Predictions For Friday's Sweet Sixteen Games

I picked 3 out of 4 games correctly on Thursday (only missing the Xavier overtime win over West Virginia). Now it's time to do one better and go a perfect 4 of 4 on Friday.

Davidson over Wisconsin

Reasons:

• Has any other team in recent NCAA tournament memory been more of a media darling than this Davidson team? Screw George Mason...what they did was unexpected, but nobody out there, just two years later, can name a single player from that team. Davidson has a superstar and, for whatever reasons, are extremely likable. Maybe that's what happens when a team actually has student-athletes. Plus...the University of Davidson is covering the hotel, bus fare, and tickets for all students who want to road trip to Detroit for Friday's game against Wisconsin. I ask again...has there been a more endearing team in recent NCAA tournament history than Davidson? I think not. This story NEEDS to continue.
• Wisconsin is a pretty good (and boring) team. The problem with the Badgers and Bo Ryan's system is that they are never too far ahead in a game, and they're never too far behind. All that needs to happen for a Davidson upset to happen is for Wisconsin to let the Wildcats stick around, gain confidence, and let the Cinderella wave carry them through.
• Nobody outside of Packer (that's Green Bay, not Billy) country is excited about seeing Wisconsin in the Elite Eight. (actually...Billy Packer hates mid-majors, so he's probably rooting for Wisconsin to move on as well)
• Davidson has the hottest player in the tournament so far wearing their uniform. So that's a good thing. By the way...did you know that Stephen Curry is (former NBA player) Dell Curry's son?
• I want Davidson to win. Good enough reason? Phil and Annie will be rooting for Davidson tonight, and so will I. As I told Phil a few days ago, I'm officially on the Davidson bandwagon. They are my adopted team for as long as they last in this tournament. Go Cats! (Plus...Gus Johnson is calling this game. That's a good omen.)
• Confidence in this pick: 7.5

Stanford over Texas

Reasons:

• I have this sneaky feeling that we're not quite done seeing and hearing about the Lopez twins just quite yet.
• I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't trust Rick Barnes in an important game at all. I'm sorry for any Texas fans out there, you have a very talented team, but I don't have any confidence in your head coach.
• A Stanford vs. UCLA contest in the Final Four would be outstanding. (It would be their 4th meeting this season) Plus, I think Trent Johnson wants to see if the refs would have the guts to give him a double technical in a Final Four game. He's quoted as saying, "Why should my approach change?" So he's obviously saying that Stanford has won every game this tournament that he has been eject from, so why would he mess with success? If the refs actually DID throw him out of a Final Four game, this would prove, without a doubt, all of the conspiracy theories out there about UCLA getting every favorable call (and non-call). We shall call this the 'John Wooden Rule'.
• Texas point guard D.J. Augustin is outstanding. But I'm on-board the Mitch Johnson bandwagon right now and if Johnson could handle the pressure and play of Marquette's guards, I'm thinking he can hold his own against Augustin.
• I've railed against Stanford all season (blog) long. And now they're going to prove me wrong. I can just feel it.
• Confidence in this pick: 6.3

Kansas over Villanova

Reasons:

• Kansas simply has too much talent with Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, and company. The Jayhawks are probably the most athletic and most talented team in this NCAA Tournament. (My apologies to Cornell...you're good too.) (sorry Matt)
• Can a fashionable coach win the NCAA Tournament? I'm not so sure. When was the last time that happened? Jay Wright's greatest strength may turn out to be his greatest weakness. Stay tuned. (sorry Matt)
• If Bill Self can reach the Elite Eight with this Kansas team, I may finally stop giving him a hard time about being a choke artist in the NCAA Tournament. He's good at not being good in March. So I believe that to avoid further ridicule from me, Self and his Kansas squad will be properly motivated to win this game. (sorry Matt)
• The Jayhawks have depth and experience that Villanova cannot come close to matching. Unless Kerry Kittles still has some eligibility left at 'Nova, then they might have a shot. (sorry Matt)
• I picked Kansas to win it all in Tim's pool. So what am I supposed to do here? Have them losing to a #12 seed in the Sweet Sixteen? I think not. (sorry Matt)
• Confidence in this pick: 9.4

Memphis over Michigan State

Reasons:

• I thought about this one for awhile, because I really want to go with Michigan State. You might ask, "Why not just pick Michigan State here? This is a stupid blog that 6 people are reading. So who really cares?" Now that's a very good point and it's well taken. But more than anything, I want to get my pick right. So I'm going with the team that I think will win the game, it's as simple as that. If Michigan State wins, it would make Pitt's loss look much better. I just don't think it's going to happen.
• One reason I don't think it's going to happen - Michigan State is from the Big Ten. Michigan State scored 36 points in a loss to Iowa earlier this year. I cannot pick Michigan State with this kind of information bouncing around in my head.
• What's that John S.? Memphis coach John Calipari is from Western PA and attended the prestigious Clarion University? If that's the case, then I MUST pick Memphis in this game.
• If Memphis loses by 5 points or less, and missed free throws were involved, then we're going to have to hear Calipari defend his team and defend their free throw shooting for another 12 months and I can't deal with that anymore. So my pick here is partially reflecting my prayer that this doesn't happen.
• Memphis is a darn good team. I don't know how many rounds they have to get through before the nation starts to realize this. It's going to take more than Tom Izzo and Michigan State to bring down the Tigers. Speaking of which...remember when Memphis used to be Memphis State and had Anfernee (later to be known as Penny) Hardaway on their team?
• Confidence in this pick: 8.2

1020 & 8101

Thoughts & Feelings On The Tourney's Opening Weekend

After a rather dull Thursday, the NCAA Tournament did what it does best over the next three days...providing entertainment, excitement, frustration, and disappointment. I was entertained by Bill Raftery and Gus Johnson, excited about Davidson's outstanding performance, frustrated by my brackets, and disappointed about an early end to Pitt's season. Since bullet-points are a crutch used by people who cannot compose paragraphs or organize their thoughts well...here are some thoughts and feelings about the Tourney's opening weekend, in bullet-point form:

• I refused to jump on the Davidson bandwagon before the tournament began, because I believed that wagon was already full after their performance in the tournament last year. In hindsight, I completely over thought this issue. Just because Davidson and Stephen Curry (son of Dell Curry, if you didn't know) were on my radar all season long did not mean that they were on anyone else's radar. Unfortunately, I avoided choosing Davidson as one of my Bracket Busters because in my mind, they were already America's darling team and a sexy first-round upset pick. I will pat myself on the back and point out that I was already on the Davidson train way back in this blog's second post. Coach Bob McKillop deserves some huge props, it's one thing to come up with a game-plan to beat Elon (a notable seed), it's a completely different thing to come up with a game-plan to beat Gonzaga and Georgetown. Well done Bob. Stephen Curry is hands-down the most outstanding player of this tournament so far. On this sport's biggest stage, he has thrived when it mattered most. Curry scored 30 of his 40 points against Gonzaga in the second half, and followed that by scoring 25 of his 30 points against Georgetown in the second half. That's just sick! When was the last time anybody put up 25 against the Hoyas in a half?!? Credit also needs to be given to Jason Richards, Davidson's point guard, who played all 40 minutes against Georgetown, scored 20 points, and had 5 assists with only one turnover against the Hoyas' pressure defense. My friend Phil went to Davidson and is the only reason I knew about this program prior to last season. I told him Sunday night that I've officially hopped aboard the Davidson bandwagon and he gladly welcomed me. There is no reason that this Davidson team cannot beat Wisconsin on Friday. With the lights-out shooting of Stephen Curry and the outstanding point guard play of Jason Richards, anything is possible...if not downright probable.
• I'm becoming more and more obsessed with point-guard play, as I truly believe a college team's success is directly related to the quality of the man that's distributing the ball. With that in mind...the following stat astounded me: Stanford's point guard, Mitch Johnson, had 16 assists and only 1 turnover while playing 44 minutes in the Cardinal's overtime victory against Marquette. He played all but one minute of the game and only had one turnover against the athletic guards of Marquette. I'm in awe of that line. Point guards never get enough of the credit, even though they are the most crucial element to how a team performs and functions. Oh...I forgot to mention that Johnson ran this team to near perfection and kept them composed after head coach, Trent Johnson, was ejected from the game. Perhaps the most unsung performance of the first round. Outstanding game Mitch.
• The fact that four double-digit seeds all won games at the same site (Tampa Bay) seems like a complete statistical anomaly to me. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski had a blast calling those games and everyone in attendance got their money's worth. I was sad to see Drake (the pride of Des Moines, Iowa) get bounced, but their overtime, last second loss to Western Kentucky may go down as the best game of this tournament. #12 Villanova and #12 Western Kentucky move on to the Sweet Sixteen. Thank you Tampa Bay.
• Villanova coach Jay Wright did look quite dapper during the Wildcat's upset victory over #5 Clemson, but how the heck did he not get charged with a technical foul near the end of that game? *(I need to make a correction here - Jay Wright was assessed a technical foul with 2:59 left in the Clemson game. What I meant to question here was that he was not given a 2nd technical foul and ejected from the game. Please see my comment below)* He was out of control and showing up the refs. The officiating needs to be more consistent across the board during the NCAA Tournament. Mild-mannered Stanford coach, Trent Johnson, gets thrown out of a game and Wright doesn't even get one technical? I saw palming get called at least 4 times over the weekend after not seeing it called all season. Various Pitt players were getting mauled at the end of the Michigan State game and not getting whistles after the game had been called tight up to that point. And everyone knows by now that UCLA's Josh Shipp assaulted Texas A&M's Donald Sloan on the potential game-tying basket. All we're asking for is a little consistency. None of this, 'we're putting the whistles away for the final 3 minutes of the game', bullcrap. And don't call palming out of the blue just to make a point. The games should be called the same in November as they are in March.
• After going 7-1 in the first round...the Big East slid a bit and is a combined 10-5 going into the Sweet Sixteen with only 3 teams remaining (Louisville, West Virginia, & Villanova). That's not too bad, but when you figure that the Big Ten has 2 teams in the Sweet Sixteen, 3 doesn't seem like enough. The fact that West Virginia and Villanova made the Sweet Sixteen, I believe says plenty about the depth and overall quality of the Big East.
• I'm terrified that Bill Self (Kansas) and Rick Barnes (Texas) are safely into the Sweet Sixteen and actually appear to be doing a decent job. Is this an omen? Should I sell all my investments now? Is this merely a tease, setting up greater disappointment and heartbreak later? Can these men actually coach and use occasional common sense? Stay Tuned...

1020 & 8101

Dapper Coaches! - We Had This Theory First!!!

Matt and Phil! Check out this column that breaks down the Tournament based on the appearance and fashion sense of the various coaches. Absolutely creepy. I knew we were on to something here. The whole "Best-Dressed Coach" thing really needs to be turned into a column on this blog now. And I have to eat some crow here because I hated on Jay Wright. I've done a little research and fully admit my mistake. This article has Jay Wright and Villanova defeating Bob Huggins and West Virginia in the National Championship. This creates an interesting dilemma Matt as we basically all agree that those two coaches are on different planets with regard to appearance and fashion sense. This blog just gets better every day.