March Madness 2012

My East Region is still good. All these upsets suck. The worst part is I knew the upsets would come and I still picked the better team. Should have known teams like San Diego State and Michigan would lose.

 

Picking the first round upsets has always been the hardest part of this little exercise. You know they're gonna happen, it's just trying to figure out TO WHOM! Duke and Mizzou...see ya.'

 

Lovin' that the blue team got beat

 

Sorry Jump, have to be proud of the effort those kids gave. Two evenly matched teams, but Marquette got the run at the wrong time for Murray State.

The Big East conference has coaching legends (Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino, Huggins) and highly regarded others (Thompson III, Wright, Dixon, Brey), but Marquette's coach Buzz WIlliams is a fantastic coach, and maybe the most underrated one in the entire country.

Ohio State and Gonzaga in a terrific game earlier, with the Buckeyes gutting it out.

 

I was afraid we didn't match up well with Marquette, and, unfortunately, I was right. Buzz is a good coach, and his game plan against us worked to a "T"...shut off the threes and make 'em beat you inside, which we could not do. Really thought we had a chance to make a deeper run this year. Slowly but surely, we're getting there. Glad Indiana won, Kentucky is starting to pull away from the Cyclones, and Louisville's got New Mexico. If the "good" Cards show up, they should be able to handle the Lobos. If not, well, Binghamton could beat them. Sounds like our favorite football team, eh? It's called madness for a reason.

 

Kentucky and Indiana on to Atlanta ( or as it's called around here in March, CAT-lanta) for a much anticipated rematch, and Louisville heads south from Portland to Phoenix to play either Saint Louis or Michigan State (I wouldn't automatically assume it'll be the Spartans, sports fans). Life is good, would have been better had the Racers advanced. I'll take it, though.

 

Tremendous games on Sunday. The Purdue-Kansas game was a the game of the day. Robbie Humel w/22 in the first half gave the Boilers the belief they could pull the upset, but KU hung tough and finally got the lead at the end.

Cinderella; Ohio U.

Big WInners; The state of Ohio and specifically the city of Cincinnati; w/a quarter of the Sweet 16 (Ohio, Ohio St, Cincinnati, and Xavier). The Big Ten (ironically w/12 schools), Big East, ACC, Big 12 (ironically w/10 schools), and SEC.

Big Losers; Western US hoops. Not a single school west of Waco, Texas left.

 

Proud of the state of Ohio! Specifically Ohio U for representing the MAC! They have a tall order coming up though.

 

Heading out to The Valley of the Sun tomorrow night to cover the Cards. Don't like their chances much against the Izzonites, but nobody picked UConn much last year, either. Any Fulhamites out there in the Sonoran? We must lift a pint to Mr. Dempsey somewhere if there is.

COYW!

GO CARDS!

 

Enjoy the games tonight Jump, Phoenix is awesome this time of year. Can't see Louisville beating Michigan State, but if they can get the score in the 70s, they have a real chance. Florida had it easy so far (beating a bad Virginia team and getting Norfolk St in their second game) and now faces a tough Marquette team. Marquette's achilles heel is turning the ball over so the Gators have to rely on that and their 3 point shooting if they want to pull the mild upset.

Game of the Day; Cincinnati and Ohio State...the city school w/a chip on their shoulder against the giants up the highway that know they are superior. Knockdown, drag out affair for bragging rights and a spot in the Elite 8. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

 

Waiting by the loading dock @ us airways center to try to get a shot of Ali arriving. Awesome doesn't seem like adequate verbiage to describe the wx here...it was actually hotter in Louisville the last couple of days than Phoenix. The mountains and palm trees are beautiful. I'm hoping for an unlikely Cardinal upset just so I can spend a couple more days here. Maybe get out to the mountains and catch a little Cactus League action. Agree about Cinti-OSU...shouldbe quite entertaining. Hope I get a chance to see some of it. I don't even care about my bracket any more. Just want to stay on the ride while it lasts.

 

Ugh, well there goes my champion in MSU

Good news is that the Bucks are looking decent so far against Cincy.

 

Turns out the only good game was Wisconsin v the Cuse. The rest were pretty comfortable and the trailing teams just didn't look like they had any answers to get back in it down the stretch.

Jump, you're on a roll. You get a couple more days in the desert and you are a heck of a lot closer to a UK/Ville Final 4 matchup.

 

Not shocked they lost, but really surprised that both MSU and Marquette got handled the way they did. Ton of story lines for the Louisville-Florida game. Billy Donovan going against his mentor Rick Pitino. This is the 25th anniversary in which Donovan as a player single-handily carried Providence (who was coached by Pitino) to the Final 4. Should be a fun game to cover Jump, enjoy.

I picked Syracuse to beating Kentucky in the Final before they lost their Center, changed it, and now they might make me regret it. The Cuse and Ohio State is going to be a great game.

 

North Carolina escapes...barely. Ohio should of finished them off in regulation. That said unless Kansas plays better (it seemed they were attempting to hand the game to NC State) against the Tar Heels, they'll come up short (even if the NC point guard doesn't play).

Kentucky and Indiana game was entertaining, but Kentucky got the pace in their favor. Baylor will run with UK, but I'll take the Wildcats in a shootout.

 

Wow. Still can't believe I'm still in Phoenix, and the Cards are heading to the Big Easy! My boss considered sending my reporter and I directly to New Orleans until we told her how much it would cost to change our tickets. Metro Louisville is beginning to collectively foam at the mouth over a Kentucky-Louisville rematch at the Final Four. We'll know shortly if it becomes a full blown epidemic of hoops insanity. Trust me, Tobacco Road doesn't have squat on the Bermuda Triangle (now that the Hoosiers are back) when it comes to college hoops hyteria. Stay tuned, kids. Next report may be from Bourbon Street!

 

Thanks to the Marshall injury, my bracket has no chance of winning. Oh well, at least I won't finish last.

 

And then there were 4! Should be two really great matchups.

I'm rooting for a Kentucky/OSU rematch from last year's tournament.

 

After watching them since the post season began, I'm not about pick against the Cards. This team has managed about as big a 180 as you can pull off. They finally got healthy, then got busy. Doubt them at your peril.