It's Tournament Time

So the brackets are out. It's time to start filling out your picks as we are on the drive from 65 all the way to crowning a new national champion three weeks from tomorrow on April 7th. And while you can listen to all the analysts and the predictions as much as you want, the simple truth of the matter is you must pick upsets if you plan on winning your bracket pool. It's just a fact. You can't put all of the #1 seeds in the final four because that never happens. The great thing about this tournament is a team like Coppin State, who at 16-20 made the tournament maybe can get lucky and make a run. Of course, the chances of that happening are slim to none simply because Coppin State is a team who is 228 in the RPI, finished 7-9 in conference play, and finished 9 games back behind regular season champ Morgan State. They lost to Xavier by 49, Marquette by 47 and even Indiana was even able to smear them, although only by 27.

Speaking of Indiana, I wasn't surprised at all that my Hoosiers received an #8 seed. Not only do I not think that they will beat #9 Arkansas in the first round, but hypothetically, even if they somehow do, their reward for winning is they get to play the #1 seed in the ENTIRE tournament in North Carolina. Many people around here were angered when the results were revealed but let's be honest people, this is a team that has lost 3 of 4 including embarassing losses to Minnesota and Penn State. Indiana basketball, if it truly is the program that is mentioned with all the greats like UCLA, Duke, and Kentucky, must beat Penn State and Minnesota. It's really as simple as that. D.J. White finishes his career having never won a Big Ten Tournament game. Kind of sad in a way.

So what kind of a team is Arkansas? Well, the Razorbacks come into this game with a 22-11 record, won 4 of their last 6 including a thrilling 92-91 win over Tennessee (who with that loss blew their chances for a #1 seed) and have 3 players that score in double figures led by senior Sonny Weems at a little more than 14 points per game. After that, you also have Patrick Beverley and Darian Townes who score 12 and 11.9 ppg respectively. Arkansas is very athletic and very versatile and could give the Hoosiers problems. Plus they have a bit more momentum on their side recently making it all the way to the SEC Championship game. When the team scores 80 points or more they are 9-0 and 11-0 when they shoot over 50% from the floor. That's why I'm going with the Razorbacks to upset my Hoosiers, if you can even call #9 beating an #8 an upset.

I could go over all the teams that got snubbed and those that I think got in and shouldn't have (see Arizona and Oregon) but I'm sure at this point, you've heard enough of that. So I'm not going to sit here and try and change your mind because for most people, once they have their mind set on something there's almost nothing you can do to change it. I did see a funny Bobby Knight clip on Youtube that I'm going to post here.

I'm going to make the rest of my first round picks now so I can review them over next weekend's show and compare how much I think I know about College Basketball compared to the actual results.

EAST
North Carolina
Arkansas
George Mason
Washington State
Saint Joseph's
Louisville
Butler
Tennessee

Midwest
Kansas
UNLV
Villanova
Vanderbilt
Kansas State
Wisconsin
Gonzaga
Georgetown

South
Memphis
Mississippi State
Michigan State
Pittsburgh
Kentucky
Stanford
St. Mary's
Texas

West
UCLA
BYU
Western Kentucky
UConn
Baylor
Xavier
West Virginia
Duke

Oh and to close out the show for today, the cast of Boy Meets World by first and last name are:

Cory Matthews- Ben Savage
Eric Matthews- Will Friedle
Alan Matthews- William Russ
Amy Matthews- Betsy Randle
Shawn Hunter- Rider Strong
Topanga Lawrence- Danielle Fishel
George Feeny- William Daniels

That's all I got for today guys. Catch you next weekend. And be sure to listen to my radio show "The Front Row" Monday and Friday mornings on 99.1 WIUX-LP. Or online at WIUX.org

-M

Picture courtesy of: http://c.myspace.com/Groups/00000/53/73/113735_l.jpg

The State of Indiana Basketball

What up everyone? "The Weekend" is back, after a long break. I was in Florida for ten days just relaxing trying to throw all the hassles of school behind me, at least for a short while. But now that I'm back I'm more committed than ever and ready to give all you out there in internet world, my very best work.

Let's begin with my beloved Hoosiers. On Friday night, while stuck in a traffic jam in Atlanta, I was receiving frequent updates from friends as Indiana took on Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. After being behind as much as 16 with 9:41 to go (it was 24-8 Minnesota at that point), Indiana fought back making it a 7 point game at halftime 34-27. With 15:51 to go in the game, D.J. White made two free throws to tie the game up at 34-34 and the two teams battled back and forth with neither one getting more than 5 points ahead the rest of the game.

That's when disaster struck. With 4 seconds to go and Indiana down 2, Eric Gordon (our supposed savior who was to bring back the prestige and honor that is Indiana basketball), missed the first of two free throws. This is a guy who shoots 84.5 % from the line. Having to miss the second one on purpose to give the Hoosiers a shot, Gordon lofted the ball off the back rim where it hung up long enough for D.J. to grab it and put it in for an "and 1." D.J. missed the three point opportunity but somehow once again got his own rebound and was fouled. So once again Indiana had ANOTHER opportunity to put themselves ahead. This time, White missed the first but made the second. So it's 58-57 at this point with 1 second and some change left. After both teams traded timeouts, Blake Hoffarber, who won an ESPY in 2005 after this miraculous shot, caught a pass in the frontcourt, hoisted up a shot, and somehow made it AGAIN this time to beat Indiana 59-58. If you haven't seen Blake's most recent heroics, you can watch it here.

So the question becomes now, how is anyone, especially the players, supposed to have any sort of confidence in this team after they've lost 3 of 4 to close out the season? I personally have none and am planning on picking whomever IU plays in the NCAA tournament to BEAT IU simply because I think the players still aren't over the whole NCAA violations thing. In one aspect, I understand because you put a lot of trust in a coach when he recruits you that he'll be there the whole time, that you can count on him. But at the same time, it's time for the players to grow up and move on. At one point in the season this was a top 10 team in and America and for us to suddenly struggle to beat Northwestern and lose to Penn State and Minnesota...are you kidding me? Yes, I'm talking to you JaMarcus Ellis and Jordan Crawford. Stop whining how bad it is that you don't have your coach anymore and just play basketball. That shows real class just walking out on a meeting with the athletic director just because you don't like what he's saying. GROW UP! You get to go to school and play basketball for FREE, which is something I know many kids would kill to get a chance. Ever since Kelvin Sampson's resignation on February 22nd, this team is 3-3 and it is GUARANTEED that Dan Dakich's will NOT be the coach next season.

On a side note, congratulations to Minnie Driver on her pregnancy announcement. She's one of my favorite actresses. I really enjoyed her in Good Will Hunting and Grosse Pointe Blank. Today's trivia question comes from one of my all-time favorite TV series, can you tell me the cast of the popular TGIF sitcom Boy Meets World? By real name too? Best of Luck.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/uploaded_images/IMG_3247-759535.JPG