Mike Rosario Pours in 25 to Lead Florida over Minnesota; Big Ten Puts Four Teams in Sweet 16

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, March 24, 2013

Florida's 78-64 win over Minnesota would not have been nearly so one-sided without Mike Rosario stepping up in the first half and banging in 17 - dropping in four of his six three-pointers - of his game-high 25 points.

The gator point guard was at his efficient best, making eight of 12 shots from the field, including six of nine from three-point range. He also had a couple of rebounds, an assist and two steals in 34 minutes.

The Gators often struggle and stagnate on offense, but Rosario provided a needed spark to advance Florida into the Sweet 16, where they will meet the surprise team of the tournament, Florida Gulf Coast, the #15 seed in the South region.

With Mississippi's loss to LaSalle, Florida stands as the only team remaining from the four the SEC sent to the tournament. Off his stellar effort, Rosario will have to rise to the occasion again in the next round against the dangerous Eagles.

Updating the tournament conference scoreboard, the Big Ten improved its overall tourney record to 10-3, placing four teams - Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State - into the round of sixteen. The Atlantic 10, which went into the weekend a perfect 6-0, stumbled badly in the round of 32, losing four of five games. Only the LaSalle Explorers remain from the conference, advancing to the Sweet 16 with their win over Ole Miss.

Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 3/24

Conference (# of teams)	W-L	Winners (wins)
ACC (4)	5-2	Duke (2) Miami (2) North Carolina (1)
Atlantic 10 (5)	7-4	LaSalle (3) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1) Temple (1)
Big 12 (6)	3-4	Iowa St. (1) Kansas (2)
Big East (8)	6-5	Marquette(2) Louisville (2) Syracuse (2)
Big Ten (7)	10-3	Mich. St. (2) Michigan (2) Indiana (2) Illinois (1) Ohio St. (2) Minnesota (1)
PAC-12 (5)	5-3	Oregon (2) Arizona (2) Cal (1)
SEC (4)	3-2	Mississippi (1) Florida (2)
Missouri Valley (2)	3-1	Wichita St. (2) Creighton (1)
Mountain West (5)	2-5	Colorado St. (1) San Diego St. (1)
WCC (2)	2-2	St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1)
Sun Belt (2)	0-2	--
All Others (19)	6-20	NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1) Florida Gulf Coast (2)

NCAA Tournament Conference Scoreboard through Friday, March 22

Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 3/22

Conference (# of teams)	W-L	Winners (wins)
ACC (4)	3-1	Duke (1) Miami (1) North Carolina (1)
Atlantic 10 (5)	6-0	LaSalle (2) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1) Temple (1)
Big 12 (6)	2-3	Iowa St. (1) Kansas
Big East (8)	3-5	Marquette(1) Louisville (1) Syracuse (1)
Big Ten (7)	6-1	Mich. St. (1) Michigan (1) Indiana (1) Illinois (1) Ohio St. (1) Minnesota (1)
PAC-12 (5)	3-2	Oregon (1) Arizona (1) Cal (1)
SEC (4)	2-1	Mississippi (1) Florida (1)
Missouri Valley (2)	2-0	Wichita St. (1) Creighton (1)
Mountain West (5)	2-3	Colorado St. (1) San Diego St. (1)
WCC (2)	2-1	St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1)
Sun Belt (2)	0-2	--
All Others (19)	5-18	NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1) Florida Gulf Coast (1)

Derrick Nix Delivers Top Performance in Michigan St. Win; A-10 Tops Conference Scoreboard at 4-0

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, March 21, 2013

From the sixteen games played on Thursday, there were plenty of great candidates for Downtown Magazine's Player of the Day, but one only had to watch the first game of the Midwest session - the first game of the day - to find the best individual game performance.

In #3 Michigan State's rousing, 65-54, victory over Valparaiso, Derrick Nix was so dominant in the paint that he needed to be on the floor a mere 26 minutes to amass these incredible stats: game-high 23 points and 15 rebounds (9 offensive), an assist and two steals. Impressively, Nix, all the while battling two or more defenders, did not commit a single foul, and only turned the ball over twice.

The bulky center was 10-for-17 from the field and 3-for-5 from the foul line, his effort boosting the Spartans to a lead which maxed out at 27, less than six minutes into the second half.

The Spartans advanced to the round of 32. They meet 6th-seeded Memphis on Saturday.

Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 3/21

Conference (#)	W-L	Winners (wins)
ACC (4)	0-0	--
Atlantic 10 (5)	4-0	LaSalle (1) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1)
Big 12 (6)	0-1	--
Big East (8)	3-1	Marquette(1) Louisville (1) Syracuse (1)
Big Ten (7)	2-0	Mich. St. (1), Michigan (1)
PAC-12 (5)	3-0	Oregon (1) Arizona (1) Cal (1)
SEC (4)	0-1	--
Missouri Valley (2)	1-0	Wichita St. (1)
Mountain West (5)	1-3	Colorado St. (1)
WCC (2)	2-1	St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1)
Sun Belt (2)	0-1	--
All Others (19)	4-13	NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1)

Conference Scoreboard and Peak Performers

Peak Performers of remaining teams:

Scoring
Player, game 1, 2, 3, 4, Total, Average

Ron Lewis, OHST, 13, 27, 25, 22, 87, 21.8
Arron Afflalo, UCLA, 22, 10, 17, 24, 73, 18.3
Corey Brewer, FL, 21, 17, 11, 14, 63, 15.8
Jeff Green, GTWN, 15, 11, 15, 22, 63, 15.8
Mike Conley Jr., OHST, 4, 21, 17, 19, 61, 15.3
Greg Oden, OHST, 19, 14, 9, 17, 59, 14.8
Darren Collison, UCLA, 14, 15, 12, 14, 55, 13.8
Joakim Noah, FL, 17, 9, 13, 14, 53, 13.3
Al Horford, FL, 15, 17, 16, 6, 52, 13.0
Roy Hibbert, GTWN, 10, 17, 12, 13, 52, 13.0

Rebounds
Player, game 1, 2, 3, 4, Total, Average

Roy Hibbert, GTWN, 13, 12, 10, 11, 46, 11.5
Joakim Noah, FL, 12, 9, 9, 14, 44, 11.0
Al Horford, FL, 16, 9, 7, 7, 39, 9.8
Greg Oden, OHST, 10, 12, 3, 9, 34, 8.5
Jeff Green, GTWN, 3, 12, 4, 9, 28, 7.0
Lorenzo Mata, UCLA, 7, 8, 9, 3, 27, 6.8

Assists
Player, game 1, 2, 3, 4, Total, Average

Taurean Green, FL, , 12, 2, 1, 3, 18, 4.5
Mike Conley Jr., OHST, 5, 4, 6, 2, 17, 4.3
Darren Collison, UCLA, 8, 2, 4, 1, 16, 4.0
Jessie Sapp, GTWN, 1, 3, 3, 8, 15, 3.8

Conference Scoreboard

Conference, Region:East, West, Midwest, South, Total

ACC: 4-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-1, 7-7

Big East: 4-1, 2-2, 0-1, 1-1, 7-5

Big 10: 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 4-0, 8-5

Big 12: 1-2, 3-1, 0-0, 2-1, 6-4

PAC-10: 3-2, 4-0, 3-2, 0-1, 10-5

SEC: 2-2, 1-1, 4-0, 2-1, 9-4

Press Relaease:

College Basketball Daily, a leading blog following the world of NCAA hoops, heads to the Final Four in full stride, with complete coverage, analysis and free picks for the two semi-final games and the championship game on Monday, April 2.

Rick Gagliano, publisher of the blog, says, "I've been putting in lots of hours analyzing the four teams remaining and despite only having Georgetown and Ohio State left in my original brackets, I'm pretty sure the Hoyas can win another national title."

"The game against Ohio State is one I've personally been anticipating for a long time. I can't wait to see the Roy Hibbert - Greg Oden matchup. It's going to be a war out there."

In the other semi-final game, Gagliano isn't about to tip his hand.

"I originally had Kansas facing Oregon, but now it's Florida vs. UCLA, a rematch of last year's championship. Last season, I had a shot at actually winning a pool with a partner, but when UCLA lost, we were knocked out of the first three spots, and wound up with nothing. I've got nothing invested this year except time and my reputation, and I'll put that up against the Vegas oddsmakers any day," said Gagliano.

"I've been covering college sports in one form or another for nearly 25 years and I still haven't figured it out, but I'm trying," joked the publisher.

Scheduled entries on the blog are the Conference Scoreboard (Tuesday), analysis of the Florida-UCLA game (Wednesday), analysis of the Geogetown-Ohio State game (Thursday), exclusive ATS picks on Friday. After that, Gagliano plans on analyzing the two semi-final games and providing a final pick on Sunday. After the championship, College Basketball Daily will do a season recap, name an All-American team and Player of the Year, before focusing on off-season recruitment and coaching changes.

As the name suggests, College Basketball Daily provides news, insight and analysis of college hoops every day.