more thoughts on college basketball
Kentucky Champs
A mere 9 days ago, I ended this with a question mark. The way Kentucky has been playing in the past 3 games, and with the early exit of Kansas and Syracuse, it's become clear that this is their tournament to lose. If they can play these final 3 games defensively for a full 40 minutes like they played against Cornell last night, there's no one that can stop them.
Bracket Bustin'
Despite the rampant upsets in this tournament (which reveals the biased NCAA selection/seeding for the bullshit that it largely is) my Final Four was still intact until tonight when Tennessee beat Ohio St. I actually had Ohio St. and Kentucky in the championship game. I would've loved to have seen an Evan Turner and John Wall/Eric Bledsoe matchup. I guess that will have to wait until next year in the NBA. For the record, the other half of my Final Four was Butler and Duke.
SEC Reprazent
Speaking of Tennessee and Kentucky, where are all those power-conference ACC, Big East, and Big 12 teams? Each conference sent 7 teams to the tournament, 1/3 of the field. The Big 10 sent 6 more. What's the damage? In the Elite 8, the ACC has one remaining, the Big East has one remaining, the Big 10 has one remaining, and the Big 12 has 2. The SEC sent 4 teams... two of which are still alive. Not too shabby for a "football conference". Tennessee is scary, man. They've now beaten three of the teams that finished in the AP Top 5 for the regular season. It's not unthinkable that we could have an all-SEC championship game. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
The Argument For Cousins Not To Stay
I have to recant this one, too. Cousins has been displaying a maturity and patience heretofore unseen until the post-season. There's little doubt he'll be a top 3 pick in the NBA draft this year and he'll go.
A mere 9 days ago, I ended this with a question mark. The way Kentucky has been playing in the past 3 games, and with the early exit of Kansas and Syracuse, it's become clear that this is their tournament to lose. If they can play these final 3 games defensively for a full 40 minutes like they played against Cornell last night, there's no one that can stop them.
Bracket Bustin'
Despite the rampant upsets in this tournament (which reveals the biased NCAA selection/seeding for the bullshit that it largely is) my Final Four was still intact until tonight when Tennessee beat Ohio St. I actually had Ohio St. and Kentucky in the championship game. I would've loved to have seen an Evan Turner and John Wall/Eric Bledsoe matchup. I guess that will have to wait until next year in the NBA. For the record, the other half of my Final Four was Butler and Duke.
SEC Reprazent
Speaking of Tennessee and Kentucky, where are all those power-conference ACC, Big East, and Big 12 teams? Each conference sent 7 teams to the tournament, 1/3 of the field. The Big 10 sent 6 more. What's the damage? In the Elite 8, the ACC has one remaining, the Big East has one remaining, the Big 10 has one remaining, and the Big 12 has 2. The SEC sent 4 teams... two of which are still alive. Not too shabby for a "football conference". Tennessee is scary, man. They've now beaten three of the teams that finished in the AP Top 5 for the regular season. It's not unthinkable that we could have an all-SEC championship game. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
The Argument For Cousins Not To Stay
I have to recant this one, too. Cousins has been displaying a maturity and patience heretofore unseen until the post-season. There's little doubt he'll be a top 3 pick in the NBA draft this year and he'll go.