Hello,
Day 9 of the NFL lockout and the world continues to spin.
Obviously I'm no expert on college basketball, but I love to watch it. I especially love March Madness. Can we finally admit that the Big East is vastly over rated, it seems the only teams they can beat are each other. As of right now the Big East is only 9-9 in the NCAAs. As the favored team they are only 7-6. They started out the NCAA Tournament with 11 teams and now are down to 2 teams. (Thanks to backseatfan.com.) That means 9 teams didn't even survive the first weekend. Now I know in a couple of cases Big East teams played each other. But still if they are such a dominant conference, shouldn't have more than two teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen? The Big East has the 8th best conference record of conferences with two or more teams that made the NCAA. Hmmm.
If we are looking for a power conference, it has to be the ACC. They only started with 4 teams in the Big Dance and still have 3 remaining. All 3 teams are in different regions and wouldn't meet until the Final Four. That means that they can continue to increase the ACC's standing. Right now ACC teams are 7-1, a .875 winning percentage.
The next strongest conference is the little ol' MWC. They are 4-1, which is a .800 winning percentage. They have two teams in the Sweet 16.
The two main themes of this tournament so far for me have been terrible shooting and the dominance of freshman.
Now for my Top 16:
16) BYU: Yes I'm a big BYU fan and Jimmer Fredette has had a solid tournament. The other players have played well and it's good to see Jackson Emery breaking out of his slump. But still being realistic, I think BYU would have to have a few things go right for them to sneak past Florida. I also love how BYU, the most sober campus in the nation, has played in both Las Vegas and will be in New Orleans this weekend.
15) Arizona: The last Pac 10 team looked okay in their win over Texas yesterday. Texas coach Rick Barnes has a reputation for melting down in big situations. He lived up to his reputation yesterday. Although I'll be cheering like crazy for Arizona, I just don't see them defeating Duke. Although if you do Arizona, I'll be adding one of your hats to my collection.
14) Marquette: Admittedly I haven't seen much of Marquette playing. They beat Syracuse yesterday, I'm not sure how impressive that is. Like Barnes, Jim Boeheim teams usually flame out pretty early in the NCAA Tournament. Yes I know he won a title, that team even featured Carmelo Anthony. That's before he held the Nuggets hostage and before he joined the Knicks and went and cried on the bus. Anyway I don't know much about Marquette, but I predict they lose to North Carolina.
13) SDSU: A team I've seen a few times this year and they looked fantastic in the regular season. However in the NCAA Tournament, they have looked shoddy. They've looked tight and uncertain. They still can't make an outside shot and also miss too many layups. They don't look like a senior dominated team. I'm disappointed by their poor play so far. It should be a good battle with UConn, but I think the Huskies prevail. I would give SDSU a more solid chance if they clamp down defensively and that leads to a lot of easy layups. SDSU is playing in Anaheim, which obviously is pretty close to their campus. Maybe the entertaining student section, The Show, will inspire the Aztecs to play as good as they can. Game within the game: Kawhi Leonard vs. Kemba Walker.
12) Richmond: Another team I haven't seen play a lot. They beat the obviously over rated Vanderbilt and then beat another Cinderella wanna be, Morehead St. They run into the buzzsaw known as Kansas, I think the Jayhawks and Marcus Morris are too powerful for Richmond.
11) Florida State: Last night was the first time I've seen them play this season. They have a very well coached team, especially the defense. They play scrappy defense with a lot of commitment and hustle. Apparently they usually don't shoot that well, was that game an anomaly? Or was it just another ACC team rising to the top?
10) North Carolina: The Tar Heels are lucky they got past the Huskies. Roy Williams is a pretty good coach, but North Carolina didn't look like a well coached team yesterday. There were a lot of mental blunders made by North Carolina. That being said this team will go as far as the freshman and Tyler Zeller take them. I think North Carolina gets past Marquette, but then will probably lose to an extremely tough Ohio State team in the next round.
9) Kentucky: The team that plays Ohio State next, R.I.P. Wildcats. I was very impressed with the Buckeyes yesterday. Although superior athletically over Princeton, they didn't show that as much as they should have. The playing under the wraps Princeton team gave them all they wanted. Then Kentucky only beat West Virginia by 8. I wouldn't be surprised that OSU blows them out of the building. By the way where has the gorgeous Ashley Judd been this year?
8) Wisconsin: This team remains an enigma to me. Bo Ryan's eyes still haven't blown out of his face. They next play Butler, I wonder who is going to be the favorite in this game? I may have over ranked the Badgers.
7) Florida: Their best defender, Kenny Boynton, missed practice today due to a sprained ankle. That gives me a little more hope that BYU can sneak by them. Florida is a little bit of an enigma to me as well, but they do have a big upside. Also Florida will be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. In last season's NCAA Tournament BYU beat them 99-92 in double overtime.
6) Butler: The Bulldogs dodged a bullet the other day in getting past Pittsburgh. Butler had the win, but then tried to give the game back to Pittsburgh. Shelvin Mack, pressure the player on the sideline but don't run into him. That was about Mack's only mistake in the game as he put the Bulldogs on his back and powered them to the Sweet 16. I see Butler getting past Wisconsin. Butler has won two very close games so far, they obviously know how to win that kind of game. From here on out the games should be fairly close.
5) VCU: I guess they deserved to be invited to the NCAA Tournament after all, I'm mocking their mockers. VCU has won both of their games by 18 points, beating two of the better teams in the country. They beat Georgetown and what had been a resilient Purdue team. Their game against Florida State might be one of the best games in the next round. I don't know enough about either team to make a prediction who is going to win.
4) UConn: Like the Jimmer Fredette show rolls on for BYU, the Kemba Walker show rolls on for UConn. Again I think UConn-SDSU will be a battle, but I see UConn pulling out the victory. They should be able to salvage some respect for the so called Big East.
3) Duke: Congrats To Coach K for his 900th win. He's a great coach and also obviously a great recruiter. He also knows how to get the most out of his players. That being said, I hate Duke. They have the Plumlee twins, Kyle Singler and other pasty gangsters. Maybe they should change their mascot to the White Devils? They could have Cherokee Parks, Bob Hurley or Christian Laettner be the actual mascot. What else are those three doing? It seems Michigan exposed a chink in their armor. Now can someone figure out how to exploit that? If I'm Michigan I would have gone for the win at the end of the game. I'm sure a tie would have just prolonged the game and Duke still wins. Also why have Duke players traditionally been so disappointing in the NBA? Has anyone ever figured that out? For instance, the $18 million dollar man, Carlos Boozer, has already missed 23 games this season. He says if he's healthy enough, he will play tonight. Coach T, what that means is he won't be playing tonight. I saw that pattern so many times when he played with the Jazz. He has missed slightly over 1/3rd of the Bulls games.
2) Kansas: They've won their two games by an average of 16.5 points. I don't know if I would call them completely dominant though. They beat an over matched Boston U team and didn't look exactly crisp in their victory over Illinois. I also think Bill Self is one of those coaches that's a better recruiter than coach. Did you notice that there's an "I" in Bill and his last name is Self. I don't know what that means I'm just saying.
1) OSU: Who else could be #1, they've been completely dominant in their two games. They have won their two games by an average of 30.5 points. I know that doesn't matter for next game, but it's interesting to note. I see them can putting a shellacking on Kentucky. They have a solid low post game with Jared Sullinger. I was also very impressed by David Lighty yesterday.
themusicaddict
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