(What's wrong Huggy? You should be happy.)
After years of trying to get his team to match-up against Ohio State, Bob Huggins has finally gotten his wish. Back to back match-ups will begin December 27th in Value Center Arena as the Buckeye fans will greet the Mountaineers. Just another team resembling the colors that make me nauseous that I get to root against. Welcome to town Huggy!
Remember when I did my bracket for the men's tourney too bad because as bad as I had done in the Men's bracket, I would have nailed the Women's bracket.
You see, my final four was Tennessee, UCONN, Stanford, and Georgetown.
The Women's final four looks like Tennessee, UCONN, Stanford and LSU.
Now I understand that if I had filled out a Women's bracket, I may have picked Ohio State to win it all since I heart the Buckeyes that much. But that obviously didn't happen.
I'm sticking with my title game Tennessee vs. Stanford. Even though Candace Parker's shoulder is a little dislocated, they will get it done. So go Vols! Doubt I'll ever say that again.
Ellen is our Sports Diva guest blogger today. She is a ballerina, biker and boarder. None of those really help her unravel the complexities of Cleveland Sports fandom though.
Fathers: Talk To Your Daughters About Sports
by Ellen
It's March Madness again, and, as an Ohioan, the absence of the Buckeyes gives me a legitimate reason to ignore the NCAA this year. I graduated from an all women's college deep in the Virginia mountains and our basketball team, led by school mascot Gladys, the fighting, pearl-wearing squirrel, had a lot of fun piling into vans and driving around the state to play games in other people's gyms. There were no brackets involved and the team had an equal-opportunity, open-enrollment roster.
That is how I found myself a graduate student at a 40,000-student co-ed university who had never heard of March Madness.
Apparently, it's a big deal.
Blank brackets were everywhere that spring, in the graduate student lounge, in the dining halls, in the student housing, and in the university offices.
Bracket pools are illegal in most states, right? But no one cares? Okay, just checking.
One mid-March afternoon I accidentally wandered into the middle of an intense tournament summit. The table in our graduate lounge was spread with brackets, newspapers, pens, and an assortment of potato chips like cheese doodles and Doritos. These men, my colleagues, peers, classmates, future leaders of the nation and possibly the world … these men were wearing filthy baseball caps. They were covered in cheesy dust. And they were very upset.
It's not a good idea to tell a Duke graduate that Duke's basketball team is stupid and their coach is blind.
Only a naïve native Midwesterner would pick Indiana over Vermont.
Carmelo Anthony is the best basketball player ever born and he will take Syracuse all the way.
Then I heard the words "St. Bonaventure" and I flashed back to the previous summer, driving through the deserted woods of upstate New York with my dad. We passed a billboard advertising St. Bonaventure, and my dad said, "Since I've got you trapped, let me bore you with a sports story."
The story went like this. St. Bonaventure had a decent NCAA Division I men's basketball team. Then they disclosed that one of their best players had been improperly certified as NCAA-eligible. He had transferred from a two-year junior college, where he earned a "Certificate of Welding," a vocational degree, not a technical or academic degree as required by NCAA student-athlete standards. St. Bonaventure's administration, at the insistence of the former university president and his son (who also happened to be an assistant men's basketball coach), declared him eligible despite the obvious problems. They also covered up his academic struggles at the university by changing grades and course status.
Because of the scandal, St. Bonaventure was barred from participating in postseason competition.
"St. Bonaventure," I said to my graduate school classmates. "Their star player turned out to be a welder, right? And now they're banned from the tournament."
The jaws dropped. The baseball caps tipped up. "Yeah, that's right. How'd you know that?"
It was kind of a back-handed compliment, but I took it, along with the respect that single comment earned me for the duration of my graduate program.
Thanks, Dad. I still don't know anything useful about the game of basketball or how to fill out an NCAA bracket. But when my dad talks about sports, I listen. I learn a little something. And I get some respect.
By my stating this, The Tennessee Volunteers will most likely lose in the first round. I hate that I just typed that. Everyone says that. Everyone tries to be all humble with their picks. F*** that. It's time to be cocky. I have no shame in my game. I only fill out ONE bracket each year and it gets filled out on Sunday night. There are no second guesses for me. I'm stuck with my first instincts. I fill it out and set it aside until need be. Here are my picks.
East Region
North Carolina will get passed whoever beat Coppin State last night. Hold on let me look it up. Oh it was Mount St. Mary's. Yes a 16 has never beaten a 1 seed so this pick was inevitable. But if it were to happen this year, by all means, let them beat the No. 1 overall seed. Biggest upset in history? I have Indiana moving past Arkansas. Notre Dame beating George Mason. Washington State beating Winthrop. St. Joes over Oklahoma. Louisville over Boise State. Butler beating South Alabama. And Tennessee beating American. That's the first round. In the second round we have UNC over Indiana. Notre Dame beating Washington State. Louisville over St. Joes. and Tennessee beating Butler. Those are a Sweet 16 people. Then UNC will beat Notre Dame and Tennessee will beat Louisville. Then Tennessee will knock off UNC to emerge to the Final Four.
Midwest Region
Kansas is our No. 1 seed in this region and they will get past Portland State. Kent State will beat UNLV. Clemson over Villanova. Vanderbilt over Sienna. Michael Beasley over OJ Mayo. Wisconsin will beat Cal State Fulton. The new Gonzaga over the old Gonzaga. And Georgetown over UMBC. Then Kansas will beat Kent State (barely). Clemson will beat Vandy. Kansas State over Wisconsin. Georgetown over Davidson. Kansas will choke (again) and lose to Clemson. I have no confidence in that school. Georgetown will beat Kansas State and Beasley will declare for the NBA draft. Then Georgetown will go to the Final Four for a second straight year by beating Clemson.
South Region
Memphis is the No. 1 seed here. They will beat Texas Arlington. Oregon will beat Mississippi State. Michigan State gets over Temple. Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts. Kentucky over Marquette. Stanford over Cornell. Saint Mary's over Miami. Texas over Austin Peay. Then Memphis will beat Oregon. Pittsburgh over Michigan State. Stanford over Kentucky. Texas will beat Saint Marys. Then it gets good. Memphis will fall to Pitt and Texas will fall to Stanford. And the team reaching the Final Four in the bracket will be....Stanford in a good game against Pitt.
West Region
UCLA the No. 1 will beat Miss Valley State. Texas A&M over BYU. Western Kentucky over Drake. UCONN over San Diego. Purdue over Baylor. Xavier beating Georgia. West Virginia over Arizona. And Duke over Belmont. UCLA will then beat Texas A&M. UCONN will beat Western Kentucky. Purdue will get past Xavier. Duke will also fall to West Virginia. The fun keeps coming. UCLA will lose to UCONN. Purdue will beat WVU. UCONN and Purdue will play and UCONN will prevail to the Final Four.
Final Four
We have Tennessee vs. Georgetown and Stanford vs. UCONN. The championship game will feature Tennessee against Stanford with the Volunteers coming out on top 88-76.
Go ahead. Tell me how wrong I am. Tell me how crazy I am for not have a single No. 1 seed in the Final Four. Go ahead. Say it. I can take it.
Now I don't really mean that. It's not Georgia's fought that the Buckeyes didn't do what they should have done to make the tourney. It's an amazing thing what Georgia did and I'm sort of happy for them. But before Georgia won, the Buckeyes seemed to be in, at least Lunardi and CBS online thought so. But right when they won, I checked Joe Lunardi's bracket and the Bucks were out. Sad Diva here. Not sure what will get me over this. Maybe new shoes? Oh well, NIT selection show is @ 9 pm on ESPN2 if anyone cares.
No, this sports diva is not a Wisconsin fan. At least not usually. If you are a frequent reader, you will know that I heart The Ohio State Buckeyes. And the Buckeyes have unfortunately left everything into the hands of the committee with that loss this past Friday against Michigan State. I'm not sure whether they are in or if they are out. Joe Lunardi of ESPN has them one of the last teams in. CBS Sportsline has them in too. We won't know the truth until 6 pm but I will say this. If Illinois beats Wisconsin today in the Big Ten Championship, OSU fans will be singing NIT. Illinois will get that 5th bid for the Big Ten not Ohio State. So for all Buckeye fans out there, I would like to say GO BADGERS! Help keep Ohio State on the good side of the bubble and not on the side of the bubble that is more likely to burst.
As you read yesterday I am unable to watch the Buckeyes game against the Spartans today because of a) the snow and b) it is broadcast on BTN. But I am currently listening to it on the radio and will be giving you my play by play. Let's get this going. Please refresh your toolbar to get the updates.
Tomorrow is the OSU men's basketball teams last game of the season. It's Senior Day! The last game of Jamar Butler, Matt Terwilliger, and Othello Hunter's career at OSU. And it's a game that the Buckeyes need to win to add to their NCAA resume. The game is at Noon and is going to be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Normally when the game is on the Big Ten Network I either a) listen to Paul Keels and Ron Stokes on 1460 the fan, b) go out to a bar and watch it or c) watch something else. Being that it's the last game of the regular season, it is a game that I definitely want to watch. But that means I have to leave my apartment. This is what I would have to deal with.
This pictures were taken today. This is how it looks in Columbus, Ohio outside of my apartment. Columbus is under a Blizzard Warning and a level 2 snow emergency. You know it's bad when Ohio State cancels classes.
So thank you BTN and Time Warner. Thank you very much. I never thought I'd ever wish that I was in Hamilton, Ohio this weekend. My dad has Dish. He gets to watch the game.
So my options for the game are to:
What do you all think I should do?
While my favorite team is getting ready to lose in the first round of the NIT, the Big Red of Cornell are the first team to make it into the Big Dance by winning the outright Ivy League title. It is their first trip to the dance in 20 years. They manhandled the Harvard Crimson 86-53.
Other Notable College Basketball Results:
Memphis 76 - Southern Miss 67. Memphis wins their 3rd straight Conference USA regular season crown. Will this be good enough to earn them a No. 1 seed?
North Carolina 90 - Boston College 80. UNC overcame a 18-point deficit. BC must be feeling real sick today.
Kansas 88 - Kansas State 74. Payback is a b****. I'm sure Michael Beasley thinks so.
Pittsburgh 82 - Syracuse 77. What happened here?
Georgetown 70 - Marquette 68. The Hoyas get it done in OT.
I've never really gotten into the NIT in the past. I think that might change this year. If you don't know, the NIT is the National Invitation Tournament a.k.a the Not In Tournament Tournament. The selection is made on March 16th this year; the same day as the NCAA Tournament. The tournament begins March 18th. You can get your brackets here.
That's about all I have to say about the Ohio State men's basketball game yesterday. I love them and always will but DAMN! Can you please give me one quality win? And Syracuse don't count. Florida don't count. Those teams are looking for their own quality wins to get into the tourney. And PLEASE stop shooting the 3 every chance you get. Pass the ball, penetrate, and just stop choking!
Oh and good luck tomorrow against the Hoosiers. GO BUCKS!
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