Sunday, March 08, 2009

Sunday 03/08 (Very) Quickie

Loved that Morehead State-Austin Peay game: That the 4-seed toppled the 1-seed made it all the more amazing.

Louisville deserves a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament for winning the Big East regular-season title outright and for being the No. 1 team in the country right now, capped with that win at West Virginia. As long as Pitt, Louisville and UConn all make the Big East semis, they should all be considered top contenders for a 1-seed, with UNC.

(My preseason pick for Louisville to win the national title looks really good right now, although the bandwagon is going to get super-crowded this week.)

Um, so what was that about Missouri being a team to watch? (Honestly, that really just speaks to the underrated depth at the top in the Big 12.)

Blake Griffin: 33 and 14 and the new single-season rebounding record in the Big 12. I think Oklahoma has a tougher path to a 1-seed than UNC or the Big Three from the Big East. But if they win the Big 12 Tournament, I could see the Committee wanting a little geographic parity among the 1-seeds, with one to OU, one to UNC and two to the top 2 out of L'ville, Pitt and UConn in the Big East Tournament.

Props to Washington for coming out of nowhere (compared to preseason expectations) and winning their first outright Pac-10 regular-season title since the mid-1950s. I'll admit to being totally baffled as to how to evaluate the Huskies' chances in the NCAA Tournament. (But I probably give them a better shot of going further than any other team from the Pac-10, except UCLA, for whom I remain in the tank for, bracket-wise.)

I said this last week and meant it: The SEC deserves one team in the NCAA Tournament -- the conference tournament winner. LSU losing at Auburn says less about Auburn (although Auburn IS underrated) than it does about LSU being absurdly overrated. I'd could see Auburn, hotter than any team in the conference, win the conference tournament.

(Tennessee? Meh: If they can win the SEC Tournament, they earned it -- otherwise...really? South Carolina? Feh. And Florida? You saw what I had to say about the Gators yesterday; as I project them to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, regardless of opponent, they'll be stealing an NCAA bid from a team that deserves it more, and I say that as a huge fan.)

T.O. to the Bills: There's not a lot of glitz or cachet to his new home city -- not like Dallas or Philly or San Francisco.

But the fans are arguably the best in the NFL, and they deserve the attention/circus that will come from having T.O. on the team. Not sure if they'll end up liking it...

WBC: Netherlands over the D.R. -- the D.R. is the A-Rod of the WBC. (Meanwhile: Does Adam Dunn's start in the WBC bode well for his new stint with the Nats?)

Counting down to Northwestern's play-in-to-play-in today at 5 at Ohio State. Biggest regular-season game for the program in its history...

-- D.S.

3 comments:

Steve said...

#1 Lousiville will not win the national championship, they won't even make the final 4. Good teams beat the press and if they aren't hitting their 3's they are toast.

#2 SEC with only 1 bid? That's just crazy. 3 bids is about right. The conference sucks, but not that badly.

#3 You are not allowed to jump on the Northwestern bandwagon after you stabbed them in the back.

Matthew Stollak said...

I think it is helpful to Louisville to play Marquette, Pitt, and UConn in Louisville, but hot have to travel to Storrs, or Milwaukee, or Pitt. Would they have the same record and standing if they had played each of these teams twice?

DougOLis said...

So you mention Missouri and Oklahomas but nothing about Kansas winning the Big-12 in a rebuilding year?