And then there were 65. The NCAA Tournament tips off Tuesday (with the obligatory opening round/play-in game)...and I'm glad the Alabama State/Morehead State winner won't have to go far for the first round (both rounds are held in Dayton). I wish they'd do away with the game altogether--but as that will never happen I'd just like for the similar setup to this year--the opening round is played at a first round site. It's rather ridiculous to have one of these schools fly into Dayton Monday amidst trying to prepare for a game--only to get back in the air Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Just keep them at the same hotel and same arena as the other seven schools bracketed there.
Surprises this year were few and far between. With all of the top ten schools falling over the last week, I would have actually had Duke as my fourth number one seed instead of UConn...the Blue Devils have won eight of nine, all of their losses are to teams in the NCAAs--and they won their league tourney.
Arizona making the field caught me off-guard. The Wildcats closed their regular season with four losses in five games--went 2-9 on the road and failed to win a Pac Ten tournament game...can a case be any more unworhty? Evidently the tournament committee felt Arizona's November and December wins merited a birth. I didn't think there would be seven teams from the Big Ten in the tournament... the triumvirate of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota seemed like three flavors of the same bad ice cream--especially when you factor in each school had 2 to 4 soft wins against major dreck (Iowa and Indiana) that couldn't beat anyone this winter. I would have added San Diego State, Saint Mary's or Creighton before Zona or a third team from Mich-Wisc-Minn territory.
Congratulations to the schools that advance--to Maryland that was left for dead at 2-4 in the ACC and had looked as though it had butchered its NCAA hopes with a bad loss at Virginia... quality wins before Christmas (Michigan and Michigan State) plus a sharp finish has Gary Williams ' team in the field after a year's absence. Congratulations to American for winning the Patriot League's automatic berth for the second straight year...a season where AU's dominance was expected and a return trip to the NCAAs was predicted.
Meanwhile, the NIT gets underway tomorrow and Wednesday with a pair of Beltway teams in action--Georgetown visits Baylor while George Mason meets Penn State. Both schools can use the next week as a time where they can readjust for next winter while sending their seniors out on a strong note. Both games are on the road--and I think the Hoyas and Patriots could both advance--Baylor's recovering from 4 games in 4 days at the Big 12 conference tourney...while Penn State's severely crushed by just missing the tournament--and bubble bursting schools usually suffer an NCAA hangover and don't play well in the NIT's first round.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment