I am assuming I am the tallest person blogging....I would say thats a pretty safe assumption, The only person taller than me that I know has a hard time tying his shoes...let alone turing on a computer.

Monday, March 24, 2008

What We Learned...Rd 1 & 2

Recap of the first two rounds of the NCAA's....Where we have been, Where we are going, and How we are gonna get there...

EAST

Pretty ho-hum first days of action, no real surprises... UNC scored over a 100 in every game played, not sure I would want anything to do with them. Washington St. is better than advertised, they play good D which usually leads to deep runs in the tournament. Tennessee, I am still not sold on them, I just don't think its their year.

Indiana fulfilled its destiny and ended its collapse in fine fashion. Nice work Hosiers, any team that threatens not to make a road trip because of a mid season coaching change has its priorities out of whack. Your coach cheated, AGAIN, he is gone, deal with it. Eric Gordon good player but he has alot to learn.

Better than expected:
Butler, I picked them to beat Tenn. but I will admit it was a suspect pick.
UNC, not sure you can be better than a number one seed but they are scary.
Washington St, D and rebounding go far in the tournament.
Louisville, still not sold but the way they handled Oklahoma, I will give them props, their zone is tough.

Who didn't show up:
Indiana, Should have just called the season after the coaching change.

Where we are going:
UNC wins the East. Tennessee and Louisville will be a great game, but I am not sure either can hang with the 'heels. Gotta be disciplined to beat the 'heels and both Louisville and Tennessee struggle in that department.

MIDWEST

This bracket is shot, My final four team is still alive but that's about it. KU is playing good enough to win, but I like my pick of Wisconsin. Davidson is the surprise of the tournament, Curry is a baller, but I don't think the match up with Wisconsin is a good one for him.

Better than expected:
Davidson, the game against G-Town, wow, I did not think they could do it, but there they are in the sweet 16.
'Nova, Granted there second round opponent was Sienna, but they played their way into the sweet 16. Too bad they win the right to get run out of the gym by KU, losing your starting center is not a good start to this week for 'Nova

Who didn't show up:
Clemson, thanks, nice ACC tournament run only to crap the bed when the real lights are on
Vandy, Wow, Way to lay an egg in the opening round that 4 seed might have been a little high huh?
G-Town, Don't even know what to say
USC, what happened to all the athletes that they were supposed to have?

Where are we going:
I would love to see a KU v. Wisconsin game, I think that would be a good match up of fast v. slow, I picked Wisconsin mostly because I don't trust KU. Look for Wisconsin to represent the Midwest.

SOUTH

Not alot of seeding upset but I had a few picks that didn't pan out. I hate the Lopez brothers, and still don't understand why at the end of Overtime, Marquette didn't double. Blows my mind. I hate Memphis, I don't care how good you are if you cannot hit over half your free throws you will not win, they pretty much gave the game back to Mississippi St.

Better than expected:
Stanford, I hate them, and refuse to comment
Miami, who according to some had no business being in the tournament, gave Texas a run for their money.
Michigan St., The Big 10 is better than previously thought, Defense and Rebounding win. The game against a very good Pittsburgh team sold me on that.

Who didn't show up:
I think this was a pretty sound bracket, but maybe Pittsburgh, to only score 54 points is not gonna cut it
Memphis free throws, yeah sub 50% is not showing up. Just waiting for that to bite them hard.

Where are we going:
I have Texas advancing, I would love to see Memphis lose to Michigan St. and all because of free throws, I don't think I will be that lucky. Texas will represent the South, an elite 8 game in Houston spells trouble for the Tigers.

WEST

Kind of a Cluster, UCLA survived, Duke lost, and Xavier went about business as usual.

Better than expected:
Western Ky, Played their way into the sweet 16 by beating Drake at the buzzer, congrats, here's your pounding by UCLA
San Diego, I am not sure if they are that good or if UCONN is that bad
West Virginia, Any time you beat Duke its a good thing.

Who didn't show up:
Drake, the lights came on and they were blinded by them. Deer in the headlights, they made a game of it but still, this shouldn't have been a game.
UCONN, I don't feel bad for overrated teams
Duke, should have never been a 2 seed, but they way they lost just made me hate them even more. Starting 5 shooters who weigh an average of 135 is not a good way to win ball games. Live and Die by the three.

Where we are going:
My brackets want UCLA to win but my heart wants Xavier. If UCLA plays the way it did against A&M its possible. I think UCLA's bad game is out of their system. Look for UCLA to advance.

Over all thoughts:
The Big 10 is better than expected, Michigan St. is going to be a tough out, much like Wisconsin, they will slow the game down and beat you up on the other end.

The Big East is not overly impressive, many of the teams had all the hype, and I am still waiting to see a team that really impresses me from the Big East

The ACC, is what it is, one dominant team which is still alive. But, as always, they get all the hype.

Smaller schools teams are why I love this tournament, the first 4 days is what the madness is all about.

Higher Seeds should stay out of Tampa. I hope the people who bought tickets enjoyed the second round match ups.

12 Comments:

Blogger Jum said...

Solid work here. As you know, I would welcome a KU/Wisconsin matchup. We'll play ugly with them if they want to.

8:38 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like your post but I do have a couple of comments. One is that you are ripping some of these teams but I don't remember you showing up to the big dance when the "lights are on." Also, a couple of blogs ago (or the cbs blog) you talked about the MVC and how they got screwed by only getting Drake into the tourney. Just to let you know that the MVC should have only got one team in. It's ok because the ACC had a down year as well. And yes I do know that Duke was not that good this year and they lost in the second round.

Also, it has been over 85 days since we have talked. Are you going to call me back?

NateN

11:22 AM

 
Blogger Patrick Rosenquist said...

The MVC does get screwed. Perennially, with Creighton, Bradley, UNI, Drake...they always have teams that can play and do damage. Drake took too long to get going and decided to play WKU at their own game and lost. If they slowed down and played a half-court style and relaxed a little bit, Drake would've won. Wasn't a huge upset in my eyes though.

11:28 AM

 
Blogger Jonathan said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

11:50 AM

 
Blogger Patrick Rosenquist said...

Problem is, the only teams that could make a reasonable case for the tourney from the MVC would be Illinois State and Creighton. But they lost they're only tough non-conference games and Creighton was inconsistent in the MVC.

11:58 AM

 
Blogger Patrick Rosenquist said...

their*

11:59 AM

 
Blogger Jonathan said...

Nate N.--

I guess losing by 5 to a National Runner up, and Losing by 5 to a team that went to the last 8 is not showing up. You must have missed that Not every team that lost is on the didn't show up part...I am sorry that you take DUKE losing so god damn personal. They didn't show, They were not deserving of a #2 seed, and didnt play like a #2 seed, see Belmont and WVU if you think they did.
At UNI we had a 13 seed, and a 10 seed. Both games were close.

The Valley did get screwed, the 5th toughest confernece is deserves more than one bid, See UCONN, See Baylor, see BYU, see Temple, see Clemson. I guess its better if the big Conferences get that 7th and 8th team in.

And Yeah Duke was bad this year, and yeah you should take your lumps, because you sure on the highest moutain screaming out about how great they are, if and when they are good. But god forbid, someone put them on a "Didn's show up list" when its clear they didn't.

Your response was to say that Duke Losing to WVU and almost losing to Belmont, is the better than UNI taking Ga. Tech to the wire, or coming down the stretch with Wisc. You tell me, which team is playing at max potential?

And please keep track, 85 days and counting....Chicks do that, I am sorry I am busy, I am not good about returning phone calls Its nothing personal, Its just one of my flaws...

PS please don't make me start talking about not showing up when the lights are on.

12:05 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahahhaha. First of all my post had nothing to do with Duke being on the did not show up list. I could care less. In fact, I am saying they didn't show up the last 10-15 games of the year.

I just wanted to get you fired up. And this year, I disagree and don't think any other MVC schools should have got in. Other years yes. Thats just my opinion.
NateN

12:37 PM

 
Blogger Jum said...

Yeahhhh! Who needs Dunph v. Hammen when we've got Godfread v. Noland!

Duke will struggle until they start recruiting black players again, and the MVC is using four years of glory and trying to parlay it into a decade's worth of respect. Annnnnd....discuss.

1:22 PM

 
Blogger Jonathan said...

I dislike the attitude that this is a big boys tournament, and we will let the little guys in just because we are nice...Aww isn't that cute that Davidson is in the sweet 16, what a good story, save it. What makes this tournament fun is watching games like Davison v. G-Town, or Duke v. Belmont...I really don't need to see a bad UCONN get a 4 seed. Speaking of taking years of glory and parlaying them into a 4 seed. Why do the RPI rankings at all? Why have any of that crap if you are gonna only let one team in from the 5th toughest conference? The valley got screwed. And this is not takeing 4 years of glory and trying to make it more, this is plain and simple facts.

1:32 PM

 
Blogger Jum said...

I know I was kidding. But I do disagree with your UCONN beef. They only reason they lost to San Diego was they lost their starting point guard (unDOUBTEDly their MVP) to an injury.

2:04 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bergman- Are you talking RPI Jon-Jon? The ACC was the toughest conference compared to the RPI and I bet if they got six teams into the tournament they would have done better than their tournament record. I hate hearing arguments about who my team barely lost to. How about close it out and beat a team! I'm not ripping your D-1 career because I was loving the tournament when I "knew" someone in it. However, I hate it when one or two teams from the lower conferences make a run into the tournament and then expect their enitre conference should go to the big dance. Get Real.

11:28 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home