Ncaa Tournament

This off-season for college basketball fans was one of the toughest in recent memory. Scandals, coaches in trouble and basketball teams fighting football teams all marred the sport.

Probably biggest of these scandals to me was the Rick Pitino scandal where he was allegedly being blackmailed by a former lover with whom he allegedly had an extra-marital affair. Pitino was always one of those guys who seemed to do everything right, at the college level at least, and when he became front page news, it was a real shock to many.

Continue reading "NCAA Basketball Season Beginning ..."

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.

Continue reading "Michigan State Put Together Perfect ..."

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.

Continue reading "UConn versus Missouri Will Be Key ..."

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.

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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.

Continue reading "Top Seeds Show Their Mettle in NCAA ..."

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.

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

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.

Continue reading "Multiple Brackets Secure Bragging Rights"

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.

Continue reading "Louisville is Built for Deep Tourney Run"

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.

Continue reading "Location, Location, Location: Creative ..."

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.

Continue reading "Big Ten Picture Just Got Cloudier"

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.

Continue reading "Welcome to My NCAA Blog"

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball consists of 347 teams in which players can get lost in the fray.  We have had a few emerge over the years.  Stephen Curry has mad a strong

Continue reading "No Name and No Recognition"

Before I get to the 16 things we all need to know before the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 this weekend I would like to congratulate myself on some of my correct predictions.  I said the games would be much closer than last year and I must say, these games last week were unbelievable.  The scheduling by CBS sucked though because it seemed every good game happened at the same time as another good game and then there would be slots where all four games were blowouts.  This is something CBS needs to look at next year, I don’t want a time slot with two #1’s playing 16’s, a 2 playing a 15 and a 3 playing a 14.  I also said that last weekend would be the best sports weekend of the year and outside of my Giants winning the Super Bowl it definitely was (the Super Bowl has to be put on another level though and doesn’t count).  I also said many people would be throwing their brackets away on Monday morning and assuming many of you had Duke going further then round 2 and didn’t have Davidson or Western Kentucky in your Sweet 16 I feel confident that I was correct.  My final four is also still alive.  I feel very good about my predictions and even better about this tournament being an absolute classic.  All we need is a few great Sweet 16 games and a couple good ones over the weekend, followed by a powerhouse Final Four and we have a tournament to remember, as I predicted.

Continue reading "Sweet 16 Preview"