The 2012 Bilas Invitational Tournament: Midwest Region Rounds 1 & 2

The fourth and final region in the first round of the BIT is upon us. Read the last several posts for details. And now to the games.

Play-In Game:
Oral Roberts 80, Akron 61
The Zips did a decent job of containing ORU scoring star Dominique Morrison, but Michael Craion's 24 points rendered the effort moot.

Craion drilled 10 of his 11 shots, also pulling down eight rebounds to headline a game in which the Golden Eagles never trailed. 14 of the 24 points came in the first half, helping Oral Roberts to a 38-27 lead at the break.

Akron was led by 14 points off the bench from Demetrius Treadwell. He was the only Zip in double figures. All-MAC selections Nikola Cvetinovic and Zeke Marshall combined for only 16 points and four rebounds, well off their season average of 20.3 and 10.8.

Damen Bell-Holter added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles, while Morrison kicked in 11 points.

The 2012 Bilas Invitational Tournament: South Region Rounds 1 & 2

It's been a while, but it's time to continue the tournament that pits the 2011-12 season's REAL best 68 college basketball teams against each other. Read the previous two posts for the first two regions and additional details. Let's get into some games.

Play-In Game:
Tennessee 65, LaSalle 61
The Vols only shot 37 percent (20-53) from the floor, but prevailed over LaSalle by crashing the glass and drawing contact.

Tennessee outrebounded the Explorers 37-28, with Jeronne Maymon pulling down 10 to go with his nine points. UT's other big advantage came at the foul line, where it converted 18-of-24 compared to LaSalle's 7-of-11.

A Sam Mills 3-pointer trimmed Tennessee's lead to two with just under seven minutes remaining, but the Explorers struggled to make clean stops from there. The Vols shot only 3-of-10 from the floor in the final seven minutes, but made five of six free throws

An Earl Pettis three cut the lead to 64-61 with 59 seconds left, and a miss from Maymon allowed LaSalle to come down with a chance to tie. Ramon Galloway missed a foul-line jumper with 12 seconds left, Stokes tore down the rebound and Cameron Tatum split a one-and-one to set the final margin.

LaSalle freshman forward Jerrell Wright was held to six points and four rebounds in only 14 minutes before fouling out. Pettis led all scorers with 16 points, adding five boards and four assists.

UT was led by Jordan McRae with 14 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Trae Golden added 12 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

2012 Bilas Invitational Tournament: West Region Rounds 1 & 2

In the previous post, you saw the BIT get started with results both expected (Kentucky stomping through two rounds) and unexpected (Duke tanking, Belmont and UNLV reaching the Sweet 16). Now, the tournament moves to the West Region, which will be paired against the East in the Final Four.

In case you don't care to refresh by looking at the prior post, each of these games is simulated seven times at WhatIf Sports, two on each team's "home court" and three on "neutral sites." Depth chart changes, such as Fab Melo's ineligibility for Syracuse, are accounted for.

Once again, the full S-Curve is here, and the up-to-date bracket is here. Let's see if West top seed Ohio State survives.

2012 Bilas Invitational Tournament: East Region Rounds 1 and 2

If you're like me, you're seeking college basketball news to read and write about aside from the usual offseason slobbering over high school players. Sometimes, we have to invent that news ourselves. Spreading rumors about coaches on the hot seat is considered tacky and indecorous when we don't have the ear of any prominent athletic directors, though.

On a blog that went to the effort of seeding and bracketing a full tournament that trumpets itself as featuring "the real best 68 teams in the nation," it almost seems like something's missing if we don't actually play it through and see how the event would have unfolded. The only way I know of to do that involves our boys at WhatIf Sports.

WhatIf gives you options to match nearly every team in America against one another and decide how those games would have played out. Depth chart changes can even be made, reflecting such real-world events as Fab Melo's ineligibility for Syracuse.

The format for the Bilas Invitational was that each matchup would be simulated seven times, in effect making each game an NBA-style series. The first four were each under the "Use Home Court" option. Any beyond that used the "Neutral Court" option.

The results that will be posted are of the winning team's fourth win in that seven-game series. You can go simulate these games and you'll get highly different results, but these are what the simulator produced for me.

Go here to take a look at the full S-Curve, and the bracket is here. We'll start with the overall top seed, the Kentucky Wildcats, and their journey through the East Region.

Bilas Invitational Tournament: March 6 Bracket Watch

Championship Week giveth, and Championship Week taketh away. Before we get to the updated S-Curve and bracket, let's examine the week's big movers:

The Newly Eligible (*= moved into field):
West Virginia (9-9 in Big East)*
Mississippi State (8-8 in SEC)*
Ole Miss (8-8 in SEC)

On the Come-Up:
+8: NC State, Oregon
+7: VCU
+5: Creighton, Murray State, Nevada
+4: Drexel, Akron
+3: Marquette, Indiana, Gonzaga, Florida State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Washington, Tennessee, LaSalle