Hello everyone, and welcome to March Madness. One of favorite times of the year has arrived, not only do I have a birthday (and maybe a second) I have to try to celebrate before the end of the month, and along with the start of baseball season, but Tournament time is what I usually have lived for since I was a wee Bony Scribe.
This year however, as well as the past few years to be honest, I haven't paid too much attention to college basketball. Focusing on a local hockey team that's been tearing it up for about a decade, as well as middle age and the consumption of Fireball every once in a while, will do that to a man. Anyway, I thought I would give my thoughts on the Tournament, as well as some of the schools who are (and aren't) dancing.
First, let's start with the schools that aren't playing, starting with the biggest surprise and to my chagrin the school I root for in college basketball, North Carolina. They began the season ranked number one but spent the season underwhelming and wound up with a 20-13 record to miss the Tournament. They had a stretch of four straight losses, as well as another stretch (during conference play) where they lost four of five. An ACC quarterfinal loss to Virginia all but sealed their fate. Most embarrassing of all, they pulled an Eric Cartman and said, "screw you guys, I'm going home!" to the NCAA when they were invited to participate in the NIT. Last year they had a 14-point lead in the National Title game, but an injury to Armando Bacot (and an ill-timed Simply Safe commercial featuring the Property Douchebros) spelled their demise. Now for us Carolina fans, we may be looking at the second coming of the Matt Doherty error.
Another school who isn't dancing is UNCW, who lost for the second straight year in the Colonial Conference Final. Last year, they won the CBI Tournament, but they won't get to defend their title this year. UCF, didn't quite have an exceptional season in the American Conference, but got an NIT bid against Florida (how did they make it?) Wednesday night in Gainesville. One school I'm more than happy not to make the big dance is Rutgers. Seriously, fuck Rutgers. I'm still angry about them beating USF in football in 2007 (and knocking them from #2), and you know who the coach was then (and now)? Greg Fucking Schiano, who almost single handedly ran the Bucs into the ground during the early 10's, so I have no love for the Scarlet Knights. (UPDATE: they lost their first round NIT game to Hofstra, so I guess it served them right!). Another school I would be upset about missing the tournament (because I'm an ACC homer) but isn't, is Clemson. Maybe it's the fact that their coach, Brad Brownell, resembles a bit like our stupid-ass governor of Florida. Or it could be that when he was at UNCW, he orchestrated in my opinion the biggest choke job in the history of March Madness. But that's just me.
As for schools that did make it, kudos go out to Florida Atlantic, who won Conference USA this year and could make noise in this year's tourney. Also, Miami and Jim Larranaga, who won the regular season ACC Title. Those are the only two Florida schools to make it. As for North Carolina, there's Duke, NC State, and UNC Asheville.
Speaking of Duke, they get to go to the Mouse of House for the weekend, first up a match with Televangelism University, better known as Oral Roberts. Seriously, wasn't Oral Roberts the dude who once proclaimed that if he didn't receive $100 million, he would be struck down by God? Oh, it was $8 million, but damn you Florida Man for making it happen, because I kinda wanted to see if would actually happen. Regardless, is there anything more annoying than big religion? You hear about big pharma, big tech, big media, et al all the time. Why don't we hear about big religion? To me, it's just a big of a racket as the ones I just mentioned. Don't believe me? Look no further than the Jim and Tammy Faye scandal but I digress. From a basketball standpoint, ORU upset Ohio State and Florida a couple of years ago, and almost upset Arkansas to nearly reach the Elite 8, now THAT would have been a work of God. This year though, Duke is peaking at just the right time. So, I don't think about the dreaded 5-12 upset here. The winner of that game faces the winner of Tennessee and Louisiana. The other two games In Orlando feature San Diego State and Charleston (who as a 12-seed actually make some noise in this tournament), and Virginia and Furman, who hasn't made the tournament since before I started school!
Looking the overall bracket, I'm kind of surprised that most of the "heritage" programs are seeded so lowly, or didn't make the tournament overall. The top seed overall is Alabama. Yes, Alabama. A football school. The other 1-seeds aren't necessarily newcomers though, in Purdue, Kansas, and Houston. But Virginia is the top ACC seed as a 4-seed in the South, I already mentioned Duke, and Kentucky is surprisingly low as a 6-seed. Must've been a down year for them. Pitt and NC State barely made it in the tournament, as the Wolfpack got one of the last four byes, while Pitt (who won their first-round game tonight) was one of the last four in. Jeez, was the ACC that "mid," as MJF would say this season? Villanova and the aforementioned Tar Heels didn't make the Tournament, no Michigan either. But Indiana had a resurgence, and UCLA could make another run to the Final Four in Houston.
So, who's winning the whole thing? It's anyone's guess to be honest. I may as well put up a sheet with 68 logos on it, throw it a dartboard, and pick the winner that way, but I have no dartboard, or darts for that matter, and if I did, they'd probably get confiscated anyway. Anyway, I'm going with Arizona, Duke, Houston, and Gonzaga as my Final Four, with Houston winning it all. A major feather in the cap for Robeson County and native son Kelvin Sampson, who's the head coach of the Cougars. Also, not only is the Final Four being held at Reliant Field, it's the last Final Four for Jim Nantz, who is a native of Houston and an alum of Houston University. Now wouldn't that be something?
Enjoy the games everyone!
CT
No comments:
Post a Comment