Friday, March 18, 2005

Recap of Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament

I began the day 1-3, a disaster. I couldn't predict a blizzard even if ten inches of snow had already fallen. By the time the first time slot of games ended, I had one win, and two Sweet Sixteen teams out. I finished the day with 11 out of 12 teams vindicating my predictions.

The two #1 seeds we saw were unimpressive. Both Illinois and Washington face tough west coast second round games. Nevada will be a tough team for Illinois to handle, but they should, and Washington may have fits with Pacific. I'm not sure they'll come out of it with a win. I make this weak statement, because I don't deserve credit no matter what. I had Pittsburgh. As I said below, Pittsburgh could make the Final Four or lose in the first round. They chose the latter. While we puked at Pittsburgh's play in the first half, you have to give Pacific credit for fending them off in the second.

The three #3 seeds all struggled today. Arizona had the least trouble with Utah State of the three threes, but that's not to say it was a cake walk (a popular dance from the early 1900s). I thought Winthrop would have a chance against Gonzaga. Gonzaga did nothing to convince me to retract my pick of Texas Tech on Saturday. Oh Niagra! We hardly knew ye. The fellas put up a good fight, but alas, they fell just a little bit short. Ok, a lot bit.

The West Virginia-Creighton battle was the game of the night. Each team made a run to start the game, and the excitement never ceased. Call Tyrone Sally (Erykah Badu reference? No? Ok.) and his two hustle plays were the difference. On one occasion, he dove to save a ball headed out of bounds, once he grabbed the ball he shuffled it over to a teammate for the jam. The other one was at the end of the game. After a block (yes, a block) of a three point attempt to beat the shot clock, Sally strolled down towards the other end of the court, received the entry pass on the fly and dunked it home. Creighton missed the last shot and they're now out.

Wake Forest had difficulties with Chattanooga until the end of the game. I'm still confident about my West Virginia pick in the next round.

Boston College was on a mission (no pun intended). I was pretty upset that UW- Milwaukee beat Alabama. I simply hate Milwaukee's coach. He reminds me of a preacher that I hate on the Christian channel that I watch often. Ah, Jewish pain. It is rare that a Jew would root for Alabama because the opposing team's coach reminds him of a loathed televangelist, but I stated my reasons below. UAB helped me out, thanks fellas. I knew you had it in you.

Andrew Bogut. Fine, if you think that he is the reason that the sun rotates around the earth, so be it. My comments on this subject are clear. Check the first week's archives. So we add Dan Bonner to a list that includes Jimmy Dykes. Bogut is plenty good without him receiving credit for a foul that occurred fifty feet away from him. Besides, doesn't the earth revolve around the sun. Hmmmm. Exactly.

Cincinnati and Kentucky both won. Hardly worth mentioning. Tomorrow's games make me a bit nervous. I've got some of my prime upsets on display. And of course my goal is to have a better record than the higher seeds (interestingly enough they have the lower numbers, but I like it, it makes sense to me).
Higher seeds: 13-3. Me: 12-4. Can't wait til tomorrow.

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