Final Four

It's now down to the last four teams in the country. Louisville vs. Wichita State and Michigan vs. Syracuse are your two match-ups this weekend. This year's tournament was full of upsets and surprises. Florida Gulf Coast was the first 15th seed to reach the Sweet 16 round, and Wichita State is the other Cinderella team in the brackets. Wichita is playing outstanding basketball right now and will need to play a flawless game against Louisville in order to get to the finals. Louisville has more motivation than anyone to win since their teammate Kevin Ware broke his leg in the first half against Duke in the Elite 8 round.

My bracket picks as well as a large number of people across the nation proved to be a failure. But that's what the NCAA tournament is all about. Upsets and surprise wins is where the excitement comes from. If all the better teams won then it wouldn't be as entertaining to watch. So I don't mind having a 20% bracket success rate if that means having a 9 seed accompany two 4 seeds in the semifinals.

I'm going to pick Louisville against Michigan in the Finals, with Louisville cutting down the nets late Monday evening.

The Ides of March

February is finally over and as we move into March we’re starting to see warmer weather, longer days, and March Madness! Just incase you forgot, Selection Sunday is next weekend. 31 teams gain automatic entry for winning their conference, and the other 37 slots rely on the selection committee for an “at-large” bid. Each team’s resumé will be reviewed and awarded a seed number 1-16, and will be placed in 1 of the 4 regions. Now it’s still a little early to decide who the number 1 seeds will be before the conference tournaments are over, but I’ll give it a shot.

There’s a plethora of number 1 seed candidates this year involving Florida, Georgetown, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Miami(FL), Gonzaga, Kansas, and Duke. With the Big Ten tournament involving Ohio State and Michigan State as well it, looks as though whoever wins the tournament will be crowned the Number 1 seed in one of the regions.

My picks are Duke, Kansas, Indiana, and Gonzaga. All of these teams are deserving of the number one seed including Gonzaga. Since Kansas lost last night it may hurt their chances but I'm confident they will bounce back in time for their conference tournament. Duke is playing the best basketball out of anyone right now after that beat down in Chapel Hill last night against the Tar Heels. After an introduction equivalent to the NBA All-Star game for UNC, Duke immediately took the wind out of their sails with a 14-0 run at the tip-off. They are a favorite to win the tournament at this point.

I’d like to hear what everyone else thinks about who the number 1 seeds will be. Feel free to drop in and leave a comment with your top 4 picks and who you think could win the big dance. Next time I’ll be giving updates on the tournament. 

Can't Run with the Big Dogs

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are currently ranked 2nd in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls. Maybe it's just to make the basketball world more interesting, but I don't believe they are deserving of this high of a ranking. They haven't proven themselves worthy of a top 5 ranking all season except for a field goal percentage that is 2nd in the nation. Their record has been inflated to a 28-2 record due to playing teams too weak to receive an invite to the National Invitational Tournament. The Bulldogs are 1-2 against teams in the top 20 so far which is not an impressing resume to be in the March Madness Tournament let alone a top 10 ranking. I think what they are doing is impressive but being undefeated in the West Coast Conference is not enough to justify a strong team among the rest of the country.






All I'm saying is that if I were a team in the tournament this coming March, I would be ecstatic to play the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Weekend of Upsets

As the end of the regular season nears, we are about 2 weeks away from the March Madness Tournament. This weekend's games are sure to make it ever so interesting to the bracket analysts.

The first match-up that drew headlines was the upset of No. 2 ranked Miami (FL) that fell to Wake Forest 80-65. This year there the top 10 spots have been decided by musical chairs as every week it seems to be a different team at the top.

Another key matchup was the SEC primetime game of the No. 11 Georgetown Hoyas versus the No. 8 Syracuse Orangemen. The Hoyas prevailed upsetting Syracuse 57-46.

To finish off the night of upsets was Villanova who took down No. 17 Marquette 60-56. Villanova has struggled this year but shows signs of life late in the season.

Sunday's Matchups include coach Tom Izzo's No. 4 Michigan State squad against the No. 18 powerhouse Ohio State at 4:00 PM this afternoon. Also No. 20 Pittsburgh takes on St. John's as well as Cincinnati vs. No. 25 Notre Dame. I suspect Pitt and Notre Dame will get another easy win today.

After a series of games last night, Sunday's afternoon ACC matchup brings an energetic Boston College team to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face the mighty Blue Devils of Duke.

The Blue Devils are 15-2 all time versus BC and look to advance with the Cameron Crazies backing them every step of the way.

As of now, the four number 1 seeds are Indiana, Miami (FL), Duke, and Gonzaga. This of course will change with Miami's upset, and with two weeks to go in this season of uncertainties it seems anyone can be a number 1 seed.

Tip-Off

Good Evening Everyone,

My name is Drew Innerst and I'll be blogging about NCAA Men's Basketball this semester. I grew up being involved in sports year round, and I've always enjoyed games and matches regardless of the sport. College basketball however is my favorite to follow because the peak of the season takes place during the dog days of winter when everyone's stuck inside. Throughout the semester I will be posting about upsets, news, as well as prime time match ups across the nation.

That's all for now!