This is becoming a rite of Spring. Jamar Wilson dominates an America East Final (22, 7 and 6 last night)...the Albany Great Danes (22-9, 13-3) get a bid to the Big Show. Diddly posed the thought on everyone's mind (in the Capital District at least):"I think we're seeing the dawn of a new dynasty with Albany. I just wish they'd change their frigging nickname."
Dynasty? Perhaps. Scrap the Great Danes? No can do. The nickname can stay. SUNY Albany is the only college or university with the Great Dane as its mascot. It looks like a wife-beating version of Scooby Doo.
The Am East in 58 words or less:
Vermont (25-6, 15-1) had won 13 straight games and reached the America East championship for the 5th consecutive season. The Catamounts won the tourney in '03, '04 and '05, but have now dropped the last two finals to Albany (last year in scenic Sm-Albany and this year in SyrupLand). Former coach Tom Brennan keeps smarmy Doug Gottlieb in check daily.
Albany beat Vermont 60-59 in the America East title game yesterday afternoon, behind Wilson, a huge strip by Carl Ross (#00 in your program, #1 in your heart), and god awful execution by Vermont on the game's final play. It also didn't hurt to have Vermont big man Chris Holm roll his ankle on the opening tip and limp to 8 points and 3 boards (well below the 11 and 12 he averages). Albany ended up out rebounding the nation's best rebounding team.
Joe Lunardi has Albany as a #14 in the St. Louis (MIDWEST) regional, facing #3 seed Pittsburgh. Stewart Mandel has the same 3/14 match-up, but in the San Jose (WEST) regional. Yes, I need to get out more. Aaron Gray might have 30, but I like the UAlbany's chances. Jamar Wilson is that good.
Plus, these guys were a 16 last year, and led UConn by 12 with 11 minutes to play, finally losing 72-59.
Albany hasn't been this hot since Ironweed hit the shelves.
Useless Nuggets:
SUNY Albany has hosted the New York Football Giants summer training camp since 1996. This guy ran the merchandise tent in the summer of '96. Extremely good times.
On April 17, 2005 students from the University at Albany set and currently hold the record for the world's largest pillow fight with 3,648 participants, observed by Guinness Records officials. It's official. You can google that.
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76 comments:
hi Teej!! The Great Danes has to stay. What are the alternatives? Change to something stupid like "Wildcats"?
Greggers!
Sidney Lowe is a plump man.
I'm suddenly very nervous for Cuse...
i don't see how drexel gets in over an odu team that beat them twice and i don't see how cuse gets in over a drexel team that beat them at home. the resumes of drexel and odu are really competitive with all of the 12 or 13 teams that are still in the mix (kansas state, texas tech, cuse, air force, arkansas, florida state, etc.).
all of which won't mean much when one of them sits home.
Maybe I'm losing my mind, but I think I just heard Billy Packer say ODU and Drexel should be in.
fuck you, digger
Can you feel the tension between Digger and Hubert? It's definitely there.
And Bilas just wants to know when he's filming the sequel to "I Come In Peace."
it's as if they're all running back to the safety of their major conference circle-jerks after flirting with the taboo of the hot mid-major chick for a few weeks.
let's have your prediction.
mine - odu in, drexel out
I have both IN...
attaboy - you've been right on the caa all year, so i'm going with you
I think this is finally the year Lunardi and all these "bubble" douch monkeys get made to look stupid by the committee. The committee sticks to what it said last year:
(1) play and perform well against a strong nonconference schedule
(2) play and perform capably on the road
(3) mid-major leagues got respect, and order of league finish matters
I will take them at their word...for the next two minutes. If they are to be believed, Drexel AND Old Dominion are IN.
i have east rutherford in our bet, right?
does anyone watching this not know the details of the 31 autos, 34 at-large?
fla #1 overall? i already disagree.
they're gonna draaaag this out. assmunchery.
YES MUTHA FUCKA YES
Woah, ODU and Purdue in - doesn't bode well for Drexel.
odu! early action. they can beat butler. that's a good matchup.
purdue a 9? major conference love?
Great games, horrendous city...Buffalo bracket.
Douglas gets Kansas. Mayhugh likes Kansas.
g'bye kentucky
illinois in, bad for drexel
big 10 getting way too much love
duke's a 6!!! that's unbelievable. and they get vcu. hmmmmmm.
I will say it first - VCU Wins That Game...
Nice live shot of the Indiana team - it looked like a 7th grade racial sock-hop.
vcu's guards will be really tough for paulus on both ends of the floor. vcu's big men will need to step up.
lunardi's already whiffed on odu and illinois
arkansas?!?
Drexel is fucked.
Arkansas - really?
I'm eating Eggos right now.
arkansas was 7-9 in their weak-ass division of the sec, and 18-13 overall before the sec tourney. that's a very, very sketchy pick.
Seth Davis, fellating Oral Roberts.
So far the Big East looks set up to advance A LOT of teams.
guy over at litos' site doing the math and saying one at-large left and it's down to drexel vs. cuse. if cuse gets in over drexel, bruiser's within his rights to go bang boeheim's wife.
The black Mr. Magoo is not concerned...
arkansas 8-10 on the road, with their best wins being so. ill (neutral) west virginia (neutral) and vandy (road). this is bullshit.
that's a travesty.
Cuse and Drexel both out
I am non-plussed...
stanford lost by 34 to air force AT HOME and lost to santa clara. holy hot fuck.
OK, so is tonight the night Dickie's head explodes?
i'm going to drink some wine and eat some fish. lot of illogic going down in this field.
Seth Davis will be heard...
Hey, Billy Packer saw Winthrop play. Well done Billy. Assface.
OK, who kidnapped the real Billy Packer? This Billy Packer just praised Albany.
Gheorghe is getting very upset.
Teej - Red Het is on Encore right now.
Woooooooooow...it is. That is ridiculous.
Jay Bilas, crushing Xavier.
vitale realizes that the tournament is *not* actually the best 65 teams in the country, right?
bruiser's on espn right now.
Aries Spears will be playing Bruiser in the TV movie.
did gottlieb just make the case that air force belonged in?
my daughter's weighing in on the smalbany mascot controversy with a vote to keep the great danes, for what it's worth.
I'm telling you, the shit sells very well. I also worked in the merchandise store at the Knickerbocker Arena.
you think drexel loss to the tribe looms pretty large right about now?
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
This Wiz game is absurd.
the more i think about this, the more indefensible the arkansas selection becomes in comparison to both drexel and syracuse.
Drexel is the 3 seed in the NIT East. Mike Hall is gay.
okay, let's hear the official gtb final four predictions.
florida - vs. maryland in the sweet 16 could be a lot of fun to watch, otherwise this isn't a tough draw for them, especially with wisconsin not having brian butch.
ucla - i think villanova may give kansas a lot of trouble in the 2nd round, but even if they don't, ucla's better than they've played while disinterested over the past few weeks.
georgetown - i don't think anyone in the country is playing better than the hoyas right now. i think they play texas in the regional final, and that would be a sick game.
louisville - pitino's brilliant in big games when he's got a little talent, and he's got a little talent this year. they've got depth with their bigs, so they can negate or at least hold their own against oden. sosa/conley could be fun.
hoyas over the gators to win the national championship
Buckeyes vs. Gators in the championship. By the time it happens, everyone will be picking OSU, and they'll get out in front early, but a key Bucks injury helps the surprising Gators -- they end up dominating in a less than dramatic finale.
Bilas was the CAA's best friend down the stretch. He picked ODU and Drexel as both in, but in mentioning Drexel's minuses, he mentioned "William & Mary" in a horrified tone not once but twice in a 30-second span. In truth, the loss wasn't as hideous as of might've been any one of most of the last 20 years, but it still hurt them. If they're the #3 team in the CAA instead of #4, I think they might go.
Here's the stat I love, the number of mid-major at-large bids:
2004: 12
2005: 9
2006: 8
2007: 6
Really? Even as the conventional wisdom about these smaller conferences has evolved dramatically in these last few years? George Mason was a fluke in some regards, but has "the committee" learned nothing from their crazy run?
We're biased here; Seth Davis is not. He says this is "bad for the tournament" and insinuated that Drexel's exclusion is pure hypocrisy. Don't print out Mapquest driving directions that seem legit when the road is actually a barely discernible, twisting, darkened, dead end dirt road.
i was thinking the same thing. drexel losing to w&m wasn't nearly the badge of disgrace it might have been a few years ago. it's essentially the equivalent of kentucky losing to arkansas. oh. right.
i wonder if the decline of the atlantic 10 has something to do with those numbers. they've traditionally had 3 or 4 bids, and they might've been considered "mid-major" in years past.
The A-10 sucks.
Rob, I don't trust Louisville as far as I can throw them (and with my bad knee I shouldn't be throwing anyone). I wouldn't want to play them because they can legitimately hang 55 points on you in a half if their shooters are on. But they have a tough time holding a lead which will probably end up burning them against a quality team.
It would be awesome if GTOWN kept playing like they are, but it's not encouraging to me that all of the talking heads are picking them to win.
Fucking dagger...but time to focus on the bracket. What region am I again?
Rob - East Rutherford/East
Whit - St. Louis/Midwest
Dennis - San Jose/West
TJ - San Antonio/South...and I luck out with the Albany game. Niiiiice.
It happens every year, and it amuses me without fail. I get to the end of my first bracket, and I think to myself, "Really? I want them to win it all?? Huh. Alrighty."
how do you think i got louisville into the final four
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