McNabb Fits With Raiders

Time to take a quick break from the NCAA tournament to talk about football. We could spend the time breakind down Chad Ochocinco’s performance on Dancing With the Stars, but let’s not kid ourselves. If we’re going to talk about Dancing, we’re going to put our focus on Erin Andrews who has held her own very well through the first couple weeks. Then again, I could not tell the difference between a foxtrot, a waltz, the cabbage patch or the soulja boy.

Anyway, the Eagles are going to trade Donovan McNabb before training camp, the worse-kept secret since Ricky Martin being gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The toothpaste is completely out of the tube, and there is no way to push it back in and bring Donovan to camp. They have their heir apparent in Kevin Kolb and they have their multi-faceted back-up in Michael Vick. They’ve ridden the McNabb train for a long time and it’s taken them to good seasons with no chance of winning it all because he chokes in every big game. Now that they’ve made it known that they are allowing teams to shop for him, the leading contender to get him: The Oakland Raiders. And it is a GREAT fit for both teams and for Donovan himself.

FOR THE EAGLES:

The Eagles are hoping for an Aaron Rodgers situation with Kevin Kolb. They believe they have their next quarterback for the next decade. They have a young nucleus of talent at the skill positions with LeSean McCoy at running back, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin at wide receiver, and Brent Celek at tight end. This will give them a young quarterback to hopefully set them up at the skill positions for a long time to grow together. In addition, they get compensation that is too high for a quarterback that is on the downside of his career and that has a history of not being able to come up big in the biggest moments. Yet the Raiders are desperate to change the direction of their franchise and will pay more than anyone else for a famous name. If you have a show that has been on the air for 10 years starring Courtney Cox, you know she still has talent but she was never good enough to win awards. Now someone offers you a healthy ransom for Cox and you have Leighton Meester sitting on the bench, it really is a no brainer decision.

FOR THE RAIDERS

The Raiders franchise has been a huge mess since they lost Jon Gruden. They have blown draft picks like JaMarcus Russell, and they have made awful free agent signings like DeAngelo Hall. They have had continual problems with their coaching staff and they are run by a crazy old man. So what better way to lend some legitimacy to a messed up organization than to bring in a solid name to be the face of the franchise. McNabb is a solid, yet moody, professional and would lend some respect to the franchise and bring a leader into the Raider locker room. The Raiders also have some talented players and their biggest problem the past few years was a quarterback who couldn’t throw, and when he did he threw it to the other team. Having McNabb would finally put an end to the Fat Albert experience at quarterback in Oakland.

FOR DONOVAN

As for Donovan himself, at first blush he is going to throw a fit about going from a perrenial playoff team to a dumpster fire in Oakland. However, if he were to stay in Philly, the pressure would be turned up even more than it already is. Philly fans are the most ridiculous fans in terms of their expectations and beliefs about their teams – they really believe they are the favorites in every sport at the beginning of every season and can’t be convinced otherwise. Then when the teams fail to meet those ridiculous expectations, the fans turn on their hometown heroes and act like complete jag-offs. (You didn’t really think I was going to have a post about a Philly team/player without taking at least one shot at the idiots in Philly, did you?) In addition, McNabb’s biggest weakness, other than his intestinal fortitude, has been his accuracy. In the Raider offense which will be run by Hue Jackson, it is not the west coast dink and dunk that relies more on quick slants and short accurate passes where McNabb has not excelled. Jackson will utilize the deep pass (like he had with Joe Flacco) which McNabb has had success with (look at the number of deep touchdowns he threw to DeSean Jackson last season). He could be very successful with Louis Murphy, possibly Darius Heyward-Bey and Darren McFadden playing the role of Brian Westbrook.

Donovan has taken the Eagles as far as he possibly could and he needs to understand his ceiling. He is a solid quarterback that can keep a team in contention but cannot carry them to the ultimate prize. When he had the all-pro WR and RB around him (T.O & Westbrook), he threw up under the pressure – literally. So going to Oakland, he has the potential to turn around a franchise and just bringing the Raiders to the playoffs again would be seen as a huge success. He would become a legend in Raider Nation just by bringing them to respectability – he doesn’t need to win a title. Can McNabb get his head around this concept? Probably not, so he would want to get out when his contract expires after the season.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate: Down to Four

LOVE

- Coaching carried teams to the Final Four this year:

o This is probably the most surprising and least talented team Tom Izzo has taken to the big stage, but like all of his teams they were tougher and more disciplined than their opponents. His decision to intentionally miss the final free throw after taking a one point lead with 1.8 seconds left was genius, despite the officials screwing up the clock (you have to have possession to call time out, and the clock is supposed to stop when the official recognizes the time out, not when it is called. According to the refs, that all took 0.2 seconds). However the other positive outcome from Izzo’s decision was that Tennessee couldn’t run the baseline like they could after a made basket. As much as it pains me to say it, Izzo is THE best coach in all of college basketball, hands down, without question. 6 Final Fours in 15 years is beyond impressive.

o Mike Krzyzewski has taken some heat in the past decade that he has taken his focus off of leading Duke to the Final Four and that he is coasting after all of his success in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Well, he’s back in the Final Four with a team that plays as well together as any team in recent memory. This is his 11th trip to the Final Four with the Blue Devils and you can very easily make the case that the winner of the Duke-West Virginia semifinal will be the overwhelming favorite to cut down the nets. He is the Cindy Crawford of coaches in that he continually gets it done even as the years pile up.

o West Virginia confused and confounded Kentucky with their 1-3-1 zone and Bob Huggins outcoached John Calipari. As great of a recruiter as Calipari has proved to be, he had no X’s or O’s to solve a defense where the base at the bottom of the zone was a point guard and Coach Cal couldn’t find a way to get his big men the ball against the undersized Joe Mazzulla. Bob Huggins is back in the Final Four for the first time since 1992. But don’t listen to any interviews with him this week because he sounds as enthusiastic about it as Russell Crowe is about the papparazzi.

- Speaking of West Virginia, the prospect of hearing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” blasting from the Lucas Oil Arena while the Mountaineers cut down the nets is becoming more and more of a reality. Nothing like a little John Denver magic for a theme song.

- It is probably part of the Coach K leadership, but the poise of Duke was among the key contributors to their victory over Baylor. The game was already teetering on slipping away with 1:30 left when Baylor gets a technical foul for absolutely stupidity. It iced a game that was slipping away. Why are you trying to intimidate a guy and get up in his face when you’re down 7 with under 2 minutes left in the game? As athletically talented as Baylor is, I’m pretty sure most of their team could not spell Duke if you gave them the D and the U.

- If you need something to fire you up for work this week (especially if you’re anywhere in the Eastern US where rain is punishing the entire coast), just check out the Gus Johnson soundboard and listen to his classic quotes and yells. Among my favorites is the “Rise and Fire” or the “Slipper” where Gus proclaims “…and the slipper still fits!” with the excitement of a guy who just got out of the movie where Amanda Seyfried get naked.

HATE

- Is this the worst Final Four every? While we have coaching stars in this year’s Final Four, there are not a lot of intriguing player story lines or very exciting players to watch. There is not an All-American candidate in the Final Four, which has only happened once in the past 10 years. In 2006, when no #1 seeds made the tournament (#2 UCLA, #3 Florida, #4 LSU & #11 George Mason) there were no All-American candidates, and that Final Four was not very interesting. Even in 1980, the other time when a #1 seed did not make the Final Four, Joe Barry Carroll of Purdue and Darrell Griffith of Louisville were All-American candidates. However, despite the surprise teams and lack of exciting players, it is tough to say this is the worst Final Four ever (despite my texts asking exactly that to my brother and Sal on Saturday night). At least this year has the coaches and a #1 seed still playing in it.

- Well I mentioned last week that West Virginia wanted to ugly up the basketball like Sarah Jessica Parker to have a chance to win. Well, they definitely did that on Saturday night. The Mountaineers did not hit a single 2 point basket in the entire first half of the game, going 0-16 from inside the arc. And Kentucky didn’t hit a 3 point shot until there were less than 4 minutes left in the entire game, ending up shooting 4-32 from beyond the arc. That was about as painful as your girlfriend forcing you to watch that Remember Me movie with the vampire guy and some random girl.

- Why do teams call timeouts after baskets in the final minute when they are down more than five points? For the past few years, the clock stops after a made basket, so there is no need to call time out. I get the concept of “setting up your defense” but when you are already down more than 5 points, you probably need the scramble to have a better chance at a steal and a turnover. You are going to foul immediately, so why bother with the timeout? Wouldn’t you be better served to save the time out for when you potentially get a rebound or steal in the final seconds and need to set up a play or stop the clock for a full-court heave? Just a random thing I noticed that teams call the time out to stop the clock when it is already stopped.

- Did anyone else notice the crowd in Houston for the Duke-Baylor game? It was heavily in favor of Baylor, which makes sense with the proximity to their Waco campus, but it also appeared very sparse on television. The game was played in the cavernous Reliant Stadium – home of the NFL’s Texans – so maybe it was just some of the angles that the television cameras were catching, but there appeared to be an inordinate number of empty seats for a regional final game. Is that a bad sign for next year’s Final Four which will be played in that exact venue? There will likely be the same neutral court issues in the Final Four next year, so will it be a full stadium?

Degenerate Friday - Sweet 16 Part II

Yesterday I didn’t get a chance to get to the gym and in order to maintain this Adonis physique that I fuel with scotch, beer and wings, I decided to combine a workout with watching the games. I would do 10 push ups for every made three point shot during the games that were on television (meaning if they did a look in and showed a 3 pointer, it’s push up time). It started slowly with Syracuse turning the ball over more than they made shots, but unfortunately for me they turned it up in the second half. Combine that with the ridiculous 3-point bombs Xavier and Kansas State traded late in regulation and both overtimes, and I ended up doing 370 push ups last night. So if my typing becomes as clear as why Kei$ha uses a dollar sign in her name (or why she’s a pseudo-celebrity), it’s because I’ve lost feeling in my arms. At least I was able to get the two late games correct to end up 2-2 last night. And I’m especially happy to see Cornell head home after they finally cooled off from behind the arc and faced an athletic team that could switch on screens (something Wisconsin and Temple could not do because their bigs are not athletic enough to keep up with the Cornell guards). Anyway……on to the Friday games.

Game #1: #2 Ohio State (-4.5) vs. #6 Tennessee

The Volunteers are easy to root for because they have a lovable coach in Bruce Pearl, play an inordinate number of walk-ons, and have gotten better after dismissing one of their more talented players because he was a jag off. Scottie Hopson can fill it up from the outside and Wayne Chism is a tough match up inside if he is plugged in. Unfortunately for the Vols he gets frustrated too easily and disappears for long stretches. Against a well-rounded but thin Ohio State team, they can’t afford to allow the Buckeyes to come up for air. William Bufford will likely have the assignment of controlling Hopson and Dallas Lauderdale will try to slow Chism, though Lauderdale is way too slow to stop him on the perimeter. If Tennessee can stay hot from outside the arc, they have a chance to make a game of it, but if they have even an average game, the Buckeyes will be more than they can handle.

And we haven’t even mentioned Evan Turner, the best player in the game. Turner will face a difficult matchup against JP Prince because Prince is long and quick defensively. In a previous collumn I already compared Turner to Marissa Miller with a supporting cast of the rest of the Victoria Secret models. I’m going to stick with that theme and I guess that makes Bufford, Lighty and Jon Diebler the Miranda Kerr, Candice Swanepoel and Alessandra Ambrossio of the big dance. The Victoria’s Secret models are enough to distract Bruce Pearl and Vols, giving the Buckeyes the edge they need.

Gambler’s Delight: Ohio State (-4.5)

Game #2: #3 Baylor (-5) vs. #10 St. Mary’s

If a game is played Houston and no one pays attention, does it really happen? This is the most overlooked game of the sweet 16 because it pits an underdog from a small western conference against an upstart team from a big conference that doesn’t have the tradition of its big conference colleagues. Yet Omar Samhan has arguably been the most dominant player in the entire tournament during the first weekend for St. Mary’s and Baylor has quietly taken care of business all season. The Bears rank in the top 12 of the nation in field goal percentage, field goal percentage allowed, rebound margin, blocks per game and scoring margin. Pretty impressive stats for a team of mostly unknown players outside of the Big 12.

Baylor has the size inside with Ekpe Udoh and Josh Lomers to do battle with Samhan, something that neither Villanova or Richmond had. Baylor also has strong guards in Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn to compliment the inside game. Will that be enough to overtake the Australian sharpshooters of St. Mary’s? The Bears are like Talulah Riley - successful, well-rounded, yet it might just be the name that is holding them back from being an a-lister.

Gambler’s Delight: Baylor (-5)

Game #3: #5 Michigan State (-1) vs. #9 Northern Iowa

Everyone is jumping on the Northern Iowa bandwagon after they knocked off Kansas and Michigan State lost their best player to injury. Yet something tells me that the experience of Tom Izzo and Michigan State in the tournament gets more valuable as the tournament progresses. (Yes, Kansas had experience as well, but they had Bill Self) Northern Iowa returned home to be treated like rockstars and their coach Ben Jacobsen was given a well-deserved 10-year contract extension. All of that adds up to a little loss of focus and an Izzo team only needs a crack to force their way in the door.

I think Korie Lucious learned a valuable lesson when Kalen Lucas was out earlier in the year and I expect him to play much more in control than he did in his start against Illinois. I also expect the Michigan State guards to harass the Northern Iowa backcourt more than Kansas did and not allow as many open looks from beyond the arc. I really like the story of Northern Iowa, but in the end, the experience, poise and physical play of the Spartans will be too much for the Huskies, setting up an all-Big Ten Regional Final. When it comes down to it, I’d take George Clooney’s injured ex-girlfriend, Sarah Larson, over Miss Iowa.

Gambler’s Delight: Michigan State (-1)

Game #4: #1 Duke (-8.5) vs. #4 Purdue

This game matches up the team that everyone wants to get eliminated (Duke) against the team that everyone thought already would be eliminated (Purdue). Yet both teams continue to win and are just two wins away from the Final Four. Duke has many similarities to Jude Law because you hate him for having blown it with Sienna Miller the first time around, yet you have to admit the guy has talent and his movies draw you to the theatre and are successful over and over again. Duke is playing extremely well and has an experienced backcourt, solid shooting and Brian Zoubek has given them an inside presence they were missing. They have all of the ingredients to continue marching to Indy.

Purdue was among the teams to beat with Robbie Hummel and seems to have figured out how to play without him in wins over Siena and Texas A&M. The Boilermakers are a difficult matchup for Duke because they play physical stingy defense which can throw off the usually soft Duke squad (see their loss at Wisconsin early in the year). The Boilers also have the right personnel to match up, with Chris Kramer attached to Jon Scheyer’s hip pocket, E’Twaan Moore blanketing Kyle Singler and JaJuan Johnson able to match Zoubek. The Purdue defense will keep them in the game and make it close at the end, but expect Duke to pull out the straight up win.

Gambler’s Delight: Purdue (+8.5)
(take Duke to win straight up)

Saturday & Sunday Games:

#1 Kentucky vs. #2 West Virginia

Expect the young Wildcats to complete their march to the Final Four in a game that may not be pretty on the eyes. West Virginia wants to ugly up the game the way Sarah Jessica Parker does to any show, movie or photo she appears in. Like a New Jersey frat guy in a spring break club, the Moutaineers prefer to grind it out ugly-style. Kentucky should be able to break down the Mountaineers offensively and stymy the WVU offense. John Wall is as fast as anyone I’ve ever seen with the basketball in his hand and is an automatic one-man fast break when he gets a rebound. Look for Kentucky to get to the Final Four.

#2 Kansas State vs. #5 Butler

I have been a hater of Butler ever since my first college basketball breakdown column. I still don’t really know what they do well. They didn’t shoot well against Syracuse, had too many turnovers, and allowed a poor playing Orange team to stay in the game too long. Yet they keep winning. Can they keep it up against K-State? No. Look for the Faces of Frank Martin to march on to Indianapolis behind the sharpshooting of Denis Clemente and Mos Def look-alike, Jacob Pullen. The unsung hero for the Wildcats has been the UConn transfer Curtis Kelly who displayed a great array of moves around the basket and the ability to face up and knock down a jumper against Xavier. He could be the difference maker against Butler.

Assuming I’m correct in picking Friday night’s games……..

#2 Ohio State vs. #5 Michigan State

Ohio State is too familiar with the Spartans to not be ready for their physical play and lack of offense without Kalen Lucas. Izzo’s motivation and schemes can only carry a gimped team so far. Buckeyes Victoria Secret fashion show rolls to the Final Four.

#1 Duke vs. #3 Baylor

Baylor has the athletes to keep it close, and will have the home court advantage with the game being played in Houston. Yet their lack of experience will prove too much to overcome and the Blue Devils make their reservations for Indy.

Degenerate Friday on Thursday! Sweet 16

Before we talk basketball, a quick reminder that you get what you pay for. My wife and I had received passes to a free screening of the new Dreamworks movie “How to Train A Dragon” in Times Square. Of course, they had given out too many passes, so after waiting in line for a while, we were told the theatre was full and we were out of luck. The guy behind me starts to complain loudly that he’s super annoyed, it’s not fair and they should do something to make up for it. The guy is a roughly 40 year old black man wearing glasses with yellow lenses, who is there by himself to see a childrens movie. And he’s complaining about how he’s being treated at a FREE screening. Really, dude? At the end of the day, what are you out – 20 minutes of your time? I’m pretty sure he would have spent that time creeping like he did on the Indian girls behind him he was eavesdropping on when he interrupted to ask them “Wait – are you having trouble getting laid? I find that hard to believe.” You stay classy, New York.

Before we get to the breakdown, I’m pretty sure I need a pep talk after the shellacking I took in the second round…….yup, this should do the trick.
Game 1: #1 Syracuse (-6) vs. #5 Butler

Everyone’s favorite sleeper team in the sweet 16 is Cornell, but the team that most resembles Hickory High from Hoosiers is actually Butler. Yes, Cornell has never advanced to this round before, and yes the Ivy League does not have the athletic budgets like the major conferences. However, these are kids in the Ivy League where they don’t give out athletic scholarships or allow people to take the SATs for their recruits (like John Calipari teams….alledgedly). Cornell is full of smart kids that likely have a decent future ahead of them due to an Ivy education. So they’re not really underdogs. Butler is in the middle of nowhere Indiana, in a small conference, and not known nationally academically. They are the true underdog story.

Unfortunately, this underdog story is going to end with the loveable dog getting hit by an orange bus speeding along to the next round. Syracuse has its own underdog angle, as they do not have a single McDonald’s All-American on their roster, which is practically unheard of for a national power. They are too long, too athletic and play a defense that will fluster the Bulldogs. Wes Johnson and the Orange are more than Shelvin Mack and the Bulldogs can handle. Butler has won 22 straight games, but even their two tournament wins were against other mid-major teams (UTEP & Murray State). Their first test against a major power in the tournament will not go well.

Gambler’s Special: Syracuse (-6)

Game 2: #2 West Virginia (-4.5) vs. #11 Washington

This could be the most competitive game of the night. West Virginia lost their starting point guard (his nickname was “Truck” – not exactly flattering for a point guard, right?) but they have a replacement in Joe Mazzulla who has started in the past. However, Mazzulla is not an offense threat at all, which will allow Washington to pay more attention to De’Sean Butler and the other offensive Mountaineers. In addition, Mazzulla will be the only primary ballhandler for the Mountaineers which will be difficult giving the pressure that the Washington guards will put on the ball.

Washington is talented and underperformed early in the year which knocked expectations down. They were ranked in the low teens in most preseason rankings, and fell out after a slow start. Look for Pondexter and Thomas to carry the Huskies to the Elite Eight. When the Mountaineers fall, it’s just another example of Bob Huggins underperforming in the tournament, which means we should probably expect his tournament performance to resemble Lindsay Lohan stumbling out of a club.

Gambler’s Special: Washington (+4.5)

Game #3: #2 Kansas State (-4.5) vs. #6 Xavier

This should be the most entertaining game of the night although it will probably draw the least interest. The second-most recognized team in the sunflower state versus a team that refuses to be lumped in with the mid-majors that is led by a guy that “dunked” on LeBron James. Not exactly riveting story lines for the media to jump on. Yet the guard play at Kansas State has been extremely strong in the tournament and they are playing with some serious swagger. In addition, they can lean on the fact that they handled Xavier comfortably earlier in the season. Kansas State is forcing their way into the conversation as a contender for the national title in the same way Miley Cyrus is forcing her way into the discussion about any pop culture as she sings, acts and suddenly shows up as a guest judge on American Idol.

Xavier is familiar with this round of the tournament as this is their third straight trip to the sweet sixteen (though first with their current coach), and has major conference talent in Jordan Crawford surrounded by strong play from Terrell Holloway and Jason Love. They will not be intimidated by the moment, which should allow them to keep it close until the closing moments.

I thought Kansas State would struggle early in the tournament because of the emotional highs of their coach and their point guard, but they have shown that those emotions can be harnessed. If they continue to play like they have, they have a great shot to get past the Musketeers and the Orange en route to the Final Four.

Gambler’s Special: Kansas State (-4.5)

Game #4: #1 Kentucky (-8) vs. #12 Cornell

The media is all over this game because it pits the lowest remaining seed against the highest remaining seed and a basketball powerhouse against an academic powerhouse. Also add in the rabid Kentucky fanbase against the large Cornell alumni network in New York and near ESPN’s Bristol headquarters and you get more hype than this game really deserves. Cornell is a great story about a bunch of nerds who are good basketball players that play the game really well and have advanced further than anyone predicted. Their run very closely resembles that of Davidson in 2008, where Davidson was a very disciplined team with one deadly scorer (Stephen Curry), and took advantage of beating solid, but not very athletic teams during their run (Gonzaga, Georgetown & Wisconsin) before they ran into Kansas.

This time around, Kentucky is that team that just has too much for Cornell to handle, with 3 potential first round draft picks. John Wall will be able to handle Louis Dale defensively, and should be able to blow by him on the offensive end. Eric Bledsoe has the ability to stay with Wittman if he maintains his discipline, and DeMarcus Cousins will expose Jeff Foote as the slow, plodding center that he is. Add to that the experience and ability of Patrick Patterson and this game may not be competitive.

All the analysts want to point out that if Cornell can keep the game close late into the game, the fact that the crowd will be pro-Cornell (close to campus in Ithaca, the NY alumni contingent driving up to Syracuse from NYC, and fans rooting for the underdog) may put tremendous pressure on the young Wildcats team. But keep in mind that the Kentucky players have played in major league atmospheres all season and have dealt with the stress and pressure of an SEC tournament. This is the biggest stage these Cornell kids have ever seen. And expecting them to stay close until the closing minutes is a very large task – like asking Mischa Barton to stay off drugs. Overall to quote Joe Biden, the talent gap between Kentucky and Cornell is a “big f—king deal.”

Gambler’s Special: Kentucky (-8)

Lessons Learned from the NCAA Tournament

Well, after getting slaughtered by the second round of the tournament (7 of the sweet 16? Embarrassing!), it’s time for the autopsy to determine what went wrong and what can be improved when picking the sweet sixteen games.

First, since everyone is talking about the “health care reform” package that moved closer to reality, I found a hilarious quote. I don’t actually care what side of the political wall you fall on, you have to appreciate this sentiment: “Shove it down our throats now; we’ll shove it up you’re a$$ in November.” Classic angry protesters. I also found it interesting that the approval rating for the Skeletor look-alike, Nancy Pelosi, was 8%. That’s not a typo. EIGHT percent. 92% of the people disapprove of you. As bad as my picks were for the tournament, I got a lot more than 8% right.

Lesson #1: Offense can trump defense

I’m not ready to declare defense dead, but in this year’s tournament, offense was the king. Kansas had the 5th ranked defense (efficiency adjusted according to Ken Pomeroy), and was shredded by the Northern Iowa attack. Temple and Wisconsin were among the best in the country for fewest points allowed per game. Cornell shot over 50% against both teams and lit them up for 78 and 87 points. Pittsburgh plays a tough physical defensive style, yet it was no match for the offense of Jordan Crawford of Xavier. Obviously, offense is easier on the eyes, much like it was much more enjoyable to watch Erin Andrews on Dancing With the Stars than it was to watch the heavy set woman from Reno 911 (I legit don’t know her name, don’t really care and am too lazy to look it up). Side note: Andrews was fairly impressive on the dancing show but I have less than zero standing to judge dancing, as in my opinion the best dancing I have seen was Usher & Chris Tucker dancing a tribute to Michael Jackson.

Lesson #1 in the Sweet 16: Duke vs. Purdue
Purdue has gotten to the sweet 16 despite the loss of Robbie Hummel by redoubling their defensive focus and holding Siena and Texas A&M to 64 and 61 points, respectively. They will attempt to apply that same defensive grind to the shooting attack of Duke which is led by the perimeter trio of Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Will the physical defense of Chris Kramer, E’Twaan Moore and JaJuan Johnson be able to keep the Blue Devils in check? Purdue also was able to harness the lack of respect card (even the President picked them to lose in the first round), but that motivation may wear out by the time the second weekend rolls around.

Lesson #2: Coaching Matters

In the one-and-done format of the NCAA tournament, coaching is critical, especially for the second game of the weekend. The best veteran coaching minds in the game, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, and Thad Motta are still alive. Joining them are the young impressive coaches like Cornell’s Steve Donahue, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobsen and Kansas State’s Frank Martin. These coaches have the ability to make adjustments during the game like Tom Izzo after his team lost Kalin Lucas, or the ability to rally his team to believe they can beat anyone like Ben Jacobsen and Steve Donahue. It’s much like Buzz Aldrin on Dancing With the Stars, who was brave to try dancing at 80 years old, but definitely could not really do the required dancing. Yet because he had a good dance partner/coach, he was able to go out there and not embarrass himself.

Lesson #2 in the Sweet 16: Michigan State vs. Northern Iowa
If someone told you there was going to be a matchup with a team that just beat the top-seeded team in the tournament against another team that just lost its best player to a torn Achilles tendon, it would sound like a mismatch. If you then add in that the first team is a mid-major and the second team lost its top player, yet hails from the best conference in college basketball, you might hesitate for a second. And finally, if you find out that the team that lost its best player has the game’s best coach on its sideline, now you’re really struggling with picking the game. That’s exactly what’s happening with the Northern Iowa and Michigan State game. Tom Izzo is the best coach in the country during March, and he is the only reason you don’t count out Michigan State to beat Northern Iowa.

Lesson #3: Success Formula for Non-Majors

Some people are claiming that parity has arrived in college basketball. I don’t buy it. Every couple years the tournament has a season when there are an inordinate amount of upsets, everyone claims we’ve never seen a tournament like that before, and the next year we get three #1 seeds in the final four. I think what’s more interesting than the potential parity is that the teams from the non-major conferences that are having success have found a formula for success: An intelligent coach, a serviceable big man and one star shooter/scorer with the rest of the team guys that can knock down jumpers. Look at Cornell – a strong coach, 7-foot center, a son of an NBA player who can fill it up, and then a cast of screeners who are capable of knocking down a jumper on occasion. St. Mary’s has a big man in Omar Samhan and surrounds him with a bunch of Australian guys who can shoot from anywhere. Butler has effective size and bunch of guards who knock down open three-pointers. It’s the same formula Davidson used with Steph Curry. It’s the same formula George Mason used in 2006 with Jai Lewis inside and Tony Skinn & Will Thomas on the perimeter.

Lesson #3 in the Sweet 16: Cornell vs. Kentucky
Cornell will take that formula into their battle with top-seeded Kentucky this weekend. The Big Red will hope that their disciplined application of the formula will be enough to frustrate the young Wildcats. Side note – why are the supposed “smart” people in the Ivy league too dumb to come up with a better nickname for their teams than a color? The Cornell Big Red and the Harvard Crimson. Rally around a color? Syracuse is the Orange, but that was a change to political pressure from the former name Orangemen. Anyway – back to the point…..Cornell will try to ride the hot shooting to overcome the major talent gap between its players and those at Kentucky. If Cornell can stay hot from the outside and their big guy can slow the inside game of DeMarcus Cousins, the Big Red has a chance to stay in the game.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

Well my bracket is completely busted after the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, so that’s the hate of the week………….the link is on the right to check the standings of the Sports Addict Brackett Challenge and see how awful my picks were.

LOVE

- Who was the biggest hero of the weekend? It definitely wasn’t the politicians who want to celebrate the fact that they actually did something over the weekend. And let’s face it, they really didn’t do anything since there are still more hoops to jump through. The real hero of the weekend was Ali Farokhmanesh, the Northern Iowa kid who hit the 3-pointer that sent home tournament #1 seed Kansas. His shot wasn’t just a clutch shot, it was one of those shots where the coach is yelling “Noooooooooooo! Yes!!!” because you’re up 1 with under a minute to play and typically the coach wants you to run some clock before shooting. Yet the Kansas defended backed off Ali, and to quote the great Gus Johnson, Ali decided to “rise and fire” from beyond the arc. Immediately after he hit the shot I got a text from my brother “that kid has balls the size of….well…….Iowa.” Enough said.

- The other contender for hero of the week? Korie Lucious of Michigan State, hitting the game winning shot to send the Spartans past Maryland into the Sweet 16. In a highly entertaining game that went back and forth in the final minute, Lucious carried a team that lost its best player, Kalen Lucas, and was also dealing with an injury to Chris Allen. It also ended the career of Maryland’s star guard, Greivis Vasquez, and it will be interesting to see where Vasquez’s pro potential ends up. The Spartans will have their hands full dealing with the Northern Iowa team next week, especially if the Lucas injury is a torn achilles heel like it appeared to be.

- So what is the best conference this year? There are 11 conferences represented in the sweet 16 which is a great illustration of the parity and thin line between the major conferences and the mid-majors. There is only one conference with more than 2 teams still alive: The Big Ten (Michigan State, Ohio State & Purdue). The Big 12 (Kansas St & Baylor), Big East (Syracuse & West Virginia) and SEC (Kentucky & Tennessee) have two teams each, and the rest are single teams from conferences including the ACC, Pac-10, Ivy, Atlantic-10, Missouri Valley, West Coast and Horizon. It was a very impressive showing for the much-maligned Big Ten.

- On the other side of the spectrum, it was enjoyable to watch teams that were definitely overrated show how overrated they were. I’m talking directly to New Mexico, a team that cried about a lack of respect for their great record and then they completely wet themselves in the tournament. They were completely dismantled by the 11th seeded Washington team. Other teams that were exposed as frauds during the first weekend: Temple, Vanderbilt, Richmond, Pittsburgh and yes, Wisconsin. It happens every March when teams cry for respect or build up expectations, only to deliver a performance like Jennifer Lopez like Gigli.

- The quote of the weekend. It had nothing to do with basketball, and took place at dinner Saturday night with a group of friends discussing how a girl should pace herself drinking on a date to roughly match the amount that the guy is drinking. We got into a discussion of a girl who was drinking 4 cocktails to 1 for her date because she figured it was free drinks and she knew the date wasn’t going to lead to a second date (or even a second bar). To which my friend just deadpans “Why would you waste a hangover on a bad date?” Well said.

HATE

- The performance of Wisconsin was pitiful. First, Cornell was flat-out better than the Badgers in every aspect of the game. Their big slow white guy was better than Wisconsin’s guy, Nankovil. The Cornell scorer (Wittman) was equal to the Wisconsin scorer (Leuer). The Cornell undersized point guard played under control, didn’t turn the ball over and made shots – all things that Trevon Hughes did not do. The Cornell shooter (Jacques) made his shots, and Wisconsin’s shooter (Bohannon) could barely hit the ocean if he fell out of a boat. Cornell had guys coming off the bench that made contributions, and the Badgers did not. At the end of the day, there are not many teams that can out-fundamental a Bo Ryan team, and Cornell did that.

The most disappointing aspect was the disappearance of the Badger senior backcourt of Hughes and Bohannon. When the Badgers got hot near the end of the regular season after Leuer returned from injury, those two were driving the bus. In the Big Ten tournament and in both NCAA Tournament games, they drove the bus into a ditch and lit it on fire.

- In addition to the Wisconsin veteran backcourt collapsing, the same happened to Kansas and Villanova. Kansas’s Sherron Collins was awful in the Jayhawks debacle and he wasn’t able to step up and carry the team like you would expect from a senior All-American point guard. Similarly, Scottie Reynolds couldn’t get Villanova past St. Mary’s in the second round, proving that the first round struggles were not a fluke and Villanova was not nearly as good as everyone thought. Time to change the thought that an experienced floor leader is what is needed to advance in the tourney. And it also put an end to my “Fat Point Guard Theory.”

- If you were a pseudo-small market team and were about to sign your franchise catcher to the biggest contract in the history of the franchise (and among the top 5 contracts ever in the sport), wouldn’t you want that to be the lead story in sports? Wouldn’t you want your team to get the publicity it deserves for keeping its star player? The Twins signed the best catcher in the game, Joe Mauer, to an 8-year, $184 million contract that will keep the Minnesota-native home and keep the Twins competitive. Yet they announce it on a Sunday when all the national sports outlets are spending their time on the NCAA tournament and the Tiger Woods interview. Wouldn’t they have been better served holding on to the announcement until Tuesday when the college hoops dies down and they can get the attention of the media?

(and I say pseudo-small market because Minneapolis is not Milwaukee, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Baltimore, Tampa or Cincinnati)

Every Monday I give a quick recap of some things during the weekend that were a “love” – enjoyable, good, or entertainment – or things that were a “hate” – things that stunk, bad plays, or other things that were painful to watch.

Degenerate Friday - Day 2 of the Tournament

What a day of games yesterday – a double overtime game, a single overtime game, a 3 point win, two 9-seeds over 8-seeds, and 5 other double digit seeds pulling off upsets. That is why the tournament is the best sporting event in the world. The staggered games keep you glued to the television for a continual stream of big finishes. Incredible. A couple quick gambling picks of the day, and then some quick thoughts on a day that wore me out just watching the games.

Duke (-23) over Arkansas-Pine Bluff
UAPB is just happy to be here after beating Winthrop in the play-in game and will be intimidated just by taking the court with the college basketball royalty that is Duke. UAPB started the season 0-11 and is now 18-15, so they have played better lately, but that will not be enough against the Duke pressure defense. Despite Duke struggling in the first round in recent years – in the past 5 years (2 #1 seeds, 2 #2 seeds and a #6 seed) they have only won by more than 20 once and lost a game – they should be able to run the Golden Lions off the court.

Texas A&M (-3) over Utah State
Typically during the tournament one of the first days has all the drama and the upsets and the other first round day is more routine. That especially is the case when Thursday is full of drama and upsets. The reason is the coaches of the favorites playing on Friday has the opportunity to remind his players of what happened yesterday so that they don’t take their opponents lightly. Thursday was the day of drama and upsets. Sloane will be too athletic for Utah State and A&M will win this battle of the Aggies. A&M also defends well enough to slow the Utah State 3-point attack.

Quick Thoughts…………………

A brief break from college basketball to talk about Ron Washington, the manager of the Texas Rangers. The guy tested positive for cocaine last season during a random test, came clean to the Rangers about it, called it a one-time mistake and they decided not to fire him. I had two initial thoughts. First, are we really surprised? He played in the 80’s when guys like Otis Nixon relied on the head-first slide because he didn’t want to break his coke vial in his back pocket. (Otis may have been the inspiration for Dave Chapelle’s skits) My nex thought was that no one starts out with cocaine. No one wakes up and decides to start doing drugs by doing cocaine – it is not a starter drug. Just look at the downfall of Lindsay Lohan, Corey Haim, Brittany Murphy, etc. Wait – Lindsay hasn’t overdosed yet? It’s unfortunately just a matter of time. If Washington tested positive for cocaine there is a really high probability he smokes weed and probably does other drugs. Lo and behold the news now out that he admits to smoking pot and taking anphetamines during his playing days. I just hope he can get his problem under control.

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Not an impressive showing by the Big Least yesterday. They went 1-3, with all three losses to double-digit seeds. And their one win was in overtime over a number 15 seed (with some dubious calls, which I will touch on in a minute). Ouch – awful. At this point, I am not feeling good about picking Louisville in the first round and I’m really nervous about the 3 elite 8 teams I picked from the Big East. The most shocking was the lack of effort and lack of defense from Georgetown in giving up 97 points to Ohio, a team that lost 14 games during the regular season in the MAC conference.

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On to the officiating the Villanova-Robert Morris game. I thought there were some suspect foul calls that very easily could have been jump balls. I won’t go as far as saying that Robert Morris got screwed or that they had the game taken away from them. Why would the officials not want the upset to happen? The upsets are what makes the tournament great – so why would the referees try to prevent that? It doesn’t make any sense. Did they miss the calls? Maybe, but depending upon their angles and seeing the game at live speed, they called what they saw, or thought they saw. If you’re Robert Morris, does it stink? Yup. At the same time, if Robert Morris doesn’t turn the ball over 20 times, it wouldn’t have been that close. Scottie Reynolds had a horrible shooting game, but he did what he needed to do, crashing the rim and getting the calls to get to the free throw line.

Now for the sake of my bracket, I hope Villanova takes that as a their wake up call and is ready to take on St. Mary’s.

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Random nugget for what it’s worth, Doug Gotlieb just named his top 5 coaches for getting the most out of their players and making in-game adjustments. They included Tom Izzo, Bo Ryan, Thad Motta, Bill Self and Bruce Pearl. Interesting that there are 3 Big Ten coaches and a former Big Ten coach (Self), and not a single coach from the Big Least. He talked about guys that are great recruiters but aren’t as good at in-game adjustments, which included Roy Williams, John Calipari and Jim Calhoun. Just a random thought worth noting.

The Official Sports Addict Bracket

Well, the time has come to unveil the official Sports Addict bracket. Right before tip-off, you might want to print off this one-page summary sheet from Czabe.com and bring it with you to the watering hole to watch the games – it has a bullet on every team, their coach, key player, conference and records. Awesome. There are not a ton of upsets outside the first or second round, but I don’t see that much talent outside of the top seeds.

MIDWEST BRACKET

First Round:
#1 Kansas over #16 Lehigh
#9 N. Iowa over #8 UNLV
#5 Michigan St. over #12 New Mexico State
#4 Maryland over #13 Houston
#6 Tennessee over #11 San Diego State
#3 Georgetown over #14 Ohio
#10 Georgia Tech over #7 Oklahoma State
#2 Ohio State over #15 UC-Santa Barbara

Kansas, Ohio State and Georgetown will hardly break a sweat and will likely cover the spreads. Northern Iowa plays enough defense to stop the Rebels and don’t turn the ball over, a recipe for an early round victory. Do you want to bet against Tom Izzo against an inferior team? Me neither. Houston coach Tom Penders has a great record of getting to the tourney, but a terrible record once there. The nation’s leading scorer Aubrey Coleman should match up with the Terp’s Greivis Vasquez in one of the best individual matchups of the first round. Tennessee has been hit or miss all season, and they play a frenetic style of play, similar to San Diego State. The difference is the Vols have better athletes. Georgia Tech has more widespread talent that can make up for the best single talent, James Anderson.

Second Round:
#1 Kansas over #9 N. Iowa
#5 Michigan St. over #4 Maryland
#3 Georgetown over #6 Tennessee
#2 Ohio State over #10 Georgia Tech

Mostly chalk, with the only exception being Michigan State. The Spartans have had chemistry issues of late, but I don’t like Tom Izzo any time other than the NCAA tournament. N. Iowa will keep it close with Kansas and put a scare into the Jayhawks.

Sweet 16:
#1 Kansas over #5 Michigan State
#2 Ohio State over #3 Georgetown

Kansas defense will keep the Spartans from scoring enough to keep up. Collins can dominate Lucas and the Spartans don’t have the inside presence to handle Aldrich and the Morris twins. The key for the Buckeyes will be the ability of Dallas Lauderdale to slow Greg Monroe and keep him off the glass. Georgetown has no one to match up with Turner on the perimeter, when they also have Buford and Lighty slashing and Diebler from the perimeter. This could be the best game of the entire sweet 16.

Elite Eight:
#1 Kansas over #2 Ohio State

The depth of the Jayhawks will be the difference. Ohio State has as much talent as Kansas in the starting five, but Kansas has the ability to bring waves of reinforcements. Thad Motta doesn’t have that luxury. The Jayhawks are the best team in the country and survive a very tough bracket to advance to Indianapolis.

WEST BRACKET

1st Round:
#1 Syracuse over #16 Vermont
#9 Florida State over #8 Gonzaga
#12 UTEP over #5 Butler
#13 Murray State over #4 Vanderbilt
#6 Xavier over #11 Minnesota
#3 Pittsburgh over #14 Oakland
#7 BYU over #10 Florida
#2 Kansas State over #15 North Texas

Syracuse is probably still annoyed by their opening round loss in 2005, and won’t need their injured center to blast past the Catamounts. Kansas State will run past the Mean Green and Pittsburgh will smother the Detroit suburb school, Oakland. Florida State’s defense will be enough to swallow up America’s favorite underdog Gonzaga, which will hamper secretary brackets all over the country (“I love that they’re called the Zags and aren’t they a small school that upsets teams?”) Butler’s only size is a slow 6’8” center who can’t handle anyone outside of their weak conference. Well UTEP has a 6’11” forward and 6’9” Derrick Caracter who is too quick for the Bulldog’s Matt Howard. And the Miners then bring the offensive speed of Randy Culpepper. Murray State can score with anyone and average over 10 steals a game, which is a bad match up for a Vandy team that turns it over all too willingly. (If Butler & Vandy get to the second round, the match up of Howard & Ogilvy might cause fans to think they’re watching a game in 1950 based on the slow, plodding play of the centers) Minnesota and Florida were both lucky to make the field and their stays will be short.

2nd Round:
#1 Syracuse over #9 Florida State
#12 UTEP over #13 Murray State
#3 Pittsburgh over #6 Xavier
#7 BYU over #2 Kansas State

Florida State can’t crack the ‘Cuse zone. The Miners continue their run with more offense. Xavier has the ability to beat Pitt, but the Panther defense and grit after a tough Big East season carries them through. The Kansas State-BYU game has given me nightmares, because I want to believe that BYU could ride the hot hand of Jimmer Fredette all the way to the Elite Eight. I want to believe that the discipline of the Cougars will outdo the volatile emotions of Kevin Martin and the Wildcats. But K-State can shoot it with both guards and have an effective swingman in Curtis Kelly. I am picking the smart kids to fluster Kansas State causing them to lose their poise.

Sweet 16:
#1 Syracuse over #12 UTEP
#7 BYU over #3 Pittsburgh

The Orange is not deep, which could make this a potential upset as the Miners try to push the pace. Yet Syracuse has too many weapons for UTEP to handle, and by this point, they will start to get some contributions back from Arinze Onuaku. BYU continues their run with shooting that can overcome the physical Panther defense. Jimmer Fredette becomes the tournament sweetheart like Stephen Curry did at Davidson.

Elite Eight:
#1 Syracuse over #7 BYU

The clock strikes midnight on this year’s Cinderella when the Syracuse zone causes problems for the BYU team. The Orange are long and athletic which will cause problems for BYU’s shooters, finally slowing down Fredette. Wes Johnson completes his transformation from an unknown transfer to a key cog on a Final Four team, securing his spot in the NBA lottery next season. Jim Boeheim does caps what possibly has been his best coaching season with a trip to the final four with a team without a top-50 recruit and a team that started the season unranked.

EAST BRACKET

1st Round:
#1 Kentucky over #16 East Tennessee State
#8 Texas over #9 Wake Forest
#5 Temple over #12 Cornell
#4 Wisconsin over #13 Wofford
#6 Marquette over #11 Washington
#3 New Mexico over #14 Montana
#10 Missouri over #7 Clemson
#2 West Virginia over #15 Morgan State

Barely an upset in the first round in the East bracket. Kentucky, West Virginia and Wisconsin should not be tested in their games (good gawd did I just curse my Badgers? Probably. I take it back. Wofford is really, really good and Wisconsin will have to play really well to beat this solid group of players despite the fact that their school name resembles the sound a dog makes more than it does a prestigious university) Texas has more raw talent than the Demon Deacons in a battle of underachieving and slumping squads. Temple’s defense will slow the hot shooting Big Red of Cornell and send Randy Whitman’s kid home. Darrington Hobson by himself is enough to carry the Lobos past Montana. There is no safer bet in the NCAA tournament than Oliver Purnell losing in the first round, he’s 0-5.

2nd Round:
#1 Kentucky over #8 Texas
#4 Wisconsin over #5 Temple
#6 Marquette over #3 New Mexico
#2 West Virginia over #10 Missouri

Texas has the raw talent to stay close to Kentucky, but since they haven’t put it together all season, why would they do it now? Kentucky will have two nice games to get their youngster jitters out before the toughest part of the bracket gets to them. Wisconsin plays a similar style to Temple, only better. They have veteran guard play and the Owls have no one to contend with Jon Leuer. Marquette will be able to dominate the Lobos physically and has the guards to match up with Hobson in the only second round upset in this bracket. West Virginia has the talent to overwhelm the Tigers, even if the Mountaineers are not at their best.

Sweet 16:
#1 Kentucky over #4 Wisconsin
#2 West Virginia over #6 Marquette

Both Wisconsin-based teams get the bounce in Syracuse. The Badgers have the talent, experience and defense to stymie the potent Kentucky attack, and the homer in me wants to pick Bo Ryan’s crew to keep going. If they win, it would not be a monster surprise, but the inside tandem of Cousins and Patterson will be really tough matchup for Leuer and Nankovil. Marquette’s run will be fueled by heart and energy, which won’t be enough to get past their conference rival. West Virginia has the perimeter players to keep up with the Golden Eagles, and has an inside presence that Buzz’s boys can’t match.

Elite Eight:
#1 Kentucky over #2 West Virginia

After Kentucky has survived the athleticism of Texas, and the grind of playing against the Badgers, they will not be surprised by the style of the Mountaineers. Kentucky has a minimum of 3 NBA players on the court at almost all times, and they will be able to overwhelm the game Huggins’ squad.

SOUTH BRACKET

1st Round:
#1 Duke over #16 Arkansas-Pine Bluff
#9 Louisville over #8 California
#5 Texas A&M over #12 Utah State
#4 Purdue over #13 Siena
#11 Old Dominion over #6 Notre Dame
#3 Baylor over #14 Sam Houston State
#7 Richmond over #10 St. Mary’s
#2 Villanova over #15 Robert Morris

The top 3 seeds should cruise through with blowouts, and the fact Arkansas Pine-Bluff gets to say they have won a tournament game by virtue of winning the play-in game is all the evidence I need to confirm how opposed I am to expansion. Louisville hasn’t beaten anyone of consequence outside of Syracuse (twice), and has lost to UNLV, Charlotte and Western Carolina. That concerns me, yet the Pac-10 has been awful, so I’ll take the Cards over the Bears. Utah State had no business getting an at-large bid and should be easily dismissed by the Aggies. Everyone wants to bury Purdue without Hummel but this Siena team is not as good as their past squads that won in the first round in 2009 and 2008. Purdue still has E’Twan Moore, JaJuan Johnson and Deon Grant, which will be enough to get past the Saints. Old Dominion can play the slow style Notre Dame has adopted, and the Irish are confused what to do with Harangody. Richmond’s backcourt will be enough to lead the Spiders past a solid St. Mary’s squad that is happy just to finally get past Gonzaga and into the tournament.

2nd Round:
#1 Duke over #9 Louisville
#5 Texas A&M over #4 Purdue
#3 Baylor over #11 Old Dominion
#2 Villanova over #7 Richmond

Duke’s discipline will be able to handle the Louisville pressure, allowing the Blue Devils to advance. Purdue can get past a mid-major without Robbie Hummel, but it’s a different ballgame going up against a tough Aggie team lead by Donald Sloan. Baylor’s defense will stifle the Monarchs and will blow them out. The only thing that is worrisome about the Bears in the early rounds is their lack of tournament experience, but thankfully they will not face a very tough test, even if Notre Dame manages to be their second round opponent. Villanova has guards and experience that can neutralize the Richmond attack. It is another game for the Wildcats to get back to their early season form when they got as high as #2 in the country.

Sweet 16:
#1 Duke over #5 Texas A&M
#2 Villanova over #3 Baylor

Everyone wants to find a reason to knock out the Dukies early, yet there has not been a team yet that can match up with them. Texas A&M will have the advantage of playing Duke in Houston, but Sloan can be matched by Nolan Smith and the Aggies will have a tough time if Singler gets hot. Villanova will also face a hostile crowd in Houston against Baylor, but their experienced backcourt will be the difference against the Bears defense.

Elite Eight:
#2 Villanova over #1 Duke
Just like last season, Villanova has the perimeter players to match up and best the Duke guards. Scottie Reynolds gets another trip to the Final Four and he combines with the best pair of Coreys (Stokes & Fisher) since Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.

FINAL FOUR

#1 Kansas over #1 Syracuse
#1 Kentucky over #2 Villanova

CHAMPIONSHIP

Kansas Jayhawks over Kentucky Wildcats

Kansas is too deep and too talented with too many weapons for Syracuse to stop. Kentucky’s inside game is too much for Villanova. This sets up a coaching rematch from the 2008 final between Bill Self’s Kansas squad and John Calipari’s Memphis team. Calipari once again has a freshman point guard leading the charge, but this time John Wall is not as poised and mature at Kentucky as Derrick Rose was in 2008. The senior leadership of Sherron Collins and Cole Aldridge will be too much for the Wildcats to stop. Bill Self collects his second title, and cements his legacy among the great coaches in the game. It’s time for Rock-Chalk-Jayhawk to ring down from the rafters at Lucas Oil Stadium when Kansas cuts down the nets.

Bracket Breakdown - East & South

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Tip back a green beer or ten while you fill out your bracket and read the breakdowns below of the East and South brackets. See yesterday’s post to get the breakdown of the Midwest & West.

And a reminder – get your entry in for The Sports Addict 2010 Bracket Challenge. See the details on the right edge of the page. It’s free to enter and you can win free gear from your favorite college team and some Sports Addict swag.

My official bracket with thoughts on every game along the way will be posted Thursday morning before the first game tips off. I am one of those people that waits until the very last minute to fill out my final bracket. I want to consume as much information and knowledge which is guaranteed to make me outthink myself and finish in the bottom half of the pool. It is as much of a sure thing as someone getting thrown out at Augusta for heckling Tiger on the first day of The Masters. Anyway……..on to the East & South breakdowns. (by the way, while I was writing this, Ben Sheets just gave up another 5 hits and 3 runs. Really Ben? 10 batters faced and not one out for the A’s on Monday? Ouch.)

EAST BRACKET

Theme Song: “Happy For The Rest of Your Life” by Jimmy Soul
The song is an oldie, but a goodie, and if you don’t recognize it by name, here’s a link with lyrics on youtube. It will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. The key lyrics – “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.” Now I don’t subscribe to the theory – as evidenced by my wife who is way better looking than I deserve – but the song is appropriate for this bracket. If you’re going to pick a team from this bracket to win the tourney, you are most likely going to be a fan of rugged, “ugly” basketball. Stingy defense, and physical play will be all over the bracket with West Virginia, Marquette, Wisconsin, Temple and Cornell. Add to that the immature play of Kentucky and the sloppy uptempo games favored by Texas, Clemson and Missouri, and you have the potential for some unattractivegames. As the song says, if you’re marrying your bracket to one of these teams, “Though her face is ugly, her eyes don’t match, take it from me she’s a better catch.”

Katy Perry (talent to bust out): West Virginia (#2 seed)
The Moutaineers are as hot as any team in the country after their Big East tournament championship. They have proven that they can win close games and Da’Sean Butler has made his case as the most clutch player in the country. West Virginia also have the leadership of veteran Bobby Huggins, who would love nothing more than to follow “One Shining Moment” with John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (feel free to put this on in the background while you read about them) The Mountaineers also have a favorable half of the bracket with the weakest #3 seed in New Mexico and their toughest matchup before the regional final might come in the second game against a high-scoring Clemson or Missouri team.




Scarlett Johannson (best stats): Texas (#8 seed)
The Longhorns started the year 17-0, and finished 24-9, but their stats are over the entire season. They have the 5th highest scoring average of any team in the tournament, and were 3rd in the nation in rebounding margin – outrebounding their opponents by more than 9 per game. In addition, Texas has the dynamic scoring, but horrible free-throw shooting Damion James on the wing, a player who has the potential to carry a team if he gets hot. They have a tough draw if they can get past Wake Forest and do battle with the top-seeded Wildcats, but they have size in Dexter Pittman to match up with DeMarcus Cousins and their own highly regarded freshman point guard in Avery Bradley.

Elisabeth Rohm (underappreciated): Temple (#5 seed)
She can’t exactly be considered ready to break out considering she really hasn’t done much (outside of a handful of Heroes episodes) since 2005 when she left Law & Order, but in my humble opinion, she is very underrated. Smart, talented and capable of bringing the heat. Temple is not exactly an unknown, having won the regular season and tournament titles in the Atlantic-10, yet no one really knows anything about the team. Did you know that their coach, Fran Dunphy has taken teams to the tournament 11 times (he's been at Temple since 2006)? Granted, he is 1-11, but still. This team plays ferocious defense and should be able to handle everyone’s favorite upset pick, Cornell, in the first round. They finished 4th in the country in lowest field goal percentage allowed, and more importantly for us, they had the 3rd best record in the country against the spread at 22-11-1.

Faith Hill & Tim McGraw (best matchup): #6 Marquette vs. #11 Washington
The country singers just seem to fit well together, and while they rarely make the tabloid headlines, they always look good at the awards shows. This match up with Marquette and Washington is a perfect pairing of teams that are led by perimeter players (even though Lazard Hayward is the power forward, he’s 6’5” and gets by on pure effort in the paint) and squads that have been playing better as the season went on. The Golden Eagles have played more close games than anyone in the country and a tough battle will be exactly what Buzz and his team expect.

SOUTH BRACKET

Theme Song: “Funk Soul Brother” by Fatboy Slim
The first time you hear the song, you kind of get into it, feel the beat and are into it. Then after you hear it a couple times, it’s starts to really annoy you and eventually the thought of the song makes you want to punch Fatboy Slim. The South bracket is very much like that. When I first saw Duke as the top seed, I knew I would have my bracket to pick an upset team to make the final four. Then the more I looked at the bracket, the more I realized that there are not any teams I’m comfortable backing to get to the Final Four. Before the pairings came out, I had pegged 12 teams as potential Final Four teams, and of those 12, only one is located in the South (Villanova). Annoying. (since I find Fatboy Slim annoying, I decided to thow a picture of Christopher Walken up - he was in the video for "Weapon of Choice" so it's related. And Christopher Walken is like Mike Tyson, just adding them to any situation makes it inherently funny. Are pigeons funny? No. But if you have a reality show with Mike Tyson racing pigeons? Pure Gold, Jerry.)

Salma Hayek (talent to bust out): Baylor (#3 seed)
If nothing else, Baylor is a story you want to get behind. They are coached by the brother of Bryce Drew, the Valparaiso NCAA tournament hero, and are a talented group. Like Salma, they have a pair of dominating features, which for the Bears means their backcourt of LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter. They have proven their ability to win in the rugged Big 12 in addition to nonconference wins over Xavier and Arizona State. The Bears do not have any tournament experience, so it will be tough for them to beat an experienced team like Villanova or Duke later in the tournament. However, they will have the advantage of playing those teams in Houston, much closer to their home and likely a stadium dominated by their fans.

Kelly Brook (best stats): Duke (#1 seed)
Duke is the most annoying team in the tournament. They have the stats to be a #1 seed, and potentially the #3 overall team. They are 29-5 and won the regular season and tournament ACC championship. They are the top offensive team according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. They are third in the country in defensive 3-point field goal percentage. They have the 3rd best point differential of any team in the bracket, beating their opponents by an average of over 17 points per game. Yet despite the great stats, you can’t take them seriously as a title contender, can you? They have an experienced backcourt with Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith, and an all-around player in Kyle Singler who can get hot and be almost unstoppable. Does that mean they will advance to the Final Four?

Yvonne Strahovski (underappreciated): Old Dominion (#11 seed)
Strahovski is the girl from that awful show “Chuck” where she plays a spy and probably saves the world from bad guys on a weekly basis. She is the only redeeming quality of the show. Much like Old Dominion is the only redeeming quality of Colonial Athletic Association conference. ODU has the advantage of playing a Notre Dame team that is confused whether or not they want to play their 2-time All-American, Luke Harangody or not. Since Harangody got hurt, the team shifted to a slower paced game and has been successful with him coming off the bench. That slower style is preferred by the Monarchs, and may play right into their hands. The biggest thing holding ODU back from being a lock in this game is their horrid free throw shooting, which is typically needed down the stretch to put away an upset.

Rihanna & Matt Kemp (best matchup): #7 Richmond vs. #10 St. Mary’s
Should I try to make the case of them both being a matchup of someone from the west coast with someone from the southeast (assuming you can say Rihanna’s hometown in Barbados is very-south-very-east?)? Nah – I’ll just say it’s a matchup of two midmajors, which would be a pretty good description of both Rihanna and Kemp’s celebrity status. Richmond is getting the most attention the program has gotten since they beat Syracuse as a #15 seed in 1991, primarily due to the play of their guards Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez paired with the shooting of Ryan Butler. St. Mary’s finally got over the hump of beating Gonzaga, so the fear is whether they are happy just to be included in the tournament.