Vandy over Tennessee (aka: I didn't want your stupid #1 ranking anyway!)

Somewhere between 26 and 38 hours after the weekly AP and USA Today Coaches Polls came out, with the Tennessee Volunteers (now 25-3, 11-2) at #1 for the first time in school history...they politely 'volunteered' (see what I did there?) that ranking away for a more deserving team with a 72-69 loss to in-state rival #18 Vanderbilt (24-4, 9-4). I was able to watch most of this game due to the ongoing snow in the Pittsburgh area, but I sadly didn't learn much about either team or the SEC. What I can say is that Tennessee coach, Bruce Pearl, was decked out in his, now patented, orange sport coat. I don't really have a strong opinion on Coach Pearl either way, but I must say that I love the orange sports coats; they are loud, they add much needed personality to college basketball right now, and they maintain a certain level of classiness. A coach sporting a coat and tie, demolishes any coach with the audacity to put on a mock-turtleneck (see Tommy Amaker or Charlie Spoonhauer). The human creamsicle look is definitely in. I also have to say that I love when Vanderbilt is competitive/relevant because I'm in awe of their kooky home court (Memorial Gym) where the teams are at each end of the floor, under the baskets, opposed to the sides of the court. Unfortunately, these two things are just about the most significant things that I'll take from this game. I wouldn't say the contest was 'good', even though the score was close. Tennessee went somewhere around 12 minutes in the second-half with only two made field goals and Vanderbilt was just as bad because they could never put the Volunteers away. Vandy was up 23-9 with 10:30 left in the first half, but never showed a killer instinct to create some separation. And oh my, they could have easily created some separation. Tennessee 'star' guard, Chris Lofton takes some of the most terrible shots I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, this kid can score, but when he's scoring he's usually draining three-pointers from a set position. When Lofton has to create his own shot, he looks like a horrendous NBA player...which is ironically what he'll probably become down the road. Lofton was 6 of 15 from beyond the three-point line and finished with 25 points. The player that really stood out was Vanderbilt's Shan Foster, who went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc and finished with a big 32 points. Foster seemed more comfortable and composed during crunch-time than Lofton did. Although it must be said that the entire Tennessee team was probably a little wiped from the #1 vs. #2 match-up over the weekend with Memphis. At this point I'm just rambling. What I learned was that Tennessee may have been the #1 or #2 team in the country based on the rankings over the past couple of weeks, but they are NOT one of the top three teams in all of college basketball. They will still probably end up with a #1 seed in the Tournament, not to mention that the SEC Tournament could be pretty interesting. Vanderbilt made a nice statement with this game, throwing their hat into the ring for a #3 seed. Either way I'm happy...because Bruce Pearl will be around for a few more weeks with sport coats of various orange, salmon, and peach shades.

Bracket Busters (Definitely! Maybe?) #2

May I present to you...The Drake University Bulldogs!

Before you even to begin to protest the idea that the #16 team in the country can be a Bracket Buster or sleeper pick, let me say...screw it, I don't care, I'm writing about Drake(24-3, 14-2), if you really have a problem with it...start your own damn blog. I was a little nervous including Drake on this list as they are doing so well this season, but I was completely convinced to do so when searching for information about Drake on Google. I typed in 'drake basketball', and when I searched under images, the first thing on the page says, "Did you mean Duke Basketball"? That did it for me. Drake deserves to be more than a misunderstanding for Duke! We're giving Drake Basketball and the state of Iowa some props with regard to college hoops starting right now. You all knew you weren't getting through this experience without me finding ways to praise Iowa, so just deal with it. Drake University is located in Iowa's largest city, and capital, Des Moines. The campus is described as being located in an "urban" setting, about as "urban" as you can get in the Hawkeye state. To delve into the world of Drake University a little further, here are some facts:

• Drake's last Tournament appearance was 1971. 1971!!! We're talking about the Nixon era here. I think it's safe to say that the Bulldogs are due.


• Drake is currently the #11 team in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), better than UCONN, Louisville, and Indiana.


• The Bulldog's mascot is named Spike.


• The #16 team in the country STARTS two former walk-ons in Adam Emmenecker and Jonathan Cox.


• Drake is coached by Keno Davis, who took the program over from his dad, Dr. Tom Davis. Dr. Tom was, of course, head coach at Iowa from 1986-1999. As you can see, this Drake team just has more and more things going in it's favor.


• Before Saturday's 71-64 win over Butler, the Bulldogs had not defeated a top-10 opponent in 26 years. What makes this victory more impressive was the fact that the game was played at Butler.


• Sophomore guard Josh Young is the star of this team, averaging 16.5 points a game and coming up huge in this past weekend's contest against Butler with 25 points.


• Noted Drake alumni include: author Bill Bryson, NFL placekicker Billy Cundiff, golfer and 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson, the man who was Governor of Iowa when I was born to that state - Robert D. Ray. and finally, Ari from Entourage himself, Mr. Jeremy Piven.


• They have already won the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title and are poised to go 16-2 in a league that includes perennial 'sleeper' picks such as Creighton, Illinois State, Bradley, and Evansville.

Should the Drake Bulldogs win their final two regular season games, along with the Missouri Valley Championship, they could get as high as a #4 seed in the Big Dance. More realistically, they are destined for a #5 or #6 seed come Tourney time. I'd hate to see them as a #5 seed because I don't want them to have to run into that #5 vs. #12 curse, but I don't see that happening with Drake because they would be one of the most difficult #5 seeds of all time to predict and understand. No matter where they end up, this team should surprise and do well next month, while bringing some much needed love and respect back to the state of Iowa.

Bracket Busters (Definitely! Maybe?) #1

What's better than being the smart (lucky) person to correctly choose an obsure team to upset a much higher seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament? (pause for stupid and outlandish responses) Thats right.....being the smart (lucky) person who correctly chooses those teams BEFORE the conference tournaments even happen, let alone the brackets for the NCAA Tournament. With little to no research, and way too much time on my hands...here is the first in a series of 5 teams that I think could become sexy/trendy first-round upset picks come next month. Then again, these teams might not even make the tournament. This is what makes these picks so exciting and meaningless right now. Every first-round upset pick is stolen from somewhere else (newspaper, espn, radio, friend, etc.), so please remember, you heard it here first. (These teams are in no particular order, I think that goes without saying...although you should all pay me $20 a piece if all 5 teams make the Tourney)

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#1 BRACKET BUSTER:

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It's the UMBC Retrievers (19-7, 11-2)!!! From the always beloved come Tournament time, America East Conference, which also sports recent sexy first-round upset picks Albany and Vermont. UMBC (which is the University of Maryland Baltimore County for those who did not already know) currently has a two game lead over Hartford (Go Whale!) in the America East with an 11-2 record. I know that it is never smart to go with the best team in these minor conferences because come conference tournament time, everything goes to shit and the 5th seed moves on to the Big Dance. But UMBC has a few things going for them - their mascot is a retriever, they sport the black and gold, they sound like a Pittsburgh area health care subsidiary, Kathleen Turner is perhaps their most noted alumni, and they have NEVER made the NCAA Tournament (as far as I could tell). Soon enough Baltimore will be known for three things: crab cakes, The Wire, and UMBC Basketball.

March Madness Profile #1: Gus Johnson

It's time to start profiling some of the essential participants that make the NCAA Tournament so rich from year to year. I do not give a rat's posterior that I'm completely piggy-backing off of ESPN's Bill Simmons, not to mention multiple fan sites and message boards, in devoting this first profile to the one, the only, Gus Johnson. Best known as a play-by-play announcer for CBS during March Madness, Johnson is loved for his enthusiasm, energy, and the potential that his head may actually explode during a particularly exciting three-on-two break. Johnson's calls of particular games are becoming legendary, and if anyone in recent memory was made for the youtube generation, Gus would be that man. One of his most passionate and insane calls was during the epic UCLA vs. Gonzaga sweet-sixteen matchup in 2006. Adam Morrison would never really be the same. Johnson has that unique ability (much like Gary Thorne with hockey) to increase his energy and intensity to the level that the crowd and the game itself dictates. His insanity is infectious, which seems completely appropriate for March Madness. It's not just a bunch of Generation X punks and pop-culture oriented sports writers who like Gus, crabby and getting older by the minute Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even enjoys what Johson brings to the table that is college basketball broadcasting. Johnson can make a game against Butler and Pepperdine seem not only important, but ESSENTIAL...and within the landscape of the NCAA Tournament, the game most certainly is essential. Every game counts. The tournament is single-elimination, there is no tomorrow, it's win or go home. Gus captures this vibe with the urgency in his voice and the...madness...in his tone. (See what I did there?) I'm a sentimental bitch at heart and I have a hard time letting things go. To me, Sports Center should always be hosted by a combination of Dan Patrick, Keith Olberman, Charlie Steiner, Linda Cohn, & Rich Eisen. Monday night football should always be led by Frank and Al and Dan (even if they, as a group, sucked) because that's who broadcasted the games while I was growing up. Baseball Tonight will never be the same without Karl Ravech, Harold Reynolds, and Peter Gammons. My point is that things easily get romanticised as we get older. Whether things are really better or really worse, we'll always have a tendency to remember them being much better, even ideal, in the past. We're lucky enough right now to be living with something that is ideal. Gus Johnson and March Madness go hand in hand. I know that I can count on hearing Gus Johnson calling NCAA Tournament games next month and that is very comforting. I wouldn't have it any other way. Some day, CBS will get very stupid or Gus Johnson will just get too old and I'll have to tell my kids (God willing) about the legend that was Gus Johnson announcing games in the Tournament. We're lucky enough to enjoy him now, and his presence next month is as guaranteed as the fact that I'll be filling out at least 20 brackets. (I can't help but push more clips of Gus, so here is a highlight reel from last year's Tourney)

This Is A Big Deal To More Than Just Sports Nerds: Part I

A quick scan of the illustrious search-engine google found the following political/editorial cartoons related to March Madness. I find it interesting that the NCAA Tournament, along with the gambling and nuance that goes along with it, is so frequently used as the subject of satire and metaphor each spring. This does not happen with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Editorial cartoonists aren't exactly chomping at the bit to use the 1st round of the TPC at Sawgrass as a metaphor for the Iraq war. So why March Madness? First of all, I believe that people enjoy saying and using the phrase, 'March Madness'. My mom doesn't know the first thing about college basketball, and wouldn't know to refer to the event as the NCAA Tournament. But each March, she would know enough to ask, "When does March Madness start"? And I believe that this has much to do with why the NCAA Tournament is popular in the political cartooning universe. There is something transcendent about the Tournament; about March Madness. The fact that my mom has a rough awareness of the event proves this point. The fact that millions of high school kids, secretaries, computer geeks, retirees, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, sports nerds, etc. will fill out a NCAA Tournament bracket this year speaks to how prolific this event is to the American psyche. It's not that so many people love and follow college basketball, it's that this event is so well set up and marketed so well that it has the ability to consume those that don't know what state (or time zone) in which the University of Gonzaga is located. Anyone with half a mind has the ability to fill out a bracket and follow the tournament. Entering a tourney pool is the simple process of elimination. This isn't fantasy baseball, sudoku, or an episode of 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me', it's rather simple. Simple enough for anybody and everybody to do it, and compelling enough that anybody and everybody chooses to keep entering a pool and filling out a bracket year after year.

Games on: Tuesday, Feb. 19th

Not too much was on last night's slate, here's what I got:

• Indiana beat in-state rival Purdue, 77-68, at the Hoosier-Dome (or whatever the hell 'The Place That Bobby Knight Built' is called). This creates even more of a log-jam in the Big Ten with Indiana & Wisconsin at 11-2 and Purdue a game ahead at 12-2.
• Iowa is now 5-9 in conference, thanks to the fact that they beat previously winless-in-Big-Ten-play Northwestern last night, 53-51. The Wildcats are now 0-13 in conference play.
• Back to Indiana. Eric Gordon scored 22 to lead the Hoosiers against Purdue and continues on his course to be a one-and-done college stud. Part of this blog is to prepare you for stories you'll be hearing all March long until you're stick of them. I'm just giving you knowledge now so you'll be smarter and therefore sicker of these stories before everyone else. Eric Gordon initially signed with the University of Illinois. Now this never made much sense as Gordon is from Indianapolis. But it didn't have to make sense as as he later shunned Illilnois and decided to stay at home and play for the Hooisers. Broadcasters and bound to bring this stuff up in March, but it really doesn't matter much anyway because he'll be playing for the Knicks or Sonics next season. He's wicked good.
• Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson might have coached his last game at Indiana, as possible NCAA violations hang over his head, as well as over the head of Indiana's program. It's possible Sampson could be gone by the weekend. But it isn't beyond belief that he could coach the team until the end of the season. Just be aware that this crap is hanging over Sampson and the University of Indiana. And know that Sampson has ALREADY been busted for doing this shit while coaching the Oklahoma Sooners. This isn't a case of Sampson being confident he wouldn't get caught, or even a case of him being cocky, this is a simple case of stupidity. You'll hear these stories rehashed and rehashed all March, along with the rumor that Bobby Knight could come back to IU and coach them to glory! Not likely.
• UCONN got another bullshit win last night, beating DePaul, 65-60, in a game where DePaul lead by as many as 13 in the second half. I'm just pissed because a bunch of "top tier" Big East teams keep winning games they soooooooooo should have lost. And that just makes things harder for Pitt heading down the stretch. Hasheem Thabeet is the name you need to know when discussing UCONN. You'll hear about him throughout the Big East Tournament as well as the Big Dance.
• To give my friend Phil some props, Davidson defeated UNC Greensboro 75-66 last night to up their record to 20-6 overall, 18-0 in Southern Conference play. Everyone should already know Davidson's Stephen Curry (son of ex-NBA'er Dell Curry) from last season when he trailed only Kevin Durant in Freshman scoring and set a NCAA freshman record with 113 three-pointers. Davidson will be a popular (Dare I say, sexy?) first round upset pick no matter where they are seeded in the Big Dance. Be prepared for the hype around Curry and the Wildcats again.

It Begins...

I recently started reading Committed, a book by Mark St. Amant, in which the author essentially quits his job and uses the next 8 months of his life to immerse himself in the world of fantasy football, while trying to win the league title that has evaded him for so many years. As I desperately need something to do with my life right now, I'm using this book about pursuing a fantasy football title as my inspiration to enter upon an 8 week journey to obsess over the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament with the hopes of winning at LEAST one of the Tournament Pools that I will be entering. My intent is to document this experience in blog form, as I more intently follow college basketball through: the waning regular season, the always entertaining conference tournaments, selection sunday, and the NCAA Tournament itself. I've only put an hour of thought into this idea, but it seems stupid, engaging, and entertaining enough to sustain my enthusiasm beyond tonight.

Sitting down with a yellow legal pad in front of me, I joted down some of my intentions, hopes, and dreams with regard to this project which I'm naming - Conquering The 2008 NCAA Tournament:

• Blog about the entire experience, duh
• Keep a running diary of the first two days of the tournament (this is what I'm most excited about, and if I do nothing else with this project, I'm definitely doing this. the first two days of the NCAA Tournament are the best two sports days of the year, hands down)
• Follow every, and I mean EVERY, conference tournament
• Research the HELL out of the top 30-35 teams
• Obsess over the conference tournaments so much, that you con Phil into filling out conference tournament brackets with you
• Enter at LEAST 4 NCAA Tournament Pools (For pride, money, or both...but at least 4)
• Download podcasts that follow college basketeball
• Watch as much as whatever ESPN has to offer about college basketball
• Get stories, insights, and opinions about March Madness and NCAA Tournament pools from 5-10 friends
• Look into my own personal history with regard to the tourney - either with pools or personal attendance
• Try to gain insight as to why this thing is so huge on a national level
• Search online and in magazines for any interesting and/or relevant articles relating to this phenomenon
• Use humor whenever possible, make fun of players, coaches, broadcasters, analysists, etc.

So that's my idea de jour. I'm really liking it as of this moment, as I already immerse myself in the NCAA tournament to a ridiculous amount each march. The interest is already there, I'm just choosing to dive into the things that surround college basketball and the tournament even further. I don't have a great (or even good or average) track record with keeping up on things like blogs, let alone committing to many things in general, so we'll be taking this one day at a time. The only way I'll be able to do this well at all is to not worry about the writing in my posts. Normally, I'd worry and edit ad nauseum, trying to use the perfect words while trying to construct the perfect sentence. That's all horseshit. In order to do this project any justice, I'm going to pump out posts and not give a rip how poorly they are composed. I'll run a spellcheck here and there, but this project is going to be way more about process and quantity, opposed to content and quality. (Bob - please feel free to point out editing issues here and there) So please bear with me, all 6 of you, and we'll see what comes out of this.

Selection Sunday is a mere 25 days away.