out of the ball and making them defend for 30 seconds at a time, but then getting hustle points on the offensive boards.
The biggest back-breaker in that department came on a play late in the half, where 6-foot-6 reserve Lucas O'Rear had to take an awkward-looking hook shot on the right block against Aldrich and another KU defender with the shot clock about to expire. It drew iron, resetting the clock, and O'Rear got the tip-in to fall.
Plays like that are absolutely demoralizing.
Is Northern Iowa more talented than Kansas? No. But they're far hungrier today, and coach Ben Jacobson might be moving himself up the coaching ladder for good with this one.
Should be an incredible second half.
Here are some other numbers of note from the first half ...
— Both teams had 16 rebounds, with six coming on the offensive glass and 10 of the defensive variety. But UNI's have been a bit more timely.
— The fouls were pretty even at the end of the half, with KU getting whistled for seven, while UNI picked up five. But UNI wasn't called for one until the game was 9:45 old.
— Aldrich had seven points and seven rebounds for KU, while standout sophomore forward Marcus Morris also had seven points, but no rebounds.
— KU was forced into eight turnovers, while Northern Iowa, who committed 16 against UNLV on Thursday, had only four giveaways.
Discussion: 27 comments so far…
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How about you do a story on how bad the Mountain West really is. Your regular season champ, so called Top 10 team in the nation New Mexico is down 30 to Washington. Nice league! Can't wait to see how BYU gets cooked by Kansas St. That is men versus boys right there! The Mountain West you gotta love em!
Losing by a hail mary 3 doesn't look so bad now does it?
No but New Mexico being your dominant team in your league sure does!
Winning the conference by one game does not constitute dominance. If you want to say that they were the #1 finisher in the conference then fine.
What the hell are you doing on this board anyway? What do you care how the Mountain West does if your team is in the ACC? I know that all you have to do in life is sit in your mom's basement and blog but man, you are pathetic blogging almost an entire country away. Loooooosssssseeeeeerrrr.
well are team lost by a last sec 3 to the team that just beat the number 1 team in the nation.so what does that mean..
i have never seen a bigger baby than #23, mario little, for kansas. he should be absolutely ashamed of himself for that crying jag that he put on after they lost. it was disgusting by any and all standards!
Maybe if Kansas would of played the rest of the game like they did the last 3-5 minutes, it wouldn't have been close.
It means two things: 1) That the Rebels were in fact playing at a high level at the time of their loss. 2) It automatically gives the Rebels loss to NIU credibility.
Although I still think the Rebs should have pulled that one out, this helps the pain a bit. That is, if you're not thinking that the Rebs could have done this to Kansas.
Where is that condescending Jayhawk fan that was on here after the first round?
@Casper
He went back to the trailer park.
Looks like its up to BYU to make the MWC look good in the tournament now. I guess starting the same 5 players all season long finally caught up with New Mexico, they looked very tired and overwhelmed most of the game.
Yes lets judge the MWC on one game by one team instead of the entire season. SDSU barely lost to Tennesse which is the only team to beat Kentucky and Kansas. Unlv lost on a last minute shot to the team that beat the overall number one seed Kansas. Under your logic(more like stupidity) the Big 12 is not so big. Just another case of a little man with little vision showing his stupidity. Washington lost to Arizona a team which 3 MWC teams beat including BYU by 30, UNLV, and Utah. If anything an intelligent person can learn is that on any given day anyone can beat anyone. That is why Mr. genius the enitire season is looked at not one game, but then again you probably think NC state was the best team in the nation when they won the national Championship and had 13 losses. Speaking of thirteen sounds like your IQ. Any answers to why the big east can't win a game? I thought so. The more you look at your comment the dumber you look.
Mountain West post season football=very good.
Basketball=not very good.
Logic change your name and read the post above.
On another note instead of dealing with idiots I will say that Bill Self totally made a poor coaching decision by allowing UNI to control the game and putting no pressure on them defensively. He waited until the last minute to full court press. You have a five second rule and that is how you stop teams that bleed the clock. You pressure them into turning the ball over and don't ever allow them a look at the basket. self chose to stand around then try to get the rebound if theey missed. pretty lame. the 35 second clock was put in place to end the stall games, perhaps it is time for the 30 second clock.
go-rebels..Obviously Washington has been playing better lately. That's not unusual for a team to get on a roll. New Mexico almost lost to Montana. Washington beat a 3 seed today and it wasn't close. They were favored over a phoney 3 seed and I collected. Smoked a cigar the last 15 min of the game!!
What time is the Kansas-Ohio State game everyone was talking about? Let's all meet up and watch.
Last Mountain Worst team BYU coming apart in the 1st half.
so much for the Mtn West..
4 bids for this conference was a complete joke. Do us a favor next year and let real teams in the tournament, not this Mountain West garbage. Like I said all year this conference is nothing but a local conference. As far as the national scene forget about it. First time in NCAA Tournament history that an #11 seed was a 3 point favorite over a #3 seed. That's how much our local oddsmakers had faith in New Mexico and the Mountain West conference.
go_rebels ...What, no more snappy words of wisdom from you?
Great Job Mountain West. This was a rebuilding year. Who would of thought that we would have 2 teams in the top 25. UNLV..returns all five starters. BYU returns at least 4 starters. New Mexico returns 4 starters. San Diego State returns 4 starters.
Canes4Life is an idiot. He would'nt know a basketball if he tripped over it. Canes season record on the road in conference 0-8, Canes season record 20-13. Not even invited to the NIT. Pathetic. Go away troll aka loser.
If only more MWC teams got in, so they could have as many losses as the mighty Big East.
On 2/28/10 Canes4life posted:
"I am actually a Georgetown fan in college hoops."
How's that working out for you buddy.
hahaha Tarkus!!!
I actually thought we were a legitimate conference this year but it looks like I was wrong. 2 ranked teams for the most of the season, with the Rebels in and out of the top 25. Some big non-conference wins against big conferences all the sudden don't look to good. Everyone beat up on at BAD Arizona team. Most years and AZ win would look good but not this year. UNLVs win over Louisville now looks like it was overrated. Yes they were ranked at the time but they were a bad team and showed it in the tourny. NM wins against Texas Tech and Tex A&M look overrated now too. BYU never beat any legit teams all year. Their best win was over an overrated UTEP team. Putting 4 teams into the tournament looked good until all teams got knocked out the first weekend once again. Every year (except 2007) the MWC never shows up come tourny time. I always pick MWC teams to go to at least the Sweet 16 every year out of a bias because I watch the conference, and every year the MWC screws me with my bracket. This can't look good for recruiting. Any top notch recruit, includig Cory Joseph, will not come play for a MWC team because all the teams in the conference are mediocre. Trevon Willis himself said it in an interveiw a last week that he didn't know anything about the MWC until he came to UNLV. No recruits will want to come to the conference either because they will never get any national exposure. Thanks to the buffoons at the MWC and the creation of The Mtn. and our deal with a second rate ESPN(VERSUS) nobody gets seen nationally or even has their highlights on Sportcenter.Any kid that has a dream of playing in the NBA would be killing their chances by coming to the MWC. Plus look at the amount of players the MWC has put into the NBA in recent years (next to none). Then the fact that no teams every make it past the first weekend in the tournament and can never step up against other big programs nobody will want to come to our second rate conference. We are just going to have to be happy with getting to the tournament every other year, being an 8 seed, being ranked once every 3-4 years, and getting 3 star talent.
hey canes ... why dont you go help you university by donating money so you guys can purchase more bail bonds for your delinquent athletes ... and go ask the heels from you overrated ACC how fun its been in the Not Invited Tournament ... id rather be one and done in the big dance ... y'all finished dead last in your conference and have two appearances this decade - and dont lump byu w/ the mtn west anyway ... cuz we all hate there guts i wish them the worst every time out
Casper, crooksncastles is correct. Blake went back to his trailer park in Kansas to cry. And BYU probably lost because the refs didn't realize they have to call a foul everytime Jimmer has the ball.
If you think about it, only NM underachieved in the tournament. SDSU and BYU both lost to much higher seeds, while UNLV lost a virtual pick 'em 8/9 game on a last second Hail Mary. Compare that to what the Big East (supposedly the best conference) has done.