Once again, she did this in large part because she did it while I wasn't around, she picked all chalked, and she went with her heart and picked UConn.
So once again I salute my beautiful wife with my favorite picture of her.
Showing posts with label march madness 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label march madness 2011. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Mrs. Poop Wins Again
For the second time in three years Mrs. Poop is the winner of our tournament challenge group. With perhaps the worst score in years (630) and only one final four team, not even one in the final game.
Once again, she did this in large part because she did it while I wasn't around, she picked all chalked, and she went with her heart and picked UConn.
So once again I salute my beautiful wife with my favorite picture of her.
Once again, she did this in large part because she did it while I wasn't around, she picked all chalked, and she went with her heart and picked UConn.
So once again I salute my beautiful wife with my favorite picture of her.
Microcosm of Life
Some days you just can't buy a bucket. Butler had one of those days last night.
That was the worst performance in a national title game ever.
12 of 64 shooting. 18.8%. If you thought they were bad in the first half (and they were) the second half was even worse. After Chase made a 3-pointer early in the second half to make it 25-19, they were outscored 22-3 over the next 13 minutes. And missed 22 shots over that time.
It does sort of change Butler's place in history, but you can't just be terrible and win 5 tournament games two years in a row. They just had an exceedingly bad game at the worst possible time.
So did Jim Nantz. First of all, he called Kemba Walker "Walker Texas Ranger."
Note: because I was watching on tape and scanning prodigiously I would have missed that nugget if Bill had not texted me about it.
He also said "the Huskies are the top dogs" as soon as the game ended. What's most galling is he claims he doesn't plan those cheesy lines, of course he does.
Jim Nantz is absolutely the worst announcer ever. In a game where one team missed more than 80 percent of its shots, he was still the worst.
What the Big East lost by having so many teams go out so early it regained by having its 9th place team win the whole tournament. UConn went 9-9 in the conference and unbeaten against everyone else.
As I have said on several other occassions, this is the downside of a tournament with a lot of upsets. The quality of play in the biggest games can be poor. This didn't happen last year with Butler but it certainly did this time, by historic proportions.
That was the worst performance in a national title game ever.
12 of 64 shooting. 18.8%. If you thought they were bad in the first half (and they were) the second half was even worse. After Chase made a 3-pointer early in the second half to make it 25-19, they were outscored 22-3 over the next 13 minutes. And missed 22 shots over that time.
It does sort of change Butler's place in history, but you can't just be terrible and win 5 tournament games two years in a row. They just had an exceedingly bad game at the worst possible time.
So did Jim Nantz. First of all, he called Kemba Walker "Walker Texas Ranger."
Note: because I was watching on tape and scanning prodigiously I would have missed that nugget if Bill had not texted me about it.
He also said "the Huskies are the top dogs" as soon as the game ended. What's most galling is he claims he doesn't plan those cheesy lines, of course he does.
Jim Nantz is absolutely the worst announcer ever. In a game where one team missed more than 80 percent of its shots, he was still the worst.
What the Big East lost by having so many teams go out so early it regained by having its 9th place team win the whole tournament. UConn went 9-9 in the conference and unbeaten against everyone else.
As I have said on several other occassions, this is the downside of a tournament with a lot of upsets. The quality of play in the biggest games can be poor. This didn't happen last year with Butler but it certainly did this time, by historic proportions.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Final Four
Butler hits the first two shots and Shaka Smart switches to a full-court press which keys an 11-2 run. As a Syracuse fan that hurts because Jim Boeheim hasn't made a similar adjustment in 25 years.
Thank you Jim Nantz for confirming that Darius Theus is not related to Reggie.
By the way, that's the third mention of Reggie Theus I've seen in 24 hours. I watched the HBO special on UNLV. And I also watched an NBATV show on Kevin Love in which he chided his assistant coach for being on "Hang Time."
What you are about to read is the greatest insight I have written this entire tournament:
Late in the first half they showed video from before the game of Shaka Smart jumping around with his players in something of a mosh pit. Nantz, Kerr and Kellogg then praised Smart for his "energy" and said his team "feeds off it" giving that intangible "energy" at least some credit for the team's success.
Nantz said there's a long list of coaches who would never do that with their players. One of those coaches would undoubtedly be Brad Stevens. In fact, I have heard announcers praise Brad Stevens for being "even keel" and saying his team takes it lead from him, and indirectly attributing Butler's success, especially late in close games to the example of their coach.
In summary, the announcers pointed to two different coaches with two polar opposite demeanors and gave those very traits credit for the teams success. Now, if two opposite approaches are each equally successful (or have the potential to lead to equal success) perhaps neither of those approaches is right or wrong and neither has any impact on the team's success.
And this is my problem with mainstream media (and it's shared by many, especially in the statistical community), in lieu of examining things differently they just trot out the same platitudes they've been using for 50 years as an explanation for success. This especially happens in college athletics when the players turn over so quickly and the coaches don't. Everything is attributed to the coaches when in fact very little of what they do matters (the aforementioned strategic adjustment notwithstanding).
I hope I made myself clear. The mainstream sports media is intellectually lazy and it often contradicts itself in an effort to explain things that either can't be explained or are too difficult to explain.
Ok, back to the action. Lots of fouls called in this game. And a lot of stupid reach-ins and over the backs and stuff like that. You don't want to see a game like this decided by fouls, and with best players in foul trouble the entire second half. The fouls also slowed the pace of the game considerably compared to the up and down pace we saw early in the first half.
I love Shelvin Mack. What a great player.
I also like Joey Rodriguez as a leader and a passer, but not as a shooter. He has poor form on his jump shot. He leans his upper body into it and it looks like he is throwing the ball at the rim.
It's amazing when any team goes to the final game, loses a top 10 pick, then makes a return trip. It's even more amazing when it is Butler.
"Butler says 'let's do it again.". Really Jim Nantz? You had all week to come up with a cheesy line and that's what you came up with?
And then he breaks out "Okwandu says 'no can do'" And this guy is the best announcer CBS has? Between him and Joe Buck what is it about these guys with their cheesy lines that network executives love?
Now he just said Kemba Walker performed at the Apollo with his dance troupe when he was a kid. At least that was intesresting.
Non-stop action. After a foul with 8:15 left in the second half there wasn't another official's stoppage of play (foul, ball out of bounds) until 2:09 left. There were timeouts called by each coach but those doesn't satisfy the requirements of TV timeouts. So the under-8 timeout came at 2:09 and the under-4 came with 56 seconds left.
Why do teams insist on shooting 3s when they are only down 2 points? I just don't get it.
Rough game for Brandon Knight in what I still think will be his last college game.
Terrence Jones is going to leave too. He'd be well-advised to practice his free throws.
Shabazz Napier must watch a lot of European soccer. He took one dive, and then faked a low-blow that didn't get called.
At least we don't have to worry about the championship being vacated in a few years.
Or maybe we do.
I think every Big East team is going to try to play on the first day of the conference tournament next year.
I think Butler would have had a better chance beating Kentucky. I don't doubt them, but UConn's size is going to be a problem.
Thank you Jim Nantz for confirming that Darius Theus is not related to Reggie.
By the way, that's the third mention of Reggie Theus I've seen in 24 hours. I watched the HBO special on UNLV. And I also watched an NBATV show on Kevin Love in which he chided his assistant coach for being on "Hang Time."
What you are about to read is the greatest insight I have written this entire tournament:
Late in the first half they showed video from before the game of Shaka Smart jumping around with his players in something of a mosh pit. Nantz, Kerr and Kellogg then praised Smart for his "energy" and said his team "feeds off it" giving that intangible "energy" at least some credit for the team's success.
Nantz said there's a long list of coaches who would never do that with their players. One of those coaches would undoubtedly be Brad Stevens. In fact, I have heard announcers praise Brad Stevens for being "even keel" and saying his team takes it lead from him, and indirectly attributing Butler's success, especially late in close games to the example of their coach.
In summary, the announcers pointed to two different coaches with two polar opposite demeanors and gave those very traits credit for the teams success. Now, if two opposite approaches are each equally successful (or have the potential to lead to equal success) perhaps neither of those approaches is right or wrong and neither has any impact on the team's success.
And this is my problem with mainstream media (and it's shared by many, especially in the statistical community), in lieu of examining things differently they just trot out the same platitudes they've been using for 50 years as an explanation for success. This especially happens in college athletics when the players turn over so quickly and the coaches don't. Everything is attributed to the coaches when in fact very little of what they do matters (the aforementioned strategic adjustment notwithstanding).
I hope I made myself clear. The mainstream sports media is intellectually lazy and it often contradicts itself in an effort to explain things that either can't be explained or are too difficult to explain.
Ok, back to the action. Lots of fouls called in this game. And a lot of stupid reach-ins and over the backs and stuff like that. You don't want to see a game like this decided by fouls, and with best players in foul trouble the entire second half. The fouls also slowed the pace of the game considerably compared to the up and down pace we saw early in the first half.
I love Shelvin Mack. What a great player.
I also like Joey Rodriguez as a leader and a passer, but not as a shooter. He has poor form on his jump shot. He leans his upper body into it and it looks like he is throwing the ball at the rim.
It's amazing when any team goes to the final game, loses a top 10 pick, then makes a return trip. It's even more amazing when it is Butler.
"Butler says 'let's do it again.". Really Jim Nantz? You had all week to come up with a cheesy line and that's what you came up with?
And then he breaks out "Okwandu says 'no can do'" And this guy is the best announcer CBS has? Between him and Joe Buck what is it about these guys with their cheesy lines that network executives love?
Now he just said Kemba Walker performed at the Apollo with his dance troupe when he was a kid. At least that was intesresting.
Non-stop action. After a foul with 8:15 left in the second half there wasn't another official's stoppage of play (foul, ball out of bounds) until 2:09 left. There were timeouts called by each coach but those doesn't satisfy the requirements of TV timeouts. So the under-8 timeout came at 2:09 and the under-4 came with 56 seconds left.
Why do teams insist on shooting 3s when they are only down 2 points? I just don't get it.
Rough game for Brandon Knight in what I still think will be his last college game.
Terrence Jones is going to leave too. He'd be well-advised to practice his free throws.
Shabazz Napier must watch a lot of European soccer. He took one dive, and then faked a low-blow that didn't get called.
At least we don't have to worry about the championship being vacated in a few years.
Or maybe we do.
I think every Big East team is going to try to play on the first day of the conference tournament next year.
I think Butler would have had a better chance beating Kentucky. I don't doubt them, but UConn's size is going to be a problem.
Monday, March 28, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Elite 8 Sunday
I would put VCU over Kansas as the third biggest upset of the 64 team era. It has to come after Villanova over Georgetown even though they were the same conference. Because it was the title game, and because Georgetown had Patrick Ewing. There are no all-time legends on this Kansas team. I also rank it behind George Mason over Connecticut because at that point we really didn't know it was possible.
There is one great equalizer in basketball. Something that will help you overcome a bigger, stronger, faster, more talented team: shooting. VCU made 12 of 25 3-pointers and 77% from the line. Kansas was 2 for 21 and made only 53% of free throws. That was the difference. Every time Kansas started to make a run VCU hit an outside shot.
Jamie Skeen was unbelievable, even though he missed a lot of shots. And Rozzell (who reminded me of Rahzel) also was clutch.
I think Shaka Smart deserves a lot of credit. I think I could have beaten Kansas after his pregame speech. "We're gonna punch our ticket to the Final Four."
Did the announcers say Tyrel Reed's father has taken off four years of work to watch his son play basketball? Apparently he quit his coaching job (maybe that was only part-time) so he could travel to all of Reed's games. And he damn near played in more than anyone. Yesterday was 132, if Kansas would have won he would have tied the record, if they played for the title he would have set a new record. But for now no college player has played in more games than Shane Battier.
Note: I mentioned this last year but Reed also has a hot sister.
If you're a VCU alum you have to go to this Final Four right? When else in your lifetime is VCU going to make the Final Four?
Kentucky earns a Final Four appearance they will have to vacate in a few years.
There are actually some I like about Coach Cal. First, he recognizes that talent is the most important factor in winning. So he goes after talent. He embraces the one and done player and even encourages those guys to come to his schools. But he also develops them. Look at the point guards he's had in the past four years: Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and now Brandon Knight.
Sure he probably bends the rules to get those guys in but some schools go on probation for guys like Conrad McRae whereas Calipari got popped for Marcus Camby and Derrick Rose.
Also, I heard he didn't show his team any game tape of North Carolina. He used the old Petey Bell credo "it's not what you do God damn it, it's how you do it."
But I think he also tried that in 2008 with free throws, had the guys stop shooting free throws and just mentally picture free throws going through the hoop. They ended up missing a bunch and losing the title to Kansas.
Back to this game for a minute: I love Brandon Knight. He's the kind of point guard that only scores when he needs to. He point totals in the NCAA Tournament: 2, 30, 9 and then 22 against UNC.
I really like Tyler Zeller. A big guy with a good post-up game. And he's improved each year. He has to come out right.
It's amazing that Kentucky lost an entire starting lineup (Wall, Cousins, Patterson, Bledsoe and Orton) and actually advanced farther in the tournament.
First year of 64 teams I believe that no number 1 or number 2 seeds made the Final Four.
ESPN says only 2 of 5.9 million brackets had all four Final Four teams correct. Amazing.
There is one great equalizer in basketball. Something that will help you overcome a bigger, stronger, faster, more talented team: shooting. VCU made 12 of 25 3-pointers and 77% from the line. Kansas was 2 for 21 and made only 53% of free throws. That was the difference. Every time Kansas started to make a run VCU hit an outside shot.
Jamie Skeen was unbelievable, even though he missed a lot of shots. And Rozzell (who reminded me of Rahzel) also was clutch.
I think Shaka Smart deserves a lot of credit. I think I could have beaten Kansas after his pregame speech. "We're gonna punch our ticket to the Final Four."
Did the announcers say Tyrel Reed's father has taken off four years of work to watch his son play basketball? Apparently he quit his coaching job (maybe that was only part-time) so he could travel to all of Reed's games. And he damn near played in more than anyone. Yesterday was 132, if Kansas would have won he would have tied the record, if they played for the title he would have set a new record. But for now no college player has played in more games than Shane Battier.
Note: I mentioned this last year but Reed also has a hot sister.
If you're a VCU alum you have to go to this Final Four right? When else in your lifetime is VCU going to make the Final Four?
Kentucky earns a Final Four appearance they will have to vacate in a few years.
There are actually some I like about Coach Cal. First, he recognizes that talent is the most important factor in winning. So he goes after talent. He embraces the one and done player and even encourages those guys to come to his schools. But he also develops them. Look at the point guards he's had in the past four years: Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and now Brandon Knight.
Sure he probably bends the rules to get those guys in but some schools go on probation for guys like Conrad McRae whereas Calipari got popped for Marcus Camby and Derrick Rose.
Also, I heard he didn't show his team any game tape of North Carolina. He used the old Petey Bell credo "it's not what you do God damn it, it's how you do it."
But I think he also tried that in 2008 with free throws, had the guys stop shooting free throws and just mentally picture free throws going through the hoop. They ended up missing a bunch and losing the title to Kansas.
Back to this game for a minute: I love Brandon Knight. He's the kind of point guard that only scores when he needs to. He point totals in the NCAA Tournament: 2, 30, 9 and then 22 against UNC.
I really like Tyler Zeller. A big guy with a good post-up game. And he's improved each year. He has to come out right.
It's amazing that Kentucky lost an entire starting lineup (Wall, Cousins, Patterson, Bledsoe and Orton) and actually advanced farther in the tournament.
First year of 64 teams I believe that no number 1 or number 2 seeds made the Final Four.
ESPN says only 2 of 5.9 million brackets had all four Final Four teams correct. Amazing.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Elite 8 Saturday
You really have to love Butler. In most games they are against more athletic, bigger teams, but they stay in the games with good shooting and smart basketball. And heart, tons of heart. They also have the confidence that if it's a close game they are going to win. And they didn't quit, or get desperate (that's important) when they fell behind big. And when the game is close late they never rush, they never get rattled, they don't take bad shots. They knoow how to win these games.
That's the exact opposite of what happened to Florida. They built a lead pounding the ball inside and driving to the lane, but when the game was on the line the relied on jump shooting.
Shelvin Mack is a heck of a player. He really took this game over. He hit his first three shots, then made 2 of his next 11. But when it was 57-53 with 4 minutes to go he hit two driving layups to tie the game.
Len Elmore is absolutely right about Vernon Macklin. Billy Donovan had to take him out on offense. And he's right they should have fouled him when he got the ball about to dunk it. 46% shooter, you have to put him on the line. Reggie Miller is a moron.
What the fuck was that at the end of regulation? Why the fuck do teams do this? Not even try to get a good shot. Why are they so afraid of giving the ball back? I'd rather get the best shot possible and risk playing defense than to just play for overtime.
I really am so impressed with Butler and Brad Stevens. They never get rattled and I think it comes from him.
I also appreciate Billy Donovan. Last year they got scorched by Jimmer Fredette. This year they had a good game plan for him. He also had a perfect strategy for beating Butler, pound it inside, drive the ball on them and press. Exploiting all their advantages, but when it came down to winning time Butler just executed better than Florida did. And Florida made some key mental mistakes, which I guess you can blame Donovan for.
When Matt Howard and Chandler Parsons got piled up on top of each other it was the worst two heads of hair I've seen that close since Nelson.
It was great to send Gus Johnson out of this tournament with that game. He was really getting into full Gusmode.
Silly third foul by Derrick Williams. Just cannot reach in like that. Even if you swat the ball away there's a chance the ref will call a foul wrongly.
Him going to the bench helped UConn come back from an early 8-point deficit and end the first half on a 29-14 run.
When will teams learn? Arizona down by 2 chucks up 2 three pointers? Do they honestly think those shots have a 50% chance of going in? Or that they have a less than 50% chance to win if the game goes to overtime. You should always take a 2 when down 2, I couldn't believe they were doing that.
Sick move by Kemba Walker. He broke out the move he used on Pitt to make the game 65-60, which turned out to be the crucial play in the game.
For me the best part of the Arizona-UConn game was a story Verne Lundquist told about him and Bill Raftery being introduced to Sean Miller's kids. They said the kids were unimpressed until Miller said "Boys, remember when daddy threw that pass in to Jerome Lane. This is Mr. Raftery. He said 'Send it in, Jerome.'"
What a fantastic couple games today, on top of those two great games late last night.
That's the exact opposite of what happened to Florida. They built a lead pounding the ball inside and driving to the lane, but when the game was on the line the relied on jump shooting.
Shelvin Mack is a heck of a player. He really took this game over. He hit his first three shots, then made 2 of his next 11. But when it was 57-53 with 4 minutes to go he hit two driving layups to tie the game.
Len Elmore is absolutely right about Vernon Macklin. Billy Donovan had to take him out on offense. And he's right they should have fouled him when he got the ball about to dunk it. 46% shooter, you have to put him on the line. Reggie Miller is a moron.
What the fuck was that at the end of regulation? Why the fuck do teams do this? Not even try to get a good shot. Why are they so afraid of giving the ball back? I'd rather get the best shot possible and risk playing defense than to just play for overtime.
I really am so impressed with Butler and Brad Stevens. They never get rattled and I think it comes from him.
I also appreciate Billy Donovan. Last year they got scorched by Jimmer Fredette. This year they had a good game plan for him. He also had a perfect strategy for beating Butler, pound it inside, drive the ball on them and press. Exploiting all their advantages, but when it came down to winning time Butler just executed better than Florida did. And Florida made some key mental mistakes, which I guess you can blame Donovan for.
When Matt Howard and Chandler Parsons got piled up on top of each other it was the worst two heads of hair I've seen that close since Nelson.
It was great to send Gus Johnson out of this tournament with that game. He was really getting into full Gusmode.
Silly third foul by Derrick Williams. Just cannot reach in like that. Even if you swat the ball away there's a chance the ref will call a foul wrongly.
Him going to the bench helped UConn come back from an early 8-point deficit and end the first half on a 29-14 run.
When will teams learn? Arizona down by 2 chucks up 2 three pointers? Do they honestly think those shots have a 50% chance of going in? Or that they have a less than 50% chance to win if the game goes to overtime. You should always take a 2 when down 2, I couldn't believe they were doing that.
Sick move by Kemba Walker. He broke out the move he used on Pitt to make the game 65-60, which turned out to be the crucial play in the game.
For me the best part of the Arizona-UConn game was a story Verne Lundquist told about him and Bill Raftery being introduced to Sean Miller's kids. They said the kids were unimpressed until Miller said "Boys, remember when daddy threw that pass in to Jerome Lane. This is Mr. Raftery. He said 'Send it in, Jerome.'"
What a fantastic couple games today, on top of those two great games late last night.
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Sweet 16 Friday
We had some great games last night and this slate doesn't look promising. Two mismatches (UNC-Marquette and Kansas-Richmond) then you have the Cinderella matchup (Florida State vs. VCU). Ohio State vs Kentucky is definitely the marquee matchup of the evening.
I wrote the above paragraph earlier this afternoon and things have gone just according to my suspicion.
Marquette was actually leading 10-8 at one point. Then trailing 38-15 at halftime, that's a 30-5 extended run. They had a drought of about 9 minutes during which time they missed 14 shots and called timeouts. 3 timeouts in between points scored. Buzz Williams could call 100 timeouts and it's not going to help. His team is missing 2/3 of their shots and turning it over every time they throw an entry pass.
You'd think with Marquette's strength of schedule and 5 wins against top 50 teams, they wouldn't be completely overwhelmed like this.
You can sort of understand it with Richmond. They haven't seen a team like Kansas all season.
Craig Sager provided some good information about a pre-game scuffle between Richmond and Kansas, but it's hard to take a guy seriously when he's wearing a lavender sports coat.
I wish Richmond had put up that much of a fight during the game. Their fans were going nuts when they got hot and cut the lead to 39-22. Down 17 points in the first half and you are cheering. I guess if you and four friends go to a basketball game dressed as Spidermen you might as well go nuts and hope to get on TV.
It's fun to root for upsets but this is often the result. Cinderella's coach turns back into a pumpkin and she gets demolished by a better team. Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
I'm surprised I did not get an e-mail from TON during the Syracuse-Marquette game comparing Junior Cadougan to Street Fighter's Hadouken.
This is when having the games on two separate channels really pays off. You can watch two games at a time, in four minute increments, with the help of halftime.
I like VCU and Florida State, both teams are tough and good on defense, but you can tell they just aren't good enough on offense to compete with the top teams. Whoever wins this game is going to be a sacrificial lamb for Kansas.
I think Crayola should make a special box of crayons with college teams' colors. I would prefer Kentucky Blue to Carolina Blue. But I would color everything with Syracuse Orange.
Every year in the NCAA tournament there are big guys who overachieve, come out early and never make it in the NBA. Patrick O'Bryant from Bradley a few years ago is one that comes to mind. I sort of like this guy Josh Harrellson on Kentucky. He has size (6-10, 275) but he also has some quickness and some offensive post moves. Did you see how hard he threw the ball of Sullinger as he was falling out of bounds? I think he could actually be a decent NBA center in this day and age when they are so few true centers.
Clark Kellogg is a great announcer. Jim Nantz is a terrible one. Their styles don't mesh. Nantz was much better being the sweet gay guy to Billy Packer's old grump.
In the first half Florida State attempted 43 field goals compared to only 23 for VCU. But Florida State made only one more. The extra attempts coming on offensive rebounds, 13 of them, compared to 2 for VCU.
I can't find verification if VCU's Darius Theus is related to Reggie, which must mean he isn't.
I like the way Ohio State passes the ball, on the break and in the half court. They don't let Sullinger become a ball-stopper.
Beautiful final minute of the Ohio State - Kentucky game. First off, I loved the move by Liggins. Don't shoot a 3, don't run full speed into someone hoping to draw a foul, drive hard, stop, get your man moving and bank it off the glass. In many other circumstances that would have been a game-winner.
If not for John Diebler's ONIONS! That also could have been a memorable shot in history and things gone differently from there.
And then Brandon Knight with the real game-winner, a beautiful shot to end a fantastic game.
There have been so many empty seats at all these regions. And not just for the second game, early in the first. If you're a Kansas fan why don't you stick around for this Florida State-VCU game?
Chris Singleton -- ONIONS!
Rough final possession of regulation for Florida State. Throw up anything please.
What a beautiful inbounds pass by Rodriguez to win the game. Give Smart credit but he didn't draw that up. They were just running off a bunch of screens and an FSU player fell asleep and Rodriguez squeezed it between two guys. A thing of beauty.
But I still don't know how to explain VCU's run. Weak competition? Were they really motivated this much by the doubters? All I know is, if they had played this well during the regular season no one would have doubted their worthiness.
Billie loves Shaka Smart. If there were an all-name team, he would coach it. He makes Brad Stevens look old.
I now have zero Final Four teams left.
Reissberg is furious because now only 7 conferences are represented in the Elite Eight. Kentucky and Florida both come from the SEC. Had Ohio State won, it would have been 8 different conferences, something we don't think has happened since the brackets expanded to 64 teams.
But at the very least after two early evening stinkers we got two great games late in the night, and I stayed up for them both.
One leftover from Thursday's games: BYU's athletic director is Tom Holmoe. Say that out loud. Say it again. Billie lost his shit when he heard someone say it on TV. He swore the reporter said "Tom Homo."
I wrote the above paragraph earlier this afternoon and things have gone just according to my suspicion.
Marquette was actually leading 10-8 at one point. Then trailing 38-15 at halftime, that's a 30-5 extended run. They had a drought of about 9 minutes during which time they missed 14 shots and called timeouts. 3 timeouts in between points scored. Buzz Williams could call 100 timeouts and it's not going to help. His team is missing 2/3 of their shots and turning it over every time they throw an entry pass.
You'd think with Marquette's strength of schedule and 5 wins against top 50 teams, they wouldn't be completely overwhelmed like this.
You can sort of understand it with Richmond. They haven't seen a team like Kansas all season.
Craig Sager provided some good information about a pre-game scuffle between Richmond and Kansas, but it's hard to take a guy seriously when he's wearing a lavender sports coat.
I wish Richmond had put up that much of a fight during the game. Their fans were going nuts when they got hot and cut the lead to 39-22. Down 17 points in the first half and you are cheering. I guess if you and four friends go to a basketball game dressed as Spidermen you might as well go nuts and hope to get on TV.
It's fun to root for upsets but this is often the result. Cinderella's coach turns back into a pumpkin and she gets demolished by a better team. Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
I'm surprised I did not get an e-mail from TON during the Syracuse-Marquette game comparing Junior Cadougan to Street Fighter's Hadouken.
This is when having the games on two separate channels really pays off. You can watch two games at a time, in four minute increments, with the help of halftime.
I like VCU and Florida State, both teams are tough and good on defense, but you can tell they just aren't good enough on offense to compete with the top teams. Whoever wins this game is going to be a sacrificial lamb for Kansas.
I think Crayola should make a special box of crayons with college teams' colors. I would prefer Kentucky Blue to Carolina Blue. But I would color everything with Syracuse Orange.
Every year in the NCAA tournament there are big guys who overachieve, come out early and never make it in the NBA. Patrick O'Bryant from Bradley a few years ago is one that comes to mind. I sort of like this guy Josh Harrellson on Kentucky. He has size (6-10, 275) but he also has some quickness and some offensive post moves. Did you see how hard he threw the ball of Sullinger as he was falling out of bounds? I think he could actually be a decent NBA center in this day and age when they are so few true centers.
Clark Kellogg is a great announcer. Jim Nantz is a terrible one. Their styles don't mesh. Nantz was much better being the sweet gay guy to Billy Packer's old grump.
In the first half Florida State attempted 43 field goals compared to only 23 for VCU. But Florida State made only one more. The extra attempts coming on offensive rebounds, 13 of them, compared to 2 for VCU.
I can't find verification if VCU's Darius Theus is related to Reggie, which must mean he isn't.
I like the way Ohio State passes the ball, on the break and in the half court. They don't let Sullinger become a ball-stopper.
Beautiful final minute of the Ohio State - Kentucky game. First off, I loved the move by Liggins. Don't shoot a 3, don't run full speed into someone hoping to draw a foul, drive hard, stop, get your man moving and bank it off the glass. In many other circumstances that would have been a game-winner.
If not for John Diebler's ONIONS! That also could have been a memorable shot in history and things gone differently from there.
And then Brandon Knight with the real game-winner, a beautiful shot to end a fantastic game.
There have been so many empty seats at all these regions. And not just for the second game, early in the first. If you're a Kansas fan why don't you stick around for this Florida State-VCU game?
Chris Singleton -- ONIONS!
Rough final possession of regulation for Florida State. Throw up anything please.
What a beautiful inbounds pass by Rodriguez to win the game. Give Smart credit but he didn't draw that up. They were just running off a bunch of screens and an FSU player fell asleep and Rodriguez squeezed it between two guys. A thing of beauty.
But I still don't know how to explain VCU's run. Weak competition? Were they really motivated this much by the doubters? All I know is, if they had played this well during the regular season no one would have doubted their worthiness.
Billie loves Shaka Smart. If there were an all-name team, he would coach it. He makes Brad Stevens look old.
I now have zero Final Four teams left.
Reissberg is furious because now only 7 conferences are represented in the Elite Eight. Kentucky and Florida both come from the SEC. Had Ohio State won, it would have been 8 different conferences, something we don't think has happened since the brackets expanded to 64 teams.
But at the very least after two early evening stinkers we got two great games late in the night, and I stayed up for them both.
One leftover from Thursday's games: BYU's athletic director is Tom Holmoe. Say that out loud. Say it again. Billie lost his shit when he heard someone say it on TV. He swore the reporter said "Tom Homo."
Friday, March 25, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Sweet 16 Thursday
Love that great hustle play and pass from his ass by Kemba Walker. It's nice to see the most talented guy on the floor also display the hustle of a scrub.
They have to stop showing Leslie Visser. She looks awful. And they aren't even doing her hair. I'm not a sexist saying I only want to see women on TV if they are hot. I am being pragmatic. TV is a visual medium, if you look so awful that people can't focus on what you are saying then they need to send you home to Dick Stockton and hire some young hottie.
I don't like Reggie Miller as an announcer. His voice is too soft and his comments are too long.
I also hate when announcers say stuff like "his team is playing like shit but they're only down 4, so coach has to be happy." I get the point, but it's not the right way to phrase it. What coach would be happy or encouraged or heartened to be losing? And it falsely assumes that playing like shit is only temporary. Sometimes you have a bad game, not just a bad half, you have a bad game. It's just more nonsensical announcer-speak I normally complain about.
If Jimmer Fredette's college career had to end with a loss, on a rough shooting night, I'm glad it ended with this great moment. Florida was doing a good job harassing him, pushing the rules and really roughing him up. BYU made a run and with about 5 minutes left trailed 63-60. Fredette brought the ball up court, stopped, popped from about 30 feet and nailed the game tying 3. A great moment for him.
I hate Charles Barkley and haven't watched him at all this tournament but I did hear him say that it didn't matter if Jimmer scored 30, if he shot 10 of 28 from the field, BYU would lose. He shot 11 of 29 -- and BYU lost.
Florida dominated BYU up front. 6'8" Alex Tyus scored 19 points and had 17 rebounds, more than double his season averages. I hope that was some good pussy Brandon Davies.
Nice to see UConn carrying the flag for the Big East and shutting up all those morons who said they would be fatigued from playing 5 games in a row a week before the tournament started.
But I did lose San Diego State, my 3rd Final Four team to get knocked out. I only have Ohio State left.
But I did get Arizona right. Duke sometimes has problems with faster, more athletic teams. Probably because they are mostly comprised of white pussies like Kyle Singler. Derrick Williams completely dominated and he's definitely coming out after this season and will probably go in the top 5.
Butler is the Gonzaga of the Midwest, with better results. I can see them beating Florida and advancing to another Final Four. They are not a fluke. They are a good team with talented players, who also play smart basketball. Brad Stevens is a great young coach who will almost certainly take the Tennessee job in the offseason.
They have to stop showing Leslie Visser. She looks awful. And they aren't even doing her hair. I'm not a sexist saying I only want to see women on TV if they are hot. I am being pragmatic. TV is a visual medium, if you look so awful that people can't focus on what you are saying then they need to send you home to Dick Stockton and hire some young hottie.
I don't like Reggie Miller as an announcer. His voice is too soft and his comments are too long.
I also hate when announcers say stuff like "his team is playing like shit but they're only down 4, so coach has to be happy." I get the point, but it's not the right way to phrase it. What coach would be happy or encouraged or heartened to be losing? And it falsely assumes that playing like shit is only temporary. Sometimes you have a bad game, not just a bad half, you have a bad game. It's just more nonsensical announcer-speak I normally complain about.
If Jimmer Fredette's college career had to end with a loss, on a rough shooting night, I'm glad it ended with this great moment. Florida was doing a good job harassing him, pushing the rules and really roughing him up. BYU made a run and with about 5 minutes left trailed 63-60. Fredette brought the ball up court, stopped, popped from about 30 feet and nailed the game tying 3. A great moment for him.
I hate Charles Barkley and haven't watched him at all this tournament but I did hear him say that it didn't matter if Jimmer scored 30, if he shot 10 of 28 from the field, BYU would lose. He shot 11 of 29 -- and BYU lost.
Florida dominated BYU up front. 6'8" Alex Tyus scored 19 points and had 17 rebounds, more than double his season averages. I hope that was some good pussy Brandon Davies.
Nice to see UConn carrying the flag for the Big East and shutting up all those morons who said they would be fatigued from playing 5 games in a row a week before the tournament started.
But I did lose San Diego State, my 3rd Final Four team to get knocked out. I only have Ohio State left.
But I did get Arizona right. Duke sometimes has problems with faster, more athletic teams. Probably because they are mostly comprised of white pussies like Kyle Singler. Derrick Williams completely dominated and he's definitely coming out after this season and will probably go in the top 5.
Butler is the Gonzaga of the Midwest, with better results. I can see them beating Florida and advancing to another Final Four. They are not a fluke. They are a good team with talented players, who also play smart basketball. Brad Stevens is a great young coach who will almost certainly take the Tennessee job in the offseason.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Refs Fucked Us
Upon further review, the referees blew the call that helped cost Syracuse the game against Marquette.
The call in question is the backcourt violation called on Scoop Jardine while receiving an inbounds pass with 51 seconds to go.
NCAA officiating coordinator John Adams says:
"I have reviewed the play in question and it appears from the video that we have seen, that an error was made in applying the backcourt violation rule (Rule 4.3.8)...The Syracuse player made a legal play and no violation should have been called."
Basically, on an inbounds pass you do not need to establish yourself in the backcourt before touching the ball. If you touch it in midair (as Scoop did) you're pretty much good no matter where you land.
This video shows the play and explains it even further:
I admit I was wrong about the rule, I thought in order to receive the ball in the backcourt you have to be in the backcourt before touching it. That is not the case on an inbounds pass. That lets Syracuse off the hook for that, but not the 17 other turnovers.
Knowing this doesn't make me feel any better or any worse about the game. They still lost to an inferior team in heart-breaking fashion because of foolish mistakes and sloppy ball-handling.
Story Suggested by Juice
The call in question is the backcourt violation called on Scoop Jardine while receiving an inbounds pass with 51 seconds to go.
NCAA officiating coordinator John Adams says:
"I have reviewed the play in question and it appears from the video that we have seen, that an error was made in applying the backcourt violation rule (Rule 4.3.8)...The Syracuse player made a legal play and no violation should have been called."
Basically, on an inbounds pass you do not need to establish yourself in the backcourt before touching the ball. If you touch it in midair (as Scoop did) you're pretty much good no matter where you land.
This video shows the play and explains it even further:
I admit I was wrong about the rule, I thought in order to receive the ball in the backcourt you have to be in the backcourt before touching it. That is not the case on an inbounds pass. That lets Syracuse off the hook for that, but not the 17 other turnovers.
Knowing this doesn't make me feel any better or any worse about the game. They still lost to an inferior team in heart-breaking fashion because of foolish mistakes and sloppy ball-handling.
Story Suggested by Juice
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Big Least
When the Big East got 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament I knew that after the first weekend critics would be questioning the inclusion of so many teams from the same conference.
But I never expected it to be this bad. 7-4 in the opening round sounded about right, but Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Syracuse all losing in round 2 was unexpected.
The top 5 teams in the regular season (Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse) all lost to teams seeded at least 8 spots lower.
There are a lot of reasons this could have happened:
1) The conference was simply overrated. Possible but there was a lot of empirical evidence during the regular season to show it really was the best conference. It didn't have the best teams but it had the most good teams.
2) The conference grind wore these teams down. Possible, but unlikely. I just don't believe in that cumulative effect. For instance, if Gilbert Brown hits the second free throw, we might not even be having this conversation right now. It just doesn't seem likely that 9 teams experienced an almost simultaneous teamwide fatigue.
3) The Big East style of play does not lend itself to victories in March. I can't argue with this one but I don't think the style of play (other than bruising Pittsburgh) differs that much from the rest of the country. Louisville and Notre Dame play wide open games relying on outside shooting. I see that in a lot of other conferences that don't experience Fukushima-like meltdowns in March.
4) Shit happens. My go to approach for almost all seemingly inexplicable questions in life and in sports. 9 Big East teams did melt down, all at the same time. But it doesn't mean the conference wasn't good or the teams weren't good. Is there any other conference that could send two teams from its bottom half to the Sweet 16? I don't think so. Even though the two teams that advanced beat Big East teams to do so perhaps avoiding a worse fate for the conference.
In football, the SEC dominates. It has won the last 5 championships, with 4 different schools. In part that's because football's regular season is so meaningful compared to basketball. The Big East is that conference in basketball. It hasn't won a title in 6 years, and it has egg on its face right now, and will likely never get 11 teams again. But I have seen this conference since it expanded to 16, and I believe it's still the best in the country. Even after this weekend's disaster.
But I never expected it to be this bad. 7-4 in the opening round sounded about right, but Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Syracuse all losing in round 2 was unexpected.
The top 5 teams in the regular season (Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse) all lost to teams seeded at least 8 spots lower.
There are a lot of reasons this could have happened:
1) The conference was simply overrated. Possible but there was a lot of empirical evidence during the regular season to show it really was the best conference. It didn't have the best teams but it had the most good teams.
2) The conference grind wore these teams down. Possible, but unlikely. I just don't believe in that cumulative effect. For instance, if Gilbert Brown hits the second free throw, we might not even be having this conversation right now. It just doesn't seem likely that 9 teams experienced an almost simultaneous teamwide fatigue.
3) The Big East style of play does not lend itself to victories in March. I can't argue with this one but I don't think the style of play (other than bruising Pittsburgh) differs that much from the rest of the country. Louisville and Notre Dame play wide open games relying on outside shooting. I see that in a lot of other conferences that don't experience Fukushima-like meltdowns in March.
4) Shit happens. My go to approach for almost all seemingly inexplicable questions in life and in sports. 9 Big East teams did melt down, all at the same time. But it doesn't mean the conference wasn't good or the teams weren't good. Is there any other conference that could send two teams from its bottom half to the Sweet 16? I don't think so. Even though the two teams that advanced beat Big East teams to do so perhaps avoiding a worse fate for the conference.
In football, the SEC dominates. It has won the last 5 championships, with 4 different schools. In part that's because football's regular season is so meaningful compared to basketball. The Big East is that conference in basketball. It hasn't won a title in 6 years, and it has egg on its face right now, and will likely never get 11 teams again. But I have seen this conference since it expanded to 16, and I believe it's still the best in the country. Even after this weekend's disaster.
You Can't Spell Suck Without SU
Note: these thoughts were written as the game was happening. So if they seem disjointed or lacking context continue to read.
This is the main problem with Syracuse: whenever they get a lead they get sloppy on offense and defense. They built a 19-9 lead, a few turnovers, a few uncovered shooters and its 21-21.
Gus Johnson is rooting for Darius Johnson Odom to do something so he can call him DJO. Likewise for Rick Jackson aka The Ruler. Len Elmore has co-opted his "ha ha" so I guess that's all Gus has left.
It amazes me how stupid Syracuse can be. Two boneheaded plays, Kris Joseph grabbing a guy and Scoop not holding for one. That turned a Syracuse 29-23, into an 11-2 run to end the half. Imagine if these guys didn't have a Hall of Fame coach all the mental mistakes they would make.
This is why you have depth. This is why you need bench players. They are all human and they dont't deliver the same level of performance every night. I love James Southerland but all he can contribute is outside shooting. If his shot is off, which it seems to be tonight you need someone else to come in and contribute. In this case it's Dion Waiters, the player who can drive to the basket without getting called for a charge.
I'm going to skip ahead to the end of the game now. 52 seconds left, Jim Boeheim calls timeout to set up a play with a 62-62 tie, and they can't even get the ball inbounds. Dion Waiters throws it backwards to Scoop Jardine who touches it, then puts his foot across halfcourt. Why didn't Scoop know he could go into the backcourt first to catch the ball? That play cost Syracuse a chance to win the game.
Following that turnover Marquette exploited the zone by dribbling at two guys, leaving an open shooter and Darius Johnson-Odom nailed the game winning 3.
That is my number 1 complaint about Jim Boeheim, the 2-3 zone. Yes, it's effective sometimes but teams know how to exploit. A big reason why Marquette won, they are familiar with the zone having terrorized it once in the regular season. Their crucial 6-0 run at the end of the game came on 2 wide open 3-pointers. He doesn't work on or attempt to employ another defense for crucial late game situations when sticking to a man is more important than sticking to your principles.
#2: The mental mistakes. Syracuse was once again done in by their own turnovers, several of them incredibly stupid turnovers. In close games those giveaways mean everything.
#3: Free throw shooting. This one wasn't of particular import in this game because SU shot only 7 free throws (perhaps an indication they didn't take the ball to the hoop enough) but it has killed them at other times. Everyone says it and I'm sure it's borne out by facts, Syracuse is consistently one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country. If I coached these guys I would have Rick Jackson (and Derrick Coleman before him) shooting 1000 free throws a day.
But it's results that matter, right? Everyone points to Boeheim's national title, and his two other final game appearances as proof he is a great coach. In the past 7 years Boeheim has missed the tournament 2 and lost in major upsets 4 other times. Over that span SU is 5-5 in the NCAAs, including two 3 vs 14s and a 1 vs 16.
And here is the total list of major tournament upsets against Syracuse in the past 25 years:
1986: #7 Navy over #2 Syracuse
1988: #11 Rhode Island over #3 Syracuse
1990: #6 Minnesota over #2 Syracuse
1991: #15 Richmond over #2 Syracuse
2004: #8 Alabama over #5 Syracuse
2005: #13 Vermont over #4 Syracuse
2006: #12 Texas ATM over #5 Syracuse
2010: #5 Butler over #1 Syracuse
2011: #11 Marquette over #3 Syracuse
Embarrassing. I just want someone else to get a chance to run this team and see if he can do better, even if it is Boeheim clone Mike Hopkins.
This is the main problem with Syracuse: whenever they get a lead they get sloppy on offense and defense. They built a 19-9 lead, a few turnovers, a few uncovered shooters and its 21-21.
Gus Johnson is rooting for Darius Johnson Odom to do something so he can call him DJO. Likewise for Rick Jackson aka The Ruler. Len Elmore has co-opted his "ha ha" so I guess that's all Gus has left.
It amazes me how stupid Syracuse can be. Two boneheaded plays, Kris Joseph grabbing a guy and Scoop not holding for one. That turned a Syracuse 29-23, into an 11-2 run to end the half. Imagine if these guys didn't have a Hall of Fame coach all the mental mistakes they would make.
This is why you have depth. This is why you need bench players. They are all human and they dont't deliver the same level of performance every night. I love James Southerland but all he can contribute is outside shooting. If his shot is off, which it seems to be tonight you need someone else to come in and contribute. In this case it's Dion Waiters, the player who can drive to the basket without getting called for a charge.
I'm going to skip ahead to the end of the game now. 52 seconds left, Jim Boeheim calls timeout to set up a play with a 62-62 tie, and they can't even get the ball inbounds. Dion Waiters throws it backwards to Scoop Jardine who touches it, then puts his foot across halfcourt. Why didn't Scoop know he could go into the backcourt first to catch the ball? That play cost Syracuse a chance to win the game.
Following that turnover Marquette exploited the zone by dribbling at two guys, leaving an open shooter and Darius Johnson-Odom nailed the game winning 3.
That is my number 1 complaint about Jim Boeheim, the 2-3 zone. Yes, it's effective sometimes but teams know how to exploit. A big reason why Marquette won, they are familiar with the zone having terrorized it once in the regular season. Their crucial 6-0 run at the end of the game came on 2 wide open 3-pointers. He doesn't work on or attempt to employ another defense for crucial late game situations when sticking to a man is more important than sticking to your principles.
#2: The mental mistakes. Syracuse was once again done in by their own turnovers, several of them incredibly stupid turnovers. In close games those giveaways mean everything.
#3: Free throw shooting. This one wasn't of particular import in this game because SU shot only 7 free throws (perhaps an indication they didn't take the ball to the hoop enough) but it has killed them at other times. Everyone says it and I'm sure it's borne out by facts, Syracuse is consistently one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country. If I coached these guys I would have Rick Jackson (and Derrick Coleman before him) shooting 1000 free throws a day.
But it's results that matter, right? Everyone points to Boeheim's national title, and his two other final game appearances as proof he is a great coach. In the past 7 years Boeheim has missed the tournament 2 and lost in major upsets 4 other times. Over that span SU is 5-5 in the NCAAs, including two 3 vs 14s and a 1 vs 16.
And here is the total list of major tournament upsets against Syracuse in the past 25 years:
1986: #7 Navy over #2 Syracuse
1988: #11 Rhode Island over #3 Syracuse
1990: #6 Minnesota over #2 Syracuse
1991: #15 Richmond over #2 Syracuse
2004: #8 Alabama over #5 Syracuse
2005: #13 Vermont over #4 Syracuse
2006: #12 Texas ATM over #5 Syracuse
2010: #5 Butler over #1 Syracuse
2011: #11 Marquette over #3 Syracuse
Embarrassing. I just want someone else to get a chance to run this team and see if he can do better, even if it is Boeheim clone Mike Hopkins.
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Sunday
That's what scares me about North Carolina. They can score, no lead against them is ever safe. They have what Clark Kellogg calls "spurtability."
I love the ending of this game, especially compared to Pittsburgh-Butler. The teams were aggressive and attacking. I love LoRo letting Venoy Overton drive to the basket with 7 seconds left. He didn't make the shot and he didn't get fouled, but Jamie Dixon would have called time out and made his team wait til 2 seconds were left. It didn't work out for Washington but they gave themselves several good chances to win it.
I think Jim Nantz called Scott Suggs Scott Sucks. He garbled it just enough so you couldn't tell. Like when John Sterling garbles his Ps and Bs so it sounds like "hre really smacked that bitch" or "that was a good looking bitch."
Even Duke is not immune from the late game jitters. They almost blew that game and it seemed like no one on the team even knew they had to shoot the ball.
I like Michigan's coaching at the end, don't call timeout (did they have any left?) let the guys run, they got the best shot they were going to get, they just happened to miss it.
Did they pair Michigan and Duke just to get more mileage out of this "Uncle Tom" comment? I still haven't watched "The Fab Five" though.
Didn't Damino go to Cornell?
I paused the Syracuse game to watch Arizona-Texas and I am so glad I did. Amazing turnaround in that game. Texas has the ball, a 2 point lead and only 27 seconds left. They get called for 5 seconds, right before the timeout and Arizona not only scores, but gets fouled and takes the lead on the free throw. Texas's last chance was denied when Jim Burr swallowed his whistle. Not on the shot, but there was deinitely a foul underneath on the putback. At least similar to what Robinson did to Howard in the Pittsburgh-Butler game last night.
What did I tell you? A 2 seed always loses in the second round. When the other 3 2s survived, barely, I knew Notre Dame was gonna lose. I should have bet the money line.
VCU goes from derided team, to play-in game, to Sweet 16/Cinderella darling. Just to clarify, their performance in these three games does not mean the Committee was right or that Jay Bilas or anyone else who criticized their selection was wrong. It simply means they started playing in the tournament at a lot higher level than they played in the regular season. This team lost 11 games during the season, 3 of them to teams with RPIs higher than 150.
I never believe in that whole "no one believes in us but us" mentality actually being a benefit (because USC probably felt that way too) but they do seem genuinely pissed off and now they have at least a decent chance of beating Florida State and making it to the Elite 8.
Kansas has no excuse not to make the Final Four now. Illinois is the highest seeded team they can face until the Final Four. If they don't beat Richmond and the VCU/Florida State winner it would be one of the biggest choke jobs in NCAA history, worse than UConn losing to George Mason.
Speaking of choke jobs, there will be separate posts coming on Syracuse and the Big East.
I love the ending of this game, especially compared to Pittsburgh-Butler. The teams were aggressive and attacking. I love LoRo letting Venoy Overton drive to the basket with 7 seconds left. He didn't make the shot and he didn't get fouled, but Jamie Dixon would have called time out and made his team wait til 2 seconds were left. It didn't work out for Washington but they gave themselves several good chances to win it.
I think Jim Nantz called Scott Suggs Scott Sucks. He garbled it just enough so you couldn't tell. Like when John Sterling garbles his Ps and Bs so it sounds like "hre really smacked that bitch" or "that was a good looking bitch."
Even Duke is not immune from the late game jitters. They almost blew that game and it seemed like no one on the team even knew they had to shoot the ball.
I like Michigan's coaching at the end, don't call timeout (did they have any left?) let the guys run, they got the best shot they were going to get, they just happened to miss it.
Did they pair Michigan and Duke just to get more mileage out of this "Uncle Tom" comment? I still haven't watched "The Fab Five" though.
Didn't Damino go to Cornell?
I paused the Syracuse game to watch Arizona-Texas and I am so glad I did. Amazing turnaround in that game. Texas has the ball, a 2 point lead and only 27 seconds left. They get called for 5 seconds, right before the timeout and Arizona not only scores, but gets fouled and takes the lead on the free throw. Texas's last chance was denied when Jim Burr swallowed his whistle. Not on the shot, but there was deinitely a foul underneath on the putback. At least similar to what Robinson did to Howard in the Pittsburgh-Butler game last night.
What did I tell you? A 2 seed always loses in the second round. When the other 3 2s survived, barely, I knew Notre Dame was gonna lose. I should have bet the money line.
VCU goes from derided team, to play-in game, to Sweet 16/Cinderella darling. Just to clarify, their performance in these three games does not mean the Committee was right or that Jay Bilas or anyone else who criticized their selection was wrong. It simply means they started playing in the tournament at a lot higher level than they played in the regular season. This team lost 11 games during the season, 3 of them to teams with RPIs higher than 150.
I never believe in that whole "no one believes in us but us" mentality actually being a benefit (because USC probably felt that way too) but they do seem genuinely pissed off and now they have at least a decent chance of beating Florida State and making it to the Elite 8.
Kansas has no excuse not to make the Final Four now. Illinois is the highest seeded team they can face until the Final Four. If they don't beat Richmond and the VCU/Florida State winner it would be one of the biggest choke jobs in NCAA history, worse than UConn losing to George Mason.
Speaking of choke jobs, there will be separate posts coming on Syracuse and the Big East.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
NCAA Tournament: Saturday Thoughts
I enjoyed the Kentucky - West Virginia game. It was an interesting contrast in point guards. Joe Mazzoula vs. Brandon Knight. Raw talent vs. experience and savvy. Talent won out in the end. Amazing Kentucky can be good again after losing 5 players to the NBA. I guess Calipari is either a great recruiter or he's giving kids bags of cash.
UCLA says center Josh Smith is 6-10 305 pounds. Not quite sure I believe that. But he is a pretty good player. Quicker feet than you would think. He did well to avoid a 5th foul but was a little too aggressive on defense and got into a few spots where a call could have gone against him. I also liked him on offense, posted well, turned baseline, sealed with his body and used the glass. He could have an NBA future someday but would probably need to get down to 275, for real.
Every year UCLA has a handsome white player we suspect gets a lot of pussy around campus. There was Jason Kapono, Michael Roll and Lorenzo Mata (jklol) and now it must be Reeves Nelson.
Ok, Florida won, I was wrong this year. But I still think a #2 will go down in this round (which I will still call the 2nd round). North Carolina, Notre Dame or San Diego St. I guess at this point I would say SDSU is most likely, if only because I picked them to go to the Final Four.
It's fun to root for the underdogs but when they win they often play a rocky game like the one between Morehead State and Richmond. Sometimes it's good for the favorites to win because the best teams often provide the best games.
Cool of them to show Derrick Coleman highlights as Faried passed him and Tim Duncan in all-time rebounding this year.
Sand Diego State held on. It was an exciting game, all double OT games are, but it wasn't a great game. San Diego State totally tightened up to let Temple tie the game at the end of regulation, and then Temple blew it in OT. Fran Dunphy played not to lose telling his team to eat the ball on their final two possessions in which they got nothing. SDSU turned it over 3 times in the backcourt in the 2 overtimes and got lazy and gave Temple a layup on a runout, you can't do that in overtime. But they survived and advance, which is all that matters.
Wow, that Pitt-Butler game was one of the worst endings I have even seen.
First, Jamie Dixon tells his team to kill the entire clock with a 1 point lead. How do you not get a shot off there. Why do teams continue to do this. The 5 or 10 extra seconds are not nearly as important as the basket.
Second, Shelvin Mack had a great game, one of the best of his life and he almost cost his team the game by just blatantly running into a guy, for no reason. He would have had a half court heave on the run.
Gilbert Brown, make a free throw, please!
Nassir Robinson bailed out Mack. What a stupid foul. You're standing on the free throw line thinking about how you might win the game because of the other team's idiotic foul then you go commit one yourself. Stupidest thing ever. Even if he cleanly chopped the ball out of Howard's hand he still wouldn't have had time to grab it and shoot it. Dixon probably should have pulled his guys off the line. What fuckin morons.
I'm starting to believe Jamie Dixon is a big reason why Pitt chokes in the tournament every single year. What a horrible job by Pitt.
But Butler deserves credit. They are not a fluke. Upsetting a #1 seed two years in a row, they are a good team and a good program, probably the new Gonzaga.
BYU got a really bad break when Brandon Davies fucked his girlfriend but they may have gotten a favorable draw to get to the Final Four. They can beat Florida and they won't have to face a physical Pittsburgh team in the Elite 8 if they do. I would love to see Jimmer in the Final Four.
I think being on TV probably hurts recruiting for Kansas State. Why would anyone want to play for Frank Martin when he looks like that all the time?
A really exciting finish in KState Wisconsin too. I agree with Frank Martin's decision not to call timeout there down 1. And I agree with Pullen pushing it and trying to get fouled. he just lost it and Wisconsin got and that was pretty much that. Pullen was great though. Wisconsin which I was sure would lose in the first round now has a great chance to go to the Elite 8.
Another great game by Kemba Walker. Not much else to say about that. The dumb shit about 5 games in 5 days should be worn off. I don't think we can use that excuse if they lost to San Diego State or Duke next week. By then there will have been enough time.
Disappointing showing for the Big East. If Notre Dame wins it will send only 3 of 11 teams to the Sweet 16. And 3 of the top 5 suffered major upsets (Pitt, UL and SJU).
But the big story of this game and perhaps the entire tournament is that Butler-Pittsburgh game. And again, I agree both were fouls, maybe the one on Howard could have been let go, but it was the mental mistakes (including the wasted possession by Pitt) that decided this game, not the referees.
UCLA says center Josh Smith is 6-10 305 pounds. Not quite sure I believe that. But he is a pretty good player. Quicker feet than you would think. He did well to avoid a 5th foul but was a little too aggressive on defense and got into a few spots where a call could have gone against him. I also liked him on offense, posted well, turned baseline, sealed with his body and used the glass. He could have an NBA future someday but would probably need to get down to 275, for real.
Every year UCLA has a handsome white player we suspect gets a lot of pussy around campus. There was Jason Kapono, Michael Roll and Lorenzo Mata (jklol) and now it must be Reeves Nelson.
Ok, Florida won, I was wrong this year. But I still think a #2 will go down in this round (which I will still call the 2nd round). North Carolina, Notre Dame or San Diego St. I guess at this point I would say SDSU is most likely, if only because I picked them to go to the Final Four.
It's fun to root for the underdogs but when they win they often play a rocky game like the one between Morehead State and Richmond. Sometimes it's good for the favorites to win because the best teams often provide the best games.
Cool of them to show Derrick Coleman highlights as Faried passed him and Tim Duncan in all-time rebounding this year.
Sand Diego State held on. It was an exciting game, all double OT games are, but it wasn't a great game. San Diego State totally tightened up to let Temple tie the game at the end of regulation, and then Temple blew it in OT. Fran Dunphy played not to lose telling his team to eat the ball on their final two possessions in which they got nothing. SDSU turned it over 3 times in the backcourt in the 2 overtimes and got lazy and gave Temple a layup on a runout, you can't do that in overtime. But they survived and advance, which is all that matters.
Wow, that Pitt-Butler game was one of the worst endings I have even seen.
First, Jamie Dixon tells his team to kill the entire clock with a 1 point lead. How do you not get a shot off there. Why do teams continue to do this. The 5 or 10 extra seconds are not nearly as important as the basket.
Second, Shelvin Mack had a great game, one of the best of his life and he almost cost his team the game by just blatantly running into a guy, for no reason. He would have had a half court heave on the run.
Gilbert Brown, make a free throw, please!
Nassir Robinson bailed out Mack. What a stupid foul. You're standing on the free throw line thinking about how you might win the game because of the other team's idiotic foul then you go commit one yourself. Stupidest thing ever. Even if he cleanly chopped the ball out of Howard's hand he still wouldn't have had time to grab it and shoot it. Dixon probably should have pulled his guys off the line. What fuckin morons.
I'm starting to believe Jamie Dixon is a big reason why Pitt chokes in the tournament every single year. What a horrible job by Pitt.
But Butler deserves credit. They are not a fluke. Upsetting a #1 seed two years in a row, they are a good team and a good program, probably the new Gonzaga.
BYU got a really bad break when Brandon Davies fucked his girlfriend but they may have gotten a favorable draw to get to the Final Four. They can beat Florida and they won't have to face a physical Pittsburgh team in the Elite 8 if they do. I would love to see Jimmer in the Final Four.
I think being on TV probably hurts recruiting for Kansas State. Why would anyone want to play for Frank Martin when he looks like that all the time?
A really exciting finish in KState Wisconsin too. I agree with Frank Martin's decision not to call timeout there down 1. And I agree with Pullen pushing it and trying to get fouled. he just lost it and Wisconsin got and that was pretty much that. Pullen was great though. Wisconsin which I was sure would lose in the first round now has a great chance to go to the Elite 8.
Another great game by Kemba Walker. Not much else to say about that. The dumb shit about 5 games in 5 days should be worn off. I don't think we can use that excuse if they lost to San Diego State or Duke next week. By then there will have been enough time.
Disappointing showing for the Big East. If Notre Dame wins it will send only 3 of 11 teams to the Sweet 16. And 3 of the top 5 suffered major upsets (Pitt, UL and SJU).
But the big story of this game and perhaps the entire tournament is that Butler-Pittsburgh game. And again, I agree both were fouls, maybe the one on Howard could have been let go, but it was the mental mistakes (including the wasted possession by Pitt) that decided this game, not the referees.
Friday, March 18, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Early Friday
Texas is one of those teams that can go either way. They can lose in the first round or go to the Final Four. They have a lot of talent, but they're young and they're streaky. They looked pretty good against Oakland. An exciting game because Oakland is the rare underdog who wants to push the pace against a favored team.
Five teams got at-large bids with 14 losses, Tennessee, Penn State, Michigan State, Marquette and USC because of their high strength of schedule ratings. Four of those teams lost and I expect Marquette to make it all 5.
I wonder if the combined 27 losses between Tennessee and Michigan is the most ever for a first round game.
Marv Albert is doing the Texas-Oakland game, what a pleasure to listen to.
At least until Gus Johnson starts.
Whatever Bruce Pearl said to his team at halftime didn't work. Michigan outscored them 37-11 to start the second half, turn a 33-29 game into 70-40. And it will probably be his last halftime speech at Tennessee. The poor performance and the violations will lead to a likely firing.
Memphis - Arizona is a perfect matchup if the committee wanted to give us a fun fast-paced game. Got a little chippy for a minute with two intentional fouls for contact to the head.
Kyrie Irving made a brief appearance for Duke. That would be a huge lift for them if he is healthy.
Gus Johnson is starting to heat up. He just lost his shit over a finger roll. "GEORGE GERVIN WOULD BE PROUD!!!!!"
You just know the games Gus Johnson is calling are going to be close. Villanova had a 6 point lead and a chance to put it away, then George Mason hit a 3, Nova missed two free throws and fouled GMU for a 3-point play.
A great early performance from Gus Johnson.
Arizona-Memphis wow. The only thing worse than missing free throws is throwing away an inbounds pass. And an unbelievable shot block to end the game. You almost never see them miss a free throw on purpose, get the rebound and put it back up in time, but wow. And that was a good no-call. I find the officials have been making too many calls at the ends of these games, glad they let Arizona decide this one.
Five teams got at-large bids with 14 losses, Tennessee, Penn State, Michigan State, Marquette and USC because of their high strength of schedule ratings. Four of those teams lost and I expect Marquette to make it all 5.
I wonder if the combined 27 losses between Tennessee and Michigan is the most ever for a first round game.
Marv Albert is doing the Texas-Oakland game, what a pleasure to listen to.
At least until Gus Johnson starts.
Whatever Bruce Pearl said to his team at halftime didn't work. Michigan outscored them 37-11 to start the second half, turn a 33-29 game into 70-40. And it will probably be his last halftime speech at Tennessee. The poor performance and the violations will lead to a likely firing.
Memphis - Arizona is a perfect matchup if the committee wanted to give us a fun fast-paced game. Got a little chippy for a minute with two intentional fouls for contact to the head.
Kyrie Irving made a brief appearance for Duke. That would be a huge lift for them if he is healthy.
Gus Johnson is starting to heat up. He just lost his shit over a finger roll. "GEORGE GERVIN WOULD BE PROUD!!!!!"
You just know the games Gus Johnson is calling are going to be close. Villanova had a 6 point lead and a chance to put it away, then George Mason hit a 3, Nova missed two free throws and fouled GMU for a 3-point play.
A great early performance from Gus Johnson.
Arizona-Memphis wow. The only thing worse than missing free throws is throwing away an inbounds pass. And an unbelievable shot block to end the game. You almost never see them miss a free throw on purpose, get the rebound and put it back up in time, but wow. And that was a good no-call. I find the officials have been making too many calls at the ends of these games, glad they let Arizona decide this one.
Smorgasbord
You ever go to a nice buffet and see something you really like, peeled shrimp perhaps. And you're eating them and you're loving it and you're so happy and just when you're pretty much full your friend says "this steak is so good."
And you love steak, but now it's too late, you can't possibly stuff another bite into your mouth.
That's how I felt watching the first games under the new TV coverage policy of having four games on four networks, simultaneously. If you watched one game too long, you might miss another game that is close and exciting, very hard to decide.
But I much prefer this to previous years when I was at the mercy of CBS to switch between exciting finishes. On my own, I was able to catch all the heart-stopping action of the early session.
But here's the problem, I like to DVR games and scan through timeouts. You can't really do that, because if you DVR one game, you're missing three others. And that's what happened last night. The games were blowouts, I was exhausted, I didn't set the DVR for any particular game (and if I had it certainly wouldn't have been UCLA-Michigan State) and I fell asleep and missed a near miracle and another good game in Kansas State.
I guess I shouldn't have filled up on the shrimp.
I'll know better today.
And you love steak, but now it's too late, you can't possibly stuff another bite into your mouth.
That's how I felt watching the first games under the new TV coverage policy of having four games on four networks, simultaneously. If you watched one game too long, you might miss another game that is close and exciting, very hard to decide.
But I much prefer this to previous years when I was at the mercy of CBS to switch between exciting finishes. On my own, I was able to catch all the heart-stopping action of the early session.
But here's the problem, I like to DVR games and scan through timeouts. You can't really do that, because if you DVR one game, you're missing three others. And that's what happened last night. The games were blowouts, I was exhausted, I didn't set the DVR for any particular game (and if I had it certainly wouldn't have been UCLA-Michigan State) and I fell asleep and missed a near miracle and another good game in Kansas State.
I guess I shouldn't have filled up on the shrimp.
I'll know better today.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Late Thursday
We knew we had to get some blowouts. Florida over UCSB by 28. UConn over Bucknell by 29.
Not sure what to think of Florida. There is always a 2 seed going out in round 2. I still think it could be them but most times (to my recollection) the first round is a harbinger. Remember Villanova squeaking by Robert Morris last year then losing to St. Mary's?
And I'm really starting to think this whole 5 games in 5 days for UConn is overrated. I certainly don't think fatigue will be a factor. They've had 5 days rest already. And by the time they get to next week it'll be 2 games in 12 days. If there's anything at all working against them it's that their human and it's just hard to put up peak performance 11 times in a row (9 needed to get to the Final Four).
But I can't prove Kemba Walker is human. 18 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds.
Bucknell's token jew Bryan Cohen scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds.
It is so much fun to watch Jimmer Freddette play. He did a little bit of volume shooting in this one (32 points on 24 shots) and got a lot of free throws because Wofford's coach thought his team could outscore BYU by 10 points in the final 54 seconds.
I was wrong about Belmont. I was wrong about their press. It slowed Wisconsin at first but after about 10 minutes in the first half Wisconsin had no problems. Belmont wasn't aggressive on defense, they couldn't score on offense and Wisconsin got hot.
Both teams shot 22 3-points, Belmont made 6, Wisconsin made 12. That was the difference.
I love Michigan State Coach Tom "H to the" Izzo, but his team was not ready to play. They got their doors blown off from the opening tip. By a UCLA team that isn't very good. Izzo's tournament resume is undeniable, but he's had a couple stinkers.
But they almost pulled off one of the most amazing comebacks in tournament history. With 8 minutes and 36 seconds left UCLA led 64-41. From that point on UCLA made 8 turnovers and missed 10 free throws. At the same time Michigan State made 7 3-pointers to cut the lead to 77-76. After a free throw the Spartans had one more chance but Kalin Lucas traveled.
At this point I'm still convinced UCLA will beat Florida.
Tough loss for St. John's. They didn't play any defense and got blown out. I don't think DJ Kennedy would have made a difference. It was a nice season and good to see that program rebound but they are have so many senionrs (9 I believe) that they will take a step back. And if you go backwards in the Big East you could go 4 and 14 in conference.
Cincinnati was a popular 6 seed upset pick but they withstood Missouri's pace and managed to get a big lead in the first half which they never relinquished.
Kansas State got a tough draw with a pretty good Utah State team and they almost blew it (Frank Martin's head almost exploded) but I still like this team to beat Wisconsin and maybe even upset Pitt.
Not sure what to think of Florida. There is always a 2 seed going out in round 2. I still think it could be them but most times (to my recollection) the first round is a harbinger. Remember Villanova squeaking by Robert Morris last year then losing to St. Mary's?
And I'm really starting to think this whole 5 games in 5 days for UConn is overrated. I certainly don't think fatigue will be a factor. They've had 5 days rest already. And by the time they get to next week it'll be 2 games in 12 days. If there's anything at all working against them it's that their human and it's just hard to put up peak performance 11 times in a row (9 needed to get to the Final Four).
But I can't prove Kemba Walker is human. 18 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds.
Bucknell's token jew Bryan Cohen scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds.
It is so much fun to watch Jimmer Freddette play. He did a little bit of volume shooting in this one (32 points on 24 shots) and got a lot of free throws because Wofford's coach thought his team could outscore BYU by 10 points in the final 54 seconds.
I was wrong about Belmont. I was wrong about their press. It slowed Wisconsin at first but after about 10 minutes in the first half Wisconsin had no problems. Belmont wasn't aggressive on defense, they couldn't score on offense and Wisconsin got hot.
Both teams shot 22 3-points, Belmont made 6, Wisconsin made 12. That was the difference.
I love Michigan State Coach Tom "H to the" Izzo, but his team was not ready to play. They got their doors blown off from the opening tip. By a UCLA team that isn't very good. Izzo's tournament resume is undeniable, but he's had a couple stinkers.
But they almost pulled off one of the most amazing comebacks in tournament history. With 8 minutes and 36 seconds left UCLA led 64-41. From that point on UCLA made 8 turnovers and missed 10 free throws. At the same time Michigan State made 7 3-pointers to cut the lead to 77-76. After a free throw the Spartans had one more chance but Kalin Lucas traveled.
At this point I'm still convinced UCLA will beat Florida.
Tough loss for St. John's. They didn't play any defense and got blown out. I don't think DJ Kennedy would have made a difference. It was a nice season and good to see that program rebound but they are have so many senionrs (9 I believe) that they will take a step back. And if you go backwards in the Big East you could go 4 and 14 in conference.
Cincinnati was a popular 6 seed upset pick but they withstood Missouri's pace and managed to get a big lead in the first half which they never relinquished.
Kansas State got a tough draw with a pretty good Utah State team and they almost blew it (Frank Martin's head almost exploded) but I still like this team to beat Wisconsin and maybe even upset Pitt.
NCAA Tournament: Early Thursday Thoughts
This new scenario of four games on four channels is a real challenge. It's easier to blame CBS for fucking it up than it is to manage it all on your own.
I just can't take Bob Huggins seriously after last year's DaSean Butler incident.
And I can't take Rick Pitino seriously either. Morehead was giving him trouble. Not the first time he got more head and later wished he hadn't. Seems like Morehead caught him with his pants down. Again, not the firt time.
I'm really enjoying watching Kenneth Faried of Morehead. The guy is a rebounding monster.
First great finish of the tournament. Butler's Matt Howard gets a tip-in basket, and the backboard turns red less than a tenth of a second after it leaves his fingertips. Jim Nantz must have been kicking himself because he wasn't around for a perfect "Butler did it moment" but don't worry, Tim Brando had you covered.
I wanted to use the Morehead blew it joke, but it was actually Louisville that blew it. Up 4 with 50 seconds to go, you gotta make your free throws, Faried did, even though he's a 59% shooter. Then they fouled and Justice missed the front end of a one and one. Morehead played for a final shot, and for no reason at all DeMonte Harper shot a 3 -- and made it! First "onions!" from Raf so far.
And that block by Faried on Louisville's desperate have was not a foul.
First major upset of the tournament. Makes me a little worried about my Belmont pick tonight. I can't remember if there ever were 2 4s losing in the first round. I know it happened once with 3s.
Another amazing finish -- third great one of the afternoon. Deep onions by Taylor Battle, then an incredible twisting shot by Juan Fernandez.
There is no Juan Fernandez, it's just a stolen identity to give Pepe Sanchez four more years of eligibilty.
And now Princeton has a guy named Hummer?
Kentucky over Princeton makes the fourth last-second finish of the day. And what's great about these games, the teams are making shots and going back and forth, for the most part its not ineptitude making these games close.
Not much to say about Pittsburgh vs. UNC-Ashville. Your typical 1 vs 16 matchup. It actually started close but Pitt is too big and too good.
This is what I kind of like about the play-in game. At least those kids got a chance to win an NCAA Tournament game. I also like the UNC-Ash coach calling timeout with 33 seconds left, down by 23, to get his 5 backups into an NCAA Tournament game.
Richmond and Vanderbilt a great way to end the early session. This was a pretty exciting game with both teams making shots. Not a lot of turnovers in this one, just some crazy shot-making. The ending was really slowed down by all those timeouts though. They need to do something about it. I think there were about 5 in the last two minutes. Takes all the drama out of it.
Every year I pick a 12 over a 5, and this year I finally got it. Hopefully the other 5s (Arizona and Kansas State) hold serve. I have both winning two games.
Check back here later for another similar post on the late games.
I just can't take Bob Huggins seriously after last year's DaSean Butler incident.
And I can't take Rick Pitino seriously either. Morehead was giving him trouble. Not the first time he got more head and later wished he hadn't. Seems like Morehead caught him with his pants down. Again, not the firt time.
I'm really enjoying watching Kenneth Faried of Morehead. The guy is a rebounding monster.
First great finish of the tournament. Butler's Matt Howard gets a tip-in basket, and the backboard turns red less than a tenth of a second after it leaves his fingertips. Jim Nantz must have been kicking himself because he wasn't around for a perfect "Butler did it moment" but don't worry, Tim Brando had you covered.
I wanted to use the Morehead blew it joke, but it was actually Louisville that blew it. Up 4 with 50 seconds to go, you gotta make your free throws, Faried did, even though he's a 59% shooter. Then they fouled and Justice missed the front end of a one and one. Morehead played for a final shot, and for no reason at all DeMonte Harper shot a 3 -- and made it! First "onions!" from Raf so far.
And that block by Faried on Louisville's desperate have was not a foul.
First major upset of the tournament. Makes me a little worried about my Belmont pick tonight. I can't remember if there ever were 2 4s losing in the first round. I know it happened once with 3s.
Another amazing finish -- third great one of the afternoon. Deep onions by Taylor Battle, then an incredible twisting shot by Juan Fernandez.
There is no Juan Fernandez, it's just a stolen identity to give Pepe Sanchez four more years of eligibilty.
And now Princeton has a guy named Hummer?
Kentucky over Princeton makes the fourth last-second finish of the day. And what's great about these games, the teams are making shots and going back and forth, for the most part its not ineptitude making these games close.
Not much to say about Pittsburgh vs. UNC-Ashville. Your typical 1 vs 16 matchup. It actually started close but Pitt is too big and too good.
This is what I kind of like about the play-in game. At least those kids got a chance to win an NCAA Tournament game. I also like the UNC-Ash coach calling timeout with 33 seconds left, down by 23, to get his 5 backups into an NCAA Tournament game.
Richmond and Vanderbilt a great way to end the early session. This was a pretty exciting game with both teams making shots. Not a lot of turnovers in this one, just some crazy shot-making. The ending was really slowed down by all those timeouts though. They need to do something about it. I think there were about 5 in the last two minutes. Takes all the drama out of it.
Every year I pick a 12 over a 5, and this year I finally got it. Hopefully the other 5s (Arizona and Kansas State) hold serve. I have both winning two games.
Check back here later for another similar post on the late games.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Initial Bracket Breakdown
Let’s start with Syracuse. I think the 3 seed was about what we deserved but I thought we might lose it to one of the Kentucky teams which had good late season runs, but both Kentucky and Louisville got 4 seeds. I do however think we got a tough facing the best #1 and perhaps the second best #2. It’s completely debatable of course because all those teams are so close, but we know Ohio State was the overall #1. Then if the committee went with a serpentine formula they had UNC as the 4th #2 (8 overall) and Syracuse as the 9th best team. But I don’t think they actually adhere all that closely to that.
As for the matchups, I don’t think SU should have a big problem Indiana State. They are a guard-oriented team which could press us into some turnovers, but it’s not like they dominated a smaller conference, they were third place in the MVC, which is a good not great conference.
Then SU has to play the winner of Xavier-Marquette. I think it’ll be Xavier which could give SU problems. But either way I don’t see SU beating North Carolina unless the Heels’ inexperience catches up with them and they make a bunch of mistakes. North Carolina to me is the typical team with a lot of talented freshman, took a while to get their footing but now they’ve really hit their stride. They have won 13 games in a row against teams not named Duke.
Speaking of Duke, on closer inspection, they were deserving of the 4th number one seed over Notre Dame. But I think they got off a little easy in their draw. San Diego State is a vulnerable #2 seed and I’m sure the committee thinks UConn is the toughest 3 seed because of their late run but I believe they drastically overrate conference tournaments.
I think Pitt losing in the first round of the Big East will clear the way for them to finally break through and make the final 4. Pitt has made the tournament 9 straight years, including 5 years getting a top 3 seed (a 1, a 2 and 3 3s) but they never made the final 4, and only once to the Elite 8 (in 2009, when they suffered a heart-breaking loss to Villanova.
Belmont will beat Wisconsin. Upsets happen, that's the way it goes. If you picked every game in a vacuum you would pick all favorites. But you know upsets happen so you have to look where they are most likely to be. I was going to pick Belmont regardless of their opponent because this is the type of small conference team that normally pulls off a shocker. They are 30-4 with 25 of their wins by double digits. 3 of their 4 losses were to tournament teams, Tennessee twice and Vanderbilt. Plus Belmont is an active, pressing team that uses a lot of players and could give a plodding Wisconsin team fits.
Why does the selection committee ever schedule first round games between two teams from smaller conferences? This year it is Butler vs. Old Dominion. Why not switch one of those teams with Michigan or Tennessee and give the smaller guys a better chance to advance?
The committee also stacked the deck against the Big East. Facing the possibility of 11 teams in the Sweet 16, more likely 7 or 8, the committee set up two possible conference showdowns in Round 2, yes I still call it round 2. Marquette could face Syracuse and Cincinnati could face UConn.
No one is going to call the rounds by their new names. The four extra games are now officially round 1, and the old rounds 1 and 2 are now 2 and 3. On this blog and forevermore until the tournament expands to 96 or 128, I will call opening games, the play-in round. I urge you to do the same, except when ordering tickets.
And remember to join my espn.com tournament challenge group. I had to change it, the name is The Poop. The other name wasn't showing up in searches, so look for The Poop.
As for the matchups, I don’t think SU should have a big problem Indiana State. They are a guard-oriented team which could press us into some turnovers, but it’s not like they dominated a smaller conference, they were third place in the MVC, which is a good not great conference.
Then SU has to play the winner of Xavier-Marquette. I think it’ll be Xavier which could give SU problems. But either way I don’t see SU beating North Carolina unless the Heels’ inexperience catches up with them and they make a bunch of mistakes. North Carolina to me is the typical team with a lot of talented freshman, took a while to get their footing but now they’ve really hit their stride. They have won 13 games in a row against teams not named Duke.
Speaking of Duke, on closer inspection, they were deserving of the 4th number one seed over Notre Dame. But I think they got off a little easy in their draw. San Diego State is a vulnerable #2 seed and I’m sure the committee thinks UConn is the toughest 3 seed because of their late run but I believe they drastically overrate conference tournaments.
I think Pitt losing in the first round of the Big East will clear the way for them to finally break through and make the final 4. Pitt has made the tournament 9 straight years, including 5 years getting a top 3 seed (a 1, a 2 and 3 3s) but they never made the final 4, and only once to the Elite 8 (in 2009, when they suffered a heart-breaking loss to Villanova.
Belmont will beat Wisconsin. Upsets happen, that's the way it goes. If you picked every game in a vacuum you would pick all favorites. But you know upsets happen so you have to look where they are most likely to be. I was going to pick Belmont regardless of their opponent because this is the type of small conference team that normally pulls off a shocker. They are 30-4 with 25 of their wins by double digits. 3 of their 4 losses were to tournament teams, Tennessee twice and Vanderbilt. Plus Belmont is an active, pressing team that uses a lot of players and could give a plodding Wisconsin team fits.
Why does the selection committee ever schedule first round games between two teams from smaller conferences? This year it is Butler vs. Old Dominion. Why not switch one of those teams with Michigan or Tennessee and give the smaller guys a better chance to advance?
The committee also stacked the deck against the Big East. Facing the possibility of 11 teams in the Sweet 16, more likely 7 or 8, the committee set up two possible conference showdowns in Round 2, yes I still call it round 2. Marquette could face Syracuse and Cincinnati could face UConn.
No one is going to call the rounds by their new names. The four extra games are now officially round 1, and the old rounds 1 and 2 are now 2 and 3. On this blog and forevermore until the tournament expands to 96 or 128, I will call opening games, the play-in round. I urge you to do the same, except when ordering tickets.
And remember to join my espn.com tournament challenge group. I had to change it, the name is The Poop. The other name wasn't showing up in searches, so look for The Poop.
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