Notre Dame has no trouble with George Mason; advances to second round

Cbasketball Betting Lines

03/21/2008 - Denver, CO (Cbasketball Betting) - Luke Harangody scored 18 points and raked down 14 rebounds as the fifth-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish ripped George Mason, 68-50, in East Region action of the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kyle McAlarney scored 15 points for Notre Dame (25-7), which advanced to play fourth-seeded Washington State on Saturday. The Cougars also coasted in the second round on Thursday, with a 71-40 win over Winthrop, the same club which bounced then sixth-seeded Notre Dame in the first round in 2007.

Ryan Ayers added 12 points, and Zach Hillesland grabbed 11 boards for the Fighting Irish, who jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back.

Will Thomas scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the 12th-seeded Patriots (23-11), who failed to relive their magical 2006 run to the Final Four. Jordan Carter was the next highest scorer with seven points for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament champions.

George Mason erased perennial favorites Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut on its way to the Final Four in 2006 in only their fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament. This year's visit ended like the first three, however, in a first-round exit, and the outcome was almost never in doubt.

The Patriots held a 7-6 lead after a Thomas layup 1:59 into the game, but that was the last lead George Mason held. Harangody scored five straight points then Rob Kurz drained consecutive three-pointers. Ayers and Luke Zeller also drilled threes, and the 17-0 push gave Notre Dame a 23-7 lead.

The Fighting Irish led 33-21 at the intermission.

The closest the Patriots came in the second half was 12 points, after two Cam Long free throws cut the Notre Dame lead to 48-36 with 11:41 remaining. Ayers sank a jumper, though, Harangody added a tip shot, and McAlarney drilled a trey, boosting the Irish ahead 55-36 with 10:31 to play.

The lead stayed above double figures the rest of the way as Notre Dame cruised to a second-round date with the Cougars.

Game Notes

It was the first-ever meeting between the schools on the hardwood...Notre Dame improved to 13-0 all-time versus teams from the CAA...The 25 wins for the Irish is the most under head coach Mike Brey. The last Irish team to win 25-plus games in a season was the 1973-74 team that completed the year with a 26-3 record...Notre Dame played in the state of Colorado for just the sixth time in its program's 103-year history. The Irish are 3-2 in those contests.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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