Monday, February 02, 2009

Know your first round upset winner

Despite the tremendous budget quagmire I am wading through at work, I am throwing this up because I can't deal with rob bothering me every 30 minutes for a post. So, I thought I'd help everyone out a month early and give you a surefire first round upset winner:
Siena from the MAAC

Currently 17-5 (11-0 in conference play), Siena will most likely be a 12 or 13 seed. Sagarin actaully has them ranked #57, ahead of quite a few big conference teams on the proverbial "bubble". Now, you might recall I was all over the Saints last March as well, and if you listened, you too got their first round upset (thrashing) over Vanderbilt correct. Don't doubt me this year - this team is actually better than last year's team. Some Big 10 or ACC school will be pissed when they draw Siena on Selection Sunday.

The Saints have a deep, veteran squad, with any of five guys capable of leading them on a given night. Senior guard Kenny Hasbrouck has Cassell-sized cajones and has no qualms about taking the big shot. For a mid-major school Siena possesses surprising athleticism throughout the roster. Coach Fran McCaffrey commendably put together a brutal non-conference schedule, especially for a school out of the MAAC. Sure, they lost every bigtime non-conference game they played, but losing by 13 to Pitt and 7 to Kansas ain't too shabby. Those kind of early season road games can only help the Saints come March.

Of course, now that I've written this, Siena will lose in the first round of the MAAC tourney and I'll be crafting a "Know you first round NIT upset winner" post weeks from now, but oh well, this should at least keep rob at bay for a few hours...

42 comments:

rob said...

attaboy.

TR said...

For the first time in a very long time, I can honestly type these words: This is a crucial week for the New York Knicks.

They have home games this Mon/Wed/Fri against LA, Cleveland and Boston. The Knicks have been playing really entertaining ball of late, beating some quality teams along the way. They have finally assimilated the new guys (including Galinari), so they have a 9-man rotation and don't have to play guys 45 minutes a night.

This squad may be ready to join the upper echelon of the mediocre teams in the league. If they can somehow take 2 of these 3, it will be an enormous confidence boost. Stay tuned...

T.J. said...

I haven't even bothered to look - are the Knicks currently in the playoffs?

TR said...

They're about tied for the last place. Somehow the Bucks have played something like 4 more games than the rest of the Eastern Conference.

T.J. said...

Scott Skiles is a demanding hard ass. He told the league his alien power forward and Australian center needed extra early work.

TR said...

Skiles is a scumbag. He's gotten a pass from the media for most of his career because he was a gutsy white point guard, but he's had plenty of unsavory moments.

In addition to the child(ren?) out of wedlock, he has this impressive run from his days as a Spartan:

"While in East Lansing, he was arrested and charged with felony possession of cocaine and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The cocaine charge was dropped when Skiles pleaded guilty to the marijuana possession. He was arrested and charged with drunken driving a year later and served 15 days in jail. During his senior season, Skiles committed a parole violation on an earlier marijuana conviction, and served a brief jail sentence."

Yet, when he led MSU to a couple tourney wins, the announcers couldn't say enough about him. I remember watching a tourney game where he had a cut on his knee. The blood had run down his shin to his ankle, yet he continued to play (this was before the Magic/AIDS scare era). The announcers acted like he was a hero, when any of us would've done exactly what he did.

Mark said...

I like Skiles so much more than I did 5 minutes ago.

T.J. said...

Point of parliamentary procedure - Magic, yeah, he doesn't have that.

T.J. said...

227.

Mark said...

Jackee'.

T.J. said...

The Jeffersons.

rob said...

good times.

T.J. said...

Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

rob said...

what's happenin'?

T.J. said...

(reaching) Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns

rob said...

hangin' with mr. cooper

T.J. said...

My Wife and Kids

rob said...

martin

T.J. said...

Family Matters.

Mark said...

Gimme a Break.

T.J. said...

I think that's debatable, but I'll leave it up to the public.

Living Single.

Jerry said...

Benson?

T.J. said...

Questionable, but made me laugh out loud thinking of it, so it's in.

In the House (LL Cool J)

Mark said...

Fine TJ. Sanford and Son.

T.J. said...

Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Mark said...

Moesha.

T.J. said...

A Different World

Mark said...

Malcolm & Eddie

T.J. said...

The Bernie Mac Show

Mark said...

The Steve Harvey Show

T.J. said...

Roc

Jerry said...

Black Frasier

T.J. said...

Girlfriends

Jerry said...

TJ is notorious for cheating at these games.

T.J. said...

Not on this one...yet.

rob said...

everybody hates chris

Mark said...

Living Single

T.J. said...

I dropped that one at 5:51.

Mark said...

(shakes fist)

Sister, Sister.

T.J. said...

The Hughleys.

rob said...

we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to let mark and teejay know that we've got a post for them scheduled to drop tomorrow morning.

also, diff'rent strokes

zman said...

Homeboys From Outerspace. It's A Different World!