2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8

Down to 8, the Great 8 or Elite 8 or whatever else you want to call it, but it is down to 8 teams. Any surprises? Well, Missouri's pasting of Memphis was a surprise but none of the other wins were suprising. Today it is #3 Missouri vs #1 Connecticut followed by #3 Villanova vs #1 Pittsburgh. At least one Big East team will make the Final Four today, will it be 2?

Who, knows, certainly not me, but I did have the Nova vs Pittsburgh match up. Connecticut seems to be on a mission, but can they handle the press of Missouri? I still think they will miss Dyson, but it would not surprise me if they make the Final Four.

As for tomorrow's games, well I think I will still stick with UNC and Louisville.

INANE STATS OF THE DAY -

✰ - #1 Seed vs #2 Seed - This match up has happened 46 times in the last 24 tournaments, #1 has won 26 of them. The only tournaments that haven't had a 1 vs 2, 1990 and 1999.

✰ - #1 Seed vs #3 Seed - 22 times this match up has occurred in this tournament and the #3 Seed has won eleven of those match ups. The #1 Seed has won 4 of the last 5 of those games including the 2 match ups in last years tournament.

♊ - Insanity is part of the times. You must learn to embrace the madness. Let it fire you.

2009 NCAA Basketball Picks - Round of 16

So, the first two rounds have came and gone and we are now looking at Sixteen Teams, the sweet sixteen. Any surprises? Well, only Arizona in my book since that is the only team I did not pick to be in this round. All the others went according to Hoyle but there were some close calls. Below is what to look for and other misc / inane statistics but if the gods of basketball want to make me happy, then the only loss that I suffer in this round would be Gonzaga beating North Carolina (have I mentioned how I hate the ACC, except for Duke that is).

Sweet 16 Match Ups – (note - when I talk about overall or previous records etc, I am only talking about since 1985, since that was the first year of the 64/65 team tournament. That is also how far back my database goes.)

✰ - UNC vs Gonzaga - No previous match ups in the NCAA tournament the last 25 years. UNC is 12-4 in sweet 16 since 1985, while Gonzaga is 1-3. Odds favor the Tar Heels. Glad that I picked them to win this match up.

✰ - Oklahoma vs Syracuse - These two teams met in 2003 when the number 3 seed Orangemen beat the number 1 seed Sooners. Two very good teams with very similar results in this round. Oklahoma is 4-3 and Syracuse is 4-5.

✰ - Pittsburgh vs Xavier - Pittsburgh has not won a sweet sixteen game in the last 25 years. Xavier has actually won 2, including last year. Will Xavier be able to handle the Panthers bruising style?

✰ - Duke vs Villanova - Duke hasn't been past this round in a while, 2004 they beat Illinois (a 5 seed) for the first win in the third round since 2001. Since 2000 Duke is 2-5 in this round. Significance? Well yes when you see that they are 11-6 since 1985 in the third round. Makes my Villanova pick look better.

✰ - Louisville vs Arizona - In 1994 #2 seed Arizona beat #3 seed Louisville. Since 1997 Louisville is 3-0 (4-5 overall) in this round. I fully expect them to make that 4-0.

✰ - Kansas vs Michigan State - Kansas has won their last 5 sweet sixteen games (10-5) overall. Michigan State has 5 of their last 6 (5-4 overall). This is a revenge game though, earlier this year Kansas was walloped by State. The last time these two teams met in this round was in 1986 when #1 Kansas beat the #5 Spartans.

✰ - Connecticut vs Purdue - Purdue is 2-3 overall but hasn't been to this round since 2000. UConn has made the sweet sixteen 11 times since 1990 and is 7-4 in those games, 5-1 in their last six games. This match up is where I thought they would miss Dyson, but the way they have played in the first two rounds of this tournament, I would not be surprised to see them blow out Purdue in this game.

✰ - Memphis vs Missouri - Next to Duke and Villanova, this may be the most anticipated game of this round. Memphis is 5-1 in this round since '85 but this is the fourth straight year that they have reached the sweet sixteen. Missouri hasn't been here since 2002 but is 2-1 in this round. Still I think I will go with the Tigers from Memphis.

Other miscellanous tidbits - This is the first year since 1989 that the SEC does not have a team in the sweet sixteen. Only the ACC has a longer streak (25), and only the Big East is approaching that mark (16).

The Conferences (6 BCS and those in this years tournament) with the best winning percentages since 85 in this round are; C-USA - 9-2, Atlantic 10 - 11-4, Big 12 - 24-19, Big 10 - 26-21. The worst is the West Coast Conference - 2-3 followed by SEC at 22-27.

Conferences with the best match ups in this round is the Atlantic 10 vs Big East (1-0), Big East vs Big 10 (4-2), Big 12 vs Big East (6-3) and C-USA vs Big 12 (2-1).

♊ - Everybody dies, Tracey. Someone's carrying a bullet for you right now, doesn't even know it. The trick is, die of old age before it finds you.

2009 NCAA BB Picks Otherwise Known As March Madness

Here we go

Midwest - Sweet 16
Louisville beats Siena, Wake over Utah, Kansas beats W. Va. and Mich. St. over USC.

West - Sweet 16
Uconn over BYU, Purdue beats Washington, Missouri over Utah St. and Memphis beats Cal.

East - Sweet 16
Pitt beats Tenn, Xavier over FSU, Nova beats UCLA and Duke over Texas.

South - Sweet 16
UNC over Butler, Gonzaga beats W. Ky., Syracuse over Temple and Oklahoma beats Clemson.

Great 8's
Louisville, Michigan St., Purdue, Memphis, Pitt, Nova, UNC and Oklahoma.

Final 4
Louisville, Memphis, Pitt and UNC.

Champ - Louisville beats UNC by 9.

Prepping For March Madness 2009

Mayhem is almost upon us!!! As usual I will be posting the picks and my thoughts but some quick upset information that I have culled from the 64/65 years database.

Seeds 2-4 that never get upset by conference:

C-USA - 11-0
WAC - 9-0
Big West - 4-0
West Coast - 3- 0

Seeds 2-4 that win 9 out of every 10 by conference:
ACC - 43 - 4
Big East - 40 - 4
Atlantic 10 - 10 -1

Seeds 2-4 that lose more than they should by conference:
SEC - 30 - 6
Pac 10 - 22 - 7
Big 12 - 28 - 9

5 seeds you should watch by conference:
SEC - 9 - 5
C-USA - 2-2
MVC - 1-1
Pac 10 - 4-6
WAC - 0-3

13-15 seeds that win more than average by conference:
Big 12 - 1 - 1
Colonial - 6 - 9
MVC - 2 - 4
Atlantic 10 - 1-2
Mid Continent - 4-9
Midwestern Collegiate - 2-6
Mid Eastern - 2-8
West Coast - 2-9
Ohio Valley - 3-1

2008 March Madness Final Four Games Recap

Well, that was enjoyable. Outside of World Series wins by the Sox, nothing makes me smile more than seeing North Carolina getting tarred. Both games ending up being double digit wins but seeing North Carolina down 40-12 after an 18-0 run by Kansas just made me smile. Roy Williams was again out coached, no surprise there, and again failed to win the championship.

So, we have the mid-major Conference representative, Memphis State vs the Mid Major representative, Kansas in Monday nights championship game. Must see TV for sure.
Makes me smile all day just to think about North Carolina being bounced.

2008 March Madness Final Four Games

Well it is Final Four time of the 2008 March Madness, and that means the college basketball season is down to three games, thats right, three games. Four teams left, three games and then it will be time to turn our eyes to the Celtics playoff run, the Bruins playoff run and regular season baseball.

The first game tonight will have the UCLA Bruins vs the Memphis State Tigers at 6:05 p.m. ET. Two contrasting styles as the brutal defense of the Bruins takes on the flashy offensive Tigers. In my opinion, the Tigers are getting no respect and while I believe that defense wins championships, offense wins a lot of semi-final games. I'm going with the Tigers in this game.

The second game has the UNC Tar Heels vs the Kansas Jayhawks at an approximate time of 8:47 p.m. ET. Of course the official "story line" of this game is the "Roy Williams faces his old team". While it is true that Williams did once coach the Kasas five, it is also true that was five fracking years ago, so this team is not Roy's old team but is the Bill Self team that broke the barrier allowing Self to reach the Final Four for the first time in his coaching career.

I'll admit that this game is tough for me to pick. I have an inherent hatred of UNC, I can not fragging stand the school, the team etc., but I have to admit that this UNC team is pretty good, in fact it is probably better than Kansas and should be considered the favorite, but you know what, I just can't stand Roy Williams and I hate, absolutely hate UNC. I'm going with the Jayhawks.

2008 March Madness Sweet Sixteen Day 1 Preview

Well, lets recap, round 1 I went 23-9 thanks to a lousy 9-7 record on day two of the round. In round 2 I went 9-7 thanks to Davidson, Michigan St. and West Virginia. Of course if I had been smart I would have realized that Kentucky and Baylor weren't going to win their first game let alone make the sweet sixteen. Still, I do have 3 of my four final four teams in this thing, so I am not going to be too bummed out.

So, tonight we have four games, West Virginia vs Xavier at 7:10 p.m. which I think might be a very good game. I'm going to pull for the Musketeers but do not count out West Virginia. Huggins has made this a good solid team that rebounds and plays man-to-man defense, a very tough man-to-man defense. I still give the edge to the Musketeers.

At 7:27 p.m. we get the Washington State vs UNC game. I would like to say that Washington State has no chance but they are a tough team. Still, UNC should handle the Cougars.

The 9:40 game has one of the Cinderella stories, Western Kentucky vs UCLA. The only thing that would make me smile more is to see Western Kentucky and Washington State win tonight, but UCLA will agoniziling sneak this game out in the final four minutes.

The last game has Louisville vs Tennessee. Since I have Tennessee going to the championship game, I am sticking with that initial prediction. Tennessee wins a close game but prevails to face UNC in the regional final.

Inane stat of the day - in the last 15 tournaments the two conferences that have sent the most teams to the final four (ACC - 13, SEC - 12), have only one team left in the tournament. If Tennessee makes the final four then it will be tied.

2008 March Madness Round 1 & 2 Recaps

Well that was an interesting first two rounds. Looking at my picks, well lets just say that I had the east bracket pegged, other than that, well, the only good thing to say is that I have six of the great eights still alive and three of the final four still alive. How about Davidson!!!!!

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UNC	UNC
Indiana		UNC
Notre Dame	Wash. St.
Wash St.			Tennessee
Oklahoma	Louisville
Louisville		Tennessee
Butler	Tennessee
Tennessee
Kansas	Kansas
UNLV		Kansas
Clemson	Clemson
Vanderbilt			Kansas
Kansas St.	Wisconsin
Wisconsin		Georgetown
Gonzaga	Georgetown
Georgetown
Memphis	Memphis
Oregon		Memphis
Michigan St.	Pittsburgh		Memphis
Pittsburgh
Kentucky	Kentucky
Stanford		Texas
Miami	Texas
Texas
UCLA	UCLA
Texas A & M		UCLA
Drake	Drake
Connecticut			Duke
Baylor	Baylor
Xavier		Duke
West Virginia	Duke
Duke

A lot of misses once you get past the East. Still that is what makes this tournament so much fun, even when I knew that the team I picked was going to lose, I still found myself rooting for the Western Kentucky's, Davidsons, and Siena's. Will take a look at the third round after I finish watching Opening Day in Japan and have some time to look at who is left. Chow!!!!

Update: I noticed I had Duke going out in the first round, corrected.

2008 March Madness Round 1 Recap Day 1

This right here is what makes March Madness special. A mighty fine game that went right down to the wire. Not often does a 15 seed pull the upset in the first round (1991, 1993, 1997 and 2001) being the only times in this tournament history. An ACC team seeded 2 has never lost this game. In fact there have been only six # 2 teams that have previously won by 3 or fewer points their opening round game:

1. Arkansas beat Texas Southern - 79 - 78 in 1995
2. Tennessee beat Winthrop - 63 - 61 in 2006
3. Cincinatti beat N. Arizona - 65 - 62 in 1998
4. Duke beat Murray State - 71 - 68 in 1997
5. Kansas beat Utah State - 64 - 61 in 2003
6. Wake Forest beat E. Tenn. St. - 76 - 73 in 2003

Only Arkansas and Kansas advanced past the second round, surprisingly both made the championship games, in those tournaments. All other #2's won their games by more than a basket. In fact the average score is 80.46 to 64.09. In fact only 21 times (counting last night) in 89 wins has the number 2 team not won by double digits. Just to emphasize how rare last nights game was, 32 of the 89 wins were by greater than 20 points.

Well, that is the inane statistical portion of this post. Some pretty good games yesterday. Some stinkers also, still I'll take my 14-2 record after day one of this tournament, though I have to admit, what the hell was I thinking when I picked Kentucky! Geez!

Of course I blame the coach in the Ky game. Twice Marquette made sizable runs of 12-0 and 12-2 before he called a time out. Both cases the game clock moved 4+ minutes with his team not scoring or only scoring once. You just can't let that happen in a NCAA game.

Best game of yesterday was the Duke game, but the Xavier / Georgia game was also a pretty good one to watch. Xavier played like a 14 seed yesterday for the first half, but really turned it on in the second half. Well, enough rambling for now, so we will catch you later. Go hogs!!!! Soooie, pig Soooie!!!!!
Some good games today also.

2008 March Madness Round 1

Finally!!! The best three extended weekends (thu-sun) of sports is here. Should be a good tournament and as always, I will be glued to the TV! So, before the first game tips off lets get the picks out of the way!
First lets look at the East Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UNC	UNC
Indiana	.	UNC
Notre Dame	Wash St.
Wash. St.			Tennessee
Oklahoma	Louisville
Louisville		Tennessee
Butler	Tennessee
Tennessee

Not a lot of upsets there, in fact there are none. I think this bracket does have some possible ones though. I can easily see Indiana continuing their funk and being beaten by Arkansas. It is also possible that Notre Dame gets beat by George Mason and if I was the Butler Bulldogs I would be real worried about South Alabama. Still I just don't think that the upsets will happen.

Midwest Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Kansas	Kansas
UNLV		Kansas
Clemson	Clemson
Vanderbilt			Kansas
Kansas St.	Wisconsin
Wisconsin		Georgetown
Gonzaga	Georgetown
Georgetown

The only upset here (I don't consider a 5 over a 4 an upset) is the Kansas State win. While both teams have stud freshmen, I just think that Kansas State has more players and should squeak by USC.

Other interesting games in this bracket also. The UNLV vs Kent game should be good and so will the Clemson vs Villanova game. I also would not be surprised to see a weak 4 seed lose to Siena. The Gonzaga vs Davidson should be an intriguing game also.

South Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Memphis	Memphis
Oregon		Memphis
Michigan St.	Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh			Memphis
Kentucky	Kentucky
Stanford		Texas
Miami	Texas
Texas

Upset special here as Kentucky makes a surprising run to the sweet sixteen. The other first round game that I will be watching is the Michigan State vs Temple game. Temple could pull off the upset. I would also like to see St. Mary's beat Miami, that would be so sweet after the bubble babble about the ACC only getting four teams in the tourney.

West Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UCLA	UCLA
Texas A & M		UCLA
Drake	Drake
Connecticut			Duke
Baylor	Baylor
Xavier		Duke
West Virginia	Duke
Duke

Upsets in this region - Baylor says good by to the Dave Bliss era and makes the sweet 16!!! I also think that Drake can and should beat the Huskies of UConn.

In my final four I have Tennessee beating Kansas and Memphis beating Duke. This would set up a rematch of an earlier game where #1 Memphis lost to #2 Tennessee earlier this year. This time though, I have Memphis winning! Well that is my Sheet of Integrity Bracket. Now its time to watch some Basketball!!!

2008 NCAA Seeds

Ok, lets look at the seedings!!!! This is how I would see the teams assuming no upsets by Georgia or Illinois.

Seed	Reg 1	Reg 2	Reg 3	Reg 4
1	UNC	Memphis	UCLA	Kansas
2	G'Town	Duke	Texas	Tennessee
3	Vandy	Louisville	Wisc	Stanford
4	Drake	Clemson	Pitt	Indiana
5	Xavier	Mich. St.	Butler	U-Conn
6	Oklahoma	Kent St.	Marquette	BYU
7	UNLV	Kentucky	Miss. St.	Notre Dame
8	Arkansas	USC	W. Virginia	Wash. St.
9	Gonzaga	Miami (fl)	Dayton	Illinois St.
10	St. Mary's	Kansas St.	Arizona	Davidson
11	Tex. A & M	W. Kentucky	St. Joseph's	Baylor
12	Temple	S. Alabama	Mississippi	Purdue
13	George Mason	Cornell	Belmont	Austin Peay
14	Boise St.	Cal St. Ful.	Siena	Oral Roberts
15	San Diego	Winthrop	UMBC	Portland St.
16	Miss. Val. St. Coppin St.	Mount St. Mary's	Tx-Arlington	American

Ok, if either Georgia or Illinois wins, you remove S. Alabama and place that team in that slot for the region. If both teams win then you replace Mississippi.

Note - While I was working on this they announced that Mount St. Mary's would face Coppin State in the Play in game. This is because the NCAA does not like to have two historical Black Colleges to face each other in the play in game.

2008 Mens Tourney

Well it is that time of the year again, the best three weeks of college Basketball is about to kick off. Today there are five tournaments looking to get the automatic bids while teams on the bubble sit around and root, root, root for teams that are already in the dance to win.

First up is the Southland and the ACC tournaments at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. Basically these are meaningless games as the winners won't cause any angst among the bubbleites (is that a word?). The Southland will only get one team in the dance and both UNC and Clemson are locks for the tournament which means they are only playing for their final seeding in Clemsons case and bragging rights (UNC is a mortal lock for a 1 seed).

Next up is the Big-12 tournament game at 3:00 p.m., with both of these teams (Texas and Kansas) also just playing for bragging rights and their final seeding. With the Tennessee loss yesterday (yeah boy!!! sooooie pig sooooie!!!) the winer of this game could become a #1 seed. Look for Kansas to win this game by 4+.

The last two championships though will have the VCU's of the world though reaching for the Maalox. At 3:30 the Big-10 and the SEC tip off and both have underdogs that can cause havoc in the brackets.

Wisconsin plays Illinois in the Big-10 and the fighting Illini are not a good team this year. With a 16-18 record an upset win here would leave a more worthy team looking in instead of putting on the dancing shoes. Wisconsin will be ready though so switch the tube to ESPN2 and watch the Georgia Bulldogs play the Arkansas Razorbacks. This is the upset special of the day as the Dogs can beat Arkansas (see 1/19/2008 for the last time these two teams met). Still, the hat is ready and the beer is cold, so I am ready for this game!!!!

Who will make the cut? Well, let us look at some RPI numbers and try to make a good guess for the teams.

Team	RPI	W's	L's	Bid
Memphis	3rd	32	1	Champ
UCLA	6th	29	3	Champ
Drake	10th	26	4	Champ
Butler	17th	29	3	Champ
Pittsburgh	19th	24	9	Champ
Kent St.	23rd	27	6	Champ
UNLV	26th	24	7	Champ
Davidson	36th	25	6	Champ
W. Ky.	41st	25	6	Champ
ORU	53rd	23	8	Champ
Temple	57th	20	12	Champ
George Mason	62nd	23	10	Champ
Cornell	66th	21	5	Champ
Siena	68th	22	10	Champ
Belmont	78th	24	8	Champ
Austin Peay	84th	24	10	Champ
Cal St. Fullerton	86th	22	8	Champ
American	89th	21	11	Champ
UMBC	90th	22	8	Champ
Portland St.	91st	21	9	Champ
Boise St.	92nd	23	8	Champ
San Diego	95th	20	13	Champ
Winthrop	109th	20	11	Champ
Mount St. Mary's	160th	18	14	Champ
Miss. Valley St.	237th	14	15	Champ
Coppin St.	246th	13	20	Champ

Just looking at RPI's there are fourteen teams that are presently in the dance would not be in this thing if we went by RPI alone to decide the contestants. Ah the beauty of March Madness!

So, who then is on the bubble? Well, lets take a gander at the top 50 (the Southland will also be above 65) RPI teams . (L means a Lock, A = Auto)

Tennessee(L), UNC(L), Memphis(A), Duke(L), Texas(L), UCLA(A), Georgetown(L), Kansas(L), Xavier(L), Drake(A), Vanderbilt(L), Louisville(L), Wisconsin(L), Michigan St.(L), Stanford(L), Indiana(L), Butler(A), Connecticut(L), Pittsburgh(A), Marquette(L), BYU(L), Clemson(L), Kent St.(A), Notre Dame(L), Oklahoma(L), UNLV(A), Washington St.(L), West Virginia(L), USC(L), Gonzaga(L), Arkansas(L), Miami (FL)(L), Dayton, Illinois State, Mississippi State(L), Davidson(A), Arizona(L), South Alabama, Saint Mary's(L), Texas A & M, Western Kentucky(A), St. Joseph's, Baylor(L), Massachusetts, Purdue(L), Ohio State, Kentucky(L), Mississippi, Creighton, and Kansas St.(L). (autos and L's make for 58).

Those are some big names in that top 50 and some surprising names in that mix (South Alabama, St. Joseph's just to name two of them). Will all of these teams make the dance? Not a chance. So let's look at some other criteria to decide the teams that will be leaping for joy!

Team	RPI	W's	L's	1-100 W	1-100 L	SOS
Creighton	49	20	10	4	7	71
Dayton	33	21	10	9	6	25
Illinois St.	34	23	9	5	5	65
U-Mass	44	21	10	6	7	66
Mississippi	48	21	10	7	4	70
Ohio St.	46	19	13	7	11	10
S. Alabama	38	24	6	4	3	120
St. Joseph's	42	21	11	8	7	51
Texas A & M	40	23	9	8	9	64

That is nine teams for only six spots, so actually this isn't too bad, I only have to get rid of 3 of the top 50 RPI teams. I think we can eliminate Creighton, U-Mass and Ohio State from these teams. So based on RPI we have our 65 teams but are we missing any?

Actually I think there are a couple of intriguing teams not in the top 50 of RPI that do merit some consideration. VCU with a 24-7 record and a 56 RPI ranking, New Mexico with a 24-8 record and a 59 RPI, and Utah State with a 23-10 record and a 70RPI.

Let us look at these teams with the same additional Criteria

Team	RPI	W's	L's	1-100 W	1-100 L	SOS
VCU	56	24	17	3	3	160
New Mexico	59	24	8	6	6	169
Utah St.	70	23	10	6	4	156

Well, they are all viable, based on the W/L record you could make a case for inserting them into the table above, but I think the SOS kills them. Still, I would not be surprised if one of these three make the tournament. Later I'll have a projected seeding chart.

Misc. Post on 1/16/2008

Ok, so I have been in a funk.

I get that way when my Cowboys decide to lose a game at home in the play offs. Needless to say my predictions for the Sunday NFL games was, well way off. I still haven't really figured out how the Chargers beat the Colts with LT basically not providing anything and after Rivers went out of the game I thought they were absolutely toast. Norv Turner (who I of course liked until he went to Washington) has done a tremendous job with the Chargers this year. No way they beat the Patriots on this coming Sunday though, absolutely, positively no way.

As for the Cowboy game, give me a fragging break. I knew the team was in trouble when they allowed the Giants to score just before half time to tie the game at 14 all. What a fragging waste of a season (I knew I should have listened to my head). Oh well, that pretty much kills the football watching until next fall. Will have to see if I really have the time (ok, I will probably make the time) to watch games that I have no rooting interests in either team.

Hmm, I would get all indignant or up in arms about the Celtics losing back-to-back games to the Wizards, but I really can't get that upset about those games. I think that both games did show that Mr. Danny Ainge will need to get a quality back up point guard before the trading deadline. I think that if Rajon Rondo had been 80 to 100% healthy the C's would not have lost both of those fourth quarter leads. The problem is I don't see a lot of room in the salary cap scenarios for the Celtics to get a quality back up point guard.

Speaking of the Celtics they have a game tonight against a blistering hot Trail Blazer team which has gone 18-2 in their last twenty games. No Rajon, probably again tonight though as the back and a hamstring are causing the Celtics to put him at 50-50 status. If I'm Mr. Doc Rivers I think I would start House, but he probably goes with Allen. Will have to see. The Boston Herald preview for tonight’s game is here.


Well, with football winding down it is time to start looking at the College Basketball schedules. So far the Arkansas Razorbacks have done pretty well. Currently they have a 13-3 record with their last win being an overtime thriller against Alabama at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. That makes them 2-0 in the SEC and I really think that they need to be either 1st or 2nd in the SEC west if they want to guarantee a March Madness appearance. They also have a game tonight against South Carolina.

I really don't know much about the Gamecocks except that they are only 8-8 overall with an 0-2 record in the SEC. This is the SEC though, so every game is usually competitive. Will be following this game on the olde ESPN.com game tracker for sure tonight. Sure would be nice if the Pigs were able to start their SEC season off with a 3-0 record.


Enough for now, just remember - ♊ - all else fails get a bigger hammer.

oh one more thing - a pic of the dog:

ESPN Picks the Final Fours and Oh Yeah Some Trades

Well while the blogging has been light here a lot of things are shaking in the sports world. It looks like the Tigers have traded for Cabrera (thank you Mike Lowell and Thank you theo). The Sox are in the midst of making a trade for Johan Santana which might include Ellsbury (no, no please no) or Lester (yes, yes, yes) but who really knows. If Sean McAdam on Comcast sportsnet is right then even Coco wouldn't be part of the deal, who the fragging knows. Still something to keep an eye on over the next day or so, will have to keep you posted.

I thought I would take a look at what the ESPN guys have decided would be their final four picks this coming spring. Surprisingly only eight teams make their final four with UCLA (9), Memphis (9) and UNC (8) leading the way. The only other team to be listed by at least half of the experts was Louisville at 5. Will be interesting to see if the college basketball season goes true to form or if like the just finished football season it goes all topsy turvy. Later my friends!!

March Madness 2007 edition VII

Its for all of the marbles tonight. Will OSU get its revenge and beat Florida and ride off into the night with its first national championship in decades? My money is on Florida, well if I had any money to spare on a bet.

As for the women, it looks like all things are go for another Rocky Top win against Rutgers. See you after the game!

March Madness 2007 edition VI

Well, two games left in both the mens and womens games. Here we go, Florida beats UCLA by 1 thanks to a missed shot by UCLA at the Buzzer. Georgeotown, out works OSU and goes to the finals setting up a big east / SEC for all of the marbles. Oh, yes, Donovan takes the Kentucky job on tuesday.

For the women - Tennessee beats Rutgers for the entire thing. Working on a couple of things, see you later.

March Madness 2007 edition V

Well, missed the A & M and Pittsburgh games (only because Law missed that layup). Still, looking good over all since 3 of the 4 I originally picked to make the final 4 are still playing (barely). Should be 2 very good games today and tomorrow.

2007 NCAA 4th Round

Midwest	West	East	South
Florida	Kansas	Georgetown *	Ohio St.

* - Originally I had Texas going to the finals.

Only one conference has a chance to get 2 teams in the final 4, that being what I considered a weak overall conference in the Pac 10. Would be an unusual tournament if they missed out since it seems like lately there is always one conference that gets 2 into the last weekend.

March Madness 2007 edition IV

Well, lets see, I got 10 of the sweet sixteen. Not good, a c+ average. Unfortunately, I lost one of my final four teams (Texas). Still, I have a chance to do well since 5 of my great 8 teams are still in the mix (grrr, Louisville).

For this next round I have the following picks:

2007 NCAA 3rd Round

Midwest	West	East	South
Florida	Kansas	N. Carolina **	Ohio St.
Oregon *	Pittsburgh	Georgetown	Tx A & M ***

* - not my original (notre dame was supposed to be here).
** - Freaking Texas
*** - Louisville had this game, but you know I am impressed by Law IV.

Should be some good games tonight.

Women BB march madness I

Well, here are the womens picks for the first round. Not going to go into a lot of background right now. Will post later hopefully. On to the picks:

2007 NCAA Womens First Round

Dallas	Dayton	Fresno	Greensboro
UNC	Tennesse	UCONN	Duke
GW	Pittsburgh	New Mex.	Temple.
Tx. A & M	Mid Tenn	Baylor	Mich. Stat
Washington	Ohio St	N.C. State	Rutgers
Georgia	Marquette	Xavier	Louisville
Depaul	Oklahoma	LSU	Arizona St.
Purdue	TCU	Florida St..	Bowling Green
Notre Dame	Maryland	Stanford	Vanderbilt

more later sometime today, right now I have to get some sleep.

March Madness 2007 edition III

Well, so much for my Razorbacks. Geez it sucks being a razorback backer right now. 4 straight losses in the NCAA's. Time to fire Stan Heath. Still, I did go 23 - 9 first day, which obviously won't get me any big time prizes but hey what are you going to do right. So, on to the 2nd round which leads to the sweet sixteen.

The good news about my misses only one did I have going further (thanks ND). Heres the 2nd round picks:

2007 NCAA 2nd Round

Midwest	West	East	South
Florida	Kansas	N. Carolina	Ohio St.
Maryland	So. Illinois	Texas	Tennessee
Oregon *	Pittsburgh	Vanderbilt	Louisville
Wisconsin	Indiana	Georgetown	Memphis

Again not a lot of upsets, will post more today about why I picked who I picked.

* - Had ND in bracket, So Oregon is the blog pick. Would love to see Winthrop move on though. Not sure how much will blog today, you might not have heard but we got around 10 of snow and sleet etc last 24 hours. Even with a blower my back is killing just from manhandling that piece of crap. Oh, well! See you later with the Womens picks.