Phillin' The Lane: Aussies Go Dancing

Basketball Australia's US correspondent Phil Moskowitz wraps another week of Aussie Boomers in action in the United States.

Let the Madness begin.

This week tips-off the opening two rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament where 65 teams start a four-week journey in the attempt to be crowned National Champion and cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

There are four teams in the field of 65 who have Australians on their rosters.

The highest seeded team is AJ Ogilvy and the Vanderbilt Commodores who are the fourth seed in the West Region. They will face 13th seeded Murray State on Friday at 6:30am AEDT in a tough first round match-up.

Vanderbilt lost to Mississippi State 62-52 in the Semi-Finals of the SEC Tournament after beating Georgia in the second round 78-66.

Ogilvy had 10 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one block against Georgia. However, he really struggled against Mississippi State only posting four rebounds, three assists, and two points.

After the game Ogilvy tweeted and apologized to his teammates and fans for his poor performance and vowed to never let it happen again.

Earlier in the week though AJ was elected to his 3rd straight All-SEC Second Team. For the year he averaged 13.9 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game.

St. Mary’s will also be dancing as they took down their conference rival Gonzaga in the WCC Championship game, beating them convincingly with a score of 81-62.

In the game Matthew Dellavedova had seven points, six assists, and three rebounds as he celebrated with fellow Aussies and St. Mary’s teammates Ben Allen, Jorden Page, Clint Steindl, Mitchell Young, and their assistant coach David Patrick (former NBL Canberra Cannons standout).

With the win, the Gaels earned a 10th seed in the South Region and will face the 7th seeded Richmond Spiders who lost in the A-10 Conference Championship to Temple.

The Spiders also feature a fellow Australian forward/centre Justin Duinker, and this showdown will tip off on Friday at 6:50am AEDT.

Finally, Old Dominion who features Perth guard Trian Iliadis is seeded 11th and will try for the upset when they face 6th seed Notre Dame on Friday at 4:25am AEDT.

Ater Majok and the UConn Huskies ended the year on a very disappointing note; losing their final three games of the regular season and getting knocked out of the Big East Tournament in a 73-51 embarrassment by St. Johns in the first round.

Majok had three blocks, two rebounds, and one point in his 17 minutes on the infamous hardwood of Madison Square Garden.

Also losing in the first round of their conference tournaments were Brock Motum (Washington State Cougars) and Anatoly Bose (Nicholls State).

However, these two didn’t go down quite as easily as UConn.

Motum posted career-highs in minutes played (16), points (14, going 6-for-10 from the field), and rebounds (5) in a thrilling 82-80 loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-10 Tournament.

Bose once again put on a show for Nicholls State fans. In an opening-round 62-57 loss to Sam Houston State, Anatoly scored 40 points on 15-of-23 shooting and going 5-for-11 from behind the arc. He also added four rebounds and one steal in the game.

Bose has failed only three times in his 30 games this season to score in the double digits and is 16th in the nation with 21.1 ppg.

When PTL caught up with Andrew Bogut, former Utah standout and star in the NCAA Tournament, he offered up some advice for the young Australians in the tournament:

“I think the NCAA Tournament is where you can make your meal ticket. If you have a couple of good games all of a sudden you go from a second round pick to a first round pick which is kinda what happened to me.”

“You’ve got the nation watching you, so if you can perform in those big games it definitely helps.”

In the 2005 NCAA Tournament, the year he was drafted as the #1 overall pick by the Bucks, Bogues averaged 18 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in Utah’s three tournament games.

Those numbers are eerily similar to the numbers he is posting now in the NBA where this week he averaged 19.3 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in Milwaukee’s 3-and-0 week.

With the Bucks’ solid week and Bogut’s impressive numbers, Bogues has received the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award.

The Bucks are currently on a six-game winning streak and are in a very good position to secure a playoff spot (currently 5th place in the East).

They had a huge 86-84 win over the Boston Celtics earlier last week where Bogues had a monster game.

He recorded his 30th double-double of the season (he currently has 32) with 25 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks, 2 assists, and one steal.

Last week also had David Andersen returning to action for the Houston Rockets.

After missing Houston’s three-game road trip, Andersen played 10 minutes in a home match-up against the New Jersey Nets. He grabbed five rebounds and scored four points in the 116-108 win.

Also returning to action was Nathan Jawai who registered 16 total minutes, five rebounds, four points (4-4 FT), and one assist for the Timberwolves who continue to struggle losing another three games this week.

The only disappointment this week was for former St. Mary’s standout and current Trailblazer Patty Mills who didn’t see any time. However, he must’ve been proud of the way his Gaels played in the WCC Title game and I’m sure will be watching them this week in the NCAA Tournament.

There are a few weeks of great basketball ahead… The madness is just beginning.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

•        St. Mary’s ends Gonzaga’s dominance in WCC Championship games and earns automatic bid to NCAA Tournament.

•        Bogut records 30th, 31st, and 32nd double-doubles of the season

•        Washington St v Oregon: Motum records career-high 16 min, 14 points, and 5 rebounds.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK

•        Ogilvy playing with a chip on his shoulder in the NCAA Tournament

•        Can St. Mary’s pull a 10-7 upset of Richmond?

•        Can Bogut match his double-double streak of six from earlier this season?