Bits and Pieces

 Sampson and Hollis Price helped take the Sooners to the Final Four in 2002.

*  Say it ain't so Kelvin Sampson.  You have the best recruiting class coming to Norman next fall and you bolt for Indiana?  Are you kidding?  Do you think they'll love you when they hated Mike Davis? 

 Mr Kevin Durant in the same lineup with LaMarcus Aldridge next year?

*  Yikes.  Some nice players in the McDonalds All-America game last night.  Greg Oden is a monster, but we all knew that already.  What about the athletic boys like Brendan Wright (UNC), Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech), Gerald Henderson, Jr. (Duke) and Kevin Durant (Texas)?  As long as these guys stick around the Tarheels are in for a long run at the top.  The West won last night, 112-94.  Durant (25 points) and Chase Budinger (Arizona) were co-MVP's. 

*  Anybody else love some of the commercials during the Tournament?  The Sonic commercial "Don't you bring that weak tot action..."  or the Magic Fridge commercial.  I was at a sports bar watching the tourney last weekend and some of the guy's were singing, yes singing, the Applebee's commercial to the Gilligan's Island them.  You know the one....Three Hour Tourrrrrrrrr.

*  If you haven't heard the story yet of Russell Pleasant of Bellevue, Washington who picked the correct Final Four by ACCIDENT you are in for a laugh.  Pleasant, a computer analyst, picked LSU, Florida and UCLA correctly, but thought George Mason was actually George Washington.  He said he watched GW play this year and thought they might have a chance to go to Indianapolis.  Nice mistake.  He's been in every major newspaper and all over ESPN this week. 

*  Congratulations to the Men's lacrosse team at Duke.  You guys sure must be proud.  No season is the least of your worries. 

*7th row Coldplay tonight.  Digital camera will be in hand.  United Center is going to be out of control tonight.

What If

 You can't go straight to the NBA Amare, I have the final word. 

Sports Illustrated has been running a yearly tournament which runs along the same time as the NCAA Tournament called 'What If?'  It's a fictional tournament with high school players on the college teams that they probably would have attended and college players still in school and not leaving early.  For instance, one of the better teams, in my opinion, would be North Carolina.  The Tarheels, who had a very solid year, were beaten in the second round this year after having lost their top seven scorer's from a year ago.  Now imagine those freshman for UNC (Tyler Hansbrough, etc) with Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, Marvin Williams and Sean May...all of which should have been back in school this year.  George Mason has had a fantastic run, but do you think the Patriots would have beaten that Tarheel team?  Doubtful. 

Imagine this also.  Carmelo Anthony should have been a senior at Syracuse this year with Gerry McNamara.  They won the national title as freshman.  If 'Melo sticks around and has McNamara running the point, how good are the Orange with Demetris Nichols, Eric Devendorf (Mr. Thug himself), etc?  What about Ohio State?  They have had a great year with Terence Dials in the middle and a great core of guards.  Do you realize who would have been playing for this team if he wouldn't have been able to turn pro?  LeBron James.  Not a bad team for the Buckeyes.  Hard to feel sorry for the people in Columbus with the class they have coming in next year.  Get ready for Mr Greg Oden and company. 

It's just mindboggling to think about the NCAA Tournament with these players.  I haven't had a Top Eight list in a while so here's one:  My Top Eight Fantasy College Basketball Teams for 2005-2006:

1.  Memphis -- Okay, Rodney Carney is great.  Darius Washington is a great point guard.  Shawne Williamsis being touted as the next Penny Hardaway.  Two words:  Amare Stoudemire.  Holy nellies.  What about Texas high schooler Kendrick Perkins who went pro instead of putting on a Memphis uniform?  Sean Banks would probably still be in school too.  Unstoppable.

2.  North Carolina -- Mentioned above with May, Felton, McCants, Williams, Hansbrough and the rest of the freshman class they have now.  Add center Dwight Howard and the Atlanta Hawk's (and 2005 dunk contest winner) J.R. Smith to that list.  Why did they let high schoolers ever go pro? 

3.  Syracuse -- Carmelo playing the wing with McNamara at the point and Devendorf at the 2.

4.  Duke -- Redick and Williams are a great 1-2 punch but they obviously needed more inside.  Would Shavlik Randolph and Luol Deng have helped?  It would have put Josh McRoberts on the bench where he belonged as a frosh.  Here's another one...Greg Paulus is a good point guard, but he's not Shaun Livingston, the Peoria, IL young pup who is with the Clippers now.   

5.  Ohio State -- Terence Dials in the middle, J.D. Sullinger raining in the three's with Je'Kel Foster and Jamar Butler.  Now add LeBron James.  Ka-ching.  Columbus is looking forward to a great run with Thad Matta.

6.  UConn -- It's hard to put this team in here.  You can add Charlie Villanueva and high schooler Andrew Bynum, but you can't add passion.  I'm saying this team is # 6 with the passion, without it they aren't in the list. 

7.  Louisville -- Taquan Dean is a wonderful shooting guard.  David Padgett got hurt but is going to be a star in a Cardinal uniform.  Francisco Garcia should have been back and they would have had a point gaurd named Sebastian Telfair.  What could Rick Pitino have done with this lineup?

8.  Wake Forest -- This is another team that didn't seem to have any passion until the ACC Tournament and by then it was too late.  What did big man Eric Williams and shooting guard Justin Gray need this year?  A point.  Gosh...who could we add.  Oh yeah, Rookie of the Year in the NBA this year Chris Paul.

*  Just missing out -- Arizona (the other AI...AndreIguodala), Washington (You think Nate Robinson would rather have been in Seattle this winter rather than playing for the Knicks?  Besides the money, it's not a hard question to answer), Villanova (Foye, Ray, Lowry, but what about a healthy Curtis Sumpter inside?), Illinois (Dee Brown, James Augustine and Deron Williams back throwing in the three's), Texas (Aldridge, Buckman and Tucker in the frontcourt; Paulino, Gibson and high schooler CJ Giles in the backcourt) and Florida (Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Taurean Green and Corey Brewer are solid.  Now add Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson to that group). 

Fun to think about, yet sad in other ways.  At least the high schoolers have to go to college for one year now.  That's a step in the right direction.

 

Go Home UConn!

 Will Thomas and George Mason join the 1986 LSU team as the only 11 seed to advance to the Final Four.

I have never seen a team with so much talent seem to care so little about going to the Final Four.  UConn, a team filled with NBA talent, lost on Sunday to 11th seeded George Mason, 86-84 in overtime.  The Huskies didn't put together a complete game all tournament.  They had double-digit deficits in the second half vs Washington (understandable) and Albany (are you kidding?!?!) and they barely scraped by Kentucky.  With Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong, UConn has four potential first round NBA draft picks.  Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown will be playing professional basketball somewhere.  I've heard all the rumors that Coach Jim Calhoun is a pain in the _____ (add adjective there) and his players don't want to play for him, but give me a break.  You are playing for a chance to play in the Final Four; the Holy Grail of college basketball.  Calhoun's UConn teams have won two national titles.  He knows what he is doing.

If it comes down to seeing a talent-laden UConn team that is not passionate about a national title or a George Mason team who will scrap, dig and claw for just a chance to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis then I'll take George Mason every time.  I'll be cheering for George Mason next weekend because they will actually want to be there.  Congratulations GMU, you deserve it. 

*  Needless to say...my Final Four is NOT intact anymore.  Good lord.

Gonzaga Out Too Early

 Is that the last time we see Adam Morrison in a Gonzaga uniform?

*  Adam Morrison does not deserve to go out like that.  In a game Gonzaga led by 17 points in the first half, UCLA clawed back to beat the Zags, 73-71.  In my honest opinion, J.P. Batista single-handedly gave the Bruins this game.  He grabbed a rebound with about a minute left and tried to score when all he had to do was get the ball back out and run more clock.  Batista then fouled giving UCLA a chance to get within four without time running off the clock from the line.  Jordan Farmar's steal on Batista, who seemed a little careless with the ball, and pass to a wide-open Luc Richard Mbah a Moute gave the Bruins their only lead of the game with ten seconds left.  UCLA deserves credit for fighthing back to make this a game at the end, but Gonzaga should be moving on.  In ten years I will have one vision of this year's tournament and that will be of Adam Morrison sprawled out on the court in tears. 

 Kenton Paulino shoots the gamewinner over Frank Young of West Virginia with less than a second on the clock.

*  The finish ten minutes earlier in the Texas vs West Virginia game was absolutely spectacular.  Texas led the entire game, but couldn't put the Mountaineers away.  With five seconds left, West Virginia center, Kevin Pittsnoggle, hits a three that looks to be sending the game to overtime.  Think again.  Longhorns point guard, A.J. Abrams, rushes the ball up the court, quickly gets the ball to Kenton Paulino who calmly nails a three at the buzzer to give Texas the win, 74-71 and a spot vs LSU in the Elite Eight. 

 LSU freshman Garrett Temple blocks Redick's shot in the final minutes of the Tiger's upset on Thursday night.

*  Duke senior J.J. Redick (3 of 16 shooting for 11 points) was completely shut down by LSU's long and athletic 6'5 Garrett Temple.  Temple was fantastic but the Tigers' scheme was even better.  Every Tiger player jumped into passing lanes to keep Redick from the ball and as already pointed out Temple, just a freshman, was fantastic.  Another freshman for the Tigers, Tyrus Thomas, had five blocked shots and seemed to alter another ten.  Thomas also blocked a lay-up by Duke freshman Greg Paulus in the final minute and had a few big dunks to take the Duke crowd completely out of the game.  Glen Davis scored 14 points despite being in foul trouble throughout the entire game.  Duke senior Sheldon Williams had a great game with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, but Duke needed more help inside. 

 Darius Washington and Memphis move on to Saturday's Regional final vs UCLA after thumping Bradley.

*  In a game that was bound to happen, Memphis ran over Bradley, 80-64.  Memphis senior Rodney Carney scored 23 points, point guard Darius Washington 18 and freshman Shawne Williams scored 12 points, eight rebounds and had four blocks.  Bradley committed 14 first-half turnovers which led to a 35-30 Memphis lead at the break.  Bradley center Patrick O'Henry had 11 rebounds in the first half, yet only three in the second and only eight points for the game.  To have any chance at all, Bradley knew they would need a big game from O'Henry and Marcus Sommerville (18 points). 

Washington and Memphis are far removed from last year.  Washington had two free throws in the final of the Conference USA tournament vs Louisville to make the NCAA's.  Washington missed both and headed to the NIT.  This year they're a number one seed and now play UCLA with a Final Four berth hanging in the balance.

 

Sweet Sixteen Preview

Breaking down the Sweet Sixteen games. 

Atlanta

     (1) Duke vs (4) LSU -- Duke should get it's first real test vs LSU on Thursday in Atlanta.  The young, athletic Tigers have nothing to lose.  Great matchup inside with Glenn Davis of LSU facing Duke's Sheldon Williams.  Greg Paulus is stepping up at the right time and J.J. Redick is finding his range.  How can you pick against Coach K?  Winner:  Duke

 Greg Paulus is stepping up at the right time for the Blue Devils with 14 assists in the tourney.

     (2) Texas vs (6) West Virginia -- The Longhorns are just itching for another chance at Duke after getting throttled by them back in December (by 31 points none the less).  Texas is athletic, strong in the middle with LaMarcus Aldridge, has great guard play and good depth.  The Mountaineers will not be phazed having been in the Sweet Sixteen last year with Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnoggle.  If West Virginia is going to make a run to the Elite Eight and a chance at Duke they'll need to hit their three's, hit the boards and push Texas around inside.  Winner:  Texas

Oakland

     (1) Memphis vs (13) Bradley -- Patrick O'Bryant gives Bradley an inside presence that Memphis will have problems matching up with.  The problem for Bradley is that's the only one.  Memphis is showing exactly no signs of slowing down.  No team in this tournament is as exciting to watch as the Tigers when they get out and running.  Watch for Rodney Carney to open it up and for Darius Washington to get him the ball.  If I could change my pick in this region I'd have Memphis going to the Final Four.  Winner:  Memphis

 Morrison will have to score like the nation's leading scorer that he is for the Zags to move on.

     (3) Gonzaga vs (2) UCLA -- The matchup everybody has been waiting to see will happen Thursday night in Oakland.  The two best teams on the West coast will clash to see if the mid-major in Gonzaga is better than the best Pac-10 team in UCLA.  We found out vs Indiana the Zags are more than just Adam Morrison.  Everybody else stepped up and helped push the Zags past the Hoosiers.  Sean Mallon has been huge inside with J.P. Batista for Gonzaga.  UCLA counters with Ryan Hollins and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.  The Bruins have the better shooters Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar, but need to improve their free throw's to move on to the Elite Eight.  I have to stay with my original pick.  Winner:  Gonzaga

Washington, D.C.

     (1) UConn vs (5) Washington -- Too bad this game isn't being played in the state of Washington for the Huskies.  Washington wants an uptempo game vs UConn's pound it inside game.  The Huskies should dominate inside with Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong.  Brandon Roy was spectacular for the Huskies vs Illinois (21 points, seven rebounds and three assists).  He's going to have to do even better for the Huskies to move on to the Elite Eight.  Marcus Williams has been great for UConn.  He's been scoring and handing out the rock (20 points, eight assists vs Kentucky).  Staying with my picks.  Winner:  UConn

 Mr Above the Rim Rudy Gay everybody

     (11) George Mason vs (7) Wichita State -- The rematch from February 18 (George Mason won 70-67) in Wichita has to make the Patriots feel good about this matchup, but watch for the Shockers' Paul Miller and Kyle Wilson to step up inside.  Nobody would have thought George Mason would get past Michigan State and UNC, two Final Four teams from a year ago.  Incredible run.  One mid-major moves on to the Elite Eight.  Winner:  Wichita State

Minneapolis

     (1) Villanova vs (4) Boston College -- Talk about two contrasting styles matching up.  Villanova's four guard lineup likes to get up and down the court while the Eagles want to get it down low.  Jared Dudley and Craig Smith should be able to do whatever they want inside, but the Eagles will need the shooting from behind the arc that can sometimes disappear.  The Wildcat's guards (i.e. Randy Foye) will want to get up and down the court to avoid Dudley, Smith and Sean Marshall.  If Villanova doesn't control the pace, BC moves on.  Winner:  Boston College

 Randy Foye and Villanova will be pushing it up the court vs BC.

     (3) Florida vs (7) Georgetown -- No player in the tournament is playing better than the Gators' Joakim Noah.  The 6'11 Noah will match up with the Hoyas' 7'2 Roy Hibbert inside.  Taurean Green is going to have to step up after not playing well the last few weeks.  Georgetown has long, athletic guards which will cause havoc for Green if he's not ready to play.  Who steps up inside for the Gators (Al Horford) or the Hoyas (Brandon Bowman) will determine who moves on to the Elite Eight.  Winner:  Georgetown

Tidbits

*  At Babe's in Madison Sunday watching the games before the Coldplay concert.  Guy at the bar is getting completely toasted.  He say's 'What the hell is wrong with West Virginia's uniforms?  Nobody wears grey!  They need a new manager.  What's he washing them with?  Don't they have laundry detergent in West Virginia yet?'  Laugh out loud funny. 

*  CBS commentator Bill Raftery is great.  During the Bradley/Pittsburgh game he says to partner Verne Lundquist 'Hey Verne, did you see Brad Pitt? (Brad 17, Pitt 13...get it?).  Verne says 'No, where?'  Raftery circles Brad and Pitt on the teleprompter and says 'Verne...I'm going to need you to concentrate on the game more.'  Maybe you needed to hear it, but boy was it funny.

*  My Final Four is still intact, but I'm weary of a couple teams.  First of all, Memphis is ready to pounce on anybody.  If Memphis gets by Bradley, I honestly don't see UCLA or Gonzaga beating them.  Second, UConn hasn't played up to its capabilities yet.  Being down ten to Albany didn't scare the Huskies straight.  They should be trouncing teams like Kentucky at this point.  Talent won't get you to the Final Four boys.  I'm sticking with what I've got though...for now.  Duke, Gonzaga, UConn, Boston College.

First Round Recap

CBS commentator Clark Kellogg said Thursday before the first tip 'This year you can throw out all the numbers and all the seedings; anybody can win any game.'  I thought to myself 'Clark is right to a certain extent, but some upsets just can't happen.'  They did and of course I'm on the bottom, or near the bottom, of every pool I'm in.  A look at all the first round games region by region.

 Will Franklin and Bradley upset a solid, but young, Kansas team Friday night in Auburn Hills.

Atlanta

     Duke got a run into the second half vs Southern, then pulled away; George Washington was down by 17, but rallied in the second half to beat UNC-Wilmington.  Nice draw.  GW goes 26-2, gets an EIGHT seed which is completely ridiculous then has to play a team from North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C.  Yeah, that's fair; Texas A&M beat Syracuse 66-58.  Gerry McNamara had his worst day in his last game for the Orange going 0-13 from the field (including 0-6 from behind the arc).  He hasn't been healthy for a while and a rumor is floating that he's been playing with a hernia for lord knows how long; LSU slid by Iona.  Iona, up by 5 at the half, but Baby Shaq, Glen Davis, scored 22 points and had 13 rebounds for the Tigers; West Virginia completely dominated Southern Illinois in somewhat of a surprise.  The Salukis were returning four of five starters from last years NCAA tourney team; Northwestern State beat Iowa, 64-63 on a three at the buzzer by Jermaine Wallace.  Best finish to a game so far this year; North Carolina State trailed Cal most of the game until another three in the final seconds gave the Wolfpack the win over Leon Powe and the Bears; Texas beat the Quakers of Penn in a tight game, 60-52.

 Greg Brunner and Iowa blew a 17-point second half lead vs Northwestern State and lost at the buzzer.

Oakland

     Memphis took over late to beat a tough 16 seed in Oral Roberts, 94-78.  Rodney Carney scored 19 in the win; Bucknell is looking tough again this year taking out Arkansas in the first round; Pittsburgh completely trounced Kent State; Bradley beat Kansas (more on this game below); San Diego State completely dominated Indiana yet lost on a three with ten seconds left by the Hoosiers Robert Vaden; Gonzaga needed a great finish by Adam Morrison to nix Xavier's chance for an upset.  Gonzaga wins 79-75; Alabama beat Marquette, 90-85, after a late Steve Novak three was just off; UCLA whipped the living snot out of Belmont, 78-44.  That school should get rid of basketball all together.

Washington

     UConn was down by 10 with 12 minutes to go, but fought back to take out Albany.  Talk about a scary site looking at the screen and seeing 'Albany 53, UConn 43.'  Whew.  Praise the Lord that upset didn't happen; Kentucky defeated a tough UAB team.  UAB proved it belonged with a strong showing just losing by 5, 69-64; Washington beat Utah State in a game I'm sure nobody East of the Mississippi watched; Illinois beat Air Force in another game a team who was told they shouldn't have been playing in (AF) proved it belonged; George Mason upset Michigan State (more about this game below also); North Carolina struggled past Murray State, 69-95 behind Tyler Hansbrough's 24 points and 8 rebounds; Wichita State slaughtered Seton Hall 86-66; Tennessee needed a long two from Chris Lofton with 0.4 seconds left to beat Winthrop, 63-61.

Minneapolis

     Villanova moved past Monmouth; Arizona moved out to a 35-11 lead in the first half and held off a strong second half by Wisconsin.  Right.  Wisconsin put up no fight what so ever; Montana upset Nevada 87-79 on Andrew Straits 22 points.  The Grizzlies never trailed and now will face Boston College, who upended Pacific 88-76 in double overtime.  Senior Craig Smith scored 25 points and had 13 rebounds; UW-Milwaukee got off to another strong start after their Sweet Sixteen run from a year ago beating Oklahoma 82-74.  UW-Milwaukee will now face Florida who ran over South Alabama 76-50; Georgetown squeaked by Northern Iowa on Friday to set up a great second round game vs Ohio State.  The Buckeyes also survived a tough game, ending Davidson's upset bid, 70-62.

Odd's and End's

*  Why exactly was everybody picking Kansas to go to the Final Four?  Yes, the Jayhawk's won the Big 12 Championship, but they start three freshman and two sophomores.  Isn't it a given you need upperclassmen in the backcourt to move on in the tourney?  I picked the Jayhawk's to go to the Elite Eight.  I need to be quiet.

*  Michigan State was completely awful late vs George Mason.  The Spartans have a solid inside presence in Paul Davis who could have gotten them a ton of points down low and all the Spartans did was throw up 3's in the final minutes not making any.

*  CBS was talking a bit much about George Mason's Tony Skin.  If you don't remember, Skin punched a Hofstra player below the belt last weekend and was suspended for this first round game.  'Tony will get to play another game,' the commentator was saying.  First of all, they shouldn't be mentioning his name at all after what he did.  Second, he shouldn't be playing again period.

*  UConn point guard Marcus Williams was absolutely fantastic in the second half vs Albany scoring 14 points after the break to help the Huskies come back from a ten point second half deficit.

*  San Diego State completely ruined a chance for a nice upset Thursday night.  They had a good 5-7 point lead throughout the second half until turnover after turnover and bad shot after bad shot left Indiana with a three at the end to win it.  The Hoosiers' Robert Vaden hit the go-ahead three with 3.3 seconds left to send the Aztecs home.

*  Think about this:  Syracuse won the Big East tourney, Kansas won the Big 12 tourney and Iowa won the Big Ten tourney.  All three are heading home after the first round.  Incredible.

 

Get This Dance Started

 Get ready for UConn basketball fans.

It's 4am Thursday morning and I can't sleep.  The NCAA Tournament starts on CBS in seven hours.  As much as I've been down on Dick Vitale, he finally said something that made sense on Sunday night.  Vitale said, 'This is not the best 34 at-large teams.  If the NCAA is putting teams in for having a great year (i.e. Air Force), that's fine.  Just tell us.  Don't tell us you are putting in the best 34 at-large teams when you aren't.'  Couldn't have been said any better.  Does Air Force go 24-6 and make the tournament in the ACC or the Big East?  Right. 

Let's go region to region. 

Atlanta

     Top 4 seeds:  1. Duke, 2. Texas, 3. Iowa, 4. LSU. 

     Sleeper teams:  Syracuse, West Virginia

     Upset city:  Iona over LSU.

     Breakdown:  Redick got his shooting touch back in the ACC tourney, but the teams that could be in Duke's way to the Final Four is the toughest of any of the four regions.  Southern could give Duke a run....or not.  GW and Pops?  Is he healthy?  Who knows.  Gerry McNamara could lead the Orange over anybody right now.  Then what about Texas?  LaMarcus Aldridge, PJ Brown and company could be a very tough out.  Why am I picking Duke to go to the Final Four again?  Oh yeah, Coach K. 

Oakland

     Top four seeds:  1. Memphis, 2. UCLA, 3. Gonzaga, 4. Kansas

     Sleeper teams:  Kansas, Pittsburgh

     Upset city:  San Diego State over Indiana, Kansas over Memphis (would that really be an upset?)

     Breakdown:  Talk about a wide open region.  Memphis is great and everybody is picking them as the first top seed tolose first? Why exactly?  Too young?  They have great guard play in Darius Washington and Rodney Carney won't want to go home early.  Lose second round to Arkansas or go to Indy?  Gonzaga deserved a two seed over UCLA and the Zags will show the Bruins why in the Sweet Sixteen.  Kansas and their frosh (Wright, Rush and Chalmers) were phenominal in the Big 12 tourney.  Can they take the Jayhawks to the Indianapolis?  Time will tell. 

Washington, D.C.

     Top four seeds:  1. UConn, 2. Tennessee, 3. UNC, 4. Illinois

     Sleeper teams:  Michigan State, Illinois

     Upset city:  Utah State over Washington, Seton Hall over Wichita State and Tennessee.

     Breakdown:  The tournament committee made two mistakes.  Cincinnati deserved to be in this tournament and Tennessee did not deserve to be a two seed.  Bruce Pearl, as I've come to find out, can do anything, but can he help the Vols into the second weekend of the tourney?  Doubtful.  What hasn't been said about Tyler Hansbrough?  That boy has a gift.  If UNC wasn't in UConn's region, I'd be picking the Tarheels to march on to the Final Four.  UConn lost to Syracuse in the Big East tourney?  You know what I say to that?  Big deal.  The Huskies have everything.  A great point guard in Williams, solid inside play with Armstrong and Boone and an awesome bench scorer (Rashad Anderson). 

Minneapolis

     Top four seeds:  1. Villanova, 2. Ohio State, 3. Florida, 4. Boston College

     Sleeper teams:  Boston College (not really sleeping after their run in the ACC tourney), Georgetown and Nevada.

     Upset city:  Montana over Nevada, Georgetown over Ohio State in round two, UW-Milwaukee over Oklahoma.

     Breakdown:  Villanova is in for a struggle against Boston College in the Sweet Sixteen.  The inside presence of Dudley and Smith.  Hinnant has been great at the point for the Eagles and Tyrese Rice has been great off the bench.  (See who I like in this region?)  My Sooners are going to struggle vs UW-Milwaukee in the first round.  Billy Donovan and his Gators might make a surprise run deep in the tourney with an athletic, deep team.  Nova's Allan Ray is back after his eye injury in the Big East tourney.  Can the four guard line-up of the Wildcats make it to Indy? 

My Picks:

     My Final Four includes Duke, Gonzaga, UConn and Boston College.  I have been down on Duke all year, but when Redick regained his shooting touch, everything changed.  With Coach K on the bench and Sheldon Williams inside, Duke can reach the Final Four.  Duke still needs a solid third scorer though.  Who will step into that role?  Gonzaga is another team I've been very sceptical about over the past couple weeks.  Yes, they won the WCC tourney, but it wasn't in convincing fashion.  Yet something is telling me they have something in store for all of us.  Boston College has been fantastic down the stretch and with the leadership of Craig Smith, the Eagles are ready to go deep this year.  UConn is UConn.  Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, etc.  Hilton Armstrong has been the most improved player in the country this year. 

What will happen in Indianapolis?  Duke over Gonzaga; UConn over Boston; UConn over Duke for the National Title.

When the CBS college basketball theme starts at just after 11am central time I'll get goosebumps and won't stop smiling for the next three weeks straight.  Seeing Coldplay twice in that time span doesn't hurt either.

Tyler Hansbrough...This Is Your Life

If college basketball fans hadn't been introduced to the best freshman in the country, then they sure were Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  North Carolina and it's stud frosh, Tyler Hansbrough, upset Duke on Senior Night, 83-76. 

 Hansbrough and David Noel celebrate in the final seconds.

Hansbrough and his band of freshman came into Cameron, the toughest place to play in America and got off to a rocky start (down 13-2 to start the game).  Riding Hansbrough's 27 points and 10 rebounds, the Tarheels fought back, kept it close in the second half then opened a 12 point lead in the second half and held on for the win in front an amazing crowd that was loud from beginning to end.  Three other freshman for the Tarheels played huge parts in the upset.  Point guard Bobby Frasor had ten points, five assists and three rebounds including two big free throws with 23 seconds left.  Another frosh, Marcus Ginyard had twelve points and four rebounds.  The fourth frosh of this Fab Four, Danny Green, had a big steal in the final minute on Sean Dockery to help secure the victory.

 Frasor was solid for the Tarheels on Saturday night.

J.J. Redick scored 18 points despite missing 15 of his final 16 shots.  In his past four games, Redick is 23-for-80 from the field, only 29 percent.  This adds fuel to the fire that Redick is getting tired late in the season.  He's playing forty minutes nearly every game and seems to be more worried about his so-called 'rivalry' with Gonzaga's Adam Morrison then he is on winning the National title. 

Realize this Dukie fans...you need more than just Redick and Sheldon Williams (18 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocks) to win six games in the tourney.  Just take a look at UConn and the production they are getting from every starter and the guys off the bench (i.e. Rashad Anderson). 

*  Sidenote -- UNC's top recruit, Tywon Lawson, and his top-ranked Oak Hill Academy teammates were beat for the first time in 56 games.  Lawson scored 14 points in the third quarter, 26 for the game (along with nine assists and seven rebounds), but were beaten by 12th ranked Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.), 74-72.

*  Along with Lawson, UNC has the best recruiting class coming in next year.  Shooting guard Wayne Ellingon of Merion Station, PA; small forward William Graves of Greensboro, NC; 6-10 power forward Alex Stephenson of Studio City, CA; 6-8 power forward Deon Thompson of Torrance, CA; and 6-10 power forward Brandan Wright of Nashville, TN.  Ellington, Lawson and Wright have all been invited to play in the McDonald's All America game.