Did You See That!?

Phew...I think I’m finally catching my breath from what can only be described as a weekend of incredible basketball. It was full of excitement, buzzer-beaters, major... nay, huge upsets and 16 teams advancing to the second weekend of the Big Dance. On a side note - How screwed is your bracket looking? Yeah, thought it might be.

What happened to the Big East? (More like the Big Easy, Little East, etc, etc.) Eight bids showed the strength and muscle of the conference...until they had to play teams outside the conference. Apparently Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pitt, Villanova and Louisville decided that they could finally take a breather now that they were out of the battle-hardened, bruiser Big East. So take it easy they did, and now they’ll have plenty of time to take it easy as they sit in their dorms and watch Syracuse and West Virginia try to bring some credibility back to the Big East. What happened to the one-bid Pac 10, the conference that should be in the play-in game if the Selection Committee had any stones? What the hell!

And how about the little guys, eh? I’ll start with Cornell. The first Ivy League team to win an NCAA game since 1998 and the first to advance to the Sweet 16 in 31 years. (I also want to note I picked them to advance to the Sweet 16 in my office bracket) Saint Mary’s beat down on Villa-NO-va and the invisible “Mr. Clutch” Scottie Reynolds.



I think that about covers it...

Wait you say! What about Northern Iowa??

I’ve been through Iowa, and I didn’t know there even was a northern part of it. I figured it was all just nameless cornfields...Except for “Worlds Largest Truckstop”. What a game. I was in the city and happened to walk into a bar during the last two minutes or so of this monumental game. It was just in time to see the ballsiest, most daring shot of the weekend. Ali Farokhmanesh pulling up on a breakaway to bury a three pointer and drive the stake into the Jayhawk’s heart. All I can say is “ONIONS!”



Now lets get to The Orange of Syracuse. The pundits were asking bundles of questions about the Orange, having entered the tournament riding a two game losing streak and playing a team they haven’t played since the infamous 2005 game. They were expected to beat those maple syrup lovers, but after that? Who knows.

Well the ‘Cuse flexed their muscles, especially their Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson muscles. People were scared, including myself, about how the team would play without Arinze Onuaku controlling the paint. To add to the anxiety, Rick Jackson picked up his third foul with 8 minutes left to play in the first half. I’m sure that’s not how Jimmy B drew it up.

Well apparently instead of being a death sentence the Orange went on a tear and never looked back, crushing those West Coast hippies (Gonzaga). Wes played like the Big East Player of the Year we all know and love, and Andy shot the lights out of the place. Now with Kansas out of the picture, people are looking at Syracuse as a legitimate contender for the title along with Kentucky. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. There are still plenty of games to go, and now they have to head out to Salt Lake, leaving the cozy confines of Buffalo. On the bright side, the weather in Utah is cold and snowy too, so maybe the players will wake up and think they never actually left Central New York.



We can now chalk up the first weekend of March Madness in the books. Some promise the second weekend will bring back sanity to the tournament, while others believe the chaos will continue. Others are dreaming of a Mid-Major Final Four...

God I hope not. I may be a college basketball fan, but I’m an Orange fan first.

I just hope all this possible continued chaos doesn’t involve my boys from Syracuse.

What Comes After February? Madness!

Okay, so once again I took an extended break from writing my “weekly” blogs. Sorry about that. Life has been hectic. But instead if wasting your time writing about why I haven’t been writing, lets get right into it...

It’s March, baby! Time for the Madness, and you know what that means for this Syracuse fanatic. Hanging on every game, moment, and write-up I can find about Syracuse, the West bracket, the Final Four, and championship predictions.

So about 2 weeks ago I was as high as a kite after driving to Syracuse to watch the Orange crush Villanova in front of a record-setting 34,616 orange-crazed fans. It was glorious to watch Cuse hand Nova it’s worst defeat of the season and see Syracuse ascend to #1 in the polls two days later. Well Cuse had a bit of a slide after that and people panicked about if the Orange would be a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.



So now lets fast forward to Sunday evening and the selection show. They get to the South bracket, played in Houston and the expected home of the Orange, only they announce Duke is the No.1 in the region. I was stunned to see this, and then watch the Orange be names as the No.1 in the West, going out to Salt Lake.

Some suggested it was wrong because Syracuse was a better team and should get to play closer to home. Honestly, that doesn’t mean crap. I doubt throngs of Syracuse fans were willing to make the 1,600 mile trek, but decided to pass on the 2,000 mile journey to Salt Lake. It s a difference of 400 miles, and if you were committed to going to Texas, I doubt you will let that stand in your way.

The REAL reason Syracuse should have been in Houston was because they are just better than Duke, plain and simple! The NCAA Selection Committee came out last week and said they would not put as much weight on the last 10 games of the season as in past years. So then when Mike Slive, head of the Selection Committee, came on CBS and was immediately asked why Duke was put over Syracuse, his answer was something to the extent of “because they won their conference tournament.”

Funny how that works. But I’m actually torn over whether I’d have preferred Syracuse to stay as a No.1 seed or fall to a No.2. Now hear me out, then you can curse all you like. Yes a No.1 is nice, and certainly a status symbol, but is a No.2 that much worse? Instead of facing the worst team in your region, you face the second worst.

I also believe it may have re-ignited a fire under the Orange I’m not sure they have maintained since gaining national notoriety and being No.1 in the polls for a week. There is a lot of pressure on 1-seeds to make it deep into the tournament, and anything less than, I’d say, the Elite Eight is a failure, major upset and will ruin ESPN and my favorite shows for at least a week (till the next round is played).

But I also read on another Syracuse blog that maybe the fact people even doubted if Cuse should be a No.1 and being ranked lower than Duke may be enough to fire them up. I sure as hell hope so, especially with Arinze Onuaku missing the first game and most likely the first weekend.

So now the field is set, and it seems the Selection Committee is not without a sense of humor either, those sons a bitches. I’m sure it went something like this...”Hey guys, lets make Syracuse play Vermont, har har har, that’ll be great.” Yeah, hilarious guys, give yourselves a pat on the back for that one. If we don’t make maple syrup seep out of their eyes and ears, I will be thoroughly upset.

So one of the most exciting parts of March Madness is filling out brackets, no? I read on another blog that if you “have stones,” you use the same bracket in every pool you’re in. I couldn’t disagree more with that statement.

The whole fun of the tourney is to see all the different combinations you can come up with. I try to do that and I still end up with the same teams in the end! But don’t you like playing around with upsets, being brave instead of always playing it safe, and having a chance if a Final Four team in one bracket gets eliminated you don’t suck in every other bracket also? At least I think it is.

Well I could go on forever about the tourney, but I’ll save it so I have more to write about soon (as long as Syracuse doesn’t decide to exit the tournament early). But I’m back!

Lets Go Orange!