NCAA Madness!

Despite the more important theological debates that are going on in my chat comments, I'm pressing on with some hard-style basketball analysis. Rest assured, I'll eventually join the fray, and the theme of this blog will dissipate, but in the mean-time, I'll fight it out over some NCAA basketball.

I'm really excited about George Mason making the Final Four. I know that if UConn had won the tournament (or really, even just this game), I would have won the OSU Economics Tourney Pool and $35, but it's definitely worth that $35 to have Billy Packer call a George Mason Final Four game. I love the fact that George Mason is in the Final Four! I can't help the fact that I'm using exclamation marks!

For one thing, Billy Packer's arrogance is taking huge lumps as we speak; Packer, who ripped into the NCAA committee for selecting mid-major teams over power conferences, will have to call a mid-major team in the Final Four. What's scarier for Packer is that GMU has a legitimate chance to win this thing; every arbitrary fan in Indianapolis will pull for the Patriots to beat Florida, and you can't say that GMU has no chance; they beat UConn, a team that was the most talented in the tournament and the obvious favorite to win. They've proven especially adept at shutting down interior players (see Paul Davis and Tyler Hansborough, as well Armstrong and Boone of UConn). You'd have to think that George Mason has a chance; they're more experienced than Florida. If they make it to the championship game, they stand a very good chance at beating UCLA or LSU.

What frustrates me so much about Packer isn't his general arrogance. Wait, that is what frustrates me. Packer incorrectly argued a few years back that St. Joe's shouldn't have received a one seed, mainly because of the level of their competition. He was wrong then, and he's wrong now.

By the way, I'm watching the 'Nova/Florida game right now, and I can't help but think that maybe Minneapolis shouldn't quite be the place where these teams got to go for their regional final. Unlike Washington, that place is deader than dead. Also, I'd like to claim that Memphis got a little bit screwed (as did Gonzaga) for having to play UCLA in basically a road game. Of course, if Memphis hadn't played so terribly, maybe they would be in the Final Four right now. Then again, I could totally say that about Texas, Villanova, or UConn too. It really seems to me that teams don't want to be in the dance this year.

Oh, and the best conference this year appears to be the SEC. Who knew? I'm in the process of taking back all my negative comments about Florida.

The Sweetness that is the Sweet 16!

First, I'd like to preface this by saying that I haven't posted in a long time, but I've been growing disillusioned with this blog, and I needed something to get me kick-started.

And that something is now.

I have never, ever, ever seen a collapse as unbelievable as the Gonzaga collapse that I've just watched. I've seen teams lose on random shots, teams lose because of bad free-throw shooting, teams lose because of timeouts, and teams lose because of arbitrary turnovers, but Gonzaga invented a new way to screw up tonight, and that's remarkable.

If I find a picture of Morrison for my blog, it's totally getting posted. I want to write again!

Now, onto the more interesting aspects of the tourney, as well as my picks for tomorrow. I'm taking George Mason in one of the most bizarre home games ever conceived by the tourney committee; GMU in D.C. implies fans can take the Metro to see their team play, while Wichita's fans are flying in from... Wichita. GMU 75, Wichita State 66.

It's time to give Villanova some credit, and it's time to recognize that eventually, Boston College will have to shoot well to win. Too much pressure and too much experience give 'Nova the edge, 81-77.

Florida is really the x-factor left in the tourney, but this Georgetown game's too close to call. It's also time to give a shout-out to the SEC as being as tough as the Big East this year. I'm going to stop hating on the Gators long enough to give them the edge over the Hoyas, who outclassed (dare I say it?) the Buckeyes in a game that had OSU looking like the 7 seed. By the way, Roy Hibbert could be an effective pro. I'll take the Gators in this one, 73-65.

And here's the game of the night: UConn versus Washington. It would be a no-brainer to take UConn in this one if there wasn't this problem of Brandon Roy being the best, most consistent player on the court. But he is, and Washington can flat out score, which always gives UConn problems. Huskies win, 88-87.

What, you say that both Washington and UConn are the Huskies? I want to take UConn, then.

More later... I'm out.

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