Friday, March 18, 2011

3/19: Round 1 in the Books...

Greetings all... yes, you read that right... Round "One" in the books... I refuse to acknowledge this as round 2... it's a sham...

Not as many quality games on Friday as there were on Thursday, so it'll be a tad more brief...
  • To the Wire - Only 3 games really went to the wire on Friday.... George Mason got an "onions"-type shot to take a 2-point lead, then a wild sequence that resulted in a run-out dunk at the gun to win by 4... impressive resiliency from Mason who was down most of the day, but such a brutal end to the year for Nova.... Arizona outlasts Memphis as Derrick Williams (who had 22 and 10) swatted away a potential game-tying put-back in the final seconds so that Zona could hold on by 2... and Washington survives Georgia's last stitch effort at a heave late... Isaiah Thomas was a beast for Washington, but I actually though Trey Thompkins was the best player on the court (26 and 11)....
  • Texas outlasts Oakland... a furious run by Oakland late, but Texas was just too much honestly... Tristan Thompson was huge.. 17 points, 10 boards, 7 blocks, and he held Oakland's Keith Benson to just 6 of 15 shooting... thought it was a break-out type effort from Thompson... In the end, Rick Barnes tried to give this one away, and it looked like Texas had never worked against a press in their lives in the last 5 minutes, but fortunately for them, they were up by double-digits by the time the wall hit...
  • The Surprises - Michigan hammers Tennessee... this one just snowballed in the 2nd half... 75-45 final score despite Michigan only leading by 4 at the half... it wasn't even a crazy statistical effort from UM... shooting just 9 of 26 from 3, but Tennessee pretty much rolled over in the 2nd half, and for some reason, went away from Tobias Harris (who was dominant early)... Michigan didn't even make a free throw and won by 30... Goodbye Bruce Pearl... Marquette throttles Xavier... It's not a surprise that Marquette won the game, but the complete ineptitude of Xavier's offense was shocking to me... 41% from FG, 15% from 3, and 15 turnovers don't even do it justice, you had to watch the toilet bowl offense... it was a tribute to Mike Woodson and Paul Hewitt all in one... Illinois pounds UNLV... again, not a shocking result win-loss wise, but the Illini led by 22 at the half, and UNLV made a late run to make the score not look so lopsided... they controlled the glass (30 to 21), and shot 60% from the field... that'll do it... and VCU blind-sides Georgetown.. 74-56 final... just a case of Georgetown not being able to make any shots really... 20-52 from the field, 5 of 26 from 3.... can't do that AND allow VCU to shoot 12-25 from triple... done...
  • The Blowouts - North Carolina, Purdue, Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, Syracuse and Notre Dame (every 1 and 2 seed from Friday, plus Cuse) all held serve by margins ranging from 13 (ND) to 42 (Duke)... the "closest" games were Akron giving ND a bit of a scare, Syracuse getting challenged for a bit by ISU, and BU hanging with Kansas for a half... yeah...
  • Florida State knocks out Texas A&M... Kind of a boring game... A&M was inept offensively (31%) but the story was the return of Chris Singleton for FSU... that's a totally different team with him on the court with his length/defense, and you don't just have 1st round picks appear for the tourney (unless you're Duke).... That's an interesting matchup with ND on Sunday...
Elsewhere...
  • Ichiro donates $1.25 million to Japan relief... big-ups to Japan's favorite son (athletically at least) for this one... be aware...
  • NBA Check - Bulls/Pacers went to OT in a pretty good one... Rose had 42 for Chicago, but they fell to Indy late thanks to Pyscho T with 29 and 12... he's on a bit of a run right now... Jameer Nelson drains a game-winning 3 at the gun for Orlando to outlast Denver 85-82... Dwight led the way with 16 and 18... Miami blitzes Atlanta at Philips... I don't even want to get into it... but Lebron was unreal (43 points in 3 quarters), and there was no answer from the home team.. exhale... New York lost again... in Detroit?!... San Antonio pulls away from Dallas late... SA's big 3 dropped 80 of the Spurs 97 led by Parker's 33, and it was too much for the Mavs... Houston beats up on Boston at home... 93-77 final, and Houston looks primed for their playoff push... Boston is going the other way all the sudden...
  • President Obama is in the top 1% of brackets nationally... I don't even know what to say....
What to watch for on Friday...

Say good-bye to TruTV!... Their coverage ends... yeah...
  • #5 West Virginia vs. #4 Kentucky - CBS 12:15 - Picked Kentucky in my bracket, but I'm not sure I want to stick by it... WV is the veteran team, and Kentucky looked a bit skiddish against Princeton... they get their own timeslot so America will be tuned in
  • #7 UCLA vs. #2 Florida - CBS 2:45 - I was impressed by UCLA in their win, and I'd like them a lot more here if the game wasn't in Tampa... definitely a winnable spot for UCLA, but I think Parsons and company pull it out...
  • #13 Morehead State vs. #12 Richmond - CBS 5:15 - Dream matchup!... lol.... Both of these teams are better than their seeds indicate at least, and it's worth watching just to see how many rebounds Kenneth Faried gets... I like Richmond in the game though
  • #7 Temple vs. #2 San Diego State - TNT 6:10 - Now we're talking... multiple games at once... This is a tough test for SDSU... Temple is a disciplined team that won't be phased by all the athletes, but I do like the Aztecs to hold serve...
  • #8 Butler vs. #1 Pittsburgh - TBS 7:10 - All props to Butler for getting by Old Dominion at the gun... but I think the run ends here... Pittsburgh will grind and grind and grind here...
  • #11 Gonzaga vs. #3 BYU - CBS 7:45 - This has been the mostly discussed game on TV so far this morning (as I write this) mostly due to the Jimmer love affair, and the darling factor from Gonzaga... but it's a really interesting matchup... BYU clearly doesn't have the support to make a deep run unless Jimmer plays out of his mind, but I also don't believe that Gonzaga is as good as they played against St. John's (doubled them on the boards?! huh?)... I think Gonzaga has the personnel edge, but they'll need a similar effort on the interior to win...
  • #5 Kansas State vs. #4 Wisconsin - TNT 8:40 - Bo Ryan and Jordan Taylor... can't bet against them...
  • #6 Cincy vs. #3 UConn - TBS 9:40 - A conference game already?... That's what happens when you have 11 teams lol... I actually think the run ends for UConn today, but I've been repeatedly wrong about them, so take that for what it is...
Enjoy...

No comments: