I was going to write a much more in-depth post about the Final Four, the teams, the coaches, the upsets, the Madness, etc. Instead the First Lady and I watched Frontline on PBS, and their story about how much money is made during March Madness, and how the athletes saw zero of that. This turned into an hour conversation in the Daily Onions office about whether or not student-athletes should get paid, how they would get paid, why coaches are overpaid, why does the NCAA have such a big yearly budget, jersey sales, video game sales and so on and so on. If you ever thought about banging your head against the wall for an hour, don't do it. Just have a conversation with your significant other about all the things wrong with the NCAA.
The craziest thing is, I don't totally agree with fact that student-athletes don't get compensated for all the money that is being brought in thanks to college athletics. It's tough to come up with an argument for why they aren't, except the fact that the NCAA is about student-athletes, and they don't play students, but instead they are giving students the opportunity to get a free education (which is what the NCAA President said over and over and over...) From the bottom of my heart, I really wish that was true, but it isn't. This is a topic that Daily Onions could talk about for 3 months straight, and I don't even know if we'd come up with a solution or a perfect argument at that point. The First Lady may have summed things up the best by saying this: "You don't have to have a vast knowledge of college sports, to know right from wrong." She is probably right. There is exploitation in college sports (mostly football and basketball), and we all know that. Will the NCAA ever change its rules, probably not....allowing many "fun" conversations between couples down the road.
Enough about that, let's get into some Final Four random thoughts:
-During the season, I thought I wanted to name my first born Jimmer, but now I am thinking it might be Butler. How can you not LOVE the Butler Bulldogs basketball program? We are currently reading the book Underdawgs, which is the story of last year's team's run to the National Championship game. Lots of good tidbits on coach Brad Stevens (Daily Onions crush), the recruitment of Shelvin Mack, Gordon Hayward and Ronald Nored, and more info that we'll probably include in a post in the near future entitled, "Everything I ever needed to know in life, I learned from the Butler Basketball Program." Stay tuned.
-If Shaka Smart was in a lineup next to five other current college point guards, would the untrained eye be able to point out which person was the college coach? Probably not. Throw in how he looked and how he worked the crowd at the pep rally on Sunday night when the teamed returned to campus, Smart could have easily been plugged into the role of emcee at a block party coming to a university near you. Looks aside, we obviously commend the job Shaka has done in the past two weeks. As far as where he'll be next year, we doubt it includes the letters VCU. Our guess is N.C. State. Will he be able to gain some ground on Duke and UNC? Probably not right away, but after how far he's brought VCU in the last two weeks, you never know.
-In case you didn't know, it's "Random Early '90s College Basketball Players Get Head Coaching Jobs" week. First, Cuonzo Martin goes to Tennessee (yes, we know he was a head coach at Mizzou State). We remember Cuonzo as the sidekick to the Big Dog at Purdue back in the early 90s. Then today, THE Monmouth University of New Jersey go and hire Vanderbilt assistant and former UNC Tarheel, King Rice. For those of you that don't remember Rice, we don't blame you. Fortunately, Daily Onions was blessed with a ridiculous and random (and sometimes stupid) memory, so we remember Rice playing along side of Rick Fox and Co. back in the day. No word on whether or not NC State is looking to hire Chris Corchiani for the head job (they aren't, because Chris now works in real estate). If things don't work out with Matt Painer for Missouri, they can always give Anthony Peeler a call (he's actually an assistant at D-2 Virginia Union). Ok, that's enough for now, but plenty of seats still open on the coaching carousel, so more jokes to come.
A few questions to ponder looking ahead to this weekend:
-If UConn wins two games this weekend, capping off an unbelievable month of basketball (11 wins in a row between the Big East and NCAA Tournament), does Jim Calhoun walk away? Close to turning 69 years old, Calhoun's got some suspension time looming next year due to some NCAA violations, as well as some scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions over the next three years. Kemba will be gone after this season, and Jeremy Lamb might not be too far behind, draining the Huskies of their top talents. Why not go out on top now?
-When Daily Onions celebrates its 5th birthday in December of 2015, will Kentucky still have its 2011 NCAA Final Four banner still hanging in Rupp Arena? I think its a legit question considering Coach Cal's track record (even though he didn't know anything). Also, is UK's Josh Harrellson the biggest goon in college basketball since......? I'm not even sure who the last goon in the college game was, but we bet Harrellson will give him a run for his money. As a Daily Onions loyal reader pointed out over the weekend after Harrellson chucked the ball at Jared Sullinger's chest, "O'Doyle Rules!"
-We knew we'd have some bad headlines this week with Butler returning to the Final Four. Creative reporters and editors brushed off "The Butler Did It" and figured out ways to incorporate that into the leads of stories throughout the weekend. Now we get to go to Houston for the Final 4. Spare us the, "Houston, we have a problem" headlines. We know there aren't any 1 or 2 seeds left in the tournament. That's not a problem, and even if it was a problem, that's not a creative headline. Give us something better. And can we stop the potential VCU-UConn matchup leading to Shaka-Conn headlines now? Ok good. Oh, and if Connecticut does win, please keep the "Yes, UConn" headlines to yourself. Thanks.
More Final Four thoughts coming later this week.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Show Us Your ONIONS: And then there were three....
The 1st Annual Show Us Your ONIONS contest, which had over 30 people enter, is now down to 3 potential winners. No one had Butler or VCU in their Elite 8, while only one person had Kentucky. When we break things down to the Final 4, 10 entries have UConn in the Final 4, but only two have UConn in the Championship game. If UConn loses to Kentucky on Saturday, then our winner will be crowned that night. If UConn heads to the National Championship game, we'll have two West Virginia University alums matched up against each other for the Onions title. Here are the three finalists:
Lindsay Hampton: 150 total points (If UConn loses on Saturday, Lindsay is our winner)
Lindsay Spieler: 125 total points (Has UConn losing in champ. game - max potential points: 225)
Brady Smith: 125 total points (Has UConn winning it all - max potential points: 375)
Lots of things in common amongst our three finalists: two of them went to WVU, two of them played D1 -college volleyball (hint: Brady didn't play college VB), two of them share a name, two of them got married last June (not to each other), all of them dominate and all of them are loyal readers to Daily Onions. To find out more about one of these folks, you'll just have to wait to see who wins and gets their very own Daily Onions blog entry.
Lindsay Hampton: 150 total points (If UConn loses on Saturday, Lindsay is our winner)
Lindsay Spieler: 125 total points (Has UConn losing in champ. game - max potential points: 225)
Brady Smith: 125 total points (Has UConn winning it all - max potential points: 375)
Lots of things in common amongst our three finalists: two of them went to WVU, two of them played D1 -college volleyball (hint: Brady didn't play college VB), two of them share a name, two of them got married last June (not to each other), all of them dominate and all of them are loyal readers to Daily Onions. To find out more about one of these folks, you'll just have to wait to see who wins and gets their very own Daily Onions blog entry.
Friday, March 25, 2011
16 Sweet Things To Look Forward To: Part 2
Before we get into the next eight things on our list....let's have a moment of silence for Jimmer's college career (moment). We thank you Jimmer, it was a blast. Now we are excited about the MoMo Jones era (errr, weekend of the season). Florida, UConn, Butler (and Brad Stevens) and Arizona are still standing. We still have 3 of our 4 Final 4 teams still alive (thanks, Duke), so we're still in the running for predicting the National Champion. Now let's look ahead to tonight's action, and reasons 9-16 we like the Sweet 16.
9. Shaka...Gone? Will tonight's game be the final game of the season for the Rams, and coach Shaka Smart? Shaka was already on the "hot, young, up and coming coach" list this season, and victories over Georgetown and Purdue may have hoisted him to the top. With openings at Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, and Monmouth (hi Ram!), there is a good chance Shaka will be gone from VCU once they are eliminated.
10. College Basketball Capital of the World: Apparently it is Richmond, Virginia. Two schools that are just six miles away from each other, both double-digit seeds, both pulled a few upsets and both are in the Sweet 16. Oh and both will probably be looking for a new head coach after the season, as Richmond's Chris Mooney is also on the aforementioned coaches list at which bigger schools will start taking a look.
11. Two down, Two to go: As you all know, we picked THE Ohio State University to go to the Final Four back in December. Well, they've won their first two tournament games, and need to win two more for our prediction to come true. They got a young Kentucky team tonight in....NEW JERRRSEEEY. A classic match up for Daily Onions, since it includes one of our favorites this season (OSU), as well as one of our favorites to dislike (UK).
12. Kentucky and Calipari: As you all know, we aren't the biggest fan of Coach Calipari. We never have trusted his young squad, as they have struggled on the road during the season, and went home early last season thanks to a more disciplined, more mature West Virginia team. We also don't trust Coach Cal. Even a six page article in Sports Illustrated basically defending Calipari couldn't really change our opinion. Bottom line, he's taken two different schools to the Final Four, and both of those schools have had those trips revoked. Now Cal claims he knew nothing about the violations (maybe true), but where there is smoke there is fire. If Kentucky ends up winning two more games, will it even matter? Half his team will be gone in a few months, and who knows what potential violations are down the road.
13: Big East Pride: Not only are the Marquette Golden Eagles one of two Big East teams left standings, but they also sport the pair of shorts we are most likely to purchase on Eastbay. Gold or light blue, take your pick, you can't lose. Shorts aside, is anyone else a tad scared of Marquette right now? They are playing inspired ball for Coach Buzz, aka Coach Streetwise....."maybe on the way out" (Chicago joke). They play hard, they are athletic, they are physical, and they will most likely give UNC everything they can handle.
14. Rock Chalk: Apparently Kansas didn't get the memo that the Southwest Region is Cinderella's castle. The team's left in that region are seeded 10, 11, and 12. Oh yeah, and the Jayhawks are 1. That means one of two things. Kansas either has a very good shot at making the Final 4, or they are in trouble and are the next top seed to take a tumble.
15. Gus vs. Raftery: This is a match up where no one wins. Its bad enough this is the final weekend of the season that we'll get to hear these two vocal geniuses, but we don't even get them on separate nights. At least on Saturday, the games are staggered so we'll be able to enjoy the final 40 minutes uninterrupted, of both Gus and Raftery. That makes us want to put our lingerie on the deck (what?).
16. ONIONS! After Friday's games we'll have the first set of standings for the Show Us Your Onions competition. We lost Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pitt last weekend, and waved goodbye to Duke and San Diego State last night. Yep, we projected Duke in the Final 4. We were wrong. Tomorrow we'll be able to see who's been right, and who's been wrong, and who has the nicest Onions thus far.
9. Shaka...Gone? Will tonight's game be the final game of the season for the Rams, and coach Shaka Smart? Shaka was already on the "hot, young, up and coming coach" list this season, and victories over Georgetown and Purdue may have hoisted him to the top. With openings at Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, and Monmouth (hi Ram!), there is a good chance Shaka will be gone from VCU once they are eliminated.
10. College Basketball Capital of the World: Apparently it is Richmond, Virginia. Two schools that are just six miles away from each other, both double-digit seeds, both pulled a few upsets and both are in the Sweet 16. Oh and both will probably be looking for a new head coach after the season, as Richmond's Chris Mooney is also on the aforementioned coaches list at which bigger schools will start taking a look.
11. Two down, Two to go: As you all know, we picked THE Ohio State University to go to the Final Four back in December. Well, they've won their first two tournament games, and need to win two more for our prediction to come true. They got a young Kentucky team tonight in....NEW JERRRSEEEY. A classic match up for Daily Onions, since it includes one of our favorites this season (OSU), as well as one of our favorites to dislike (UK).
12. Kentucky and Calipari: As you all know, we aren't the biggest fan of Coach Calipari. We never have trusted his young squad, as they have struggled on the road during the season, and went home early last season thanks to a more disciplined, more mature West Virginia team. We also don't trust Coach Cal. Even a six page article in Sports Illustrated basically defending Calipari couldn't really change our opinion. Bottom line, he's taken two different schools to the Final Four, and both of those schools have had those trips revoked. Now Cal claims he knew nothing about the violations (maybe true), but where there is smoke there is fire. If Kentucky ends up winning two more games, will it even matter? Half his team will be gone in a few months, and who knows what potential violations are down the road.
13: Big East Pride: Not only are the Marquette Golden Eagles one of two Big East teams left standings, but they also sport the pair of shorts we are most likely to purchase on Eastbay. Gold or light blue, take your pick, you can't lose. Shorts aside, is anyone else a tad scared of Marquette right now? They are playing inspired ball for Coach Buzz, aka Coach Streetwise....."maybe on the way out" (Chicago joke). They play hard, they are athletic, they are physical, and they will most likely give UNC everything they can handle.
14. Rock Chalk: Apparently Kansas didn't get the memo that the Southwest Region is Cinderella's castle. The team's left in that region are seeded 10, 11, and 12. Oh yeah, and the Jayhawks are 1. That means one of two things. Kansas either has a very good shot at making the Final 4, or they are in trouble and are the next top seed to take a tumble.
15. Gus vs. Raftery: This is a match up where no one wins. Its bad enough this is the final weekend of the season that we'll get to hear these two vocal geniuses, but we don't even get them on separate nights. At least on Saturday, the games are staggered so we'll be able to enjoy the final 40 minutes uninterrupted, of both Gus and Raftery. That makes us want to put our lingerie on the deck (what?).
16. ONIONS! After Friday's games we'll have the first set of standings for the Show Us Your Onions competition. We lost Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pitt last weekend, and waved goodbye to Duke and San Diego State last night. Yep, we projected Duke in the Final 4. We were wrong. Tomorrow we'll be able to see who's been right, and who's been wrong, and who has the nicest Onions thus far.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
16 Sweet Things To Look Forward To: Part 1
Just 16 teams left standing today, but a few days from now there will only be four. Here is what we are excited about seeing over the next two days, 16 things to be exact. To make sure you don't get Daily Onions-coma, we'll give you eight today and eight tomorrow. In no particular order, eight things to look forward to in tonight's four games.
1. Jimmer: We might have said in no particular order, but Jimmer is always at the top of our lists. In Round 1 he had 32, in Round 2 he had 34, do I hear a 36 for Thursday night against Florida? Bottom line, Jimmer has been a joy to watch this tournament, just as he has been all season long. Hopefully the SI cover jinx won't affect him this week, but either way, this is a pretty sick cover picture. Will Florida be able to contain him? That is the question. In case you don't remember, these two teams met last year in Round 1 of the Tournament...and no, the Gators could not contain Jimmer, as he dropped 37 in the Cougs victory. Expect a pro-Gators crowd down in New Orleans, thanks to its proximity to the Sunshine State. Plus, I'm not sure if BYU students are allowed in the city limits of NOLA.
2. Brad Stevens: If Jimmer is our favorite player, then Brad Stevens is by far our favorite coach. Is it a coincidence that Daily Onions was born the day after we spent a night watching Stevens in person against Loyola back in early December? Probably not. We complimented Stevens in our first post for his sideline demeanor and the way he interacted with his players. That rang true once again on Saturday night at the end of the Butler-Pitt game. With such a bizarre ending, Stevens was calm, cool and collected (we'll call him the anti-Mike Rice), which trickles down to his players. You can tell his guys love playing for him, and there are plenty of top high school recruits out there that will as well. The real question becomes, when does he leave Butler? We don't think he leaves for any of the openings now (Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, Mizzou), but instead waits for his dream job -whatever that might be - We are thinking textbook, traditional college basketball programs like a Duke or an Indiana, etc. With those two schools well off with their current coaches, Coach K and Tom Crean (another Daily Onions favorite), maybe Stevens will indeed stay at Butler for years to come, and bring the Bulldogs to a perennial top 10 team, all while staying cool, calm and collected.
3. Fab 5 Revisited: Two weeks ago we had the Fab 5 documentary air on ESPN, last week we had Duke squeak by Michigan, and if all goes well Thursday night, we could have Steve Fisher and Coach K meet in the Elite 8 with a trip to Final 4 on the line. Talk about things coming full-circle. The NCAA Selection Committee may have screwed up a lot of seeding in this year's tournament, but they have helped Jalen Rose and Co. in keeping the Duke-Michigan/Fab 5 era story lines going throughout the tournament.
4. Kyrie: There was no question that Duke was the best basketball team in the country this season when Kyrie Irving was healthy. A freak toe injury caused him to miss the majority of the season, and he saw his first action since mid-December in Duke's opening round games. His only made FG on Sunday proved to be the game winner against Michigan. Now he's had another few days of practice and should have his "sea-legs" back for Thursday's game. We don't think Kyrie will be back to 100% quite yet, but he should be better than he was last weekend, which makes Duke that much tougher.
5. In the Zona: If you haven't seen Derrick Williams play yet this season, (a) what have you been doing all year? and (b) tune into tonight. The 6-8, 241 lb sophomore is one heck of an athlete. His 3-point play won the game for the Wildcats on Sunday, while his blocked shot against Memphis saved the day in Round 1. What is he going to do for an encore....walk on water?
6. Zebras: How do you like your officials, one's with with a quick five count and a quick whistle, or ones that don't know the correct back court violation rules? Regardless, unfortunately refs were taking quite a lot of heat after the first weekend of the tournament. Throw-in the debacle at the Big East tournament and it hasn't quite been the officials' month. It should be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences in this round's games - officials calling things a little tighter/looser, possibly a few more end of games conferences/reviews with the other officials on the court to make sure they got it "right". In any case, let's hope head of officials, John Adams isn't prominently featured in the studio shows like he was last weekend.
7: Bo Knows: We know that Bo Ryan knows where the best place to vacation/retire is, the beaches of....NEW JERRRRRSEY. He also knows a thing or two about Midwest basketball. Before coming to Madison, Ryan was the coach of Milwaukee, and before that he was the coach of UW-Platteville. We'll see just how much Bo knows about Midwest basketball when he has to deal with the Butler Bulldogs. This game probably won't be the track meet that UNC vs. Washington was, instead it will be closer to the Wisconsin-Penn State Big Ten tournament game that had a combined 70 points. Wisconsin may be favored by 5 points, but Butler has figured out a way to win games in March, both this year and last. The Duke-Arizona game might be the more exciting later game, but make sure your you have you eye on Butler-Wisconsin down the stretch.
8: Huskies Run: Saw this interesting stat that means absolutely nothing on the Twitter Machine about UConn. The Huskies are 0-7 since 1992 in NCAA games held in their opponent's state. For the geography majors (from UConn), San Diego is in California, as is Anaheim, where Thursday night's game will be held. That stat aside, can UConn's magical March run continue? The Fighting Kemba's won five games in five days to capture the Big East Tournament Championship, they dismantled Bucknell, and then sent Cincinnati home. Thursday night they'll be in unchartered waters, taking on San Diego State in their backyard. Let's see how the cross country flight and "road game" works out for the dogs this time around.
Happy watching and we'll see you tomorrow with eight more sweet things for Friday night's game.
1. Jimmer: We might have said in no particular order, but Jimmer is always at the top of our lists. In Round 1 he had 32, in Round 2 he had 34, do I hear a 36 for Thursday night against Florida? Bottom line, Jimmer has been a joy to watch this tournament, just as he has been all season long. Hopefully the SI cover jinx won't affect him this week, but either way, this is a pretty sick cover picture. Will Florida be able to contain him? That is the question. In case you don't remember, these two teams met last year in Round 1 of the Tournament...and no, the Gators could not contain Jimmer, as he dropped 37 in the Cougs victory. Expect a pro-Gators crowd down in New Orleans, thanks to its proximity to the Sunshine State. Plus, I'm not sure if BYU students are allowed in the city limits of NOLA.
2. Brad Stevens: If Jimmer is our favorite player, then Brad Stevens is by far our favorite coach. Is it a coincidence that Daily Onions was born the day after we spent a night watching Stevens in person against Loyola back in early December? Probably not. We complimented Stevens in our first post for his sideline demeanor and the way he interacted with his players. That rang true once again on Saturday night at the end of the Butler-Pitt game. With such a bizarre ending, Stevens was calm, cool and collected (we'll call him the anti-Mike Rice), which trickles down to his players. You can tell his guys love playing for him, and there are plenty of top high school recruits out there that will as well. The real question becomes, when does he leave Butler? We don't think he leaves for any of the openings now (Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, Mizzou), but instead waits for his dream job -whatever that might be - We are thinking textbook, traditional college basketball programs like a Duke or an Indiana, etc. With those two schools well off with their current coaches, Coach K and Tom Crean (another Daily Onions favorite), maybe Stevens will indeed stay at Butler for years to come, and bring the Bulldogs to a perennial top 10 team, all while staying cool, calm and collected.
3. Fab 5 Revisited: Two weeks ago we had the Fab 5 documentary air on ESPN, last week we had Duke squeak by Michigan, and if all goes well Thursday night, we could have Steve Fisher and Coach K meet in the Elite 8 with a trip to Final 4 on the line. Talk about things coming full-circle. The NCAA Selection Committee may have screwed up a lot of seeding in this year's tournament, but they have helped Jalen Rose and Co. in keeping the Duke-Michigan/Fab 5 era story lines going throughout the tournament.
4. Kyrie: There was no question that Duke was the best basketball team in the country this season when Kyrie Irving was healthy. A freak toe injury caused him to miss the majority of the season, and he saw his first action since mid-December in Duke's opening round games. His only made FG on Sunday proved to be the game winner against Michigan. Now he's had another few days of practice and should have his "sea-legs" back for Thursday's game. We don't think Kyrie will be back to 100% quite yet, but he should be better than he was last weekend, which makes Duke that much tougher.
5. In the Zona: If you haven't seen Derrick Williams play yet this season, (a) what have you been doing all year? and (b) tune into tonight. The 6-8, 241 lb sophomore is one heck of an athlete. His 3-point play won the game for the Wildcats on Sunday, while his blocked shot against Memphis saved the day in Round 1. What is he going to do for an encore....walk on water?
6. Zebras: How do you like your officials, one's with with a quick five count and a quick whistle, or ones that don't know the correct back court violation rules? Regardless, unfortunately refs were taking quite a lot of heat after the first weekend of the tournament. Throw-in the debacle at the Big East tournament and it hasn't quite been the officials' month. It should be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences in this round's games - officials calling things a little tighter/looser, possibly a few more end of games conferences/reviews with the other officials on the court to make sure they got it "right". In any case, let's hope head of officials, John Adams isn't prominently featured in the studio shows like he was last weekend.
7: Bo Knows: We know that Bo Ryan knows where the best place to vacation/retire is, the beaches of....NEW JERRRRRSEY. He also knows a thing or two about Midwest basketball. Before coming to Madison, Ryan was the coach of Milwaukee, and before that he was the coach of UW-Platteville. We'll see just how much Bo knows about Midwest basketball when he has to deal with the Butler Bulldogs. This game probably won't be the track meet that UNC vs. Washington was, instead it will be closer to the Wisconsin-Penn State Big Ten tournament game that had a combined 70 points. Wisconsin may be favored by 5 points, but Butler has figured out a way to win games in March, both this year and last. The Duke-Arizona game might be the more exciting later game, but make sure your you have you eye on Butler-Wisconsin down the stretch.
8: Huskies Run: Saw this interesting stat that means absolutely nothing on the Twitter Machine about UConn. The Huskies are 0-7 since 1992 in NCAA games held in their opponent's state. For the geography majors (from UConn), San Diego is in California, as is Anaheim, where Thursday night's game will be held. That stat aside, can UConn's magical March run continue? The Fighting Kemba's won five games in five days to capture the Big East Tournament Championship, they dismantled Bucknell, and then sent Cincinnati home. Thursday night they'll be in unchartered waters, taking on San Diego State in their backyard. Let's see how the cross country flight and "road game" works out for the dogs this time around.
Happy watching and we'll see you tomorrow with eight more sweet things for Friday night's game.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Show Us Your ONIONS! Update
We had just over 30 entries in the 1st Annnual “Show Us Your Onions” competition. Below you will be able to see who picked what, and who everyone has winning it all (the first team listed) and who they have in the Final 4 (top four teams). Any teams currently in red have been eliminated. Sunday was a rough day for many of us, knocking out Syracuse, Purdue, Notre Dame and Texas. There is one entry that has 7 of 8 teams still alive (Kenny Warner), a couple with 6 of 8 still alive, and lots of entries with 5 of 8. Games start back up on Thursday, and our first scoreboard will be released after the Elite 8 is set late Friday night. Thanks for your participation and for your daily reads!
Show Us Your ONIONS! Who's got Who?
| Daily Onions | JaLil | Lauren S. | Megan | Riley | Carter |
| OSU | Kansas | OSU | Syracuse | Duke | Syracuse |
| Kansas | Syracuse | Notre Dame | Kansas | Kansas | Florida |
| Duke | Duke | Pitt | Florida | Pitt | Notre Dame |
| Florida | Pitt | SDSU | Duke | Ohio State | Duke |
| Syracuse | BYU | UCLA | OSU | Syracuse | OSU |
| SDSU | Purdue | Syracuse | Uconn | Temple | Uconn |
| Notre Dame | Uconn | Duke | Pitt | Georgetown | Kansas |
| Pitt | OSU | Kansas | Purdue | BYU | Pitt |
Monday, March 21, 2011
Day 4 of the Madness: Boom Goes the Dynamite
And on the fourth day, he ended the Syracuse basketball season. We'll save our thoughts on the Syracuse season for a post at a later date, but we'll include some brief musings in our recap of the final day of opening weekend.
Domination Station: After starting the game trailing 11-2, THE Ohio State University got there stuff together and showed why they are the overall #1 seed in the tournament. The rest of the first half, they outscored George Mason 50-15. Put the money in the bag. OSU ends up winning 98-56, and will be headed to Newark, (Governor Patterson SNL voice) NEW JERRRSEY to take on Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Another #1 seed in action, Kansas, also cruised to a victory against Illinois. The Fighting Illini hung around, but never really threatened the Jayhawks, who will now face Richmond in the next round. While we are on the topic of domination, we need to throw VCU aka Southern Prep (South Jersey HS bball reference - thanks J5!) in there. For the third straight game, they've gone up against a team from a power conference (USC, Gtown and Purdue) and completely taken it to them winning by an average of 13 points. Purdue was a sexy pick for the Final Four thanks to the the freakish talents of JaJuan Johnson, who went for 25 and 14 on Sunday. That was not enough, as the Boiler Makers couldn't stop the Rams, who put up 94 points. Yes, this is the same VCU team that most "experts" said had no right even being in the tournament.
You Down with ACC? Both Duke and North Carolina were part of nail-biters Sunday afternoon in Charlotte. In a track meet, UNC held off Washington 86-83. Super Frosh Harrison Barnes has really come into his own after struggling at the beginning of the season for the Tar Heels. He dropped 22, including a 3 with four minutes to play, to give UNC the lead for good. In the second game of the afternoon, Duke and Michigan renewed the Fab 5-Laettner/Hurley/Hill rivalry. Duke went up by as many as 16 in the second half, only to see Michigan storm back and cut the lead to 1 point with 1:30 left, and then again with ten seconds left. 1 of 2 free throws from Nolan Smith and a missed Darius Miller runner as time expired sealed Coach K's 900th victory, and another trip to the Sweet 16 for the Dukies.
Five Seconds: Cue the controversy for the Texas-Arizona game. A questionable five second violation on a late game in-bounds play led to the ball going back to Arizona, trailing by two with 12 seconds left. Zona's Derrick Williams was then able to convert a three-point play the old fashioned way, finishing a layup and making the free throw. The Longhorns had two chances to win it around the bucket but could not finish, including a play on which some wanted a foul to be called. The refs (correctly, this time) swallowed their whistles. Zona will now face Duke, and Texas will once again go home early from the tournament.
Two for Eleven: That's the stat that everyone will talk about this week. The Big East got 11 teams into the tournament, but only two (Marquette and UConn) are still alive in the Sweet 16. They'll leave out the part that there were two games that matched Big East members against each other, so that number should technically be out of nine. But regardless, Syracuse and Notre Dame did nothing to help the cause on Sunday. When the brackets were released, Daily Onions looked at the Syracuse draw and said the first weekend scares us more than the potential second weekend match ups. The reason was a second round date with either Xavier or Marquette. The Cuse got Marquette, a team the Orange lost to this season, a team that is athletic as heck, plays hard as all and can get up and down the court, and a team that isn't a great match up for Syracuse. Granted, 17 turnovers and some costly mental mistakes the entire game probably cost Syracuse the game as much as Marquette's play did. We won't talk about the backcourt violation (which isn't actually a backcourt violation - refs got that one wrong), but we'll get to Scoop, Dion, I'm Sorry Rick Jackson, Kris and the rest of the crew in a post later this week. Now, we'll pour another one out for the Big East because Notre Dame couldn't overcome Florida State. So what was supposed to be the battle for Indiana Basketball between ND and Purdue in the Sweet 16, has now turned into the battle for Cinderella between VCU and FSU.
Domination Station: After starting the game trailing 11-2, THE Ohio State University got there stuff together and showed why they are the overall #1 seed in the tournament. The rest of the first half, they outscored George Mason 50-15. Put the money in the bag. OSU ends up winning 98-56, and will be headed to Newark, (Governor Patterson SNL voice) NEW JERRRSEY to take on Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Another #1 seed in action, Kansas, also cruised to a victory against Illinois. The Fighting Illini hung around, but never really threatened the Jayhawks, who will now face Richmond in the next round. While we are on the topic of domination, we need to throw VCU aka Southern Prep (South Jersey HS bball reference - thanks J5!) in there. For the third straight game, they've gone up against a team from a power conference (USC, Gtown and Purdue) and completely taken it to them winning by an average of 13 points. Purdue was a sexy pick for the Final Four thanks to the the freakish talents of JaJuan Johnson, who went for 25 and 14 on Sunday. That was not enough, as the Boiler Makers couldn't stop the Rams, who put up 94 points. Yes, this is the same VCU team that most "experts" said had no right even being in the tournament.
You Down with ACC? Both Duke and North Carolina were part of nail-biters Sunday afternoon in Charlotte. In a track meet, UNC held off Washington 86-83. Super Frosh Harrison Barnes has really come into his own after struggling at the beginning of the season for the Tar Heels. He dropped 22, including a 3 with four minutes to play, to give UNC the lead for good. In the second game of the afternoon, Duke and Michigan renewed the Fab 5-Laettner/Hurley/Hill rivalry. Duke went up by as many as 16 in the second half, only to see Michigan storm back and cut the lead to 1 point with 1:30 left, and then again with ten seconds left. 1 of 2 free throws from Nolan Smith and a missed Darius Miller runner as time expired sealed Coach K's 900th victory, and another trip to the Sweet 16 for the Dukies.
Five Seconds: Cue the controversy for the Texas-Arizona game. A questionable five second violation on a late game in-bounds play led to the ball going back to Arizona, trailing by two with 12 seconds left. Zona's Derrick Williams was then able to convert a three-point play the old fashioned way, finishing a layup and making the free throw. The Longhorns had two chances to win it around the bucket but could not finish, including a play on which some wanted a foul to be called. The refs (correctly, this time) swallowed their whistles. Zona will now face Duke, and Texas will once again go home early from the tournament.
Two for Eleven: That's the stat that everyone will talk about this week. The Big East got 11 teams into the tournament, but only two (Marquette and UConn) are still alive in the Sweet 16. They'll leave out the part that there were two games that matched Big East members against each other, so that number should technically be out of nine. But regardless, Syracuse and Notre Dame did nothing to help the cause on Sunday. When the brackets were released, Daily Onions looked at the Syracuse draw and said the first weekend scares us more than the potential second weekend match ups. The reason was a second round date with either Xavier or Marquette. The Cuse got Marquette, a team the Orange lost to this season, a team that is athletic as heck, plays hard as all and can get up and down the court, and a team that isn't a great match up for Syracuse. Granted, 17 turnovers and some costly mental mistakes the entire game probably cost Syracuse the game as much as Marquette's play did. We won't talk about the backcourt violation (which isn't actually a backcourt violation - refs got that one wrong), but we'll get to Scoop, Dion, I'm Sorry Rick Jackson, Kris and the rest of the crew in a post later this week. Now, we'll pour another one out for the Big East because Notre Dame couldn't overcome Florida State. So what was supposed to be the battle for Indiana Basketball between ND and Purdue in the Sweet 16, has now turned into the battle for Cinderella between VCU and FSU.
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