Life and Death

Today, I learned my Great Grandma (dad's side) passed on last night. She was in her late nineties. She resided in Cleveland; it had been a few years since I had seen her last, she had moved onto assisted living. She was very caring and a fighter. She was resilient, which kept her going until she couldn't any longer. Maybe that's where I get some of my intensity because she certainly had some. I have many great memories with her: going to the 4th of July fireworks and concert in downtown Cleveland, going to the Cleveland Public Market, riding the RAPID, Cleveland's public transit, my first ever time on public transit. There are pictures of me and her when I was little, taking walks, even playing whiffle ball. I feel bad for my dad because he only has his siblings now, all of his elders are gone.

Meanwhile, today at work we hosted the Michigan Fed Challenge. 8 high school teams pretended to be the Federal Open Market Committee and presented their thoughts on whether or not Ben Bernanke & Co. should raise the federal funds rate tomorrow. Today took me back to the days of Academic Challenge/Quiz Bowl and competing in that. It was great listening to everyone present, I was able to learn something from each presentation. That's a great part of economics, you can never really know it all and there's always something new to learn. And it's amazing how much these high schoolers knew. My first economics class was sophomore year at Miami. These high schoolers know so much more then than I did in my junior year at Miami. They were very impressive.

Barry Bonds said, "My life is in shambles. It is crazy." I feel really sorry for him. I think I will be buying the book, "Game of Shadows" when it comes out after reading the excerpt out of Sports Illustrated. This is pretty serious stuff. I have looked for the book about Lance Armstrong that was written by the two British authors accusing him of using performance-enhancing drugs, but I haven't been able to find it. I'll have to get it on Amazon or Ebay I suppose. I'd want to see what they put together.

I've had to change my way home, again. Here in Detroit, construction season is SERIOUS. They are totally reconstructing M-14, a highway which connects Detroit and Ann Arbor. Interstate 96 leaves the city heading west, joining up with I-275 the bypass for a little bit, while the highway that continues on M-14. Well, 3 lanes of traffic are now one, creating major backups, so I'm only taking 96 to Telegraph Rd., then taking that to Grand River (M-5), which is the 2nd half of my old way home.

So it's been an interesting day, g'night.

Fantasy Camp

Today was the Junior Achievement Charity Basketball Shootout at the Palace, and yours truly was lucky enough to take part. 9 teams of 4, one of them being a kid, shooting from different marked spots on the floor (foul shot =2 pts., bank shot = 2 pts., 3 pointer = 3 pts. ,etc.), scoring as many points as you can in 90 seconds. Each team got 2 rounds, and the top 4 advanced to the final round.

We were able to warm up for about 20-25 minutes before hand, and when I took the floor, I had this huge smile. I started shooting like I always do if I were at the Miami Rec Center, the Northmont gym, or my neighbors' court, starting in close and working my way out. But each time I shot, the thought running through my head was, "I'm doing this at the Palace, I'm doing this at the Palace." It was like fantasy camp. Those 20-25 minutes would've been enough, but it was time to compete. My team did very well, it was me, two kids around 12 and 9 I believe, and one of the kid's dads. We ended up in 2nd, the other Federal Reserve team won, so it was a Fed sweep haha. For not having played in 2 months, I did ok, mostly staying in close, taking a 3 here and there. The kids, on my team and all of the teams stole the show. Talk about enjoying the moment and taking advantage of an opportunity, the little boys and girl that participated. On the winning team, there was a boy who couldn't be any older than 8 who lit it up from 3 point range, NBA 3 point range!!!! The girl, just as old was just as good, but she was on a team that wasn't very good. By finishing in the top 4, I won a Pistons championship bag, a visor, 4 free tickets to a WNBA Detroit Shock game, and a couple of other little toys. I could see the girl was disappointed in not winning the bag itself, it was a kid's size bag. I really had no use for it and she played really well and I thought she deserved it so I gave it to her. She had a huge smile on her face, I'm glad I gave it to her. I just hope she keeps playing.

The Pistons/Nets game was, well an NBA game. Poor shooting, poor overall play, just poor. The best parts of the game were the promos and the fan cams. One little kid took off his shirt, flexed, then started rubbing his stomach in a very sexual manner. A little too scary for me. So of course the rest of the game, every little kid in the arena took off their shirt to try and get on camera. Four words: Where are the parents?!?!?!

But even the dull game can't take the smile off of my face. What a day. Who gets a chance to do this?!?!?! It's awfully hard to top this as far as playing basketball goes.

I will say the Palace has the tightest rims I've ever shot on, I didn't get one single shooter's roll. Granted, the balls were a little heavy and outdoor balls, not indoor balls, but it's no wonder Detroit concentrates on defense, it's hard to make long-range shots with those rims.

I did get to watch most of the college action afterward. You can't spell NCAA without CAA haha!!!!:

• George Mason 86, UConn 84. UConn brought their A game for the first time in this tournament, George Mason brought their A+++++ game. George Mason shot 50% from the floor, 50% from 3, and outrebounded UConn by 4. Simply amazing. GMU's calling card is their defense, but they were unconscious in the 2nd half and overtime. But it looked like UConn would get lucky again after they forced overtime thanks to a missed Tony Skinn free throw that could've sealed it. Before overtime started, you had to ask yourself, do these guys have anything left??? They did, and in fact, they played even better in overtime. They gave Denham Brown a pretty good look to win it, but it was long, and George Mason is the first "mid-major" since 1979 to make the Final 4. This game is right up there with Kentucky/Duke as far as greatness goes. All that's missing is the buzzer beating shot, but I think the Cinderella story makes up for it.
• Florida 75, Villanova 62. When Randy Foye made it a 45-42 game with 11 min. left, I thought Nova would take control. They would find another way to win a game they shouldn't. But even they couldn't overcome 24% shooting, they met their match today. Florida matched their quickness, and proved too hard to guard with their balance offensively. If Florida wins, Joakim Noah will be Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. Just another 21 point, 15 board, 5 block effort for the big man. Florida had 4 in double figures, including 19 from Taurean Green, who has regained most of his early season form. He's cut down on his turnovers, giving Noah and Horford a chance to make plays inside. Florida has that balance back that made them so good early in the year. Villanova was my pick to win it all, and they fought hard, but they didn't have the players to beat Florida.

I really don't know who's going to win this thing. There's no overwhelming favorite (first time a #1 seed didn't make the Final 4 since 1980). Honestly, George Mason has as good of a shot as the other three. And just like the Big Ten put two in the Final 4 last year despite being called weak, the SEC has 2 of the last 4 this year. Also, when was the last time all of the Final 4 teams came from south of the Mason-Dixon line??? If you know the answer, let me know.

Wow, what a day, I think I'll be smiling while I'm sleeping haha.

We're Halfway There

I'm excited I'm starting this before 11pm local time, I can actually take my time and collect my thoughts. 8 hours of sleep never felt so good. So of course the first thing I hear on tv this morning is that people who sleep an average of 6-7 hours per night live longer than those who sleep 8. So I guess I'm doing the right thing by not getting to bed when I should?

One national semifinal is set. The theme today: athleticism:

• LSU 70, Texas 60. I've been saying along that Texas's guards were the key to their success. Well, they were 11/33 and scored 31 of their points, not scintillating, but they've played worse. Daniel Gibson single-handedly kept Texas in it down the stretch in regulation. But Texas's inside people, specifically Brad Buckman and LaMarcus Aldridge played soft. They settled for jump shots instead of taking it right at Tyrus Thomas and Glenn Davis. Aldridge was 2/14 for 4 points as Davis pushed him off the block time and time again. Texas got off to a good start, leading 9-2, but a Thomas follow up dunk changed the complexion of the game. As Duke did the other night, Texas got tentative inside offensively. At the other end, Texas played their soft zone, trying to deny the ball inside. Well, it didn't work haha. Davis was 11/19 for 26 points, Thomas 10/14 for 21 points. LSU only went 3/18 from 3, but they didn't have to shoot well because Thomas and Davis had their way inside. Again, all of the close games LSU played on the road have helped, they have learned how to win. They are going to be a tough out the way they defend, rebound, and intimidate inside.
• UCLA 50, Memphis 45. Well, this game was uuuugly, neither team played very well, but in a way, UCLA executed their gameplan. They forced Memphis to play disciplined, half-court basketball, something they're not very good at, they'd rather run up and down the floor and play freely. And it's been awhile since Memphis had to bear down and focus, they didn't have to do this during conference play, their talent was always too much in the end. But UCLA matched up with them athletically and depth wise and made life difficult for them. UCLA did a good job of attacking the basket and getting to the foul line, although they kept Memphis in it with their inept foul shooting. Basically, the youth of both teams showed, with neither team having experienced a game and atmosphere like this before. Both teams had as many or more turnovers than field goals made. UCLA won but had 17 turnovers compared to 14 made field goals, yikes. But UCLA can guard you, and when you have that going for you, you don't have to be a great offensive team.

Actually, the best game I saw was the Michigan Class A Championship where Saginaw Arthur Hill beat Okemos 85-84 in double overtime, overcoming a 3 point deficit in the last 30 seconds. Okemos's Jonathan Jones scored 38 in a losing cause, including making 6/7 threes.

On the drive into the work, one of the things I look forward to is Sarah's Celebrity Dirt on 95.5 Mojo in the Morning. She has the inside scoop thanks to some sources I guess she has, and it makes for a good laugh. Let's see, Nick Lachey is hooking up with Kristin Cavallari from Laguna Beach, Eva Longoria is unhappy about the interview that quoted her saying she's the "teacher in the bedroom" with Tony Parker, Kevin Federline is trying to start his rap career while his first career, cheating on wives is still going strong, and Lindsay Lohan is just, well, a very lost soul. She doesn't want to be the party girl, yet she's the party girl. I love all of their "statements" also, it must be nice to have a publicist.

4 years ago, we had Britney, Christina, Jessica, and Mandy. Britney is now pregnant all the time, Christina can sing, but she's disappeared, Jessica is trying to show she's smart, and Mandy may actually have a real life. I like the chances of Kelly, Gwen, and Alicia surviving than the previous 4 as a group. One good thing Jessica did was when she imitated Britney in an American Idol spoof on SNL. That was good.

Once basketball is over, I'm going to get back into reading in my spare time. I've lost track on how many books I'm behind. My collection looks impressive though, I just need to read some of these haha.

I'm still working out 4-5 times a week, after work and usually on Sunday. I wish I had a better routine, but this is the best I'll be able to do. I can't wait until it gets warmer and I can run outside again, my back is not a fan of the treadmill, let's just say that. I can't wait to hit the links again also, I'm getting the urge.

Tomorrow is the Charity Basketball Shootout at the Palace. Hopefully I don't lay an egg and make a couple from downtown.

Elite 8

Wow, what a night of basketball. It definitely made up for the disappointing showing by Miami hockey tonight in their NCAA tournament (5-0 loss).

We're down to the Elite 8:

• George Mason 63, Wichita St. 55. In what's turned into Homecoming for the Patriots, GMU started with a 9-0 run and never looked back. GMU shot 46%, 50% from 3 while holding the Shockers, who rely on the jump shot inside and out, to 31% shooting. I can't imagine what the atmosphere will be like on Sunday. GMU better bring the D, they'll need every bit of it.
• Villanova 60, Boston College 59. This wasn't the prettiest or the best played game, but it was a game that displayed two teams' collective heart, fire, effort, and competitiveness. There was BC, trying to impose their physicality on the game, running their flex offense and playing tight perimeter defense. Then there's little, overmatched Villanova, fighting to guard BC's big guys, fighting for every rebound, driving into the lane with no fear. BC led 25-9 with about 6 min. to go in the 1st half when Villanova decided to increase the defensive pressure. BC's guards couldn't handle it, turned the ball over and let Nova get within 4 at the half. BC was forced to have Craig Smith and Jared Dudley bring the ball up, which didn't allow them to attack the pressure. Sean Williams was huge inside for BC, making big plays at each end. But the Villanova guards wouldn't be denied. Foye, Ray, and Lowry just refuse to lose. Ray was ice cold all night, but he still found a way to hit 2 big 3s late in regulation. Foye and Lowry appeared to put it away for Nova with their drives late, but Dudley came back and hit a 3 to send it to overtime. Nova went up by 5, BC came back, leading by 1 with 10 sec. left and Nova ball out of bounds under the BC basket. With no timeouts, Nova couldn't setup a play in the huddle, but they didn't need to. They ran the same inbounds play they used to beat Cincinnati late in the season and it resulted in a goaltending call (good call). What a battle, neither team gave an inch. Villanova just refuses to lose, I love watching them battle.
• Florida 57, Georgetown 53. The young Gators overcame Georgetown's awkward style and will play Villanova in the regional final. Joakim Noah for Florida: 15 points, 10 boards, and 5 blocks, but it was Corey Brewer's acrobatic shot and ensuing free throw that put the Gators ahead for good. Florida stayed aggressively offensively, getting good shots and getting to the foul line. They have cut down on their turnovers which has been the difference for them in my opinion. But, they haven't played anyone like Villanova yet in this tournament. Still, nice to see Billy Donovan have some success after getting rid of some of the spoiled brats he's had the last couple of years.
• UConn 98, Washington 92. Washington did everything but win the game. Their gameplan was perfect. Although smaller, UW is quicker and they got after UConn early. They sacrificed foul trouble for aggressive play, and it almost paid off. They forced 26 turnovers, 26?!?!?! Brandon Roy was unguardable and UConn was frustrated. But early in the 2nd half, UW missed their chance to put UConn in serious trouble. There was a 3-4 minute stretch where UConn took bad shots or turned the ball over, yet UW also turned the ball over or took bad shots, most coming from their freshmen guards. Then after the double technical foul with Roy and Rudy Gay, UConn's run was cued. But UW hung tough with Roy on the bench, Jamaal Williams is an unbelievable 6'6 post player. UW was up 5 in the last minute, but inexplicably let Rashard Anderson touch the ball twice. And guess what, he made 2 big 3s. Add the stupid foul by Mike Jensen that gave Marcus Williams a 3 point play and the game went to OT. UW couldn't afford to go to OT because of their foul trouble and they lost 3 guys to fouls. But they never quit and had the ball down 2 after a Ryan Appleby steal. But UW turned it over and UConn survived. I really don't like UConn's attitude, they came out flat, complained, then flipped the switch and were very fortunate. I just don't know why you wouldn't want to play hard all the time, that doesn't make sense to me. But they have talented players, and they live another day.

I promise I'll write about other things again soon, but it's late and I'm tired. I like Texas and UCLA tomorrow, in close games.

Soft Dukies

Maybe I should give up doing a bracket next year for Lent. We're halfway to the Elite 8, let's recap tonight's action:

• LSU 62, Duke 54. LSU played great defense inside and outside. The tone of this game changed after Tyrus Thomas blocked 2 shots in the 1st half, the 2nd an attempt by none other than the Landlord himself, Shelden Williams. After that, you could see Duke get tentative offensively, scared to take the ball inside. LSU had a great gameplan defensively: make the other guys beat you. Greg Paulus: 2/8, Sean Dockery 0/4, DeMarcus Nelson 1/5, and most of those were good looks. JJ Redick wasn't allowed to breathe and he did the worst thing he could possibly do: he lost his composure. The rest of his team followed suit and that helped cost them the game. When do you see Duke give up an offensive rebound to the guy shooting a foul shot??? With 4 Dukies lined up and no one else lined up for the rebound on top of that??? LSU lost a lot of close games early in the year to tough teams, but they've learned and grown from it obviously, congrats to them.
• Memphis 80, Bradley 64. Memphis was just too good, their superstars played like superstars. Memphis was able to quicken the tempo, which made Patrick O'Bryant a nonfactor. The Tigers forced 17 turnovers, leading to easy buckets. Rodney Carney and Darius Washington both played big. Congrats to Bradley on their run, they ran into a team that may just win this thing.
• Texas 74, West Virginia 71. What a game this was. Texas was in control in the 1st half, but West Virginia kept shooting 3s and made a good percentage. It looked like Texas would get Pittsnoggled as the big man tied it up with a 3 with 5 sec. left, but Kenton Paulino won it with a 3 at the other end. Rick Barnes made a great move by not calling timeout after Pittsnoggle hit the 3, which didn't allow the defense to get set, giving them a pretty good look, a better look than they would've gotten if they had called timeout. Texas's guards played ok at best, but they outboarded WVU 42-14. 42-14?!?!?! LSU/Texas will be an interesting matchup, LSU plays great defense, Texas has great size, should be a great game.
• UCLA 73, Gonzaga 71. I'm trying to understand how Gonzaga lost this game. Gonzaga played defense in the 1st half, I couldn't believe it. They came out with a chip on their shoulder, like the Gonzaga from a few years ago when they were trying to earn people's respect. UCLA was passive on offense, dribbling the ball too much and making silly mistakes. But the curse of the big lead bit Gonzaga. They got tentative on offense and Derek Raivio played a very poor 2nd half, turning the ball over while out of control. It wasn't one guy that brought UCLA back, it was a collective effort. They all played better in the 2nd half, and took advantage of Gonzaga allowing them to stay in the game. Gonzaga outrebounded them by 10, who would've thought, but 16 turnovers, most of those coming in the 2nd half, did them in. And what was JP Batista thinking at the end of the game??? Raivio was behind him wide open. A bad decision by an experienced player.

So I split tonight, losing Duke, but getting Ws with Texas and UCLA. But I'm happy there was good basketball tonight. This thing is wide open, as we all know.

And yes, I will be struggling at work tomorrow since I'll be going on 5 hours of sleep, but it's Friday, I can do it.

Sweet 16

This is the most interesting group of 16 that I can remember. There is no North Carolina, Kansas, or Kentucky, but we have George Mason, Wichita St., and Bradley. Billy Packer and Jim Nantz must've had trouble sleeping this past weekend. This was the year we were going to have this type of Sweet 16. The major programs are filled with youngsters while the "mid-majors" have experience and players who aren't afraid of the big boys because they've played with and against the top recruits many times. While AAU basketball hasn't been good for the fundamentals of the game, it is a reason why there's more parity in the game. After you've competed against someone many times, it becomes just another game when you see them again, regardless of the name on the front of their jersey.

Well, 8 of my Sweet 16 survived. Here's a recap of today:

• Bradley 72, Pittsburgh 66. Talk about a fearless team, Bradley was the aggressor, getting to the foul line 32 times and hanging with the bigger, more physical Panthers on the boards. Bradley repeatedly got to loose balls and rebounds first, making up for their low shooting percentage. On offense, they continued to go to the basket, even when Pitt made runs at them. Patrick O' Bryant was unstoppable in the middle: 28 points, 7 rebounds. For a 7-footer, he has a really nice touch from the foul line. Their 13 seed is misleading, Bradley is no Cinderella, they are good. There's nothing mid-major about them. After watching them, there's no doubt in my mind they will play Memphis tough.
• UConn 87, Kentucky 83. UConn did just enough again to win, but they're relying too much on their talent. Undersized Kentucky shot 47% from the floor, one of their best shooting performances of the year, and tied UConn on the boards. UK had no answer for Marcus Williams down the stretch, who is automatic at the foul line.
• Memphis 72, Bucknell 56. Bucknell couldn't handle the Tigers' athleticism, committing 19 turnovers while only shooting 37% from the floor. Memphis has quietly worked its way into the final 16, but they should beware of Bradley in the next round, they will challenge them.
• George Mason 65, North Carolina 60. Carolina jumped out to a 16-2 lead and it seemed this would be quick and easy. But the Patriots switched to a zone and the young Heels got tentative, allowing GMU to get back in the game. The most telling stat of this game: 4. That's how many free throws UNC attempted for the whole game. Not what you expect from a Roy Williams team. George Mason now gets a rematch with Wichita St., whom they beat earlier in the Bracket Buster at Wichita. And, the game is in Washington DC at the MCI Center, a 2 minute metro ride from their campus. There should be a lot of green and gold in the crowd.
• West Virginia 67, Northwestern St. 54. The Cinderella of the field couldn't hang onto their glass slipper, or the ball for that matter. The Demons like to play free and loose, which doesn't work against a team like WVU. The Demons couldn't figure out the Mountaineers' defense, committing 24 turnovers and taking ill-advised shots. They never gave up, even after WVU hit a half-court shot at the end of the 1st half to give WVU a 41-19 halftime lead. The Demons got as close as 8 with 4 minutes left, but couldn't get over the hump. But they'll never forget the weekend they had and I'll remember getting to watch a real Cinderella in person. It was fun to be a part of it.
• Georgetown 70, Ohio St. 52. Well, Thad Matta and his boys got this one wrong. Against Georgetown, you must make them hit 3s to beat you. Even if they hit a couple, you still give them the 3 instead of opening the back door. But OSU left the back door wide open, playing tight man defense on the perimeter, which played right into Georgetown's hands. OSU became impatient on offense, and even the Dayton crowd couldn't bring them back. It's hard to win when you take 11 fewer shots and only get 2 offensive rebounds.
• Texas 75, NC State 54. The Texas guards were 3/14 Friday night; they were 14/26 today. When they make shots and make plays, Texas is as good as anybody, period.
• Villanova 82, Arizona 78. Villanova can play at any tempo, and they proved that today. Arizona sped up the game and Nova was up for it. 54% shooting, 47% from 3, and 17/20 from the line, superb numbers for Nova. Credit to Arizona, they brought their A game this weekend, but the Nova guards are too good at the end of games. They get the shots they want and they make free throws. Allen Ray is showing no ill effects from his eye injury. Villanova/Boston College is the marquee game of the Sweet 16, what a battle it should be.
• The goal of the 1st weekend of the NCAA Tournament is to survive and advance. If you're in the Sweet 16, you have a legitimate shot of getting to the Final 4 and winning it all.
• "MVC" was the chant from the Bradley section after their victory. The Missouri Valley Conference has proven they belong. And it was great to see the celebration after the game. The Bradley players went up into the crowd where their fans were and got mobbed. It was one big sea of red.
• There will be pictures and movies coming from the games for your viewing enjoyment.

Well, all I can say about my bracket is that my Final 4 are still alive and that's about it. Miami hockey will open NCAA Tournament play up in Worcester, MA as a 2 seed. They play Boston College in the 1st round, yikes. Go get em boys!!!!

What Will Happen Next?

It's been a great and very unpredictable NCAA Tournament, just as I thought it would. I got to enjoy it in person on Friday (and will again tomorrow) with my dad and brother. We're taking in the action at the Palace where we've seen the two biggest upsets of the tournament up to this point.

• In the 1st game, Northwestern St. came from 17 down to shock Big Ten Tourney champ and 3 seed Iowa on a fadeaway 3 in the corner with .5 sec. left. When the 3, I and the rest of the arena jumped out of our collective seats as we got to witness in person what March Madness is all about. Northwestern St. celebrated like they had just won the National Championship. I was so excited I don't think I sat down again until the 2nd game started. Northwestern St. has the best pep band by far of the 8 teams, they and their director are fun to watch, so it'll be great seeing them tomorrow. After the game, I guess a lot of Iowa fans were trying to get rid of their tickets because they had to replay the following announcement throughout the rest of the day, "Reselling tickets is not allowed in the arena, etc."
• West Virginia Pittsnoggled Southern Illinois in the 2nd game, creating havoc with their 1-3-1 matchup zone. If you haven't seen it in person, it's hard to prepare for. The key to attacking a 1-3-1 is putting a guy in the area of the foul line/top of the key, getting him the ball, then having 2 guys on the wing cut to the basket. Whenever SIU did this, they scored. But they didn't do it all of the time, which baffled me. Pittsnoggle was as advertised, hitting a variety of shots on offense. I think West Virginia will frustrate Northwestern St. tomorrow with their defense, but of course I'll be rooting for Cinderella to win, that's what it's all about.
• In the 3rd game, Pittsburgh shot lights out and disposed of Kent St. rather easily. Kent played very tight while Pitt was very loose. The only thing that was good for Kent was their dance team. Not a good showing by the MAC representative, this was the least competitive game of the day.
• Finally, Kansas/Bradley was a display of athleticism and talent. I think the MVC title game left a bitter taste in the Braves' mouth because there were no 12 minute droughts. They repeatedly hurt Kansas with a high pick and roll, where the roller was open for open 3s, which went in. Bradley even beat Kansas down the floor in most instances, getting some easy buckets in transition. Kansas made a late run, getting as close as 2 once I believe, but Bradley always had an answer and deserved to win the game. Bradley/Pittsburgh will be the 1st game tomorrow and should be close I think. Bradley doesn't have Pitt's size, but they're more athletic and experienced, so I think they're pretty evenly matched.
• With Iowa and Kansas both out, it will be interesting to see the crowd tomorrow. It was 18,000 for the afternoon and 19,000 for the evening. There are plenty of Pittsburgh and West Virginia fans, and a nice contingent of Bradley fans as well, so we'll see.
• The Palace is an impressive building from the outside. It's 17 years old and the first modern NBA building I believe that was built just as they are now, or at least the same things are kept in mind.

Now for some other thoughts on the Tournament, half of the Sweet 16 is now set and there are plenty of new faces already:

• Duke 74, George Washington 61. After having so much trouble with Southern Thursday, I thought GW presented some matchup problems for Duke. But the Dukies brought the defensive intensity today and showed they're playing better than they were a couple of weeks ago. JJ Redick's shot looks better, Shelden Williams is dominating in the middle, and the freshmen are playing better and better each night, especially today. Usually one of their weaknesses, Duke outrebounded GW by one today.
• Florida 82, UW-Milwaukee 60. The Florida guards had to go against 2 quick, pressing teams to start their march, but they passed both tests with flying tournaments, turning in the most impressive weekend by any team thus far. The way Joakim Noah and Al Horford can handle the ball for big men is scary. Noah is just a freak athletically, pure and simple. Milwaukee survived a poor shooting performance Thurs. by getting to the foul line, but they weren't able to do either tonight. Still, a good showing by the Panthers.
• Wichita St. 80, Tennessee 73. You can't play a more efficient offensive game than the Shockers did today. 50% from the field, 60% from 3, and 23/29 from the line led by PJ Cousinard's 20 points and 9 rebounds. Bruce Pearl and Tennessee took a big step this year, but they've got to get better defensively in the half-court before they take the next step. Except for Southern Illinois, the Valley has more than held their own in the Tournament and deserved their 4 bids.
• Boston College 69, Montana 56. BC took control at the beginning of the 2nd half and never looked back. Smith and Dudley combined for 42 points and 23 rebounds, just one less than Montana's team rebounding total.
• Washington 67, Illinois 64. Washington played impressive defense against the Illini and got to the foul line early and often, which was the difference. Washington has more offensive playmakers, guys who can get their own shot, something Illinois was lacking, but made up for with their defense. Washington matched their defensive intensity and got a big win for their program. With UCLA's win, the Pac 10 is a surprising 5-1 in the Dance. Dee Brown was just 5/18 for Illinois in his last game.
• LSU 58, Texas A&M 57. Darrel Mitchell hit a long 3 with 3.9 sec left to send LSU on, overcoming a gutty effort by the Aggies. The Aggies held LSU to 35% shooting and shot 46% from 3 themselves, but LSU's foul shooting was the key, going 18/23. Baby Shaq & Co. get Duke next.
• Gonzaga 90, Indiana 80. Despite only 14 points from Adam Morrison, the Zags are back in the Sweet 16 as everyone else stepped up. I can't believe Indiana of all teams contained Morrison, but Gonzaga put 6 in double figures, led by JP Batista's 20 points. Indiana played a decent offensive game, but failed to finish consistently in close and failed to get to the foul line (just 6 attempts).
• UCLA 62, Alabama 59. UCLA shot 51%, had 17 assists on their 24 field goals, but only went 5/13 from the foul line and got outboarded by 11. Credit to Alabama, they came to play all weekend, but they just didn't have enough.
• When they showed the score of UConn/Albany at the Palace and Albany kept pulling ahead, the Palace went into a frenzy. There was a mixed reaction to the Michigan St. result with Spartan and Wolverine partisans both in the crowd.
• Ohio St. needs to start shooting the 3 ball better if they're going to advance against Georgetown. Roy Hibbert vs. Terrence Dials will be an interesting matchup.
• The same holds true for Villanova, who would've probably gotten by anyone else but Monmouth with their shooting performance. Arizona came to play against Wisconsin, especially Hassan Adams. The Pac 10 has been a surprise so far, Arizona could give them 3 in the last 16.
• Texas needs to stop playing to the level of their competition. Texas's guards must shoot better than 3/14 against NC State.

So my bracket, well haha, there aren't many of my Sweet 16 left. There are 7 of my last 8 left going into tomorrow, so I won't win any awards, but I could have a nice ending I suppose. Can't wait to go watch more hoops tomorrow!

My 2006 Picks

The first bracket I did was when I was 10 I think. I was just getting into basketball and how can you not get sucked in by all of the close games and buzzer beaters. Plus, I thought it was the greatest thing being able to watch basketball on a Thursday afternoon. In fact, when I was in 4th grade maybe, my elementary school principal pulled me out of class to watch Miami play North Carolina for a little bit. Jamie Mercurio hit 7 threes, unfortunately missing one at the end of regulation that would've sent the game to overtime.

Now, take my picks with a grain of salt, the last three years have been struggle city for me. My best run was 1993-95 actually:

• 1993: Had 3 of the Final 4, had UNC/Michigan in the title game, but had Michigan winning. Darn Chris Webber!!!!!
• 1994: Had 3 of the Final 4 again, had Arkansas/Duke in the final and had Arkansas winning.
• 1995: Had 3 of the Final 4, had UCLA/Arkansas in the final and UCLA winning.

2001 was pretty good, I had 3 of the final 4, Arizona/Duke in the final, but had Arizona winning. The last correct winner I picked was Maryland in 2002.

But this is my year (I hope). Here are some things I took into account when doing my bracket:

• Previous matchups during the year or last year (i.e. Villanova/Boston College)
• What did they do well in games they won.
• What did they not do well in games they lost.
• Matchups against teams during the season that play a similar style of ball that their opponent plays.
• How they're playing now.
• What type of gameplan they'll put in for the game.
• Time the game starts, where it's at, etc.

Atlanta Region, 1st Round:

• Duke over Southern, no explanation needed.
• UNC Wilmington over George Washington. How healthy is Pops Mensah-Bonsu??? GW doesn't like to play a half-court game and Wilmington is afraid of no one.
• Syracuse over Texas A&M. I'm not sure how long Syracuse can keep this run up. They won the Big East tourney last year, then lost in the 1st round to Vermont. I don't think A&M will be able to make enough shots against the Syracuse zone, and Syracuse is a more experienced team.
• LSU over Iona. LSU had Baby Shaq in the middle, Iona has Stevie Burtt outside. This will be a good game. If Iona had a little tournament experience, I'd be tempted, but I'll go with LSU.
• West Virginia over Southern Illinois. WVU will score a little more and Southern won't be able to solve WVU's defense.
• Northwestern St. over Iowa. I think you know how I feel about Iowa. They don't shoot well, they're not very athletic and their guards should play better for being experienced. It's the first game of the day in Auburn Hills, Northwestern St. won't be intimidated, they shoot the ball better than Iowa, they're deeper and definitely more athletic. This is a crazy upset pick I know. But Iowa has had trouble playing away from home and against athletic teams.
• California over NC State. NC State isn't playing well right now. They'll have trouble scoring against Cal's physical, quick defense.
• Texas over Penn.

2nd round:

• Duke over UNC-Wilmington. Too many athletes for Duke, especially inside.
• Syracuse over LSU. Experience wins here. Tyrus Thomas not being 100% will hurt LSU inside.
• West Virginia over Northwestern St. It's tough to play against West Virginia's style of play when you've never seen them before.
• Texas over Cal. Texas's guards will be too much.

Sweet 16:

• Duke over Syracuse. You can't zone Duke and Duke will outwork them.
• Texas over West Virginia. Texas had to come from behind and beat them earlier in the year. I think Texas is better now than then.

Elite 8:

• Duke over Texas. Another rematch. This one won't be a blowout like the 1st one, but Duke's guards are better than Texas's guards, or at least more consistent.

OAKLAND REGION:

1st round:

• Memphis over Oral Roberts.
• Bucknell over Arkansas. Bucknell is more experienced and better at shooting the ball. Tournament games are half-court games and Bucknell is the better half-court team.
• Pittsburgh over Kent St. Kent's guards can be turnover-prone and Pitt's guards love to cause turnovers. This Pittsburgh team is also better than ones in years past. They can actually make shots.
• Kansas over Bradley. Bradley plays good defense, but they have trouble scoring. Kansas has too many playmakers and they have Julian Wright.
• San Diego St. over Indiana. The Aztecs are used to playing at altitude and they have inside players who can contain Marco Killingsworth.
• Xavier over Gonzaga. Gonzaga plays no defense. And if they play zone, they have to guard everybody on Xavier because they can all shoot the 3. This means problems for the Zags. You have to be able to stop somebody.
• Marquette over Alabama. Marquette has better shooters and they played in a tougher conference. No Chuck Davis hurts Alabama.
• UCLA over Belmont.

2nd round:

• Memphis over Bucknell: Too many athletes and too much depth for Bucknell to overcome.
• Kansas over Pittsburgh: Better guard play from Kansas and better interior play as well. When someone can match up with Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh struggles. They usually don't beat teams that are as good or a little better than they are talent-wise.
• San Diego St. over Xavier. San Diego St. has the post play that gives Xavier problems. Stanley Burrell not being a true point guard will hurt against the Aztecs guards.
• UCLA over Marquette. UCLA has better guards and better interior play. Too much balance for Marquette to keep up with.

Sweet 16:

• Kansas over Memphis: Kansas matches up with Memphis and are better at every position I think. Kansas playing better competition later in the year will help, as well as their more consistent outside shooting and their sharing of the ball.
• UCLA over San Diego St.: Too much inside/outside balance for the Aztecs to deal with.

Elite 8:

• UCLA over Kansas. Here's where the inexperience will catch up with Kansas, especially at the guard position. Kansas is a year away.

WASHINGTON REGION:

1st round:

• UConn over Albany.
• Kentucky over UAB. This UAB isn't nearly as good as the one that beat Kentucky a couple of years ago in the 2nd round. UK will like the quick tempo and UAB has no answer for Randolph Morris.
• Utah St. over Washington. My 12 over 5 special. Washington doesn't play great defense and they have young guards. Utah St. is disciplined and very solid at every position, and well-coached.
• Illinois over Air Force. Too much size for Air Force to handle. Illinois will close the back door.
• Michigan St. over George Mason. Maybe if the Colonials were at full strength I'd be tempted, but in a game of athletes, no one is better than Sparty.
• North Carolina over Murray St. Too much Tar Heel depth.
• Wichita St. over Seton Hall. WSU is better suited for a slow-paced game and they have better guards. Paul Miller vs. Kelly Whitney inside will be interesting to watch. Miller has a better supporting cast.
• Tennessee over Winthrop. A lot of people like Winthrop, but they rely too much on the 3 and lose focus during games. As bad as Tennessee has played, their press will bother Winthrop and Winthrop doesn't shoot the 3 that well.

2nd round:

• UConn over Kentucky. UConn is bigger, faster, stronger, and better at every position. UK will have trouble at each end, this could be a blowout.
• Illinois over Utah St. More experience and more size favor Illinois. Illinois is a great defensive team, they'll shut the Aggies down.
• North Carolina over Michigan St. Michigan St. doesn't have the depth and physical presence. This is the type of game you'd think MSU would win with their experience, but Roy Williams is a great coach and UNC will win this matchup again.
• Tennessee over Wichita St. If you're unfamiliar with Bruce Pearl's style of play, you're in for a rude awakening.

Sweet 16:

• UConn over Illinois. Too much offensive firepower from UConn. It will be a low scoring game, but Illinois will struggle in defending Denham Brown and Rashard Anderson.
• North Carolina over Tennessee. UNC will break the press, score at will and wear out the Vols. Tennessee has no answer for Tyler Hansbrough.

Elite 8:

• UConn over North Carolina. In a matchup of Men vs. Boys, Boston College beat UNC. UConn are a bunch of men. Unfortunately, UNC is a year away.

MINNEAPOLIS REGION

1st round:

• Villanova over Monmouth
• Wisconsin over Arizona. Bo Ryan teams are tough to prepare for and tough to beat. Arizona doesn't shoot the ball well from the outside and where will Hassan Adams's head be?
• Nevada over Montana. This will be a close game, but Nick Fazekas will be too much in the end.
• Boston College over Pacific. Pacific can't matchup with Smith and Dudley inside.
• UW-Milwaukee over Oklahoma. The Panthers have better guard play and better shooters. Oklahoma's guard play is too inconsistent.
• Florida over South Alabama. Florida's guards are turnover-prone, but they will break it more times than not, which means a lot of easy buckets for Joakim Noah.
• Georgetown over Northern Iowa. UNI may not break 40 against the Hoyas athletic defense.
• Ohio St. over Davidson. Another interesting 2/15 matchup, but being played in Dayton and the way Ohio St's guards play, I like the Bucks.

2nd round:

• Villanova over Wisconsin. Villanova's guards are too good.
• Boston College over Nevada. Boston College is too physical.
• UW-Milwaukee over Florida. Florida's guards turn the ball over too much. UW-Milwaukee has more experience and are more consistent from the outside.
• Ohio St. over Georgetown. Everyone likes Georgetown in this game, but lest you forget, the Hoyas are good for at least one 5+minute scoring drought per game, usually in the 2nd half when the game is close. Ohio St. has better guard play and they make more shots.

Sweet 16:

• Villanova over Boston College. These two teams are familiar with one another. They split last year, but Villanova is a lot better, Boston College is simply just better. Villanova will contain BC's guards and will force Smith and Dudley to guard quicker, smaller players. The flex can be defended with the right game plan.
• Ohio St. over UW-Milwaukee. Ohio St. has the guards that can handle the pressure. And they have Terrence Dials inside.

Elite 8:

• Villanova over Ohio St. Villanova has better guards and more experience.

Final 4:

• Duke over UCLA. Duke's only losses have come to teams who have post players who can score with their back to the basket. To the best of my knowledge, UCLA doesn't have one of those type of players. Shelden Williams will have a big night and UCLA will struggle shooting from the outside.
• Villanova over UConn. The ultimate matchup game. UConn is bigger and stronger, Villanova can shoot and are quicker. Villanova will be the underdog, a role I think they enjoy. I think they have the game that is better suited for a neutral site and they have better guards.

Championship:

Villanova 73, Duke 68. Way back in October, I took Villanova as my team. I'm sticking with them, despite Allen Ray coming back from injury and Curtis Sumpter being gone. I love watching them play. Who doesn't? 4 little guys and an undersized center trying to compete against teams who are bigger than they are. They have more experience than Duke's guards. They will shut down Duke's role players, and will contain JJ Redick. Plus, they'll probably get the crowd behind them with the anti-Duke thing and all that. But I think Villanova is better than Duke, at least they will be on that final night.

So, there you have it. A lot of these thoughts were quick-hitters, but if I broke down every single aspect of every single game, I'd be up all night.

Good luck with your respective brackets, it's time to play the games!!!!!!

Let's Dance

So let's dance, the last dance, tonight.... Oh, that's another dance. So we have our field of 65. First let's recap today's action:

• SEC: Florida 49, South Carolina 47. South Carolina was the last team that could burst somebody's bubble, but Joakim Noah made sure that didn't happen, scoring the go-ahead basket, then blocking Carolina's attempt to tie and send the game to overtime. Taurean Green is the key for Florida. When he takes care of the ball and gets others involved, specifically Noah and Horford inside, Florida wins.
• ACC: Duke 78, Boston College 76. This was one of the better games of the year. Everytime Duke hit BC with one of their patented runs, BC came right back at them. Jared Dudley and Craig Smith were physical inside, and Duke had no one who could handle Louis Hinnant. BC surprised me with their offensive efficiency, shooting 58%, 6/11 from 3. But JJ Redick regained his shooting touch and Josh McRoberts stepped up again, showing he might be the 3rd option Duke relies on during the tournament.
• Southland: Northwestern St. 95, Sam Houston St. 87. Northwestern St. won the regular season and conference titles. They had 25 assists with their 32 field goals, great numbers. They're athletic, have more size than I expected and can shoot decently. They played a tougher non-conference schedule than the normal Southland team so they won't go down without a fight in the tournament.
• Big 12: Kansas 80, Texas 68. Kansas's play today was the most impressive performance all weekend. 2 weeks ago, Texas took them behind the woodshed and then some. Playing somewhat of a road game in Dallas, Kansas was brilliant. 5 players in double figures, 22 assists on 27 field goals (are you kidding me?!?!?!), 50% from 3, and only 9 turnovers against a national championship contender. Everytime I see Julian Wright make a play, my jaw drops. Come back to school Julian, keep developing!!!!!
• Big 10: Iowa 67, Ohio St. 60. Iowa's offensive efficiency really surprised me, shooting 47% with 18 assists on their 26 field goals. More than half of Ohio St.'s shot attempts were 3s, not good.

So I gave you my bracket last night, and I was off by 3. I had Cincinnati, Hofstra, and Michigan in, while Air Force, Utah St., and George Mason were not in my bracket. Air Force is the real shocker, they didn't play anyone in their non-conference, they only played one team in the top 50. Utah St. was a layup away from the WAC tournament championship, I wasn't upset with their inclusion.

I think Tennessee should have been lower than a 2 seed. How they are seeded higher than North Carolina, Boston College, Florida, and Kansas is beyond me. Syracuse as a 5 (after being out basically) was a little high also.

Don't worry, there will be more bracket talk. I haven't started making my picks yet, but I'll start going through them tomorrow.

A Real Man's Game

Today is arguably the greatest day of college hoops all year. 11 conference tournament finals, plus the ACC, Big 10, SEC, and Big 12 semifinals. It doesn't get much better. And in each game today, there was a man. At this time of year, you can't play like a boy, you've got to play like a man.

Here are today's men and today's hoops:

• Conference USA: Memphis 57, UAB 46. How about Shawne Williams getting 18 points and 8 rebounds in leading Memphis to their 1st Conference USA title. UAB had no answer for his inside/outside game. Memphis doesn't shoot the 3 well, but they make enough to keep you honest.
• America East: Albany 80, Vermont 67. Jamar Wilson was single-handedly responsible for ending Vermont's Cinderella run, scoring 29 leading Albany to their first ever NCAA tournament.
• Atlantic 10: Xavier 62, St. Joe's 61. St. Joe's was up 10 with about 6 minutes left when Stanley Burrell put X on his back. He hit three 3s down the stretch, then Justin Doellman hit the go ahead free throws to get X the win. Xavier finished 10th in the regular season in the A-1o, and they're going dancing. This, with their best player hurt, and their senior point guard kicked off the team about a month ago.
• Pac 10: UCLA 71, California 52. Jordan Farmar is the best point guard west of the Rockies. He had 19 points and 3 assists to lead UCLA, who pulled away in the 2nd half.
• MAC: Kent St. 71, Toledo 66. Kent has great guards, but it was forward Kevin Warzynski's 21 points off the bench that led the way for Kent. Toledo cut a 15 point deficit down to 3 with 3 minutes left, but a Warzynski putback stemmed the tide and Kent is back in the Dance. Kent's guards are quick, athletic, and can shoot. You don't want any part of them in the 1st round.
• MEAC: Hampton 60, Delaware St. 56. Jaz Cowan led Hampton with 15 points and 7 boards in a rematch of last year's MEAC title game. Hampton almost blew a 16 point 2nd half lead, but Cowan got some big baskets down the stretch to hold off the Hornets.
• Big East: Syracuse 65, Pittsburgh 61. He didn't play a great game tonight, but Gerry McNamara still had 14 points and 6 assists as the Cuse completed their transformation from dead to alive. Demetris Nichols had a big shooting night for the Cuse, 4/5 from 3 and ended up with 15 points.
• SWAC: Southern 57, Arkansas Pine-Bluff 44. Peter Cipriano had 21 points and 9 boards for the Jags as they survived being the top seed to win the title.
• MWC: San Diego St. 69, Wyoming 64. Steve Fisher (yes that Steve Fisher from Michigan) and his club survived overtime and the bubble with the big win tonight. Brandon Heath didn't have a great night, but he was great when he had to be, hitting the go-ahead shot that was among his 22 points.
• WAC: Nevada 70, Utah St. 63. Another overtime thriller out west as Nevada won the regular season and conference tourney titles. Sorry Brad, Nick Fazekas doesn't get the nod in this game. Marcellus Kemp hit a huuge 3 to put Nevada up 4 late in the overtime. Nevada has some outside game to complement Fazekas in the middle. Look out for them in the NCAAs.
• In the ACC, it will be Duke vs. Boston College for the championship. Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts stepped up for the Dukies, combining for 31 points. Paulus had an outstanding game: 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover. Duke's role players need to step up like this from here on out. Boston College were men all-around, making UNC look like boys. UNC had no answer for Craig Smith (23 points, 15 rebounds), who seemed to score at will, as did the rest of the Eagles. The Heels kept fighting back, but BC's experience showed in the end as UNC's inexperience showed (allowing Craig Smith to get a layup with 2 on the shot clock after the BC lead was cut to 3).
• In the SEC, it will be Florida vs. South Carolina. This South Carolina team is tournament tough, they won the NIT at the buzzer if you recall last year. If they win, they burst somebody's bubble. Florida took it to LSU in the final 8 minutes, turning a close game into a runaway. Florida used its depth to its advantage, their frontcourt continues to play well.
• In the Big 12, it will be Kansas vs. Texas. The Longhorns had to survive a 2nd half Texas A&M rally to win. PJ Tucker came to play today, scoring 26 and grabbing 13 boards. Kansas was too much for Nebraska, shooting 52%, getting 21 assists on 30 field goals. It's amazing how well they play together for being so young.
• And in the Big 10, it will be Iowa vs. Ohio St. in the finals. Iowa was the beneficiary of Michigan St. being worn down by Illinois last night. The Spartans had no giddy-up, as they were beaten up and down the floor by usually slow Iowa. I'm surprised Tom Izzo didn't complain afterwards. Ohio St. was led by JJ Sullinger's 19 points and 15 rebounds. IU had no answer for him, but Roderick Wilmont had a great look at the end but short-armed it.

I promised a bracket, and here it is (teams are in seeding order). And this is assuming all of the favorites win tomorrow. I followed all of the bracketing rules the best I could.:

• Washington DC regional: UConn, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Kansas, Tennessee, Washington, Wichita St., Indiana, California, Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Kent St., San Diego St., Xavier, Davidson, winner of Monmouth vs. Hampton (play-in game)
• Atlanta regional: Duke, UCLA, Iowa, LSU, Oklahoma, Syracuse, NC State, Marquette, Southern Illinois, UAB, Texas A&M, Michigan, Montana, Winthrop, Pacific, Southern
• Minneapolis regional: Villanova, Texas, Florida, Boston College, George Washington, Michigan St., Georgetown, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Bradley, Hofstra, UW-Milwaukee, Iona, South Alabama, Penn, Oral Roberts
• Oakland regional: Memphis, Ohio St., Pittsburgh, Illinois, West Virginia, Nevada, UNC Wilmington, Northern Iowa, Arizona, Arkansas, Bucknell, Alabama, Murray St., Northwestern St., Belmont, Albany.

Some notes:

• UConn is my overall #1.
• Allen Ray's eye injury isn't as serious as once thought, he may be ready to go Thursday, so they stay on the 1 line.
• Seeding will be very interesting tomorrow. I was surprised when I heard the committee already had the top 7 lines seeded. Historically, they've figured out who's in first, then seeded the bracket.
• Last 6 teams in: Cincinnati, Hofstra, Texas A&M, Seton Hall, Michigan, Alabama. Keep in mind that if South Carolina wins the SEC tournament, one of these teams won't make it.
• Last 6 teams out: Missouri St., Creighton, Maryland, Utah St., Air Force, George Mason.
• Missouri St. has no big non-conference win. Creighton has suffered injuries, hurting the quality of their team. Maryland hasn't beaten anybody and they haven't been the same since losing Chris McCray. Utah St. and Air Force have nice records, but no signature wins to hang their hat on, which is probably the result of no one wanting to play them. Hofstra gets the nod over George Mason because they beat them twice down the stretch. Seton Hall gets in because of their 5 Top 50 wins and 9-7 Big East record.

We'll find out the real field tomorrow. Last year, I was 63/65 ( I had Miami and Maryland in, Northern Iowa and Iowa out). The only hard part is getting the last 6-7 teams right because you know the rest due to automatic bids or you just know. So guys like Joe Lunardi, skilled at the bracket, aren't as smart as you think. Lunardi also needs to stick to analyzing the numbers and not analyzing basketball, his basketball analysis is average in my opinion. I don't claim to be that smart either, this is just what I think the field will look like tomorrow night.

Give Me Some of That Real Music

If you've been a full-time reader, you know this already, but if not, nothing beats a good gut-wrenching R&B/Soul song for me. There's some good stuff on the radio right now, I like Mary J. Blige's new song, and I'm enjoying the old and new stuff featuring the Notorious BIG, along with the resurrection of Mariah Carey (even though she's still a little crazy). But the new song out by Keyshia Cole, "Love". Now that's the song. She's begging for her man to stay and you can feel her gut wrenching with every word. If you haven't heard it, I suggest you download it. Keyshia Cole, Alicia Keys, Leela James, keep singing ladies I love it.

Less than 48 hours until Selection Sunday, can you feel the excitement!!!:

• In the ACC, tomorrow's first semifinal will be top-seed Duke vs. last-place Wake Forest after the Deacons knocked off 4 seed NC State. Wake had 5 in double figures and outrebounded the Wolfpack by 19, yikes. Duke saw JJ Redick return to mideseason form after a slow start. JJ finished with 25 on 9/17 shooting, 5/11 from 3. The second semifinal will be North Carolina vs. Boston College. The Heels survived a pesky Virginia team, keeping their streak of good play going. BC is having an easy time with Maryland, who I think are headed for the NIT. What will Gary Williams complain about after this one?
• In the Big Ten, semifinal #1 will be Iowa vs. a resurgent Michigan St., who upset Illinois in tonight's quarterfinal nightcap. Sparty won a tough, gritty game, a type of game they've lost this year. Give credit to Michigan St.'s backup frontcourt players. When Paul Davis got in foul trouble, the backups stepped up, keeping the Spartans in front. Illinois is great defensively and their big people present matchup problems. But they don't make a lot of outside shots and their foul shooting is atrocious, which will be their downfall. Semifinal #2 will be Ohio St. vs. Indiana, who I think are in the NCAAs after their win today. IU's been a 2nd half team all year, and today was no excpetion. They were down 19-15 at the half, but got hot from the outside, which got Marco Killingsworth going inside, and they were able to beat Wisconsin. Now, what will happen if Indiana plays Iowa in the finals??? IU playing their #1 candidate for their coaching job in Indianapolis. Drama, people, drama. With UConn and Villanova losing this week and Duke struggling, a Big 1o tourney win will most likely give Ohio St. a 1 seed I think.
• Tomorrow's Conference USA championship will be Memphis vs. UAB, 1 vs. 2. I think UAB is in the tournament, they have continued to roll after beating Memphis just several days ago. This game might be the most entertaining of them all tomorrow. The game is in Memphis by the way.
• In the Patriot Championship, Bucknell took care of business against Holy Cross. Bucknell made 10/18 3s in this game. When they shoot like that, and you add the big fella Chris McNaughton inside, they can beat a lot of teams. They will be a 7 or 8 seed I think.
• The SEC final 4 will be Kentucky vs. South Carolina, and LSU vs. Florida. South Carolina beat Tennessee to make it to the semis. Talk about a team struggling, Tennessee can't guard anybody right now. South Carolina is one of the poorer offensive teams in the SEC, yet they shot 54% and had 21 assists on their 28 field goals, talk about efficiency!!!!
• The Atlantic 10 final will be St. Joseph's vs. Xavier. Xavier is playing basically a home game down at US Bank Arena on the Riverfront. What a gift this NCAA bid would be with none of the top 4 seeds winning their quarterfinal game in this tournament. I guess the 1st round bye is overrated.
• Another tournament where apparently the 1st round bye was overrated is the Big East. 3 of the 4 semifinalists played 1st round games (Villanova the exception). Gerry McNamara was at it again for the Cuse. After a slow 1st half, he scored 15 of his 17 in the 2nd half, including a 3 with 46 sec. left to bring his team to within 1 of Georgetown. Then, he threw a great bounce pass to Eric Devendorf for the game-winning layup with 10 sec. left. Syracuse is a whole different team from the one I saw get embarassed at DePaul. They're doing a better job of getting the ball to G-Mac more and they're playing harder defensively. Darryl Watkins isn't playing great, but he's playing well, well enough to be a factor at both ends. In the 2nd semifinal, Pittsburgh did everything right vs. Villanova, and the Wildcats may have lost Big East player of the year Allen Ray. Ray suffered an eye injury at the start of the 2nd half which didn't look good. He was taken to the hospital. What a tough break for Nova. If Ray is unavailable, the selection committee may drop Nova to a 2 seed, as they did with Cincinnati when Kenyon Martin broke his leg.
• In the MAC, it will be Kent State vs. Toledo. Yes, Toledo upset Akron, who had everything going for them in this tournament. They had the much easier half of the draw, made even easier when Toledo beat MAC West champ Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals. But Akron hasn't played well in Cleveland, and it bit them tonight.
• And in the Big 12, it will be Texas vs. Texas A&M, who are definitely in after whipping Colorado, and Kansas vs. Nebraska, who upset Oklahoma in the quarterfinal nightcap. The majority of upsets occur in the 1st and 4th games of 4 game sessions. The noon starting time is too early for some, it's tough to get the energy going, and with the late starting time, you're sitting around all day waiting to play, which allows the nerves to creep in. At least that's my theory.

After tomorrow, we'll know most of the NCAA field. I'll be filling in my 65 team field and will be able to tell you tomorrow night who the Last 5 in and the Last 5 out are.

If you get a chance, get a copy of this week's Sports Illustrated and read the story about Barry Bonds. You're innocent until proven guilty, but wow, this is pretty darn close. The pieces seem to fall into place. Again, seem is the key word.

Here's a little bit of Keyshia's song to finish things tonight:

"Oh, Love, never knew what I was missing, but I knew once we started kissin' I found......Love, never knew what I was missin but I knew once we start kissin' I found....."

Rain Rain Go Away

The rain has come down hard all day long here in the D. It's warm, temperatures in the 50s as we speak, but the wind's blowing, the rain's coming down, it's not pretty. And when the rain comes down, the many potholes fill up with water, making the daily commute more like the daily hydroplane. The water just sits on the road, it doesn't drain quickly. Add to that the loose asphalt/blacktop/dirt on the road and your car has no chance. The loose material mixes in with the rain and covers your window, making it difficult to see. The weather is supposed to stay warm through the weekend, which had me thinking about golfing, but it's supposed to rain most of the weekend also, so I think it would be a waste trying to golf. But I'm starting to get the fever. I'm working on getting rid of my quick snap hook that's found a way into my swing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to get rid of this, I'm going to fire my hips through quicker, keeping my hands back and chasing. My slice goes further than my hook, so I'm ok with slicing at first until I get the kinks worked out.

Ok, time for some hoops quick-hitters, gonna keep it short and sweet since there were a lot of games today:

• Syracuse is probably in the NCAAs after their wins over Cincinnati and UConn. UConn shot 30% from the floor even with 20 offensive rebounds, not good. I think they'll be seeing more zone. Gerry McNamara's play should've never been questioned, I'd want him on my team. Meanwhile, UC and Seton Hall are left waiting. UC has the higher RPI and better resume, but the Hall just beat UC a week ago and had a better conference record. I think UC gets in and Seton Hall doesn't, my opinion, with the deciding factor being UC's better strength of schedule.
• I said earlier that George Washington's question mark was playing in a half-court game. Well, they played the ultimate half-court team, Temple, and lost. Granted, Pops Mensah-Bonsu was still out with injury and he will help in the NCAA tourney, but it should be a concern. GW is probably now a 5 seed in the NCAAs.
• I think Florida St. is out after losing to Wake Forest, who finished last in the ACC. FSU came up one win short of the 20 win mark and had no quality road wins. GW's loss which guarantees the Atlantic 10 2 teams may have knocked the Noles out.
• I think Michigan is in, but probably one of the last 4-5 teams in now after their 1st round loss to Minnesota in the Big 10. Minnesota isn't nearly as big and athletic as Michigan, yet UofM's frontcourt players only scored 22 points. Michigan will get in over Florida St. since the Big 10 was tougher.
• I said all year Xavier had NCAA talent and was a big disappointment, to me, this year. Well with GW's loss and X's win over Charlotte tonight, it's their A-10 tournament to lose, being played in Cincinnati.
• Great 2nd half comeback by Pittsburgh over West Virginia tonight. All 5 Pitt starters were in double figures, a far contrast from West Virginia, who got 22 from Pittsnogle, 10 from Gansey, and that's it. West Virginia relies so much on the 3 (33 of their 53 attempts were 3s) it's hard to know what will happen with them in the tournament. One thing's for sure, they've struggled against the top teams in the Big East.
• California is probably in with their win over USC tonight in the Pac 10 quarterfinals. But if they can win tomorrow over Washington (most likely), they'll be a lock as they hit the 20 win mark.
• Last night, 2 teams played their way in. Monmouth beat Fairleigh Dickinson to win the Northeast, and Montana beat Northern Arizona to win the Big Sky, both teams winning in the others' gyms. Fairleigh Dickinson is a good team, but they fell asleep at various points in the game. They jumped out to a nice lead, let Monmouth back in it, went on a run to end the 1st half, came out flat in the 2nd way, and pretty much played flat the rest of the way. The last 8 seconds exemplified how the game went. FDU was in control, up 1, shooting the 1 and 1, they were in control. Well, they missed the front end of the 1 and 1, Monmouth got the rebound, went the length of the floor, drove by 2 guys standing still and got a layup with 2 sec. left. How do you let a guy go 70 feet untouched for a layup??? What a way to lose an NCAA bid, on your home floor nevertheless.
• And Miami saw their season end tonight at the hands of their arch-nemesis, the OU Bobcats 73-58. Miami's 2 weaknesses all year were committing too many turnovers and failure to stop dribble penetration and OU exploited them tonight. Miami ends up 18-10, 14-4 in the MAC, which in the end exceeded my expectations, but it's always disappointing not making it to the Dance, especially when OU has ended Miami's season 3 of the last 4 years.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but when I went to church on Sunday, I was greeted by one of the most wonderful sounds. As you walked in, the local Brownie troop was there and in unison said, "Good morning." It was the cutest thing, I said thank you and smiled. The little things people.

TGIF tomorrow, which means rest, yessss.

Please, No More

In tonight's Amazing Race, the hippies took the lead getting to the pit stop in Bratos, Brazil first. Eric and Robert were 2nd after finishing 1st last week. From now on, Eric and Robert will be referred to as the Slackers. Hey, they admitted they don't like to work and want to just hang out, so I don't think that's going too far. The Slackers need to stop making comments about the Pink Ladies and every female under the age of 30. I lost track of how many times they wanted to "get in their pants" and "slap their butt". First of all, any girl who thinks that is attractive has no self-respect in my book. You should be treated with respect, not as an object of lust. Second, these guys are the reason why nice guys have such a hard time finding a girl. The first thing girls think about a lot of times are guys like these. I'd like to think myself as a nice guy, at least I try to be one, it's up to you to decide. But the Slackers give guys a bad rap and I hope they're eliminated soon. Sorry to disappoint you, but I will never say "I want to get in your pants". Of course, maybe they're just trying to get noticed for the next edition of Celebrity Poker on Bravo, ya never know.

Anyway, 3 more teams are going dancing, who are they:

• Mid-Continent Final: Oral Roberts 85, Chicago St. 72. For a half, it looked like ORU would get beat on their home floor by a losing team, again. ORU came out nervous, allowing Chicago St. to slow the game down to a pace comfortable enough for them. But a 2nd half dunk by Larry Owens changed all that and got ORU going. Chicago St. was game, they never quit. Their 2 starting guards are 5'6" and 5'9", but they played much bigger. ORU was too good in the 2nd half for them, most likely earning a 15 seed in the tourney.
• Horizon Final: UW-Milwaukee 87, Butler 71. UW-Milwaukee was too quick, too physical, and too good for Butler tonight. The Panthers shot 53% from the floor and outrebounded the Bulldogs by 12. The Panthers had 4 in double figures and caused enough havoc with their press to rattle Butler's guards. Butler had all the ingredients of the great Butler teams of recent memory, except for great team defense. You can neutralize quickness with great team defense, but Butler's defensive rotations were slow, allowing the Panthers to continually penetrate inside for easy buckets. The Panthers made the Sweet 16 last year and have a lot of experience back from that team. Their helter skelter style will give somebody problems. They're looking at a 12 or 13 seed.
• Sun Belt Final: South Alabama 95, Western Kentucky 70. Well, whoever thought Western Kentucky deserved at-large consideration was clearly wrong. South Alabama was clearly the better team in all phases. Western couldn't handle the Jaguar press, which led to easy buckets. They couldn't guard the Jags on the perimeter, which led to easy buckets and open 3s. And they couldn't handle the Jags' defensive pressure, making scoring difficult for themselves. South Alabama is coached by former Kentucky player John Pelphrey, who was on that UK team that lost in the 1992 Elite Eight vs. Duke. Pretty good game as I recall. Pelphrey has his team playing like that UK team did: they're deep, they press, they shoot the 3, and they play all-out for 40 minutes. This team is capable of pulling an upset. I'm a little disappointed that Western didn't win. If they made the NCAAs and got sent to Detroit, I was on a mission to get my picture taken with their funny looking mascot. Everytime I see him, I think of the Gumdrop from Candy Land.

Tomorrow, the Big East, Atlantic 10, and Conference USA tournaments get underway. Obviously, the marquee game of the day is the Big East battle between Cincinnati and Syracuse. If UC wins, they're most likely in and Syracuse is out. If Syracuse wins, they're still alive and UC will be nervous until Sunday. One bid gets handed out tomorrow in the Big Sky. It'll be another 1 v. 2 matchup, Northern Arizona vs. Montana.

Another 6 hour rest, oh joy. Once March is over, I will get to bed earlier. Maybe that should be one of my goals for the year haha.

Closing The Deal

First tonight, Kirby Puckett died due to a stroke he had yesterday. He was only 44 years old. I'm not much of a big baseball fan, but I remember watching Kirby Puckett and every time he had a big smile on his face just having fun. That's how you should play the game, for the love and pure joy of just playing.

3 more teams are going dancing, bringing the total to 9, who are they?

• Colonial Final: UNC Wilmington 78, Hofstra 67. The toughest thing to do in tournament play is close out the game. You come out ramped up to play, run out to a big lead, and naturally relax. You're in control, you just have to play smart and you're going to win. But that's when the other team makes their run and you've got to stay aggressive enough to hold it off. UNC Wilmington was up 23 in the 2nd half after playing brilliant basketball. They played good defense, finished inside, hit the perimeter shot, textbook. But they started playing conservatively, content to run time off the clock, and Hofstra made their move. With 4 minutes left, this was a 3 point game, but TJ Carter scored 12 straight points for the Seahawks, sealing the deal and preventing one of the biggest comebacks, if not the biggest comeback in Championship Week history. The Seahawks are one to look out for, they can shoot, rebound, and they have more size than normal for a mid-major. Their point guard is experienced and tough, and I have first-hand experience of this because I played with him way back in junior high. You don't want to mess with John Goldsberry, believe me, he's a really good player. Hofstra can only sit and wait. They beat George Mason twice in the last 10 days and they have a higher RPI, but will it be enough?
• Metro Atlantic: Iona 80, St. Peter's 61. In a matchup of 2 of the top 10 scorers in the nation, Iona's Stevie Burtt was on fire and he got help from his teammates. Burtt got the better of Keydren Clark 28-25, and Iona showed they were the better team overall. Burtt is capable of putting his team on his back, and he's a lefty making him awkward to guard. Iona is not very big, but athletic, they might give someone problems if in the right matchup, but that's a big if. Burtt has a nice inside-outside game, I was impressed.
• West Coast: Gonzaga 68, Loyola Marymount 67. Loyola Marymount played great for the first 27 minutes, leading at Gonzaga 49-36. Keep in mind Gonzaga has never lost in their new arena the 2 years they've played there, LMU was almost flawless. But again, you have to close the deal. LMU's leader Brandon Worthy picked up his 4th foul with 12 minutes left, forcing him to sit. Gonzaga made their run with big shots coming from unexpected people before Adam Morrison and JP Batista brought the Zags home. But LMU didn't quit and had a chance to win when their big man blew an open layup at the buzzer. Gonzaga gets the automatic bid, and someone's bubble remains intact. Batista is not 100%, especially on defense. Gonzaga also showed tonight they don't get back in defensive transition. I'm not anti-Gonzaga, I love watching them play offense. They play offense as you should and have guys who can shoot, drive, and dish. But defense wins championships and Gonzaga doesn't play much defense.
• Tomorrow, 3 more bids will get handed out: Sun Belt: 1 vs. 2, Western Kentucky vs. South Alabama. Horizon: 1 vs. 2, Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs. Butler, and Mid-Continent: Oral Roberts vs. Chicago St. Yes, that Chicago St., normally one of the worst teams in America will play for an NCAA Tournament bid with a record of 11-18. It will be deja vu all over again for Oral Roberts. Last year, they played a team with a losing record in the finals on their home floor, and lost. Remember Oakland. Chicago St. would be a bigger Cinderella story.
• MAC Madness got underway with the 1st round held at campus sites. No upsets to report, so it will be Miami/OU part III Thursday night in the final quarterfinal of the day. OU's won the last 2 times they've matched up in Cleveland, I'm thinking it's Miami's turn.
• Arizona could be in a little trouble, Hassan Adams has been suspended for the Pac 10 tourney due to a possible DUI Sunday night.

And the Southern Illinois cheerleader who fell and hit the floor during the MVC championship has a chipped vertebrae, but should be ok. She fell down, the EMTs immobilized her as a precautionary measure, yet when the SIU band started playing their fight song, she started doing the hand/arm movements that go along with it. Wow, good for her, way to be tough.

And at the Gwinett Gladiators hockey game, it was Runaway Bride bobblehead night. If you were one of the first 1,000 in the building, you got a Jennifer Eubanks bobblehead. They were gone in 10 minutes haha. But the doll doesn't look like her at all, the eyes aren't nearly big enough.

I need to go to sleep, must be up in 6 hours?!?!?!

Oscar Night

The only part of Oscar Night that I pay any real attention to is the Red Carpet. After that and the opening monologue (I thought Jon Stewart was good tonight), I flip back and forth between other programs. I'd rather watch Gonzaga than the Oscars, but that's just me. I don't really care who won for Best Short Film or Best Makeup. Tell me who won the big categories and I'm good. The Oscars give out too many awards and the Grammys give out too few. The Grammys are now just one big concert. The Golden Globes get it right, they give out awards during their program that the common person cares about. Again, that's just me. But here are my top 3 from the Red Carpet:

• Keira Knightley. I liked her in a ponytail and her necklace was gorgeous
• Jessica Alba. She looked golden in her gold dress.
• Reese Witherspoon. Very classy and stylish.

One other thing, is there anything left on Dolly Parton that's real??? I think if you want to scare people, build a roller coaster that goes through a tunnel and at the end of the tunnel in the dark, reveal a picture of Dolly Parton and have her singing. Now that would be scary.

But I'm not interested in everyone's political statements at the end of their speeches or hearing them thank their agent or legal team. I just want to see what everyone is wearing, hear some good comedy, find out who won and go on with my life.

Alright, let's talk hoops, Selection Sunday is just a week away:

• Florida 79, Kentucky 64. It's nice when you can make shots: Florida 52%, Kentucky 38% (25% from 3). Kentucky is in the NCAA tournament, but I don't think they'll survive the 1st weekend, in fact they may not survive the 1st round. The key to Florida is their defense. They have great balance offensively, but can they guard people.
• Villanova 92, Syracuse 82. At least Syracuse played hard, but Villanova is too good. It was nice to see Gerry McNamara play a great last game at the Dome (29 points), but Syracuse is a definite out unless they win the Big East tourney. Villanova will be a #1 seed, something I didn't think they could accomplish without Curtis Sumpter.
• Ohio St. 76, Purdue 57. Ohio St. won their first outright Big 10 title since the days of Mark Baker, Jimmy Jackson, Jamaal Brown, Chris Jent, Perry Carter, and Treg Lee. If they win the Big 10 tourney, they could get a #1 seed.
• In the America East, Vermont continued their upset run, knocking off 2 seed Binghamton. They will travel to Albany for the championship game on Saturday.
• In the Patriot League, it will be 1 vs. 2, a rematch of last year's title game as this time Holy Cross will travel to Bucknell. Holy Cross owned this league until Bucknell knocked them off last year at Holy Cross. Now, Bucknell is king of the hill and Holy Cross wants to retake it. This championship game should be a great one, it is on Friday.
• In the Northeast Conference, it will be 1 vs. 3 as 3 seed Monmouth knocked off 2 seed Central Connecticut St. to earn a spot in the final vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Wed. night.
• Florida St. 67, the other Miami 64. One more win Free Shoes University and you're in.
• Southern Illinois 59, Bradley 46. I don't know if it was bad offense or great defense, but SIU took control in the 2nd half, only allowing Bradley to get as close as 6 late. Jamal Tatum knocked down some jumpers for SIU, which is a bonus, and Randall Falker played like a man possessed at both ends. Again, I think the Valley will get 4 teams in, but all of these teams need to find some offense or they'll all be out in the 1st round. The whole run the shot clock down to 5 and heave a 3 thing doesn't always work.
• Davidson 80, UT-Chattanooga 55. Davidson is going dancing again after getting a lights out performance from Brendan Winters. He scored 33 points on 13/21 shooting, 6/10 from 3. Davidson is very efficient on offense and can shoot the ball. They are well-coached and aren't afraid of playing the big boys, they play a very tough non-conference schedule. Whoever draws them will have their hands full.
• In the Colonial, Hofstra beat George Mason 58-49, now guaranteeing the Colonial 2 bids, 3 possibly if Hofstra were to beat UNC Wilimington in the championship game. In effect, Hofstra has knocked someone out of the tournament. In fact, they've also put GMU back on the bubble, although I think they'll still get in. Hofstra is one of the hottest teams in the country and are now 24-5, so this wasn't a bad loss. Hofstra held GMU to 33% shooting and only 16 2nd half points. The Colonial title game is tomorrow night.
• Texas 72, Oklahoma 48. The Texas that blew out Kansas showed up, as well as the Daniel Gibson from last year. 22 points on 8/15 shooting, he's starting to play as he did last year at the end of the year. Oklahoma will go as far as Terrell Everett and Michael Neal take them. They have to make perimeter shots to complement Taj Gray and Casey Bookout inside. Texas has gotten a nice lift from AJ Abrams off the bench the last couple of games.
• In the MAAC, St. Peter's upset top-seed Manhattan to advance to the championship game vs. Iona. St. Peter's possesses one of the top scorers in the nation, Keydren Clark. He scored 29 tonight and has more than 3,000 in his career.
• Gonzaga survived their West Coast Conference semifinal, beating San Diego in overtime 97-92. The tournament is being played on their home floor and credit to San Diego, they pushed them to the limit but didn't have enough gas in the tank to pull off the upset. Gonzaga received a bye into the semifinals; this was San Diego's 3rd game in 3 nights. Gonzaga was also the beneficiary of questionable officiating, shooting almost 3 times as many free throws as San Diego. Gonzaga still can't guard anybody (their big people are as slow as molasses) and they don't rebound their defensive board. Now with JP Batista a little banged up, they're in some trouble for the NCAA tournament. Saying that, Gonzaga is as deep as anyone in the country and they are as good offensively as anyone, but you've gotta stop somebody sometime.
• And Northmont knocked off top-seed Fairmont to win their 4th sectional title in school history. The T-Bolts will go for their 1st ever district title Saturday vs. Cincinnati Princeton. Congratulations boys.

Whew, and the week's just starting.

Feather Bowling

I went over to Mt. Clemens and met some people from work to go feather bowling. Feather bowling is a combination of curling and bowling. You roll curling-like discs down a half-pipe like alley, trying to get your disc closest to a feather. The scoring system works like curling, except if your disc lands on the feather in which you don't score. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. It is one of those perfect bar games.

So because of that, I didn't get to watch all of the basketball, but I watched most of it, and what I saw was fantastic:

• Miami sent their seniors out with a 74-65 win over Buffalo. The Redhawks enter the MAC Tournament 18-9, finishing the MAC regular season at 14-4. That's the most conference games Miami has won in a year since the 1998-99 NCAA Tournament team. In a year where Miami wasn't picked to finish better than 3rd in the MAC East (which is where they ended up but I don't think anyone expected 14-4), it's a great accomplishment for this team. Miami will be the #4 seed in the MAC tourney, earning them a 1st round bye and will play in the late Thursday quarterfinal against the winner of the 1st round game between OU and Central Michigan.
• Illinois 75, Michigan St. 68. Good win for Illinois on the road in East Lansing. Dee Brown had a good shooting day and the Illinois bench made a big contribution. Michigan St. is in trouble. They are without their two most physical players for the rest of the year and they are just not defending the way a Tom Izzo team is expected to. The MSU offense looks a lot better, Paul Davis is staying on the block more and scoring at will with that turnaround jumper, but when you can't stop anybody, offense doesn't matter. Michigan St. is in the NCAA, but they only went 8-8 in the Big 10, and I just wonder what might happen if they lose in the 1st round of the Big 10 tourney? They'll still probably get in, but they're looking at possibly a 7 or 8 seed now, who would've thunk it?
• Cincinnati 78, West Virginia 75. The Bearcats got the win they needed and are still alive. They played about as well as they could play, shooting 54% while only commiting 7 turnovers against John Bielein's matchup. UC will play Syracuse in the 1st round of the Big East tourney. A win there and UC will be dancing. I'm not a UC fan, but Andy Kennedy has done a great job salvaging the season after Huggy Bear was let go (he was in the arena today) and the loss of Armein Kirkland to injury.
• The three teams that earned bids are: Winthrop (Big South), Belmont (Atlantic Sun), and Murray St. (Ohio Valley). Winthrop is a familiar name, they've now gone to the Dance 6 of the last 8 years. They're experienced and have players who can shoot, though not consistently well. They almost beat Gonzaga in the 1st round last year. They played a really good 1st half, but came out flat in the 2nd half. How can you come out flat in your conference championship??? There was a camera in the Winthrop locker room at halftime and they were laughing, joking, thinking the game was over. They're lucky to win. Belmont has guys who can shoot the ball, but they don't play much defense and aren't very athletic. Murray St. can guard you and they have quickness you'll have to match up against.
• Texas A&M 75, Texas Tech 59. I think this puts the Aggies in, although I'd still treat the Big 12 quarterfinal as a must win just to be safe.
• In the Missouri Valley, it will be Bradley vs. Southern Illinois for the automatic bid. I think 4 will get in from the Valley: Wichita St., Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and Bradley. Missouri St. needs some help; Creighton is definitely out. It's going to be fun hearing Dick Enberg call the championship tomorrow, hopefully the game is just as good.
• Indiana 69, Michigan 67. Indiana is 1 win away from getting in for sure, I think. It looked like they would get blown out at the start, falling behind 10-0. But despite the slow start and 20 turnovers, IU made big shots and Marco Killingswoth had a huge double double. For Michigan, it was the Daniel Horton show, 9/17 from the floor, 34 points, which is great, except when the rest of your team goes 12/29. One negative about Horton, zero assists, not good from your starting point guard. Another thing going for Indiana, the Big 10 tourney is in Indianapolis this year.
• In the Colonial quarterfinals, Northeastern (1st year in the Colonial) pulled a mild upset over Old Dominion. Old Dominion couldn't match the expectations going in unfortunately, a common occurence with mid-majors who get the preseason hype. When you have that target on your back, it makes it that much harder to produce. Georgia St. almost sent Bracketville into a frenzy, taking George Mason into overtime before the Colonials got the win. The semifinals will be: UNC Wilmington vs. Northeastern, and Hofstra vs. George Mason. If UNC Wilmington wins, that might give them a tourney berth, they're the highest ranked team in the RPI in the Colonial. If Hofstra can win, will the Colonial get 3 bids???
• Remember Vermont? Last year, they were the feel good story with Taylor Coppenrath and Coach Tom Brennan leaving, but they were able to knock off Syracuse in the 1st round. Well, they upset Boston University in the America East quarterfinals, sending them to the semis where they will face Binghamton. Albany is the top seed.
• In the Horizon League, it will be #1 vs. #2. Butler will travel to Milwaukee to play UW-Milwaukee as the Bulldogs will try to reclaim their Horizon league throne.
• In the Southern Conference, UT-Chattanooga ended Appalachian St.'s upset run, putting them in the finals against Davidson, which won last year's regular season title going undefeated, but lost in the conference semifinals, depriving them of an NCAA bid.
• North Carolina 83, Duke 76. Another great Duke/Carolina game, and a great effort by the Carolina young guns. It takes an incredible effort to win on another team's Senior Night, and they were able to do it at Duke of all places. Tyler Hansbrough is a workaholic in the paint who won't be denied and Roy Williams got the better of Coach K tonight. When Duke made their run in the last 2 minutes, Williams got the ball into the hands of David Noel more, taking the pressure of Bobby Frasor. UNC survived the first 4 minute adrenaline rush, played their game, were the more aggresive team in the 2nd half, then survived the run and made foul shots down the stretch. UNC could do a lot of damage in the NCAAs, a lot of damage. Duke meanwhile looks to be tired. JJ Redick was hot for the first 4 minutes, but then he misfired, badly. Shelden Williams had a big game, but why didn't he get the ball more??? I think Duke is running too many plays for Redick. They need to get the big fella more involved, along with the other players. Duke is relying on Williams and Redick too much and the others' play is suffering as when they get opportunities to contribute, they're unable to, forcing more reliance on Redick and Williams.

Tomorrow we've got:

• Florida at Kentucky. The Gators have been struggling of late, UK can seal their NCAA bid with a win (although I think they're in right now)
• Villanova at Syracuse. Must-win for the Orange, not only for the NCAAs but for their pride. You would think after their pathetic effort at DePaul they will come out with fire in their eyes tomorrow. But with this Orange team, you never know what you're gonna get.
• Purdue at Ohio St. A win for the Bucks gives them the Big 10 outright title and puts them in the discussion for a #1 seed.
• Oklahoma at Texas. A good old-fashioned rivalry to close out the day. Which Texas team will show up, the one that blew out Kansas or the one that didn't come to play at Texas A&M?

Tiger Woods leads at Doral by 2, shooting 68 despite a double bogey. Phil Mickelson could only manage 72 and is 4 behind.

Even before the live basketball began, it was a great basketball day as Hoosiers was on tv this morning. Watching it never gets old, "Now boys, don't get caught watching the paint dry!"

Oh I love this time of year.

Arch Madness

Let's not waste anytime, the Madness is in full swing let's get to it:

• Upset special: Appalachian St. 74, Georgia Southern 61. Georgia Southern was the top seed in the Southern Conference Tournament, but it didn't matter. Appalachian St. will now face UT-Chattanooga in one SoCon semifinal, a mild upset winner over the College of Charleston. The other semifinal will pit Elon vs. Davidson.
• Winthrop will host Coastal Carolina in the Big South championship tomorrow. Winthrop is the Big South stalwart; Coastal Carolina are now coached by former Tar Heel Buzz Peterson.
• Another conference tournament to watch is the Colonial, who have 3 legitimate at-large contenders (UNC Wilmington, Hofstra, and George Mason). And that's not including Old Dominion, winners of the Colonial last year and preseason favorites to win it all at the beginning of the year. Their tournament got underway tonight with Georgia St. beating Towson as the only upset (10 beating 7). Georgia St. is now 7-21.
• The top 2 seeds have survived in the Atlantic Sun tournament. Tomorrow's championship will be Belmont vs. Lipscomb. I believe (and I could be wrong) that neither team has ever made it to the NCAAs. That's what March Madness is all about, seeing these smaller schools accomplish their goal and seeing how happy they are just to be in the field of 65.
• The same held true in the Ohio Valley Conference where Samford will take on Murray St. in tomorrow's champioinship.
• Penn 57, Yale 55. Penn clinches the Ivy League title and the automatic NCAA bid. They're looking at a 15 seed in the Dance.
• Seton Hall 65, Pittsburgh 61. A huuuuge win for the Hall. This gets them to 9-7 in the Big East, and with a 1st round Big East tourney win, they are probably in. This is turning into a very interesting bubble because teams aren't limping in, they're winning big games down the stretch. Indiana, Florida St., Texas A&M, and now Seton Hall. Advice to those teams and the others on the bubble: keep winning because there will be no sneaking in this year.
• And in the Valley, where they call their conference tourney Arch Madness since it's held in St. Louis, the quarterfinals have lived up to their billing for the most part. In game 1, Wichita St. broke it open against Indiana St. in the last 5 minutes, going onto win 81-63. The Shockers will go as far as their guards take them. Paul Miller and Kyle Wilson give WSU two inside threats, and Wilson can even take you outside and hit the perimeter shot. But if the WSU guards aren't hitting 3s, they have trouble scoring.
• In game 2, Bradley continued its hot streak beating Creighton 54-47 in a game where both teams shot below 32% from the floor. Creighton, I think you're out with this one. You won at George Mason, but the rest of your quality wins are in conference, which I don't think will be enough to get you in unless you get help. Losing 4 of your last 6 doesn't help, and your losses to UT-Chattanooga and Illinois St. aren't good either. Meanwhile, Bradley is on the verge of getting in. Winners of 8 of their last 10, including wins over DePaul, Western Kentucky, and a sweep of Northern Iowa, the Braves are 19-9. A win over Wichita St. tomorrow might get you in Bradley if you happen to lose Sunday.
• Game 3 was a must for Southern Illinois, and they got it done 71-55 over Evansville. The Salukis now have 20 wins, but are only 5-5 in their last 10 and their best non-conference win is over Kent St. They lost to Alaska-Anchorage in the Great Alaska shootout along with Monmouth. I think you need one more win SIU. SIU's calling card is their defense. They possess great athleticism at every position. They have good guards in Jamaal Tatum (slasher) and Tony Young (all-around threat) and a capable big man in Randall Falker. They rely on their defense to generate a good percentage of their offense since they're not a great shooting team.
• And in the nightcap, Northern Iowa righted their ship with an impressive 2nd half vs. Missouri St. No matter what happens tomorrow, I think UNI is in at 21 wins. I think they are the best team in the Valley, and they seemed to regain their confidence tonight that they had for most of the year. Missouri St. finishes at 20-8, 8-2 in their last 10, and didn't lose to anyone outside of the RPI top 50. Their best non-conference win was at UW-Milwaukee in their Bracket Buster game. They split with Creighton during the year. I don't know Missouri St., you have a long wait ahead of you. I would be rooting for Gonzaga, Bucknell, and George Mason and the other favorites to win their respective conference tourneys because your margin of error is basically zero.

And if the basketball wasn't enough, Tiger and Phil are tied for the lead at Doral along with Scott Verplank and Camilo Villegas. Tiger and Phil are paired together for tomorrow. I can't wait.

Tomorrow is full of big-time hoops, including the 3 conference tournament championships:

• Illinois at Michigan St. A Big 10 tournament championship for the Illini, along with a win tomorrow would give them a 2 seed in the Dance. Michigan St. is still searching for their mojo and their toughness.
• West Virginia at Cincinnati. UC must win to keep their NCAA hopes alive. A loss puts them in big trouble, forcing them to get to the Big East finals to even have a chance.
• Texas A&M at Texas Tech. A win for A&M puts them on the verge of getting in.
• Indiana at Michigan. A win for Indiana puts them on the verge of getting in. A Michigan win would allow them to breathe a lot easier.
• Washington at Arizona. If this one's half as good as their double overtime thriller on New Year's, it'll be a great game. Arizona is firmly in with a win.
• USC at California. Cal must win to stay safe. A loss, well don't even think about it Cal.
• North Carolina at Duke. The main event. I just don't see Duke losing on Senior Night.

Enjoy the Madness, it is underway.

Ice Balls

On the way into work, a woman called into one of the Detroit radio stations and said ice balls were falling. Not freezing rain, sleet, snow, or even hail, but ice balls. Yeah, the commute to and from work was interesting. This morning, I almost went headfirst into the pavement walking to the car (I think I was still half-asleep). It took me a good 10-15 minutes to get most of the ice off my car. Luckily, the freeways were better than I expected. I-275, the western bypass of Detroit, was a little dicey. Everyone slowed to 45mph instead of the 70mph speed limit. Once I got onto I-96, the freeway was better, and traffic moved comfortably between 60-65 mph.

For the drive home, I walked out to sunny, white-out conditions. The snow was coming down hard, yet the sun was peeking through, go figure. I merge onto I-75, which is backed up heading into downtown. In Detroit, I-75 goes through downtown, while I-94 intersects with I-75 on the northern edge of downtown and I-96 dead ends into I-75 on the southern end of downtown. In between you have the Lodge freeway which heads to the north-northwest after dead ending into Joe Louis Arena basically. Well, 75 was backed up where it splits at Ford Field and Comerica Park with I-375, which becomes Jefferson Avenue after a couple of miles. So I got off 75, unwilling to sit in traffic, got back on 75 north and took 94 west to 96 west. That way is actually the most direct way for me, but it's always backed up, and I found 75 north to 96 west is a lot quicker. But with the accident, I sucked it up and sat in gridlock for 20-25 minutes, but it ended up being the right choice as I heard on the radio the accident on 75 was just getting cleared when I got back to my apartment. Just another day driving in Detroit.

Here's your March Madness update:

• The biggest two upsets came in the Southern Conference where the bottom two teams, UNC Greensboro and The Citadel, both won their 1st round games. In the Northeast Conference, top seed Fairleigh Dickinson (remember them) squeaked by Quinnipiac in their quarterfinal matchup.
• Syracuse is out, or at least they should be after that intramural-like performance at DePaul. DePaul won 108-69. 108 points scored by DePaul?!?!?! This is the same DePaul team that failed to break 50 in 3 games this year, including an 87-46 loss at Old Dominion. ODU is a decent team, but not that good. The Big East may just get 7 if Cincinnati can't beat West Virginia Saturday.
• Tonight's my first chance to watch Memphis since the beginning of the year, and they've become a lot like Gonzaga in the fact that both are being hurt by playing against their weaker conference foes. They're playing down to their competition, which won't help them in the NCAAs. Memphis has great athleticism, and they play really well together for such a young team. But can they win a half-court game which is what the NCAA tourney is. They've got guys who can shoot the 3, but can they do it consistently. Their press showed some holes and they don't play much team defense and don't rebound at the defensive end particularly well. I don't think Darius Washington Jr. can go left. Watch him. When he puts the ball in his left hand, it's immediately back in his right hand or he gives it up. I like Memphis, but they're still a big question mark as to how they'll play in March.
• In the next couple of days, I'm going to revisit some of my preseason picks haha. Let's just hope my bracket looks a little better than some of my preseason picks.

If you remember, last year's Ford Championship at Doral was arguably the best golf tournament of the year because it was Tiger vs. Phil in the final round, with Tiger winning by 1 after an action-packed final round. There's no way they can do it again, right? Well, after round 1, Tiger leads at -8, Phil is tied for 2nd at -7. One more time!!! One more time!!!!

And I like the fact that Andre Agassi is skipping the clay court season to focus on Wimbledon and the US Open. The clay court schedule is often played in cold and damp conditions, which doesn't work for the 36 year old Agassi's back. He can train in sunny, warm Las Vegas where he'll be loose and rested for the summer season.

One more thing about the World Baseball Classic. One of the Detroit radio shows had a great quote this morning. "What I want to see is how good those Chinese Taipei little leaguers are now since they're no longer 16 year olds playing 12 year olds from other countries. Let's see how they do in an evenly matched environment." I always wondered about them, now we'll see where they are and what they're doing.