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)

Busting Up The Brackets, Part I

The latest edition of Bracket Busters is upon us again, and once again, there are games with significant NCAA tournament implications. The concept, for those unfamiliar, is taking mid-major programs and pitting them against each other on national television so the committee and fans alike can get a glimpse at the "next George Mason" (formerly the "next Gonzaga"), as well as get a late season RPI boost they wouldn't otherwise get from their conference breathren. Every team signs on for two years, as to ensure a home game, as well as an away game in the series.

The toughest part about the Bracket Buster concept is that the participating teams are chosen before the season starts, which can result in some teams without NCAA at-large dreams being invited based on projections and estimations. This season, George Mason fits that bill as they are all but out of contention for one of the coveted 34 spots.

Here is a breakdown of the major games, as well as a rating of how this could shake up the field of 64+1 if they should need to gain an at-large berth into the tournament. The event starts Friday, and concludes on Saturday night.

Drexel at Creighton
Conference affiliations: CAA (Drexel), MVC (Creighton)
At-large implications: High
Breakdown: Creighton needs this game as the icing on their profile cake. With a 12-4 record in the uber-competitive Missouri Valley Conference, the Blue Jays have an RPI rating of 24, SOS of 27 and a 3-2 record against the RPI Top 50. The Dragons sit outside of the top fifty at 53, but are a tough team that blazed out of the gates last season during the Preseason NIT but faltered down the stretch. Drexel is in the thick of the CAA race, but the league is having a down year.
Players to Watch: Creighton's Nate Funk is a great scorer (17.3 ppg) and the guy you want on the line when the game is on the line (87.4 FT%). Drexel is led by center Frank Elegar and senior guard Bashir Mason.

Bradley at Virginia Commonwealth
Conference Affiliation: MVC (Bradley), CAA (Virginia Commonwealth)
At-large implications: Moderate
Breakdown: The Rams and the Braves come into this game ranked 46th and 51st respectively in the RPI ratings, which means that this game is essentially an elimination from at-large consideration. VCU has done all they could with their schedule-- they have won all fifteen games against the worst of the worst, sub-150 RPI teams. VCU plays an uptempo style of basketball which should make for a fast paced game. Both teams average better than 75 points. At 8-7, Bradley is another team that is well outside of the tournament, but could use this game as a springboard to a big March.
Players to Watch: The guards for both teams. This game should be a track meet, so there should be plenty to see in transition.

Winthrop at Missouri State
Conference Affiliation: Big South (Winthrop), MVC (Missouri State)
At-large implications: High
Breakdown: Surprisingly, the team with at-large dreams is not the team from Missouri State. Winthrop, who came a desperation three pointer away from knocking off Tennesse last year, needs this profile boosting win, as they suffering in the computers (RPI of 78) due to their conference. They have played a handful of certain tournament teams, coming up short in all four game. Missouri State sits in third place in the Valley, which should be good enough to get in. They have a resume boost, having beaten Wisconsin on a neutral court in December.
Players to Watch: Winthrop's Craig Bradshaw and Missouri State's Blake Ahearn. Classic mid-major stars who are lacking that one quality that kept them from being blue chippers.

More previews to come later...

(posted by JH)