NCAA Tournament - Round 2 Day 1

All of the 3 Big 10 teams remaining play today.

First up is the Kansas State - Wisconsin game at 3:20pm CT.  Both games that I have seen of Kansas State involved Beasley getting into early foul trouble.  For some reason, I expect him to stay out of foul trouble today score a billion points and help his team beat Wisconsin.  It’s a long shot, but I picked it before this tournament began and I can’t change it now.   But if he gets in foul trouble Wisconsin will kill them.

At the same basic time, Purdue plays Xavier at 3:40pm CT.  Purdue looked as good as I hoped in the first round.  I picked them to win this round (against Georgia).  They will still beat Xavier.  I kind of wish that I had picked Purdue to beat Duke in the next round.

The final Big 10 game is Michigan State against Pittsburgh at 9:10.  MSU looked fine against Temple which means it is about time for them to play like crap.  Pittsburgh will cause all kinds of trouble and win by 10 or more.

Which will leave Purdue as the only Big 10 team left in the tournament after today.  Go Boilermakers.

I couldn’t care less about any of the other games except for wanting Duke to win today so that a Big 10 team (Purdue) can beat them on Saturday.  It would also be nice if Marquette beat Stanford since I originally picked Kentucky to beat Stanford today.

No proofreading today.  I have to go install hardwood floors in the dining room and living room today.

NCAA Tournament - Round 1 Day 2

My best prediction from yesterday that turned out wrong was picking Kentucky to upset Marquette.  The game was close right until the end when Marquette drilled free throw after free throw to clinch the win.  Kentucky still should have won that game.  They only managed to have 3 people make a basket and a 4th guy made 2 free throws.  If ANYBODY else had decided to man up and make a couple baskets, like literally two baskets, the intentional fouling would not have happened at the end and Kentucky probably would have won the game.  But they didn’t so they get to go home.  Enjoy the ride.

The Big 10 managed to win all 3 games yesterday.  Good job.

Today, the only Big 10 game is the Indiana - Arkansas game which starts at 8:40pm CT tonight.  Arkansas will regain the lead and pull away in the second half after the each Indiana player is distracted by Kelvin Sampson sending them text messages and calling them throughout halftime.

Also on the schedule today is the Butler - South Alabama.  Butler got hosed by how lowly they were seeded.  They can either let that bug them and lose or just show up and beat up South Alabama.  I’m expecting the latter.

Drake opens the tournament today against Western Kentucky.  Go Drake, go.

So far in my Yahoo Pick ‘Em Tournament, I still have 15 of the Sweet 16 (and that’s only because Kentucky only has 3 players).  I think based on my safe picks, that I shouldn’t lose any other Sweet 16′ers today.

Let’s take a second out of our busy days to remember the Duke - Belmont HS game last night.  It’s always good to take a few minutes to laugh each day.

Today’s Big 10 Games in the NCAA Tournament

So far the Big 10 is undefeated in this year’s tournament having not played in the play in game.  We’re off to a good start.

Today, the Big 10 has 3 games.  Considering the Big 10 only had 4 teams make the NCAA tournament this year, today is a pretty big day.

The first Big 10 game today is the Michigan State - Temple game which starts at 11:30am CT.  I know nothing at all about Temple but plenty about Michigan State.  It is completely irrelevant who MSU is playing.  They have about a 50-50 chance of winning the game.  I cannot remember seeing such in inconsistent team that is capable of swinging from such highs to such lows in the history of basketball.  I flipped a coin to determine that MSU will win by 1 point because Nietzel happens to hit a 25 foot 3 pointer as the clock expires.

Next up for the Big 10 is the Purdue - Baylor game at 1:50pm CT.  I really want Purdue to do well since they seemed to come out of nowhere and stand toe to toe against anybody on the schedule.  Both teams flubbed horribly in their conference tournament losing to really bad teams.  Purdue was definitely hotter up until that point as long as you are impressed with regularly beating Big 10 opponents this year.  I like Purdue’s defense and the few times I have watched their games I thought their offense was pretty efficient.  I’ll pick Purdue to win by 8.

The final Big 10 game today is Wisconsin - CSU Fullerton at 8:40pm CT.  CSU Fullerton likes to shoot 3s and their tallest player is 6′ 6″.  Unless they hit about 20 of 25 3 pointers, Wisconsin will crush them.  And Wisconsin’s defense is good enough that CSU will have to make those 3 pointers under extreme duress.  Wisconsin will easily walk away with a 15 point win.

The other big hyped game from today is the Kansas State - USC matchup at 6:10pm CT.  The game features two big name freshman who will be playing in the NBA next year.  One of them will be playing their last game today.  It would be a lot more interesting of a game later in the tournament but who really cares about the outcome of a couple of one year wonders outside the fans of the respective teams.  My prediction is that the game will end with one of the teams scoring more than the other but other than that, I don’t care.

I’ll also be keeping my eye on the Duke - Belmont game to make sure that Duke wins so that they can eventually get crushed by Kansas in the Final Four like I predicted yesterday.

The NCAA Tournament

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the NCAA Tournament. Iowa made the tournament almost every year but then there was the stretch where Iowa played Duke during the first weekend (and Duke always seemed to go on and win the whole thing) for several years.

Iowa took care of making sure I don’t have to feel bad when they get knocked out of the tournament by deciding to only beat Northwestern over the last month or so.

That just leaves the beloved tournament.

I signed up for the Yahoo! Tourney Pick ‘Em ‘08 this year by joining the Black Heart Gold Pants group (Group #5862, password gornstar) mostly just because I wanted a chance to use gornstar correctly in a sentence for once.

Normally, I am eliminated from any hope of winning these things after picking the Hawkeyes to win the championship. This year however, I have a slightly more sanely filled out bracket.

I have Tennessee, Kansas, Memphis, and Duke in the Final Four. Then Tyler Smith will score 56 as Tennessee beats Kansas and Memphis will beat Duke 204 to 27. Tyler Smith will be the only person to score in the championship game which Tennessee will win, 32-0.

I really wanted to pick Drake to beat Duke but after several years of watching what Duke does to Davis lead teams, I expect that Duke will win by 1 on some last second bullshit free throw.

Okay, maybe the Hawkeyes still end up influencing my decisions after all.

Kansas loss makes me pretty happy

I forgot to make my predictions for today’s games, but for the record I would have picked Kansas and OSU.  So I would have been 1 out of 2.

In other tournament news, was it Joey Dorsey of Memphis who fouled out in the Texas A&M and for the rest of the game we had to watch him that guy sitting around in his wife beater t-shirt.

What kind of coaches let him do that?  Was he so stinky that they made him get rid of his shirt to protect their noses?  Do the coaches figure that when you foul out you are no longer part of the team and they make you get rid of your jersey?

I really hope it was him since it sounded like he sucked pretty badly when they lost to Ohio State today.

Either way, congrats OSU.  Keep the Big 10 in the tournament.

As for tomorrow, Georgetown and Florida will get the wins.

Sweet sixteen second day picks

I only got one of the three picks correct yesterday.  UCLA annoyed me by getting the win…just like I said they would.  If you are betting, you might want to pick against me.

Florida - Butler

I really would like to see a 1 seed lose, but it will not be Florida against Butler.  Florida will runaway in the second half.

UNLV - Oregon

If Lon Kruger is even thinking about leaving UNLV, winning getting even deeper into the tournament is really going to boost his future salary.  I hate the Pac 10 so I have to pick UNLV in overtime.

Georgetown - Vanderbilt

I love the Georgetown coach from the couple interviews of his I’ve heard.  Georgetown wins to make his daddy proud.

USC - UNC

The number 1 seed gets by easily.  UNC is pretty nasty inside and outside.  Plus, I hate the Pac 10.

Don’t bet your house on these picks.  I may be biased.

Sweet sixteen first day picks

I forgot today was Thursday.  I was going to write up my picks for today’s Sweet Sixteen games and forgot last night.  So, I’ll make it quick.

Southern Illinois - Kansas

I’m going to pick Southern Illinois.  Both teams seem like they are cruising through the tournament so far and I think Southern just might be able to pull off the upset in a close game.

UCLA - Pittsburgh

I really hate UCLA for some reason so I’m sure they will go out of their way to get a little further along in the tournament just to spite me.  In fact, they’ll do it pretty easily and win by double digits.

Tennessee - Ohio State

OSU looks lazy but very talented whenever I see them.  It’s probably just all the young kids playing.  I like Bruce Pearl and expect his team to get the upset victory.

Texas A&M - Memphis

For some reason I never expect Memphis to win a big game.  Plus Turtle Hanson has “insider knowledge” that the Texas A&M coach is being considered for Iowa once Alford leaves.  He will up his salary requirements by getting A&M to beat Memphis.

I am pretty confident that I will end up somewhere between 0 and 4 correct picks.  Tie up the laces and get the games started so we can find out how well I do.  I’ll try to get my predictions for tomorrow’s games posted tonight or tomorrow morning.  Also, I have to go get my son off the bus, so no proofreading today.  Enjoy.

The Big 10 falls flat in the NCAA tournament

Only one Big 10 team is left after the first week of the NCAA Tournament.  Congratulation Ohio State and hang in there.

I was shocked to watch Wisconsin play as hot and cold as they did today.  I actually watched the game with some Badger fans and we all got excited when they got back in the game and took a decent lead.  Then free throw struggles really let UNLV back into the game.  It was particularly disappointing to watch Tucker miss so many free throw in the second half when the team really needed the points.

Purdue and Michigan State made me proud by hanging around teams that were much better on paper than they are but there are no moral victories in basketball.  The Big 10 sent 6 teams and only 1 managed to get into the second week.  Unless Ohio State manages to win the whole shebang, this is going to be a pretty bad tournament for the Big 10.

Hang on Ohio State.

I didn’t get a chance to see the Texas - USC game.  I would have never expected 30 from Durant and 20 from another Texas player and then see them get beat by 21 points.  I would love to know what happened there.  Did Texas leave all the other players at home?  And nice job Pac 10.  For a conference that gets ZERO respect anymore, getting three teams into the Sweet 16 is, well, sweet.

Michigan State battles for about 35 minutes

Michigan State looked very good for quite a while tonight. I love watching Neitzel play. His energy and willingness to put the team on his shoulders and see how far he can take them is inspiring to watch. Plus, he can actually make free throws. The Big 10 is going to miss him next year.

The team battled for as long as they could manage.

Unfortunately, Michigan State couldn’t get to the free throw line enough. That is probably common when your point guard takes 27 out of the 58 shots for the team. He carried the team for quite a while but eventually wore out. North Carolina was able to use several different good defenders to chase Neitzel around.

During the last few minutes, it didn’t look like anybody on the floor for Michigan State could do anything beside cross their fingers and throw the ball at the basket.

When Michigan State plays like they did today, they can beat almost anybody in the nation. I’ve heard a lot about how amazing North Carolina is supposed to be but seeing them handle Michigan State by just beating them down makes me believe that some team will have to play a pretty special game to beat them. If Texas wins tomorrow, that matchup between them and North Carolina will be something to pay attention to.

Other Big 10 news:

Indiana got hot toward the end to at least keep UCLA honest but not enough to win the game. Ohio State tried to throw away their game against Xavier. Other than that, a couple minor upsets with the biggest one being Washington State (3 seed) losing to Vanderbilt.

Let’s hope Purdue can pull out the first really huge upset of the tournament tomorrow against Florida.

The first Big 10 team out of the NCAA tournament

I was just checking the scores before writing a post congratulating the Big 10 on getting through the first round of the NCAA tournament without a loss. I knew Ohio State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State and Purdue had won and the last I saw Illinois was beating up on Virginia late in the game which would have been a pretty big upset.

Apparently, the Illini forgot how to score any points over the last few minutes of the game and let Virginia come back and get the win. I was really pulling for Illinois since Pruitt went to my high school and was coached by the same coaches as I was.

I was entirely ready to suggest that maybe a one or two more Big 10 teams should have gotten into the tournament based on the first round success of the teams that did make it.

But, alas, Illinois choked meaning that I really can’t complain about Iowa or Michigan not making the cut. Especially since Michigan got pounded in the first round of the NIT and Iowa wasn’t even good enough to really deserve to get into the NIT this year.

The Big 10 is left with 5 pretty good looking teams with the lower 3 seeded teams getting some really great opportunities to make some noise.

Tomorrow Indiana gets to take on 2 seed UCLA. On Sunday, Michigan State gets to play 1 seed North Carolina and Purdue gets to play 1 seed Florida. Go Big 10. Destroys everybody’s office pool.