In defense of the Big Ten

Recently, my beloved Big Ten conference has come under quite some fire yet again for their play in basketball. Normally, I let this shit slide. Hell, sometimes it's even true (see: 2006 NCAA Tournament). In this case, I can't. I just can't. I won't sit idle as they are being torn apart left and right by a man who has probably logged less college basketball games in his life than I have in the past year. Not when he's (once again) wrong. Not when he carries the readership he does.

Of course, I am speaking of ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, who has attempted to tear the conference a new asshole with his smug and douchy attitude. Most recently, Billy proclaimed,

"Did I tell you or did I tell you? If that foul was called on Oden, there would
have been ZERO Big Ten teams in the Sweet 16. I love being right. It happens so
rarely. Anyway, don't fret, Big Ten fans -- you can still get your fix of
defense and fundamentals by watching the women's tournament."

First of all, everyone said the Big Ten was down this year. Hell, I'd even agree. It was a down year for the conference as a whole. They lost a bunch of experienced players from a year ago, which dragged the middle and lower halves of the conference down. The only teams that were supposed to be better this season (Ohio State and Wisconsin), were just that, sitting in the top-5 almost all year. What a bold prediction there, Bill! Secondly, you're about as right as you are about your gambling prowess. Let's examine...

Here I am going to list 5 conferences and their resumes from the last two weekends of play. I'm going to list their record alongside their "expected" wins. By this, I mean the number of games the teams within their conference should have won if the bracket was entirely chalked (1 beats 2, 2 beats 3, 8 beats 9, 4 beats 5, etc.).

Conference A: 7-7 record, 11 "expected" wins
Conference B: 7-5 record, 8 "expected" wins
Conference C: 8-5 record, 6 "expected" wins
Conference D: 7-4 record, 8 "expected" wins
Conference E: 10-5 record, 9 "expected" wins

Now, logically, if I had to place them in an order from "best" performance to "worst" performance, I'd be inclined to say E (best overall record plus game over expectations), C (good record, highest percentage above expectations), D and B (simply "meh" profiles), A (shat the bed). The respective conferences, you ask? E would be the Pacific-10, C would be the Big Ten, D would be the Big 12, B would be the Big East and A would be the Atlantic Coast.

Now let us rewind back a mere two weeks to March 12th. Your college basketball Nostradamus over at ESPN said,

"Most overrated conference: A tie between the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. So hard to
choose between these two. When you're watching dozens of games over the course
of five days, it's impossible not to notice the varying quality of play from
game to game... Anyway, watching all these games and comparing the conferences
to one another, I don't see how anyone who knows anything about basketball could
argue that the Pac-10 and Big Ten are better than the Big East, ACC or even the
Big 12 (my vote for "most underrated conference")."

You can't make this shit up, people. Brilliant work, William, you have outdone yourself once again. I didn't think it was possible for you to look any dumber, after proclaiming to be an NFL gambling expert and losing to your wife this season, but you somehow managed to succeed at the task at hand. Don't worry, I'll be sure to mail you one of those turd sandwiches you've been clamoring on about real soon.

It's okay, claim all you want about the Big Ten only sending 1 team to the Sweet Sixteen. The truth of the matter is they beat their competition when they were at their level (won both 8-9 match ups and their 7-10). Their lack of teams deep in the field is more of the result of their lesser talented teams (Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue) running into 2 Final Four teams and an Elite Eight (UCLA, UNC, Florida) than it was a lack of talent. Why? Each of those teams held their own very respectably before falling at the hands of some of the powerhouses. It should also warrant mentioning that perhaps no team in the field took a bigger injury than Wisconsin did with Brian Butch. I could go on and on about how this injury affected the scheme of their offense, but I won't. I'll simply state that the only team in the conference that did not meet or exceed seeding projections lost while heavily undermanned. Just saying...

So, Bill, next time you open your mouth, remember you don't know dick about the game. I look forward to your literary beejes of Durant in the NBA and to a day when college basketball no longer concerns you. Good riddance.

-- RK

Updated House Picks

Kasko's Picks:

Sweet 16
Purdue, Maryland, Winthrop, UNLV
Kansas, Southern Illinois, Pittsburgh, UCLA
UNC, Arkansas, Washington State, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Memphis

Regionals
Maryland over Winthrop
UCLA over Southern Illinois
UNC over Georgetown
Ohio State over Texas A&M

Final Four
UCLA over Maryland
UNC over Ohio State

UNC over UCLA

PS's Picks

Sweet 16
Florida, Maryland, Winthrop, Wisconsin
Kansas, Southern Illinois, Pittsburgh, UCLA
North Carolina, Texas, Vanderbuilt, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Memphis

Elite 8
Maryland over Wisconsin
Kansas over Pittsburgh
Georgetown over North Carolina
Texas A&M over Ohio State

Final 4
Kansas over Maryland
Georgetown over Texas A&M

Georgetown over Kansas

JH's Pick
Sweet 16
Florida, Maryland, Oregon, UNLV
Kansas, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Indiana
UNC, Texas, George Washington, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Creighton

Elite 8
Florida, UNLV
Virginia Tech, Pitt
Texas, Georgetown
Ohio State, Texas A&M

Final Four
Florida, Pitt
Texas, Texas A&M

Texas over Florida

Gregg Doyel Is an Asshat

Wow.

As the inaugral All-Asshat team comes to completion, we may have found our hatter of the year.
I'm not much of a reader of CBS Sportsline because ESPN does a good job with it's online content, but this Gregg Doyel is reason to read, and wonder whose compromising photos are in his possession. Earlier this week, he essentially ripped Scotty Reynolds and others for leaving Oklahoma when Kelvin Sampson left the program. Today, it was Bruce Weber and Ron Guenther for having the audacity for losing a game to a higher seed in the NCAA tournament. I have never seen writing so poorly and terribly biased from a professional writer. It's one thing to be angry, and let your readers know about it, but good Lord, man. How can anybody take this douchebag seriously after reading this article?

Friday Chicago Wrap-Up

You may (or may not) have noticed my presence missing here at OSM today. Fear not, I was actually busy at the games after waking my hung-over ass up early to get down to the United Center here in Chicago to catch the action. Here’s what I saw:

Early game:

The early game featured UNLV and Georgia Tech with the Rebs coming out on top. UNLV was able to hold down Tech’s fantastic freshman duo of Crittenton and Young to minimal damage and survive and advance in a tight game at the end. The Rebels did a phenomenal job on the glass, particularly on the offensive end, something I felt like could give Wisconsin (minus Brian Butch) fits in round two. Despite winning, UNLV shot relatively poorly on many open looks. I really feel like the Rebels have a very good shot at knocking off the reeling Badgers on Sunday.

Second Set:

It really is amazing how much America loves the Cinderella story. A couple of threes and a 10-0 lead and it was astounding how quickly the United Center crowd was rallying behind the 15th-seeded Islanders. It wasn’t even so much that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was outplaying Wisconsin. I thought Corpus Christi’s up-and-down pace took Wisconsin out of their comfort zone in the first half (something that disappeared as time went on) and the flipping between the man and zone defenses kept Wisconsin on their heels. The bottom line, though, was the Badgers were ice cold from the field. They were missing wide open jumpers left and right. Fortunately, for them, Kammron Taylor (played by Chris Rock) got his head out of his ass and figured out he didn’t want this to be his last college game. Alando Tucker had a relatively quiet (but very solid) game and Corpus Christi’s 7-footer Chris Daniels ate up the short-handed Badgers down low.

Third Set:

Instead of watching Kansas run train on Niagara, my buddy Rage and I used the break in between games to get some seats at the bar for the Illinois-Virginia Tech game. If you haven’t seen much of Illinois this season, this game was their season in a nutshell. I began mentally preparing to write in this post that the Illini played their most complete game of the season. They controlled the pace, held Dowdell and Washington completely in check and dominated the glass. The offense looked competent for once and their role players (Meacham, Arnold and Brock) played phenomenally solid. Then… shit hit the fan. The Illini completely crapped the bed. Credit the Hokies for putting on the press and converting their chances, but Illinois seemed to take the foot off the pedal and started playing not to lose. They turned the ball over nearly every possession and missed their shots and free throws. I’m sure Illiniboard will have some sort of conspiracy theory with the refs brewing, citing the no-call on Warren Carter with under a minute left (a horrendous no-call, by the way), but the fact is Illinois completely blew the game and didn’t execute at all the last 8 or so minutes. Ugggh – terrible times. Another blown halftime lead, another heartbreaker. This was just an Illini team that couldn’t stretch leads (due to their horrific offense) and couldn’t close games due to their lack of a go-to scorer and inability to convert free throws. That right there is a terrible combo.

Nightcap:

I was pretty mentally cashed out by this point, unfortunately. Randolph Morris was a beast. Scottie Reynolds was a chucker. I did run into Coach Jay Wright at the end of the game. He wanted me to pass along to the OSM readers that he felt like he dressed phenomenally sexy on the sidelines tonight, once again. Kansas-Kentucky should be a spectacle at the UC on Sunday. I hope it’s warm out so that the Wildcat faithful can bust out their jorts (jean shorts) for the game. They probably lowered the average tooth count in the stands by a good 1-2 teeth today. Oh, stereotypes!

Random Thoughts:

- The Big Ten was 5-1 in round 1. Texas almost choked. If only Reggie Theus had played Julie Connor more. She’s lethal from 3. Suck a dick, Bill Simmons.

- You can’t put a price on walking back to the stadium for the 4th game and walking by a greyhound bus filled with depressed, face-painted Niagara fans. It was like they came all this way and expected to win. Good scene.

- Funniest conversation of the first round: Narrowly beating out the hour-long convo I had with a few girls over which NCAA mascot (non-animal like Colorado’s buffalo or Georgia’s bulldog) would be the creepiest to fuck in full costume, was this gem. So we have a buddy that knows very little about sports that spent the Thursday with us. Very good looking dude, has absolutely no game whatsoever. None, zero, zilch. He and Rage (Duke fan) head to the bar to catch the Duke game last night because it wasn’t on regional coverage (Michigan State-Marquette). We met them out for the last set. Pretty empty scene, but they were sitting a few seats down from a set of girls. Shortly after the Idong Ibok injury (awesome stuff there), the girls gets into a convo with our buddy, naturally over what is going on.

Girl: “So who do you got in your Final Four?”
Buddy: “Uhhhh… uhhh… UNC… uhhh… Rage, who do you got in your Final Four?”

Terrible. How do you not fill out a bracket? How can you not even bullshit yourself into a Final Four? Moreover, how do you completely blow it with a girl that is willing to talk sports and is at a bar to watch sports. This kid is going to hear about this from me tomorrow

- The NCAA pisses me off. Ways they could improve the viewing experience at the venue:

(1) Show the other games! If not at halftime or between sets on the jumbotron, then at least put the other games on in the concourse. Listen, I’m paying $240 for 6 games, show me the other games when you get a chance.
(2) Along the same token, show the days’ highlights. All day long we saw 1 highlight over and over, that being the highlights of the 2006 national title game. Gee, I wonder who won that one?
(3) Have a sense of humor. They did put some classic NCAA moments up on the jumbotron during TV timeouts. You know that key Kentucky run that caused Villanova to call a timeout and got the UK faithful riled up? All I’m asking for here is ’92 Laettner on the big screen. You played it earlier, but now would be perfect.
(4) Serve beer. I don’t think I need to expand upon this.

- In case you are wondering, I hit 24/32 games. Since there were virtually no upsets (none of the top-5 seeds went down) I assume everyone's brackets are fine and that everyone is still in the game. I'm still rocking 15/16 Sweet 16s (missed Arkansas). I fully expect the brackets to break wide open in the next two rounds. It's bound to happen.


-- RK

Friday Live Blog

12:35- This GT-UNLV brings back a lot memories. Lethal Weapon 3 and Tark's bunch were two teams that led me to love college hoops as a kid. It's a good matchup today, but couldn't they have brought back Tark and Cremins for some ceremonial BS. -PS

12: 37- Lundquist drops some knowledge. Memphis shooting 61% from the stripe? That will hurt. Nothing beats not being at work and Raftery calling games. I'm eagerly awaiting the first Onions call of the day. -PS

12:42- Seems that more teams are getting the doors blown off early this year. Today's early victim is semi popular upset special, Albany. Down 29-11 and we haven't even reached the under 8 timeout. Thanks for coming, Albany. -PS

12:53- Thaddeus Young- Stay in school! It seems a given that some NBA GM is going to take this guy in the lottery, but he isn't ready. The talent is there, but this guy isn't at the level yet where he can consistently be a #1 option. He'll disappear and than start forcing bad shots. Javarris Crittenton is the more NBA ready player on this team. Give it another year, Thaddeus. -PS

1:18 Looks like there is an addition to the token contest-- it's Justin Howerton for the Mean Green of North Texas. A 6'10" sophomore, Howerton is easily the stiffest and most cerebral player for Johnny Jones' team. He hasn't really contributed much in terms of tangible results, but I like what he does out there-- which is look awkward, recklessly fly into the picture, and diving onto the floor for the ball two seconds too late. -JH

Day One Tourney Thoughts

- First and foremost, let's give it up for the Virginia Commonwealth Rams of the mighty Colonial Athletic Association. Sure, Eric Maynor ripped the heart out of my alma mater and favorite team last week. A weaker person would be cursing him for months, and wishing that he would trip into a vat of bubbling acid...but not me. Any win by the CAA is a good win; Drexel, for instance, shit the bed in the NIT, and therefore has no more legitimate gripes about how they should have been in the NCAA tournament. Old Dominion put up a good fight, but when it boiled down to it, it didn't seem like they wanted to win as badly as Butler. Hopefully, this newfound success will be enough to establish an annual CAA-MVC challenge to not only boost the RPIs of the top teams, but to also give these mids more exposure. Anybody who was surprised last night by VCU's win or Maynor's heroics should have the bracket privilages stripped for two years.

-List of schools who recruited Eric Maynor: VCU, Appalachian State, James Madison and Winthrop. List of schools pwnd by Eric Maynor on national television: George Mason and Duke.

- Other players who turned in huge games were Martin Zino (Texas Tech), Josh McRoberts (Duke), Reyshawn Terry (UNC) and D.J. Strawberry (Maryland). Zino was unstoppable going to the basket; McRoberts, free throw woes aside, turned in a monster game against an undersized VCU frontline; Terry had a critical stretch in the second half when EKU got within five (just like he did against NC State; and Strawberry had the undesirable task of chasing Stephon Curry around for most of the Davidson game, to the result of a 9-20 performance.

- Worst idea ever is DirecTV's game mix on channels 701-704. For starters, there is too much shit going on to the side of the screen, and the game windows are too damn small. Once you get past that, the stupid-ass blackout rules are still in effect, so if there is a game blacked out in your area, you will see this ridiculous cartoon message about it. Very, very, very lame.

- When it was all said and done, I spent eight hours on the couch watching basketball with only one minor spill (liquor on the couch), reasonable food intake (six pieces of fried chicken, two pieces of pizza) and moderate sobriety during the day games. JH's health and well-being 1, Ides of March Madness 0.

- Notes on the commentary:

James Brown-Len Elmore (Sacramento): definitely gum nuts idea if I've ever heard one. Brown is too smooth; I'm pretty sure that Brown could cover a hysterectomy, and make it sound like silk. Elmore seemed a few beats off, not working with gigantic homer Mike Patrick. It was as if he was just amazed that he didn't have to break out his UNITY ring on his partner. As a team, they're just not capturing the moment. There's a story to be found in every game, but they just found time to ramble on about themselves/the past like two old, black dudes in a barbershop. GRADE: C

Gus Johnson-Dan Bonner (Lexington): When it comes to first round basketball, Gus Johnson was made for it. Nothing says "upset" or "close game" than the vocal equivalent of a birthday party full of hyperactive children on blow. Unfortunately, the Lexington region had exactly one close game (BYU-Xavier) yesterday, leaving Johnson to create stories and atmosphere. At one point, he went as far to say that he wishes that the college careers of three random Africans on Central Connecticut State could go on for fifteen years. Why? I have no idea. People will still need cabs in Bridgeport this summer. Why hold the good people up, Gus? GRADE: C+

Dick Enberg-Jay Bilas (Winston-Salem): Good, but nondescript outing for these guys today. Enberg is a poor man's Verne Lundquist (not that that is anything to be ashamed of) and Bilas is one of my favorite analysts. I'm not sure if Enberg was even awake for the BC-Texas Tech game, but the rest of the day was a snooze. Hopefully, things pick up for them on Saturday. GRADE: Incomplete

Kevin Harlan-Dan Wenzel (Buffalo): Everybody's had that moment when they go to work or school, and somebody there is making such a big ass of themselves, you have to wonder "Are they drunk?". That was me listening to Harlan and Wenzel last night. If Dan Wenzel was a more prominent member of the college basketball media, he would be ripe for asshatting. I can't stand anything less than announcers continously filling dead air with the same throwaway tidbits about a team, which Wenzel did repeatedly during the Davidson-Maryland and VCU-Duke games. Yes, we understand that both teams like to play at a fast pace, and came from the Southern and Colonial conferences (respectively)...please shut the fuck up about it. The Davidson game was infinitely more tolerable, because they had Stephan Curry lighting it up early. The douche keg was tapped hardest during the Duke game, when Wenzel and Harlan were egregiously downplaying the Rams, and hyping up the most minute Blue Devil plays. Granted, Paulus did score a lot of points last night, but he has done that a lot recently. How about explaining to the viewing audience why Duke's point guard was guarding Virginia Commonwealth's shooting guard? At one point, I heard Harlan refer to Eric Maynor as "number three". Now, I may have egregiously missed the context, but it sure sounded like he forgot his name for a moment. Would that ever happen for America's team? GRADE: D-

- Here's the breakdown of who's announcing where today:

Tim Brando-Mike Gminski: Columbus (note: Mike Gminski's hair looks like some kind of small rodent)
Jim Nantz-Billy Packer: Chicago (note: expect Packer to land on the asshat list today)
Verne Lundquist-Bill Raftery: New Orleans
Ian Eagle-Jim Spanarkle: Spokane

- Looking ahead to today's action, the game that is the most intriguing for my brackets is Notre Dame-Winthrop. I've seen the Irish play a few times this year, and shocked at the lack of comparisons to Duke. They're lacking the hatable personalities of Coach K and Greg Paulus, but they are one of those teams who never seem to do much "right", but find ways to win games. Winthrop has only lost four games this year (all to tourney teams), and should not be intimadated by the Irish today. Russell Carter (more on him below) likes to shoot, and ND is very tall across the frontline (6-9 and 6-8), so it will be imperative for Winthrop to rebound the ball well.

- The Clarence Thomas Token of the Year finalists are: Carter (Notre Dame), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga) and Kenny Izzo (Georgetown) . Call 1-866-TOKENIG for your vote, or Verizon Wireless customers, you can text your vote to "TOKEN".

- In an attempt to help our college basketball illiterate fans, here is a listing of locations for the "Where the hell is THAT school" teams playing today:

North Texas (Sun Belt/Denton, TX
Winthrop (Big South/Rock Hill, SC),
Creighton (MVC/Omaha, NE
Miami University (MAC/Oxford, OH)
Jackson State (SWAC/Jackson, MS)

How Bad Is Greg Paulus? (Live Blogging the Late Games)

7:13- Greg Paulus has been moved off of Eric Maynor to start the game to keep the Rams from embarassing the Blue Devils on national television. Strangely enough, DeMarcus Nelson is covering Maynor, and Gerald Henderson has found his way into the starting lineup. I guess I can say "You saw it here first, folks". -JH

7:39- Marquette, you are on notice. Feel free to score a point. -PS

7:43- After going on a nine minute plus scoring drought, Marquette is poised to go a 5-0 run. Tom Crean calls off the play where somebody cherry picks under the basket in hopes for a backcourt turnover. -JH

7:45- Greg Paulus beats his man to the basket to throw up a 14 foot floater for an airball. How bad is Greg Paulus? Pretty bad, if you ask me. -JH

7:46- While that last entry was posting, Greg Paulus threw the ball directly to the VCU Rams. How bad is Greg Paulus? The analyst described his ballhandling as "suffering" at this point. -JH

7:51- "Paulus is fautiged". No, Paulus is bad. How bad? His last three pointer barely hit the rim. And Coach K is making no moves to get him out of there. If they didn't keep fouling Paulus, there's a great chance he wouldn't score. Now, I would have to say that he'll just be held without a field goal. -JH

8:04- It was just suggested that Paulus not bring the ball upcourt because Eric Maynor is "bothering him so much". Tie game, following another Paulus miss. - JH

Thursday Live Blog

Early Games
13 Davidson- 4 Maryland
10 Texas Tech- 7 Boston College
11 Stanford- 6 Louisville

12:22- We've got tip off in Buffalo. Gary already has a good sweat going. -PS

12:29- Back over to BC-Texas Tech. BC has started out with a slow pace taking down the shot clock both trips. Tech broke their necks to give it back to the Eagles. I think BC romps in this one. Texas Tech had one of the least deserving resumes in the field. -PS

12:37- Dell Curry's kid looks like he is 12. If Davidson makes a run to the Final 4, it was the role that Lil Bow Wow was born to play. -PS

12:42- Dudley picks up his 2nd foul. Rice and Marshall are able scorers, but this team runs through Dudley. Huge opportunity for the Red Raiders. They need get themselves a cushion into halftime.-PS

12:48- Maryland is getting roped into a running game with Davidson. Davidson appears to be very comfortable running and gunning. The Terps have a big size advantage. They need to make to slow it down and make it a physical game.- PS

12:53- Louisville is making it look easy and are on their way to running the Cardinal out of the gym. Stanford is playing with a time difference, but Louisville looks better in every aspect. Stanford is reallt struggling against the press. -PS

12:59- Derrick Character could be the x factor on a Louisville run to the Final 4. The kid may be a head case but he is an athletic, physical big man that is currently doing an Ike Turner impression of the Lopez twins. -PS

1:00- MIKE JONES is going to be the reason why Maryland wins or loses over the next three weeks. Against North Carolina, he practically willed the Terps to victory. If there were a way to combine two people, a combination of D.J. Strawberry and Mike Jones would be a lottery pick. Maryland's 8-2 run will probably stop here, as Will Bowers (a slower, less athletic Aaron Gray) has checked into the game. Way to go, Gary. Put in a rhino into a horse race. -JH

1:09- Go home Stanford. This is getting really, really ugly. Way to justify your inclusion. -PS

1:20- Kasko's expert analysis here. I've now watched 1 minute of basketball today. Eat a dick Comcast. I ordered the NCAA Tournament package, they gave me NBA Full Court (my account must be registered under "Simmons, Bill"), then spent an hour on the phone for them to figure out that they don't get the games. Thanks, thanks a ton. Fuck. - RK

1:29- Bob Knight's head is going to explode-- his team manage to bungle a four on one fast break with a botched alley oop that led to a 2 on 1 layup for the Eagles. If it weren't such a close game, I am sure he would have burned a timeout to ream those guys Peter North style. but it looks like he's waiting for the media timeout under sixteen. -JH

1:42- Maryland has just turned the ball over 3 straight possessions as Davidson busts out an 8-point second half lead. That dream I had last night about a perfect bracket... not going so well. -RK

1:49- The Terps come roaring back. This is shaping up to be a classic. I'm a huge fan of what Osby brings to them. His offensive skills are limited, but this guy is a terror on the board and hustles. A glue guy all the way and the best fro in college hoops since Eugene Edgerson.

1:52- Jay Bilas' explanation of why Martin Zino attacked the basket from the right side is an example of why he's the best in the business. Most analysts would have attributed his reverse layup to being caught under two front court players, but it Bilas broke it down further, and attributed to his being left-handed, and getting an easier shot from that side of the backboard. Great, great stuff. Also, while I sang the praises of Osby in the tourney file, it was probably PS who wrote the 1:49 entry. -JH

2:00- Texas Tech has failed to attack Jarred Dudley (3 fouls) all second-half. Why? I have no idea. Boston College had originally countered by throwing Dudley on Tech's unathletic white perimeter 3-point shooter, but still how do you not attack the team's best player if he has 3 fouls at the half? -RK

2:18- Turns out Asshat #3 is live blogging the action, too. Not much to add here, except that I think that the coach of the all-asshat team is going to be the guy from Akron. -JH

3:13- If Butler makes a historic run to the Final Four, I hope Hollywood can get Jason McElwain to die his hair and play the role of AJ Graves. -RK

3:21- According to Bill Simmons' live blog, it took those yuppy douches over an hour to get to round 2 of beers. Good effort, guys. Did the Quik-E-Mart run out of Mike's Hard and Zima's? (Yes, I realize it's sad that our live blog is cross-referencing other live blogs, so what?) -RK

4:06- Butler lost three games in the Horizon League, including the final to a Wright State team who gave them trouble all season. Yet, they are a fifth seed. Does this confuse the hell out of anybody else? -JH

The House's Picks

Who would we be if we didn't throw our own personal picks out to the wolves to shred to bits and reminds us later when we are wrong? So, with that, here's the picks of OSM. We'll cross our fingers.

Kasko's Picks:

Sweet 16
Purdue, Maryland, Winthrop, UNLV
Kansas, Southern Illinois, Pittsburgh, UCLA
UNC, Arkansas, Washington State, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Memphis

Regionals
Maryland over Winthrop
UCLA over Southern Illinois
UNC over Georgetown
Ohio State over Texas A&M

Final Four
UCLA over Maryland
UNC over Ohio State
UNC over UCLA

PS's Picks

Sweet 16
Florida, Maryland, Winthrop, Wisconsin
Kansas, Southern Illinois, Pittsburgh, UCLA
North Carolina, Texas, Vanderbilt, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Memphis

Elite 8
Maryland over Wisconsin
Kansas over Pittsburgh
Georgetown over North Carolina
Texas A&M over Ohio State

Final 4
Kansas over Maryland
Georgetown over Texas A&M

Georgetown over Kansas

JH's Pick
Sweet 16
Florida, Maryland, Oregon, UNLV
Kansas, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Indiana
UNC, Texas, George Washington, Georgetown
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Creighton

Elite 8
Florida, UNLV
Virginia Tech, Pitt
Texas, Georgetown
Ohio State, Texas A&M

Final Four
Florida, Pitt
Texas, Texas A&M

Texas over Florida


** Also, make sure to stop back at OSM this weekend. I know there are some plans to live blog throughout the key moments of the day tomorrow and there are sure to be other posts all weekend. **

Gamblers' Delight

It's like Christmas Eve right now. As I pen this post, we sit 12 hours from opening tip of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. I've got the keg sitting on ice, my cable split between two TVs and the bracket filled out, but outside of fun, I also look forward to this month for other reasons -- the money. This month is pure gamblers' paradise, not just because of the load of games, but because of the mutliple gambling outlets that open themselves to you. A look...


(1) Your standard office pool


This is the one everyone enters and the secretary who let her 8-year-old daughter pick her teams somehow seems to win. So how do you curb this? Go big. Listen, odds are your standard office pool has more than 20 people in it. If you chalk your bracket, you might as well be writing a blank check. Chalk never happens unless you are accidentally filling out the dykes bracket in between munching Pokey Chatman's box. Too many people take nearly-chalked brackets and the guy who takes the year's sleeper will leapfrog you. Identify your sleepers and go with it. Find the 1-seeds who will fall early and follow through. You're not winning anything big unless you're taking some calculated risks.


My biggest pet peeve of the office pools is the number of different formats. Does your pool reward lower seeded winners? Then be inclined to take more first round upsets (that's where you make the points). Do the points in your bracket double each round or are the points curbed back to the earlier rounds (my preference)? Better focus your efforts on the right rounds.


(2) Fantasy Madness


Think your typical fantasy league and think March. Pre-tournament you line up a player draft (selecting anywhere from 6-10 players per team) and add up each players' tournament points scored come April. One of my co-workers swears by this each year. Obviously, the leading scorers of the top seeds (guys like Oden, Hansborough, Wright and Horford) are going to come off the board first, but after that it's a crapshoot. Much like your standard pool, you gotta go big to take the pot - conservative won't get you anywhere. I suggest spreading your players through different teams (don't double up on Tar Heels or Jayhawks, etc.), even if it means taking lower seeds you think could make a run, because the majority of teams get eliminated early (32 teams get just one game), so you need to hit a team that makes the deep run.



Not my cup of tea, but another fun gambling method.


(3) Straight Lines


Spreads from Vegas pop on the board shortly after the brackets are released. What better time to lay some dough on the lines you like? You're going to be analyzing this shit all week, so you *should* be able to take some lines. A few I like in Round 1:


- Texas Tech (+2) over Boston College - I think the loss of Sean Williams was on delay for a bit. In their last 7, they've beaten the two teams sitting at home and lost to the 5 prepping for the NCAAs. I'll take Coach Knight on a weeks worth of prep as well.


- Michigan State (-2) over Marquette - Dominic James has been brutally cold from the field since February and I've been noticing. The Eagles have struggled down the stretch without him filling the hoop.


- Wisconsin (-13) over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - This is the lowest of top seed lines and I think it's reflective of the Badgers recent struggles on offense since the Brian Butch injury. But one of the reason for the struggle scoring has been the opposition - Ohio State and Illinois - two of the better teams of the defensive end of the floor. I expect A&M to be a relief and the Badgers to win easily.


- Villanova (-1.5) over Kentucky - I feel like UK has been smoke and mirrors this season. A closer look at their conference schedule shows they really only beat the teams they should have. Nova's Scottie Reynolds has been carrying the load and coming on his own and I don't expect him to step down to second fiddle even if Mike Nardi comes back from injury.


Bonus NIT pick: Michigan's money line at Florida State (UM is 7 point dogs). You can't put a price on senior-NIT leadership and experience for the Wolverines. I'm only half-kidding.


(4) Superbowl Squares


A new one for me. Think your standard Super Bowl squares, but for all the NCAA games. Some genius in Chicago started this for this year and I jumped on it. My $100 entry has me looking at 2 (home - better seed) and 3 (road) for a combo. Root for it. First round winners pay $65 back and each following round pays an increasing amount, so you got 64 (63 games and halftime of the championship) winner dividing the $10,000 pot.


Sure, it's completely luck (especially considering basketball numbers are pretty goddamn random, unlike football), but can you really put a price on the following conversation...?


Me: Hey, you catch the score to the Kansas-Niagara game?
Random: Yeah, Kansas won by like 23.
Me: I didn't ask who won! I need to know the exact score, fucker!


Get your money in the books. You got 12 more hours.

-- RK

A Plea To Stop

Last summer, while picking an English Premier League team, ESPN's "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons wrote...

You root for a school for four reasons: Either you grew up near them, you followed them since you were kid, you went there or your kid is going there. And that's it. For instance, let's say that I decided tomorrow, "UCLA is a half-hour from my house and I like their uniforms ... screw it, I'm becoming a Bruins fan!" And I started going to football and basketball games and sitting with alumni and fans whose families had been following them for four generations. I mean, wouldn't that be a little weird? That's like showing up at some stranger's house for Thanksgiving and being like, "Hey, I'm in the family now! Pass the turkey!" I just couldn't do that and feel good about it.

(Confession time: I grew up a BC fan because my mom went there. My dad even had season tickets for the last two seasons of the Flutie Era. Then I got into Holy Cross and turned against them. Just think, if I had ended up going to BC, not only would I be a college football fan, I almost definitely would have served time for participating in one of their gambling scandals. Maybe it was for the best.)

A quick note before I start anything. The "if I had ended up going to BC..." should read "if I hadn't been rejected by BC and thus held a grudge against college athletics..." Pah-tay-toes, Pah-tah-toes. Warrants mentioning, right Billy?

Alright, so fast forward eight or nine months - the Clips are back in the shitter and the Celts are at the bottom of the NBA. Little Billy has nothing to look forward to and needs to look to the future. Enter the college game. We've seen not a single article on EPL soccer, yet Simmons has churned out blog after blog sack-tickling Kevin Durant, throwing the rest of the Longhorns under the bus and attempting to cover other topics he felt worthy to get to. He's even broadcast a few WCC games for ESPNU. Look, everybody, he's a real college basketball fan!

On behalf of college basketball fans everywhere, Simmons, please, please stop. I could (and, in some forums, have) go on and on pointing out your errors and sift through your writing for your stupidity, but I don't have the energy for that right now. All I ask is that you please, please not ruin this tournament. I know that realistically you hardly ever follow through on everything ("that's an entire column in itself...", Top whatever sports movies of all-time, having an intern, etc) and you'll probably cash out your chips with Oden and Durant this summer. And, ya know what? We won't miss you. Not a bit.

If it takes Kevin Durant in Celtic green, then fine. Maybe he'll flop and you'll switch your opinion on him like you've done to many others before (say hello, Al Jefferson and Rajon Rondo). Welcome to the asshat club, asshole. Trust us when we say that your induction is now long overdue.

-- RK

Kasko's Not-So-Organized Thoughts

First off, although I hate agreeing with Billy Packer, I thought the selection committee did very well this year. Last year was an absolute train wreck that left me wondering how the hell they came up with it (Syracuse's 5-seed, Tennessee's 2-seed, some of the bubble team inclusions, etc.). It's funny though because that train wreck turned out to produce one of the best NCAA stories ever (George Mason), so in hindsight I say thank you. The bottom line is this - being on the committee is an unenviable task every year because no matter what you do, you'll be criticized somewhere. This year, I thought the seeds were pretty much on (nobody more than 2 seeds higher or lower than I would have thought) and I can see why they made some of the decisions they made at the bottom.

A big "Fuck you!" goes out to that bag of douche known as Joe Lunardi. Not only is it now painfully obvious your stupid ass gets tipped off (check the comments section of the recent Lunardi post to see where I noted just hours before the brackets were unveiled where Joe once again moved Arkansas from out of nowhere to in, not to mention his suspicious Stanford inclusion), but his smugness and arrogance was atrocious this year. Luckily, Joe's lone miss of the bracket was my Alma Mater, Illinois.

Anyways, I caught the douchebag on the Mike & Mike Show this morning (which was fantastic, by the way, with great interviews with Mike Brey of Notre Dame and Tom Izzo of Michigan State) bitching about Illinois' inclusion. Look at their profile! RPI is 29, 11-8 in conference, 33rd non-conference SOS and 24th overall. Alarming, I know, because this team is not that good, but you can't deny the numbers. Yes, they didn't have the great wins, but they didn't lose any bad games. Hey, Joe, if you're going to argue against them, at least get your facts right. The past two days, the douche has been claiming Illinois is 3-10 against the tournament field. Excuse me, Joe, look again. Illinois beat Indiana (twice), Michigan State and... Jackson State, Florida A&M, Belmont and Miami (OH). Seven wins. Now, I'm not saying these were "good" wins per say, but they played challenging competition in the pre-conference season. They were also had 8 top-100 wins and didn't lose outside of the top-100. If you want to make a point against them, at least get the facts right you stupid asshat.

As for the teams that are doing the crying today...

Syracuse - I'll echo JH's sentiments on the Orange. Play somebody! Do I think the Cuse should have made the field? Yes, I do. Do I feel bad they didn't? Absolutely not. In fact, it got a good chuckle out of me. This is a team that didn't leave the state of New York until January 7th. How ridiculous is that? They played on the road at Canisius (I don't even know where that is but Google assures me it's in New York) and down to MSG to lose to Oklahoma State. Even the quality teams they brought in beat them (Wichita State and Drexel). Their RPI was at 50 and they lost a few games they shouldn't have - at UConn and at St. John's. Tough shit, Jimmy Boeheim. Enjoy your NIT games at the Carrier Dome. You don't enjoy leaving home anyways.

Drexel - Here's where I disagree with JH completely. To me, Bruiser Flint should be sending Jim Larranaga flowers for people considering his team. This profile was all smoke and mirrors enhanced due to George Mason's run last year and the recent success of the mid-major. Listen, take the name "Drexel" off the top of the profile and replace it with, say, "Providence". Does this even get considered out of the Big East? They lost to Rider and William & Mary (they shut down William on the perimeter, but Mary was a beast in the low post that game*). Do I have sympathy for Drexel? Absolutely. Bruiser Flint should be standing on the soapbox bitching. I love what they did in the non-conference and it'd be a shame if it deterred them and others from doing it in the future. But this team lost some bad games and they were 1-5 against the teams above them in the CAA (VCU, Old Dominion and Hofstra). They had their chances. I don't think their snub was a crime against mid-majors the way it was last year to Missouri State and their RPI of 20.

Kansas State - Listen, Huggins, I understand your drunk ass bitching for your team but call up Boeheim and play somebody. You played the 227th best non-conference schedule this year. Congrats. You won at Texas, beat Oklahoma at home and beat Texas Tech on a neutral court. But you play in the Big XII North, so you used that crutch to 10 hollow conference victories. Go out and beat Kansas or something, then file a complaint.

Florida State - I'm not touching this one because I am assuming there will be a whole post dedicated to it. Let me say this - I think it's a shame this team isn't getting much snub talk. This is a good profile and their 5-game skid game without Toney Douglas and now he's back. If you want to take out a Stanford or an Arkansas (which, by all means, go ahead), I'd throw FSU at the top of the list to replace them.

Now let's talk about the dumbest decision made of the week, courtesy of NBC. One-hour of The Office on Thursday competing against the NCAA games. Brilliant guys, just brilliant. Who the fuck made that call? I'd wager that 1/3 of The Office viewership would be "sports fans" and now a good chunk of them won't be watching that special. I, for certain, will be placing that one in the DVR bin. This isn't Grey's Anatomy here, a good chunk of your viewers still have their testicles attached. Now, if you were to bitch that Grey's and the games overlap, well, let's just say Tim Hardaway does not approve of your bitching. Terrible decision by NBC though. Just atrocious.

More to come later, I hope.

-- RK

(* - Joke courtesy of Deadspin comments section. It was just too good to resist.)

Driving the Waaambulance to MSG

Lots of good content in the AP report on the NIT selection (bracket can be found here):

"I have no way of understanding why we're not in the (NCAA) tournament," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "You look at the numbers and it's hard to believe. But it's done. There's no use in talking about it. ... I'm very disappointed. It doesn't do any good to get angry."
Syracuse (22-10) was seeded second in the South and will open against South Alabama on Wednesday night."

Jimmy, there is great reason why your team is not in the NCAA tournament. For the umpteenth year, you have refused to play anybody of merit outside of the Big East, and the two mid-majors (Drexel and Wichita State) you had the balls to schedule, beat you at home. You can't play fifteen consecutive home games, and wonder why you're on the outside looking in.

"Ultimately, we each kind of put on a coaching hat and said who would you not want to play? That's who you kind of vote for," [NIT Selection chair C.M.] Newton said of the seeding process. "In this case, you were comparing Drexel against Air Force. Would you rather play Air Force or Drexel? Would you rather play Clemson or Drexel? Would you rather play Florida State or Drexel? In each case, the vote came out the way that it did," he said.

Drexel, arguably the most egregious snub from the NCAA tournament was relegated to a third-seed in the East region behind West Virginia and Oklahoma State. I think what C.M. Newton is saying is that the Colonial Athletic Association is good enough to make it to the Final Four, and have two teams in the Big Dance, but they don't quite have the cachet and name recognition as Air Force, Clemson or Florida State. Joe Lunardi may be an asshat, but for the better part of this week, he recognized the Dragons as being one of the 34 best teams to not win their conference tournament.

"They told us last year, go play some good teams on the road. We do, and we win some of those games, but it still wasn't enough," coach Bruiser Flint said. "We're out of it. There is no consolation."

Bruiser, you must look past the slight from the commitee and motivate your boys to go out there, and compete. Not just for competition's sake, but for the city of Philadelphia. It's been a long time since this city has tasted victory, and with the untimley passing of an American hero, the people need something to make them believe again. Do it for the city, Mr. Flint. Do it...for Philadelphia.

Joe Lunardi Is An Asshat

Earlier this year, kasko rightfully dubbed Digger Phelps an asshat for his fecal opinions regarding college basketball. In the spirit of Phelps' asshatedness, I nominate Joe Lunardi to uphold the standards of being a fucktard.

Last season, George Mason was rightfully outside of his tournament for the duration of Championship Week. That is, until the afternoon of Selection Sunday, when the Patriots made it into his coveted Last Four In column. How did Lunardi predict this turn of events? Dumb luck, I suppose.

Well, maybe not. This week, Old Dominion was sitting on the tournament bubble from the inside looking out...until the morning, when Stanford and Kansas State magically appeared there. Dumb luck again? No. Joe Lunardi is just an asshat.

I know that he's ESPN's resident bracketologist and I'm just some office monkey with a keyboard, but this is a Summer's Eve moment if I've ever seen one. Stick with your guns, douchebag.

Joe Lunardi: welcome to the asshat club.

Update: Okay, so he doesn't have it down to a complete science, but the fact remains that Joe Lunardi is indeed an asshat.

(posted by JH)

Tourney Questions- March 10, 2007

How much impact does winning a conference tournament have for a team that is a lock to be in the tournament?
- Not much. As long a team avoids a first or second round upset in the conference tournament (Maryland, Virginia, Texas A&M), the semifinals and finals are just playing for the conference trophy.

Gun to your head, how many teams from the Colonial get into the tournament?

- I'm going to go with three. The CAA was unspectacular, but very deep with four teams winning 22 games and at least 13 in conference. I think that second round casualty Drexel has a very strong chance of leapfrogging Hofstra and Old Dominion, due to road wins over Villanova, Syracuse and Ivy League champion, Penn. Hofstra's profile is strong as well, but their best out of conference win was St. Joseph's a team that the Dragons defeated. Old Dominion beat Georgetown, but will be hampered by losses to Virginia Tech, Marist, and Clemson.

Same question, but about Missouri Valley; does the so-called deepest conference in America get more than two bids this year?

- Short of typing "I don't know", I think there will be just two teams. While some MVC teams have quality, even marquee, wins, I don't think any of the profiles jump out and say that this is a tournament team. Creighton's dismantling of Missouri State sealed the fate of the bears.

Who will be a difference maker in March?

- I think one of the most underrataed guards in America is Levance Fields. He reminds me a lot Carl Krauser physically, but gets his teammates involved the way Krauser never did in what seemed like his nine years at Pittsburgh. Aaron Gray is a good college center, but without Fields drawing the defense when he penetrates, he is exponentially less effective. Recently, the Panthers have only gone as far as their point guard could take them, and I do not see 2007 being any exception. His ball control and ability to play lockdown defense will help this tremendously against the higher seeds late in the tournament.

How would you place the top seeds?

- Regardless of what happens this weekend, this is how I see it shaking out:

	East (East Rutherford)	South (San Antonio)	Midwest (St. Louis)	West (San Jose)
1	North Carolina	Kansas	Florida	UCLA
2	Pittsburgh	Wisconsin	Ohio State	Georgetown
3	Memphis	Washington State	Texas A&M	Southern Illinois
4	Oregon	Virginia Tech	Louisville	Texas

(posted by JH)

The Unpredictables

Every year there's a team that's wildly inconsistent all year and somehow manages to get its shit together come March and makes a run. Or the squad that heads into the Big Dance streaking and craps out unexpectedly the first weekend. These are the teams that make or break your bracket and bust your ass every year. To me, they're the hardest to predict. With that, I'll take a journey across the nation breaking down these candidates from each of the power conferences...

Atlantic Coast - Maryland

You could almost see most peoples eyes lighting up when talking about this team. The Terps came into the ACCs absolutely smoking, winners of 7 straight including doubling down on the Dookies and taking out the Tar Heels, before crapping the bed last night against Miami. There was almost a Fight Club-esque feel to this team in that everyone seems to like them, but everyone wanted them to stay a secret. Mission accomplished for me. I still like Maryland to do some major damage in the NCAAs and will be thrilled to see the bandwagon emptying after it crashed in Tampa.

Big East - Marquette

Marquette came into February as a big player at the top of the Big East. They have been nationally ranked all season and have been picked to go to the Final Four by multiple experts. But the Golden Eagles have struggled mightily as of late, going just 3-5 in their last 8. One of the reasons has been the cold shooting of star guard Dominic James, who is shooting a miserable 27.6% from the field since February while taking a good chunk of shots (12.7 per game over that stretch). He'll need to turn things around if Marquette wants to see past the first weekend.

Southeastern - Florida

This is more of a lifetime acheivement award because I've been dicked over by Billy Donovan too many times in March. Since the run to the title game as a 5-seed in 2000, the Gators had seen numerous disappointing first-weekend knock outs before winning the title last season. They've returned the nucleus of last year's squad and came into the season as favorites to repeat, but have fallen upon hard times as of late, losing to the likes of Vanderbuilt and LSU on the road. The Gators this season represent what the NCAAs have become - a tournament of unpredictability and parity. Can you say with confidence that any of the 1 or 2 seeds will make the trip to Atlanta? Do any of these teams really separate themselves from the rest of the pack?

Big Ten - Wisconsin

Is there a top-10 team people were talking about less as a contender to win the title? It seems people are discounting the Badgers as being one of the nation's elite. Many seemed to be talking of a trip to the Final Four, but I haven't heard much talk of winning it all. The recent injury (and uncertainty over the severity of the injury) to center Brian Butch only further clouds the picture. I forsee Wisconsin being a team a lot of people have circled for that popular early-round exit next week, but I like the make-up of the Badgers. They play very solid defense, have the star go-to scorer in the crunch time, have a strong senior point guard and will likely be playing in a favorable venue (Chicago) the first weekend - all things that tend to correlate positively with NCAA success. I expect the nation to be adding a chip to their shoulder soon, as well.

Big XII - Kansas

I'd like to stray away from the top-seeds in this discussion, but this one is inevitable. History is on their side as well, with recent first-round stumbles against the highly-underdogged Bucknell and Bradley teams of the past two tournaments. How good are the Jayhawks? It's a question I've been wondering for a while now. They've been absolutely killing teams recently, but it's been against their weak Big XII North competition. What's been concerning is that in their contests against the rest of the cream of the conference they've lost to Texas A&M (at home), lost to Texas Tech (on the road) and narrowly beat Texas (at home) behind a furious second-half rally. This team has world's of potential and wouldn't surprise me in the least if they cut down the nets in Atlanta, but some of their losses have been frightening.

Pacific-10 - Arizona

The computers absolutely love this team due to their strength of schedule, but the bottom line is Arizona has been a .500 team since the new year. One thing that's interesting is that the Cats took their last 5 road games in conference (very impressive), which isn't pointed out much due to the home sweep it took at the hands of the So. Cal schools. It's another team loaded with talented McD's All-Americans that can kill you in a multitude of ways of the offensive end of the floor. They tend to stuggle defensively, but will be a glam pick next week because of their name recognition and their conference affiliation and the perceived strength of that conference.

-- RK

Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner?

Last season, George Mason shocked the world by advancing to the Final Four. In the opinion of this college basketball fan and Mason alumnus, this was the greatest sporting event since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and a close third all-time to Jesse Owens giving Adolph Hitler the finger in the 1936 Olympics. Non-power conference schools have been there before, but they also had players like Larry Bird, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson. Something tells me that Lamar Butler, Tony Skinn and Jai Lewis will not be making any all-time top 50 lists outside of the DC area.

A tad hyperbolic? Sure; but the fact of the matter remains is that there will not be another Cinderella who catches America by surprise en route to the national semifinals for a very long time. This season, there is no doubt that coaches of the Tom Izzo-Roy Williams-Jim Calhoun caliber are going to spend an extra bit of time watching game film of plucky upstarts who pull off a round one upset. They're also going to school their players on their opponent's conference affiliation, nickname, colors, etc. On the Saturday preceding the regional final, Rashard Anderson admitted to a reporter that he did not even know what conference their opponent came from. Think that didn't add for any extra motivation? Especially in a glorified home game for the underdogs?

Florida proved this last season. Unlike the three coaches before (Mark Turgeon excluded, as Wichita State did have a game plan; they just couldn't make a basket), Billy Donovan had a game plan to beat the Patriots, and when his better athletes executed, the difference between the SEC and the CAA was evident. This may not happen in round one in the 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, and 4-13 games, but every other team should be wary of those lower seeds coming out of the unknown conferences.

(posted by JH)

Jump In The Pool

This wouldn't be a college basketball blog if we didn't have a goddamn pool for the tourney, so it's all set up.

I used Poolhost.com, a site I used last year and loved due to the setup and the flexibility over setting (Fuck you ESPN and your built-in 1-2-4-8-16-32 scoring system!). Anyways, the rules are up to you... so let us know in the replies if you'd like us to change them up at all. The current settings are 1-2-4-6-8-12 scoring, no underdog or lower seed bonuses and no multiple brackets (you know how I feel about this...). Leave one in the replies if you like your pool a different way.

Anyways, come on over and join us for March and feel free to invite your friends.

Pool Name: One Shining Moment
Pool Login Name: osm
Pool Password: osm

-- RK

Handing Out The Hardware

Now that conference play has wrapped up, it's time to dish out the awards before we get hit hard with conference tournaments, bubble craze and Billy Packer's annual douchebaggery. I'm here to dole out some trophies across the conference I know best, The Big Ten.

Kasko's All-Conference Team:

Heading my all-conference squad and my Conference Player of the Year would be Alando Tucker (Senior Forward - Wisconsin, 20.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG). Yes, it's predictable, as Tucker is in the running for National POTY, but who cares? I'm not sure if and how his game will translate at the next level, but Tucker has had a great college career. Take Tucker away and I'd my throw Conference POTY to Drew Neitzel (Junior Guard - Michigan State, 18.3 PPG, 4.1 APG). If you added the word "valuable" to the "Player of the Year" title, I'd be inclined to throw Neitzel in an argument with Tucker. He's been lights-out and clutch, bumping up his scoring considerably after the Spartans lost a their top-3 scorers off last year's team. He's simply carried State to 8 wins in conference.

Am I forgetting someone? Perhaps the most hyped freshman ever to step foot on a college campus? Yessir, Greg Oden (Freshman Center - Ohio State, 15.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.5 BPG) makes my team, although I think Conference POTY talk for him is absurd. Last I recall, the Buckeyes were pretty damn good even without him. Oden has been very good, especially on the defensive end of the floor, but he hasn't had too many games he has absolutely dominated. Hell, some might argue he hasn't even been the most important freshman on his own team (hello, Mike Conley, Jr.).

I'll round out my team with Adam Haluska (Senior Guard - Iowa, 20.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG) and Carl Landry (Senior Forward - Purdue, 18.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG). I had a feeling Haluska would be taking home honors at the end of the season, knowing Iowa's offense would be completely run through him. What I didn't expect out of him was leading scorer awards or being the focal point of a Hawkeye team that competed at the top of the conference. Landry was a beast for a Purdue squad that surprised many people and is a bridge to the improving recruiting classes Matt Painter is bringing in.

Bruce Weber Award:

Easily one of the hardest awards to hand out this year would be the Bruce Weber Award for Conference Coach of the Year. Ohio State and Wisconsin were predictably good and nobody predicted at the bottom of the conference came as a surprise for the most part. Cases could be made for just about anyone but the bottom three (unless I want to give it to the musical chairs of coaches at Minnesota) and Tommy Amaker (barring another superb NIT run out of the Wolverines...). I'm gonna toss another trophy in the corner of Tom Izzo, however. Why? Name a team in the Big Ten who lost more from the year before. He got a young team through the toughest schedule in conference and locked down another trip to the Big Dance. Kelvin Sampson may have been the favorite at one point, but then he finally played some roadies in conference and his denim-clad ass fell back into place. It's hard not giving it to Iowa's Steve Alford, as I felt he (finally) did a great job with the Hawkeyes this year.

Village People Award:

This is more of a career award to be presented to Northwestern's Tim Doyle for displaying the best YMCA game in the conference, nay, the nation. I will miss the antics of "Agent Double-Zero" as he takes his show over to Europe or the Middle East or perhaps the X-Sport Gym I have a membership to here in Chicago. Whether it was the just-out-of-the-shower hair he displays, the puff of chest hair that pops out of the top of his jersey or the array of undersized low-post moves with either of his ambidextrous hands, Doyle was always just a pair of Rec Specs away from being the ultimate gym rat of a ballplayer. It seriously wouldn't surprised me if it came out that he logged equal time jerking it with his left and right hands. Carpal tunnel is no match for Tim Doyle. About the only thing that makes me chuckle more about Tim Doyle is the fact he attended St. John's his freshman year before transferring. Good lord, he must have stuck out like a sore thumb on the Red Storm's roster.

Under The Radar Moment of the Year:

In Saturday's loss in Iowa City, the Illini were serenaded with "I-L-L...D-U-I" chants all day as they stepped to the line. Admittedly, pretty funny and creative stuff out of the Hawkeye student section, but I call bullshit. Just two years back, Steve Alford cried foul to the league office when the Orange Krush planned to chant similar things at notorious thug Pierre Pierce after some legal troubles. Alford is a pussy. It's as if he's a Coach K understudy with this lesson in hypocrisy. Needless to say, I'm not a big Iowa fan.

Game of the Year:

Ohio State's one-point victory over Wisconsin to take the league title on a last second lay-in by freshman sensation Mike Conley, Jr. Yes, it was ugly. Yes, it was low-scoring. Boo hoo, the Big Ten sucks. That's their style of play. Eat a dick and tell me the "Big Ten is down again" When are they ever up, by the way? The bottom line is the conference has two legit teams to contend for the Final Four and a few others I could see making some runs this month.


-- RK

In, Out, or In Between: ACC and Big East

ACC (locks: North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Duke)

Clemson

JH: I think that the Tigers are out as of right now. Looking at their non-conference schedule, it's hard to imagine a team with just one quality win in conference and wasn't tested before conference play should snag one of the coveted at-large spots. With that said, this team is at the very top of the bubble, due to knocking off Old Dominion and Appalachian State.

RK: Who'd have thought 17-0 would have you on the wrong side of the bubble? They stopped the tailspin this week and put themselves back in the discussion, but it's still a 4-9 record in their last 13 coupled with a relatively weak non-conference slate that has the Tigers needing an ACC run. I think they need wins over Florida State (elimination game) and North Carolina to get in, otherwise it's easy for the committee to dismiss them.

Georgia Tech

JH: In. They split the season series with Clemson, won at Memphis and beat UNC at home. They are 7-3 in their last ten heading into the ACC tournament, and will probably need to win two games to solidify their chances.

RK: Not only do I think this team is now a lock as long as they avoid the bad loss to Wake Forest, I think this is a serious contender for a sleeper in the NCAAs. The good wins are there for the Jackets, as is a .500 conference record. I think they just need one more to move to a lock.

Big East (locks: Georgetown, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette)

Syracuse, West Virginia/Providence, DePaul/Villanova

JH: Essentially, the losers of the first round game should start marketing their first round NIT home game. All of these teams have similar profiles, with West Virginia and DePaul having the most glamourous out of conference wins (UCLA and Kansas, respectively). With a first-round win, I would put WVU and DePaul in the tournament with no questions asked, Villanova would be on a firmer bubble, whereas Providence would have to probably win two games to supplement their weak profile.

RK: With the victory this weekend, I'd actually throw Nova closer to the lock field and keep the Cuse on the bubble. Why? Syracuse had a weak in-conference schedule (something the committee says it looks at...) and played nobody (as usual) before the Big East. They even lost a few times in the Dome in pre-conference (Wichita State and Drexel) and the computer numbers aren't all there, with an RPI of 50 and SOS at 49. I'm not as quick with DePaul and think they need at least a second victory over G'Town to be seriously discussed. Yes, they beat Kansas, but that gets offset with the losses to Northwestern and UAB. Yuck.

Bubble File: Appalachian Sate

Here is the first of a periodic breakdown of teams sweating out their invitation to the Big Dance

Appalachian State

What to Like: Victories over Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth and Vanderbilt show that the Mountaineers are as good as other teams gunning for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

What Not to Like: ASU was thumped by 30 at Clemson, and by 32 in Blacksburg at the hands of Virginia Tech.

What Will Help Them: Three things-- Vanderbilt's continued success, Virginia Tech advancing deep into the ACC tournament, and Winthrop winning the Big South. With the Eagles winning their tournament, that saves one an at-large for a hopeful.

Vitals: 61 RPI, 15-3 in conference, 77 S-Curve, 8-2 in their last ten games, road win at Wichita State in the Bracket Busters.

Verdict: NIT. By not advancing to the finals of their conference, consider them as good as gone from the Big Dance. Quality wins aside, ASU needed to truly take advantage of their conference tournament to show America and the committee what they were made of. Unfortunately, they're made of hosting a first round game in the NIT, and then travelling to a power conference foe for the second round.

(posted by JH)

Thornton is Must See TV

His name was Al Thornton. He was like a god walking amongst mere mortals. He had a voice that could make a wolverine purr and suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo. In other words, Al Thornton was the balls.

Over the next week, there will be a lot of discussion about who will dance and who is relegated to the Not Invited Tournament. A team that still has some work to do to stay in that discussion is Florida State. There is certainly a case to be made for them, but the case against them is not a small one. I'll get a little more in depth on my argument in the coming days, but I'll give a little preview.

1) Al Thornton
2) Al Thornton
3) Al Thornton

In case you didn't hear. Thornton dropped 45 (passed up an easy dunk as time expired for a school record 47, he stayed classy) on an improved Miami team that was playing over their heads in a must win game for the Noles. Big Al has carried this team with little supporting cast (slightly improved by the return of Toney Douglas, remember that on Selection Sunday).

Thornton is a sure fire 1st rounder next June, but the casual college basketball fan wouldn't know who he is was if he walked up to them and introduced himself. A lot of that stems from the Noles only playing one game on a real ESPN network (an early December tilt against Wisconsin). The Noles were a bit over matched in the trip to Madison, but Thornton still managed to produce what my colleague JH has dubbed the play of the year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBBBw3OoFrQ). The only good thing about that is that new college basketball fan Bill Simmons hasn't gotten a man crush on him and made ridiculous NBA comparisons.

The country needs to see him. The guy is what is right with college hoops. A lightly recruited fifth year senior that has improved himself every year of his career and turned into one of the premier players in the country. He has developed a deadly mid range game, something that this generation of American ballers are allergic to. He's went from a 50% at the charity stripe as a sophomore to 85% as a senior.A guy that plays with an unmatched fire and intensity on the court, but still manages to carry himself with class.

FSU still faces at least one more must win on the schedule, but Al Thornton needs to be seen. He deserves better than the NIT, but he'll need some help.

-PS

The Davids The Nation Already Knows

Forget who's in and who's out for a minute. The hardest job the NCAA Selection committee has to do is ranking and seeding its included teams. More specifically, it's an absolute beast of a job to determine the postseason fate of the top mid-major (or should I say non-power conference?) teams. It's a job that everyone seems to have a wide range of opinions on, bringing enormous amounts of heat regardless of which way the committee leans. I'm looking at you, Billy Packer. Take the 1-seed St. Joe's was given in 2004 or the fluctuation in seeding Gonzaga has seen over recent years and placing these teams in the field is no easy task.

With that, I'm here to help the committee sort through some of this field. Here's a look at a handful of "other" schools that are comfortably in the tournament field even without an automatic invite.


Memphis

The resume: 26-3, 18 game win streak, RPI of 7 with SOS at 71. Undefeated in conference play, but just 1-3 against the RPI top-50 (5-3 against the top-100 however).

The verdict: I'd throw them a 4-seed, which would probably put me on the low end of the spectrum. Their winning streak dates back to before Christmas, but they've played all of 3 top-100 games in that time period. Conference-USA is a joke this year, with only Houston (at 97) joining the Tigers in the top-100 of the RPI. I know the computer numbers look nice, but I'm not really buying into it. Win out with others stumbling and I would consider a 3, but those putting them on the 2-seed line are out of their minds.


Southern Illinois

The resume: 24-5, 11 game win streak, RPI of 5 with SOS at 39. Finished MVC play at 15-3 as is 7-2 versus the RPI top-50 (and 12-4 against the top 100).

The verdict: Hovering right on the 2/3 line. Stack this profile next to Memphis' and tell me you want the Tigers seeded ahead of them. You can't. Perhaps I'm standing atop my Missouri Valley soapbox, but the conference is extremely deep and loaded at the bottom. There were zero easy wins in this league. The Salukis would benefit immensely from doubling down on Missouri Valley titles, but their shot at a 2-seed will most likely be the byproduct of teams ahead of them slipping up rather than their accomplishments leap-frogging the others.


Nevada

The resume: 25-3 with a 13-2 mark in the WAC, RPI of 22 with SOS at 125. The telling stat is their 0-1 record against the top-50, but they are 10-3 against the top-100. Looking at the schedule, they haven't beaten anyone in the top-70 currently.

The verdict: Their wins over Cal, Northern Iowa, Santa Clara and Gonzaga don't hold much weight anymore as all of those teams outside the WCC tourney winner don't figure to be dancing. With the loss last night to Utah State, Nevada will need to beat New Mexico State at home on Saturday to salvage even a split against both of their top WAC competition. It's a resume that's more troubling upon further inspection and breakdown and because of that, I'd award Nevada a 7-seed, if the tourney started today.


Winthrop

The resume: 23-4 after an undefeated (14-0) Big South campaign. The RPI sits at 69 with a pretty terrible SOS at 256. Winthrop is just 2-4 against the top-50 with another win against the 50-100 region and two over 100-200.

The verdict: I'd put the Eagles in the 8/9 game if they win the Big South championship game this weekend and still in the tourney (with absolutely no second thoughts) should they slip up. And that's with some restraint. I truly believe this is the giant killer in this years' field and hwo good this team is appears hidden under some weaker computer numbers. It's the conference numbers that hurt the profile, ranked as the 29th best conference in America. But the Eagles have some very nice wins against fellow mid-major powers Missouri State and Old Dominion and an ever-improving road victory at Mississippi State. I know the committee doesn't look at margin of victory, but their four losses came at the hands of UNC (by 7 in Greensboro), at Maryland (by 11), at Wisconsin (by 3 in OT) and at Texas A&M (by 20). There's not a single blemish on the schedule outside of those. This team is going to be an absolutely scary draw in a few weeks.


-- RK

Tourney File: Virginia

Here is the sixth of a periodic breakdown of teams expected to be in the NCAA Tournament

Virginia

What to Like: Dave Leitao has done a great job turning around a program that was pretty much in the gutter following the Jeff Jones era. Recruiting to Charlottesville is not an easy task, but he is doing very well with what he has.

What to Be Pleasantly Surprised By: How about everything? The Cavaliers were considered a lower tier team in the preseason, and the fact that they are one win away from clinching the ACC regular season title is a miracle in itself.



What Will Keep Them From Winning: Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds score in bunches (combined 36.8 points per game), but are two players who take the bulk of the shots. In their past four games, the two have managed to take 55% of their team's shots-- a percentage that will either make them (as it did in their win against Georiga Tech on combined 16-34 shooting), or break them (as it did against Miami on combined 9-23 shooting).


What We Don't Know: Can a team survive with virtually no inside presence in the NCAA tournament? History would suggest the answer would be no. And I side with history.

X-Factor: Jason Cain is the center for this team, and if they are going to win, he needs to up his production underneath. The Lopez brothers of Stanford went wild on the Cavaliers, combining for 27 points on 12-20 shooting. This kind of doughnut defense is going to be what separates this team from a first round exit, or an extended stay.

Who Do They Want to Play: Virginia can play with anybody if their outside shots are falling...

Who Don't They Want to Play: ...but playing against teams like Southern Illinois, Memphis, Pitt and Texas A&M are going to make that a tough strategy. Memphis and Pitt have outstanding athletes who will make Singletary and Reynolds work much harder for their shots than Greg Paulus did earlier this season, while Acie Law would do the same on Singletary. On the mid/low major front, I think Winthrop is a team that they do not want to see in round one.

Prediction: Third seed is possible, first round exit is likely.

(posted by JH)

Tourney File: Kansas

Here is the fifth of a periodic breakdown of teams expected to be in the NCAA Tournament

Kansas

It's time to start hammering out some of the top seeds and favorites in this year's NCAA draw and I'll start with the Jayhawks.

What to Like: Sheer talent. This is a team loaded with 5-star recruits that have NBA scouts salivating over their pro potential. Kansas has 5 players located in the top 60 of Chad Ford's Top 100 NBA Prospects on ESPN.com (Julian Wright, Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins) and two of them come off the bench of this team. The Jayhawks are stacked and deep and can beat you in multiple ways.

What to be Pleasantly Surprised By: Defense. Many times with blue chip prospects, there's selfishness and lapses on the defensive end of the floor. Not so with the Jayhawks, who are presently ranked 1st in the nation in raw and adjusted defensive efficiency. This team can D you up and it starts with the starting guards locking down the perimeter. Chalmers is a thief of the defensive end, averaging 2.6 steals per game (good for 10th in the nation, 2nd among power conferences) and his counterpart Russell Robinson chips in with 1.9 per game.

What Will Keep Them From Winning: Free throws and inexperience. Kansas struggles at 240th in the nation in free throw percentage. Although none of their key players are horrific, only Chalmers and Collins top the 70%-clip and neither of those two is money in the bank at the line. While many think this might be the best team in the nation right now, this is still a young group of kids that lost to two teams who may not even see the NCAAs (DePaul and Oral Roberts), raising questions of inexperience and inconsistency.

What We Don't Know: Will Kansas be ready to step up to the big boys come March? I'm sorry, I'm just not sold yet on Kansas being a legitimate title contender and that all comes down to their schedule. Yes, they are absolutely running teams out of the gym lately, but who have they beaten in this calendar year? Playing in the Big XII North, KU gets its share of cupcakes and has thus far lost its games against the top of the South division (@ Texas Tech, vs. Texas A&M; the Jayhawks do host Texas on Saturday). It's best wins in 2007? A 2-point win at Oklahoma and a 9-point win at Kansas State. Doesn't tell me much. Plus, Bill Self has a monkey on his back after back-to-back upset exits in the NCAA first-round.

X-Factor: Sherron Collins. The star freshman point guard out of Chicago has started to put his name into the realm of other great freshman points across the nation recently. He's gone from being a virtual non-factor in some of KU's bigger non-conference games (scoreless in 7 minutes at Florida and in 9 minutes against Boston College) to stealing some of starting guard Russell Robinson's court time in Big XII play. He's hit double-digits in 12 of their 15 conference games and has provided a real spark off the Kansas bench, giving the Jayhawks exceptional depth in the backcourt.

Who Do They Want to Play?: North Carolina, Maryland, Marquette. The more you increase the number of possessions in a game, the more likely it is that the averages will play out and a predicted outcome occurs. Kansas hasn't been bothered by up-tempo play this year in games against Missouri, Oklahoma State and USC. They play solidly each possession on both sides of the ball and have an enormous amount of talent to overmatch many of their opponents.

Who Don't They Want to Play?: Georgetown, Washington State, Southern Illinois, Air Force. In their 4 losses, the pace of play has been 66 possessions per game. Out of their nine slowest-paced games, Kansas dropped 3 of them. Compare that to just a shade under 70 in their 26 wins and you have yourself a way to beat Kansas. Although this team excels on the defensive floor, opponents will want to keep the game within reach and hope the inexperience and free throw shooting woes can haunt the Jayhawks down the stretch of a tight ballgame.

Prediction: The Jayhawks are probably looking at a two seed this year, but could slip up or down a seed line based on the results of their matchup with Texas on Saturday and their play in the Big XII Tournament. A lot of people might see another early exit, given their recent history and Bill Self's uninspiring track record, but I don't see it that way. I can't see this team stumbling in the opening weekend and have to recognize them as a legitimate favorite to make the Final Four. They've been smoking the competition lately, but I will be keeping a close eye on how they end the year against quality, tournament-worthy opponents. I really think they need another crack at the Aggies in the conference tournament season to get set for March.


-- RK

Tourney File: Maryland

Here is the fourth of a periodic breakdown of teams expected to be in the NCAA Tournament

Maryland

What to Like: Grevias Vasquez and Eric Hayes. Neither freshman point guard is ready to carry the load by themselves at this point. They have complimentary playing styles with Vasquez the scoring, flashy type and Hayes serving in the mold of Steve Blake. Next year, I would not be surprised to see Maryland go back to the two point guard styled offense it ran during Steve Blake and Drew Nicholas' senior years, as they have a core of those two, Bambale Osby (more on him in a second) and James Gist.

What to Be Pleasantly Surprised By: Mike Jones finally playing like an All-American. Highly rated out of high school, Jones has been nothing but disappointment, as he had to compete with John Gilchrist and Nik Caner-Medley for touches in the past. This year, however, he seems rejuvenated with two real point guards getting quality minutes. Jones single-handedly crippled North Carolina last weekend, but will be overlooked when the ACC votes on it's awards this season.

What Will Keep Them From Winning: Maryland does not have a consistent outside shooter who they can truly rely on to keep teams from playing zone defense against them. Eric Hayes is their best shooter by percentage, but is usually a non-factor when it comes to scoring. D.J. Strawberry is a streak shooter who can knock down a few, but they lack a Juan Dixon type of shooter to stretch the opposition.

What We Don't Know: Maryland is on a torrid winning streak, and one has to wonder if they can keep it up for an extended period of time.

X-Factor: Bambale Osby, a transfer who sat last season out. Instead of relying on Will Bowers (who can be best described as a slower and less offensively skilled Aaron Gray), Gary Williams has an energy guy who can rebound, defend, and contribute with an occasional bucket or two. Osby was huge in last night's win against the Blue Devils, snaring down nine rebounds and blocking a shot in just thirteen minutes.

Who Do They Want to Play: Wisconsin, Air Force, and Butler. The Falcons and the Bulldogs are two teams that are not athletic enough to cover the Terps on the perimeter, and would have a tough time with their defense on the other end. Maryland has a premier defensive stopper in D.J. Strawberry, making Alando Tucker work as hard as he did against Ohio State to get his shots off.

Who Don't They Want to Play: Florida and Texas A&M would give Maryland fits because of their superior point guard play. Neither Vasquez or Hayes are ready to take on players of the caliber of Taurean Green and Acie Law in the Big Dance. Both players are too accomplished to be upstaged by guys who were wrapping up their high school careers a year ago.

Prediction: Fifth to seventh seed. At this point in the season, I believe Maryland is the third best team in the ACC behind probably #1 seed UNC and probable fifth seed Virginia Tech. Depending on how much the committee weighs the past three weeks, it could put the Terps as a low five, or a high six or seven.