For whatever reason, I've decided to record my thoughts on many of the picks from Thursday night's draft. Let's get right to it.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Louisville, Ohio State Advance to Final Four
Half the field for St. Louis is set.
In the first matchup, the upset-ridden West regional final, Louisville surged late to stun Florida by four. Full credit to the Cardinals, particularly Russ Smith (who made several big shots down the stretch in place of Peyton Siva, who had fouled out) and Chane Behanan (who had a big second half after being quiet in the first 20 minutes). But the Gators earn demerits for their lack of offensive execution in the second half and lack of poise down the stretch. Florida was red-hot from deep in the first half against the Louisville zone, but didn't adjust well when the Cardinals switched to man-to-man. And they took some bad, early shots down the stretch.
In the first matchup, the upset-ridden West regional final, Louisville surged late to stun Florida by four. Full credit to the Cardinals, particularly Russ Smith (who made several big shots down the stretch in place of Peyton Siva, who had fouled out) and Chane Behanan (who had a big second half after being quiet in the first 20 minutes). But the Gators earn demerits for their lack of offensive execution in the second half and lack of poise down the stretch. Florida was red-hot from deep in the first half against the Louisville zone, but didn't adjust well when the Cardinals switched to man-to-man. And they took some bad, early shots down the stretch.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Half of the Elite Eight Set
Aside from the first game, which saw Syracuse squeak by Wisconsin when the Badgers couldn't get a good shot off on their final possession, Thursday's action was pretty boring: Louisville's Gorgui Dieng controlled the interior with seven blocked shots as the Cardinals stymied Michigan State; Ohio State lost its concentration and a 12-point halftime lead, but regrouped to beat Cincy by 15; and freshman Bradley Beal led Florida past Marquette in a high-intensity yet sloppy game that was pretty similar to Marquette's second-round win over Murray State.
The Syracuse-Wisconsin game was a gem, though.
The Syracuse-Wisconsin game was a gem, though.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Sweet 16 preview
By no means is this a complete preview; it's more of a collection of semi-connected thoughts about the Sweet 16 games, which get started Thursday night. Take a look after the jump.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Round Two, Day Two
The marathon portion of the college basketball season is over. Since Thursday, it's been nothing but wall-to-wall hoops, 12 straight hours of basketball a day for four days. (And all this coming on the heels of Championship Week, an even more grueling endurance test!) Yeah, I know; I'm sad, too.
Sixteen teams remain. A bit later in the week, I'll put up a Sweet 16 preview post breaking down the upcoming action. For now, though, let's take a quick look at Sunday's games.
Sixteen teams remain. A bit later in the week, I'll put up a Sweet 16 preview post breaking down the upcoming action. For now, though, let's take a quick look at Sunday's games.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Round Two, Day One
Blogging after watching all this ball is starting to wear me out.
After Friday's excitement, Saturday was relatively tame. There were no upsets among the eight games on the slate. But there still some pretty good games.
After Friday's excitement, Saturday was relatively tame. There were no upsets among the eight games on the slate. But there still some pretty good games.
Day Two Thoughts
My reactions to day two of the second round, a.k.a. day two of the first round, a.k.a. the most historic day in NCAA tournament history.
Four times, and only four times, prior to Friday had a #15 seed beaten a #2 seed in the first round. On Friday, it happened twice. Lehigh-Duke got top billing on Sportscenter even though it happened after Norfolk State-Missouri, so we'll start there after the jump.
Four times, and only four times, prior to Friday had a #15 seed beaten a #2 seed in the first round. On Friday, it happened twice. Lehigh-Duke got top billing on Sportscenter even though it happened after Norfolk State-Missouri, so we'll start there after the jump.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Day One Thoughts
Long day. Caught all the action, and at least a minute or two of every game. Let's go region-by-region, starting with the big story/non-story of the day: the Historical 16/1 Upset That Kinda Sorta Almost Was.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Midwest Preview
[SOUTH] [WEST] [EAST]
The field of 64 was finally set Wednesday night with the last of the play-in games in Dayton. UVM comfortably beat Lamar for the right to play sacrificial lamb to North Carolina on Friday (Go Cats Go!), but the big story was South Florida, which absolutely demolished California in the night game. A lot of people didn't think the Bulls belonged in the field despite a 12-6 Big East record, and some of those same people were probably grumbling that the Pac-12 got just one at-large bid. So such a convincing win was pretty surprising.
Frankly, of all the #1/#2 pairings in the tournament, I thought North Carolina and Kansas got the biggest break from the committee. Their paths to the Elite 8 look pretty clear to me.
The field of 64 was finally set Wednesday night with the last of the play-in games in Dayton. UVM comfortably beat Lamar for the right to play sacrificial lamb to North Carolina on Friday (Go Cats Go!), but the big story was South Florida, which absolutely demolished California in the night game. A lot of people didn't think the Bulls belonged in the field despite a 12-6 Big East record, and some of those same people were probably grumbling that the Pac-12 got just one at-large bid. So such a convincing win was pretty surprising.
Frankly, of all the #1/#2 pairings in the tournament, I thought North Carolina and Kansas got the biggest break from the committee. Their paths to the Elite 8 look pretty clear to me.
East Preview
[SOUTH] [WEST] [MIDWEST]
When the brackets were announced, Syracuse, the top seed in the East, was my national champion (and had been since December. Truth be told, though, I was a bit worried about the potential Sweet 16 matchup with Vanderbilt, a team that I had been high on at the start of the year and that came on strong to upset Kentucky in the SEC final. So when the news came down that Fab Melo, the vastly improved sophomore center who anchors Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone, it was enough to make me re-consider my pick. There are a bunch of teams that could win the region -- I've gone back and forth quite a bit on this one. Let's get to it.
When the brackets were announced, Syracuse, the top seed in the East, was my national champion (and had been since December. Truth be told, though, I was a bit worried about the potential Sweet 16 matchup with Vanderbilt, a team that I had been high on at the start of the year and that came on strong to upset Kentucky in the SEC final. So when the news came down that Fab Melo, the vastly improved sophomore center who anchors Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone, it was enough to make me re-consider my pick. There are a bunch of teams that could win the region -- I've gone back and forth quite a bit on this one. Let's get to it.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
West Preview
[SOUTH] [EAST] [MIDWEST]
I never know if the Committee does stuff like this on purpose, but the West region this year is absolutely loaded with teams that are dominated by excellent perimeter play. (Iona's shocking loss to BYU in the play-in game Tuesday night robbed the region of more guard talent in NBA prospect Scott Machado and Arizona transfer Lamont "Momo" Jones.) I love good guard play, and my two "adopted" teams this year, Missouri and Long Beach State, are in the region, so it's safe to say I'll be tuning in to almost every game. Let's get on with the preview.
I never know if the Committee does stuff like this on purpose, but the West region this year is absolutely loaded with teams that are dominated by excellent perimeter play. (Iona's shocking loss to BYU in the play-in game Tuesday night robbed the region of more guard talent in NBA prospect Scott Machado and Arizona transfer Lamont "Momo" Jones.) I love good guard play, and my two "adopted" teams this year, Missouri and Long Beach State, are in the region, so it's safe to say I'll be tuning in to almost every game. Let's get on with the preview.
South Preview
[WEST] [EAST] [MIDWEST]
First of all, what a start to March Madness! In case you missed it, you missed two of the most improbable comebacks in tournament history.
In the early game, Mississippi Valley State led Western Kentucky by 16 points with 4:52 remaining in what was a poorly-played and, up to that point, dull game. It took less than two and a half minutes for the Hilltoppers to erase all but one point of that deficit. They tied it up a minute later, and ended up winning by one. WKU won despite committing 27 turnovers, in large part due to a 53-30 edge on the glass. (MVSU's complete collapse when faced with pressure defense in the final minutes helped, too).
That was just the opening act, however. In the late game, Iona looked like it was poised to run BYU right out of the gym, scoring 49 points in the first 13:48 and taking a 25-point lead. Incredibly, the Gaels managed just 17 points over the final 26 minutes, and the Cougars won going away.
Let's hope we haven't peaked. These were exciting games, but each of the four teams in action played some bad basketball. There's room for improvement.
On to my preview of the South region!
First of all, what a start to March Madness! In case you missed it, you missed two of the most improbable comebacks in tournament history.
In the early game, Mississippi Valley State led Western Kentucky by 16 points with 4:52 remaining in what was a poorly-played and, up to that point, dull game. It took less than two and a half minutes for the Hilltoppers to erase all but one point of that deficit. They tied it up a minute later, and ended up winning by one. WKU won despite committing 27 turnovers, in large part due to a 53-30 edge on the glass. (MVSU's complete collapse when faced with pressure defense in the final minutes helped, too).
That was just the opening act, however. In the late game, Iona looked like it was poised to run BYU right out of the gym, scoring 49 points in the first 13:48 and taking a 25-point lead. Incredibly, the Gaels managed just 17 points over the final 26 minutes, and the Cougars won going away.
Let's hope we haven't peaked. These were exciting games, but each of the four teams in action played some bad basketball. There's room for improvement.
On to my preview of the South region!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Evaluating the Committee
The bubble talk is over, the brackets are out. A few words about the committee before breaking down the brackets and making my picks later in the week.
Top seeds
I generally don't get too caught up in who is a number one and who is a number two, because it doesn't really matter -- two seeds lose a little more often in the second round, but after that you're playing a bunch of really good teams anyway and it doesn't really matter what seed you are. (Interesting note: according to this site, #2 seeds are 58-21 all-time against #7 seeds in the second round (comparable to the 55-14 mark #1 seeds have against #8 seeds), but just 29-21 against #10 seeds.) This year is really no exception, especially with Kentucky and Syracuse the clear 1-2 at the top. I think Michigan State, as Big Ten regular season co-champ and tournament winner, is also an easy pick. For the fourth spot, I think you can make the case for a few teams, and with Kansas and Missouri splitting the Big 12 crowns, for me, the choice is between North Carolina and Ohio State. Both teams are regular season conference champions (co-champs, in the Buckeyes case) who lost in their conference title game, and they have very similar RPI and strength of schedule. The Big Ten is stronger top-to-bottom than the ACC was this year, but 14-2 in league play looks a lot better than 13-5. Like I said, it doesn't matter.
The seed list
For the first time ever, the Committee released the top-to-bottom seed list, 1 through 68.
The whole thing turned out to be less interesting than I thought, but the one revelation of sorts was that the "S curve" is pretty much non-existent, and is sacrificed for keeping teams close to home and other bracketing principles. The advantage given to the top overall seed, Kentucky, seems to be limited to: 1) having the regional closes to home; 2) playing the "worst" #16 seed; and 3) not having to play the second overall seed, Syracuse, until the national final, potentially.
At first, this pissed me off -- what's the point of having the overall seed list if you aren't going to use it? -- but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me. The S curve method gives the top overall seed an advantage in that they get the theoretically easiest opponent in the first round (which doesn't really matter, since a #1 has never lost to a #16, and it would put the worst #2, #4, #6, and #8 in that bracket, but the flip side of that is that the best #3, #5, #7, and #9 would be in that bracket as well. Without any real meaningful distinction between, say, the 16th overall seed and the 17th overall seed, a straight S Curve seems relatively meaningless and you might as well try and keep teams in their natural geographical regions as much as possible.
Bubble teams
I'm lacking the energy to research and debate the bubble teams. All the snubbed teams lost games they should have won, as usual, and thus have no complaints. The only change I'd really make is Washington over BYU. But there are two points I want to address.
First, while I find myself increasingly annoyed by Doug Gottlieb, he made a great point on ESPN's Bracketology that I want to mention and expand on. Noting that Drexel, 16-2 in the Colonial (which spawned recent Final Four Cinderellas George Mason and VCU) and 27-6 overall was left out and that Iona, 15-3 in the significantly less competitive Metro Atlantic and 25-7 overall was included, Gottlieb pointed to the obvious difference between the two: out-of-conference strength of schedule. He then took it a step further, noting that Iona went a month without playing a home game, playing eight in a row on the road between November 28 and January 3. Gottlieb's point: The Committee is holding the mid-majors to a ridiculously high standard. Sure, you don't have to win your league, you just have to play a ton of road games, and maybe get lucky and get into one of the pre-season events.
He's right, and let me take it a step further: These kids are allegedly student-athletes. Playing a mess of road games in December (the only month that is really available for non-conference games), when most universities administer their final exams, really flies in the face of the idea that the players are supposed to be students first.
Second, I read an article that said that had Xavier beaten St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 championship game (thereby freeing up an at-large spot), the Committee would have held a final vote on six teams -- Drexel, Miami, Oral Roberts, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, and Nevada -- for that final spot.
I don't know the methodology, but this strikes me as an odd way to do things. I'm a bit surprised that some sort of pecking order among those six didn't shake out in the selection of the other 36 at-larges, first of all, but I also wonder just how the vote would work. The Committe is comprised of ten members, if I'm not mistaken, and I can only assume that those six teams were in the conversation because at least one of the members of the Committee thought that they should be in over the other five. So what happens if the initial vote goes 2-2-2-2-1-1? What would happen if there were five teams under consideration, and the vote went 2-2-2-2-2?
I don't know, I always envisioned the selection process as more of a negotiated process than something they voted on.
I'll be breaking down the brackets later in the week.
Top seeds
I generally don't get too caught up in who is a number one and who is a number two, because it doesn't really matter -- two seeds lose a little more often in the second round, but after that you're playing a bunch of really good teams anyway and it doesn't really matter what seed you are. (Interesting note: according to this site, #2 seeds are 58-21 all-time against #7 seeds in the second round (comparable to the 55-14 mark #1 seeds have against #8 seeds), but just 29-21 against #10 seeds.) This year is really no exception, especially with Kentucky and Syracuse the clear 1-2 at the top. I think Michigan State, as Big Ten regular season co-champ and tournament winner, is also an easy pick. For the fourth spot, I think you can make the case for a few teams, and with Kansas and Missouri splitting the Big 12 crowns, for me, the choice is between North Carolina and Ohio State. Both teams are regular season conference champions (co-champs, in the Buckeyes case) who lost in their conference title game, and they have very similar RPI and strength of schedule. The Big Ten is stronger top-to-bottom than the ACC was this year, but 14-2 in league play looks a lot better than 13-5. Like I said, it doesn't matter.
The seed list
For the first time ever, the Committee released the top-to-bottom seed list, 1 through 68.
The whole thing turned out to be less interesting than I thought, but the one revelation of sorts was that the "S curve" is pretty much non-existent, and is sacrificed for keeping teams close to home and other bracketing principles. The advantage given to the top overall seed, Kentucky, seems to be limited to: 1) having the regional closes to home; 2) playing the "worst" #16 seed; and 3) not having to play the second overall seed, Syracuse, until the national final, potentially.
At first, this pissed me off -- what's the point of having the overall seed list if you aren't going to use it? -- but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me. The S curve method gives the top overall seed an advantage in that they get the theoretically easiest opponent in the first round (which doesn't really matter, since a #1 has never lost to a #16, and it would put the worst #2, #4, #6, and #8 in that bracket, but the flip side of that is that the best #3, #5, #7, and #9 would be in that bracket as well. Without any real meaningful distinction between, say, the 16th overall seed and the 17th overall seed, a straight S Curve seems relatively meaningless and you might as well try and keep teams in their natural geographical regions as much as possible.
Bubble teams
I'm lacking the energy to research and debate the bubble teams. All the snubbed teams lost games they should have won, as usual, and thus have no complaints. The only change I'd really make is Washington over BYU. But there are two points I want to address.
First, while I find myself increasingly annoyed by Doug Gottlieb, he made a great point on ESPN's Bracketology that I want to mention and expand on. Noting that Drexel, 16-2 in the Colonial (which spawned recent Final Four Cinderellas George Mason and VCU) and 27-6 overall was left out and that Iona, 15-3 in the significantly less competitive Metro Atlantic and 25-7 overall was included, Gottlieb pointed to the obvious difference between the two: out-of-conference strength of schedule. He then took it a step further, noting that Iona went a month without playing a home game, playing eight in a row on the road between November 28 and January 3. Gottlieb's point: The Committee is holding the mid-majors to a ridiculously high standard. Sure, you don't have to win your league, you just have to play a ton of road games, and maybe get lucky and get into one of the pre-season events.
He's right, and let me take it a step further: These kids are allegedly student-athletes. Playing a mess of road games in December (the only month that is really available for non-conference games), when most universities administer their final exams, really flies in the face of the idea that the players are supposed to be students first.
Second, I read an article that said that had Xavier beaten St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 championship game (thereby freeing up an at-large spot), the Committee would have held a final vote on six teams -- Drexel, Miami, Oral Roberts, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, and Nevada -- for that final spot.
I don't know the methodology, but this strikes me as an odd way to do things. I'm a bit surprised that some sort of pecking order among those six didn't shake out in the selection of the other 36 at-larges, first of all, but I also wonder just how the vote would work. The Committe is comprised of ten members, if I'm not mistaken, and I can only assume that those six teams were in the conversation because at least one of the members of the Committee thought that they should be in over the other five. So what happens if the initial vote goes 2-2-2-2-1-1? What would happen if there were five teams under consideration, and the vote went 2-2-2-2-2?
I don't know, I always envisioned the selection process as more of a negotiated process than something they voted on.
I'll be breaking down the brackets later in the week.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Selection Saturday Schedule
Today is my favorite day of the year! As much as I love the NCAA tournament, the end of the conference tournament provides more high-quality basketball than any other day of the college basketball season.
For handy reference, I thought I'd post the TV schedule online. All times Eastern.
11 Vermont vs. Stony Brook (ESPN2)
11:30 Marshall vs. Memphis (CBS)
1 Kentucky vs. Florida (ABC)
1 North Carolina vs. North Carolina State (ESPN)
1 Bethune-Cookman vs. Norfolk State (ESPN2)
1:30 Michigan State vs. Wisconsin (CBS)
3 McNeese State vs. Lamar (ESPN2)
3:30 Mississippi vs. Vanderbilt (ABC)
3:30 Duke vs. Florida State (ESPN)
4 Michigan vs. Ohio State (CBS)
5:30 Baylor vs. Missouri (ESPN)
6 Arizona vs. Colorado (CBS)
7 New Mexico vs. San Diego State (NBC Sports)
8 Ohio vs. Akron (ESPN2)
8 Texas Southern vs. Mississippi Valley State (ESPNU)
9 Cincinnati vs. Louisville (ESPN)
10 Long Beach State vs. UC-Santa Barbara (ESPN2)
Midnight Louisiana Tech vs. New Mexico State (ESPN2)
For handy reference, I thought I'd post the TV schedule online. All times Eastern.
11 Vermont vs. Stony Brook (ESPN2)
11:30 Marshall vs. Memphis (CBS)
1 Kentucky vs. Florida (ABC)
1 North Carolina vs. North Carolina State (ESPN)
1 Bethune-Cookman vs. Norfolk State (ESPN2)
1:30 Michigan State vs. Wisconsin (CBS)
3 McNeese State vs. Lamar (ESPN2)
3:30 Mississippi vs. Vanderbilt (ABC)
3:30 Duke vs. Florida State (ESPN)
4 Michigan vs. Ohio State (CBS)
5:30 Baylor vs. Missouri (ESPN)
6 Arizona vs. Colorado (CBS)
7 New Mexico vs. San Diego State (NBC Sports)
8 Ohio vs. Akron (ESPN2)
8 Texas Southern vs. Mississippi Valley State (ESPNU)
9 Cincinnati vs. Louisville (ESPN)
10 Long Beach State vs. UC-Santa Barbara (ESPN2)
Midnight Louisiana Tech vs. New Mexico State (ESPN2)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Best Dunk Ever
I don't normally post stuff like this, and I know it's been a while since I posted on here last, but you can't call yourself a basketball blogger if you're not linking to or posting or tweeting about the all-time posterization of Kendrick Perkins last night, courtesy of Blake Griffin.
Okay, okay, Griffin uses his off arm on Perkins for leverage -- like he needs any help getting higher. And yeah, it's not the cleanest finish. I suppose if you want to go strictly by the book, it's technically not even a dunk.
Call it whatever you want -- it's the most spectacular play of its kind I've ever seen. Check it out for yourself.
Okay, okay, Griffin uses his off arm on Perkins for leverage -- like he needs any help getting higher. And yeah, it's not the cleanest finish. I suppose if you want to go strictly by the book, it's technically not even a dunk.
Call it whatever you want -- it's the most spectacular play of its kind I've ever seen. Check it out for yourself.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wisconsin Gets Well; Will Pittsburgh?
It has been a very interesting start to the conference season in college basketball, and nothing over the first couple of weeks of 2012 has been more surprising than the horrific starts of two perennial power-conference powers: Wisconsin of the Big Ten, and Pittsburgh of the Big East. The Badgers dropped three straight after opening conference play with a win at Nebraska, including losses to Iowa (yuck) and Michigan State on their usually impenetrable home floor. The Panthers have dropped their first four conference games (and five overall), including two defeats at the Petersen Events Center, where they were practically unbeatable before this season (they also dropped non-conference games at home to Long Beach State and Wagner).
Both of these teams are accustomed to being at or near the top of their respective leagues, and both were expected to more or less maintain the status quo this season. So is there any hope for either of them?
Both of these teams are accustomed to being at or near the top of their respective leagues, and both were expected to more or less maintain the status quo this season. So is there any hope for either of them?
Monday, January 9, 2012
Metal Monday: Lord Stereo
Programming note: Nearly a full month without posting. Two reasons: 1) I bit off more than I could chew with my initial posting schedule, and 2) I'm studying for the Nevada bar exam. The latter is taking up quite a bit of my basketball-viewing time and even more of my posting time, so I expect that I won't post much over the next couple of months. I do hope to post a bit more often, though, especially with conference play starting to ramp up and some really interesting stuff happening (surprising Big East teams, Wisconsin losing three straight Big Ten games, etc.).
One thing I also plan to resume/keep going is Metal Monday. And so, via Metal Underground, I give you the stream of the debut album of Lord Stereo, a Polish garage band.
One thing I also plan to resume/keep going is Metal Monday. And so, via Metal Underground, I give you the stream of the debut album of Lord Stereo, a Polish garage band.
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