Ness’s Notes (March 14)
It’s rare for the NIT to ‘steal’ headlines from the NCAA tournament, but that may be the case tonight as Hall of Fame head coach John Chaney announced his retirement last night, while big news from the NCAA is their entry game. Chaney has coached for 34 years (24 at Temple) winning 741 games (516-252 at Temple). Only four active coaches have more career wins than Chaney and he has led Temple to the NCAA tournament 17 times.
My free game for Tuesday is at Fairleigh Dickinson over Manhattan at 7:00 ET. Join me tonight for another 15* game in the NBA (now 7-3 as of Feb 3) and in college basketball, for my 20*NIT GOY Opening Round (4-2 last week with my 20 * tournament games of the year).
Unfortunately, he will also be remembered for the fact that he owns the most NCAA tournament wins of any coach who hasn’t reached the Final Four (23). Chaney led Temple to five regional finals (the last of which was in 2001), losing all five times!
His 40 career NCAA games rank third behind Guy Lewis (44) and Eddie Sutton (65) in most tournament games without a trip to the Final 4. Temple’s appearance tonight at the NIT (Owls introduce Akron), marks the school’s fifth consecutive NIT appearance, which is not good news for a school that was once an NCAA regular.
The NIT (now owned and managed by the NCAA) kicks off tonight with a 16-team, eight-game opening round. Once the most prestigious tournament in college basketball, the NIT is now the only event where neither team wants to return, as defending champions. That distinction goes to South Carolina this year.
The Gamecocks won this title last year and came close to losing 49-47 to Florida in Sunday’s SEC title game, failing to return as the defending champions. South Carolina begins its “unwanted defense” tomorrow against Western Ky.
In a change only this year, schools that won their regular-season titles but lost in their respective conference tournaments had guaranteed bids to this year’s NIT. Delaware State (MEAC), Fairleigh Dickinson (NEC), Ga Southern (Southern), Manhattan (MAAC), Northern Arizona (Big Sky) and Western Ky (SBC) were the six schools that benefited this year.
As mentioned above, Western Ky opens tomorrow against South Carolina, but the other five regular season champions all play tonight. Fairleigh Dickinson is in Manhattan, Delaware St in Northern Arizona, and Ga Southern is in NC-Charlotte. ESPNU has Rutgers at Penn St (8:00 ET) and ESPN has Virginia at Stanford (9:30 ET)
The NIT has four No. 1 seeds this year and they are Cincinnati, Maryland, Michigan and Louisville. Hofstra (24-6) has the most wins of any NIT participant, which also gives them the distinction of having the most wins of any non-NCAA tournament team. The Pride will host Nebraska on Thursday.
Missouri St, with an RPI of 21, holds the distinction of possessing the highest rating of any team in this year’s NIT, which also means the Bears possess the highest RPI of any non-NCAA school. The Bears don’t play their first game until Friday.
For the first time in five years, the NCAA Opening Game does not include a school with a losing record. Interestingly, those sub-.500 teams had a perfect 4-0 SU and ATS over the past four years in play-in play. Tonight, it’s Monmouth 18-14 versus Hampton 16-15 (7:30 ET on ESPN).
Monmouth is a deep team (nine players average double digits in minutes) but only two players average double digits in scoring. Hampton had lost six of seven games to end the regular season, but then beat the No. 3 and No. 1 seeds MEAC to take the conference tournament. Monmouth is favored by four points on a total of 124 1/2.
In Monday’s NBA, the Pacers beat the Magic 97-83. Orlando has now lost 19 of its last 23 games. Following the Magic’s pace are the Knicks, who lost last night for the 24th time in their last 28 games (108-96 to the Nuggets). The Nets won 90-77 in Houston, while the Rockets fell to 1-15 without Tracy McGrady. Adding insult to injury, David Wesley, the only Rocket to have played in every game this season, missed his season opener last night after injuring himself against the Spurs on Sunday.
The T-wolves may not be in the class of the Magic and Knicks, but they lost their fifth straight game last night to the Clippers (95-87), giving them their 19th loss in their last 22 road games.
Tonight’s NBA features a nine-game schedule. The Mavs and Spurs (tied 49-14) are at home tonight, with Dallas hosting Cleveland at 8:35 ET (Mavs are favored by 7 1/2 points on 187 total) and San Antonio hosting the Hornets also at 8:35 ET (Spurs are favored by 10 1/2 points on a total of 179 1/2).
The Lakers eliminated the Kings in the playoffs in each of their three championship years (2000-02), but these days, these two former Western Conference powerhouses are battling at the bottom of the Lakers “picture.” playoffs. The Lakers (7th) lead the Kings (8th) by a half-game and the Kings are just a half-game ahead of the ninth-seeded Hornets. However, Sacramento is riding a 12-game winning streak at home (9-0 SU and ATS with Artest) in their game with the Lakers tonight at Arco (10:05 ET). The Kings are favored by seven points with a total of 204.
In Seattle, the Sonics host the Suns at 10:05 ET. The last time these teams met was on January 22 in Phoenix and in that game, the Sonics beat the Suns in double overtime, 152-149. The 301 points scored marked the highest-scoring NBA game since 1995. The two teams also combined for an NBA single-game record by making 32 3-pointers. The Suns have won eight of their last 10 road games, while the Sonics are playing much better since the break, going 5-5 SU and 7-3 ATS. Phoenix is a 5 1/2 point favorite and the total is 226!
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