Day one of "The Greatest Show on Earth" (more commonly referred to as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament" among the uninitiated) is in the books. As usual there were shocking surprises and predictable results. So what did we learn, if anything, from the first day of madness?
What We Know
Calling the play-in games "The First Four" is just ridiculous. Yeah, it's just a marketing scheme but seriously folks. Why not just call it "The Fiscal Four" or "The Sacrificial Cash Cow Four?" Very Irritating. Plus CBS knows people will start using the term accidentally and it will stick. Aargh.
Also, calling the first round the second round (because of said First Four) is just confusing.
Pete Carrill's Princeton teams would've found a way to make that upset happen.
Butler just knows how to win come tourney time.
Belmont was not the surprise of the Spring.
Temple isn't very good. Barely beating a just-lucky-to-be-here Penn State team from a weak Big Ten is not impressive.
What We Think
Rick Pitino got his. Losing to Morehead State? Celtics fans everywhere rejoice.
Richmond seems to pull off the upset every time they get into the tournament. Those of us who jumped all over that 12-5 upset are loving how that makes us look. Especially after K-State didn't oblige in the nightcap.
Don't bet against Gonzaga in the first round. Ever.
In the wake of the "Fab Five" special it's nice to see Steve Fischer getting some tournament time. He's been toiling at SDSU for a while now and has brought real respectability to a program that was just terrible when he got there.
Most of those "mid-majors" are pretty good, even when they lose. Except UCSB and Bucknell. Those two? Not so good.
For once the Big East teams didn't embarrass themselves in the first round (excuse me, second round).
What We Hope
That the Big East doesn't embarrass themselves in the first round (whoops!) today.
Bob Huggins makes a quick exit from the tourney. There are some coaches we're just not fans of. Perhaps he can go tutor his former Cincy players. Or teach them how to drive...
Pittsburgh doesn't blow their #1 seed. It seems like, under Jamie Dixon, every year the team wins its first game by 25, its second by 12 and loses the third one by 2. Stop the bleeding, Jamie!
C'mon upsets!
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Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Kemba Walker Walks Off With Win
Kemba Walker has provided the University of Connecticut basketball team with big shots all season long. Thursday the Huskie's star guard may have saved his best for tournament time.
With his team down by a point to Pittsburgh in the first quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament, Walker hit an 18 foot jump shot as time expired, sending the Huskies into the semifinals against #11 Syracuse on Friday night. It was an ignominious ending for the Panthers who blew a first half double-digit lead and looked terribly disorganized on Walker's final shot.
Pittsburgh, ranked #3 in the country in both the AP and ESPN/Coach's polls, had been one of the favorites coming into the tournament yet they ended up being spectators to the Mighty Kemba's heroics. Although the loss likely won't affect Pitt's seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, its residual effect may have long-term repercussions on the psyche of a team expected to contend for a national title this season.
Connecticut, on the other hand, is riding high after entering the Big East Tournament seeded only 9th and ranked #19 in the country, a far cry from their earlier ranking of #3 this season. After running roughshod over hapless DePaul in the first round and cruising past #22 Georgetown in the second, UConn and Walker found themselves down big to a Pitt team that had handed them their first loss of the season back in December.
However, behind Walker's 24 points, the Huskies chipped away at Pitt's lead early in the second half and found themselves in a one-possession game for most of the last eight minutes. When UConn came out of a timeout with 5.7 seconds left to play and the score knotted at 74-74, there wasn't a soul in grand old Madison Square Garden who didn't know one Kemba Walker would have the ball in his hands.
Unfortunately for Pitt, big man Gary McGhee was the only one standing between Walker and tournament immortality. Walker drove right, stepped back, drove left, stepped back and calmly buried the game winner from the top of the key while a broken McGhee looked on helplessly, a witness to his own team's demise.
Such heroics are old news to Walker, who beat both Texas and Villanova with late shots earlier this season. But today's buzzer-beater against Pitt was in a league of its own; unless Walker has another miracle in store. UConn and Syracuse played a six-overtime classic in this very tournament just a few short years ago. Perhaps the time is now for Walker to add another layer to his legend.
With his team down by a point to Pittsburgh in the first quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament, Walker hit an 18 foot jump shot as time expired, sending the Huskies into the semifinals against #11 Syracuse on Friday night. It was an ignominious ending for the Panthers who blew a first half double-digit lead and looked terribly disorganized on Walker's final shot.
Pittsburgh, ranked #3 in the country in both the AP and ESPN/Coach's polls, had been one of the favorites coming into the tournament yet they ended up being spectators to the Mighty Kemba's heroics. Although the loss likely won't affect Pitt's seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, its residual effect may have long-term repercussions on the psyche of a team expected to contend for a national title this season.
Connecticut, on the other hand, is riding high after entering the Big East Tournament seeded only 9th and ranked #19 in the country, a far cry from their earlier ranking of #3 this season. After running roughshod over hapless DePaul in the first round and cruising past #22 Georgetown in the second, UConn and Walker found themselves down big to a Pitt team that had handed them their first loss of the season back in December.
However, behind Walker's 24 points, the Huskies chipped away at Pitt's lead early in the second half and found themselves in a one-possession game for most of the last eight minutes. When UConn came out of a timeout with 5.7 seconds left to play and the score knotted at 74-74, there wasn't a soul in grand old Madison Square Garden who didn't know one Kemba Walker would have the ball in his hands.
Unfortunately for Pitt, big man Gary McGhee was the only one standing between Walker and tournament immortality. Walker drove right, stepped back, drove left, stepped back and calmly buried the game winner from the top of the key while a broken McGhee looked on helplessly, a witness to his own team's demise.
Such heroics are old news to Walker, who beat both Texas and Villanova with late shots earlier this season. But today's buzzer-beater against Pitt was in a league of its own; unless Walker has another miracle in store. UConn and Syracuse played a six-overtime classic in this very tournament just a few short years ago. Perhaps the time is now for Walker to add another layer to his legend.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Did Blackhawks bottle last year's magic?
Perhaps the Chicago Blackhawks were experiencing a Stanley Cup Hangover of monumental proportions; online photos of various players 'celebrating' certainly show they had the will, discipline and talent to do so. Perhaps a team that traded away starting goalie Anti Niemi and All-Star Dustin Byfuglien, among others, needed the proverbial 'time to gel.' Or perhaps Patrick Kane just needs to miss practices and drink Jaeger with his fans more often.
Whatever the reason, the defending champions have suddenly ended their season long doldrums in emphatic fashion. Since their OT loss in Phoenix, followed by Kaner's Sambuca fueled return to Chicago, the 'Hawks have gone 7-1 and won six straight games. As we head into the last quarter of the season they have leapfrogged five teams and are currently tied for the fourth spot in the Western Conference. For a group that was essentially out of this year's race it's quite an accomplishment, even more so given the fact that not only did they have to make this run to stay alive but, as defending champs, they were also expected to.
As sports fans we tend to discredit exactly how hard it can be to 'turn a season around.' Having seen 'miracles' many times before (blame ESPN for that one) we now expect to see them routinely. However, most teams, in any sport, who spend the majority of their season two or three places out of the final playoff spot (or worse) do not magically get better and start winning just because they want to. There's usually more than one reason why a team is under-performing; be it age, injury, exhaustion, that elusive chemistry or just bad luck, many factors conspire against success, no matter how hard a team works or how talented it is 'on paper.' Teams certainly don't start winning because they suddenly 'remember' they are last season's champion. If history has shown anything it's that repeating is extremely hard to do. It's hard to perform on cue and under great pressure, even for professional athletes. Especially when everyone is gunning for you.
So kudos, Blackhawks. You're probably not going to catch the Red Wings in your division. You may or may not host a first round playoff series. You almost certainly won't defend your title. But you have made a mediocre season just a little bit more exciting when it counted and made your games 'must watch' events again, at least for your own fans. And isn't that, after all, what it's all about?
Whatever the reason, the defending champions have suddenly ended their season long doldrums in emphatic fashion. Since their OT loss in Phoenix, followed by Kaner's Sambuca fueled return to Chicago, the 'Hawks have gone 7-1 and won six straight games. As we head into the last quarter of the season they have leapfrogged five teams and are currently tied for the fourth spot in the Western Conference. For a group that was essentially out of this year's race it's quite an accomplishment, even more so given the fact that not only did they have to make this run to stay alive but, as defending champs, they were also expected to.
As sports fans we tend to discredit exactly how hard it can be to 'turn a season around.' Having seen 'miracles' many times before (blame ESPN for that one) we now expect to see them routinely. However, most teams, in any sport, who spend the majority of their season two or three places out of the final playoff spot (or worse) do not magically get better and start winning just because they want to. There's usually more than one reason why a team is under-performing; be it age, injury, exhaustion, that elusive chemistry or just bad luck, many factors conspire against success, no matter how hard a team works or how talented it is 'on paper.' Teams certainly don't start winning because they suddenly 'remember' they are last season's champion. If history has shown anything it's that repeating is extremely hard to do. It's hard to perform on cue and under great pressure, even for professional athletes. Especially when everyone is gunning for you.
So kudos, Blackhawks. You're probably not going to catch the Red Wings in your division. You may or may not host a first round playoff series. You almost certainly won't defend your title. But you have made a mediocre season just a little bit more exciting when it counted and made your games 'must watch' events again, at least for your own fans. And isn't that, after all, what it's all about?
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