VCU deserves to celebrate after victory over Florida State

If you haven't had the privilege of seeing a VCU's postgame celebration, it's something worth watching.

After Friday 72-71 overtime victory against Florida State, VCU coach Shaka Smart went into the locker room, said few words and then yielded the floor freshman forward Heath Houston for the traditional postgame dance.

Houston started off by doing the Seminoles Tomahawk Chop with his left arm then pretended to cut off the arm with his right end. Then he transitioned into what could best be described as a series of MMA moves culminating in Houston and his teammates stomping their opponent on the floor of their locker room.

Remember, this is the same VCU team that was giving Florida State players high fives and daps as they passed the Seminoles in the arena hallway after defeating Purdue to get to the Sweet 16. Florida State was preparing for its game against Notre Dame.

But on this night VCU deserved to celebrate because the Rams survived a game that they should have lost twice. Had it not been for poor clock management by Florida State and the Seminoles inability to consistently make shots, the Rams could have been blown out of San Antonio.

VCU actually blew a nine-point lead and scored just three points in the final 7 minutes and 37 seconds of regulation.

But VCU came up big with it needed it the most. With 7.9 second remaining in overtime, guard Joey Rodriguez inbounded the ball to Bradford Burgess, who made a layup with 7.1 seconds remaining. It would ultimately be the game winner and send the Rams to the school's first Elite Eight appearance.

The lowest remaining seed in the tournament will now advance to play Kansas, the highest remaining seed, on Sunday.

VCU becomes the first team to win four games to reach the Elite Eight -- this is the first year with multiple play-in games -- and is just the fifth 11-seed to make it to the Elite Eight.

So go on and dance VCU. You've earned it.

Related: Florida State Seminoles

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ESPN expands state title game coverage to 3 states

There was once a time when catching your high school basketball state tournament required getting in your car and driving to far-flung corners where unused college arenas would host the semifinal and final rounds. Not anymore. With the help of any variety of different PBS, public access and local broadcasters, nearly every state's basketball finals will be shown on television somewhere, with many also streamed live on the web.

This year, broadcasting those games to a larger, national audience is taking a huge step forward, with ESPN gaining the online streaming rights to the boys and girls state championship games in Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee, as well as the boys semifinals in Illinois and Indiana. The games will be broadcast on the network's ESPN3 online streaming channel, used primarily to show college football and basketball and European soccer. The network streamed high school football finals in Illinois and Oregon's Class 6A football title game, with the Illinois championships the first of any high school sport to be shown on an ESPN platform.

The expansion of ESPN's streaming offerings in high school sports is no insignificant matter. The sports television goliath has added more and more high school football games each fall, and now shows a healthy helping of boys basketball games on its ESPNU network as well, mostly focused on teams featuring top recruits (the same goes for the network's selection of football games). Still, providing a healthy dose of championship action from states in the Midwest and South -- including a state title game featuring the Jeffersonville (Ind.) High girls basketball team, pictured above -- this year will give the network data from which to gauge whether it might make sense to expand and try to gain rights for championships from other states across the country.

It's also significant that ESPN will stream these games in the heart of March Madness. While the title games begin this weekend with girls championships in Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee, the Indiana boys tournament in particular doesn't wrap up until Sat., March 26. That has the Indiana finals playing concurrently with the ESPN's own broadcasting of the NCAA Women's Sweet 16.

Whether the network sees high school basketball as a leveraged play against CBS' expanded broadcast of the NCAA Tournament is a legitimate question, and one which may not be able to be answered fully for a few more years to come. Yet it's not beyond the realm of possibility to think that, if ESPN3 receives significant streaming traffic, the network would logically expand its high school basketball playoff coverage, showing games before the state semifinals, including regional finals in some larger states. That might be a particularly feasible strategy in states (Texas, among others) where such tournaments are held at centralized (usually college) sites across multiple days, just as the state finals are.

Regardless of what happens next, the beginning of the ESPN streaming era this weekend could serve as a watershed for high school basketball, kick starting a process that could elevate it into the national subconscious alongside high school football. Whether the experiment is a success or failure now will likely depend on how many people are willing to tune in online, and how many who are willing to do so even know that ESPN3 exists.

Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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Breakfast Buffet: Loss at Iowa State may be costly for Colorado

1. On the verge of earning an NCAA tournament berth after its stunning comeback victory against Texas last weekend, Colorado instead reverted back to its lackluster defense from earlier in the year against Iowa State. A 95-90 loss to the previously struggling Cyclones leaves the Buffs needing a victory over Nebraska in their regular-season finale just to get back to .500 in the Big 12.    

2. With Texas once again mired in a late-season slump, coach Rick Barnes is facing familiar questions about his 19-18 career NCAA tournament record and the tendency for his teams not to improve over the course of the season. "I would have cared 10 years ago," he told the New York Times. "This is not the most important thing in my life. It's what I do, but it's not the most important thing in my life."

3. As if Villanova's recent struggles aren't worrisome enough, the Wildcats have some injury concerns as well: Senior guard Corey Fisher will undergo an MRI on his knee to determine the source of lingering pain. "He's got a deep thigh bruise, which is bothersome, so he's been struggling a little bit," coach Jay Wright said. "But he's also had a nagging injury in his knee all year. We thought it was tendinitis. We still think it's tendinitis, but we want to get it checked."

4. Considering USC's flurry of early bad losses to the likes of Rider and TCU, it's amazing the Trojans are even in the conversation for an at-large bid at this point. At 17-12 overall and 9-7 in the Pac-10, USC likely needs a pair of wins at Washington State and Washington and then at least one Pac-10 tournament victory to have a realistic hope.  

5. It was only three years ago that UCLA big man Kevin Love returned to Oregon and played in front of fans so hostile they chanted obscenities at him, held up derogatory signs about his family members and threw things at his dad. Freshman Joshua Smith is expecting a similar but perhaps less vicious crowd Thursday night at Washington since he chose the Bruins over his home-state Huskies.

As bad as Marquette coach Buzz Williams is in this karaoke video, he's still nowhere near as awful as the Ohio State trio singing Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA a couple months ago. Highlight of Williams' effort: Him asking whether "All the Single Ladies" was an Alicia Keys song. 

"Any time you're losing, people aren't in a good mood, myself included. I don't think I've ever gone through a losing streak like this, and I don't think Coach has either." -- Minnesota guard Blake Hoffarber on the on-court argument he and coach Tubby Smith had late in Minnesota's loss to Northwestern. The Gophers have now lost four in a row to fall to 6-11 in the Big Ten.  (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

• Virginia Military Institute at Coastal Carolina, 6 p.m. ET

• No. 15 St. John's at Seton Hall, 7 p.m. ET

• Tennessee at South Carolina, 7 p.m. ET

• UCLA at Washington, 9 p.m. ET

• USC at Washington State , 10 p.m. ET 

Related: Iowa State Cyclones

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Record-setting Iowa female wrestler's state tourney run ends

A little more than 24 hours after Cassy Herkelman made history by recording the first victory for a female in the Iowa state wrestling tournament, she was eliminated from the event following two consecutive losses.

Herkelman was defeated twice in the double-elimination tournament on Friday, falling in the second round to Indianola (Iowa) High's Matt Victor by a 5-1 score and falling by pin in the first period against Des Moines (Iowa) Hoover High's Jordan Jones. Afterwards, she spoke to assembled media, including WHO-TV, about her tough second day and the forfeit. 

"After districts I knew [the media attention] was going to be crazy here," Herkelman told the press. "[Northrup] has the right to make his own choice, and it's not like he did what he didn't want to do."

For Herkelman, the second day of the competition was much more rigorous than the first, in which she received credit for a victory without having to physically defeat another wrestler on the mat. Northrup's forfeit received national attention here and elsewhere, with commenters, callers to sports radio shows, and other wrestlers and their parents all coming down on different sides of the issue.

While Herkelman finished with a 1-2 overall record, the other female contestant in the 112-pound division, Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, had an even more trying tournament. The first-time state qualifier fell in both of her bouts on Thursday, leading to her elimination on the first day of the event.

The Associated Press reported that Black watched Herkelman's bouts from the stands on Friday, cheering her on despite the setbacks.

"She tried hard, so that's good," Black told the Associated Press.

As for Northrup, his father, Jamie Northrup, spoke to the Des Moines Register about his son's decision not to face off against Herkelman, costing himself a shot at a state title in the process.

"We spent a couple of days agonizing over this," Jamie Northrup told the Register. "And just giving to Joel to really allow him to make the decision. Joel made the decision that he felt was the right decision, and it aligned with his beliefs and his values and conscience."

Joel Northrup -- who was also eliminated after a second-round loss on Friday -- is home-schooled by Jamie Northrup, a youth pastor and volunteer chaplain for the U.S. Army, and his mother, Sara, but competes for the Linn-Mar (Iowa) High wrestling team, which is his local public high school. Throughout the lead-up to his forfeit on Thursday, Northrup cited his faith as the primary reason why he felt it was inappropriate for him to wrestle against a girl.

"I don't believe there are any specific pieces of Scripture that address this particular issue," Jamie Northrup told the Register. "But as men, the Bible talks to us about loving our wives, protecting our families, being there, as an older brother, just to protect his home and his sisters.

"And so, I would say that's more of a principle that we're following. We just don't believe that in a combat sport, a boy should be going against a girl in this manner."

Still, a day after the forfeit, Herkelman's father, Bill, insisted that he and his daughter had absolutely no ill-will toward the Northrups, despite all the additional focus the incident has put on both families.

"I know Cassy [was] disappointed not to get on the mat with him," Bill Herkelman told the Register. "But it's their belief, they're very strict in that, and I support that.

"I'd like to meet [Northrup's] dad. I'd like to shake his hand."

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Saturday Six-Pack: Saint Mary's and Utah State go for broke

BracketBuster Saturday is here, but there's one made-for-TV showdown that will attract the eyes of the nation — and the NCAA tournament selection committee — more than any of the others.

Hopefully, you'll stay up late enough to watch it unfold.

Let's get to it …

No. 25 Utah State at Saint Mary's — 9 p.m. EST (ESPN2)

The loser here will officially need to win its league tournament to secure an NCAA tourney bid. The winner might still have to, as well. Saint Mary's looked like it was going to have a sliver of wiggle room coming in, but that went away with Thursday's shocking 74-66 loss at San Diego. How bad was it? It was only the Toreros' fourth victory this season over a Division-I opponent, and they became the lowest-ranked RPI team (311) to notch a win against an RPI Top 50 opponent. It's a safe bet that this will be the most intense game played all day, and it's definitely worthy of your attention.

No. 4 Pitt at St. John's — 12 p.m. EST (ESPN)

The Johnnies are playing with a bit of house money here, which makes them even more dangerous. After winning five of their last six, including victories at Madison Square Garden over Duke and UConn, they appear to be safely in the field of 68 barring a complete meltdown. Pitt, it appears, will have leading scorer Ashton Gibbs back from a knee injury for this one. The Panthers have won all three games they've played without him, and still have yet to fall on the road this season. Flip a coin here, folks.

Washington at No. 12 Arizona — 6 p.m. EST (ESPN)

Arizona is riding a 7-game win streak that began after an 85-68 blowout loss at Washington on Jan. 20. Since then, though, the Huskies are just 1-3 on the road, and if they want any shot at a Pac-10 regular season title still, this is a must-win. The Wildcats are a game ahead of surging UCLA, still, at 11-2 in the league, and can keep the pressure on the Bruins with a win here. They'll travel to Westwod to try and sweep that season series next Saturday. It's worth noting that while Washington is again having a tough time winning Pac-10 away games, Arizona is 6-0 at home in league play.

Illinois at Michigan State — 9 p.m. EST (ESPN)

Who would have ever thought a few months ago that these two would be playing for their NCAA tournament lives on Feb. 19? Illinois, who already beat the Spartans once, is 17-9 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten, while Michigan State is 14-11 and 6-7, respectively. If Sparty doesn't protect the home floor here, it's conceivable that Tom Izzo's club could finish Big Ten play with a sub-.500 record. On the other side, since Jan. 6, Illinois has yet to win back-to-back conference games, and almost got stunned at the buzzer on a miracle heave at home on Wednesday night against Michigan. The 9 p.m. tip is intriguing and might favor the home team, and if you're on Michigan State's side, you'll take any help you can get right now.

Georgia at Tennessee — 1 p.m. EST (CBS)

Similar to Illinois and Michigan State, both of these teams are fighting to boost their at-large profiles. Georgia blew yet another second half lead at home on Wednesday, falling to Vanderbilt, 64-56, after the Commodores closed the game on a 24-3 run. Getting away from Athens might not be a bad thing here for the Bulldogs, who are 17-8 overall, 6-5 in the SEC and should be much better than that. Tennessee has the better non-conference résumé between the two, with victories over Villanova, Pitt, VCU and Memphis, but has to finish the regular season hot to remain on the radar.

UNLV at Colorado State — 7 p.m. EST (The Mtn.)

This should be another dog-fight, with — surprise, surprise — both teams jockeying for position both on the bubble and in the Mountain West Standings. Colorado State is the league's biggest surprise this year, is 8-3 in the MWC and beating everyone it should be. The Rams have a chance for a rare season sweep of the Rebels here, which would all but cement them in third place in the league behind San Diego State and BYU. That's crucial, as they'd prefer to avoid the No. 4 vs. No. 5 match-up on the first day of the MWC tourney. As for UNLV, who is two games behind CSU in the loss column, it actually has a great shot at stealing third away with a win here, as CSU still has to travel to face both the Aztecs and Cougars. The loser of this one, though, is in serious danger of blowing a shot at the dance.

A few others worth keeping tabs on: George Mason at Northern Iowa (7 p.m. EST, ESPN2); Montana at Long Beach State (9:05 p.m. EST, ESPN); No. 8 Notre Dame at West Virginia (1 p.m. EST, CBS); Boston College at No. 19 North Carolina (4 p.m. EST, ESPN); No. 3 Texas at Nebraska (1:30 p.m. EST, ESPN3).

Ryan Greene also covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun. Read his Rebels coverage and follow him on Twitter.

Related: Saint Mary's Gaels, Utah State Aggies

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Welcome back to the party, Florida State. Can you stay awhile this time?

Florida State 31, Florida 7. Florida's descent into 7-5 madness has been well chronicled by the large anti-Addazian faction of the Gator fan base, and will be subjected to exhaustive postmortems in the coming weeks. Jimbo Fisher's debut in Year One of the post-Bowden era in Tallahassee, on the other hand, has been significantly quitter – one of the perks of diminished expectations and early flops in high-profile games. But as of today, Fisher's Seminoles…

• Snapped a six-game losing streak to Florida, and not only beat both instate rivals in the same season for the first time since Chris Weinke, Peter Warrick and Co. ran the table en route to the BCS title in 1999, but dominated them: The Hurricanes and Gators fell by a combined 76-24.

• Finished with nine regular season wins for the first time since taking the ACC title in 2003, the last year before the conference expanded with the addition of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

• Won six ACC games for the first time since 2004, and with N.C. State's loss to Maryland, wrapped up the ACC Atlantic and a trip to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2005, the first year of the two-division/championship game format.

• Transmogrified from an underachieving defense that allowed 30 points per game in 2009, 94th nationally, into a unit giving up a little under 18 points per game under first-year coordinator Mark Stoops, 15th nationally before stoning the Gators this afternoon.

At the beginning of the season, the prevailing question in Tallahassee – above specific goals like a division or conference championship, or even ending the losing streak to Florida – was whether a stagnant program could regained momentum toward its birthright as ACC overlord and perennial national contender under the new administration, or whether it would come to the sobering realization that the malaise of the last five years didn't leave with the old man.

It's a little early still for a final verdict when there's still a conference championship game to play. But you know, there is a conference championship game to play, at a place that's been defined for years now by its consistent failure to compete for the ACC crown despite continuing to dominate in-conference recruiting. Since being eviscerated at Oklahoma on Sept. 11, the 'Noles' only two losses have come by a combined six points in the dying seconds against N.C. State and North Carolina. If Christian Ponder doesn't put the ball on the ground on a routine play-action fake with the winning touchdown in sight in Raleigh, FSU could be 10-2 and on the verge of the top 10.

As it is, the 'Noles are a win away from the BCS, which certainly beats another funeral dirge.

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Related: Boston College Eagles, Florida Gators, Miami (FL) Hurricanes, North Carolina Tar Heels, Oklahoma Sooners, Virginia Tech Hokies

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