FSU vs ND - In game thread - 2nd Half

Hansbrough is really getting after it on defense.  It doesn't seem to matter right now though as the 'Noles have already scored 9 points in the first 4 minutes.

FSU scored 57 against A&M on Friday.  They already have 43 with 15:50 remaining.

The guys from the WarChant.com are telling me that FSU never shoots like this.  I believe them.  50% from three is a pretty good number.  The lower seeded team has done very well from that distance this weekend.

Abromaitis is noticeably frustrated.  We are well on our way for both of the "home" schools to lose tonight.

ND is down 19  at 47 - 28 and for the first time tonight, I think they are going to lose.  They need Hansbrough to take over because he's the only one not playing tentative out there right now.

Notre Dame has 6 losses this year.  Five are by double digits.

It's 52-29 at the under 12 minute TV timeout.  FSU is shooting better than 50% from the field and from deep.  ND is stuck at 28% and 13% respectively.  OUCH.

Brey is really working the sidelines.  He's going to be exhausted after tonight.  He's like a 6th defender as ND has none gone to a press.

Hansbrough just hit a three and Snaer picked up a technical.

It's an 11-0 run for the Irish and the pro-Irish crowd has come to life.

There are some pretty witty FSU fans behind me.  Sounds like they enjoyed themselves well before coming into this dry arena.

It's 54-40 at the under 8 minute TV Timeout.  That's 11-2 since the last one.  ND needs a similar type run to really give themeslves a chance to win.

Abromaitis is 0-5 from deep and a couple of them have been wide open.  He's killing them.

FSU should go right after Hansbrough.  He's got 4 fouls  and this game would be put to bed if he fouled out

It's 62-47 at the under 4 minute TV Timetout.  This one is over.  I'm gonna ask Mike Brey about the Big East.  I asked Thompson the other day what he thought.

ND is 4 for 25 from three.  Georgetown had the same problem.  I wouldn't say that either are flawed.  Given their roster's, what strategy would have been better.  Neither have good big man.  You can blame the coach for recruiting and that's valid.  But that's how both of these teams had to play to win.

Hansbrough just fouled out and the crowd is killing him.  He's taking it pretty well.  The house stat channel has the name HANSBROUGH written in just like that.

FSU barely got by A&M the other day.  I figured they had a better chance at beating ND.  I was right.

Abromaitis has hit a couple of meaningless 3's.  His box score won't look as bad now.  They had no impact on the game.

Final FSU 71 ND 57

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

There is a steady drip from the ceiling a few rows behind me.  Some ND fans are complaining about it.  I'd love to know what the usher is supposed to do about it.  I bet they wish it was raining 3's.

Well this is now the only game on TV right now.  They delay is about 7 seconds.  I like it.

The FSU dance team is ridiculous.  I mean that in a good way.

The FSU radio play-by-play guy reminds me of Jim Ross.

ND fans left way too early.  I'll never understand that move.  It's not just their fans.  It's fans of every team in every sport.  They spend a lot of time/effort/money to get to games and then they leave early.

The drum that starts the Tomahawk Chop is insane.  It puts the ones at DC United games to shame.  Sorry fellas.

FSU vs ND - In game thread

Florida State is up early but it's Fool's Gold so far.  ND is off to a horrible shooting start (4-15) but FSU has already has 8 turnovers and is only up 5.  The Irish will at some point start hitting shots.  Won't they?

So I just found out Syracuse lost.  That's awesome.

Notre Dame guard Scott Martin is really laboring around the court.  I'm not sure what's wrong with him but something is definitely not right.

Hansbrough is having a hard time getting to the hoop.  Micahel Snaer is doing a great job of staying all over him without fouling.

Florida State's length is really bothering ND.  That's the bad news.  FSU struggles to score at times and goes through long droughts.  That's the good news.

Halftime FSU 34 ND 23

That is a low half for the Irish.  1-10 from deep isn't going to get it done for them.  They are about to pull a Georgetown if they don't watch out.  I think they will get back in this.  Abromaitis won't stay cold all night.

ND is actually outscoring FSU in the paint while FSU holds the advantage from long distance.  It's the exact opposite of what you would expect.  Up is down and black is white here in Chicago.

Getting back to Abromaitis - he has thrown up a couple of bricks.  Not like him at all.  Dude can't flat out shoot.



United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

27 minutes sounds like a long time.  It's not.  It's impossible to catch both press conferences of the previous teams and hit the locker rooms without missing a considerable amount of the next game.  I missed about 8 minutes of game time.

There's more FSU fans here than you would think.  Well at least more than I would think.

The FSU radio guys do the tomahawk chop with the rest of the crowd.  I like it.  I'm sure I would hate it if this were a football game though.

Just got the notes from the Purdue and VCU press conferences.  I did not know that Purdue was the Old Gold and Black.  So who's the Young Gold and Black?

VCU vs Purdue - In Game Thread 2nd Half

Up 11 on Friday against the Hoyas, the Rams came out and put the game away early.  Purdue has already show more life shooting the ball than Georgetown ever did on Friday so I expect them to make VCU earn it a bit more.

Purdue needs to go down low more and they have on both of their opening possessions to start the half.  And now they hit a three and it feels like the entire arena is rooting for the Boilers.

VCU has withstood the first attempt by Purdue to cut into the lead and has actually increased it to 15 with 14:15 remaining.

After watching VCU torch Georgetown from behind the arc, Purdue is really up on the shooters.  This is leading to some nice penetration and assists for VCU.  You can't guard both.  VCU is doing a good job of making one have to guard 2.

I really think Purdue is panicking.  They aren't using their inside advantage at all.  They have already hoisted up 19 shots from deep, making only 6.

We are halfway through the 2nd half and its VCU 65 Purdue 48.  I'm calling this one right now.

Purdue had given up 70 or more four times in 33 games this season.  VCU has 82 with 3:30 left.

I hope the AD at VCU has a list of coaching candidates for men's basketball because Shaka Smart won't be in Richmond much longer.  I dare Oklahoma to hire him.  I wonder if Jeff Capel is watching

Final VCU 94 Purdue 76

Ok I need to go get some quotes for a real story.

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round

Does anybody not know the words to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer?

Their is a VCU cheerleader that walks up and back the length of the court on her hands.  I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it on Friday.  Tonight I am.

VCU vs Purdue - In Game Thread

If VCU beats Purdue tonight they will become the second team from the Richmond area to end up in the San Antonio regional later this week joining the Spiders of Richmond.  That's crazy if you think about it.

VCU has been able to make this an up tempo game so far.  Their 3 point shots haven't been falling and as a result the lead has gone back and forth.  They are pressing on their makes and it's causing some trouble for Purdue.

Uh oh Boilermaker fans, the Rams are on a 13-0 run.  The 3's are starting to drop and the lead is up to 12.

Rodriguez has been making good decisions for the most part.  The few bad passes he has thrown have been on breaks and his teammates have bailed him out by saving the would-be turnover.

Halftime VCU 42 Purdue 32

The Rams were up 11 on Georgetown.  It's a little bit more of a high scoring game at this point.  VCU has made 18 field goals at the break.  By comparison they made 18 field goals against Georgetown in the entire game.  They just haven't hit as many 3's or free throws (yet).

United Center Observations 3/20 - Third Round


I hope the Florida State radio guy is getting paid a lot because he has been working his tail off to get his operation ready for the next game.

I love how they announce scores that have been a final for hours inside to the public as if it's the 1960's and everybody is lost without a paper the next morning in their driveway.

The VCU band is tremendous.  They have been the musical class of the Chicago site and it's not even close.

Well John Thompson Jr. is still here.  Unfortunately that's about the only familiar face today.

The guys from something called WarChant.com are sitting next to me.

It's almost halftime and the FSU radio guy is still trying to connect all of the cables and wires that he needs to get on the air.  It's exhuasting to watch.

It's really hard to turn the channel on the TV down here.  TNT HD is on ch 61.6 and it takes forever to get there.  I went with SD for awhile.  So, yeah, that's how hard it is.

Just got my one minute "conversation" out of the way with JT2.  If he didn't favor one of his legs and he could walk faster, they would be more 15 second "conversations".

Peace brah

Purdue 65 - St. Peter's 42 - Final

Nothing like a nice little 7-0 to start the half for the Boilermakers to push their lead to 40-17.  The St. Peter's fans behind me are really into their team.  I'm glad somebody is.

I've never heard fans cheer so hard for a team getting totally destroyed.  It's nice.  I think.

St. Peter's is starting to get some stuff from their press and has cut the lead to 16 at 50-34.

In other news the Georgetown section is starting to fill up.  I know that the Hoyas had to request more than their original allotment of 550 tickets.  But as expected ND and Purdue fans are the big fan bases at this event.

St. Peter's is constantly looking for the back door cut.  They aren't getting it and have thrown a couple of bad passes trying to open it.

One more media timeout and this baby is over.  53-36 in favor of Purdue.

This one looks over.  I'm going to really miss the Peacock mascot.  That's one good looking bird.  I'm seriously considering getting a picture with him after this one is over.

St. Peter's did not give up but they just didn't have it.  I figured this would be the worst game of the day and it has been, so far.

Now it's time for the big time.

Game 3: Purdue (3) vs Saint Peter's (14)

Purdue (25-7)

Starters
E'Twaun Moore G
Lewis Jackson G
Ryne Smith G
JaJuan Johnson F
D.J. Byrd F

Saint Peter's (20-13)

Starters
Nick Leon G
Wesley Jenkins G
Steven Samuels G
Darius Conley F
Ryan Bacon F

I think this will be the one blowout of the day here in Chicago.  St. Peter's just doesn't have the height and they only decent team that beat this season was Alabama.  Purdue has two pros on their roster.  It's gonna take a lot from the Peakcocks tonight.

The arena is filling up better than I thought.  Everybody I talked with said the Purdue fan base wasn't rather apathetic toward their basketball team even thought it's been more successful than their football team.

It's 24-13 with under 5 minutes left in the first half.  I guess you could say that St. Peter's is hanging around.  I think it's more of Purdue just screwing around.

There are mismatches at all 5 positions on the court.  I'm sure it's been a great season for St. Peter's but it's about to end and end badly.

Halftime

Purdue 33
St. Peter's 17

It feels like 133 to 17.

There's not much to say about this one.  So I won't.

In between the doubleheaders 3-18

There was not much time in between the doubleheaders tonight.  

I went back and caught the last half of the Texas A&M press conference.  I can't imagine anything worse than having to interview the losing team - especially the seniors that know they aren't playing at the next level.

I was wondering what the Big Ten was going to do with the buffet today because of the whole "no meat on Friday's" thing during Lent.  They played it safe and went with grilled cheese and soup.  It was alright.  I've had worse.

The good thing about an A&M loss is that I think FSU can beat Notre Dame.  The bad thing is that the A&M media guys were very friendly and informative.  They are going home.  The second good thing is that a lot of space just opened up to my right.  I've not got total control of the HDTV at the end of my row.  It's about 30 seconds faster than the internet version of the game.

The guys from Richmond covering VCU are all wearing WRIC shirts.  I kinda want one.

It's starting to get real around these parts.  The Georgetown assistant coaches are sitting a few seats to my left.  I'm starting to see a few Hoya fans I recognize.  

I think today is a good day to start a winning streak.

Peace brah

Florida State 57 - Texas A&M 50 - Final

All that's between me and the buffet is 12:43 of ugly basketball.  This game has turned into a real rock fight.  Jay Bilas says that a lot and I've never been quite sure what it meant until just now.  Now I know.

Florida State has switched to a zone and it has slowed A&M down to a glacial pace.

A&M scored the first 5 points of this half.  FSU has  responded well by scoring the last 11.  Only 16 points in the first 8 minutes.  Riveting.

FSU has dominated points in the paint (16 to 4) and block shots (6 to 1).  A&M has been kept alive by three point shooting (6 for 14).

The guy from the 12th Man Magazine says today's performance is very much indicative of the way they play.  I'm starting to really wonder if either of these teams can impose their will on the Irish on Sunday.  I think ND fans can start booking their tickets for the River Walk in San Antonio.  Neither of these teams will be able to score enough to beat ND.

The fans of both of these teams are hard to distinguish.  They both wear a maroon type color.  A&M actually wears maroon while I believe FSU wears garnet.    It's hard to tell  which team the fans in the upper deck are rooting for during this game.

Speaking of fans, the A&M faithful are intense.  They are right across from me and pretty boisterous.  They obviously don't want to go back to College Station tonight.

Florida State is pulling away.  Some of those three pointers are starting to drop as their lead increases.

I'm going to be really impressed if either team finds 60 points today.

FSU is up 8 with 2:28 to go.  I'm calling it.

The FSU cheerleaders have changed outfits about 100 times during this game.  It's exhausting to watch them come out in something new every 5 minutes.

And we have a final here in the second game of the day.

FSU 57

A&M 50

The Seminoles just dominated the paint at both ends.  The Aggies came to Chicago and scored 50 points on 31% shooting.  That just isn't going to get a win in March.  

So we have one game set for Sunday.  Notre Dame (2) will take on Florida State (10) for a trip to San Antonio.  I think it will be a mistake for FSU to zone the Irish.  A big mistake

I have that war chant stuck in my head.  It's like I'm at a Braves game.

Ok I've got about an hour before the next game.  Buffet time!

St Peters's vs Purdue is next.

Game 2: Texas A&M (7) vs Florida State (10)

Texas A&M (24-8)

Starters
B.J. Holmes G
Dash Harris G
David Loubeau F
Nathan Walkup F
Khris Middleton F

Florida State (21-10)

Starters
Derwin Kitchen G
Michael Snaer G
Deividas Dulkys G
Bernard James F
Okaro White F

I'd like to see the winner of this game knock off the Irish on Sunday.  I think Florida State has the better shot at doing just that.  Just like Georgetown with Chris Wright, the big questions for FSU is whether or not F Chris Singleton will return.

You know what I've never seen?  I've never seen a team go 7:15 without scoring a point to start a game.  I had never seen it before Texas A&M did just that today.  This is going to be the quickest game of the tournament.

So the bad news is that A&M is in a scoring drought.  The good news is that so is FSU.  I mean it's 7-2 Seminoles at the under 12 minute media timeout.  That's insane.

A bunch of us were actually ignoring the game being played in front of us to watch the end of the Mason - Villanova game.  Talk about your epic collapses.  Jay Wright's boys lost 6 straight and 11 of their final 16 to end the season.  DePaul took them to overtime.  DEPAUL.

Ok back to the game in front of me.

We are at the under 8 minute TV timeout and its all knotted up at 12.  A&M is on a 9-0 scoring run.  FSU coach Leonard Hamilton has used 10 players so far but none of them wear a headband and by the name of Singleton.

And here comes Singleton right on cue.  Nice ovation from the Seminole faithful behind me and to the left.

Singleton hasn't played in awhile and is making up for lost time on fouls.  He picked up 3 in limited minutes.  He doesn't have his sea legs yet.

Both teams are shooting under 30% from the field.  FSU can't make a three pointer and A&M are struggling from the line.  A lot of this is good defense but not all of it.  Some of it is really bad offense.

We have mercifully reached the halfway point in this slug fest.

A&M 26
FSU 23

That's not a bad output from the Aggies considering they did all of their scoring in a little less than 13 minutes.

Live from Chicago

Ok well I'm here on press row for Hoyareport.com.  Georgetown doesn't play until the late game so I've got to get through 3 games before the Main Event.  I'm planning on blogging during other games while my Georgetown write ups will be on the rivals.com site.

It's nice to finally see some basketball after all of the interviews and practices yesterday. 

The media sit in the two rows around the court.  M1 is reserved for tv and radio types.  M2 is for the writers/bloggers/whatever.  That's where I am.  As far as my location on M2, I think I got lucky.  I'm facing the benches near mid-court.  John Thompson is to my left in M1.

The guys from HoyasHoops.com are sitting next to me but they haven't showed up yet which is great because we are really jammed in here.  Georgetown Voice is not here yet but Georgetown play-by-play guy Rich Chvotkin is and we have been talking the entire time.  He talks the same in person as he does on the air - FAST.

The guy to my right is from the 12th Man Magazine which is prefect because I don't know that much about A&M hoops other than the fact that Naji Hibbert plays there.

The halftimes (20 min) are longer than normal college basketball halftimes (15).  College basketball games normally run about 2 hours.  They have been averaging 2 and a half hours through the first day because of the longer commercial breaks.  I think the sponsors would be happier if everybody just ran an informercial.

Being able to watch the other games on my laptop while the game in front of me is going on is a dream come true.  The absolute worst thing about attending NCAA Tournament games is missing the other games around the country.  I don't have that problem.

I can also get up and hit the hospitality snack bar or just go back into the media room where there are TVs everywhere.  It's basically the best set-up a nerd like me could ask for during a game.  

The internal stat feed is incredible.  The Big Ten has a password protected website that provides instant stats. It's been great although I have some problems with the guy scoring blocks.  It's hard to get credit for a block today.

As a fan, there are a few things I would change about NCAA Tournament games.  Here is my list:

1.  Game Highlights on the Big Screen.  They don't show highlights of other games.  Why?
2.  Show games during the break.  They don't show other games during the 27 minute break between games.  Again, why?
3.  I'll have a Stella thanks.  They don't serve beer.  All off campus venues allow beer during the regular season.  Beer companies are a rather big sponsor of NCAA sports.  Seems kind of silly not to offer up the adult sodas for the fans.  Now I couldn't be drinking right now but in the past I have hated it.

Well that was my attempt to paint the picture of where I am and what I'm doing.

Peace brah

Notre Dame 69 - Akron 56 - Final

I don't want to keep beating a dead horse but Zeke Marshall is just either having a bad day or isn't quite that good.  He started the 2nd half just like he ended the first half - with a miss.  He's now 1-10.  That's criminal.

ND has pushed the lead to 9 and Akron wisely calls a timeout before the first media timeout.  This game is about to get away from them and Coach Dambrot feels it.

The Irish fans are a late arriving bunch.  The United Center know has the ND home game feeling that I expected.  I wonder what they were all doing that might have made them miss most off the first half.

Well we are almost 7 minutes into the 2nd half and Akron has put up 3 points on one made field goal.  ND might be lucky to get this kind of performance out of the way early because they are letting Akron get the shots they want.  They just can't make them.  It really is that simple.

We had a fast and furious couple of minutes where the refs were letting it go both ways.  I thought Akron was unfortunate not to get a goal tending call after cutting the lead to 5.  It's back up to 10 at the under 7 minute media timeout.

Zeke update:  Good news is that he has mad 1 of his last 2 shots.  Bad news is that he's 2-12 overall.

There's a new kid killing Akron.  His name is Brett McKnight and he doesn't pass.  He seems to be having a competition with Zeke as to who can miss more shots.  He's 3 for 12 so it's close.  Too early to call right now.  The problem with McKnight is that he started 3 for 4 so he was "feeling it".

We have our first final of the day from Chicago.

ND 69
Akron 56

Missed Shots Final

Zeke 11
McKnight 9

Every time Akron made a run, they seemed to lose Abromaitis for three pointer.  He was 3-3 from deep.

Final analysis:  It was my first time seeing Akron play and they don't play very well as a team.  They have their spurts but its not enough against a quality opponent like ND.  They played like individuals for long stretches.  Brett McKnight's play exemplified this point.  He came off the bench, hit a few shots, and became a black hole for the remainder of the game.  It's one thing to just miss good shots - that was Zeke's problem.  It's another thing to just force stuff.

I'm pretty familiar with Notre Dame and they were a bit off today.  You have to give some of the credit to Akron but some of it was them just missing open looks.  They had 16 assists on their 21 makes which is a great ratio.  They survived a scare today and that's what good teams do.  They pile up wins even when they aren't at their best.

Game 1: Notre Dame (2) vs Akron (15)

Akron has a tough job today with Notre Dame.  The Fighting Irish do an incredible job of spacing the court with shooters at all 5 spots.  Akron is going to need a lot of help from ND tonight in the form of missed shots.

The last 15 seed to beat a 2 was 10 years ago when Hampton knocked off Iowa State.  I watched that game (Georgetown played the winner).  I wouldn't mind seeing another one of those.

I really don't know what to expect from the Zips but if they shoot half as well as fell MAC member Ohio did in their first round game against Georgetown last year, they will give themselves a chance to win.  Ok I just looked it up and Ohio beat up on Akron twice this season.  That can't be good.

Akron is ice cold from the field.  That's a problem.  That's a big problem

Zeke Marshall is a 7 footer that is playing like you would expect a 7 footer from the MAC to play.  That's another problem.

So the Akron fans are right behind me and they have been standing most of the time.  I'm guessing that they are used to going to soccer games

We are at the half and Akron is only down 4 at 34-30.  

Ok I'm really distracted.  I'm trying to type while John Thompson is talking to one of the Florida State coaches two seats down from me.  Maybe I should go ask him about that time he took a picture with me in 10th grade.  That would be a good ice breaker.

2nd Half Adjustments for Akron:  Their big man is 1-9 from the field.  When he gets the ball down low he should be kicking it back out.  Akron has looked their best when they really share the ball.  I've count 5 horrible shots.  They need to go away from driving to the hoop.  That isn't working.  Credit to their coach for already using 9 players.  He's not going to leave anything on the court today.

Play of the Half:  Hansbrough showed why he won't be playing in the NBA on two late possessions.  He loves going to the hoop.  He isn't quick enough or big enough to do that in the league.  Zeke has sent his shot twice.  It's almost as if Ben couldn't believe it so he tried it again.  Same result.

Ok 2nd half tip is about to start.  I'll be back

United Center Media Day

Just a quick setting of my scene.

I'm sitting in the Media Room in the United Center.  There are huge life-like pictures of Bulls greats on the walls everywhere - Jordan, Pippen, Sloan, Rodman.  About 5 steps away is the interview room.  I just sat in on Mike Brey's press conference.  I've got the ODU - Butler came up on my screen from the Verizon Center.  I just heard the ND Fight Song as the Irish took the court for their practice session.  I'll probably get up in a few minutes to see if they are doing any real drills or just playing knock-out.

There's a lot going on and I could get used to this type of action.

Update:  Georgetown and VCU press conferences don't start until 4:30 CT.

Selection Sunday

Here are my predictions for the Sweet 16 Seeds:

1:  Kansas, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Duke

2:  Notre Dame, San Diego State, Connecticut, Texas

3:  UNC, Louisville, Kentucky, BYU

4:  Purdue, Syracuse, Florida, Wisconsin

I have the Hoyas as a 6 seed playing Gonzaga.  Three other teams I could see them playing are Penn State, Butler, or Colorado.

The Big East will shatter the record for teams from one conference making the Tournament with 11.  They are all deserving but I don't see any as a favorite to make it to Houston.

Off to St. Leo's.

Peace brah

Championship Saturday

It's pretty important that Connecticut lose tonight.

A Huskies win will see them tie Georgetown for the most Big East Championships.  It would also put the Emperor, I mean Calhoun, into first place all by himself, passing JT2.

Nobody with a soul wants to see that.

Jumping ahead to the end of the game because I didn't feel like blogging during it.

Connecticut wins a thriller.  The Big East Tournament is special.  It's a shame cheaters get to win.  The slap on the wrist the Huskies received from the NCAA should make USC Football pretty upset.

The only good thing I can see coming from Kemba's week at MSG is that everybody will forget about Gerry McNamara's week from 2006.  Everybody wins when the Orange lose.

Bracket party tomorrow at 5:30pm.  Until then.

Peace brah

Friday Night in the Garden

There's nothing like it.  There's nothing like a Friday Night in the Garden.

I've been fairly fortunate lately.  Over the past six seasons,  Georgetown has played four times on Friday Night, winning three of those games.

This is not one of those years.  Making matters worse is the first game tonight.

Syracuse is playing Connecticut in the first semi-final and for me, that's the worst possible match-up that the Big East Conference has to offer.  I can usually find a reason to root for one team or the other.  Not tonight.  I have to dig deep.  Calhoun is opposite the Orange sideline so it's really a no win.

But there is one real that trumps everything.  And that rule is never, ever, no matter what, root for the slime in Orange.  Never.

So because of the Boeheim rule, I'm stuck rooting for that cheating, rotting corpse Calhoun.  Man I feel dirty.  The bright side is that if they end up playing 5 games in 5 days I doubt they make it out of the first weekend of the tournament.

Making matters worse is that Orange Fan Boy Sean McDonough is doing play-by-play.  He would be insufferable if not for the excellent work of Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery.  Those guys are the best in the business.

I can't believe this game is going into OT.  They played six OT's and ESPN won't let you forget about it.

Well there is a God.  Syracuse lost.

Tonight is turning out to be a damn good night.  ND blew a huge lead and is now 0-4 all time in the semi-finals.  Mike Brey is such a great coach, pilling up COY award after COY award, yet he's only been past the first weekend of the tournament once in 11 years with zero regular season BE titles and zero BET titles.

I'm all in for Louisville in the Finals.

It's been a tough tournament for me as a fan but it has a chance to avoid total disaster.

Peace brah

Arsenal 3-8-11

I didn't expect Arsenal to advance past Barcelona into the Champions League Quarterfinals.  I figured they needed to win by at least 2 at The Emirates to give themselves a real good chance in the return leg.  Well they didn't.  They only won 2-1.

That being said, they way the lost today was absolutely ridiculous.  Going down a man on a soft yellow card was comical.  It's one thing to call the entire game by the letter of the law.  It's another thing to just pick and choose when the rules are enforced.

There's a really good chance that Barcelona would have won or forced OT on their own but the second yellow that resulted in a red card for RVP was game, set, match, point.  But that's the thing about soccer, you never know.  Since the scoring is so few and far between, dominating a game doesn't necessarily equate to victory.

I wouldn't be making apologies as a Barcelona fan but I would blush a little.  The only thing I can compare it to in my own little world of fandom is the Georgetown - Villanova game from Jan 2008.  That game was tied and Jon Wallace was fouled with .7 left about 80 feet from the hoop.  The Hoyas were in the one and one and they got the W.  It was an extremely soft foul that should have never been called.

One last thing - I hope Dani Alves knows that there is a special place in Hell for fake ass players like him.  His team is too good to be pulling that kind of nonsense.

Peace brah

Arsenal 3-5-11

With Manchester United's loss at Chelsea during the week, Arsenal took the field against Sunderland today with the opportunity to cut the gap at the top of the EPL table to one point with a win.

A quick look at the calendar shows that it's March which, for Arsenal, means that most of their important offensive firepower would be out due to varying forms of injury.

It's not so much that Walcott, Fabregas, and Van Persie are out, it's their replacements.  More specificially it's Denilson, Bendtner, and Rosicky.  The last time Rosicky played well was in Germany against the US in the 2006 World Cup.

Bendtner is a legend in his own mind and Denilson is Denilson.  He just isn't very good.

Is Wenger honestly surprised that his top guys miss so much time?  Maybe he should be better prepared to win without them later in each season.

Arsenal were probably unlucky not to get either the penalty call on Arshavin or the the onside call on Arshavin but those things happen when your margin of error is so razor thin.  I really think that to win any game you have to beat the other team and overcome the inevitable bad calls.  Arsenal didn't really do either as they drew the Black Cats 0-0 to close the gap to 3.

Van Persie being hurt brings me to the Carling Cup.

I have long disrespected both the Carling Cup and, to some extent, the FA Cup.  Maybe it's a cultural thing but as an American follower of Arsenal, I could care less about the CC and th FA Cup.

I know there is a lot of heat on Wenger because he hasn't won a trophy in awhile but would winning the Carling Cup really fix all of that?  I don't think so.  I think winning the CC is cool if you win other stuff as well.  On it's own a CC trophy is cool for teams like Birmingham.

It's all about winning the league and doing well in the Champions League.  For instance I think a season that saw Arsenal win the CC but not advance out of the Champions League Group Stage would be considered a disappointment.

So for Wenger to play any of his irreplaceable players in the CC is ridiculous.

For me those players are:

Cesc
RVP
Nasri
Walcott
Song
Any non-injured CB

I used to like the old AW strategy in the CC.  Play the kids and take the results.  It's not that important other than to develop players.

Peace brah

Thursday March 3

Championship Week started tonight on the ESPN family of networks.  I've always viewed a week as seven consecutive days but the people at ESPN obviously have a different understanding of the word.  Their week goes from Thursday March 3rd to Sunday March 12th.

That's 10, count 'em, 10 days.

I watched parts of both semi-final games in the Big South but it just isn't that much fun when you don't know the players.

The Big South final is set.  UNC-Asheville vs Coastal Carolina.  Georgetown beat both of those schools this year.  If you are going to schedule mid-majors, it's smart to make sure they are the good ones.

Ok back to the real games.

I can't believe Jordan Theodore is playing tonight for Seton Hall.  News came out yesterday that Theodore is up on gun charges due to some incredible circumstances.

Here's a recap of his "situation" from earlier in the week:  Theodore is facing gun charges.

A few weeks ago Seton Hall played Villanova in a home game.  Before that game, Seton Hall guard Keon Lawrence was kicked off the team.  Well at that Villanova game the boyfriend of Lawrence's mom found Theodore's mom in the stands and beat her up.  Apparently Lawrence's family was upset at some of the comments that Theodore said when Keon was kicked off the team.

Theodore's mom ended up being taken away from that Villanova game by an ambulance.  Later that night Theodore and two other guys wearing ski masks went to Lawrence's dorm room with guns.  Nothing really happened until these recent gun charges.

Just another day at a Catholic Institute of higher learning in New Jersey.

Unbelievable.  The mess that was Bobby Gonzalez (former coach) lives on.

This game is a little too close for St. John's liking.  A loss means that they basically pass the double-bye to Syracuse.

And Lavin just got tossed.  I've never seen a coach ejected and then be allowed to huddle up with his team for a few minutes.  I've never seen that.  This game is over and so is the double-bye for the Johnnies.

Wow the end of this game just keeps getting better.  It's turned into something that resembles an AAU affair.

Kennedy just got flipped over by Auda near the baseline.  Moments later Okoloji got crushed as he went streaking down the court for a meaningless lay-up with under 10 seconds to go.  Burrell was the culprit and was promptly ejected.  You could see that coming a mile away especially after what Auda did.

Old school Big East Basketball.  I love it.

I'm going to watch the last half of the Wisconsin - Indiana game.  I imagine that it might be one of the last times I'll ever have the honor of seeing Jeremiah Rivers play basketball.  I wouldn't give the former Georgetown Hoya reserve guard so much grief if he hadn't had so many ridiculous comments to say on his way out the door.

In his three years with the Hoosiers, not only has he failed to improve, but he has regressed.  Ironic for a kid who claimed that the Georgetown offense was holding him back.  What a clown.

Well Championship week continues tomorrow.  Until then.

Peace brah