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3/31 ..a lot of
impressive performances in last night's all-american game and dunk
contest.. gerald green is better than I expected.. forgetting his
ability to dunk the ball, he also showed off a nice three-point
shot and looked really good pushing the ball up the floor on the
break.. besides being extremely long, green moves quickly with the
ball.. green will no doubt be a lottery pick..kids are so talented
today that amir johnson (heading to louisville) took off from the
foul line in the dunk contest and it wasn't even considered a big
deal.. i was impressed with the play of washington bound big man
jon brockman.. he displayed surprising athleticism for a kid with
a football player's body, and showed some toughness and a good
touch with the ball down low.. josh mcroberts is the real deal,
and coach k will be very excited if he can can just two years of
play out of the indiana based star.. unlike mcroberts, coach k
will probably have the services of point guard greg paulus for all
four years unless paulus goes through some late growth spurt..
paulus is the best floor general in all of high school basketball,
and is the type of pass-first point guard every team wants..
paulus though will need to work on his ability to drive to the
basket in order to create in the half-court offense.. i hadnt seen
lsu signed forward tasmin mitchell since last summer, and he looks
much more impressive physically.. mitchell was once considered the
top talent in his class just over a year ago, but has been passed
by other players who have since gone through growth spurts..
still, mitchell has lost his baby fat and appears to be in the
best shape he's ever been..
3/29 ..if you need
a quick basketball fix, check out the nit final four tonight from
madison square garden.. this is the 3rd
time in 5 seasons that memphis has made the nit semifinalls.. that's like getting an A in
remedial math for 3 out of 5 years in a row.. no surprise that
bogut is leaving early, how could you not turn down being a
guaranteed top 3 pick.. all along, bogut's plan has simply been to
attend college to work on his nba draft status.. mike hall and
pops mensah-bonsu of gw have also declared for the draft..
mensah-bonsu has 2nd round potential, but hall would go undrafted..
both luckily have not retained an agent, so there's a good chance
they'll withdraw before the draft begins.. ike diogu also declared
and will most certainly remain in the draft, barring some kind of
disaster knocks him out of the 1st round.. diogu has little left
to prove in college, and the lure of coming back to make a deep
tourney run in his senior season simply does not exist at asu..
interesting fact that rick pitino is the 1st head coach to take
three different teams to the final four.. with kentucky, he of
course won a championship, but with providence he never advanced
to the title game..
3/28 ..what an
awesome weekend of games.. certainly set a high standard for the
final four to live up to.. does michigan state have a chance to go
the finals?.. i don't think so, but then again I was pretty
certain they were going to lose to old dominion in round one..
even if msu is at this point due to a lot of lock, it's still
amazing that they've made 5 elite eight's in the past 7 years..
that is a mark of consistent success that no team in america can
stand up to.. somewhere out there, matt doherty is thinking that
this is his team which is about to make the ncaa championship
game.. i dont see how doherty doesnt have a job yet.. this is the
same guy that brought may, mccants, and felton to unc.. not to
mention bringing chris thomas to notre dame.. not sure what to
make of bruce pearl heading to tennessee.. for some reason, the
vols job is just not one i'd be terribly interested in.. pearl
generated a lot of his success by going to transfers and older
talent, and it will be interesting how this translates to the
sec.. nmsu brings on reggie theus as their new head coach, which
is a good chance to look back at theus' underrated playing
career.. this is a guy who retired after averaging 18.6 ppg in his
13th year in the nba.. not to many guys go out with that kind of
scoring numbers.. then again, if i played on the awful new jersey
nets in 1991, i probably wouldnt have wanted to ever play
basketball again either..
3/26 ..was it a
travel at the end of last night's villanova game?.. yes.. but, and
there's a big but, that same play goes uncalled 98.4% of the time
throughout the season.. tough luck for nova fans.. of course, they
probably would have lost anyways, but you never know.. please
everyone, do not jump on the big ten bandwagon.. let wisconsin
beat a ranked team before i care about them.. and let michigan
state beat a team that hasn't been primed to lose all tournament
like duke has.. the higher the score of wvu-louisville, the better
chance pitino walks away with another final four trip.. if the
cardinals score anything over 72-73 points, its a guarantee that
they win.. it's a shame that there hasn't been that one big
breakout player this tournament.. bogut was starting to grow on
the national consciousness, but he just couldnt take that next
step to becoming a known commodity to the casual basketball fan..
hopefully someone goes off this weekend.. this tournament has
proved that salim stoudamire is the best shooter in college
basketball and not jj redick.. jj was 10 of 38 for the big dance..
which is a nice batting average for rey ordonez, but not much
else..
3/24 ..evening
edition.. the illinois-uwm game started out at an amazingly high
pace.. but as both of the teams in the chicago
region slowed
down.. louisville started scoring in bunches against the huskies
in new mexico.. our own dci predictions predicted a cardinal
upset.. but you have to figure washington has one last run in
them.. foul problems to nate robinson have obviously been killer..
the game i really can't wait for is arizona-oklahoma state.. i
feel like these are 2 of the top 5 teams left in the entire
tournament.. it's simply unfair that only one of arizona/ok state/illinois
will make the final four when lesser teams like duke and kentucky
can get there.. in his last four games, texas tech's ronald ross
has been playing out of his mind, averagin about 25.5 points per
game.. it will be interesting to see how mike gansey comes back
after a super star game against wake forest.. which ever of gansey
or ross maintains the hot hand could decide which of these two
teams makes the elite eight.. why is the nit website such a piece
of garbage?.. they should allow chn to take over and make it
respectable.. st joe's against memphis is a great game to start
the nit's final four in new york city.. darius washington jr has a
chance to make up for his missed free throws in the cusa
tournament.. st joe's continues an amazing season, when most
thought they'd be dead in the water after losing nelson and west..
3/23 ..your
new umass coach is travis ford.. ford will head to amherst after a
very successful stint at eastern kentucky, culminating in this
year's first round loss to kentucky in the ncaa tournament.. ford
took over an eku program that was absolutely brutal.. last year's
14-win mark for eku was their highest since 92-93, and this year's
22 wins is equivalent to winning 30 at most programs.. the umass
job is an awesome opportunity for ford as steve lappas left him
loads of young talent in freeman, maxwell, and bowers..
anything short of 20 wins and mike davis is obviously fired, but i
wonder if the administration would even accept a first round ncaa
tournament loss.. this is a team that needs to make something
happen fast.. besides illinois, the big ten should be a much
better conference as a whole this year with teams like michigan,
wisconsin, and minnesota only getting better.. this isnt a new
topic, but why didn't arkansas simply accept a bid into the nit..
the razorbacks are becoming a forgotten program.. stan heath may
be confident his team is ready to make the ncaa's next season, but
if things don't work out.. his absence from this year's postseason
will seem very foolish later on.. lastly,
check out a nicely done story on your's truly..
3/22 ..i'm back
today after a much needed break.. how bout the end of the
vanderbilt-wichita state nit game last night.. first, wsu's jamar
howard blows a lay up (sorry coach turgeon, he was not fouled at
all), giving the shockers a chance to take the lead with under 30
seconds to go.. then with 10 seconds to go and wsu trailing by 3,
vandy fouls sean ogirri sending him to the line for 2 ft's..
ogirri hits the first, misses the second intentionally, and
amazingly howard comes up with the ball and redeems himself by
tying the game with 0.6 on the clock.. but wait, it got crazier..
vandy throws a full-court pass and gets a wide open lay up as the
buzzer sounds.. 3 wsu defenders (it was like a comedy sketch) all
left the man under the basket thinking it was going to the vandy
decoy out by the 3-point line.. simply ridiculous game.. and the
commodores fans mobbed the court.. who said the nit doesnt
matter.. interesting news today that charlie villanueva is going
pro.. the uconn star almost went pro directly from high school but
his stock wasn't high enough.. it will be interesting to see what
the scouts make of villanueva's lack of speed and stamina, his
biggest weaknesses.. should we make anything of chaney returning
to temple for another season?.. it's actually a great opportunity
for chaney to go out with a bang, as he returns every component of
this year's 16 win team.. yes, it's not men's basketball.. but
give pat summitt the credit she deserves for an amazing coaching
career.. more so than dean smith, summitt simply is one of the
foundation's of her entire sport, watching women's hoops go from
being a complete non-factor (no scholarships at tennessee when she
started coaching) to a sport that is now watched and covered on a
national scale..
3/20 ..wow,
was wvu/wake a great ball game.. instant classic.. it's amazing to
think that one of either texas tech or west virginia will be
making the elite eight.. it's equally amazing how gonzaga simply
could not get the job done against texas tech.. the zags simply
are a more talented team.. but they threw away the game by missing
free throws and poor turnovers.. not to mention their inability to
make stops.. here's the thing with bobby knight.. sure he hadn't
been to the sweet sixteen in eleven years.. but just about every
team in between overachieved based on their talent level.. the guy
still does a good job of maximizing his talent, and that's what
coaching is all about.. georgia tech and louisville may be one of
the best 4-5 games ever.. louisville, a legitimate #1 seed
candidate with 29 wins and one of the best college basketball
coaches of all time against georgia tech, last year's runner up
with almost the same exact group of guys back for more..
3/19 ..how great
was seeing the faces of the unlucky guys who picked syracuse and
kansas to go to the final four.. will this tournament be
remembered as adam morrison's coming out party.. all indications
show that uw-miwaukee has a very strong chance of advancing to the
sweet sixteen.. bc is clearly superior to alabama, but this game
should be a good one.. i kept waiting for kansas to turn it on,
but the run never came.. that's been the story of their season..
just an overrated team with a
star in simien, but nothing too
exciting around him.. bill self just never found the right mix..
it will be interesting to see how much oklahoma focuses their
defensive attention on andrew bogut.. if bogut's teammates shoot
as poorly as they did last game, it will be a quick exit for the
utes.. uab and arizona should be a fun ballgame.. these two teams
can push it and play with passion.. even though it's only a pipe
dream, duke losing last night would have been the greatest upset
ever.. in any sport, in any time.. nevada's only chance against
illinois is if nick fazekas gets hot from the outside.. fazekas
was muscled around way too easily against texas, and needs to come
out with some fire..
3/18 ..why is that
when mid-major teams like Ohio put a scare into a Florida, the
talking heads never consider that the teams are relatively even
matched, but that the major team like Florida simply played
awfully.. tonight's set of games are the ones I'm most excited
about.. duke, louisville, syracuse, kansas, georgia tech.. these
are the teams I want to see play.. you have to like
old dominion's
chances against michigan state, and don't write off george
washington so quickly either.. this is a team that was considered
top-25 worthy for most of the year, which is something that
georgia tech can't claim.. in the mississippi state-stanford 8-9
game, you have to figure the cardinal will win this one based on
the sec's poor performance in the tourney.. these two teams are
really the quality of like a 12 seed playing another 12 seed..
perhaps the best game of the lot is northern iowa and wisconsin..
these two teams are relatively evenly matched, and I personally
would like to see another mvc team advance into the second round..
creighton's loss to west virginia was disheartening last night.. i
know it's easier said than done under the pressure, but when funk
fell they should have used their last time out.. how does new
mexico score 11 points in a half.. that's simply unacceptable..
3/17 ..(evening
update).. no big surprises today.. sure, uwm beat alabama, but
just about everyone i know who follows basketball picked that
game.. utep vs utah was just ugly to watch.. utep just packed it
in around bogut, especially in the second half, triple-teaming him
at times.. no one else on the utes could hit a shot, but utep
played too sloppy to captilize.. west virginia and creighton could
be the game of the night.. these teams both seem very evenly
matched to me..
3/17 ..game on.. i
really feel like going out on a limb and guaranteeing a whole set
of upsets today.. but there's not one i can
really put my finger
on.. i will however make the guarantee that one of either alabama
or boston college will lose.. i'll be watching the games on cbs
here in the midwest.. it's always a crap-shoot figuring out what
games the ole guys at columbia broadcasting will stick on tv.. i
usually get stuck with some sort of big ten or big twelve game..
as an aside, chn traffic has been so high this month that we were
forced to move to a new server last night.. unfortunately, it
appears that a bunch of files and updates added for today have
been lost.. we had some good stuff up for the day, but it appears
to be lost and i'm not happy about it.. the dribble will be very
short today for that reason, as i'm trying to get everything back
in order..
3/16 ..sitting
around waiting for the games to start tomorrow is killing me..
watching the nit just doesn't cut it.. it must be hard for chris
thomas to deal with the fact he peaked as a sophomore.. his fg%
has dropped from 40 to 39 to 35 and his 3-point % has dropped from
39 to 35 to 34.. oh well, there's always the nbdl.. at least his
career managed to maintain itself more than another recent indianapolis based pg who went down as the years went on, jason
gardner.. how many ncaa pools are you in?.. i'll bet you wish you
were still in more.. i just finished reading a
nice article on creighton head coach dana altman.. you really
do have to respect the job he's done getting his team to perform
each and every year.. the blue jays were actually expected to be
down this year after losing most of last year's size, but he has
them back in the dance again.. interesting note in the article on
how he turned down the illinois job when weber took over, because
he wasn't allowed to take all of his assistants with him.. i don't
know if that's entirely true or not.. but it takes guts to turn
down a job to coach in the big ten.. altman does have a quality
staff with him, particularly associate head coach greg gensing who
has been at cu all 11 years with altman.. both altman and gensing
were former assistants together under lon kruger at kansas state
in the mid-eighties..
3/15 ..have you
heard the big news?.. dickie v thinks unc will win it all!.. and
he thinks duke and wake will make the final four too.. wait, no
georgia tech in there either?.. this guy is a joke.. but more
importantly, just about all expert and analyst predictions are a
joke including my own.. basically, making a prediction of this
sort comes down to a risk-reward analysis.. you weigh who do i
think will win and who will make me look best if i win.. unless of
course you're dickie v and you just pick an acc team out of a
hat.. the tulsa head coach position went to micghigan state doug
wojcik today.. remember the not recent past when tulsa was one of
the nation's premier mid-majors.. what happened?.. it will be
interesting to see how they fare in the new cusa.. say goodbye to
pete gillen at uva.. the cavaliers were just 4-12 in the acc this
year.. faltering as usual after a nice non-conference start.. this
was obviously the right move for uva, but gillen can still coach..
as long as he wants to still coach, gillen will get a job in the
near future..
3/14 ..so now the
fun really begins.. tennessee fired head coach buzz peterson
today.. can't say its too surprising as the vols missed the
tourney all four of his seasons at the helm.. worse than that, the
team had made three straight prior to him
getting there.. another
coach who got the axe today is umass' steve lappas.. i don't think
this was a fair move, as the young minutemen are primed for two
big seasons coming up.. whoever gets the job at umass should have
a lot of success and it will only be because of the players lappas
brought into the program.. have to give credit to the selection
committee for doing a fine job.. busted rpi or not, they still
pretty much nailed down a solid bracket.. sure there are a few
seeds that make you raise your eyebrows.. louisville down to a 4,
uab in over depaul, big time mid-majors like creighton and old
dominion seeded low, mississippi state seeded too high.. but
overall they did a great job.. as usual, the 12-5 games are great
places to look for potential upsets, particularly michigan state
and alabama going down.. but honestly, this field is probably the
most even field in recent memory as the difference between all the
teams seeded between about 5 and 13 is very slim.. you see teams
like la-lafayette at 13 and utah state at 14, and these teams are
really no worse nor no better than much higher seeded teams like
charlotte and siu at 7, minnesota and pacific at 8, etc.. nit also
released their bracket, and i feel like i'm more intrigued by the
nit than ever this year.. for the same reason as a just stated,
that a lot of the teams that just missed out on the ncaa
tournament are really not much worse than the 6-10 seeds in the
big dance.. teams like memphis, depaul, maryland, indiana, sms..
those teams are right there with the big boys and should provide
some quality games to watch..
3/13 ..selection
sunday.. ah, what a great day.. all the teams left in the major
conference tournaments are already locks, so
it's all about
seeding and pride today.. utah state's win in the big west last
night was bad news for some unlucky bubble team.. this shouldn't
be a big surprise as the aggies have won 24+ games three years in
a row.. did you see the mac championship?.. what was ohio thinking
at the end of regulation?.. calling timeout with just 6.8 seconds
left when they could have done so much earlier or let their best
player just try and score.. instead they call the timeout, and set
up a play for their 6-10 big man to shoot a three in the corner..
i know i should know better by now, but i'm feeling ready to jump
on the florida bandwagon.. how bout the swac championship today..
why not just call this game the play-in game play-in game?.. in
the southland finals, check out senior big man nate lofton..
lofton has had a significantly worse year than his junior year
when he averaged 13 ppg and 11 rpg per game.. but he's capable of
coming through with a monster game today.. luke schenscher just
needs to play unc every game.. he averaged 14 and 9 vs the heels
this year and 13 and 14 vs them last year, both significantly
above his averages.. and of course, i'll be watching the acc
championship just like everyone else.. but i dunno, this game
seems to lack any real spark for me.. buffalo is still at live for
an at-large bid.. as they're hanging just on the egde with the
uab's, ucla's, and depaul's of the world.. the bulls' best
non-conference win is at home over niagara, and they don't have
one particularly nice road win.. big win for the lobos of new
mexico last night, danny granger played better than i've seen him
play with 28 points and 11 boards.. more impressive though was 8
for 8 from the line, including 4 clutch hits down the stretch..
3/12 ..i really
thought memphis would today and head to the big dance.. fans
shouldn't let washington's free throw misses
override a great game
and a great freshman season.. no surprise in the america east with
vermont back in the tourney.. coppenrath has now scored over in
each of the last five games since the catamounts lost to nevada on
bracket-buster saturday.. florida actually will head into the
tournament on a hot streak for once, but you still cant help but
feel they're prone for an early round exit.. give bobby knight
credit, the guy can still flat out coach and his players always
improve greatly during their playing careers.. ronald ross went
from an afterthought as a freshman and sophomore to a true go-to
player.. amazingly enough, st joseph's has a shot at going back to
the tournament again.. the hawks face gw in the altlantic 10
finals today.. the hawks man-handled gw on the colonials home
floor a few weeks back.. washington and arizona should be a great
game to watch.. for those of you who dont see the west coast teams
too often, check the pac-10 final out on cbs this evening.. how
bout boise state coming out of nowhere and suddenly having a
chance to dance with a win over utep tonight.. the broncos won
last night despite having their second leading scorer, coby karl,
go 0 for 12 from the floor and 0 for 6 from three.. karl did come
through with 2 big free throws in last night's close win over
fresno.. i know boston college had a great year and al
skinner is a
great coach, i still have to go with minnesota's dan monson for
national coach of the year.. no one, and i mean no one, expected
anything out of the gophers this year.. credit also has to go to
another big ten coach, steve alford, whose team has won its last 5
games despite still being without leading scorer pierre pierce..
3/11 ..thanks to
all the readers of CHN for making this the biggest week in the
site's history.. nothing like waking up to the sweet sounds of
college basketball on tv.. you don't think clemson has a chance at
upsetting unc today, do you?.. i certainly don't, but either way,
you have to give oliver purnell credit for getting things on track
down in south carolina.. nc state faces wake forest in part two of
the below-the-belt battle.. the pack gave wake a lot of problems
last week, and you figure nc state will be the hungrier team..
there's been some great action in the pac-10 tournament, even
though no one east of the rockies is talking about it..
washington's win over asu was awesome.. and washington state put a
big scare into stanford last night.. the
cougars have
lost a ridiculous amount of 1 or 2 point games this year..
washington st thomas kelati gets no respect nationally, but if
this kid was on a more offensive-minded team, he'd score 20 per
game.. if memphis plays like they did in yesterday's second half
for the rest of the weekend, they'll be dancing come sunday
night.. admittedly, i really dont know anything usf or terrence
leather, but this kid is averaging 18 and 9 on the season and 23
and 13 in the cusa tournament thus far.. i wonder what the flap is
really about with geno auriemma's comments.. he probably told the
rutgers' star that she plays like a girl.. it's good to see
uconn's rashad anderson healthy and back on the floor..
3/10 ..put a fork
in notre dame.. sad to see chris thomas go out in the nit.. too
bad most of the best games tomorrow aren't on tv.. sure, you have
a nice pitt-villanova match up.. but the big 12 has some great
games tomorrow in kansas st vs texas a&m (the battle of the
surprises) and nebraska vs missouri.. thankfully for everyone
involved, fans, coaches, and players, saint bonaventure's season
mercifully came to a close yesterday.. michigan got rocked by
northwestern a few weeks back, it will
be interesting to see if
they fare any better tomorrow.. my guess is the wildcats again,
trying to get into the nit.. depaul is a hard team to figure out,
you figure with 10 wins in the cusa they should be a lock, but
they're only road win over a midly decent team was at notre dame
back in december.. maybe kevin pittsnogle only plays well in the
bright lights of espn, but everytime i
see this kid play, he
scores 20 and west virginia wins.. siena fired head coach rob
lanier.. this is a program that is trending downwards fast.. in
lanier's first year, they made the ncaa's, nit in his 2nd year, 14
wins in his 3rd, and just 6 wins this year.. the one positive if
you're a siena fan is that a lot of freshmen got major minutes
this year, and the emergence of jack mcclintock as a big time
scorer in the maac gives the saints hope for the future.. nice to
see fdu win the northeast conference today.. i
wonder if anybody
in the metro areas even knows?.. fsu is one of the most
insignificant schools in all of division one.. the mac tournament
is shaping up to be a dandy.. it's a rare conference where the
best teams have all made it to the semis..
3/09 ..so I had
planned on writing how i thought providence would upset wvu
today.. then i look over and the mountaineers are off to a 15-4
lead.. the big east and cusa games on tv today do lack some
sizzle.. perhaps the best game is seton hall against georgetown..
for the hoyas, check out surprisingly good freshman jeff green
whose averaging 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists per game..
how bout the job dereck whittenberg is doing at fordham.. this
team won a combined 10 games in the previous two season.. but the
rams had 12 wins and 8 atlantic ten wins this year and things are
looking up.. memphis enters their 1st round match up with st louis
on a 4-game skid including a bad loss to the billikens last week..
still, the tigers lost to cinci and charlotte by only a couple of
points in their skid, and still have to have some good ball left
in them.. the emergence of my preseason national rookie of the
year darius washington as a big-time scorer has been a positive
for coach calipari.. washington, who is now averaging 16 per game
will be the best player left in the downgraded cusa.. oakland's
win over oral roberts, in tulsa mind you, was shocking.. but the
golden grizzlies are not that bad and are better than play-in game
quality despite their awful record.. since senior demarcus ishmael
was inserted into the starting lineup at pg, oakland is 6-4.. the
horizon league is always capable of giving major teams problems in
the big dance.. and i'll bet no one wants to face uwm in the
opening round, who has now won 17 of their last 18 games..
3/08 ..sure,
morrison and turiaf are great, but gonzaga will only go as far as
raivio's three-point shooting takes them.. oral roberts is the
clear favorite to win the mid-continent tournament tonight..
amazingly enough, this team is led by a pair of sophomores, caleb
green and ken tutt, so this is a team you'll probably hear about
for the next few years.. the best conferene final tonight should
be denver and la-lafayette going at it for the sun belt title..
chancey billups' little brother rodney is the point guard for the
pioneers.. like for rodney to try and feed 18 and 10 big man yemi
nicholson early and often.. the creighton-sms game wasn't nearly
as bad as the score showed, as this game was at 52-50 with only 7
minutes tog o before the bears simply folded their tent.. alex
loughton's season high 28 points was no joke last night, this is
the same guy who went off for 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 6
assists against charlotte last year.. i'm already getting pumped
for tomorrow when the non-stop conference tourney action begins on
espn..
3/07 ..so now do
we just forget about Illinois and call them old news?.. Hardly,
this team is still the clear favorite to win the NCAA tournament..
give st mary's credit for overcoming two previous losses to santa
clara, a lot of foul trouble, and having to play on the broncos
home court, yet still advancing to the wcc finals.. unfortunately
i have to catch a plane early tomorrow morning so i wont be able
to watch the gaels take on the zags in the conference final.. i'm
heading down to florida for a few days.. i'll be the weird guy on
the beach with his lap top streaming college basketball games.. if
sms wins tonight, the mvc deserves to be a 3-bid conference.. take
the chance to watch juan mendez of niagara in tonight's maac
championship.. mendez has scored over 15 points in his last 15
games, and has 13 double-doubles during that stretch.. western
kentucky and denver will be a great sun belt semifinal.. both of
these teams are just a few points here and there from being
considered at-large bubble teams.. wku with a 1 point loss at
virginia and denver with a 4 point loss to stanford.. what should
we make of kansas, winners of only 2 of their last 6.. 3 seed at
best, and that is generous right now.. the biggest problem with
the rpi is not necessarily how it gives a lot of credit to road
wins.. but that it's slower than molasses to change with the
times..
3/06 ..illinois is
now one half away from finishing the regular season undefeated..
even though we saw this last year in st joseph's, its simply an
unbelievable feat.. everyone wants to watch duke at unc today..
but the bigger game in the conference is wake forest at nc state..
if the wolfpack win this game, they have to again be considered a
lock for the big dance with 18 wins and .500 record in the acc..
for all the talk about felton and mccants and how great marvin
williams will be, sean may has quietly taken over the team scoring
lead, alongside his already impressive 10 boards a game.. may's
run off 7 double-doubles in a row.. hofstra vs old dominion is a
great conference tournament game today.. the pride have won 7 in a
row including a 3 point win over odu and now face the top seeded
monarchs in the semifinals.. how bout the luck of st mary's
drawing santa clara in the wcc semifinals.. the gaels have already
lost twice to santa clara this year.. does smc need this win to
stay off the bubble?.. lastly, is there really a need to remake
the bad news bears?..
3/05 ..the madness
really begins today with four conference finals.. winthrop is a
heavy favorite over charleston southern in the big south.. this is
a team that had nice road victories at providence and ecu earlier
in the year.. last night in the southern conference,
unc-greensboro pulled off the biggest upset of the tourney season
by beating #1 seed davidson who had been 16-0 in conference play..
the spartans now have to be considered a slight favorite over
chattanooga in the finals.. lets not forget a great big east
finale between syracuse and uconn on cbs.. all eyes should be on
gerry mcnamara, to see if he's found his stroke again.. another
important game to look at is washington at stanford, as the
cardinal need to impress impatient eyes in order to lock up an
ncaa bid.. despite an awful 2-10 start to the season, austin peay
is just one win away from reaching the big dance..
3/04 ..i think
espnu will be a good addition to the college sports media
machine.. the more emphasis on the smaller and mid-level schools
espn gives, the more it helps chn so i'm happy.. even though i
didnt think so earlier, i believe ucla deserves to be in the field
of 65.. on the other hand, stanford's home loss to washington st
looks real bad last night.. its sad the gene keady era has to end
in this fashion.. keady has been a truly great coach, who managed
to sustain a yearly ncaa-tournament deserving team for over 20
years in a row.. do not let the last couple of seasons detract
from his records.. i went and watched vashon high school (ranked
#1 in the country) the other night.. this team is like the illini
of prep hoops because although they might not have anyone
considered to be the best player in the country.. they have talent
at all-five starting positions and simply run teams silly..
3/02 ..okay, i
know we're in prime college hoops season.. but i am pumped about
baseball being on tv today.. blue skies are coming soon.. im
disappointed in espn's tv schedule for the night.. there's some
good games on tap tonight, but espn features pretty good teams
going on the road to ranked teams which means we'll have 3 easy
victories for the home teams.. with freeman, maxwell and others
returning, umass should be a team to look out for next year.. the
minutemen will finish over .500 for the first time since 99-00..
look out for the name cedric simmons in the future.. the 6-9
freshman for nc state could become an all-conference type player..
with their 20th overall and 10th conference win tonight, would
minnesota become a lock for the big dance?..
3/01 ..it's
officially march.. and that makes me very happy.. how would the
season play out best for the well-being of college basketball?..
illinois going undefeated and winning it all would be a national
story.. (brought up by phil mickelson on pti today).. but any two
acc teams facing each other would garner large ratings.. no
offense to anyone in the big 12, but i hope you stay away from the
final four so we can get some major press on the coasts for this
tournament.. if indiana wins tonight, do i need to finally admit
that the hoosiers have something good going?.. great finish in the
mvc last night between wsu and uni.. jacobson's three to win it
was awesome.. but perhaps the real story is the shockers recent
struggle.
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