Marching On...

What a great couple of weeks we are in the midst of...Conference Championship Week and then the beginning of the NCAA Tourney. I don't even like Syracuse, but give them credit for the remarkable effort they displayed this past week. (I love their sophomore guard, Jonny Flynn.) College Hoops will dominate just about every sportscast for the next week. It seems like half the US population will be participating in tournament pools. How much fun is all of this? This would be the time frame to repeat over and over again in a Groundhog Day type scenario. However, I could do without the constant reminder of that one stupid play that they all seem to continually discuss as the greatest play in college basketball history. I know many fans of UK that find it to be ridiculous that the player making the shot was even allowed to continue playing after an ejectable offense earlier that evening. I'll post about it when I have dealt with my issues.

This year, I may be watching the NIT games as much or more than the NCAA games. My favorite teams, Kentucky and Dayton, may be participating in the NIT this year. Kentucky, who struggled early and really struggled late, will be playing in the secondary tournament unless there are a few members of the NCAA selection committee on the take. Despite having a couple of terrific players in Patterson and Meeks, the Wildcats were only able to dominate the beginning of their SEC schedule. Their 20 wins should not allow them into the NCAA's. Dayton has a shot to get in with 26 wins, but they actually struggled down the stretch in the Atlantic-10. Any time they joined the Top 25 rankings, they would lose as if they had a phobia of the honor. Although many have them as a lock now, I will be crossing my fingers during the selection show

Before the field of 65 is announced later tonight, here are my thoughts on a couple of spots...

#1 Seeds
Louisville - Big East Champs in the regular and post season, Pitino continues magic in the Bluegrass.
North Carolina - Solid team that ran over most of the over rated ACC, including Duke
Pittsburgh - If this team were not the Dayton phobia of the #1 spot in the rankings, they'd only have 2 losses all year.
Memphis - by default, since UConn nor Michigan State wanted it. Join a conference already!

#2 Seeds
UConn, Michigan State, Duke, Kansas

Oklahoma is as over rated as that Blake Griffin character, so they get snubbed at 2 by me, but they will get it over Kansas from the committee. I'd put Villanova or Wake in as a 2 over Oklahoma. Maybe I shouldn't be so tough on them, but I really think they are nowhere near as good as they get credit for from national press. I see them losing by their 3rd game if not sooner...

I like the Cinderella story, really I do. Dayton has been that story a few times (God bless you Roosevelt Chapman and Negel Knight). However, some of this gets ridiculous. St. Mary's is an example of a good team, but you have to be better than the West Coast Conference to compete in the NCAAs. They do not have the resume that Arizona has, but they will get the bid over Arizona to be fair to mid major conferences. I don't agree with that. Arizona played a tougher non-conference schedule. The Pac-10 is better than the West Coast this year, even if not as much as usual.

I think we should take a look at some of these top ranked teams in mid majors that lose in their conference tournaments. If they have a bid locked up, they lose and make themselves and their conference more money by giving up the automatic bid. I'm starting to get suspicious with how many of them seem to "slip" in their tournaments.

I am anxious for 6pm tonight! Let's get the teams revealed, fill out the brackets, get teams 64 and 65 to UD Arena in Dayton for their Tuesday night date, and get this thing under way. I'll look for the Kentucky games in the NIT and their pursuit of #66 too!