A few thoughts whilst putting a Diet Coke and bag of Sun Chips to bed for the third night in a row. No bagels were available.

– Kevin Jones had the best bad game I can remember in quite some time. Yes, he was 1-for-10, but he rebounded and played great defense on Harangody. I’d also take that 1-for-10 and look and see how many of those gimmes he might normally make or misses in the future. He was absolutely giddy afterward, in case you’re concerned.

– Da’Sean Butler also played a bad good game. That 4-for-15 in the first half looked bad, but was a little misleading. He had to take a couple shots because of game and shot clock situations and he frankly missed a bunch of looks he or you or I might normally make.

– I’d like to see WVU’s percentage from three feet and in.

– I’d like to see Kyle McAlarney’s percentage from 23 feet and out.

– Three great second-round memories:

1) St. John’s-Marquette. Red Storm gets called for a foul, which puts the Golden Eagles into the one-and-one in the second half. Jonnies Coach Norm Roberts argues and gets a technical, which is apparently the chic thing to do this year. Marquette shoots the free throws … the technical free throws … and goes 1-for-2. Play resumes for no good reason until the officials realize noone took the one-and-one free throws. Play stops, Marquette then shoots the one-and-one free throws and goes 1-for-2. Marquette Coach Buzz Williams is screaming his side should get possession — this guy is something else — and Marquette gets possession and scores again. A complete and total screw-up by the officials, which is also apparently chic and way too common now. I mean, the fans recognized this was going on and the officials didn’t. The look on the faces of the coaches was priceless.

In case you’re wondering, it really happened.

2) First half WVU-Notre Dame. During a timeout, the MSG in-arena camera is scanning the crowd and doing five-second shots of random groups of fans. In the middle, the shot catches the section in which WVU football coach Bill Stewart is sitting … and Stewart stands up and waves to the crowd.

3) Not to be outdone, Notre Dame counterpart Charlie Weis was at the game and, for some reason, decided to leave the arena after the game by walking right through the media workroom. Slowly. He was glacial. No one so much as offered a “Hello.”

– Lastly, Pitt scouted the WVU-ND game and I’m told the Panthers prepared almost exlusively for WVU … and UConn … though Syracuse looked mighty.