ASU Basketball: Sun Devils begin their NCAA Tournament against Nebraska

Kentucky could still lose to Buffalo Saturday but what many were saying the toughest bracket in the country is not almost as hard on paper for United Kingdom now.

The victor of this First Four game will take on sixth seed TCU (21-11) in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Friday night, live at 9:40 p.m. ET, on CBS.

“Everybody thinks we should be here”, junior guard Jeremy Harris said. But I think we have a very confident team. “We’ll have to come out really prepared to beat this team”. Buffalo, the Mid-American Conference’s regular season and tournament champion, shot 54.8 percent from the field and went 15 for 30 from three-point range – including 9 for 14 from behind the arc in the second half.

Buffalo will use a similar defensive strategy against United Kingdom that worked against Arizona in loading up the paint and forcing them to win with jumpers and three-pointers, something they struggled mightily to hit against Davidson.

“This feeling right now – it stings, it burns”, said Kodi Justice, who led Arizona State with 15 points.

In beating Davidson, Calipari’s young team showed discipline. “And I thought we responded every time that happened”.

Arizona’s season was played under the shadow of the federal investigation into college basketball, which resulted in the arrest of assistant coach Book Richardson on federal bribery and fraud charges.

“You heard Charles Barkley”, UB’s all-MAC guard CJ Massinburg said. The sophomore, who along with Miami’s Chris Lykes is the shortest player in the tournament, tied the score at 10 with a jumper, then fed an alley-oop pass to Trayvon Reed for a monster dunk and followed with a layup to cap an 8-0 run. This team has a real chance to rip BBN’s heart out this weekend and I’m here for it.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said his team is prepared for a track meet.

“Me and my mom would always talk about it, so I would probably say in the summer in my senior year (in high school at Hillcreast Prep Academy) after the AAU”.

Calipari also reminisced on playing a game at UB while coaching UMass in 1993.

“I don’t know if it’s whining or telling the truth”.

Buffalo’s players like their experience.

“The talent level [for Kentucky’s freshmen] is absolutely there, and when they go in the lottery, I’m going to agree with National Basketball Association teams that took them”. They had Anchor (Bar) wings, have you ever heard of them?

When Hamidou Diallo was asked about the comments, he said, “I feel like we’ve been getting that statement all year”.

This column was supposed to be about how those idiots on the NCAA Tournament Selection committee set up a scenario when two of the most athletic, talented teams in the field were meeting in the second round, at least one round too soon.