Can this tournament get much better (besides, obviously, if Duke had continued to win?)

Washington   

Well, just watched UConn go down at the hands of George Mason. Connecticut took a 12 point lead late in the first half. It seemed at that point they expected Mason to just go away. Or maybe they were just hoping they would.

But Mason didn’t. Not only did they make a run, they took the lead. And then inexplicably gave up a 4 point lead with 17 seconds left, and UConn appeared as though they might escape one more time - which is all they’ve done so far in this tournament.

It seems whenever an underdog loses a chance to upset a team and is forced into overtime, they fold up and lose without much of a fight in overtime. I was afraid that would happen to George Mason. But, man, they came out firing. They scored first and continued to score, keeping the pressure on Connecticut. Then, it looked like they might actually give UConn a third chance late in the game - missing their final 3 free throws - but held on as UConn could not score on the final possession, and Mason goes to the final four with a 2 point win.

I heard Mike Lupica babbling on this morning on ESPN about how Jim Calhoun would be in the ranks of Wooden and Rupp, having won 3 titles in 8 years. That was, of course, if they continued on. Lupica, who is a loud-mouth know-it-all who seems to enjoy hearing himself talk more than Dick Vitale and could not be more annoying, spoke too soon. It’s almost as great to see Connecticut lose as it is to see Lupica proven wrong.

Mason becomes the first “mid-major” to reach the final four in the era of the 64 (or 65) team tournament. They did what others have come close to doing. And what everyone expected Gonzaga to do first - and most of them expected it this year. But instead, it was the team that everyone said shouldn’t even be invited. Since then, they’ve beaten a final four team from last year and the last two national champions. They’ve crashed the party big time. And they may not be done yet.

Greg Doyel, in an article on CBS Sportsline, says the following:

Today, now that George Mason has beaten UConn to get into the Final Four, people are going to write about David and Goliath.

What if George Mason is Goliath?

I guess we’ll see next weekend.

Minneapolis

I didn’t watch a lot of this game, but Florida held off Villanova. Villanova couldn’t match Florida inside, and couldn’t hit anything from outside. Basically, Villanova was the last hope for both the Big East and the #1 seeds. Everyone said the Big East was the best conference, and I would have to agree with that. It was expected they’d definitely have one, and likely have two, teams in the final four. There was even a decent possibility they could end up doing what no conference had done since 1985 - have 3 teams in the final four. In 1985, the Big East did it. They had a chance to do it again. But it didn’t happen.

Now, the best conference joins the second best conference (which many say was the Big Ten) in having NO teams in the final four. And, with Villanova’s loss, there are also NO #1 seeds in the final four, for the first time since 1980.

Final thoughts

It’s been a wild ride so far. If this continues for the last 3 games, this may have been one of the best episodes of March Madness to date.

Well, we’re down to 6 now. 

Atlanta

I’m not really surprised LSU won. I mentioned the Duke factor yesterday. But I still thought Texas was on a mission and that they might pull it out. I don’t like PJ Tucker, who I think is a punk, but I like Rick Barnes and wouldn’t mind seeing him succeed. Of course, I went to college with a lot of people from Texas, and listened to them babble on and on about how great the state of Texas is, so I don’t mind seeing Texas teams lose whenever possible. I will not be surprised to see LSU win it all. Also, with LSU winning, the SEC gets it’s first team since 2000 (Florida) into the final four, and only the second in the last 8 years. They’ve had quite a drought, but it’s over now, and actually could end up with 2 teams in if Florida wins tomorrow. (Kentucky, as I always like to point out, will miss it for the eighth year in a row now. You gotta love that.)

Minneapolis

This was one of the ugliest games I’ve ever seen. Memphis was throwing up brick after brick in the first half, and they just could not seem to gain much ground after UCLA took the lead. UCLA looked like they were playing to prove something - that not enough people took them seriously. Granted, I’d not seen them play all year long, but I originally picked them for the final four (as I mentioned before) because everyone said they were playing well. After watching them play against Alabama and Gonzaga, I wasn’t that impressed. But I was glad - as always - to see Calipari and Memphis lose.

Final thoughts

I’ll go ahead and pick the first final four game (although I reserve the right to change my mind before next weekend.) UCLA has continued to win, and they may very well be able to knock off LSU like they did Gonzaga and Memphis, but I am - at least for now - going to go with LSU in this game.

Minneapolis  

Boston College was my only hope, as an ACC fan. I thought they had it done against Villanova, but were on the short end of a couple of really bad calls late in regulation. The first one has already left my mind, but the second was a traveling call on Dudley in which a Villnova player tied him up and Dudley lost his balance and took steps. There was no way this could be anything other than either a jump ball or a foul on the Villanova player (it looked like a pretty good tie-up to me, so it should have been a jump ball.) But the officials chose to make a bad call instead.

Now, this didn’t cost BC the game. It hurt their chances of winning, but they missed way too many free throws. Had they made one of those missed, they would have won. Instead, they lost in overtime. But everyone always remembers the bad calls (or, as in my case, at least 1 of 2).

The second game I did not watch, so I haven’t got much to comment on. I picked Georgetown, but wouldn’t have been surprised either way. Since I believe Billy Donovan to be the anti-Christ, I hope Villanova advances to the final four.

Washington

Didn’t see any of the George Mason-WSU game, either. Didn’t really care. Not surprised either way in this one, too, but I expected GMU to maybe pull it out since they were playing near home. And they did.

Connecticut continues to play uninspired for much of the game and then pull out a win. Actually, I didn’t see it, either, but I have to assume. I read about a goal-tending non-call in UConn’s favor that may have cost Washington the game. But the only highlights I saw were of Washington fouling when up by four, giving UConn a three-point play, then giving up a three at the end to send it to overtime. They should have won it anyway. Nevertheless, Uconn moves on.

Final thoughts

I think the regional finals could all be very good games. Since a new round is starting, I figure I’ll go ahead and pick again.

Atlanta Every team that has beaten Duke in the sweet 16 during the Krzyzewski era has advanced to the final four. That’s 5 times prior to this year. LSU could make it a sixth, but I think Texas just may pull this out, so I’m going with them.

Oakland I picked UCLA to reach the final four in my original bracket, before switching it to Pitt, and I picked them the other day, so I’ll stick with them. UCLA advances.

Minneapolis I realize there’s a very good chance Florida will win this game, but I just can’t pick them. Now that BC’s gone, I’ll have to go with Villanova.  

Washington I can’t think of a better story than George Mason, whose presence in the tournament was questioned by many, reaching Indianapolis. But I just don’t know if they can do it one more time, even against a UConn time that will likely leave the door open for them much of the game. As much as it hurts to say this, I think Connecticut will keep going.

Three exciting games last night out of the four, which is what you want at this point. 

Atlanta

Obviously, for a Duke fan, huge disappointment. LSU played great defense, particularly on Redick. I actually expected Shelden Williams to have a more difficult game than Redick. Williams was great, but he was pretty much the only one. It was not unlike the Temple game, except LSU is better than Temple. Normally, if their opponent scores only 62, Duke would win by double-digits. But their inability to score against LSU’s defense was what killed them. Williams scored - 23 in fact - but Redick could not, and their lack of a consistent third scorer, which has been a problem all year, killed them again. The players not named Redick or Williams were 7 of 29 from the field. Overall, they shot horribly, but most of that was LSU, who had 9 blocks (according to the box score, but I’d say it was more than that), not to mention the altered shots. LSU was physical and the officials were letting both teams play, and Duke did not handle it well. Fouls that they normally get when driving to the basket were not being called as often, which lead to less free throws - also something they’re used to doing a lot.

In the end, they still had a shot at winning late. With Duke fouling to put LSU on the line at the end, LSU managed to miss a couple of free throws. Unfortunately, both misses resulted in offensive rebounds for LSU, forcing Duke to foul again and LSU to shoot more free throws. One trip down the floor for LSU resulted in 3 trips to the line. In addition to that was a breakaway when an LSU player got behind the Duke pressure on an inbounds play at Duke’s end of the court. You give up plays like that in the final minute, you don’t really deserve to win.

I didn’t watch a lot of the Texas - West Virginia game. I nearly went to bed during halftime of the late games because both were up 10+ at the time. But when I saw the local news reporting that Texas was only ahead by 3 in the second half, I returned to the game. It seemed West Virginia could not stop Aldridge, who seemed to be pulling rebounds and scoring at will. However, West Virginia did not give up. A few missed free throws by Texas late in the game kept them close. When Pittsnogle hit the 3 with :05 on the clock, I was expecting overtime. But, a great shot at the buzzer sends Texas to the final 8, where there should be a good game with LSU.

Oakland

Saw absolutely none of the Memphis - Bradley game, since Duke-LSU was on here, and I didn’t watch during halftime or after Duke-LSU was over (I was watching post-game press conferences on ESPN News.) So, I hear Memphis looked impressive again. However, despite Bradley’s upsets thus far, the “mid-major” teams never play as well the second weekend. Therefore, I still don’t know what to think of Memphis. They look great, everyone says, but it’s just like their conference - they still haven’t played anyone. Their highest seed so far is #9 Bucknell. So, I’ll see what they do against UCLA before I crown them national champions, as some seem to be ready to do at this point.

If the Texas-West Virginia finish wasn’t good enough, how about the UCLA-Gonzaga game. I, again, almost left for bed after the Texas game was over, because Gonzaga was still up 9 with around 3 minutes left. I figured - since they’d led the whole game, and mostly by double-figures - that it was already over. But I stayed a few more plays, and suddenly it was a game again. Gonzaga fell apart in the closing minutes, allowing UCLA to score 11 straight and pull off the win. J.P. Batista fouled UCLA on the rebound of an Adam Morrison miss - Gonzaga was up 3 points - with 19 seconds remaining. UCLA hit two free throws, and then with the clock ticking down, UCLA stole the ball from Batista after the inbounds, and hit a wide-open layup to take the lead. After a Gonzaga miss and foul, UCLA hit another free throw for the final margin. It was an amazing finish for UCLA, and an equally amazing collapse for Gonzaga. Morrison buried his face in his jersey and laid face down on the floor for a couple of minutes after the game was over. Many believe this to be his last game at Gonzaga, expecting him to enter the NBA draft.

Final thoughts

Well, it seemed appropriate that Redick and Morrison, whose scoring and player of the year battles have lasted all season, would exit together. Both of these guys have had oustanding years and have been great college basketball players. It seems that at least 50% of the articles I’ve read today regarding the LSU game or Redick’s career seem to questino Redick’s true ability, suggesting or implying he’s not as good as he’s appeared all year. This, of course, is crap. It’s pretty simple. Just look at the facts from the last four years. His improvement and his accomplishments speak for themselves. To suggest that he has become anything less than a great college basketball player (which, as I said, it seems people are lining up to say today) can only be the result of either stupidity or bias. He was a great player. One cannot suggest otherwise and expect to be taken seriously.

I look forward to tonight’s games. My favorite team left in the tournament is “whoever is playing Connecticut.” I really hope to see BC make it to the final four. Only a few times in the last 20 years has an ACC team not been there (87, 96, 03), so they’re the only hope left. I like their players and Al Skinner, so I hope they can get it done.

Next week, I plan to have some final thoughts on Duke’s season, the careers of Redick and Williams, and some thoughts on Duke’s recent problems advancing past the sweet 16 (I have a theory - a couple of things that I believe contribute, at least in part, to this difficulty.)

Just a few thoughts and observations before the madness starts again this evening…  

No repeats this year in the final four. Louisville, of course, didn’t even make the tournament. Michigan State lost in the first round, and Illinois and North Carolina lost in the second.

Duke is in the sweet 16 for the 9th straight year, which equals North Carolina’s run from 1985-1993 (during the era of 64+ teams in the tournament.) UNC actually appeared in 13 in a row, but the first 4 were prior to the expansion and did not require winning 2 games to get there. I think the next longest current streak is 2 straight.

Traditional powers not in the sweet 16 - Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Indiana. You expect these schools to be there most years. This year, none of them are there. The only schools there that you could call “traditional powers” would be Duke and UCLA. (Connecticut’s success is more recent, and Georgetown was a power in the 80’s, but I wouldn’t personally call them traditional powers. At least not yet.)

Heard Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, on The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, talking about picking your bracket by which mascot could win a one-on-one battle. For example, the UCLA Bruin would beat the Gonzaga Bulldog. Part of the conversation went something like this:

Patrick: You’ve gotta think the bruin beats the bulldog.

Olbermann: Sure, a young bear beats a bulldog, but it may take a while since he’s not yet been sufficiently trained.

Patrick: But wouldn’t a devil beat just about anything??

Olbermann: Yes, but we’re talking about a blue devil. This is a devil who apparently has some sort of circulatory problem, so who knows.

There was more and it was just cracking me up. Those guys are hilarious, and it’s been great to hear them together again.

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A word about CBS  

Okay, so, just as I do every year, allow me to complaing about CBS‘ coverage of the tournament. Let’s see… how can I describe it… it’s horrible. Yeah, that sounds about right.

I hate the fact that you can only see one game at a time, and that it’s a game that (supposedly) will be of most interest to your region of the country. Then, even if that occurs, they’ll switch to another game at any given time. Sometimes, this is good, because you might want to see the last minute of a close game elsewhere. Other times, they just switch to show you what’s going on with 16:34 left in the first half of the Nevada-Montana game - as if anyone outside of Nevada and Montana care. I won’t even go into the sport personalities in the studio or calling the games. There’s going to be just as much good and bad with any other network there.

Here’s my solution: ABC needs to have this contract. ABC could then, on the network channel, broadcast a similar type of coverage that CBS currently does now. However, they could also farm out all of the games (this is particularly necessary in the first weekend) to other channels they own. There are a maximum of 4 games happening at once. The network could broadcast the regional game, but all 4 games could also be broadcast elsewhere - ESPN, EPSN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, ESPNU, or even ABC Family. Then, regardless of the regional coverage, you could switch to the game of your choice. This would be the ideal. If you have cable, you can see all of the games. If not, you can still see the normal coverage on ABC.

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Picks  

Well, since I picked most everything wrong in my pre-tournament bracket, I’ll go ahead and pick the final four from what we have left. Here’s my picks for regional final games, with the winners, with no commentary:

Atlanta: Duke beats West Virginia

Oakland: UCLA beats Memphis

Minneapolis: Boston College beats Georgetown

Washington: Washington beats George Mason

So, there you have it. Now you know to bet on everyone I picked to lose…

I have written a couple of times in the past 6 months or so (here and here) about our search for a new church. We moved back here to Little Rock in August and have visited several churches since then in an attempt to find our new home. After a lot of visiting, evaluating and prayer, we have decided that Fellowship Bible Church is where God has led us. We are excited about this decision, and looking forward to getting involved and becoming a part of this church family. Hopefully starting the first Sunday of April, we will begin attending FBC’s Discovery II classes, which is called the “Pathway to Small Groups and Church Membership”, where we will move through the membership process and become a part of a community group. I will probably write more about our new experiences at FBC over the next few months as we get plugged in.  

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I mentioned my son’s birthday this weekend. My daughter also had a big event this weekend - she lost another tooth. It had been loose for a while, and then Sunday night, while eating some Teddy Grahams, she came running to tell us it had come out. Not quite a birthday, but still a big deal for her. She always gets very excited about this because, of course, it means that the Tooth Fairy will pay her a visit. This was number 5 or 6, I think. She was thrilled Monday morning to discover under her pillow a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear Workshop and was immediately asking to go to the mall that very night, since she still has another Build-A-Bear gift certificate she received at Christmas. However, we put off the trip for now. Next week is her spring break from school, so I’m sure we’ll make our way there sometime during the break.

First of all, today is my son’s birthday. He is 2 years old. We actually had his birthday party yesterday - the theme was Blue’s Clue’s. He doesn’t really understand what’s going on, but he liked his presents (especially his Blue’s Clue’s Talking Chair), and seemed to enjoy the cake. I’m always amazed at how much children learn in such a short period of time. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, but now he’s running around everywhere, shooting basketball, and knows more words now than I can count.  

In fact, he’s even learning about March Madness, which is only natural considering his birth date. I’m hoping being born during March Madness will be a good sign of things to come, like maybe someday he’ll be playing in March Madness himself. (I can always dream.) He watched his first Duke game at the hospital the day after he was born, when Duke beat Seton Hall in the second round. He also watched a little bit of basketball with me this weekend, and says “Go Duke” when he sees a game on TV. He even recognizes Coach K now (although it comes out more like “Ouch K”). Clearly, an intelligent child. (Maybe I should make him some March Madness flashcards - you know, pictures of Coach K, John Wooden, Dick Vitale, Christian Laettner, Bob Knight & Keith Smart, Dean Smith & Michael Jordan, Jim Valvano & Lorenzo Charles, Larry & Magic, etc.)

It’s fun to hear him say things like “Go Duke” and “Ouch K”, but there’s nothing I love hearing more than when I tell him, “I love you” and he says “I lub oo too.”

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The madness continues  

I believe next year I am going to fill out what I’ll call the “George Costanza bracket”. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George chooses to do the opposite of whatever his instincts tell him? Well, that’s apparently what I need to do. If I’d picked the other team on every one of my picks, I think I’d be doing better than I am now.

Atlanta

Didn’t see one second of the West Viginia - Northwestern State game, but I’m not surprised they won. I almost picked W Va over Iowa and then to beat Texas. Instead, I went with Iowa. Again, the Costanza method would’ve helped. Texas, in the end, hammered NC State after State had kept it close for a while. I was hoping State could pull it off for a third ACC team in the sweet 16, but they finished the season pretty weak, and the win over Cal was a huge surprise. I figured it’d be quite a feat to pull off the win against Texas in Dallas. Texas looked really good, but they were playing NC State, so it’s hard to tell how well they’re really playing.

Oakland

Memphis was all over Bucknell. If Arkansas had been slightly more agressive, they would’ve beaten Bucknell. But the theories that Arkansas would give Memphis trouble are pretty ridiculous. Memphis’ defense looked to be in Bucknell’s uniforms with them at times, and they seemed to steal the ball at will during several stretches of the game. Memphis looked really good, too, but again, they’ve played ORU and Bucknell, so who really knows?

Bradley scored a second upset, knocking off one of my final four teams, Pittsburgh. The funny thing in this game was the on-screen scoreboard. With the higher seed always on bottom, that meant that the scoreboard read Brad Pitt. Well, I thought it was humorous.

Minneapolis

Saw none of the Georgetown - Ohio State game, either. Although I picked Ohio State, I wasn’t surprised Georgetown won. They’ve beaten a number of good teams this year. Arizona gave Villanova a pretty good game. I thought they might have a shot at the upset, and they played them to the end, but didn’t quite have enough. As good as Villanova’s guards are, I don’t think they can win it all.

Washington

Speaking of not being able to win it all, UNC won’t be repeating since they lost to George Mason today. I recall many saying George Mason shouldn’t be in the tournament. Now they’ve beaten two of last year’s Final Four teams, including the champion. “I guess the foot’s on the other hand now.” It appears - at least from the box score - that David Noel was the only one that did much of anything for UNC. Perhaps their youth was a factor after all. And did you check out Roy going Bob Knight on the sideline, picking up the chair and slamming it to the floor? You usually don’t see ol’ Roy that upset.

Kentucky gave UConn another scare. One of the criticisms of UConn is, of course, that they don’t play for 40 minutes. They clearly didn’t against Albany, and despite all of the talking heads declaring they’d beat Kentucky more easily, they didn’t, and you have to wonder if they’re still not willing to play 40 minutes. I was convinced before the thing started that they would not win it all, and they haven’t done anything to change my mind. They still may very well do it - they certainly have the talent - but they’re not going to if they don’t play the whole game. That will end up biting them before it’s over - maybe even against Washington in the next round. They’d better show up to play next weekend, or it will be their last weekend.

Final thoughts

Looking forward to the sweet 16. I will make official picks, most likely, by Thursday, but my initial thoughts are that, while many are picking LSU & Texas in the Atlanta final, I still say Duke wins and I think West Viriginia might just beat Texas this time - as you may recall, they lost to Texas in November. I also think Boston College still has what it takes to come out of Minneapolis. I expected neither Memphis nor Gonzaga to go past next weekend, but they both have a good shot at it, especially with Kansas and Pitt losing. And I think you’ll have to consider the winner of UConn and Washington to be the most likely final four team from Washington, DC. So, I’ll probably have more thoughts this week, and we’ll see what happens this weekend.

My bracket gets worse each day. But, the tournament actually gets better. 

Atlanta

Duke looked significantly better against George Washington than in their first game. They won with relative ease, and Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts both played very well, as did Williams and Redick. I thought they started looking like the team that won the ACC tournament again. If they continue to play this well, they should make it to Indianapolis. Texas A&M should have been their opponent in the next round, but they gave up a 3-pointer with less than 4 seconds remaining and lost by one to LSU. LSU hasn’t really looked that impressive in their first two games, but you never know what’s going to happen in March.

Oakland

Gonzaga didn’t have an easy time with Indiana, but managed to end the Mike Davis era and advance. I think Morrison had a horrible game and they still won, so they probably feel good about that. However, they won’t go much further without him playing well. UCLA had their hands full with Alabama as well. I thought they would probably win more comfortably than they did, but Alabama took them to the end. I think the UCLA-Gonzaga matchup will be one of the better ones, but of course, nobody from the east will care.

Minneapolis

Boston College seemed to handle Montana without much problem. I didn’t get to see much of that one here, but based on the score I was seeing updated in the top part of the screen, it looked like they were doing fine. Florida hammered Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I’m not sure what to think of Florida, still. They started the season with a long win streak, then lost a number of SEC games and didn’t look that great, but in the last two weeks have looked pretty good. But, they really haven’t played anyone in this tournament yet, so we’ll see how they do next game.

Washington

Washington jumped all over Illinois at the beginning of the game and took something like a 14 point lead. Then, Illinois came back and had a lead and seemed to be in control. Then, Washington again regained the lead late and pulled out the win. I’ll be anxious to see how far Washington can go. Wichita State, not surprisingly, beat overrated Tennessee, who should have lost in the first round. Tennessee really collapsed big-time at the end of the season, and I would have been surprised if they’d survived this game.

Final Thoughts

Well, not really any upsets here, although I guess, considering seeds, WSU over Tennessee was an upset. But I think after round one, everyone expected it, so I don’t really count it. Tomorrow should provide some pretty good games.

My brackets condition has worsened. The doctors say it’s not going to make it.Atlanta