NCAA Buffet

A weekend of isolation, cold weather, plus rain means one thing: lots of NCAA hoops. And I do mean lots. I'll try to stay organized, but no promises.

UCONN, Duke, Memphis, Villinova, & Texas all won fairly easily. UCONN demolished Seton Hall while Duke weathered the storm that is the meanie heads at the Comcast Center in Annapolis, MD. Therefore, it is still crowded at the top, with these five teams plus Illinois, who plays tomorrow at Ohio St (the Buckeyes handed the Illini their only loss until the NCAA Title Game last year), all in the running for a number one seed.

Big winners include George Washington on the road at St. Joe's. A close game throughout, the Colonials scored just enough and got a stop when they needed it to secure the 64-62 victory. Southern Illinois kept pace in the wild MoVal with a huge win over Creighton. Iowa took down Indiana on the road, putting the Hooisers in danger of fading all the way to the NIT. Florida and Tennessee both had tough wins in league play over LSU and Georgia (on the road) respectively. No win was larger however than Washington's defeat of UCLA. A season sweep over the Bruins helps Washington's resume and solidifies its chance of dancing.

On the flip side, a few teams took damaging losses. Iowa St fell to Kansas, who is playing unbelievable ball. The loss pushed the Cyclones to 3-6 in Big 12 play (I think), which is horrible considering that is somewhere around ninth place in a league that will be lucky to place 4 or 5 in the tourney. Old Dominion dropped one on the road at VCU, all but eliminating their chance of an at-large berth. Michigan St and Michigan lost at Big Ten bottom feeders Minnesota and Purdue. MSU is now pressed further out of the Big Ten title race while the Wolverines dropped to 6-5 in the league and toward bubble status. Charlotte lost at Wake Forest, the last place team in the ACC. After years (and I do mean years) of gripping, Charlotte got a shot at an ACC in-state squad and fell flat on its face. Poor officiating and poor play tainted this matchup; regardless, the 49ers' little shot at an at-large right now.

I just watched Stanford lose at Gonzaga. Nice win by the Zags; however, it seems that the number eight team or whatever they are would be able to defeat a team of Stanford's quality at home. I also watched Die Another Day's network TV premier (this is the advantage of having two TVs). The ending dialogue between Bond and Halle Berry's character (Jinx I think) is so stupid: "leave it in, take it out, it fits so well, I'm so bad, how bad are you..." If you've seen the film, you know what I'm talking about. I also just saw Darren Pang, the former ESPN hockey announcer on figure skating with Tom Hammond. My, how NBC has fallen, although I guess that might be considered an honor.

Anyway, the story for NCAA teams is to survive February and hit your stride near the end of the month heading into post-season tournaments. Props to the top teams for doing exactly this. Some predictions, a "Bracket How to Guide," some form of tracking bubble teams, and how things might turn out will come in the next couple weeks.

On a related note, Bracketography is publishing previews for the Bracket Buster games next weekend. I am responsible for Northern Arizona versus Western Kentcuky...I like the Hilltoppers alright, so I volunteered for this matchup. I am also compiling a history of the Bracket Buster weekend and how it has or has not been helpful in achieving its goal: publicizing smaller team and helping them gain at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Check it out on www.bracketography.com

Alright, much more coming this week I hope. These words were my own, from my heart...