You know life is good when you wake up and see a kid who lost his mom to cancer earlier in the year hit a last second shot to send his team to the NCAA tournament. Congratulations to Albany’s Peter Hooley. I’m going to spend a lot of time on the major conferences in today’s column, but I wish I had time to learn about all the Peter Hooley stories. They might not all tug at your emotions quite like his, but every team has a story.

From my perspective, the other two most enthralling small conference events were the Ivy League Final and the Big West Semifinal. In the Ivy League, Yale hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1962. They showed a video of Yale head coach James Jones remaining in awe of his players. Paraphrasing:  “How do they study so hard and work so hard in the gym? It is like they have more than 24 hours in their day. But really Yale students just do more in 24 hours than I ever dreamed was possible.”

But as much reason as there was to cheer for Yale, Harvard is the Ivy League dream team that we’ve loved for three years. Harvard won games in the NCAA tournament the last two seasons. And it was hard not to cheer for one more chance to see seniors Wesley Saunders and Steve Moundou-Missi in the big dance. In the end, in a tie game, Saunders drove the lane and kicked to Moundou-Missi who made a jumper, and Harvard earned a return trip to the NCAA tournament.

The Big West Semifinal was a battle between UC Santa Barbara star Alan Williams and UC Irvine’s 7’6” Mamadou Ndiaye. You can’t take your eyes off these two players when they are on the court, and both have been injured for much of the year. But both teams saved their stars for late in the year, putting all their marbles in the basket of winning the Big West tournament

The semifinal game was back and forth, but as the game unfolded it was clear that Williams was still hurt. He was in a ton of pain. UCSB’s best player missed a jumper to win at the end of regulation. And after the game went to OT, Williams actually had to go and sit on the bench for health reasons. Meanwhile Ndiaye continued to dominate. Ndiaye had his second highest scoring total on the season (18 points) and he showed that he was finally healthy and back in form.

In the end UC Irvine advanced and I couldn’t help but feel it was the right outcome. While it was sad to see Williams career end, he was clearly in too much pain. The 7’6” Ndiaye was able to play in the Big West final, and with major help from his teammates, UC Irvine advanced to the NCAA tournament.

As for the major conference tournaments, Friday and Saturday were spectacular too:

Big 12 Tournament

It is almost like things can never go wrong for Kansas. Cliff Alexander gets suspended, Perry Ellis is hurt, and Kansas still has a Top 100 recruit and productive Arkansas transfer in Hunter Mickelson available for minutes. A player with his reputation wasn’t even playing for the Jayhawks. Most teams would be forced to play some inexperienced 3-star option in this situation, but Kansas seemingly has a lucky horseshoe for all situations.

Baylor has a great offensive team (13^th in the nation), and Kansas smothered the Bears on Friday holding them to a ridiculous 0.76 points per possession. And I started to wonder again what sort of Big 12 magic Bill Self has. The only kryptonite to his defensive system came last season, when the NCAA changed the block/charge rule. Last year was the only time since Ken Pomeroy began tracking the stats (since 2001-02) that Bill Self didn’t have a Top 25 defense. But with the NCAA modifying the block/charge rule again this year to give more leeway to the defense, Kansas once again has a Top 10 defense.

And that is what makes Fred Hoiberg’s system so amazing. His team doesn’t care how great Kansas’ defense is. Iowa St. just has so many players with both the skill to drive and with the skill to knock down jumpers that even Kansas can’t shut the Cyclones down. Iowa St. didn’t have a particularly great offensive day in the Big 12 title game on Saturday. But in the second half, Iowa St. simply refused to be stopped. As historically great as Bill Self’s man-to-man defense has been, he had to run up the white flag. When Bill Self had to switch to a zone defense in the final 5 minutes, it showed how truly unguardable Iowa St.’s offense was in a close game.

ESPN showed the stat. In the last five games, Iowa St. has fallen behind by 21 points, 10 points, 15 points, 11 points, and 17 points. And they have come back to win every game! Of course picking Iowa St. to make the Final Four feels like fools’ gold. Iowa St.’s defense is really quite flawed (which is what led to all those deficits in the first place). Had Oklahoma’s Ryan Spangler not missed a wide-open last second lay-up in the Big 12 semifinal, we might not be talking about the Cyclones at all. Eventually, the inability to get stops will cause Iowa St.’s season to end.  But after the way this team finished the season, how can you pick against this team?

ACC Tournament

There have been a decent number of articles lately about how college basketball is broken. Teams play too slowly, and offensive basketball is dead. Well, Iowa St. just won the Big 12 tournament. And Notre Dame just completely blitzed North Carolina in the ACC final. And even if they have flawed defenses it wouldn’t be a shock to see these two teams make the Elite Eight.

Mike Brey’s formula at Notre Dame has been pretty simple. In an era filled with one-and-done players, Notre Dame wants to have a veteran team every year. They want to develop four-year players, and add enough key transfers, that the Fighting Irish always have an experienced squad on the floor. And then the goal is for that experienced squad to commit no turnovers, and make their jump shots. When a 5^th year player like Jerian Grant comes back, that’s when things really fall into place.

I remain somewhat skeptical. Notre Dame’s overall defensive numbers aren’t necessarily better than they have been in the past when they’ve been upset early in the NCAA tournament. On the whole year, this isn’t quite Mike Brey’s best defensive team ever. To truly make that NCAA tournament run, they still needed to reach a higher level of play.

But against Duke and North Carolina they reached it. First, Notre Dame was so locked in defensively on the perimeter against Duke, that Mike Krzyzewski was apoplectic on the sidelines. I can’t remember seeing Krzyzewski as frustrated as he was early in the game because Notre Dame’s defense really took away his team’s will.

But I still had questions. Great defense is one thing, but sometimes to win in the tournament, a team has to force turnovers. And Mike Brey’s teams are notoriously one of the worst in the nation in that category. Notre Dame typically plays a passive zone or passive man defense that just lets the other team run its stuff. But something flipped down the stretch against North Carolina on Saturday night. North Carolina took the ball into the lane and Notre Dame was aggressive. They forced turnover after turnover. Now a lot of that may be on North Carolina, a team that is amazingly inconsistent. But for once Notre Dame didn’t just play passive defense. The announcers quoted Mike Brey in a timeout to his players. “Don’t pace yourself. We have plenty of timeouts.” Give it your all. Sprint to the finish. Don’t lay back.

And with the defense aggressive, the offense was as beautiful as ever. There was a sequence just past the 9 minute mark in the second half where Notre Dame passed the ball four times around the perimeter with a crispness you will rarely see. It was beautiful basketball unless you bleed Carolina blue. And with Notre Dame’s unselfish play, the shots always seem to go in.

For North Carolina, there is nothing to hang their heads about in this tournament. They got better, even if the turnovers did them in late against Notre Dame.

But Virginia and Duke do have some soul-searching to do after their tournament losses. For Virginia, I’m very concerned about Justin Anderson’s hand. He had it wrapped and he did not look like himself. Virginia still has the defense to make the Final Four. But the Cavalier’s offense has been trending in the wrong direction for awhile. (They actually started to struggle in January before Justin Anderson went down.) But in the last 14 games, Virginia’s offense hasn’t been elite. If Virginia is paired with Villanova in the East regional, a team that can be scorching from three point range, that’s a potentially devastating opponent for Virginia’s pack-line defense to face.

And for Duke, I’m starting to wonder if Jahlil Okafor’s poor free throw shooting is a bigger problem than we thought. He’s now shooting 51% on the season. And in the late game against Notre Dame, his inability to make those shots really helped Notre Dame to seal the game. Krzyzewski isn’t going to bench Okafor in a close game, but that kind of free throw performance is just asking for trouble in a one and done tournament context.

MWC Tournament

Wyoming hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament in 13 years. Wyoming senior Larry Nance is one of the best players in the country, but his career seemed more likely to end in disappointment instead of an NCAA tournament run. A year ago, Nance’s injury caused Wyoming to collapse. And this year, his struggle with mononucleosis also led to a painful losing streak. It sent a team that had been 8-2 and battling for first in the MWC conference to fall to fourth. The Cowboys went to Vegas knowing they had to win 3 games in 3 days to make the NCAA tournament and they had to beat both of the MWC regular season co-champions to make it happen.

In ironic fashion, it wasn’t Nance who necessarily made the plays to earn his team the wins. First in the semifinal, Jason McManamen, a player who averaged all of 3 points per game, banked in a three to seal the victory over Boise St.

Then in the final against San Diego St., it was head coach Larry Shyatt’s ridiculous defense that did the trick. Wyoming went 12 minutes of game-time without scoring (spanning half-time). But because they were locked in defensively, the game was still within reach.

And down the stretch the plays kept coming. Instead of a banked three on Saturday, it was Nance who blew a dunk, saw the ball pop up in the air, and land in the basket anyhow.  And down the stretch, Josh Adams hit an impossibly tough corner jumper with a hand in his face. And somehow a team that relies so heavily on its five seniors, saw the senior class finally break through. Wyoming has been a hamstrung team the last two years, but for once they threw their injuries aside and earned their NCAA tournament bid.

Three other notes:

Boise St. may have played itself into the First Four in Dayton with a loss to Wyoming in the semifinal. But I’m very concerned about this team after the way the MWC player-of-the-year Derrick Marks played on Friday night. Marks was upset with the officials and completely lost his cool on the basketball court. He didn’t punch a player or get a technical. But Marks was clearly so upset with the way the game was being called that it affected his play-making. Boise St. head coach Leon Rice had to sit him for a long stretch late in the game. That cannot happen. If you are the conference player-of-the-year, you can’t let your frustration take you out of the game.

Similarly, if JJ Avila is limited, I’m very concerned about Colorado St. Coloardo St. is a limited defensive team and they need Avilla’s size on defense. Plus he’s one of the team’s best offensive players. I’ve long feared Avila’s foul trouble would knock Colorado St. out in the NCAA tournament. Now I’m worried that his health will knock this team out.

San Diego St. is an ugly offensive team and they may have to win a game in the 40’s or 50’s to win in the NCAA tournament. But even with the loss Saturday, they know they can win that type of game. It was wonderful to see SDSU senior Dwayne Polee (limited by a heart condition) back in action and scoring 12 points in the semifinal, but I’m not sure the team can count on him for major production at this point.

American Conference Tournament  (Final on Sunday)

I should be dissecting Temple and Tulsa’s NCAA chances and giving more love to Larry Brown’s SMU team. But with all due respect to those teams, the story of this tournament is the Connecticut Huskies. The defending national champions are hosting the American Conference Tournament and they know they must win 4 games in 4 days in order to go back to the Big Dance.

On Friday, Connecticut’s Ryan Boatright apparently just wanted to get on the highlight reel one more time. Boatright went to the free throw line in a two point game with a chance to ice the game, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Then after Cincinnati made the tying basket, Boatright pushed the ball up court, broke the ankles of his defender by stopping on a dime, and nailed a buzzer beating three-pointer.

But the drama did not end on Friday. On Saturday, we saw a script that Connecticut fans have seen far too many times this year. Boatright was scoring and leading the team, but no one else could seemingly create a basket. At one point in the second super-frosh Daniel Hamilton was 0-8 from the floor. And with 9:25 left in the second half, Hamilton grabbed an offensive rebound, started to leak out in transition, and tripped over his own feet.

I started to type a game-story about how Hamilton’s collapse was symbolic of UConn’s season. But Ryan Boatright absolutely refuses to lose. And with Hamilton finally hitting a late 3 pointer to give him some help, and with Rodney Purvis finally chipping in a few baskets, UConn came from behind once again. I’d say the comeback was unlikely after some of UConn’s losses this season. But given UConn’s recent reputation in March, you should never count this team out until the final buzzer sounds.

Pac-12 Tournament

Arizona’s three losses to teams ranked above 100 in the RPI are puzzling to say the least, and will probably cost them a 1-seed. But this is a great team, and I’m not sure it matters. If you put Arizona in the West as a #2, they will still effectively have the homecourt advantage. And that’s just as good as a 1 seed. But if Wisconsin is a #2 they will have to face Kentucky in the Midwest, and that is a brutal draw.

The Pac-12 final was beyond a laugher. Honestly, the only image sticking in my mind is the Cirque du Soleil guy who appeared between the announcers after half-time.

So let’s talk about the Friday semifinal, shall we? How insane is it that the Pac-12 player of the year, and one of the best shooters in the nation, Oregon’s Joseph Young, had never hit a game-winning buzzer beater before his shot to beat Utah?

SEC Tournament  (Final on Sunday)

Saturday’s semifinals were pretty uninspired. Kentucky’s quest for an undefeated season is going to become must-watch TV in the tournament. But pitting them against Florida and Auburn wasn’t a fair fight. Sunday’s finale with Arkansas is a plausibly competitive game, at least.

But the story of the SEC tournament on Friday and Saturday was Auburn’s miracle run continuing. I spend a lot of time talking about seniors, and Auburn senior KT Harrell averaged over 18 points per game as a junior and senior at Auburn. His team suffered a lot of losses in those two years, but it had nothing to do with his talent, heart, or hard-work.

If Bruce Pearl finally turns Auburn into a winner, Harrell won’t be around to enjoy the high points. But this week in the SEC tournament, Harrell wanted to make sure he had one more special moment for himself. First Harrell did a great job getting fouled on 3-point shots multiple times to keep his team close against LSU. And then Harrell hit a game-tying three point buzzer beater, which his team turned into an OT win.

A lot of people might shrug the win off as irrelevant. All Auburn earned was a chance to get blown out by Kentucky in the semifinals on Saturday. But for players who have played basket their whole lives, for players that have worked hard for so long, sometimes the biggest reward is simply one more day of games. There’s one more chance to have dinner with teammates, one more day to soak in the atmosphere at the SEC tournament.

Big Ten Tournament (Final on Sunday)

Penn St. Senior DJ Newbill felt the opposite of that loss on Friday. When his team lost to Purdue, the image of Newbill bent over in heartbreak was mesmerizing. There were other endings in progress that I wanted to flip to, but ESPN kept jumping to that shot of Newbill and I had to keep watching.  These games mean so much to these players. At one point I read a Friday preview that said that Penn St. vs Purdue was the worst game of the day. On paper, I agreed. But if you watch these games, they all matter.

On Friday, Wisconsin committed only four fouls in the entire game against Michigan. On Saturday, Wisconsin did not commit a turnover until 34 minutes into the game against Purdue. Wisconsin ended the Purdue game with three turnovers, and two of those came in garbage time. How do you beat a team that doesn’t make mistakes? Purdue had only two turnovers at half-time, and actually held the lead. To beat Wisconsin, you have to be nearly perfect.

We will talk a lot about Wisconsin match-ups in the tournament, but you are better off with speedy quick players (like Maryland) than tall post players (like Purdue.) Purdue thought they were being smart by putting AJ Hammons on Nigel Hayes instead of Frank Kaminsky. That way their big center wouldn’t be drawn out to the perimeter. But Hayes has become a good three point shooter, and he started the game 2 for 3 from deep, effectively neutralizing that strategy. The only really effective strategy to defend Wisconsin is to keep them off-balance and hope they miss their threes.

Speaking of match-ups, it is amazing how quickly a strength can become a weakness.  Against Indiana on Friday, Maryland had the size and strength advantage in the paint. Then against Michigan St. on Saturday, Maryland’s Damonte Dodd was in foul trouble, and Michigan St.’s Branden Dawson dominated the paint late in the game. Things can flip in a moment.

A10 Tournament  (Final on Sunday)

Davidson is exactly why the NCAA tournament is so impossible to pick. On paper, they have some serious interior weakness. In the Friday quarterfinal against La Salle, La Salle forward Steve Zack had the game of his life, with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks.

Davidson and Dayton are under-sized and undermanned front-court teams. I think the only reason they finished in 1^st and 2^nd in the A10 this year is that there weren’t many teams with great frontcourts in the league this year, so teams like Davidson and Dayton were able to win despite front-court limitations.

But Davidson won on Friday anyway. The buzzer beating drive and bucket by Tyler Kalinoski was obviously special. But don’t overlook Davidson’s five point possession that preceded the game-winner. Down six, Davidson drove the lane and got fouled. They missed the “and one” free throw, but got the offensive rebound. Then they kicked, nailed a three, and got fouled again on the three point attempt. Had they made that free throw they would have actually tied the game and overcome the six point lead on one trip. But because they failed to convert at the line, they had to wait until the end for the Kalinoski buzzer beater.

But again, let’s step back to the impossible process of picking NCAA tournament wins. How can you pick a Davidson team with the 297^th best 2pt% defense to survive and advance? Almost everyone in the tournament is going to have someone who is good at scoring inside. On the other hand, Davidson shoots a ridiculous number of threes, makes almost all of them, and never turns the ball over. Can you really risk picking Davidson? Can you really risk picking against them?

I have a little more confidence in Dayton because their interior defense is a little better. But can you really bank on a team with no one over 6’6”? Perhaps we are reminded that the tournament is all about match-ups. Or perhaps we are reminded that ball-pressure is just as important as size. With Rhode Island fighting for its life in the semifinal on Saturday, EC Mathews couldn’t get any space to get a good shot. Dayton’s defense is really good despite their size limitations.

Big East Tournament

The final was a blowout win for Villanova, but I have plenty of comments on the last two days of this event anyhow:

I’m not the kind of person who believes teams learn a lot from losing in conference tournaments. But Providence and Georgetown might have gained from their semifinal losses in the Big East tournament. In Providence’s case, the Friars had to figure out how to play well when LaDontae Henton wasn’t playing well. And in Georgetown’s case, the Hoyas had to figure out how to play well when D’Vauntes Smith –Rivera wasn’t playing well (and when Joshua Smith was in foul trouble.)

In Providence’s case it was about hustle, namely Ben Bentil’s offensive rebounding, and the defensive intensity that led to the steal and game-tying basket. And in Georgetown’s case, it was about defensive intensity and Isaac Copeland channeling his inner Otto Porter. (Seriously, watching Copeland nail those jumpers from the free throw line it was impossible not to recall the previous dynamic Georgetown shooter.) Both teams comebacks came up just short, but the teams seem to grow and learn from their in-game deficits, so maybe those losses weren’t as bad as they might otherwise appear.

-Here is balanced scoring for you in a nut-shell. If your team has balanced scoring and you win, everyone says how impossible you were to guard. But if your team has balanced scoring and you lose, everyone says how it sucks that you don’t have a go-to scorer. In the Big East title game, Villanova met Xavier, and both teams entered the game with balanced scoring.

In Xavier’s case, the problem isn’t the balance, the problem is the inconsistency. Xavier’s Matt Stainbrook dominated Joshua Smith in the semifinal. But then Stainbrook followed that up with a 2 of 8 performance against Villanova. I can’t figure out how a team with as much varied talent as Xavier ended up at 9-9 in the Big East. But as good as they looked at times, they had some serious scoring droughts too.

On the flip side, Villanova is balanced, but they also have a veteran team that is much more consistent.

If Villanova is a 1-seed, they’ll be one of the least popular 1-seeds to advance to the Final Four. I think this is basically all about the star-factor. We don’t project any future pros on Villanova, so we can’t love this team. Let me just say this. Villanova almost always has four lethal shooters on the floor. They space the floor and create lanes to attack. And they make up for their lack of size defensively by creating turnovers. This is a dangerous tournament team, even if no one is talking about them.

Also, I’ve seen it written that this team could never beat Kentucky because of their size limitations. My counter to this is that Michigan didn’t have a lot of size last year and the Wolverines still gave Kentucky fits with their outside shooting.

Villanova is a great team. Of course as I say this, I realize I’ll probably pick some 4-seed to knock them off in the Sweet Sixteen when I see the bracket tomorrow.