...it's the Local Hoops Top 10. This week we reward those that excelled during Championship Week. And laugh at those that didn't.1. Georgetown (26-6)
Big East regular season and tournament champion. The shiznit. People are falling all over themselves to pick the Hoyas as national champs. JT3 has to be happy with the chumps in his part of the bracket.
2. Virginia Commonwealth (27-6)
CAA regular season and tournament champion. They get Duke in Round 1. I say VCU wins that game, behind the guard play of Eric Maynor, Jesse Pellot-Rosa and B.A. Walker (combined 41.4 ppg).
3. George Washington (23-8)
A-10 tournament champ. I hate the A-10. Xavier screwed some at-large bids by not taking care of business. Can they beat Vanderbilt? I have no f'ing clue.
4. Maryland (24-8)
ACC tournament first round loser. BUT, prior to that, a team that looked like they finally got it. Could be a very interesting tourney run for Gary and those seniors. Davidson is led by Freshman of the Year Stephen Curry (yep, he's the son of the Charlotte Hornet's all time leading scorer, Dell Curry).
5. Virginia (20-10)
ACC tournament quarterfinal loser loser. Drew Albany in the Dance. I think all the 4 seeds could be interesting this year (Virginia, Maryland, Texas and Southern Illinois). But first let's see Albany and Jamar Wilson put a scare into Dave Leitao's crew.
6. Virginia Tech (21-11)
ACC tournament quarterfinal loser. If Illinois is as bad as I think they are, Hokies will be moving on to Round 2 of the Dance. Senior guards Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon will be the difference.
7. Old Dominion (24-8)
12 seed Monarchs facing 5 seed Butler. Lost in CAA semis to George Mason. And that almost cost them. I like ODU's chances to be that 12 that beats a 5. I certainly don't see Illinois or Arkansas getting it done (Long Beach...maybe...)
8. George Mason (18-15)
Almost made a surprise appearance...but lost in CAA finals. I don't think they even made the NIT.
9. VMI (14-19)
Almost redux...lost to heavily favored Winthrop 84-81 in final of Big South tourney. Very enjoyable run by the Keydets though.
10. William and Mary (15-15)
I think their St. Valentine's Day victory over Drexel killed the Dragons. Seriously.
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18 comments:
Niagara is too good for the crappy play-in game. They got shafted.
I hung out with a guy on Friday night who played for Cincinaati during the '93 season. I'll have a post up later today with some fantastic Dontonio Wingfield (among others) related goodness.
I thought that was a bit low for them too. Then again, the last tiem I paid any attention to Niagara was when they had those two Puerto Ricans from Melbourne in the starting lineup.
jesus, there's a lot of stuff to look at when actually analyzing these games. i may just pick for our wager based upon uniform color.
Don't overthink it, little buddy. Those folks paid actual American dollars to predict winners aren't correct substantially more often than those with merely a fundamental knowledge of college basketball. If you surveyed our group of hoops-loving friends, I'd say those who know and study it the most have won the fewest NCAA pools. (I've won several.)
yes, but in the past we haven't been required to discuss the rationale for each pick. i'm not used to having to think.
"Rationale" can be a relative term, though.
Jay Bilas is backsliding on the Drexel case, but his measured approach is fairly sensible. Damn him.
what'd he say?
"I feel badly for Drexel, because the Dragons are a good team and they played their guts out all year long. However, I also feel badly for Appalachian State, which played equally as hard and well this season.
The truth is, it is reasonable to leave those two teams out because you do not believe them to be among the 34 best at-large teams. The committee's charge is to select the 34 best teams after the automatic qualifiers are in, not the 34 "most deserving" teams, or the 34 teams that make us feel good about ourselves, or the 34 teams that provide the best story lines.
If we want those to be the criteria, let's change the system. I am fine with that. But if we say we want the 34 best, let's actually do it and stop talking about messages being sent and playing transitive property of equality games all day. If you want to give a break to the little guy, fine, but let's not do it at the expense of a team you think is better.
Drexel played a ton of road games, which is commendable, but let's not pretend that the Dragons' road schedule was one big murderer's row that is equal to the Big East or the Pac-10. Drexel beat Villanova, Syracuse and Creighton on the road, but also lost to Rider, William & Mary, Penn, VCU twice and Old Dominion twice. Fourteen of the Dragons' wins were against the bottom half of Division I, and if a major-conference team brought that profile in front of the committee, there is no way that it would get a second look.
Appalachian State had really good wins over Vanderbilt, Virginia, Davidson, VCU and Wichita State. However, the Mountaineers had no wins against the RPI Top 40, and lost games to Wake Forest, UNC Greensboro, Elon and Furman.
Drexel and Appalachian State were deserving, but there were several teams that were better. Could those teams have won games in the NCAA Tournament? Yes, but that is not the measure. There is a difference between being able to win and being better."
well-reasoned bastard.
I'd have loved to see Boeheim's response reponse to that in some type of live debate format. He was so bitter yesterday that I thought he was gonna cry. Of course, he also thinks that the tourney shoudl be expanded because, as he said, "Plenty of other teams are capable of winning games" in the tournament. Which, he says, is reason enough to expand the tournament. While I think Cuse got shafted, I strongly disagree with tourney expansion b/c a few teams get left out every year. Deserving teams will always get left out, that's part of it.
Here's a thought: Schedule a game outside of NY sometime before mid-January. The tournament committee may look kindly upon that.
Trust me, I was almost as bitter as Jim, but now it's the Tuesday of the first week and I need to focus on the teams that are In. Will I fill out an NIT bracket and root for the Cuse? You bet...in fact, I already have. But I can no longer shed a tear for Drexel or Syracuse.
I must figure out the Creighton/Nevada game.
first gtb regional bracket picks up momentarily. cue 'one shining moment'
That Creighton Nevada game is especially tough for me b/c I want to take the winner over Memphis. Picking the wrong winner there could badly affect my bracket.
Are you filling out an NIT Bracket for a pool? Or just for "fun"? Sorry, just the first I've ever heard of somebody filling out an NIT Bracket.
Squirrel, perhaps you should explain the bet in your intro...
...and I think "The Madness of King Gheorghe" works.
done, and too late
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