What a time to start a blog about college basketball? Talk about your baptism by fire. The conference tournaments get started this week, there are so many teams on the bubble it is about burst and NCAA and NIT Tournaments are on the horizon.

I thought I would start out with an easy one since this is my first time and just give you a few impressions I have on the college basketball season so far:

1)      The Big East is a monster. That goes without saying. I like though how the conference, after being ravaged by the ACC for football schools a few years ago, said “they want football. Fine. We will take them in basketball.” While the ACC is strong this year as well, I don’t think they have the same weight the Big East does, literally. With so many teams in the Big East and so many teams at playing at a high level, the Big East easily wins this battle. I have always love the Big East tournament (I would come home from school and there would be a basketball game on television that really left a mark). But this year is going to be a tournament to surpass all other tournaments.

Continue reading "Welcome to My NCAA Blog"

The Maryland Terrapins and coach Gary Williams came close to punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament last night but fell short to Wake Forest by two points at home.  That means the Terps will have to impress the committee in the upcoming ACC tournament by going deep through the talented pool.

The bottom line is it looks like Maryland may be NIT bound which is a shame. Not because Maryland’s record cries out for them to be lock for the tournament or that they have had a Cinderella season. It would be a shame because of what Williams has gone through this year.

In his 20thseason at Maryland, Williams came under fire early in the season as rumors floated that he may be on the chopping block. This for a guy who has amassed a record of 397-215 and grabbed a national title and numerous post-season appearances.

Continue reading "Time to Back Off Gary Williams and Maryland"

What a difference a night can make. Going into last evening the Big Ten looked like it was pretty much a lock in terms of who was going to the dance and who was out and who was riding the bubble.

Then last night happened and now everything is turned on its head. Northwestern goes into West Lafayette and knocks off the Boilermakers in stunning fashion and suddenly the Wildcats are, take a breath, polishing up their NCAA tournament resume.

It is hard to believe this once doormat of the Midwest, who was off the radar much of the season could now be crawling its way on to the bubble but they certainly deserve to be in the discussion. With wins over top conference teams like Purdue and Michigan State along with an out of conference victory against Florida State, Northwestern can certainly make the case.

Continue reading "Big Ten Picture Just Got Cloudier"

Teams in this year's NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament need to look at not just their seeding to see how the selection committee viewed their performance this year, they need to look at where they will play their first and second round games.

The committee, this season, not only gave better teams an edge by seeding, but by where they are playing.

Memphis: The Tigers were a legitimate No. 1 seed candidate but the committee thought Connecticut out of the nations best conference, the Big East, deserved the top seed. But they did give Memphis basically an 1a seeding by putting them as the No. 2 in UCONN's bracket and by giving them their first and second round games in Kansas City. Memphis will also have to travel less for the regionals in Arizona than Connecticut will.

Continue reading "Location, Location, Location: Creative Seeding is the Mark of This Year's Tournament"

The NCAA Tournament selection committee did not have to look far when deciding if Louisville should get the No. 1, No. 1 position. They just had to look back at last year's tournament champion.

The Cardinals are eerily similar to the Kansas Jayhawks.

Not only does the back court of Earl Clark, Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith, Preston Knowles and Andre McGee bring back thoughts of the Jayhawk backcourt of Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sheron Collins, that stats bear it out. Clark leads the Cardinals in scoring averaging 14 points a game and can take players inside and out, much like his predecessor Rush, who led Kansas last year with 13.3 points per game.

Looking back at last year, Kansas fans will remember the spark and intensity Collins brought off the bench to the Kansas guard play. Louisville fans boast their own reserve spark plugs as Preston Knowles and Andre McGee have been defensive weapons for Rick Pitino to unleash on opponents.

Continue reading "Louisville is Built for Deep Tourney Run"

I picked Kansas right last season. I had them going all the way. A couple of years ago, I picked the Northwestern State upset of Iowa. I did. I also had George Mason going to the Final Four. Okay I didn't have that one but I did pick the others.

Of course to find out that I had those magnificent picks, I had to flip through a see of paper. Not that my desk is messy, it was the fact that I fill out about 10 brackets a year. But that is a good thing. 

Bragging rights are important and one way to ensure that you can say you knew that big upset was going to happen or that Cinderella team was destiny's child is to have all your bases covered.

Let's face it. In three weeks when we are getting ready for the final four and the national title game, the talk around the water cooler will be how great your bracket looks.

Continue reading "Multiple Brackets Secure Bragging Rights"

Lost in last night's overtime fest in the final games of the first round was Cleveland State's dismantling of Wake Forest. It was such a blowout that CBS didn't even switch to it so we could watch Cleveland State celebrate. While the Vikings remain the highest seed left in the tournament, two other teams who garnered upset victories last were the ones taking the biggest deep breaths.

Wisconsin and Arizona came into the tournament with the most discussion with most of us not believing they belonged in the big dance. But the great thing about the tournament is that the discussion stops once the games begin and every team has a chance to prove themselves.

The Badgers and the Wildcats did just that. Arizona traveled the country to cruise to an easy win over Utah, while Wisconsin needed overtime and a hot second half shooting performance to drop Florida State. 

Continue reading "In a Wild Friday, Teams Showed They Belonged"

Despite all the wild finishes, the close calls and unbelievable endings, the top seeds emerged from the first two rounds on top of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

Of the 16 teams remaining, 15 are a 5 seed or better and the only remaining double digit seed, No. 12 Arizona, faced another double digit seed in No. 13 Cleveland State in the second round. While the underdog did not come out on top in this year's tournament (or last year's for that matter with all No. 1s making the Final Four) that does not mean college basketball has lost the parody that we all love.

In fact, I think it means the opposite. Even though the lower seeds lost, they gave the top seeds a run for their money. With a few exceptions, blowouts have not been the rule in this tournament or last year's tournament, for that matter. Games are coming down to the wire with the top schools able to just out last their lower seeded opponents.

Continue reading "Top Seeds Show Their Mettle in NCAA Men's Tournament"

Dana Altman and his Creighton Blue Jays probably had nightmares last night about falling bricks.

Creighton had its second round NIT game with Kentucky all but wrapped up. All they had to do was make their free throws. And that's where things went off track.

The Jays struggled from the line down the stretch connecting on just 5 of 6 attempts. Yikes. Kentucky, whose biggest lead of the game was 2 points which was also the margin of victory, took advantage scoring the last bucket with Jodie Meeks making his free throw to put the Wildcats up by two.

Creighton still had a chance to win but the three point attempt was just off the mark.

But free throws were the real story. Creighton shot 75 percent from the free throw line this season. Not great but certainly better than the 1-6 performance down the stretch.

Continue reading "Free Throws Ground Creighton in the NIT"

Crank up the Victrola the dance is about to start again.

After a long week of wishing it was Thursday, the day has finally arrived and the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is ready to resume. And tonight's games should provide a good wake up call that March Madness is back in full swing.

Even though Purdue as a five seed is the lowest seeded team left in tonight's field, the games are shaping up to just as exciting as the first round competition was.

The night starts off with both No. 1s in action. UConn will face Purdue in the opener and the Huskies will have more to contend with than the Boilermakers. Yesterday a string of stories emerged about possible recruiting violations in the Huskie program. Add that to all the recent happenings in coach Calhoun's life (questions about his salary and dehydration) and you wonder how much the Huskie players can handle. Add to it a Purdue team that seems to be hot right now coming off a Big Ten tournament title and this maybe the game UConn cracks. My pick is that off the court troubles will be too much for UConn and Purdue pulls the upset in a nail biter.

Continue reading "Despite Lack of Lower Seeds, March Madness is Ready To Heat Up"

Okay so last night I went 2 for 4. Not bad. If I were a baseball player, I would be in the Hall of Fame. Apparently UConn is not as affected by the off court issues as much as I thought they would be and Coach K did not prepare for Villanova manhandling and basically running the Dukies out of the gym. At least Missouri lived up to its billing hanging 102 on Memphis in regulation.

But the great thing about the NCAA Tournament being played on Thursday night is that it also played on Friday night. And this year, Friday night has been a wild one.

A week ago we had upsets galore and two overtime games in the matches that tipped off after dinner. Tonight is shaping up to be almost as good but the upsets might not be as plentiful.

Louisville and Arizona will kick off the festivities and the Wildcats are the only double-digit seed left in the tournament. But this is Louisville's tournament to lose and I think the Cardinal will easily dispatch Zona, who by making it to the Sweet Sixteen proved a lot of doubters wrong.

Continue reading "Friday Night Has Been Wild in The NCAA Tournament"

The Big East will have at least one team in the Final Four as Pitt and Villanova square off tonight in one of the two Elite Eight games. But for fans of the Big East another step toward basketball dominance will be the UConn/Missouri game.

The Big East is the only conference to send three schools to the Final Four. Last night's loss by Syracuse to Oklahoma eliminated the possibility of a Big East sweep heading to Detriot. And with Louisville playing Sunday, the Connecticut game is the most important contest for the Big East to repeat its three team feat back in 1985.

But today's matchup is a classic irresitible force meets the immovable object. The irresitible force is Missouri's offense which put up 102 points on No. 2 seeded Memphis Thursday. The immovable object is of course Hasheem Thabeet and the Huskie interior defense which has been potent through out the tournament.

Continue reading "UConn versus Missouri Will Be Key for Big East Dominance"

At one point yesterday color commentator for CBS Len Elmore said that if Louisville was going to come back and win, the Cardinal would have to "take it away" from Michigan State. Nothing could have been more true.

At the time Elmore made those comments, Michigan State was in the process of pulling away from the top-seeded team in the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, and the Spartans were not looking back.

I will be one of the first to admit that when the brackets came out, Michigan State was not on my radar. In fact, I had them losing in the second round.

But the Spartans have slowly made their way through the field, knocking off one opponent after another and even knocking off defending champion Kansas. And then came Sunday.

The game of the day was supposed to be North Carolina versus Oklahoma. Hansborough versus Griffin. But Michigan State had other ideas.

Continue reading "Michigan State Put Together Perfect Performance to Advance"

As the sports world waits anxiously for Saturday and the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, college hoops fans will get a taste of the excitement tonight as the NIT revs up with its semifinal contests.

First of all, as you know, the NIT's final four is held every year at Madison Square Garden, which possibly the best venue to watch a broadcast game from. The floor always seems a little shinier, the paint a little brighter and the atmosphere is unbeatable.

Whether it is preseason tournaments, the Big East tournament or the NIT, watching a game on television broadcast from the MSG is treat.

And that ambiance will only enhance the slate of games being played tonight. Going into the NIT, the field was loaded with quality schools because the regular season was so tough. When you have field that has Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Georgetown and up starts like St. Mary's and Creighton, you know you are in for some quality basketball.

Continue reading "NIT Moves to New York: Previewing the Other Final Four in College Basketball"

Every time Yovani Gallardo and Manny Para take the mound during spring training, Milwaukee Brewers' fans hold their breath a little bit. After making the playoffs for the first time in 26 seasons last year, the Brewer faithful know this year's success rests on the untested arms of these young pitchers.

So when word came out Monday that Trevor Hoffman would be sidelined with an injury, Brewers fans had to cring a bit. The one position where the Crew cannot afford to have doubt is in the pitching staff. And even though Hoffman was the closer, any news that may interupt the balance of the Milwaukee pitching is unwelcome.

Filling in for Hoffman while he recouperates will be Carlos Villanueva. Villanueva open the season last year as a starter but finished as the club long reliever. His absence in that role, could mean that the staring rotation of Gallardo, Dave Bush, Para, Braden Looper and Jeff Suppan, might need to take on more innings earlier in the season.

Continue reading "Hoffman Injury is a Bad Omen for Brewers"