From Press Row

From Thursday's early action:

Kentucky 79, Alabama 67: The Tide fell to the Wildcats to shut the door on 'Bama's NCAA chances. This was a shockingly poor season for Alabama, as they had been a preseason darkhouse to make a Final Four run. Last year, Alabama was the one team that impressed me the most of all UCLA's opponents (outside of Florida). Obviously, the myriad injuries suffered by Ronald Steele and the tragedies that struck Jamareo Davidson shook this team to the point that they couldn't quite recover.

Florida St. 67, Clemson 66: This was an elimination ACC matchup. The Tigers can only blame themselves now, as they sit on Selection and hope, but their prayers for an at-large won't be answered. They will ask themselves all season "what if?" after starting the year as the last remaining undefeated team (17-0).

Michigan 49, Minnesota 40: Big Blue's flickering hopes for a tourney bid remaining alive. They must now beat Ohio St. to get a firm grasp of the bubble, and a win in that game still might not get them all the way in.

Georgetown 62, Villanova 57: The Hoyas raced out to a huge halftime lead and held on for the win. Jeff Green was named Big East Player of the Year over teammate Roy Hibbert, and rightly so. If only coach John Thompson realized what he actually has in Green and ran actual plays for him. This guy is a more offensively minded and more skilled version of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. If you haven't yet seen Scottie Reynolds play, by the way, make sure to watch 'Nova's first-round game. Defenders still haven't seemed to learn that you can't give the kid an inch of space anywhere on the perimeter.