March Madness 2008

[Brian G]

I was flipping around last night and ran across an NIT game at Ohio State. They have the ugliest, worst designed basketball court I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot). It looks like they have a smaller court laid out inside the standard-sized one, but the while the standard boundaries are marked by only a 2 inch white line, the smaller court has a huge, 2 foot wide red border. I wonder how often players on visiting teams accidentally step out of bounds because the layout is confusing? [:-boggled

Brian G.

Visual Gamesmanship, or Just Bad Graphic Design? [?]

[Brian G]

I guess I'd better get my picks in for the next round, since it starts tomorrow night.

North Carolina over Washington State

Tough break for the Cougars, who could beat most of the other remaining teams in the tourney, but not the Tarheels. Not unless they've cooled off a whooooole lot in the past 4 days.

Louisville over Tennessee

I'll be pulling for the Vols, but they've played barely well enough to win. Louisville has cruised.

Villinova over Kansas

This one is iffy, but I'll take the Big East team here.

Wisconsin over Davidson

The Badgers are just tough. Serious, serious D and plenty of patience on offense. I'd rather see the little guys win, but it's gonna be real hard to do.

Michigan State over Memphis

Memphis didn't do that well against MS State, and Michigan is a similar team to the Dogs. This isn't a lock by any means. Hey Spartans, if you're down with a couple of minutes left, start fouling!

Stanford over Texas

Too much inside power for the Longhorns to handle, unless they shoot the lights out on 3 pointers. I'll take an inside scoring team over an outside scoring team every time, but Texas does have good guards. It could go either way.

UCLA over Western Kentucky

In yet another incredible break (or call) to go UCLA's way, they get to play a small-conference # 12 team this round (they should call this whole bracket the "weak west"). I would LOVE to see the Bruins go down, but it's not likely at the hands of any 12 seed.

West Virginia over Xavier

The geniuses are all taking Xavier, and I hope they're right, but I'm picking the Mountaineers to actually win.

BTW, Ole Miss and Florida are both in the Final Four of the NIT. Unfortunately for Ole Miss, they have to go play at Ohio State. Look for the Buckeyes and Gators to renew their recent rivalry in the final, which is a dream scenario for the NIT (lots-o-press, lots-o-viewers).

Brian G.

Bring It On [:-basketb

[chrisclark]

i can't believe nobody here posted about the game last night....i was on the edge of my couch for the entire 2nd half PLUS the overtime!

[Les]

ya, I guess it was ok.

Someday Hightower will get an award for the best basketball ref ever.

Chris, didn't you just want to get on the court and shoot the foul shots for the Wildcats?

[kurt]

Calipari coached an absolutely perfect game. Perfect. When Kansas went to the box and one defense late in the game, Self stumbled completely. What was he thinking?

Calipari took advantage brilliantly, but was undone by bad foul shooting. Self got out lucky.

The fellas played hard though. Helluva final.

[Brian G]

The final was up to snuff, but I lost a lot of interest when so may post-Sweet Sixteen games were blow-outs. Even the two semi-final games were double-digit wins....no drama, no real competition. I still don't know what happened to North Carolina at the start of their game with Kansas.

Oh well, tip your hat to Kansas and the Big 12, then wait for next year. [:-weepn]

Brian G.

And the Long, Dry Summer Begins [:-indiffe