Monday, March 14, 2005

We have a lot to get to today, so this is basically going to be a quick round up of what I think of the field of 64…..er….ummmm…..65.

BEST SEED: The Washington Huskies. This team blows, and no it is not an east coast biased, I am a knowledgeable aficionado of the game. No way have they deserved to be a #1 seed. Somehow the Pac-10 conference RPI is 3, I am not sure how. Secondly, the selection committee routinely barks that the conference tournaments do not count that much, when actually they must. Washington will be your first #1 seed eliminated

WORST SEED: The Louisville Cardinals. This team is RPI #4 in the country, they are 29-4 and regular season and conference champs in C-USA, which in my opinion is better than the Pac-10. Rick Pitino’s team has Final Four written all over it and the committee gave them a #4 seed, that is terrible. (Runner up is Oklahoma State; they should have been the 4th #1)

PHRASES: March Madness and Cinderella. Last time I checked nobody is going crazy and a girl with a glass slipper has never played in and NCAA tournament game. But I still agree with the phrase Mid-Major. The teams who are Mid-Majors don’t like it, but hey screw them, they are Mid-Major’s.

PLAYERS: Here are some great players whom the country will come to know by the end of this tournament. Kennedy Winston (Alabama) still the most underrated player in the country, Andrew Bogut (Utah) learn his name because David Stern will be saying this soon, “With the first pick in the NBA draft, the Atlanta Hawks select Andrew Bogut.”
Curtis Stinson (Iowa St.) this guy may be faster than Ray Felton. Darren Brooks (S. Illinois) the second greatest Saluki ever, behind Walt Frazier, is the 3 time MVC player of the year. Ronald Ross (Texas Tech) former walk on to first team all Big-12 and played every single minute of Tech’s three Big 12 tournament games averaging over 20 ppg.

TEAMS: Niagara makes their first appearance since they had a little guy named Calvin Murphy who could shoot the lights out (and he knew how to make lots of babies, I love guys who are multi talented). Southern Illinois is making their 3rd straight tournament with their 3rd different coach, is the MVC weak or is (as mentioned above) Darren Brooks that good? Eastern Kentucky making their first dance since 1979 and their Head Coach is UK Wildcat faithful own Travis Ford. The bluegrass will be rocking for that match-up. Charlotte is maybe the most underrated team in the field. Coach Bobby Lutz’s team is strong on the interior has good guard play and C-USA Player of the Year Eddie Basden.

COACH’S: Bruce Pearl (UW-Milwaukee) has led his team to 3 straight dances. Randy Bennett (St. Mary’s) has steadily improved his program for 4 straight years and will probably soon garner a Pac-10 coaching job. Bobby Knight (Texas Tech) some people will say what? But think about this they guy took over a program that was nothing and has only taken them to 3 NCAA’s in four seasons, nobody believed he could do that but the man can flat out coach ‘em up. Gregg Marshall (Winthrop) name seems to pop up every year, yet he is still at Winthrop. He has now gone to 5 Tournaments in 7 seasons, not too bad. Ray Giacoletti (Utah) how many people could have named him? He took over for Majerus and has kept that program in the Top 25. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) just keeps taking his team to the NCAA tournament. He has a solid program that is always among the contenders in the SEC and has made noise in the tournament including last year’s Elite Eight appearance.

Picks will be forthcoming later this week. I will give you Final Four and National Champions as well as some teams that will emerge in the Sweet Sixteen that you might not expect.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Imperial Wizard~
I haven't been able to sleep because all I want to do is read your picks for the tourney. You're disappointing me. By the way, think Stokes could give me a job? BUYAH
Stuart Scott

1:38 AM  

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