Madness I say

Discussion of all other topics besides Tar Heel basketball is now banned from the wom until further notice…OK maybe not ALL. This is not to say I won’t talk about something else, but that I’ll try to work in something about the Heels into every post for the next two weeks.

Anyway, after a weekend in which my bracket might as well be torn to shreds, the Heels did not fall victim to upset despite some hairy moments in the LSU game in the second round. Thank God Ty Lawson is back.

The wom’s upset picks were so close I could smell the office pool jackpot, but now those picks are putting me in the middle-lower part of the pack. Here was my downfall:

Arizona:  While Arizona probably has better talent than Utah State,  I figured their poor finish in the regular season would carry over and had them losing in the first round. Said poor finish did not carry over, and they are now in the Sweet 16, robbing me of two bracket wins.

Cleveland State: They got me good. Not only did I have them losing to Wake in the first round, but I had Wake in the Final Four. It wasn’t even close. The Rams dominated the Demon Deacons

Southern Cal: I had the Trojans over Maryland, but also had them beating Michigan State. They lost a nail-biter, eventually by five points, after leading for most of the game. Thanks, guys.

Utah State: Without Dominic James, I had planned for the Marquette Golden Eagles to fall in the first round, to no avail. Utah State lost by one. Another round of thank-yous.

Florida State: The team that beat UNC in the ACC tourney. I had them in the Sweet 16 on grounds they would eat up Wisconsin from the what-I-thought-was-a-weak Big 10 and then do similarly over Xavier, who plays in the somewhat good A10. Nope. ‘Noles lose to Badgers by two. Another two victories I won’t see.

VCU: This was the great pick! I mean c’mon. UCLA, who had not looked that good and was coming out of the unconvincing Pac-10, against a well-coached VCU team with the same star guard, Eric Maynor, that beat Duke two years ago? I filled it in right away – VCU over UCLA. VCU goes down by one.

Western Kentucky: A very similar team, with many of the same players, to last year’s Sweet 16 team. I was definitely taking them over Illinois, which they did accomplish, and tried to flex superior knowledge and pick them over Gonzaga as well. One last-second layup later, they were bounced by two points. Great D on that last play Hilltoppers. Y’all WERE my boys!

 

Clemson: Oh, this one’s the best. Given I see them play in the ACC fairly often, I was going to give them the benefit of a doubt this year. Finally, Clemson was going to pull it out and perform decently in the Big Dance. Similar to the way I predicted Fla. State, I had Clemson in the Sweet 16, upsetting Oklahoma no less. Guess the Tigers will just have to wail til next year. They didn’t get out of the first round.

So by a combined 11 points (with five of those from one game), I lost out on six games that I picked in my brackets, the games those picks actually lost and any future-round games that I might have had them winning. So as far as the office pool(s) [I'm in two] I guess I’ll be waiting til next March like most of the teams in this post.

One pick is still intact though, mostly becaus they now have the ACC’s all-time leading scorer on their team, Tyler Hansbrough. Suck it, JJ!

HEELS ALL THE WAY!

March Madness Bracket

Haven’t take any extreme time to examine the NCAA tournament bracket, but here’s my first impressions after watching the selection show.

Louisville got shafted. They have by far the toughest bracket.
Pitt and UConn got a nice path laid out for them. Duke and Memphis are the weaker No. 2 seeds in my opinion.
UNC has its work cut out for it. OU, ‘Cuse and Gonzaga is a fairly tough draw, though they would only potentially have to face either OU or ‘Cuse in the Elite 8 because both are on the bottom half of the region.

ACC is getting represented well. It tied the Big East for tourney selections with Maryland sneaking in there. 

It’s gonna be a great month. 

Let the madness begin!

UNC Wins ACC

It’s time to feed the blog. Other than general laziness, I haven’t updated because I’ve been consumed with the Tar Heels win on Sunday, and subsequent ACC regular season crown. Friends and I once again patronized (as in were patrons of) Crystal City Sports Pub for the game, which has proven to be a great place because of all the UNC fans it attracts. (It’s the alumni association’s bar – go figure)

We wanted to make sure we got some good seats so we got there about four hours before game time. Needless to say we were some of the few people there that early, and our tab was exorbitant. You can do a lot of damage in about six hours of drinking.

Hansbrough’s senior speech was apprently long and misty, and I wish I could have heard the whole thing. Let me know if any of you readers can find it online. Ty Lawson I think solidified himself as ACC player of the year by almost logging a triple-double – eight boards and nine assists! After the countless blue cups and cheers and curses, order had been restored. The Heels won the ACC and took over the No. 1 ranking in both polls.

Now as for that elusive No. 1 overall seed, it’s tough to say whether the Heels will get it even if they win the ACC tourney. It could be argued that if Pitt or Louisville manages to win the Big East Tournament that they should be the No. 1 overall. Pitt because they would have beaten UConn three times (once in BE tourney) and then possibly Louisville, the regular season champs, and Louisville because they would have pulled off winning the toughest (arguably) conference’s season and tournament. UConn should get a No. 1 seed, but I’m not sure they can get the No. 1 overall anymore after getting swept by Pitt in the regular season. So much to think about, and only a week until March Madness.

God, I love my birth month.

I’ve got some homebrewing mishaps to talk about another day when I’m not as busy.