Month: March 2008 (Page 11 of 21)

The brackets are out and the committee has spoken. Arizona State is this year’s Syracuse. Let the whining begin. I can see their point. How can the committee put in a mediocre Arizon team just because they had close losses. This is a travesty that Arizona made it and deserving teams like Virginia Tech, VCU and Dayton all had better credentials. But alas, you can’t don anything about it and that is part of March Madness.

More importantly, I am going to give you my first round picks and the Final Four. Also, as I have done for many years I am going to give you winners by whose mascot would be able to take the other one in a match-up. For what I mean, check this out. Here we go:

Coach Z’s Crystal Ball–
First round winners:

North Carolina over who cares
Indiana over Arkansas (Gordon and White–best 1-2 punch in college)

George Mason over Notre Dame (tournament tested)
Washington State over Winthrop (seniors experience)

St. Joe over Oklahoma (better guards)
Louisville over Boise State (too much depth)

Butler over South Alabama (Seniors know how to win)
Tennessee over American (Depth and talent win out)

Kansas over Portland State (2nd string could start for Vikings)
Kent State over UNLV (another magical run for the Mac)

Villanova over Clemson (better guards and foul shooters)
Vandy over Siena (battle tested in SEC)

Kansas State over USC (AAU teammates battle it out)
Wisconsin over Fullerton (size and strength wins out)

Davidson over Gonzaga (Curry is a difference maker)
Georgetown over UMBC (Too big)

Memphis over UTA (first bid ends early)
Miss. State over Oregon (no magic left for the ducks)

Michigan State over Temple (Schizophrenic Spartans play on)
Pittsburgh over ORU (Toughness is what Dixon’s teams pride themselves on)

Marquette over Kentucky (better guards)
Stanford over Cornell (Twin towers)

St. Mary’s over Miami (This years upset)
Texas over Austin Peay

UCLA over M.Valley
BYU over Texas A & M

Western Kentucky over Drake (Miracle season ends)
UConn over San Diego

Purdue over Baylor (Freshman are now sophs)
Xavier over Georgia

West Virgina over Arizona (Huggins philosophys wins out)
Duke over Belmont

These are my picks as chosen by the battle of the mascots:
North Carolina (doesn’t matter what there mascot is)
Hoosiers over Razorbacks (Hoosiers carry guns)

Patriots over Fighting Irish (Guns win out again)
Cougars over Eagles (Eagles are on the endangered species list for a reason)

Sooners overs Hawks (Guns win again)
Cardinals over Broncos (Cards peck them to death)

Bulldogs over Jaguars (Everyone knows Bulldogs are tough animals)
Volunteers over Eagles (federal laws are suspended during tourney time and the Vols shoot them down)

Jayhawks over Vikings (how can you defeat a mythical bird)
Golden Flashes over Runnin Rebels (you can’t run faster than the speed of light)

Wildcats over Tigers (both from cat family, but in this case I take the wilder one)
Commodores over Saints (Saints by nature are pacifists)

Trojans over Wildcats (Trojans have swords and arrows)
Badgers over Titans (Titans drowned in the river dammed up by the badgers)

Bulldogs over Wildcats (Dogs always beat cats)
Hoyas over Retrievers (Retrievers are not aggressive dogs)

Tigers over Mavericks (Tigers hunt in packs)
Bulldogs over Ducks (Need I say more)

Spartans over Owls (Spears hit a slow moving bird)
Panthers over Golden Eagles (Golden wings weighs them down)

Golden Eagles over Wildcats (This time they fall on the cats, thus killing them)
Cardinal over Big Red (neither team has a true mascot so I take the tree over the gum)

Hurricanes over Gaels (Everyone saw what tornado did to Atlanta/ a hurricane is more powerful)
Longhorns over Governors (NO stopping the stampede)

Bruins over Delta Devil (don’t know what a Delta Devil is)
Cougars over Aggies (lured into the Mountains the Aggies can’t survive)

Hilltoppers over Bulldogs (The trip to the top of the hill kills the dogs)
Huskies over Toreros (Hunting in packs takes away the sword advantage)

Boilermakers over the Bears (Brains over brawn)
Muskateers over Bulldogs (Slicing up to make doggie stew)

Mountaineers over Wildcats (Muskets whack the cats)
Blue Devils over Bruins (Any coach that looks like it’s mascot gets a free pass to next round)

Georgia has done the unthinkable. They have won four games in a row to win the SEC tournament and crash the NCAA Dance. Let’s take a closer look at what they did. They beat Ole Miss in overtime. They came back and beat Kentucky the next day in overtime. Then they came back six hours later and knocked off the regular season champion, Mississippi State.

Today they beat Arkansas. Talk about miraculous runs. They won four games in three days after only winning four games in two months. That is persistence. Hats off to Dennis Felton who rallied his tropps when most team would have packedc up and went on Spring Break. This truly is a great start to “March Madness.”

The Jayhawks are clicking on all cylinders. In beating the Texas Longhorns in today’s Big 12 championship they have assured themselves a number one seed. This team is deep and deadly. With Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson patroling the middle and giving them an inside presence teams are going to have to help out. That leaves open shooters like Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers.

The key to this team’s destiny in the NCAA tournament is going to be Sheron Collins. He is a playmaker that can create for himself and for his teammates. He demonstrated this in clutch situations today. Either scoring himself or creating for wide open shots by Rush and Chalmers. The other key is going to wether or not Brandon Rush will make the big play. Too often in his college career he has passed up shots to be unselfish. However, for them to win it all, he needs to show a little selfish and the will to take the big shot.

In the Big Ten, Illinois dreams came to an end as they ran into a well drilled Wisconsin team. Bo Ryan’s club has now won both regular and conferene tournament titles. This while replacing three starters from last year. Ryan is surely my choice for Coach of the Year.

With conference tournaments ending this weekend look for the help wanted signs to be posted at many schools. Sometimes justified and sometimes not. It all depends on the administration and how realistic, experienced and knowledgeable they may be.

A couple of openings bound to attract attention are Rice and Providence. Front runners for the Friars job will be Jim Laranaga (George Mason), Fran McCafrey (Siena) and back from NCAA suspension, Jim O Brien. My money is on McCafrey. He has the Saints in the tourney. His third different team he has taken to the dance.

Rice frontrunners could be Josh Pastner if they are looking for a young, inexperienced coach and Pat Flannery. Flannery led Bucknell to back to back NCAA tourney wins over Arkansas and Kansas and has the experience at an academic school.