Xavier marches on and Nigel Dawes strikes again

Xavier looked to be cruising on their way to the Elite Eight midway through the first half of their game vs West Virginia,running up a lead of eighteen points and controlling the game tempo.
But West Virginia had trimmed the lead to seven by the half,continued their fine play in the second half and even managed to take the lead later in the game.
The teams went back and forth until Joe Alexander's score with 14 seconds to go and Alexander had a chance to put WVU up with a free throw,however he missed and the game went to overtime,where Alexander would quickly foul out.
West Virginia broke from the gates fastest in overtime,but after Alexander's 5th foul,Xavier began to rally paced by two long three pointers by C.J.Raymond that clinched a 79-75 win and a trip to the regional finals vs UCLA.
Josh Duncan's 26 (career high) paced the Musketeers.

One thing that I would like to add that makes me wonder was the absence of any strategy for Xavier's last two regulation possessions.
With Xavier up two,they just dribbled out the shot clock before throwing up a haphazard shot by Drew Lavender that looked to be just pumped up without a plan at all.
Then after the missed Joe Alexander free throw and a tie game,Xavier did not even try to run any type of set play and again settled for a low percentage jumper by Lavender.
To me,the end of the game set off alarm bells about the strategies of Sean Miller and might be something that Indiana (Interested in Miller as the next head coach) might want to carefully look at......

The New Jersey Devils actually scored two goals and held a lead last night against the Rangers.
That was the good news.
The bad news is that the special teams allowed two Ranger power play goals and the Devil killer,Nigel Dawes (I am really beginning to dislike this guy) bounced the game winner off of his shoulder in a 3-2 Ranger win.
The goal was just one of those fluke things that happen and was perfectly legal,so no complaints here.
Both Devil goals came in the second period and turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 New Jersey lead.
Patrik Elias tied the game with his 19th and Zach Parise scored number 31 on a gift from the Rangers Christian Backman.
Backman would redeem himself shortly after with the game tying goal on the power play.
A heartbreaking loss for sure,but an encouraging one.
Goals tend to do that.
The Devils will again attempt to snap the losing streak with a game vs the Flyers at the Rock tonight at 7.

Bullpen Notes

The Pirates did decide to keep Phil Dumatrait over Sean Burnett for the last spot on the Bullpen/Roster.
Burnett returns to Indianapolis in his new bullpen role.
Considering the Pirates bullpen,it should not be long before Burnett is back in Pittsburgh.

I would have preferred Burnett,but he had minor league options available after clearing waivers over the winter and I did want the Pirates to keep Rule 5 draftee Evan Meek for a look to see if he is worth carrying for the year.

Until tomorrow.

Photo Credits
Raymond-Chris Carlson-AP Photo
Duncan-Matt York-AP Photo
Dawes-Frank Franklin II-AP Photo