Sweet!

Oy vey!
Look at my brackets!

My how the mighty Big East has fallen.....and taken my college credibility with them.
It just goes to show you, Biased opinions are most likely not that accurate.
Did you know that Yahoo! sports has "second chance tourney pick 'em," which is essentially for people like me who always stay faithful to their under graduate school's conference.

I'm not going down that road again.
But what I will do, before the madness continues later tonight, is go over what I have liked and disliked in the NCAA tournament leading up to the sweet 16.


Like:
Coverage of the NCAA tournament.
Way to go and finally use multiple channels (CBS, TNT, Tru, & TBS) to show four games, in their entirety, all at once.

Now "the problem is choice," as in choosing which game to watch. Still, this is much better than watching only one channel and hoping that it shows the game you are interested in. It also helps when you can flip from one good game to another, especially during time-outs, and keep the ball rolling.

I am also a big fan of the NBA crew/analysts commentating and discussing games.
It is always fascinating to hear a professional opine on their craft. It makes it even better when they are discussing amateurs that are aspiring to someday join their ranks.



Dislike: 
Renaming of the first "three" rounds.
This is a little picky, but is it really necessary to now call the round of 64 "round 2" and the round of 32, (which used to be round 2) "round 3." And to do this all because we now have 68 teams to start and are calling the first 4 play-in games "round 1."

I am confused just by writing about it.
Why not just call the first 4 play-in games......"play-in" games?
I'm sure it would not have altered the confidence levels of VCU if they were called a play-in team. I'm sure they still would have made their run to "round 4" (aka the original round 3, aka the sweet 16).

If anything,  why not come up with more clever names, like "the sexy 68," and "the Nintendo 64?"

Like:
Anything you can do I can do better.
The stars are shinning. As in Jimmer Fredette and Kemba walker are doing their thing.
I just hope that the stars are aligning. As in Jimmer Fredette and Kemba walker meet up to play each other in the tournament.

It seems as if they are trying to top each other with their performances.
Kemba had 18 points, 12 assists in their win over Bucknell.
Jimmer followed by scoring over 30 points.

Jimmer again had over 30 points in their win over Gonzaga.
Kemba followed with 31 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

What will they do this week?

The legend/mythology certainly grew for Jimmer when game announcers last week mentioned he "used to play against prisoners" in upstate New York when he was in high school. That will get him ready for the pros.

He is also gaining more and more fans. if you go to the comments section of my "Player pick 'em" post, comparing Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette, one of my friends said he would go with Kemba, because "he is a tiger."
After Jimmer's performances last weekend I asked this same friend, "Is Jimmer a tiger?"
His response: "Jimmer is a Liger." (Look it up).

Dislike:
The Big East.
Talk about throwing a dud.
A record setting 11 teams in the tournament.....and only two make it out of the first weekend?!
Wow.

I can understand teams like G'town and Villanova exiting early, they were struggling coming in.
I can understand St. John's losing, they lost one of their top players to injury and were totally over-matched by Gonzaga.

But what about teams like Pitt, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Louisville? For ALL of them to bow out this early?! I had Notre Dame winning it!
Although, I suppose it wasn't so bad for coach Rick Pitino, who had a gig with CBS commenting on games a day after his team lost.

You can also say that two Big east teams lost to other Big East teams, so maybe really four teams could have made it. But then again, you can always say that if the two Big east teams that are in the sweet 16 didn't play other Big East teams to get there.....then maybe they would have lost too.

Like:
5 teams seeded 8 or higher in the sweet 16.
The tournament is really set up for these types of outcomes, and it seems like it happens more and more every year. Remember George Mason in the final four?  Davidson in the Elite 8 and one shot away from the final four? Bulter in the championship last year and one shot away from winning it all?

There is so much parity in college basketball right now that I'm not sure if there really are any upsets, especially in a one game to advance situation. Of course there are always big time programs that make it through. But it's great that the air of invincibility in college basketball is fading.

Think about this: to get to the final four, Kanas will have to beat No.12 Richmond and then either No.10 Florida St. or No.11 VCU

All I can say is GO VCU!!!


What I hope to see:

UCONN vs. Duke
Please let this happen. I would love to see Kemba take apart Duke to get to the final four. Maybe even do battle with Kyrie Irving.
Would it be sufficient to get one Big East team in the final four?

Marquette in the final four
Wouldn't it be something if after all is said and done, the Big East still got two teams into the final four?
I know I'm dreaming......

So, Ohio St. vs. North Carolina.
Two power houses. Plus it would be interesting to see UNC respond to Michael Jordan promising the team anything they want from team Jordan if they make the final four.

VCU in the final four
Why not?
No one would have picked them.

UCONN vs. BYU in the championship game
Kemba vs. Jimmer.
Enough said.