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.