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.

Womens 2008 Final Four Preview

Well, the women get to play their final four games tonight. First up is the #1 Connecticut Huskies vs the #4 Stanford Cardinals. Maya Moore vs Candice Wiggins, well not really as I doubt that Moore will be guarding Wiggins or vice versa. Still it should be a very good game for oh, until about mid way of the second half, at which point I fully expect the Huskies to steadily increase their lead until the final buzzer.

The second game features the #3 Tennessee Volunteers vs the #6 Louisiana State Tigers. This will be the third game between these two conference rivals and will give one of them double bragging rights as this rivalry will continue to grow. In the past I would say that this is a slam dunk win for the Volunteers because of Pat Summit's ability to out coach her SEC rival, but not this year. This year the other coach is pretty good and I expect him to be up to the task. LSU squeezes out a victory.

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

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 the 3rd

Well not much going on sport in sports tonight. It's a slow night here at the s1c household also as I am just kicking back and listening to the radio (Dennis Miller will be on in 15 minutes). Right now a good part of the country has their eyes turned toward Iowa. I am sorry, but I could really, really, care less right now about Iowa.

There is one Bowl game tonight in that little town called Miami. Kansas is playing Virginia Tech. I think that Tech wins this one 35-31. That is all for now!!

Oh one other thing, ESPN.com is stating that Clemens told Wallace he took shots of B-12 and Lidocane. Yeah, right, I really believe you Rahger!

Misc. Post on the 2nd!

Ok, so yesterday my football picks again stunk. What made me think that Hawaii could beat Georgia? How in the world did I pick a team with an interim coach, my beloved Hogs, and think they could beat Missouri? Those are the two biggest mistakes and of course since I was so stupid I went 2-4 as opposed to 4-2. Grrr.

The good news today, is that the soap opera of northwest Arkansas is finally over and hopefully the team can rebound from this fiasco and start to be a consistent winner again. Unfortunately, I think that the new coach will only be around just long enough to win a couple of SEC West titles and then will take his Larry Brown / Saban like ways to some other green grass program. Oh well, will have to see.

Meanwhile tonight we have the #9 West Virginia Mountaineers (10-2) vs the #4 Oklahoma Sooners (11-2) in the Fiesta bowl. Not for sure about this game but I am going to give the edge to Oklahoma, lets go with 24-23 for the Sooners.

Other than that bold predicition, not much else is happening (though the Celtics are playing well as we speak), so will say hasta la vista for now!

Oh yeah, I added a couple of new links, be sure and check them out!

2008 - Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year and may 2008 bring you everything you desire.

Well, looking at yesterday's bowls you can see why I do not bet on College Football. Sheesh, 2 and 4. Still, it is a new year and there is hope for new beginnings. So, let us look at today's bowl Games!

First up on the schedule is the Outback bowl which has #18 Wisconsin (9-3) playing #16 Tennessee (9-4). The Volunteers have speed and the Badgers are plodders. I go with speed here and say the Vols 31 to 17 over the Badgers.

Shades of old its Arkansas (8-4) in the Cotton Bowl! Who are they playing? Well it is #6 Missouri Tigers (11-2). Hmmm, I wonder who I picked (look to the right - ed). Missouri has speed, throws the ball and scores a ton of points each game, however, Oklahoma owned them this year. Arkansas has a defense, plays in the tough SEC and oh yeah, some junior running back that has place 2nd in the heisman trophy balloting the last two years. This game will be a barn burner. Arkansas 42 and Missouri 34.

Gator bowl has Texas Tech (8-4) vs #20 Virginia (9-3). Va blows this game open late and wins 28 to 17.

Capital One bowl is another Big 10 vs SEC match up. Florida (9-3) has this QB who did something special this year, 20/20 man will lead the Gators over the Michigan Wolverines (8-4) with a 35 - 21 outcome.

Rose Bowl has #13 Illinois (9-3) vs #7 USC (10-2) playing at 4:30. USC romps 35-17.

Our final Bowl game of the day is the Sugar Bowl. #10 Hawaii (12-0) is playing #5 Georgia (10-2). The only loss for the SEC today is this game in a tough nail biter Hawaii wins 31-28!!!

Happy New YEAR!!!!!!

2007 Winding Down

Well, 2007 is finally winding down and it is obvious that there are some serious bowl games to be played yet in this year. Well, not really, but there are a few left in this year. So far I have picked 8 winners and 7 losers, but today is another day. Before we get to the bowl picks for today though, it should be mentioned that the Celtics just keep on rolling along.

Last night they completed their four game west coast trip by beating the Lakers, well, actually they rolled over the the Lakers like a cement truck heading to the construction site. The closest the Lakers got in the second half was at 3:16 in the 3rd quarter when Kobe fed Derek Fisher for a three pointer that made the score 72-66. The Lakers didn't score again until the 4th quarter and by that time the Celtics had a 16 point lead that would never be threatened again.

As for the just completed road trip, the C's went to Sacramento on the 26th and won 89-69, a twenty point shellacking over a losing team. This was followed by a game on the 27th in Seattle that the Celtics won 104-96 over an even worse team than the Kings. Still it was Ray Allens first trip back to Seattle and it was their sixth set of back to back games this year (6-0 on the second game of these sets) so a close game was to be expected.

Following a day off the C's continued to impress by beating the Jazz on the 29th by a 104-98 score that included an embarrassed Paul Pierce who hit the winning basket with 28 seconds left in the game. In this game the Celtics trailed at half time as they just could not stop the Jazz from shooting over 60% in the first half. Once again though they out scored their opponent in the third quarter and only trailed by two going into the fourth. The Celtics were now 3-0 on the trip and rumbled into Los Angeles trying to do two things, prevent Phil Jackson from passing Red Auerbach on the win list and sweep the road trip.

Mission accomplished! Another double digit win and another milestone achieved!

Setting The Pace
The Celtics are now off to a better start than the Bulls team that won an NBA-record 72 games. Here are the best winning percentages before New Year's Day:
Team	Record	Pct.
1971-72 Lakers	36-3	.923*
1966-67 76ers	35-3	.921*
2007-08 Celtics	26-3	.897
1995-96 Bulls	25-3	.893*
* -- Won NBA title.

Some things are just meant to be and that is being accomplished by this Celtics team. As the box to the right says (lifted from ESPN.Com), the Celtics have joined a select few teams in the upper echelon of NBA history and the historic runs of the teams from Boston just keep on rolling (16-0 Patriots, 2007 World Series Champs) along in this last week of 2007.

Next on the docket for the Celtics will be a home game vs the Rockets on 1/2/2008 (got to get used to typing 2008) and another back to back as they face the Grizzlies on 1/4 at home and then travel to Detroit on 1/5. The Detroit game will be interesting since the Pistons beat the Celtics on 12/19 in Boston. I expect fireworks in that game!!

Enough about the Celtics though. Lets make our picks for today's Bowl Games!

The first game today at 12:30 is the Armed Forces Bowl! This game pits California (6-6) against Air Force (9-3). I think the Falcons will beat the Bears 31 - 27.

Next set of games has the Humanitarian bowl at 2:00 with Georgia Tech (7-5) playing Fresno State (8-4). Look for the rambling wreck to win this game 35-21. The other 2:00 game has #21 South Florida (9-3) playing Oregon (8-4). I just don't think that Oregon can hang with the Big East team and fully expect the Bulls to beat the Ducks 28-10.

Our 4:00 game features Kentucky (7-5) playing perennial bowl team Florida State (7-5) in the Music City bowl. Since Florida State has an academic scandal (gee another school in Florida with a thug reputation, who woulda thought that - ed) which will cause a good number of players to be left in Florida for this game, I expect the SEC to continue to roll as Kentucky blasts the Seminoles 35-10.

The 6:00 game features Indiana (7-5) vs Oklahoma State (6-6) in the insight.com bowl. I expect this game to be a shoot out and I even might watch a little bit of it on the NFL network. Indiana 31 - Oklahoma State 30.

The last game of the day will be at 7:30 on ESPN as the Clemson Tigers (9-3) take on the Auburn Tigers (8-4). This should be another good game but I fully expect the SEC team to beat the ACC team in a low scoring affair. Lets go with Auburn 18 over Clemson 17.

Well, time to do some menial errands on this last day in 2007. Catch you all later!

Misc 2007 stuff

Well, another year is fast becoming history and if you are a fan of any of the teams associated with Boston you have to be pretty happy. In fact this might be a very historic year for teams based in the Boston area as last night the Patriots became the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 and the Celtics improved their NBA best record to 25-3 (on pace for 73 wins) by beating the Utah Jazz on the road and guaranteeing themselves a winning road trip against west coast teams.

Even the Bruins are playing above .500 hockey and are just out of the playoffs with their 18-16-4 record. With the Revolution making it to the finals in MLS and the Red Sox winning the World Series Boston can rightly claim to be a championship contending town. The only question right now is can the Patriots find their way to the Super Bowl (only the Colts can prevent that imho)?

As for the Celtics, right now they are contenders, but in the rugged play of the NBA there is still a long, long, long way to go before they can even think about the playoffs. Still, you have to like the way the Celtics are playing as once again they turned up the defensive pressure in the second half last night. Yep, I am truly enjoying the Celtics season.

Turning quickly to bowl games this year, so far I picked winners in the San Diego Credit Union, Papajohns.com, New Mexico, Pioneer Las Vegas, Champs Sports, Texas, Emerald, and the Alamo bowl games. That is an 8 and 6 record so far. There is only one game today and that is the Petro Sun Independence bowl. Look for Colorado to run up the score against an up and down Alabama team. I don't even expect this one to be close, lets say 31 to 10 for the Buffaloes.

On the pro side today lets go with these winners:

Seattle +2 1/2
Cleveland - 9 1/2
New Orleans - 2 1/2
Cincinatti - 2 1/2
Buffalo +7 1/2
Carolina +2 1/2
Green Bay - 3 1/2
Jacksonville + 6 1/2
Pittsburgh -5 1/2
Dallas +8 1/2
Arizona -6 1/2
Minnesota -2 1/2
San Diego -6 1/2
Kansas City +5 1/2
Indianapolis +6 1/2

Tata for now!!!!!

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.

Women BB march madness III

Well the women will have two teams in their final 4 decided tonight. Personally, I think that the UCONN-LSU game will be quite good especially since it is a rematch from earlier this year. Here's my picks for this round

2007 Womens NCAA Elite 8 Round

Dallas	Dayton	Fresno	Greensboro
UNC	Tennessee	UCONN	Rutgers *

* - Originally I had Vanderbilt going to the finals.

The Ole Miss - Tennessee game should be interesting, but HOF Summit will rocky top her way to another Final 4.

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.

Women BB march madness II

So, started off 25 and 7 in round one only to go 10 & 6 in round 2. Now, here it is sweet sixteen time for the women and even though I have 7 of the great 8 teams alive, I've already lost a final four team in Vanderbilt. Still, a c+ for the picks so far.

Just because I am in a blogging mood today I will go ahead and post my great 8 picks for the women:

2007 Womens NCAA 3rd Round

Dallas	Dayton	Fresno	Greensboro
UNC	Tennessee	Connecticut	Duke
Purdue	Oklahoma	LSU	Bowling Green*

* - Originally had Vanderbilt
This is chalk so far except for Bowling Green.

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.