Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday 02/28 (Very) Quickie

Sorry for the light posting this weekend. I'm in Atlanta and access to the Web is spotty. Unfortunately, I'm flying back during the US-Canada hockey game, but hoping I can track things via in-flight WiFi.


Meanwhile, aside from satisfying a craving for Chik-Fil-A and Waffle House, I got a chance to go to the Hawks game on Friday night. More on that tomorrow, but it was a great game. I had never seen Jason Kidd in person, so the fact that he had a monster triple-double -- not to mention that crazy play where he ran into the Hawks coach -- was fun. I have a lot of thoughts on Josh Smith, coming tomorrow.


The Kansas and Kentucky losses are precisely the kind of late-season results that can mess with your mind, as we all start to think about how to fill out our brackets. I had been sitting on Syracuse as my pick to win it all -- thinking the majority of people would pick KU or UK -- but after yesterday, Syracuse will likely be the popular pick to win it all. (We'll see if the Big East Tournament cools things off.)


On a random note, I cannot believe that people are still listing Purdue as a No. 1 seed -- these "real-time" brackets completely undercut their credibility by not dropping Purdue until they prove that, without Hummel, they are still worthy of a No. 1. Let's wait and see what they do against Michigan State -- or even in the Big Ten tournament. But I stand by Friday's column: Without Hummel, they are -- at best -- a 4-seed. Tournament seeding should reflect late-season injuries.

But, anyway, yesterday was a great day of games -- precisely for the craziness. (I watched the Florida loss to Georgia in UGA country, and it sucked. I don't understand how Florida can beat Tennessee one night, then lose to Georgia the next; actually, that's exactly the profile of a Bubble team that does NOT deserve to get in... if they do, I can't imagine not picking them to get bounced out early.)

I loved that New Mexico win over BYU -- but I have no idea how to value UNM (or BYU, for that matter) against the Tournament field. Are the Lobos a Xavier-style squad that will make a run to the Elite Eight? Or a nouveau riche pretender that will earn a 3-seed only to flame out early, like South Carolina in 1997 (2-seed loss to Coppin State).

Anyway, complete catch-up tomorrow, both in the SN column and here on the blog. The USA-Canada hockey game should be insane -- I was too young for 1980 (as is anyone under the age of 40), and so this is arguably the most interesting or exciting hockey game that I or anyone under the age of 40 can remember. I'm bummed to not be able to watch it live, but hopefully I can follow the live-blogs and tweets about it, then catch extended highlights. That'll teach me to not bring my laptop on the road for the weekend. If I had to make a Quickie jinx prediction, it would be that Canada is going to win -- it is just easier to be fueled by justifiable revenge than it is to find the power to pull a second straight upset over a superior team on its home ice. I didn't think it was possible for otherwise docile Canadians to get insanely fired up, but this would be the moment.

-- D.S.

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