Oh yes, it is that time of the year again. Time for women to win bracket pools by picking teams based on their uniform colors. Time for basketball to start at, like 10 am and end at about 1 am. Time for 15 seeds to knock off 2's, and 9's upset 1's. Time for stars to be born (Danny Manning) and dumb asses to be exposed (Chris Webber). Let's hope the Buckeyes protect their number 1 seed better than they did in the Jimmy Jackson years, or the Michael Redd years.
Anyways, when your team is not playing, here are some individuals to keep your eyes on this tournament:
Lavender is a Brookhaven grad who played two years of high-school ball with the Buckeyes Ron Lewis. He was a McDonald's All-American who started off in Oklahoma before transferring to Xavier. He is listed at 5'7" but his quickness and awareness are superb. He could be one of the first guards OSU plays that can actually keep up with Conley Jr.
Brewer has the kind of basketball work ethic that you would expect from the son of a Tennessee tobacco farmer. He is listed at 6' 9", but this must be soaking wet and wearing boots because he looks like a mobile coat rack. His Gators carry a #1 overall seed into the tournament, not to mention a whole lot of hatred from pretty much the entire Buckeye State.
Falls is a long range bomber from Chicago that set the N.D. record for three's in the 2005-06. He shares a birthday with yours truly (June 9) and he was born in the year of the Bears (1985). The Irish drew a scrappy 11 seed in Winthrop for the first round. Hopefully their success in the balanced Big East this year will serve as good preparation for the tournament.
Durant is allegedly favored to with the NCAA Freshman of the Year this year. This is due to his ability to score and fill up the stat sheet (26 points and 11 rebounds a game). But his Longhorns had only a decent year in a mediocre Big 12, and earned a 4 seed in the tournament. Their region is stacked too, with good high seeded teams and spoilers like Michigan State and Texas Tech laying low.
Colin Falls is a bomber.. I think he set the Big East career record for 3's - and he pretty much scores all his points from three point range - against Syracuse in the first round of the Big East tourney he scored 23 points - 7 threes, 2 free throws. At the same time - he doesn't exactly create his own shots.. I'm guessing in the tourney, ND will live by three, die by the three - so if they get hot, they could be dangerous.. and if not..
ReplyDeleteI've only recently seen kevin Durant Play and he is a certified baller!
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