Rounds 3/4 Review and Preview of the Final 4

I’m back to review the not-so accurate picks for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds and then preview the unique Final 4 that remain in the NCAA Tournament.  My previous picks were not so hot except for one team, the Green and White of Michigan State.  I don’t know who could have

predicted the upsets that went on.  This year’s tournament is a perfect example of why we play the games.  Let’s look back at this past weekend. 

Midwest:

I predicted the farmers of Northern Iowa had already blown their load on Kansas and I was correct.  If it’s not one player stepping it up it’s another for Michigan State right now.  In the other game, Bruce Pearl got his boys to a place they had never been before, a spot in the Elite 8.   They sent Even Turner packing for the NBA early.  I thought the Buckeyes had one more win in them but I was wrong.  Rocky top became Rocky Bottom on Sunday as Tennessee met a team no one wants to face in the tournament Michigan State to go to the Final Four.  As I predicted, Michigan State sent Tennessee back home just as their women’s team was done a few days earlier.  Draymond Green did his best Erving “Magic” Johnson impression in lumbering down the court and slipping a perfect pass to Raymar Morgan for the final points to win.   Michigan State moved on to become one of the only schools ever to go to 6 Final Fours in 12yrs. 

West:

My picks for the West were pretty much crap as nearly all of them were wrong.  Jim Boeheim’s teaching must be getting outdated as they fell to Butler.  The Xavier vs. Kansas St. game was absolutely amazing.  Those guys were shooting the lights out and I really thought Jordan Crawford and Holloway were gonna pull it off but Frank Martin’s very inspiring halftime speech (“You cannot play this way at this time of the year.  That is silly, selfish and silly!  Do it right!”) must have just been too much for Xavier.  Here is a link to the video.  This is hilarious.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhgR6YtcPo#  Kansas State moved on to play Butler in a battle of the unexpected to go to the Final Four.  Frank Martin’s pregame speech must not have been as amusing on Saturday as Butler showed that they wanted to play in the Final Four in their home city of Indianapolis. 

South:

Duke proved me wrong in the South as they beat a shorthanded Purdue team.  In the other matchup Baylor surprised me as they dismantled St. Mary’s.  Lacedarius Dunn and Quincy Acy dribbled circles around the Gales and put Waco back on the map.  Duke was too much for Baylor in the next game as they pulled away late in the second half by hitting the boards.  To my dismay, Duke returns to the Final Four once again under Coach K.  Hopefully the “K” will stand for strike out this year in the next round. 

East:

Mighty Kentucky rolled over the smart kids from Cornell showing that smarts only go so far in basketball.  It was a good run from the “totally transfers”  team from Cornell.  Kentucky looked unstoppable again in this one.  Washington on the other hand did not look unstoppable in their game against West Virginia.  Coming off nearly the perfect game against New Mexico the young Dawgs from UW looked like frazzled pups.  West Virginia next faced Kentucky in what was thought to be an instant classic.  What it became was a ton of bricks from 3-pt land from Kentucky and a clinic from West Virginia.  West Virginia is looking good and they may even have their point guard back in the next game. 

Final Four:

The Final Four is set and here are my predictions.  Butler is playing a home game against Michigan State in Indianapolis but Michigan State is unstoppable in Indianapolis.  Also, you give Tom Izzo 5 days to prepare for  a team in the tournament and you are pretty much screwed.  The guys who were thought to be superstars for Michigan State are finally fulfilling those roles and I say this continues.  I choose Sparty over the Bulldogs in a close one.

 The other matchup is a bit tougher to predict.  West Virginia is hot and may be peaking just at the right time.  However, Duke has history of winning in the tourney.  This year, it seems to be a funky tournament so I am going to go with the Mountaineers over the Blue Devils.  I say Deshawn Butler takes that blue pitchfork of the Blue Devil and hits a dagger at the buzzer to strikeout Coach K. 

 Now, this brings us to the “One Shining Moment.”  All the stars from the 2000 Championship team will come out and Michigan State will confirm their domination of Indy.  Maybe Kalin Lucas can even pull a Mateen Cleaves and come from the locker room in  a walking boot and lead the Spartans to the victory.  West Virginia will give them a run but I think Michigan State is a team on a mission.  Draymond Green is too much like “Magic” for them not to win it.  Also, I have learned my lesson to not pick against my school.  Go Green!  Go White! Go State!!!

From 16 to the Final Four PreView

 

Well I am back just in time to give my analysis and preview of the two rounds of games going on this weekend.  Who needs Digger Phelps and Dick Vitale’s long winded rambling when you have my unbiased and well researched version right here.  Without further ado let’s get going.

Convergence of the Midwest and West:

It’s pretty Sweet to be a Spartan once again as Michigan State is in the Sweet 16 and facing the farmers of Northern Iowa.  Michigan State lost star PG Kalin Lucas to a torn Achilles for the rest of the year but this will only make us stronger.  I think Northern Iowa blew their load against Kansas and are probably too proud to realize they are going up against another giant.  Michigan State wins this one and moves on.  In the second Midwest matchup it’s the Nuts vs. the Volunteers.  Tennessee has this way of losing in the tournament and I see this streak continuing.  Bruce Pearl may wear his orange suit in hopes of a little boost but Evan Turner is too much, Ohio State wins and moves on.

In the East region, Syracuse meets Butler.  I would love to see the Bulldogs take out the Cuse but I just don’t see it.  Jim Boeheim looks like a professor and he is one.  Syracuse beats Butler to advance.  The next matchup between Xavier and Kansas St. is a little tougher but I am going to go with the upset and pick Xavier. The fact that Xavier is a way cooler name for a school definitely went into my decision.  Xavier moves on to faces Syracuse. 

The Elite Eight games are a little tougher to choose but I have got my picks.  In the first matchup it will be a good old fashioned Big Ten brawl.  Ohio St. is thin and will tire quickly especially with only one days rest.  Michigan State is deep and although their star is out they have new people stepping it up.  Tom Izzo knows how to win in March.  My prediction is Michigan State moves on to the Final Four. 

Who will they play?  In a game between Syracuse and Xavier I still have to go with the professor.  Jim Boeheim and his zone defense seems to be too difficult for teams to figure out.  Syracuse moves on to meet Michigan State.  Now, that will be a battle on the boards!

Convergence of the South and the East:

In the South, Baylor plays St. Mary’s.  This is a battle of the rookies in the tournament.  Baylor is probably still trying to regroup from the Wako compound incident and St. Mary’s well they just have never really played in the big dance.  It’s sort of a toss-up in this one but I think Omar Sanhan and the Gales will prevail.  In the other matchup Duke meets the Boilermakers.  Purdue is short their star but I still think they can overpower the Blue Devils.  If Duke is cold from the outside they are done.  I say Purdue moves on.  Everyone at Purdue will be drinking Boilermakers in celebration! 

In the East, the spotlight matchup is Washington vs. West Virginia.  Most people would say this is a warm up game for West Virginia and they will move on easily.  Not so fast, the Dawgs have been playing like a team on a mission. If they play like they did against New Mexico, they can’t be beat.  Also, the Mountaineers will be short their point guard Darryl Bryant who broke his foot practicing too hard.  I say the quickness of UW and Quincy Pondexter’s domination will be too much for West Virginia.  Washington wins and breaks their Sweet 16 curse.  The other game involves Kentucky vs. Cornell.  Cornell has been dominant and they are a smart bunch of guys but smarts only goes so far in basketball.  Talent normally prevails in this game.  It may be close but the Wildcats will move on.    

This brings me to the Elite Eight predictions on this side of the bracket.  In the East, Washington will face Kentucky.  Wildcats and Huskies are both pretty fierce animals so I can’t base my pick on who’s tougher.  Kentucky is so dominant with Cousins and Wall I have to go with Kentucky to go to the Final Four.  In the South, Purdue will face St. Mary’s for the privilege of facing Kentucky.  The Big Ten is a tough conference and the Boilermakers could push around the squawking Gales but I am going to have to go with St. Mary’s to pull off the upset.  St. Mary’s will be the Cinderella in the Final Four.

There you have it.  These are my predictions.  Anything could happen.  We will see.  I will be back to give the review of rounds 3 & 4 along with my Final Four predictions next week.  Enjoy the games!

The Field of 64 Goes to 16

 

All sports fans have their predictions and analysis of the tournament that has become known as March Madness.  With this said I want to review how we got from 64 teams to 16 in four crazy days.  Here is my explanation of the unexplainable by region.   

West:

The West region shaped up much as expected in rounds 1 and 2, unless of course you are Joe Lunardi of ESPN and had UTEP going to the sweet 16.  There was also the crumbling of Vanderbilt but that shouldn’t have come of much surprise because when have the Commodores ever done anything in a major sport.  They should stick with track and field because I think they are pretty good at that.  The Orangemen got a few warm up games before they will actually be tested in their next games.  The Wildcats of Kansas St. showed why they were always better than “Rock Chalk Jayhawk”.  I had Xavier going through to the Sweet 16 although I thought that the Gophers were on a role and could have made this tournament more of Big 10 domination.  The rest of the West was just plug and chug by seedings. 

Midwest:

The Midwest region made this tourney interesting.  Of course, the mighty Spartans occupy this region giving an instant reason to pay close attention.  Another team people were watching was the #1 seed in the entire tournament Kansas, who I uneducatedly picked to win the whole thing.  I should have known from years past to never pick against your school.  It will always come back to bite you in the butt.  This year it has come to bite me twice.  I knew Kansas had past history of blowing up yet I still picked them.  Well, their gone!  They got beat by the farmers of Northern Iowa who beat UNLV before beating the blue birds.  Michigan State continued to show why they come to play in March with a win over Maryland which Tom Izzo quoted as “one of the greatest victories in MSU basketball history”.  This sounds like a dumb statement based on the basketball dynasty they have created but considering they won with only 2 starters playing and super star Kalin Lukas ending his season with a ruptured Achilles tendon I would say this was pretty substantial.  They will move on to play the farmers of Northern Iowa.  It seems this is the first year Michigan State and Kansas won’t play in the tournament. 

The rest of the Midwest was also a mess as the hot Hoyas were put in their doghouse by a good Ohio team.   The analysts seem to think Oklahoma State was going to go far but I had them going nowhere.  OSU was put away by Georgia Tech in round one before getting put away themselves in round 2 by yet another Big 10 school in Ohio State.  This sets up a good football matchup in the Sweet 16 between the Volunteers and the Nuts.  If I was picking based upon fight song I would definitely pick Rocky Top but because we aren’t I expect Evan Turner to continue Big 10 dominance.  That pretty much does it for the Midwest region through round 2.

East:

The East region included another one of my teams, the Washington Huskies.  The Huskies have unbelievable talent but for most of the season they have been playing as Dick Vitale put it best “mediocre basketball”.  They have been inconsistent and horrible on the road. broke the ultimate rule again and picked Marquette.  This burned me again because the Huskies are now playing as Dick Vatale would say “Awesome Baby”.  UW put on the most dominant performance I have ever seen by a Husky team in their crushing of “Los Lobos” (the wolves) in round 2.  Another shocker in this region was Cornell who showed that they can do more than just score high on their MCAT’s.  Cornell took out Temple before absolutely crushing Wisconsin. West Virginia and Kentucky both did what they needed to do to advance to the Sweet 16.  Kentucky has looked like the best team in the tournament.  With the dynamic duo of Cousins and Wall the Wildcats are looking unstoppable.  West Virginia has looked good but they are going to need to step it up if they want to beat Washington.  I think Washington has a good chance to pull off this upset.

South:

The South was led by Duke who nobody wants to go anywhere except those that went to Duke.  If you truly love Duke and didn’t go there I need a valid explanation because you are one of a small group.  The rest of the South was much more interesting than Duke’s demolishing of their opponents.  Villanova was almost smoked by the brother of Phillip Morris, Robert Morris before falling to St. Mary’s in round 2.  Notre Dame who was playing their best ball in years showed why they should never be considered a powerful athletic school in losing to Old Dominion.  I must have been watching “Rudy” when I made my picks because I had the Irish getting lucky and going to the Final Four. Instead, Baylor will take their place as they took care of Old Dominion.  Another team that I had doing some damage was the Spiders of Richmond who did nothing but lose to St. Mary’s. 

In the top half of this region was a good matchup with Louisville and Cal.  I thought the Big East was strong so I chose Louisville but Cal proved me wrong.  Texas A&M took out the sharp shooting Utah St. team that was thought to be a Cinderella.  The Aggies joined the former Michigan State Aggies in the round of 32 but were beat by the Big Ten (Purdue) in the next round.  Cal was good for one round but then they met Kyle Singler and the Duke Blue Devils who basically showed Cal how basketball should be played.  Coach K is a great coach, he just wines a lot.  No question Duke is a great team but I wouldn’t be surprised if they join Kansas on the couch at home before the Final Four comes around. 

Well, there you have it.  This is my review of how we got from 64 to 16.  I will return later this week to give predictions and then review the run to the Final Four.  For now, this ends Bracketology with Aaron.  Have a great week and Go Green!