The March to the Madness

Hellooooooo sports fans! Well here we are - just days away from the greatest sporting event in this or any country, the NCAA Tournament. Yours truly will be in Vegas Saturday and Sunday of this coming weekend and I'm giddy about it. I'll let you know if I hit the jackpot....rrrriiiiiiiight.

OK, let's jump into things and start with conference tournaments.

• Seriously, six overtimes? I happened to turn this one on when it was entering into the 4th overtime and thought to myself, "cool, I can catch this last overtime".....40 minutes later Syracuse pulls the upset. Interesting tidbit on this is that from the moment the horn sounded on regulation up until the 6th OT, Syracuse never held the lead. That's resilience.
• And on top of that, they went into ANOTHER overtime game the next day. I was "that guy" telling everyone to bet heavy against Syracuse - I mean, how could they have anything left in the tank, right?
  
• One more thing on the 'Cuse - my shocker of the tournament is SFA upsetting The Orange in the first round.
  
• How about the upset happy Big 12? Big kudos to Baylor for knocking off Kansas and Texas on consecutive days. Too bad they couldn't get over the hump against Mizzou. All in all, a pretty uneventful tournament - main stories being Texas' continued inconsistency and OU giving up the 1 seed with it's loss to Okie State.
  
• Other than falling flat against Baylor (and giving up the winning rebound to a f'ng guard), Dexter Pittman had a nice tournament, looking dominant in the first two games. It's nice to see such good signs from him, but he's still such a streaky player. I would love to see him play big like that in the tournament, I just have no idea when or if he'll show up.
  
• Nice tournament by Arizona State in the Pac 10 - I've got them making some noise in this year's tournament.

Now, let's get on to the upcoming Big Dance...

• I'm not going to fall on my sword for Penn State as I think the Big 10 is mediocre....at best....this year. BUT, I will say I'm absolutely shocked that St. Mary's didn't get in. They're a solid team with a solid record who lost in the finals of their conference tournament to a Gonzaga team that was likely a lock anyway. You've all probably heard this, but their losses came when they were without their best player for a stretch. Funny thing is before the brackets came out I was already penciling them in for a couple of wins. I say they win the NIT.
  
• And why is Arizona in there????
• Someone please tell me how you don't have 2 Big East teams in the final four? I just can't see that happening. I thought it was weird, but I've actually got 2 Big East teams in the finals (Louisville over Pitt).
  
• I know there are a ton of people out there who follow this a lot more closely than I do, but I still can't understand why UNC is the undisputed favorite to win it all by Vegas. I know they know what they're doing, but really? And Ty Lawson (who's their best player) has turf toe and if the NFL has taught us anything it's that you don't just get over that injury in a couple of days. I think they were the number 3 overall seed by the selection committee which I guess I can by.
  
• By the way, I've got Gonzaga beating UNC in the Sweet 16...for what it's worth.
  
• My Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Arizona State
• My Final Two: Louisville shocking Pitt in the finals (I just have a feeling about Petino this year)
• The upset I've got that everyone else seems to be picking: W. Kentucky (12 seed) over Illinois (5 seed) in the first round.
• My Final Four shocker: you saw it above - ASU.
  
• As mentioned above, I've also got SFA beating Syracuse in the first round.
  
• Upset I'm not buying: VCU over UCLA. I know VCU is pretty good this year and I also know this is essentially a home game for them (and a monstrous road trip for the Bruins), but come on, the Bruins have been to something like 3-4 straight Final Fours. I think they'll be fine.
  
• But Villanova will crush them in round 2.
  
• Key second round upset: Clemson over OU. I have this gut feeling that OU peaked a little early this year.
• Toughest Region: By a mile it's the Midwest. Louisville, Kansas, W. Virginia (very dangerous team), Michigan State, Boston College, Wake Forest, and upset-happy Siena.
  
• Easiest Region: South. UNC has a monopoly on this region. The two seed is a very suspect OU team.
  
• Most Unpredictable Team: Wake Forest. Man, I really want to pick these guys going far, I do, but I just don't know. Unfortunately they get Louisville in the Sweet 16 and I just can't see them beating those guys. I do think they are waaaay talented, but they are certainly an enigma.
  
• Most Predictable Team: Pitt. They're just really, really good.
• Really Good Teams Whom I've got Exiting Earlier than Most Think: UCONN and UNC. Guard play historically proves to be the X-factor come tournament time and these guys have either lost their key guards (UCONN) or have a big time injury (UNC). Marquette also fits in this category, but I don't put them in the same field as the Huskies and Tarheels.
  
• Upset Alert: This is more of a "look out" game, but not one I am necessarily picking as an upset. North Dakota State vs. Kansas. The Jayhawks have had some issues exiting early in past years (of course last year not counting) and for some reason, folks seem to be high on the Bison and it's much more of a home game for them. Did you see it when they announced they had made it on TV? Those folks went ape sh*t. Could be interesting and a hostile, tough first game for Bill Self and company.
  
• Speaking of Kansas, I'm not sure Bill Self doesn't deserve the coach of the year this year. He essentially lost his entire roster from last year's title team and he's got them back into the dance...as a 3 seed. That's amazing, although I don't see them getting out of the second round. Still great job by Self.
  
• Come to think of it, I don't think I have any Big 12 team getting any farther than the second round. Same with Big 10 except for Michigan State who I've got in the Sweet 16.
  

Non-Sports Thoughts for the Week:

• If 24 has taught me anything it's that if I get a little display/keyboard thingy with a firewire (something I can likely get in a Fry's), I can tap into any sort of proprietary network.
• Finally saw Pineapple Express - pretty funny. The Red character absolutely made the movie. Great, great character.
• I'm not sure the GOP isn't becoming a complete disaster. Michael Steel is having a rough go early on. Of course our new President isn't exactly wowing folks either (although his approval ratings would say otherwise). As a party, the Republicans have some problems that they really need to address - although so do the Democrats....
  
• That Chris Brown guy is something else. He and his girlfriend seem like some intelligent, down-to-earth folks. Looks like they've got a solid relationship.
  
• I'm starting to lean more towards the side of let the banks fail. If there's one thing capitalism has proven over the years it's that if there is a need/void in the marketplace, it will be filled by entrepreneurs and opportunists. Will it suck bad? Yep. Does it suck bad now? Yep. Do we seem to be making any progress at all with throwing money at the problem? Nope. I'm more convinced of this now than I ever have been: the guys leading these banks probably have very impressive diplomas on their walls, but they are either grossly incompetent or grossly dishonest. Same with auto execs - although I don't think these guys are dishonest, I just don't think they're as smart as they think they are - they have clearly missed the boat on opportunity after opportunity that the Japanese have somehow been able to capitalize on. Bankruptcy can be a good thing in the long run. Seriously.
  

That's what I got gang - enjoy the week and the games this weekend.