March MADness

The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is done and over with. As always, there were some surprises, some disappointments, and as always, Billy Packer kicking the little guy and hoisting up a platter for the top seeds. As for my comments and observations, here they are.

- I'm undecided on how I feel about the Greg Oden (un)intentional foul. While I'm very much against referees deciding the outcome of a game, especially at the very end, they still have a job to perform. In football, refs should allow the ticky-tack fouls to go late in the game, but if a cornerback tackles a receiver before the ball hits him in the hands, that's obviously pass interference and the ref should throw the flag. Greg Oden violently pushed the Xavier player to the ground, in frustration, knowing that his team had basically just lost the game. This wasn't a typical late game foul to send the other club to the foul line. It was an intentional frustration foul, in knowing that a team had just been ousted from the tournament. While, again, I don't want officials to be the deciders in any sporting event, this foul was a bit too obvious to just ignore and it should've been called. I can understand the officials not wanting to ultimately decide the two teams' fate at the end of the contest, but Greg Oden's immaturity would have been the ultimate decider, not them.

- How 'bout them Runnin' Rebels? I admit, I picked them to beat Wisconsin en route to the Sweet 16, but I doubt many outside of the Las Vegas area predicted that. It made me chuckle in their two games, one against ACC Georgia Tech and then against the Big Ten 2nd seed Wisconsin. Billy Packer spoke biased all game (well, games) long. Instead of praising the Rebs, he usually spoke of how the Yellow Jackets and Badgers weren't playing up to par. Following those comments, he'd then say, "Not to take anything away from the Rebels." Yeah, whatever William. He can never give the "little" guy any credit, can he? What a tool.

- Saturday's games were crazy, weren't they? After a semi-disappointing first two days of action in the tournament, the games on Saturday more than made up for it. The biggest "blow-out" was the evening game between North Carolina and Michigan State, and the final score there was misleading. Michigan State actually led the game with about five minutes to go, before they wore out. Pittsburgh led Virginia Commonwealth by 19 in the second half, before VCU came back to send the game to overtime. Pitt eventually won in the extra frame. Maryland and Butler went back and forth for forty minutes before the Bulldogs pulled out victorious. UCLA and Indiana locked horned in a defensive slugfest, with the Bruins eking out a victory. I already mentioned the Ohio State overtime win over Xavier. Vanderbilt needed two overtimes to beat 3rd seeded Washington State. Georgtown had their hands full with Boston College, until Roy Hibbert took over inside for the Hoyas en route to the win. Finally, Texas A&M and Louisville went back and forth for a full forty minutes, with the largest lead by either side being 6 points, before TAMU won with excellent foul shooting. There wasn't a bad game all day or night. I only hope that the rest of the tournament can be as exciting.

- How about the ACC? The overrated ACC? For some reason or another, they led all conferences going into the tournament with 7 representatives. Let's go down the line for all seven teams and see how they've performed.

Duke- Knocked out in the first round by an 11 seed, VCU. (0-1)
Maryland- Beat 13 seed Davidson in an unconvincing fashion and then fell to 5th seed Butler. (1-2)
Virginia- Beat up on 13 seed Albany in the first round before getting knocked out by 5th seed Tennessee in the second. (2-3)
Virginia Tech- Used a late 12-0 run to rally against Illinois before getting pummeled by Southern Illinois in the round of 32. (3-4)
Boston College- Defeated 10 seed Texas Tech by 9 in the first round before getting pounded on the inside against 2nd seed Georgetown in their loss to Hibbert and the Hoyas. (4-5)
Georgia Tech- lost in the first round to the 7 seed UNLV. (4-6)
North Carolina- Beat 16 seed Eastern Kentucky (were up 48-44 midway in the second half) and then outlasted 9 seed Michigan State. (6-6)

There you have it, the "dominant" and all too "powerful" ACC is an even 6-6 with only one team remaining in the field of 16. The Pac 10 has three left (UCLA, USC, and Oregon). The SEC has three left (Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt). The Big East has two remaining (Georgetown and Pittsburgh). The Big XII has two left (Kansas and Texas A&M). The Big Ten has one left (Ohio State). Conference USA has one remaining (Memphis). The Missouri Valley Conference has one left (Southern Illinois). The Mountain West Conference has one left (UNLV). In comparison to the other major conferences, the ACC is tied with the fewest teams remaining in the Sweet 16, alongside the Big Ten.

- Is it just me or does it feel like Florida is sleepwalking through the tournament thus far? They won the championship last year, returned four of five starters from that team and I just haven't felt the fire and tenacity from the club thus far in this year's tournament. It reminds me of UConn's club from a year ago. Florida is obviously the best, most talented, and most well-rounded club in basketball, but talent alone is not going to win them the title. They may be able to get away with their lack of fire against Butler and maybe even against the winner of UNLV/Oregon, but good luck playing in that manner against Kansas or UCLA in the Final Four. This attitude may be able to get them as far as the Final Four, but if they truly want to repeat their title, they'll have to kick things up a notch.

- The Sweet 16 match-ups are interesting, to say the least. Butler has a solid reputation of not turning the ball over, making the opposition play slow and ugly, and frustrating their opponents in the process. They did that against the usually up-tempo Terrapins of Maryland in the second round. It will be interesting to see if they can do likewise against Florida. For how poor and sloppy the Gators played against the Boilermakers on Sunday, I can't see them playing with such a lack of focus this time around.

Oregon and UNLV will be anything but a slow down Ivy League-style game. Look for fast breaks, multitudes of three point attempts hoisted, and plenty of points scored. I give the Ducks a slight edge, but won't count out the Rebs.

Kansas has looked to be fairly dominant in their two tournament affairs thus far, but did I expect much of a contest from Niagara or even from Kentucky? Not really. Southern Illinois is their next opponent, Bill Self's former club. SIU has a similar reputation as the before-mentioned Butler Bulldogs, in that they are not afraid to slow things down some and tend to force the opposition to play ugly ball for forty minutes. If they're able to control the tempo and hold KU to 60-65 points, then anything's possible. I wouldn't bet on that, but with KU's young line-up, frustration may sneak in on them quicker than most clubs, so anything's possible.

Pittsburgh and UCLA may be the antonym to the yet mentioned match-up between North Carolina and USC. Like defense? Like a slowed tempo? Then look no further! This is the game for you! I have to believe that the Bruins will bounce back offensively following their horrendous performance against Indiana, but we'll see.

North Carolina and USC is one of the match-ups I'm most looking forward to. I would not want to play the Trojans right now. However they did it, USC has seemingly found a groove, especially on the offensive end. They dominated Arkansas and Texas from start to finish. The 'Horns were only in the game when the score read 0-0. Carolina almost collapsed against 16 seed Eastern Kentucky and were down after 35 minutes to Michigan State, before their depth paid dividends. I picked North Carolina to win this game, but I'm not so sure anymore. If I had a chance to re-pick this round's contests, I may be more inclined to go with the Trojans.

Vanderbilt and Georgetown presents very different offensive philosophies. Vandy relies on their perimeter shooting and Georgetown likes to pound their opponent in the paint. Because of their more reliable and consistent scoring on the inside, I give the edge to Georgetown, but if Vandy gets hot, you never know.

Ohio State gets a second life (maybe more than that), as they will face off with Tennessee. If the 'Vols can limit Greg Oden on the inside, like Xavier did, then I think they have a decent chance to come out victorious, but I wouldn't bet on it. All I can say is if you like to see teams pop threes, you'll love this one. Whoever is most consistent from the outside in this one will most likely win the contest.

Finally, Memphis takes on Texas A&M in San Antonio. Why don't the Tigers receive much love? They are a two seed. They went unbeaten in conference play this year. They annihilated Kentucky out of conference. Following a 15 and 16 point win in their two conference wins to this point, they've won 23 or 24 straight games, to lead all clubs. This is another contest I'm really looking forward to. Memphis is deep, quick, and loaded. TAMU has a good inside-outside punch between Law and Jones. I really think that Memphis' quickness, chemistry, and depth will pay dividends not only in this game, but potentially in the elite 8 game.