This Game a Sure Sign of Madness

A freshman coming through in a pressure-packed situation. A broken play producing a tying basket in the closing seconds. A questionable call leading to the go-ahead points moments earlier. Upset coaches. Befuddled referees.

March Madness is upon us.

Marquette’s 81-80 victory Saturday over 25th-ranked Louisville in a Conference USA game at Milwaukee had many of the elements that make college basketball such a compelling game.

The victory enhanced Marquette’s hopes for an NCAA tournament bid, one season after reaching the Final Four. The Golden Eagles are 17-10, 8-8 in conference play. The loss did little to hinder Louisville’s chances. The Cardinals are 19-8, 9-7.

Marquette won the game on freshman Dameon Mason’s free throw with less than one second to play. Mason had tied the score on a jump shot from the left wing, the right man in the wrong situation.

Steve Novak or Scott Merritt were the intended options after Louisville’s Taquan Dean made two free throws with 12 seconds remaining. But the play fell apart, although Merritt hit an unguarded Mason with an inbound pass to set up the tying basket. Mason was hacked on the play by Louisville’s Alhaji Mohammed.

“We ran the wrong play,” Mason said. “I just happened to get in the right spot.”

The play had been changed twice in the huddle, “so when we ran the play,” Mason explained, “everybody ran to the wrong spots. So, we were all confused. But, hey, like I said, things seemed to work out for us.”

Moments earlier, it seemed Marquette might lose because of a dubious call against Travis Diener, who picked up his fifth and final foul without ever laying a hand on Dean.

Television replays indicated that Dean stumbled into another Marquette player as he tried to free himself to receive an inbound pass.

Diener drew his jersey over his face in anguish while Marquette Coach Tom Crean bellowed at the officiating crew. After a delay, while officials Gerald Boudreaux, Rick Randall and Steve Wilmer huddled with Crean and Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, Dean made the free throws to give the Cardinals a short-lived, 80-78 lead.

The officials got it right at the other end, when Mohammed knocked Mason to the floor.

“I was just trying to challenge the shot,” Mohammed said. “I saw him open. I tried to get out and challenge him.”

Mason said one thought crossed his mind as he stood at the free-throw line with the game on the line.

“I wanted to make a big play like you think about when you’re younger,” he said. “You think, man, zero seconds left, going to the free-throw line, you know, big shot. You think about it all the time.”

Nothing but Net

Eddie Sutton played four seasons at Oklahoma State and never won a conference championship. He coached at Oklahoma State for 13 seasons and finally got a conference title, winning the Big 12 after a 70-41 victory over Texas A&M; at Stillwater, Okla.

After the game, Sutton, 67, climbed a ladder and snipped the final strand of the net, kissed it and held it aloft as the crowd cheered. He then stuffed it into his pocket.

“This is why I stay in coaching,” Sutton said. “It was a very special day.”

Before the game, Sutton received the Naismith Good Sportsmanship award, an 80-pound trophy named for basketball inventor James Naismith.

The No. 8 Cowboys clinched a share of the conference title with a victory Monday over Texas. This was their first outright championship since 1964-65 in the Big Eight.

Well, It’s Still a Good School

Georgetown’s 60-55 loss to Virginia Tech in a Big East game at Washington meant the Hoyas had to root for a West Virginia victory over Miami simply to reach the conference tournament. The Mountaineers’ 58-53 victory over the Hurricanes enabled the Hoyas to sneak into the tournament, avoiding their first absence in school history.

It was a sad state of affairs for a former national power that has nose-dived this season under beleaguered Coach Craig Esherick.

The Hoyas (13-14, 4-12) lost their eighth consecutive game, which is their longest skid since the team had a 3-23 record in 1971-72, the season before John Thompson was hired as coach.

“I ain’t going anywhere,” Esherick said Friday. “I may be here for another 30 years. And you can quote me on that. I love my job. It’s been a tough year. There’s nobody that has a job that can’t say they haven’t had tough years.”

Hello, Tutoring Dept.?

When Oklahoma center Jabahri Brown was suspended for the rest of the season because he faces marijuana changes, Sooner Coach Kelvin Sampson said: “We will do everything as a staff to ensure that he continues to move forward and earn his degree.”

That would be quite a feat, because Oklahoma’s graduation rate for its men’s basketball team was 0%, according to figures released by the NCAA during last year’s tournament.

The rates for the Sweet 16 teams were calculated for student-athletes entering their schools from 1992-95.

Police allegedly found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a firearm during a search of Brown’s home.

He also is facing a drug charge in connection with a May 1 arrest and has a March 24 court date in that case.

Sampson said Brown, a senior who was scheduled to graduate in May, would remain on scholarship.

Redemption, a.k.a. Bartow

A Bartow had been at Alabama Birmingham for 24 seasons until Murry Bartow resigned after only the second losing season in school history in March 2002.

His father, Gene, a former UCLA coach and assistant to John Wooden, had guided the program to seven NCAA appearances in nine seasons.

Murry Bartow found a new gig this season at East Tennessee State and the results have been winning.

A 78-62 victory over Tennessee Chattanooga gave East Tennessee State the Southern Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

It’s Bartow’s second time in the tournament, the first with UAB in 1999.

It’s also the sixth trip to the tournament for the Bucs since 1989. They were memorable upset winners over Arizona in the 1992 tournament before losing to Michigan.

From Murry to Murray

Murray State joined Murry Bartow in the tournament, with a 66-60 victory over Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game.

Austin Peay had been the first team to go 16-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play, which included a 63-56 victory Feb. 14 against Murray State.

But Adam Chiles’ jump shot with 3:43 remaining gave Murray State the lead for good Saturday at Nashville.

Tournament Mania

If No. 15 Southern Illinois was troubled by a loss Monday to Northern Iowa that ended its hopes of a perfect Missouri Valley Conference record, it certainly didn’t show in a 93-67 quarterfinal victory over Evansville in the conference tournament.

“We definitely wanted to come out and make a statement,” said Darren Brooks, who scored eight of his 18 points in the game’s first 3 1/2 minutes.

“We wanted to shake people up and let them know 17-1 [in conference play] isn’t bad. We just wanted to let you know we’re still real good....

“We usually play with this type of intensity. Last time we didn’t, but it was just one bad game. We bounced back and came out with the fire that we usually play with.”

Tournament Mania Part II

Liberty routed High Point, 89-44, to win the Big South Conference tournament championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Larry Blair scored 29 points and Gabe Martin had 19 for Liberty, the school Jerry Falwell founded in 1971 in Lynchburg, Va.

The Flames (18-14) advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.

They were matched against North Carolina in the opening round of the 1994 tournament and lost, 71-51.

-- Compiled by Elliott Teaford