It's finally here, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Except for the NFL playoffs, this is my favorite sporting event. I like it because it's one loss and home--no second chances, no mulligans, no best of seven series.
For the next three weeks, the sporting world will be prognosticating on the outcomes and results of the games, as well as the predictions for upsets. It will be the topic of much conversation at workplaces everywhere, many will enter pools to win money.
And so it goes that once again, Butler University was screwed by the committee. I know they do not play in a power conference, but they were undefeated in Horizon League play. They won every regular season conference game, the conference tourney, and got rewarded with a #5 seed. They will be playing the one team that can do some major damage in the tourney, #12 seed UTEP.
Duke, as always, gets an easy break. Their regional is by far the easiest, and in no way should they have been seeded higher than West Virgina. So once again Duke fans have nothing to gripe about and this just shows why so many people root against them.
I did see the Big 12 final, the Kansas-Kansas State game on Saturday. Both teams played well, Kansas just had a little more oomph.
Georgia Tech gave overrated Duke a lot of fits in the ACC final, yesterday. I won't be surprised to see Duke exited in the Sweet 16 round.
One team that may do some credible damage will be New Mexico. They have some good team players and hustlers on that team and are well-coached.
Anyway, PYY will do its best to cover the high points of the 2010 Big Dance. So stay tuned for top-notch opinionated coverage, right here.
8 comments:
I never follow college hoops until the tournament starts. But I love the tournament and watch as many games as I can. You simply can't match the passion of the young guys playing for nothing but pride. It's just about the best sports event I can think of, and it's perfectly placed between the NFL and MLB seasons. Ah, March Madness.
p.s. - Duke hater here, too (i.e., I didn't go there). :)
I can't believe Carolina and Memphis are in the NIT. They must be near suicide in Chapel Hill.
Greg,
Mt beef with Duke is year after year we hear Dick Vitale sing their praises and predict them winning it all, well before the first opening tip. "Gotta go with Duke baby" irritates me to no end. And then to see them get preferential treatment in seedings and in officiating, sets me off into moderate to severe agitation.
I do have a lot of respect for the program Coach K has built though.
AC,
Not only NC and Memphis, but IU and UCLA are also missing from the big dance. They are getting used to it in Bloomington. IU has been thoroughly decimated by Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson, and I am not so sure they will recover anytime too soon.
UConn's in the NIT too. Weird indeed to see those perennial powerhouses out of the big tournament.
LAS, even with Duke's favorable seeding, they aren't that good and will probably be bounced soon. It will just be from higher seed, making it all the more painful and embarrassing. Here's hoping they lose to the 16 seed!
Also, here's an article backing up your feelings on the subject.
http://boston.stats.com/cbk/story.asp?i=20100315223714340000101
Greg,
When I wrote the post, I hadn't even thought of UConn. But as the article points out, AZ didn't make it either.
Programs do hit low spots at times, but not sure that I can ever remember this many in one year. That may mean that someone with clout got it wrong.
But when all is said and done, I do take the same attitude about this as any other sport. Although I love watching football and the NCAA tourney, it's just sports.
Beyond all of the spin and criticism of the selection (both valid and invalid), once the games begin it will mostly be forgotten. Most of the people will go back to bitching about the lousy officiating and blown coaching decision.....until it ends with a winner.
BTW---I picked Kansas as the winner of my bracket, winning over West Virginia in the final. The other two teams in my Final Four were Ks St. and Notre Dame. I couldn't decide between ND and Baylor, so I went with the in-state school.
LA is a red-haired kid.
Ha
Eric
Eric,
Have you seen Mustang? He's missing again.
He hasn't been taking his Aricept and now he's wandered off. The last time he did this, we found him sleeping in the zoo with the orangutans and they were not happy. He ate their food and messed up their cage, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, if anyone has seen him, please call your local law enforcement agency.
Thanks.
Mrs. Mustang
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