Hitler’s bracket just imploded…
Tag: 2010 NCAA Tournament (Page 9 of 17)
SPORTSbyBROOKS has a source that has confirmed that expansion to 96-teams is pretty much a done deal.
In the past week I’ve learned from a CBS source that the NCAA has privately informed its current March Madness television partner that 96 teams “will happen.” The change will likely take effect beginning next season. 2012 at the latest.
Earlier this month, I wrote the following on the subject of expansion:
We lost Kansas and Villanova this weekend, but the other six #1 and #2 seeds are still standing. Bracket-wise, I thought I was dead after losing my overall winner Kansas, but it turns out that if my other FF picks come in — Syracuse, Duke and West Virginia — I can still win. Come on, Mountaineers!
Jeff Sagarin’s ratings are doing pretty well across the board. In games where the favorite has an advantage of three points or more, they are 23-7. Sagarin is 4-2 in predicting winners where the favorite has a 2-3 point advantage, and is 10-2 in games where the favorite has a 0-2 point advantage. That last part is pretty impressive, and way out of Sagarin’s norm in predicting winners in the last few years.
Ken Pomeroy’s ratings are 19-4 in picking picks where he gives the winner a 70%+ chance of winning, 4-2 in the 65-70% range, 2-2 in the 60-65% range and 11-4 in the 50-60% range. Basically, the slight favorites have ended up winning a vast majority of the games, and it’s helping Sagarin and Pomeroy’s records in tight matchups.
Here’s a look ahead at the Sweet 16 games:
Michigan State vs. Northern Iowa
Line: MSU -7 (off?)
Sagarin Line: MSU -2.08
Pomeroy: MSU (51.0%)
Even before Kalin Lucas’ Achilles injury, both Sagarin and Pomeroy saw this matchup as a virtual tossup. With Lucas out, I have to think the Panthers are the favorite. They have a nice mix of shooters and big men, and are coming off of a huge win against the top overall seed in the tournament. UNI’s confidence is high and they have all the tools to beat the Spartans, who will have to go without their best player. The game is in St. Louis too, so if the Panther faithful show up, UNI could have the crowd on it side. My pick: Northern Iowa +7 and straight up
Kelvin Sampson may be gone — he’s an assistant coach for the surging Milwaukee Bucks — but his former players (and recruits) are doing a lot of damage in the tourney.
Six guys who either played for or were recruited by Sampson all made the field in different uniforms and five of them were still playing when the second round tipped off.
“I hadn’t thought about that, but I guess there are a lot of us,’’ said West Virginia’s Devin Ebanks, a top five recruit who decommitted after Sampson was booted at IU.
Damion James, ousted in the first round when Texas lost to Wake Forest, was supposed to play at Oklahoma but he was released from his scholarship after Sampson left OU for Indiana, leaving a trail of NCAA stink behind and no players for Jeff Capel.
Scottie Reynolds could have been James’ teammate. Instead Capel let him out of his commitment, too. On Saturday he and Villanova lost to St. Mary’s in the second round.
Armon Bassett, angry at the university’s decision to force Sampson out, was reportedly part of a pack of players that threatened not to play after Sampson left. He was dismissed by interim head coach Dan Dakich, reinstated by Crean and then booted again. On Thursday night, Bassett led Ohio University to one of the more stunning first-round upsets, scoring 32 in a win against Georgetown.
With players leaving left and right, Jordan Crawford told Crean in June 2008 that he, too, would be leaving Bloomington. He transferred to Xavier. The Musketeers will play Pitt in the second-round on Sunday.
Sampson sure could recruit, but one wonders if all those illegal texts and phone calls were the reason why.
After dropping 32 points on Villanova, St. Mary’s big man, Omar Samhan, had a number of funny quotes in the post game press conference.
From the box score to his press conference one-liners, Samhan was both dominating and entertaining. He went 13 of 16 from the field — “I should have been 16-for-16, to be honest,” he said — to live up his nickname, Beast, which he has tattooed on the inside of his lip. That body art belies a throwback post game that showcased his bevy of back-to-the-basket moves and his soft touch.
Samhan said that the N.C.A.A. tournament has been a joy for him, because he regularly sees triple teams in the West Coast Conference. Villanova rarely doubled him Saturday, because they were scared to leave the Gaels host of deft shooters. Samhan criticized Villanova Coach Jay Wright for that decision.
“I get it,” he said. “I’m a slow white guy, and I’m overweight. So maybe you don’t respect me because I have good numbers. But after I kill you the first half, what are you waiting for. I don’t know what he wanted. Did he want me to have 40?”
Samhan wears two-year-old low-cut sneakers that are so worn there are holes in the toes big enough to stick his fingers in.
“We’re so old school,” Samhan said. “I’m in low tops. Our star point guard is named Mickey. Enough said.”
Samhan talks a lot of trash on and off the court, but in the process he exudes confidence that helps to settle his teammates down. When Villanova made its run, Samhan was usually there with a bucket to answer.
Basketball-wise, he can’t really jump and he’s not very quick, but he has a great touch and has a knack for getting open shots around the basket. His go-to move is to throw a little elbow shiver, which knocks the defender on his heels so he has enough room to get his shot off. The draft buzz lately has Samhan going somewhere in the second round, but it’s rare for guys his size (6’11”) to last that long. It will be interesting to see where he’s eventually drafted, because he’s not a player that is going to wow people with his athleticism in private workouts.
One thing is for sure — Samhan’s draft stock is getting a huge boost with the Gaels’ run to the Sweet Sixteen. St. Mary’s has the unenviable task of playing Baylor in Houston, which is only about 3.5 hours from the Bears’ campus in Waco. The crowd promises to be partisan, so Samhan will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to keep the Baylor fans quiet.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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