I’m thinking not very many people’s brackets have St. Mary’s advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.
Category: NCAA Basketball
Best line of the day
“That the N.C.A.A. would consider tinkering with its gem of a format in pursuit of the mirage of more television money is the real March Madness. Just think, a 96-team tournament might have included all 16 teams from a horrendously overrated Big East.”
Best line of the day
“[Kentucky Coach John] Calipari is the only coach in NCAA history to bring to the Final Four two programs so utterly corrupt that neither of them officially exists in the tournament records any more.”
UMass had its 4-1 1996 NCAA Tournament record vacated.
Memphis had to vacate the entire 2007-08 season, including the NCAA Tournament and its standing as runner-up.
Yeah, but there’s still Kansas, Kentucky and Duke
“Imagine a tournament (this one) in which UCLA, North Carolina, Indiana, Connecticut and Arizona all failed to make the field; that hasn’t happened since 1966.”
UofA
This alum would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the passing of the streak. With its loss to UCLA today, the Arizona Wildcats ended their run of 25 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. They ended the season at 16-15 and stand no chance of an at-large bid.
Arizona had been there every year beginning in 1985 — twelve times to the Sweet 16 or better, four times to the Final Four — and the national championship in 1997.
My goodness
According to an item in Sideline Chatter, America’s number one basketball recruit is 6-foot-8.
Number one girl basketball recruit that is.
The Pit
Along with 15,210 other folk we attended the University of New Mexico men’s basketball game against the Air Force Academy at University Arena in Albuquerque tonight. The Lobos beat the Falcons 78-53.
It was the 750th men’s game at The Pit, designated 13th among American sports venues of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. Tonight’s crowd was below average in attendance — the Lobos have averaged 15,559 per game over 42 years.
It’s called The Pit because the arena floor is 37 feet below grade. It’s the loudest basketball venue in America, beating out Cameron Indoor at Duke University in some study done in 1999. One hopes the $60 million renovation that begins in April won’t decrease the noise.
The original cost to build the arena in 1966 was just $1.4 million. Current capacity is 18,018.
Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead
Which old witch?
The wicked witch.
CBS has fired Billy Packer.
It ought to be a national day of celebration and thanksgiving.
Great game
Exciting win for Kansas in overtime and a great game overall. I didn’t even mind Billy Packer.
There could well be an equally exciting game Tuesday night when Stanford plays Tennessee for the women’s championship. Can Candace Parker, first woman ever to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, overcome her shoulder injury and lead the Vols to a repeat title (and eighth overall; Stanford has won it all twice)?
And if you didn’t hang around for Monday’s post game show you missed the Jayhawks climbing a Werner ladder — “Official Ladder of the NCAA® Basketball Championships” — to cut down the net. There isn’t anything that isn’t available for marketing these days.
When is it over?
With apologies to the Sage of St. Louis, there comes a time when it ain’t over, but … it’s over. There comes a time in a relationship when a woman will still answer your phone calls, but you’re wasting your money buying flowers; you know what I’m saying? There comes a moment during a job interview when you’re still talking, but you might as well take off your shoes. There is a time in an illness when you’re not dead yet, but you might as well stop taking that nasty medicine.
Bill James in an article discussing his means of calculating when a basketball games is out of reach. Interesting.
Best summing up of the day, so far
These young women were much, much smarter and much more decent than most of the adult commentary which has swirled around them this week. We thought their coach was outstanding too. Ditto for that superb Rutgers president, who told these young women that he and their school “have their back.”
Jesus’ General deserves your click on this topic, too.
And, via Crooks and Liars, The Daily Show on Imusgate.
Under achievers
Playing in the NCAA basketball tournament, it turns out, is just like gambling in Vegas.
Play long enough, and the house wins.
Mark Wangrin of the San Antonio Express-News compiled his “SAT” — Seeding Achievement Test — by taking the 10 active coaches with the most NCAA appearances and weighting their games with plus-minus values. Only two (UConn’s Jim Calhoun and Maryland’s Gary Williams) came out ahead, with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski breaking even.
Coaches received zero points for beating a lower-seeded team, one point for beating a higher-seeded team or winning a Final Four game, and minus-one point for losing to a lower-seeded team, with additional minus points tacked on for each subsequent round in which they would have been favored.
The final tally: Calhoun 4, Williams 3, Krzyzewski 0, Tubby Smith -1, Bob Knight -3, Jim Boeheim -3, Roy Williams -6, Rick Barnes -6, Bob Huggins -8, Lute Olson -9.
Or to put it another way: NCAA tournament 29.
D’oh
West Virginia may have won the National Invitation Tournament, but the Mountaineers commemorative T-shirts are less than championship material.
They contain a misspelling.
The “West Virginia” printed on the shirts players wore after winning the NIT title with a 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night is missing the last “i” in “Virginia.”
I always thought it was West Virginny.
Packer happily set in his ways
“He’s not prepping to cover his 33rd consecutive NCAA men’s basketball Final Four by watching the teams’ games — ‘I don’t have a tape machine’ — or by going online, because he doesn’t have a computer.”
Michael Hiestand, USA Today, who says Packer provides “anecdotal evidence that NCAA [TV] ratings must be too low because people in airports always talk to him about the tournament.”
So You Picked the Final Four?
[T]his will be the first Final Four since 1993 with no team seeded lower than No. 2.
. . . Last year at this time, of the 3.1 million entries in ESPN.com’s bracket pool, only four chose the correct Final Four teams. This year, 161,869 of 3.3 million entries have the Gators, the Buckeyes, the Bruins and the Hoyas still alive.
That’s still just one in twenty who got all four, so congratulations Jill. You did good.
See also here for some Final Four team summaries. And the NCAA has its Official 2007 Men’s Final Four Records Book available as a pdf file.
Final Four
UCLA is in its 17th NCAA Final Four. It’s Ohio State’s 10th trip, Georgetown’s 5th and Florida’s 4th. There have been 69 final fours counting this year (276 teams).
Others with a lot of appearances but not going this year:
North Carolina 16
Duke 14
Kentucky 13
Kansas 12
Indiana, Louisville 8
Arkansas, Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma State 6
UCLA was in the Final Four for 10 consecutive years, 1967-1976.
UCLA has won the championship 11 times, Kentucky 7, Indiana 5, North Carolina 4 and Duke 3. Eight other schools have won twice.
UCLA (1980) and Michigan (1992 and 1993) have had Final Four appearances that were later forfeited (but counted above).
Stupidest line of the day, so far
“There were cries that Green had not reestablished his pivot foot, and therefore traveled. But basketball minds much wiser than us surmised you can’t make a call like that to end a taut thriller.” Mike Wise
So why have refs at all in the last minute?
The curse of Billy Packer
Bill Simmons doesn’t like Billy Packer:
“Like always with Packer, it wasn’t the opinion as much as the way he expressed it: He was condescending, stern, inflexible. In Packer’s world, he’s always right, and everyone else is always wrong. Unless they agree with him.”
There’s much more.
Best conferences
The Pac 10 is sending six of its ten teams to the NCAA Tournament, 60%. The ACC is sending seven teams, but that’s just 58% (seven of twelve). The Big 10 is sending six of its eleven teams, 55%.
No other conference has half or more of its teams among the select this year.
104 teams won 20 or more games.
Bracketology
1. No No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1, so just forget about those games altogether and advance the No. 1s on to the second round.
2. Don’t go putting all your No. 1 seeds in the Final Four. They might be the best teams on paper, but since 1979, it has never happened. The closest it ever came was in 1993, when three No. 1s and a No. 2 made it. Plus, do you really want to be the person in your office that picked all the top seeds? We here at CBS SportsLine.com always make fun of that person.
3. Pick your upsets carefully. It’s inevitable that a No. 12, 13 or 14 seed will win in the first two days, but trying to pick which one is almost impossible. Look for a team that has a veteran starting five. . . .
4. There is no such thing as “Team X is due.” Just because Washington State has never won the NCAA Tournament, it doesn’t mean they are going to run through the bracket and win it all.
5. Watch out for injuries. If a team’s star has a serious injury, it would be wise to keep that team out of the Final Four. . . .
6. OK, we know you are a big Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fan. You love your Islanders and are excited they are in the NCAA Tournament. That’s great. Now, don’t be a homer and have the Islanders facing UCLA in the final. Be objective.
7. Don’t underestimate the familiarity factor. If two teams already played this year, take a look at what happened between those two teams in the regular season and whether or not they faced off in their conference tournament. It’s rare that a team can beat another three times in the same season.
8. Have fun. This is the NCAA Tournament! The greatest sporting event in the history of sports!
NewMexiKen adds that nine seeds often beat eight seeds, though not in the Midwest bracket this year.
Go Lobos
The University of New Mexico has a 6-6 freshman who was a star last year at Gallup High School.
Big deal you say, 6-6 isn’t tall these days.
It is for a woman.
Albloggerque has details and photos.
14 feet 2 inches
The Lopez twins of Fresno, California.
250 pounds apiece. Size 20 shoes. Stanford. Both of them.
Read about the brothers in the L.A. Times.
Best line of last night, so far
“Florida got a congratulatory phone call from President Bush. UCLA shot so badly they got a phone call from Dick Cheney.”
Jay Leno
Live blogging the NCAA championship
NewMexiKen likes Clark Kellogg but hasn’t anyone told him he has a microphone and need not shout. (7:12 PM)
Everyone is picking Florida. Not NewMexiKen. (7:14 PM)
The High Definition picture from the RCA Dome is awesome, but why not introduce the starters from each team all at once rather than this first one from Florida, then one from UCLA silliness? It’s a team sport. (7:20 PM)
I guess UCLA realizes this won’t be another LSU game. (7:29 PM — Florida 11 UCLA 6)
Watching that dunk and hearing that Hollins is 21 of 23 for the tournament reminds me of Bill Walton’s great performance when he went 21 of 22 for the championship game. Dunks were not allowed at that time! (7:40 PM)
Vintage Billy Packer, talking about UCLA’s foul shooting percentage while a Florida player shoots. (7:42 PM)
General Motors seems more intent on saving jobs in the advertising industry than the jobs of the men and women who build their automobiles. (7:47 PM)
UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata: If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three — blown layup, blown shot, stupid foul. (7:55 PM)
Nance and Packer: “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Endless blather. [You’d think they were bloggers.] (7:56 PM)
The reason it’s just Poseidon this time and not the Poseidon Adventure is because Shelley Winters isn’t in the remake. Rest in Peace Mrs. Rosen. (8:06 PM)
Do any of these Florida players with famous fathers also have mothers? (8:11 PM)
Half time. (8:16 PM)
A close friend has Florida in her office brackets, so I’ve decided I really should root for the Gators. (8:40 PM — Florida 39 UCLA 25)
45 seconds of basketball. 120 seconds of commercials. Wonderful. (9:15 PM)
Cool cap on Bill Russell (he wore number 6 with the Boston Celtics). (9:20 PM)
Holy crap. He didn’t just walk, he ran the Marathon. (9:28 PM)
1:17 left and Nance and Packer are still talking trivia. Shut up and savor guys, savor. (9:30 PM)
Congratulations to Florida. Great performance. (9:34 PM)
What he said
Nice to read some other Pac 10 fans out there, like this by Bob Somerby:
Let’s face it. It will be plenty hard for Coach Howland tonight—hard to get his UCLA kids “up” for another SEC foe. Let’s face it—the NCAA tournament has clearly shown that Washington and UCLA were America’s top teams, followed closely by Arizona, which was eliminated when, for the second straight year, it narrowly lost a road game against a Number 1 seed. (This year, against Villanova, on one of Nova’s home courts. Last year, against Illinois, in Chicago.) And yes, when a team has played in the PAC-10 all year, it’s hard to get them “up” to play an endless string of SEC foes. (UCLA has already defeated Alabama and LSU in the tourney.) For that reason, we give Florida a chance tonight, although order has clearly been restored on the court. Despite the tourney’s scheduling machinations, it’s already clear who’s Number 1—despite what may happen tonight.