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The Secondary Break: Friday’s Links

Cameron Bairstow

From Ontario to Wichita, Lufile and Wiggins reach senior day together (Wichita Eagle)
No. 2 Wichita State will play its final home game of the season on Saturday, and while much of the attention will focus on whether or not they can complete the regular season undefeated it’s also senior day. Two seniors being honored are forwards Chadrack Lufile and Nick Wiggins, who have been friends for years.

Seat owner at Assembly Hall says he’s “lucky” he wasn’t hit (Indianapolis Star)
On Thursday Indiana played its rescheduled game against No. 20 Iowa, beating the Hawkeyes 93-86 at Assembly Hall. A large piece of metal falling from the roof resulted in the game needing to be moved, and had the event occurred a couple hours later it would have been catastrophic. And the man who was planning on sitting in one of the damaged seats for the Iowa game spoke of his good fortune.

Bairstow appears to lead for Mountain West Player of the Year (Albuquerque Journal)
New Mexico senior forward Cameron Bairstow was one of 15 players named to the Robertson Award list of finalists on Thursday, and he was the only Mountain West player to be honored. And given his play throughout the season, Bairstow may be the frontrunner for league Player of the Year. But he’ll be challenged down the stretch, with teammate Kendall Williams and San Diego State’s Xavier Thames also having solid arguments.

Napier takes Samuel under his wing, and UConn benefits (Hartford Courant)
UConn wasn’t playing particularly well against USF on Wednesday night, but one player who provided the needed spark was freshman guard Terrence Samuel. With Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright being the primary options there hasn’t been much available playing time for Samuel this season, but he’s taken advantage of his situation by learning all he can from Napier.

My Wichita State talking points (Ken Pomeroy)
Much of the conversation regarding Wichita State has centered on two general themes: their schedule, and the fact that if they go undefeated the Shockers should automatically receive a one-seed. That’s far too simplistic for Ken Pomeroy, who offers his thoughts on the matter.

Marquette’s Chris Otule a study in resilience (USA Today)
Marquette sixth-year senior center Chris Otule may not have the statistics that some look for in assessing the impact of a player, but there’s no doubt that he’s been a key figure for Buzz Williams’ program. Playing with a prosthetic eye Otule’s persevered throughout his career, fighting his way back from three serious injuries that he didn’t alway believe he’d be able to come back from.

For Casey and Curry, a long road to Senior Night (Harvard Crimson)
Harvard seniors Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry have both experienced interesting careers at the school, highlighted by their being forced to withdraw for a year in the aftermath of an academic scandal that involved both athletes and non-athletes. That withdrawal led to them missing out on the basketball team’s first-ever NCAA tournament win, and their work to get back has helped a team looking to make a third consecutive trip to the Big Dance.

The real ACC champion is crowned in Greensboro (Duke Basketball Report)
On Saturday afternoon No. 4 Syracuse visits No. 12 Virginia with the Cavaliers looking to win the ACC’s regular season title. However while that would be a notable achievement for Tony Bennett’s program (and for Jim Boeheim’s should the Orange end up winning the conference), the fact of the matter is that the ACC acknowledges the winner of the conference tournament as its official “champion.”

Dinwiddie weighing options for future (Boulder Daily Camera)
When Colorado point guard Spencer Dinwiddie went down in late January with a torn ACL, there were two major concerns. First and foremost was the concern of what the injury would mean for the Buffaloes, who look to be headed back to the NCAA tournament after struggling in the immediate aftermath of his injury. The other concern was what the injury would do to Dinwiddie’s NBA hopes, something he’s currently evaluating.

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