It seems rather weird that we are calling the play-in games the opening round. How can 60 teams get a bye? I don’t know why the networks and analysts don’t just cal them what they are: play-in games. Calling these games the opening round is like calling Sammie and Ronnie the main attraction of “Jersey Shore.” Sure we watch “Jersey Shore” to see Ronnie do a three-way kiss while Sammie is home or to see Sammie get caught texting some other guy, but that is all surface humor. The real attraction to “Jersey Shore” is the witty remarks of Pauly D and the Situation, seeing what Snookie will do when she’s hammered this episode, and watching Vinny use the vuvuzela whenever ugly girls are at the house. The play-in games are Ronnie and Sammie, we watch them because technically they are “NCAA tournament games”—and because the TV leaves a little to be desired on Tuesday and Wednsday nights--but they are not the reason we watch the tournament. We watch because we want to see Morehead State take down Louisville, not to see Clemson pound UAB or to see UNC-Asheville earn the right to be obliterated by Pittsburgh. Anyway that’s the end of my rant, here is what I took from yesterday and what I’m looking forward to about today:
Louisville lost to Morehead State, wow. Not only did they beat them, they outplayed them. I kept waiting for Louisville’s press to turn them over 3 or 4 possessions in a row and it just never happened. Right around 5 minutes left in the second-half I began to get the feeling that Louisville was just destined to lose this game. You know the feeling you get when you’re playing an EA sports game and everything is going wrong due to the computer’s mistakes—holding penalties in Madden, players picking up their dribble in NBA games, errors by the computer in MLB games, etc.—even though you feel like you are playing fine and should be winning? That’s how I felt about Louisville yesterday. I didn’t even think the Cardinals were playing that bad, they just ran into a hot team. When Demonte Harper picked up his dribble to shoot the game-winning 3 there was no doubt in my mind, I knew before the shot even left his hand that it was going to be cash. The good thing about that loss is that even though I had Louisville going to the Sweet 16 in virtually every bracket I made, so did every other half-wit in this country. No one could be dumb enough to think a 13 seed could beat a Rick Pitino coached team in the opening round at a neutral –site, right? I was so wrong about this game its crazy, I think I was more confident in Louisville winning two games than any other team outside the four one-seeds.
The other game that really piqued my interest yesterday was the Kentucky vs. Princeton game. I didn’t turn that game on till 5 minutes left in the second-half because I figured within minutes of turning it on, Kentucky would go on a 20-2 run and put the game out of reach. Turns out that didn’t happen. I was more shocked about the Kentucky game being close than any other. Kentucky should have been a nightmare matchup for an Ivy League school: Big, Fast, and filled with elite talent. I thought Kentucky was going to score 100, I was way off. The way I see it Kentucky can respond to this game in one of 2 ways: They could get the proverbial Bill Simmons “eff you edge” and proceed to pound their next 3 opponents, including Ohio State, and show everyone that they are the most talented team in the country. The other way they could respond is to get scared that they aren’t as good as they thought they were and get upset by Bob Huggins for the second year in a row. I’m hoping they respond in the first manner as I have them in the final four in a couple brackets.
There weren’t any other real shockers to me yesterday. Analysts—I’m looking at all of you ESPN—keep hyping Richmond’s victory of Vanderbilt as an upset. I have a huge problem calling this game and the Gonzaga/St. John’s game an upset. First of all lets define an “upset” in sports: My definition would be a team that wins a game in which it is given little to no chance to win (see Morehead State) and then shock everyone—analysts, fans, players, and coaches—by winning. Sure in the sense of seeding Richmond and Gonzaga pulled upsets. However, leading up to Thursday all we heard was Richmond is really good, Vandy are overrated, Gonzaga are gelling at the right time, and I don’t know if St. John’s can hold up without DJ Kennedy. If everyone thinks that the game is going to end in an upset, than it really isn’t an upset. Of the 13 or so people who were at my house yesterday and are also in my bracket pool, I’m pretty sure only 2 of them picked Vandy to win. That means that 11 out of 13 people picked Richmond, all the analysts picked Richmond, and the only people that didn’t pick Richmond were the NCAA selection committee. That is not an upset and neither was Gonzaga. Picking Richmond to win in the first round of your bracket isn’t a bold pick, it was pretty standard this year. You want to hear bold? In one of my brackets I had Michigan State playing in the Elite 8 (clank!), in another bracket I had Belmont playing Utah State in the second round(yea you can just burn that bracket now).
As for today there should be some decent games. Texas just finished escaping Oakland by 4. The Longhorns confuse me, I’ve been on the bandwagon all year and I really believe that they are one of the most talented teams in the country. Yet they have this propensity for just losing awful games and not showing up in the tournament. They were my no doubt pick to win the tourney before they collapsed at the end of the season. I have them in the Final Four in a few brackets, and I think that is a more than attainable goal provided that Rick Barnes doesn’t have to coach a close game with under 5 minutes to play.
I’m pumped for this George Mason/Villanova game. I think Mason is probably the most underrated team in the country. It’s unfortunate that they were given an 8 seed because even if they win they have to play the best team in the country in the second oops I mean third round. Had Mason been given a 7 or a 10 seed I might have picked them to go the elite 8 in all of my brackets; I think they are that good. Other games that I’m pumped to watch are Florida State/TAM, Memphis/Arizona, Georgia/Washington, Xavier/Marquette, and Georgetown/VCU.
I’ll probably update my thoughts later tonight after I see the afternoon games. I will definitely have a preview for the second round and my thoughts on today’s games tomorrow.
