The Duke Blue Devils are still fighting to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. So are the North Carolina Tar Heels.
As luck would have it, Duke and North Carolina clash Friday night in the ACC Tournament. This is just one of the showdowns that will provide an exciting NCAA Tournament preview this weekend.
Teams are getting their last chance to make the bracket and/or improve their seeding. That will produce hours of compelling programming, highlighted by the Duke-North Carolina battle.
“I know all about the rivalry,” North Carolina star Theo Pinson told reporters Thursday night. “I’ve been here four years. It’s a big-time game. Everybody and their mama is going to be watching the game tomorrow. Everybody knows that. I’m going to be ready. My teammates are going to be ready.
“We understand we lost the last game (74-64 on March 3), so that’s going to get us even more hyped up about it, but at the same time, you can’t be bigger than the game. You’ve got to be settled down and just play.”
That’s easier said than done, which explains why college ball is so unpredictable this time of year. Even for teams like Duke and North Carolina.
The top four SEC teams Auburn (against Alabama), Tennessee (Mississippi State), Florida ( Arkansas) and Kentucky (Georgia) spring into action Friday.
The stakes are high and an upset or two would surprise nobody. For instance, Georgia coach Mark Fox is battling to keep his job and victories over Vanderbilt and Missouri this week helped.
But he needs to win the SEC Tournament to get a NCAA tourney bid and he likely needs that Big Dance ticket to save his job. Can the desperate Bulldogs stun Kentucky and continue their March?
Mississippi State is another interesting case. The Bulldogs played a weak non-conference schedule before faring OK in league play, so they must bolster their case in this tourney. Beating LSU helped.
“I think this is obviously a good boost for us to win in a neutral site game here against a very talented LSU team that just handled us pretty good on Saturday five days ago,” Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said. “We withstood a big punch tonight and get the chance to live for another day.”
But next up is Tennessee, which has been playing as well as anybody in the country. Picking against the Vols these days is tough.
Alabama finally ended its losing skid and the Crimson Tide catches favored Auburn shorthanded in the tourney quarterfinals. Coach Avery Johnson’s team could really use the victory to bolster its NCAA tourney credentials.
Then again, the Tigers can still push the pace and knock down shots. This is a huge rivalry game and coach Bruce Pearl is a masterful motivator.
As for the Arkansas vs. Florida, the inconsistent Gators have finally got their game together and the Razorbacks tend to struggle away from home. It’s hard not to like Florida in this game.
There is no end to the action this weekend. Just look at some of the other Friday games across the country: Clemson-Virginia, Providence-Xavier, West Virginia-Texas Tech, Kansas-Kansas State, UCLA-Arizona . . . whew!
SELECTION SUNDAY BUZZKILL
Rather than reveal the bracket over the course of an hour. team by team — thus tormenting fans of bubble schools — this year’s NCAA Tournament selection show will announce all the chosen teams at the top of the show, in alphabetical order.
Then the analysts will reveal the actual bracket step by step and analyze the matchups.
It must be said: Only a moron would kill all the drama and suspense of this show. Critics are howling on social media and expect fans to lament this format come Sunday.
HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
Saturday’s NHL schedule is just so-so, but the Pittsburgh Penguins’ trip to Toronto is interesting. Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews has been sidelined by a shoulder injury, but he has been back on the ice doing non-contact drills.
The Penguins won their last three games, two in overtime, while getting their offense into postseason form. We’d suggest that they are flying high, but Penguins can’t fly high. So never throw one out of an airplane.
The Maple Leafs have plenty of firepower, too, but they have sputtered a bit with Matthews sidelined. Toronto fans are getting their playoff hopes up, so this will be an excellent test for a still-developing team dealing with adversity.
HELLO KEVIN DURANT
When the Golden State Warriors play at Minnesota Sunday afternoon on national TV, Steph Curry will back in the Bay Area nursing his ankle injury.
So that gives Kevin Durant the green light to just go off on the Timberwolves. He tore up the San Antonio Spurs for 14 consecutive points in the fourth quarter of a 110-107 victory to cap a 37-point performance. “I just tried to press ‘go,’ and tried to get a good shot every time,” Durant explained to reporters.
It must be nice to be that good at something, anything.
