It is almost the best time of the year. Not Christmas, not the beginning of summer, not April 20th - but the time when the best organized athletic tournament in all of sports starts: The NCAA Basketball Tournament. There are a few powerhouses and of course plenty of duds, but here's my two cents on a few teams:
Xavier: Overrated. They started off the year great but the got housed by Duke and have not been the same since. They also lost a few games in a row to weak Atlantic 10 teams. Look for them to win the A 10 Tournament, get a 4 seed and lose in the second round.
Cleveland State: They're in! They won the Horizon League Tourney and earned an automatic bid. They will probably pull a 13 seed or something, but I would not be suprised if they upset a higher ranked team.
Pittsburgh: Overrated. They never go anywhere in the Tournament. They always have a bunch of thugs that play well during the season but fall apart when the pressure is on. The are getting beat right now by West Virginia - I hope Huggins and Co. take care of business.
Louisville: The real deal. A few crafty veterans and some young talent. They have a guy that plays the 2 or 3 spot (Williams?) that can do it all, and I think Pitino might have something to prove since his teams have not made a deep run in a while.
Ohio State: Your guess is as good as mine. They seem to have good role players, and plenty of potential, but they rarely put together 40 minutes of solid basketball. I think Diebler should play less - he shoots a hell of a three, but he is too damn slow for a small forward. I think their five best are Hill, Turner, Buford, Lauterdale and Mullins. Some decent out of conference wins should get them into the Tourney (Butler, Miami, Notre Dame) but we can only hope they make it past the second round.
Connecticut is baller laden. Hasheem Thabeet moves his feet like he's 5'10" yet he stands 7'4". North Carolina probably has 5 guys that will play in the NBA and Tyler Hansborough could end up pulling a Danny Manning. That power forward for Oklahoma is the best player I have seen this year. He dunks on quality defenders in their half court offense. Duke is Duke - a bunch of white guys that can shoot threes but not much swagger. I hope Michigan State make a run for the Big 10's sake.
Grandview won the district last night. I think it's Corbett's 4th district title. Scott, Kelly and I went, a few of Scott's throwers are on the team. Coach Q was at the end of the bench, as smooth as ever.
ReplyDeleteThey have a well balanced team with good depth, just about everyone can bring the ball up the court, shoot from outside and post up. They play Wednesday in Athens.
Go bobcats! I read in the paper Wednesday that the team has the best record all time for Grandview... interesting. I would have thought the state champion era teams would have that record.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... are we doing a bracket? Alex has one set up... anyone not get invited to that one want in? Email me or Al and we'll get you sorted out.
What about festivities? I'm taking Friday of the tournament off to enter a 8 hour tournament coma.