Saturday, March 10, 2007

Saturday 03/10 Quickie:
Champ Week Showdowns

Saturday: Few Bubble implications left as big-time conference tourneys reach their semis and finals. Lots of seed jockeying, with the 1-seeds still up in the air. Or at least they SHOULD be. (Again: Not that getting a 1-seed matters.)

ACC: OK, so maybe UVA was a wee bit overrated, but let's credit NC State for being uber-motivated. This IS their NCAA Tournament.

Big East: G'town-Pitt should be for a No. 1 seed. More likely, the winner gets a 2 and the loser gets a 3.

Big Ten: Illinois locked its at-large bid with that OT win over Indiana (even though everyone knows the Hoosiers are BRUTAL away from home).

Big 12: What did I say? As long as Oklahoma State isn't playing a TRUE road game, they're NCAA material. And the entire NCAA Tournament is neutral courts. That should factor in, along with OK St's win over TX A&M, which lost its chance for a 1-seed. (Meanwhile, Durant-Boggan III should be as good as any title fight.)

Pac-10: So much for my Wazzu love. If you haven't watched a lot of West Coast hoops this season, this USC-Oregon title game is a must-see.

SEC: Of the four teams in the semis, Arkansas is the most Bubbling. A win over tourney lock Mississippi State would be huge. (But enough?)

A-10: That's one more Bubble team that's hurting, now that the A-10's only legit NCAA team, Xavier, was bounced and will be an at-large bid.

Mountain West: UNLV-BYU should be for a 2-seed, but the winner likely locks into a 3-seed. Still, if you don't want to be freaked out when you see these teams on your bracket tomorrow night, keep an eye on this game.

WAC: I hope we can all finally agree that Nevada is overrated.

Top 5 Games of the Day, Ranked:
(1) G'town-Pitt
(2) Texas-OK St
(3) USC-Oregon
(4) NC St-VA Tech
(5) UNC-BC

More:

Rhodes to the "Rhaiders": Didn't Oakland just bring in LaMont Jordan to be their featured RB? Guess not.

Droughns to the Giants: I'd like to know when Tiki is going to interview him on the Today show.

Chris Simon suspended indefinitely: Well, no shit.

Sixers win 6th straight: Maybe they found out that Kevin Durant won't be coming out this year, so they can afford to blow their Lottery shot.

-- D.S.

15 comments:

nep1293 said...

Mississippi St is a tourney lock? You must be talking about the NIT. Only way they get in the big dance is to win the SEC.


I've been studying a lot of these teams over the last few days and to me it looks as if it will be a year in which most of the seeds are going to hold up until the sweet 16. The top 3-4 seeds seem to have a big gap between the rest of the field. I'd really be surprised if anyone lower than a 4 was still around at the Elite 8. Of course I never seem to do good picking a bracket so it could be just the opposite.


The Sixers are playing some fun and good basketball lately but I am really pissed here. They won't ever win a title with this team. The best they'll ever do is become what they have been, a middle of the pack Eastern Conference team. This season needed to be tanked and now they are in the freakin playoff picture. I had a feeling when they traded AI that they would become just good enough to screw this up and it looks like they did. BTW, Joe Smith has been a real solid player lately, he would've looked real good on a top tier team coming off the bench. It's kind of a shame he was a #1 overall pick. It makes you think he's a bum, but he's a good pro

jhawkjjm said...

Too many locks in your opinion Dan. Remember that Nevada also lost so there's another bubble burst for some other team. I think Illinois needs to win today, and with K State's win over Texas Tech, Tech might be outside looking in now, even with those three big wins (2 at home).

Ryan Bowman said...

No freakin' way Mississippi State gets in unless they at least go to and don't lay a stinker in the SEC Championship. Looking even less likely now as at-large bids are being eaten up like Pac-Man.

Agree with the last poster. Illinois hasn't quite sealed their bid yet and probably needs to beat Wisconsin today. Purdue is in better standing for an at-large than the Illini right now, and you didn't even mention them or their thrashing of Iowa.

Matt T said...

Florida looked like a top 5 team again last night.

If they win the tourney give them a 1 seed.

Shums said...

You really think the winner of UNLV-BYU gets a 3-seed? I definitely appreciate the love, but doubt that will happen. Historically, the Mountain West teams have ALWAYS been underseeded. Lunardi and other writers will plug them in at a certain number, and invariably the committee will slot them two or three seeds lower.

Here's hoping, though.

Anonymous said...

Al Jefferson,Dan is unfolding into a star going under the radar for Boston.Another solid game versus Seattle last night.

Unknown said...

Shanoff, what are you smoking? MS State NEEDS to beat Arkansas today and then they NEED to beat Florida or Ole Miss tomorrow. OK State's not going anywhere but the NIT either unless they beat Texas today.

And Nevada's not overrated. They lost in the WAC semis to a usually good-at-tourney-time Utah State and assured their conference two bids. That's not overrated. That's smart.

ToddTheJackass said...

BC looks totally overmatched by UNC. We'll be lucky to lose by less than 20 at this point.

If BC gets matched up in the first round of the tourney against a good, athletic team who runs transition well, I'd think about taking the other team.

The heroin sheik said...

A bit late with this post but thursday night I went to the magic bulls game. It totally reminded me why I don't like pro basketball. It seemed like the magic were just going through the motions. Honestly the highlight of the game was at halftime when they had a bunch of stripper hot girls(cheerleaders methinks) do dunks off the trampoline where the finale was five girls tossing it off the backboard with the fifth girl dunking then the sixth girl put up a sticker ala d. howard at the dunk contest. The magic don't deserve to make the playoffs playing like that. I think when I left at the fourth quarter they were shooting 30% from the field, 37% from the stripe and 13 from 3. Atrocious.

The gators looked strong yesterday. If they play like that they could breeze through to the final four. It always feels good to beat UGA in any sport.

Anyone notice how the dodges are the top four cars for the vegas race. It seems that as little as a five yrs ago dodges sucked and were always behind ford and chevy. Good to see that things rise and fall in that sport and that is a good thing for toyota.

Unknown said...

Ewing-Thompson

Seeing a John Thompson coaching a Patrick Ewing at Georgetown is really an amazing thing for those who remember the same situation a generation ago.

Apparently opposing fans yelled that Daddy is better to Ewing Jr. His response was "No kidding." Seems like he has his head on straight. It turns out that he took his Dad's old locker in the Knicks locker room yesterday. Apparently Pat Sr. noticed. Ewing Jr. may never make the NBA but even as a Syracuse fan, I like the kid and am rooting for him.

Jayhawk 4 Life said...

After watching the KU game, there are only 2 things they need to do and they have a great shot in the tourney (no one is EVER a lock)...KU has gotta learn to make free throws, and they have to absolutely step on the throat of the opponent when they get them down...They tend to lose focus which scares me. Not quite as much as the possibility of getting paired with a "B" school in the first round again...I cheered harder last nite when Bucknell lost than I have in a long time.

jhawkjjm said...

KU Texas rematch for the Big 12 title on Sunday. Rematch from the game last week, as well as a rematch of the Big 12 Championship game last year as well. I'm curious to see if Durant can light KU up again. My bet would be yes.

JDM said...

So that Georgetown Final Four pick looks halfway decent after tonight. I'll be honest Dan, I thought you were crazy when I saw that pick. And I still think you're on crack for picking GA Tech to go. But what do I know, I picked UVA to win the ACC tournament.

Ingrid and Jim said...

Dan, I believe the Raiders deserve most of the crap that people give them. I'm a Raider fan, and even I can admit that this team is pathetic.

Still, you can't make fun of them for bringing in Rhodes. The 2 RB system is the way to go. Just ask the past 2 Super Bowl champs. And now with Griffith blocking, we might actually win 3 games this year.

The Big Picture said...

so much for that pac-10 game...oregon just ran through that conference tourney like a turnstile.

the ducks are peaking (the UW alum in me kills me to say that) and should be a three seed. maybe a four.

ucla still a one? UNC and Florida are gonna need to lose.

this year's tourney is gonna have some dangerous low seeds. arizona. kentucky. duke. all perennial powers, they will be scary for a No. 1 in Round 2.