With Selection Sunday less than a week away, the teams on the brink of being in or out are looking to make late-season cases for an invite to the Big Dance. The bubble teams showed their poise no better than on Sunday, a day filled with dramatic college basketball finishes.
Undefeated No More: Going 29-0 didn't seem that hard for the first-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. The team's weak mid-season schedule coupled with the overall weakness of the Big 10 Conference this year made it easier for the Illini to stay perfect than some would think. All it needed to do was beat unranked Ohio State Buckeyes to end its regular season an untouched 30-0.
But the Buckeyes had other plans. Even though the team was 18-10 coming into the contest, it knew it had to make its case somehow. Luckily, the play of back-up forward Matt Sylvester, in addition to the craziness of the Ohio State home arena, helped the Buckeyes pull off the biggest upset of the season.
The game started off like any other game that Illinois has been a part of, when the Illini took a commanding lead into halftime. This time, however, the 38-27 lead wasn't good enough. Ohio State coach Thad Matta motivated his team to leave it all on the floor. And that's exactly what they did.
Ohio State out-hustled and out-scrapped Illinois in every aspect of the game in the second half. With 17 seconds left and Illinois up by two points, Illinois' guard Luther Head missed a long three-point attempt that would have essentially put the game out of reach for the Buckeyes.
After Ohio State grabbed the rebound, Matta called a timeout to regroup his team and draw up a play. Matta instructed Buckeye big man Terence Dials to set a pick for guard Tony Stockman, who was to be the decoy. Sylvester, who had been playing at a high level all game, finishing with a career-high 25 points, came out of nowhere to receive the ball behind the three-point line. With 5.1 seconds remaining, he nailed the trifecta, putting his team up 65-64 and sending the Ohio State crowd into a frenzy. Illinois couldn't muster a last-second basket after a timeout, ending its hopes of a perfect regular season.
Greatest Hoops Rivalry Ever: Aside from the Illini upset, we were treated to the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels rivalry only a couple of hours later. Down by nine points with three minutes left, and playing without its best player, Rashad McCants, who was out sick for the fourth straight game, the number two North Carolina Tar Heels managed to pull out one of the greatest comebacks ever and score the final 11 points of the game, beating the number six Blue Devils 75-73.
UNC freshman Marvin Williams nailed the game-winning shot with 17 seconds left in the game, capping the dramatic 11-0 Tar Heels run. Sean May dropped 26 points and grabbed 24 boards in what proved to be his first victory over Duke in three years at North Carolina.
With this win, the Heels clinched their first regular-season ACC title since 1993 and, for all intents and purposes, have locked up a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.
Other Big Things that Went Down on Sunday: Other monstrous games happened on Sunday, despite being overshadowed by the Illinois loss and the Duke/UNC rivalry.
The number three Kentucky Wildcats were stunned by unranked Florida Gators, 53-52, behind Anthony Roberson's 21 points. The win by Florida most likely locks them into a bid to the Big Dance.
The number four Wake Forest Demon Deacons had to overcome a late deficit against the North Carolina State Wolf Pack to pull out an impressive 55-53 victory. With the game tied at 53 apiece and just over four seconds remaining, Wake All-American guard Chris Paul inbounded the ball underneath his own basket, immediately got it back from a teammate and drove the length of the court to toss up the game-winning floater at the buzzer.
Also, seventh-ranked Kansas Jayhawks fell to unranked conference foe Missouri Tigers, 72-68. This loss may prevent the Jayhawks from getting a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.
Wrap-Up: With Selection Sunday and the major conference championships coming up this weekend, make sure to pay attention and prepare to be sucked into March Madness.
