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19 March 2010
One weekend in, and most of my brackets are irrecoverably screwed up. I knew this tournament would be tough to call...but Ohio University? Cornell? Come on. This is absurd.
So with that in mind, here's a few lessons I've taken from the first weekend of games. Maybe I'll remember to put these into play next year. Most likely however, I'll forget about them, and then find myself next year wondering why in the world I put trust in the seventh-place team in the Big East.
The Atlantic 10 is what I thought it was. Living in close proximity to Xavier University, I'm constantly bombarded with the idiocy of A10 fans, who apparently live in an alternate universe where you boast about Sweet 16 appearances. When a few teams from the A10 started having success this year, the phrases "criminally underrated league" and "comparable to any conference in the country" were required to be in every Cincinnati-area sports article, written by the same moronic writers who proclaim every spring that this will be the Reds' year. So what did I do? I bought into it. I don't know why. Perhaps I was naive, perhaps I was drunk - I can't explain it. But I did it. I picked Temple to not only knock off Cornell, but also to handle business against Wisconsin in the 2nd round. I heard all year about their defense and grit and toughness. So what did they do? They allowed Cornell, a team full of white guys, to shoot 56%. Thanks a lot guys. Combine that with Richmond - another supposed great defensive team who gave up 29 points to some guy named Omar for St. Mary's - and this supposed great conference is left with only Xavier in the tournament. And anyone who knows me is fully aware of my thoughts on Xavier. So it's safe to say the A10 has ruined my weekend. And next year, when someone tells me how good Rhode Island is, or about how Dayton really has a chance to make a run, I'll do what I should have done this year...punch them in the face. Repeatedly. This is a one-bid league, and I will never believe otherwise.
More lessons after the jump.
Choking comes in two forms. You know how it's always said that schools with one dominant sports team can parlay that success into helping their other teams, a la Florida basketball or UConn football? Well turns out Notre Dame's football team has shared a few lessons with their basketball team. Granted, the lessons including relying on an overrated star and choking away big games, but hey- it's the thought that counts right? The Irish had won six games in a row at the end of the year before dropping a nail-biter to West Virginia in the Big East Tournament. So what do they do? They drop their opening game against Old Dominion, whose motto is "Yes- we are a real college." Better yet, star Luke Harangody did his best Brady Quinn/Jimmy Clausen impression (failure to show in a big game) with a whopping four points. Good work fellas. Even Charlie Weis feels you underachieved.
Vanderbilt deserves to lose as long as they have Ogivly. When Murray State's Danero Thomas buried a game-winning jumper at the buzzer, most people who picked Vandy to win were likely disappointed. Not me. Yes - I foolishly picked the 'Dores to advance. But that was before I got a look at AJ Ogilvy and his bizarre mustache, for which there is no acceptable explanation. After a few close-ups of this on the big-screen at the bar, I was downright relieved when they were eliminated, meaning it would spare us from ever seeing that again. Seriously - what are you going for when you do this? Pervert? Pedophile? Run-of-the-mill creep? You know what - it doesn't even matter. It's just wrong. And we're all glad it's gone.
Kansas hates mid-majors. While a lot of people may have had someone other than Kansas winning the title, very few people had them bowing out in the second round to Northern Iowa. Yes, Kansas lost to Northern Iowa. It's been more than 24 hours since this happened, and it still doesn't sound right. During Bill Self's tenure at KU, the Jayhawks claimed the 2008 national title, but have also seen their seasons ended by the likes of Bradley, Bucknell and now, Northern Iowa. Ouch.
The Big East is, well...not great. All season, we have heard how terrific the Big East is. How deep it is. How battle-tested the teams will be come tournament time. It all sounded great. One problem - someone should have informed the teams in the Big East that they were supposed to be...you know...good. We've covered Notre Dame's loss. Marquette was beaten by Washington in the final seconds - no big deal. But Georgetown was pounded by Ohio. Yes, the same Ohio who finished 9th in the MAC. Villanova barely escaped some guy (or possibly school) named Robert Morris only to lose to St. Mary's and the afore-mentioned Omar whatshisname. Louisville was throttled by Cal. And then Pittsburgh just lost to Xavier, meaning I will now have to spend the next week listening to Xavier fans talk about the Sweet 16 like it's some sort of holy land. At least Syracuse and West Virginia appear to have realized there's a tournament going on. Keep this mind next year - The Big East may be deep, but they're also full of crap.
College basketball "experts". This is perhaps the most annoying facet of March Madness. Everyone knows somebody who, despite being a fringe basketball fan, becomes an expert during March. This is usually the guy who manages to randomly call an upset, then goes around telling people "yeah- I had that." Listen, if you can't name more than one player for the team you're picking in an upset, you forfeit the rights to brag if that upset actually happens. Don't tell me you knew that Murray State would beat Vanderbilt if you can't even tell name a single player on the Racers' roster. Don't jump on the Cornell bandwagon when the first time you watched them play was the first round of the tournament. And don't pretend you're a Butler fan when you don't have a clue where Butler University is located. Look- filling out the brackets is guesswork. We can argue all we want, but it's really just a guess. So stop pretending you "absolutely knew" Northern Iowa would beat Kansas. We're not buying it. The lesson here? Ignore these people as best as you can, espcially if your brackets are in shambles. No matter how badly you may want to kick them in the groin, multiple times, it's not going to be worth it in the long run.
