Friday, March 16, 2012

Tournament Thoughts - Early Friday

Texas scored two points in the first 12 minutes of the game. Yes I picked them.
They were absolutely putrid, shooting 1 of 16, and even missing two free throws.

I can't believe the announcers are making the brawl with Xavier into a positive for Cincinnati. I don't believe getting into a violent brawl is ever a positive.

Texas made an amazing comeback once they started driving the ball with Myck Kabongo and J'Covan Brown. They split the defense and kicked out for 3s. They would have won the game but they gave away some possessions. Missed a dunk, a bad pass, a jacked 3 and one possession where the ballhandler looked up and got his pocket picked. You just can't make those mistakes when you want to overcome a big deficit.

Look at Creighton, they were down big to Alabama, made a run, then the Tide opened it up again. But Creighton stayed patient, worked the ball inside, never shot bad 3s, and ended up taking the lead. But then they missed a bunch of free throws and gave Alabama one last chance. Until Anthony Grant (the first impressive young black coach from VCU) overcoached, called 2 timeouts in 2 seconds and cost his team a chance at a good look.

I picked 2 #11s over #6s. And that's exactly what happened. Except I picked the wrong ones. Why does this happen to me every year?

I guess I didn't pay enough attention to conference tournaments. Both Colarado and NC State earned their way in and both those teams pulled off upsets.

Wow Florida State held on just barely. A great ending with both teams nailing threes. The key was the backtap on the missed free throw. That was huge for FSU. Even though they won (which is all that matters) this showed the problem with Florida State, if Snaer has a bad game (he did not score, missed all 7 shots) where does their offense come from? Should be a meat grinder of a game against Cincinnati on Sunday.

No real problems for Georgetown or North Carolina. Good move by Roy Williams sitting out Henson, no need to risk it.

And Boom we have our upset. Missouri a trendy final Four pick vanquished by Norfolk State.

Norfolk State was not intimidated and had a few guys get hot at the right time. Only five of their players scored. But Williams and McEachin combined to hit 8 of 12 3s.

And Kyle O'Quinn was dominant. 26 points, 14 rebounds and one key play that didn't show up in the box score. He tipped that missed free throw resulting in a held ball givinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif NSU another possession.

It must be the luck of the Irish before St. Patrick's Day. I mean Kyle O'Quinn has to be Irish right?

Kyle OQuinn dominated Missouri and inside and celebrates Norfolk State's huge upset

Rough game for Kim English who is normally an excellent player. Marcus Denmon also didn't have a great second half. The Pressey Bbrothers played well and in case I wasn't the only one wondering, yes, they are the sons of former Milwaukee Buck Paul Pressey.

The Norfolk State band played former Song of the Week "I Do" by Young Jeezy during a break in the action.

Now I don't want to brag too much because I am so horrible about picking games, but my defense is when I pick teams I know, I do a little better evaluating them.

In my Initial Bracket Breakdown I said I liked Michigan State to use its size against Missouri. That's what happened, except not by Draymond Green, by Kyle O'Quinn. That's why I picked Missouri to lose to Marquette in all of my brackets.

As opposed to JLeary who said this: Missouri is going to be a tough out I think. I pick them in the final 4. And then he ended up picking Missouri to win it all.

But God must love idiots, cuz he made so many, look what Damino said "Agree with Jleary re: Mizzou. Arguably the best offensive team in the country."

Sorry guys, I have nothing else to brag about with these brackets.

Just for the record this is the 5th time a 15 has beaten a 2 in the first round, but the first time in an odd-numbered year.
Richmond over Syracuse in 1991
Santa Clara over Arizona in 1993
Coppin State over South Carolina 1997
Hampton over Iowa State in 2001
Norfolk State over Missouri in 2012

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