Day 1 Review
That’s it folks, one day is in the books and what have we learned? Well, first of all I suck at picking anything. Dan Filowitz (A Great Jew) sent me a wonderful e-mail last evening, taking a direct quote from my previous post talking about how UW-Milwaukee would not make it past Alabama in Round 1. However, I will defend myself. If you look at the time of that post it was 1:11 pm, which was approximately halftime of the UWM-Alabama game, in which the Crimson Tide trailed by 13, yet I stuck to what I had written earlier in the day and posted it anyway. That is what we call integrity folks!!!
As for the play in Day one I was disturbed and excited all in the same breathe. The one thing I did not like was the fact that the games seemed very physical to me. The referee’s were allowing far too much on ball contact on the perimeter and allowing post defenders to wrap their arms around offensive players and dive around for steals. Maybe some of the ref’s had some first day jitters as well. But the physical play made for some awful basketball. I was excited to see the close competitive games. Almost every game nowadays is a toss up. No longer are the days where #1 seeds are 32 point favorites and covering. Winthrop had a real shot at Gonzaga, Montana was with Washington step for step, and UT-Chattanooga forced Wake to come alive in the second half.
PLAYER OF THE DAY: It is a tie between my two favorite players, Adam Morrison and Andrew Bogut. Both of these guys showed out all game and made big plays down the stretch for their teams. Morrison did it all, scoring a game high 27 points grabbing six boards and dishing out 5 assists, and for good measure he had a block and two steals. He scored 17 second half points including the game changing 3-pointer from about 28 feet as the shot clock was winding down. Bogut did most of his scoring damage in the first half with 17 points. But in the second half he rebounded his tail off and changed a number of shots in the lane, and had two blocks at the end of the game to seal the victory. He finished the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks while enduring triple teams and playing all 40 minutes.
GAME OF THE DAY: Utah vs. UTEP was a great basketball game. Two hard nosed defensive teams battled it out from start to finish. Both teams are under first year head coaches and from the looks of things both these teams will continue to be a factor in the tournament for years to come. Seven players played thirty plus minutes, and at the end of the game everyone was exhausted. Unfortunately most of the other games did not live up to this one; this was a true college basketball gem.
COACH OF THE DAY: Tom Green, of Fairleigh Dickinson University. He had his team prepared and not playing in fear of the big bad Illini in Indianapolis. Most people expected a blowout, but Greens Knights played aggressive defense and efficient offense. They frustrated Illinois’s guards by changing defensive throughout the game. Illinois shot 27% from 3-pt range which is a credit to FDU’s defense; Coach Tom Green deserves a lot of that credit.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN DAY 2: Who is not excited about St. Mary’s vs. Southern Illinois. This shapes up to be the game of the day for me. The nation will get to see 2 very good teams in action. I am also interested in seeing how well UConn will play, now with the injury to PG Marcus Williams, and since I picked them to go all the way. Some teams to look for who are playing well also are; Lousiville is coming off of winning the C-USA tournament and Francisco Garcia can will his team to victories, New Mexico has also played well down the stretch running the MWC tournament and playing a lackluster Villanova team, and lastly Syracuse is an interesting team to watch. The Orange are an odds on favorite in a lot of brackets, but their first round match up is no cupcake. The Vermont Catamounts are a good team with a great player in Taylor Coppenwrath and a departing coach, and playing in Worcester Mass they may have the entire student body there. It is important for Coach Boheim’s team to get off to a good start. Upset special of the day, George Washington over Georgia Tech. And with mys success in the tournament so far I encourage all of you to go out and put all your money on the Yellow Jackets to win, cover and cover big!!!
As for the play in Day one I was disturbed and excited all in the same breathe. The one thing I did not like was the fact that the games seemed very physical to me. The referee’s were allowing far too much on ball contact on the perimeter and allowing post defenders to wrap their arms around offensive players and dive around for steals. Maybe some of the ref’s had some first day jitters as well. But the physical play made for some awful basketball. I was excited to see the close competitive games. Almost every game nowadays is a toss up. No longer are the days where #1 seeds are 32 point favorites and covering. Winthrop had a real shot at Gonzaga, Montana was with Washington step for step, and UT-Chattanooga forced Wake to come alive in the second half.
PLAYER OF THE DAY: It is a tie between my two favorite players, Adam Morrison and Andrew Bogut. Both of these guys showed out all game and made big plays down the stretch for their teams. Morrison did it all, scoring a game high 27 points grabbing six boards and dishing out 5 assists, and for good measure he had a block and two steals. He scored 17 second half points including the game changing 3-pointer from about 28 feet as the shot clock was winding down. Bogut did most of his scoring damage in the first half with 17 points. But in the second half he rebounded his tail off and changed a number of shots in the lane, and had two blocks at the end of the game to seal the victory. He finished the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks while enduring triple teams and playing all 40 minutes.
GAME OF THE DAY: Utah vs. UTEP was a great basketball game. Two hard nosed defensive teams battled it out from start to finish. Both teams are under first year head coaches and from the looks of things both these teams will continue to be a factor in the tournament for years to come. Seven players played thirty plus minutes, and at the end of the game everyone was exhausted. Unfortunately most of the other games did not live up to this one; this was a true college basketball gem.
COACH OF THE DAY: Tom Green, of Fairleigh Dickinson University. He had his team prepared and not playing in fear of the big bad Illini in Indianapolis. Most people expected a blowout, but Greens Knights played aggressive defense and efficient offense. They frustrated Illinois’s guards by changing defensive throughout the game. Illinois shot 27% from 3-pt range which is a credit to FDU’s defense; Coach Tom Green deserves a lot of that credit.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN DAY 2: Who is not excited about St. Mary’s vs. Southern Illinois. This shapes up to be the game of the day for me. The nation will get to see 2 very good teams in action. I am also interested in seeing how well UConn will play, now with the injury to PG Marcus Williams, and since I picked them to go all the way. Some teams to look for who are playing well also are; Lousiville is coming off of winning the C-USA tournament and Francisco Garcia can will his team to victories, New Mexico has also played well down the stretch running the MWC tournament and playing a lackluster Villanova team, and lastly Syracuse is an interesting team to watch. The Orange are an odds on favorite in a lot of brackets, but their first round match up is no cupcake. The Vermont Catamounts are a good team with a great player in Taylor Coppenwrath and a departing coach, and playing in Worcester Mass they may have the entire student body there. It is important for Coach Boheim’s team to get off to a good start. Upset special of the day, George Washington over Georgia Tech. And with mys success in the tournament so far I encourage all of you to go out and put all your money on the Yellow Jackets to win, cover and cover big!!!
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