Four Shovels of Dirt

Last thoughts on the 2010-11 SU season...

1. Rick Jackson will never play another game in an SU uniform.

I had been meaning to write a "Don't to Appreciate Rick Jackson Before He's Gone" blog, but I never got around to it. (Actually, I would have gotten to that this week. Ugh.) I'll just have to salute him here.

Ricky might not have been the most talented Power Forward/Center to play for Syracuse, but he will go down among the best. First and foremost, the Conference Defender of the Year was a fitting honor to go out with.

Rebounding... His 360 rebounds this year was the 9th best all time. 930 career rebounds puts him in 8th, behind Roosevelt Bouie and ahead of Billy Owens. His 22 boards against Detroit this year tied for the 6th best rebounding game ever for an Orange.

Scoring...1245 career points ties him for 35th all-time with the great George Hicker (65-68). Fittingly, that's just behind Paul Harris and just ahead of Arinze Onuaku. If we narrow that list down to a vaguely defined "Post Player" he's pushing the top 10.

Blocks...86 blocks this season was good enough for 10th best all-time. 259 for his career put him at 7th. 6th place? Jeremy McNeil! (I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years.)

Will he play in the NBA? At 6-9 he's a bit small for his skill set, but I think he can overcome that and find a role on a deep bench somewhere. His best NBA skill might actually be his rebounding. In any event, I will remember him fondly as a guy who surprised us with flashes as a Freshman and slowly improved over 4-years, culminating in a deeply satisfying (at least, individually) senior season.

2. It's a gray week in Syracuse.

The city gets such a buzz when the Orange advance to the 2nd weekend of the NCAAs, but it gets so down after the Orange crash out. Missing out on that week of buzz is the worst part of this loss, especially with the forecast predicting one last bite from winter. (Sigh...)

3. The Marquette game just... slipped away.

I've heard a million explanations already for why SU lost, all with a bit of merit. Triche's offense might have helped down the stretch when SU went cold. And everyone who said they would rather have played Xavier than Marquette was proven correct.

To my mind, it was a fantastic game (Gus Johnson was brilliant!). Marquette wasn't going to go away. Ultimately, Jae Crowder and DJO made two massive shots, while SU missed one big shot (Waiters in the corner) and made a couple late (and brutally typical) mistakes. That was the difference.

4. Coughlin's quote from Cocktail rings especially true in March.

"Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end."

Day 4: Limping Commentary

"I've come to the end of me, Rita. There's no way out now. I just want you to remember we had a beautiful day together once." -Phil Connors, Groundhog Day

I quote Groundhog Day, not because of any sort of perpetual deja vu situashe, but rather because I love that movie, I love that quote, and it comes to mind as I reach the end of what was supposed to be spring break but was actually filled with studying and grading. I feel like I'm driving off a cliff. Rita is SU basketball - the "beautiful day" was the 18-0 start, and at this point I don't really think Rita/SU be there at the end. The groundhog I'm about to drive off a cliff with is March Madness. Even if it means my studying for comps/driving culminates in a firey explosion, I'm glad I stuck with the tourney/groundhog until the end. "Don't drive angry!"

Don't worry. I exaggerate. I don't really feel like I'm driving off a cliff. Life rolls on. School rolls on. The tournament rolls on. I'm nervous as always about SU tonight, but as they say in business, que sera sera!

---------------------------------------------
9:53 pm - Farewell Rick Jackson. One of the greatest power forwards ever to wear orange.

9:36 pm - Kris Joseph just took a charge with 4 fouls. He's gotten a lot of flack for his lackadaisical demeanor on the court this year...he hasn't turned into the star we thought he would be...but that was one heckuva huge play.

9:22 pm - Gus Johnson was born to call this game. Fantastic stuff. I'd be enjoying it much more but, well, you know...

9:21 pm - Dad and Dr. Paul just made a good point - we look exhausted.

9:01 pm - Three reasons why we knew this was going to be tough. 1.) Big East v. Big East. 2.) Marquette is very nicely built for the tournament: a bunch of quick, strong, athletic guys who hustle like crazy. 3.) Gus Johnson's other game today was a total dud.

8:53 pm - Five bonus points if you spotted Gerry's parents and wife over Boeheim's right shoulder in the halftime interview.

7:52 pm - If I ever become a billionaire I'm going to build a house in the shape of a giant bracket.

7:41 pm - Wow. The commentary really didn't pan out today. Quickly... Ohio St is now the clear favorite. That was an impressive display. Kyrie Irving is still not back for Duke. I think Texas is going to make a game of it against Arizona here.

2:31 pm - What a hideous finish for Washington! Multiple chances to win down the drain. Now the Tar Heels await the winner of the SU game. Gulp. Also, nobody pockets timeouts like Roy Williams. Does he keep them in a jar at home? Does he think they carry-over from game to game? Is he going to cash them in for vacation days?

Day 3: Walking Commentary

12:01 pm - I almost forgot to look at the Supermoon! ... ... Yup. It's pretty bright! Good night everybody! Go Orange!

11:57 pm - Looks like UConn has this one in hand. Let's take a look at tomorrow's games...

With my "the CAA is underrated" theory, I'd say Ohio State might have a tougher than expected time against George Mason, and VCU is going to beat Purdue. I think the Washington-UNC game will be fantastic. I think Michigan is playing great, and could throw a scare into Duke. I'm indifferent for the Arizona-Texas game. Kansas rolls over Illinois. Florida State will win unless Notre Dame is hot from deep.

Finally, the SU game. On a neutral court (actually a slightly pro-SU court), SU should have a distinct advantage. The Marquette loss on January 29 was the last time SU lost to an un-ranked team. The Orange are better now. Dion Waiters was exiled on the bench in that game. (Scoop says his wrist is fine, but either way, Dion is still a useful player against the undersized Golden Eagles.) Baye Keita hit the boards hard in that game, but he and Fab are much better. I think the rebounding total will be key. SU only grabbed 22 in the first meeting. That has to be better.

Of course, it's horrifying to play a team that knows the zone this early in the tournament. But on the flip side, SU knows Marquette. It lost to them once, so they'll take them seriously. But they'll also be confident that they have come a long way since that game. Syracuse should win this game. Syracuse will win this game, 74-67.

11:54 pm - Obama's bracket is in the 99.8 percentile on ESPN. He had Pitt in the Final Four, but still! And people say he hasn't accomplished anything in office...

Meanwhile, George W. Bush's bracket had Texas in the Final Four...in all four regions.

11:48 pm - Ugh. It's so hard to hate UConn when Kemba Walker is this freakin' good. The pure basketball fan in me just loves watching him play.

11:45 pm - If you're the UConn cheerleaders, don't you skip the "Go-Go-Go... U-C!" chant when you're playing the University of Cincinnati? Ha ha ha! Just kidding! I know UConn trust fund babies have no brains!

11:29 pm - I wish I had a million Tweeps so I could challenge them to post a YouTube video mixing the Visigoth Sports Net ads with the Old Spice ads. "Romantic Puppy Surprise?" "Enough of this Psycho-babble!"

11:23 pm - I was just contemplating Jim Calhoun's age...do you remember ever seeing an image of him coaching in the 1980s? I don't, and yet we see photos of Boeheim, John Thompson, and even the other big name Big East coaches from the 1980s all the time. I think he just started coaching at UConn in, like, 1993 but everyone decided it would be better for Big East lore to re-write history and pretend he was there in 1986 so they spotted him a couple hundred wins.

11:22 pm - Meanwhile, Cincy has battled back to take the lead against UConn early in the 2nd. When did Mick Cronin become a good coach? I like their effort, and their use of the 2-3 zone against Kemba and the Kids. (I just made that up! Like it?)

11:21 pm - Well, we haven't had a ton of upsets this year, but we've had a lot of quality games. That K-State-Wisconsin game was a war to the end.

11:11 pm - Anybody else just get a hankerin' for some Big Red gum?

10:58 pm - Good observation by my friend, Maarten the Belgium: what's up with all the first names starting with "J" on Wisconsin and Kansas St? There's 8 between them! Is this a record for the letter J? For any letter, ever in tournament history? Come on TNT! Do your research!

10:56 pm - What the heck is Pitino doing co-anchoring in the TBS studio? If Syracuse had lost to Indiana St, I'd be VERY displeased if Boeheim was on TV all day talking about other games.

10:39 pm - With that Pitt loss, the stakes for this Wisconsin-K-State battle are enormous. Either could be your Southeast Final Four team.

10:00 pm - Wow. Jimmer disagrees that Gonzaga was under-seeded. Jimmer thinks the Big East is garbage and the MWC is a better conference.

9:26 pm - Is the Big East overrated? I mentioned earlier how I thought judging a conference based on how their body of teams does in a single elimination tournament is unfair. The fact is there's a very good reason why each Big East team has lost so far:

Villanova - A hot mess heading into the tournament. They're a good argument for why the committee should weight the final stretch of games heavier than the early season; they probably shouldn't have even been in the tournament. Still, the Wildcats were the better team against George Mason but they blew it in the end.

Georgetown - Another hot mess heading into the tournament. (What is a hot mess, anyway? Is that a reference to hell? A kitchen debacle? A sexual mishap? Whoever can give me a convincing explanation of the origin of that phrase wins a lifetime subscription to The Sports Sauna.) Also, VCU (same conference as George Mason!) was probably under-seeded.

Notre Dame - Too many white players and... whoops! This one hasn't happened yet...

St. John's - Peaked, and Gonzaga was certainly under-seeded.

Louisville - Obviously, the biggest shocker. Morehead St is no Butler, Gonzaga, or VCU. Still, Louisville over-achieved all year.

Pittsburgh - Butler was under-seeded as a 5 last year, and they were under-seeded as an 8 this year.

West Virginia - Absolute garbage, and they still put up a fight against Kentucky.

As always, the committee doesn't respect the upper echelon mid-majors. There actually is a substantial difference between Gonzaga, Butler, and the better Colonial teams even compared to supposedly dangerous mid-majors like Utah State and Oakland. I really believe former group could hang in a better conference (see: Richmond's success in the A-10). Vulnerable Big East teams happened to run into under-seeded mid-majors this year. We should have seen this coming.

Tonight and tomorrow the last Big East teams roll into action. Two are guaranteed to lose since they're playing each other. Syracuse and UConn are two teams that are playing well, and that even objective observers thought could go deep. But conference match-ups are virtually toss-ups. Both could fall.

Anyway, I hate being in the position of defending the Big East. I don't really root that hard for my conference (as you may have noticed). I just think the answer to "why will the Big East send no more than 3 teams to the Sweet 16" is more complicated than "the Big East is overrated."

9:23 pm - Butler is this year's Butler!

They've been a March favorite of mine since the epic 1st-round loss to Florida on Mike Miller's lay-up a decade ago. I know Syracuse fans are bitter towards them, but I was in the dome following last year's heartbreaker while watching the East regionals, so it wasn't quite a traumatic as if I had watched the entire game. I think Brad Stevens is a genius and I hope they do indeed become the Gonzaga of the mid-west. Keep going Bulldogs!

9:13 pm - That Pitt possession with the 1-point lead late really showed their flaws. Against fantastic defense, they ended up with a long three from their supposed go-to guy, Gibbs. Who can make the big shot? Now it's Butler's chance.

8:57 pm - Woo! This Butler-Pitt game is epic. I think Butler is going to pull this out, and I'm really starting to think that these Jamie Dixon teams just aren't built for the NCAA tournament. They play outstanding defense but when it comes down to the wire, they just can't put games away on offense.

By the way, if Bill Raferty and Verne Lundquist had been commentating my life for the past couple hours, here's what it would have sounded like:

Bill: Look at Arras grade those papers while he watches the basketball. He's really got the ol' NOODLE WORKIN'!!
Verne: Arras...oh, nice use of boilerplate commentary there! How do you DO! It looks like this paper is all but over.
Bill: He's so efficient, Verne! Now here comes the grade! A C-minus...put it in the book with a pen! And right into his transition game!
Verne: He really is a fine young man.

5:10 pm - Wow. Erving Walker just took over for Florida. That's a great example of why NCAA games are won with backcourt stars, not frontcourt stars. Rick Jackson is an amazing weapon, but you need The Guy (and it can vary who that is from game-to-game) to be someone who can drive and, most of all, shoot. That's the difference down the stretch of these games.

5:06 pm - As a good UCLA-Florida gae winds down, Richmond-Morehead St about to tip off. Spiders will get to the Sweet 16, where they will be clobbered by Kansas.

2:29 pm - Up next, the other good SEC team takes on the defensive guru Ben Howland and his crappy UCLA squad. Florida will take it.

2:27 pm - Brandon Knight is very good. He could use another year of seasoning in college, but I hope for anti-Kentucky's sake that he goes pro.

Nice win for the Wildcats. Still, they didn't exactly dominate Princeton and West Virginia. I'm more skeptical about their chances to crack the Final Four than I was coming in to the tournament.

2:20 pm - Huggins used his last timeout with 2:00 minutes to go, ate a whole wheel of cheese, and pooped in the refrigerator! I'm not even mad! That's amazing!

1:51 pm - I should probably clarify that I am actually rooting for West Virginia. Unless you're a Kentucky fan, how can you not? John Calipari, while a sensational basketball coach in terms of strategy and execution, is pure sleaze in terms of NCAA ethics. Bobby Huggins is just a bumbling oaf. I think I might even take a perverse joy if the Mountaineers make a run. The more West Virginia wins, the more I will literally have March Madness. The oaf leads sleaze by 2 with 8 to play...

1:27 pm - This is pure!

1:23 pm - If West Virginia beats Kentucky I will print out all 501 posts of The Sports Sauna and eat them. Also, if West Virginia beats Kentucky, you can throw out the "Big East is overrated" buzz I've been hearing. Not because it means West Virginia is good and thus the Big East is good. Rather, the fact that a crappy West Virginia can beat, or even lead a talented Kentucky team by 8 at the half as the are now, demonstrates how absurd it is to judge a conference solely on the basis of a single-elimination tournament.

1:00 pm - OK, we'll go again today. Last night's Syracuse game was satisfying. I thought they took care of business well, handling a dangerous team ultimately without too much trouble. I was expecting SU's dominance to come from turnovers and transition baskets, but it didn't. Boeheim just pounded the heck out of Indiana St.'s frontcourt with Ricky. Done and done. Now we get Marquette, and a chance to redeem our earlier defeat. I'm incredibly nervous, but that's March. More on that later.

Day 2: Walking Commentary

It's not a running commentary. It's not even a jogging commentary. After yesterday's rapid descent from utter-madness in the afternoon to slight neurosis at nght, I'm being even less ambitious with my posting today. Plus, I'm not planning on being coherent once the SU game tips. Still, this feels like a better option than just vomming out all my thoughts via twitter and facebook. Oh, and this is the 500th post on the Sauna! One post for every bracket I've ever filled out!

------------------------------------------------------

9:21 pm - Tu Holloway finally hit a three, but so far he's been more disappointing then that time I wore Axe body spray to a sorority party.

8:37 pm - Marquette's Jae Crowder is a fantastic player. He was brilliant in their win over the Orange this year. I'm glad he's getting some nationally-televised props in this one.

It's tough to know who to root for from a Syracuse perspective. I guess I want the team that's playing worse. If you're the Orange, you'd rather play the team that loses this game than the team that wins it. Is that possible? Can we ask for that?

7:07 pm - Another March tradition: Kansas struggling early against a 16-seed. 10-10...the Terriers are fighting! Somewhere, friend of the Sauna BU-grad Andrew is rolling his eyes pessimistically.

6:36 pm - This is my new background.

6:30 pm - Sweet sassy molassy, Kyrie Irving finished with 14 points?!? I watched him for a minute or two and he looked good if a bit slow. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Duke is a juggernaut with a healthy Kyrie Irving. He is fantastic.

6:25 pm - Congrats to Florida St. for being the first lower seed to win today. Not that the Nova-George Mason and Arizona-Memphis games weren't great, but my heart thrives on upsets this time of year. Wherefore art thou, St. Mary's??

Then again, if Florida St is the LAST upset of the day, I think we'd be satisfied in my hometown.

5:16 pm - It won't be remembered like a buzzer-beater, but Derrick Williams' block in the final seconds was just as significant. Memphis should be playing overtime right now. Instead they're going home.

4:59 pm - Wait...is that Charlie Sheen getting kneed in the groin in that CBS "Manly Monday" ad?? I rewound three times but wasn't quite certain. If it is...talk about literally hitting below the belt!

4:35 pm - Ladies and gentlemen...Mr. Gus Johnson. May his first 3 games be thrillers, and the fourth be a dud!

4:02 pm - Since the games have been, thus far, duds, let's talk commercials. I actually enjoy the Visigoth Sports Net ad. The whole Viking raider thing was a getting old, but this has rejuvenated it for me. I especially love Bill Walton's cameo: "Enough of this psycho-babble!"

I'm not a fan of that commercial with the guy running through the city using his smart phone, mainly because they never really make it clear until the last second why he's running around. At the end, he just opens the door and clobbers some poor guy. OK, we see a flash of a badge at his belt as he reaches for his cuffs. But the execution is very odd. Why not begin the commercial with a shot of the criminal he eventually captures, setting up the fact that he is a criminal and not just some poor sucker who happens to be running down the alley when the guy opens the door?

(Warning: extended and possibly annoying rant to follow...)

I've never really liked Axe's campaign, mainly because it represents all that is troubling about advertising. Let's break down the "falling angels" ad. If you're a guy, and you spray yourself with Axe, angels who look like models will fall from the sky and renounce their purity to enjoy some kind of immoral group sexual act with you. Yes, it's way over the top, but the ads never seem to be laughing at themselves, do they? Moreover, what does the spray smell like? Yes, scent is hard to describe on television, but that's not the point. The scent of the product is called "excite!" Axe isn't selling scent. It's selling sex in a spray can. (It's also assuming a lot, such as the idea that men derive ultimate satisfaction and happiness through their a sexually promiscuous lifestyle, and women are sexually driven purely by their sense of smell...but we won't get into those problems here.) Compare the spray ads to Axe's hair goo ads, which also center on the idea: use of product = sex. Still, at least it compares itself to other hair products - it won't make your hair feel crusty and hard. (Actually, I use that Axe goo for precisely that reason.)

Even better, compare Axe to Old Spice, which is an utterly brilliant campaign. It's also over the top, but in a self-conscious and thus hilarious way. Commercials have been using sex to sell products for a hundred years, and Old Spice is no different. Still, while Axe is disturbing, Old Spice is playful. They jam every stereotypical image of the charming man into their ad that they can, blending it together with pleasing editing. They draw attention to their playfulness with the script. Old Spice smells good. Real men use Old Spice. But what is a real man? It's everything they show on the commercial, but the commercial is intentionally over the top, thus so is the definition of manhood. This is a product for guys who look like the Old Spice guy, and for everyone else.

Day 1: "Jogging" Commentary

It's not a running commentary. It's a jogging commentary. I'll scatter my updates throughout the day, listed from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom. As games finish, look for more posts. If the games are duds, my posts will be slim to West Virginia (that is, nil). The only way to tell if I've posted again - refresh your browser!

Off we go with the greatest weekend in sports!

------------------------------------------------------

11:57 - For not the first time, the late games didn't live up to the early games. I have no theories why that happens. Do you?

A few final thoughts...

• It's an annual tradition - doubting Pittsburgh after their first round game. OK, so they ended up pummeling UNC-Asheville. Still, they just never seem to have the offensive juice. That's not how they're built. They're brilliant defensively, and they'll out-Butler Butler on Saturday. But Wisconsin and Kansas State (starting to lose a lead against Utah St) look dangerous.
• BYU is in trouble against the Zags. The Cougars' lack of balance will be their undoing.
• Connecticut looked great in their first round game, but so did Cincinnati. Don't pencil UConn for a deep run quite yet. Anything can happen when teams from the same conference match-up.
• I promise you: Kentucky will dispatch West Virginia, avenging their loss in the Carrier Dome from last year's regional finals.
• Going into tomorrow, the biggest potential upset is Akron over Notre Dame. Akron won't be afraid, and Notre Dame isn't exactly an overwhelming force as a 2-seed. Most likely 3-seed to lose - while I think Indiana St is a solid team, I do believe Syracuse is a bad match-up for them. I'll say St. Peter's over Purdue. And I think Oakland will beat the 4-seed Longhorns if Texas isn't on its game.
  

8:58 - We really need Wofford or Belmont to tighten one of these games up, other wise this is our first dud pack of games. At least Verne and Raft are making the BYU-Wofford game mildly entertaining.

6:46 pm - Outstanding first eight games. There was a quality game going being played constantly. The best part? We still have 3/4 of the first round left! Barring a surprisingly close Florida game, we're taking a little break here in the Sauna for St. Patrick's Day dinner.

6:32 pm - My dad asked if Richmond is from the same conference as Xavier. I always mix-up the A-10 and Conference USA, but...yes. Yes they do. It's very possible Temple and Xavier, like Richmond, are under-seeded. Gulp.

6:26 pm - Two straight bailout fouls on fairly clean-looking blocks by Darrius Garrett in the middle of that Richmond defense. But Richmond hits another sweet mid-range shot to push the lead to three with with 18 seconds to play. Ssssssspiders!

6:12 pm - Richmond-Vandy is a classic first round game. It's not like Vandy is playing poorly. They're just up against a mid-major with decent talent that has been able to get it's offensive game plan to work. Two contrasting styles, two even teams. Close as we approach the five-minute mark.

Even better, we've got the decades-old Lundquist-Raferty bromance in full bloom. Raferty works great with everyone, but Lundquist's love for Bill makes this duo extra-special.

5:40 pm - I could watch a loop of Goodman's three followed by Mike Marra getting stuffed for hours and hours. That was awesome. When they show that shot years from now, they'll also probably show the stuff because of how it precedes the celebration. Hee hee hee!

This intense hatred of Louisville is new for me. It comes out of the combination of last year and this year's disappointing losses to the Cardinals in the regular season. Honestly, I think my hatred of Louisville is second only to UConn right now.

5:12 pm - Mmm. Close for the Tigers. I thought they had one chance for a run-out on that in-bounds play. Now switching over to Richmond-Vandy, which is a smooth transition because the Spiders run the Princeton offense!

5:05 pm - If you had told me Princeton would be 3 for 14 from three, I would have bet the farm, literally, that they'd be getting blown out and they would NOT be tied with 34 seconds to go. Unreal.

3:57 pm - Break out your Morehead St gear and wear it with pride; there's nothing funny about the name today! Kyle Kuric won't haunt my dreams until 2012! Goodman's game winner was Kemba-esque. And Kenneth Faried...17 boards...one absurd dunk. These Eagles can play!

3:06 pm - Just broke out the green (win) and pink (lose) highlighters. Through two games, out of eight brackets, only one is still perfect!! Worse, it's my "contrarian" bracket, which I filled out last and went against the consensus of my other brackets. On the bright side, all the more reason to ignore my brackets and just root for upsets!

The contrarian bracket is always a nice way to whip out one last quick bracket on Thursday morning. Instead of agonizing over those 8-9 games, you just pick the team you've picked less in all of your other brackets combined. It was extra fun to fill it out in Starbucks; rifling through a small stack of brackets for 15 minutes definitely made me look like a gambling addict. If you're wondering, that bracket has UNC, UConn, and BYU in the final four with Kansas winning it all.

2:50 pm - As Butler ran that last, thrilling possession (GREAT play by Smith to keep that rebound alive for the legendary Matt Howard) there were three games ongoing: two ties (Morehead St!) and one 2-point game. Maaaaarrrrrch Madness!

2:36 pm - The 10-0 run to finish the 1st half and the 3-straight Pepper steals as Clemson was scraping back down the stretch sealed it for West Virginia. For what it's worth, I think Clemson did look a bit tired at points. Oh well. Big East fans who root for their own conference can be happy, I guess. Me, I like to laugh at Bob Huggins. It'll have to wait a round I guess.

1:34 pm - Speaking of commercials...um, assuming you're reading this bottom to top...I like to use that line from the skinny jeans-Bud Light commercials - "Score still 21-32?" "Yeah...like your pants size!" - whenever someone asks to confirm the score of any game. "Score still 42-40 West Virginia?" Yeah...like your pants size!" Zing! Gotcha dad!

Also, I hate those Bud Light commercials, and more generally the trend in commercials centering on people being jerks to each other. Why do those hot bartenders have to hate on those poor guys?!? They're just trying to express themselves as individuals!

1:30pm - Ha! I love that Toyota commercial with the kid shooting on the garage hoop! His game is just like my game; he looks like he can do everything but get the ball in the net. Also, I drive an '09 Camry! Meanwhile, West Virginia just took its first lead of the game and for some reason my dad is pulling for the Mountaineers! It's a bad situation.

12:32 pm - I'm not saying it's likely, but there is about a 10-15% chance Bobby Huggins misunderstood the play-in games and game-planned for VCU. Of course, the more likely explanation for West Virginia's early struggles is that they are terrible.

10:32 am - It's tough to stay on top of all of the relevant college basketball news in the three and a half days between Bracket Day and Day 1. You probably know about Kyrie Irving and Chris Wright coming back. You know that Brandon Davies and DJ Kennedy are out for the tournament. Here a couple more notent notables, just in case you waited until the last possible minute to fill out your bracket:

• K-State's Beard is sick!
• Purdue's 6th man Kelsey Barlow was suspended for the remainder of the season Tuesday. And I was just about to fill out bracket with the Boilermakers winning it all! There goes my dark horse...
• Clemson had a quick turnaround after their "First Four" game. Oh man! That crap West Virginia team might scrape through to the weekend?
  

10:07 am - As someone who's run a few pools in his day (none since I work for Syracuse...don't worry Nancy!), I know how nice it is when people take the time to write out the full names of teams rather than take the short cut with potentially confusing acronyms or abbreviations. There's nothing more confusing and less elegant then seeing a bracket have KU beating UL and Pur en route to the Final Four. There are exceptions to the rule, however. Feel free to shorten "State" to "St" for example. If a team is listed on your bracket by its acronym, feel free to use it throughout. UAB, LIU, UNLV, USC, VCU, BYU and of course UCLA. Also, the following abbreviations are perfectly acceptable: UNC, Tenn (who can remember how many S's there are in Tennesssseee?), Cincy, UConn, SD St, Vandy, ODU, and Pitt. That is all.

9:10 am - I'm giddy! Polishing off a bunch of brackets at Starbucks. While you're waiting for the games to start, I thought this was pretty hilarious, other than the Orange metaphor. (Also, if you think it's crazy that Villanova finished 5-15...you're right. They finished with 5 wins in their final 15 games, or 5-10.)

2:00 am - Last night's post, ranking the teams from 1 to 64. If you liked my Big East tournament predictions, you'll love these picks! (Geheyeheyeheyehey... [Grabbing collar])

Ranking: From 1 to 64!

The beauty of the bracket is that anything can happen. Anything. Eventually, a 16-seed will beat a 1-seed. Someday, a double-digit seed will win the title. It could happen.

Who will win it all? Here's how likely I think it is for each team to win, from most-likely (Kansas) to least-likely (UTSA).

1. Kansas - They're deep. They're talented. They're well-coached. And of all the top seeds, my gut says this is the team to beat.
2. Duke - Kyrie Irving is ridiculously good. If Coach K (the greatest coach in the game) can integrate him back into the team, look out. Nolan Smith and a healthy Kyrie Irving is the best back-court in the tournament hands down.
3. Ohio St - Jared Sullinger is great, but can he lead the Buckeyes out of that brutal East?
4. Pittsburgh - I don't think they win the title, but this should be the year Pittsburgh makes its first Final Four. (Note: Honestly, I hate to do it, but I've got all four 1-seeds in my Bracket of Integrity's [BoI] Final Four.)
5. Purdue - I don't love the 2-seeds. I do love Purdue's two see-niors! (See what I did there?) JaJuan Johnson gives them 20.5 ppg inside, with E'Twaun Moore adding a healthy 18.3 ppg from the 2-guard. I also think Matt Painter is an elite coach right now. This is my 2011 dark-horse.
6. Connecticut - They are streaky. They are young. They are susceptible to bad stretches of play. On the other hand...Kemba.
7. Syracuse - I've said all year that this team wasn't really a title contender. However, I think the Cleveland pod followed by the East final in Newark really helps the Orange. Put yourself in Ohio State or North Carolina's shoes; do you want to play Syracuse in Newark? And if they can make it that far...why not?
8. Wisconsin - Another Big 10 team with two upperclassmen scoring 18.0+ ppg, a great defense, and a great coach. (Note: That's right, I'm putting a 4-seed above all the 2-seeds. Lots of talent on the 4-line this year. You know what? I'll do it again!)
9. Kentucky - They're not as heralded or even as talented as last year, but Freshmen Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones really came on as the Wildcats won 8 of their last 9. Call me crazy, but I could see Calipari's first title sneaking up on us. Speaking of crazy, it's insane that Florida got a 2-seed after Kentucky demolished them in the SEC championship.
10. Notre Dame - Okay. I'll put a 2-seed on the board. I'm as skeptical as you are that this team could win it all. Still, in a supposedly wide-open bracket, maybe...
11. North Carolina - I had written off the Tar Heels long ago this year, but the weak ACC allowed them to pull it together. Harrison Barnes looks great. Still, I think people are giving them too much credit based on the name.
12. Louisville - I can't think rationally about Kyle Kuric.
13. Texas - T is for "talent."
14. Xavier - I just blew your mind. If the legends are true, Tu Holloway could blow all of our minds if the Musketeers can battle their way through a tough draw.
15. San Diego St. - It's a nice story, but I don't buy it.
16. Florida - Whatever.
17. Kansas State - I'm actually picking them to lose to Utah State in my BoI, but if the beard gets going, look out.
18. Georgetown - Another team that could crash out early or make a run. Chris Wright is back, though, so perhaps the Hoyas can right the ship and then some. Austin Freeman is very, very good.
19. BYU - Fine. I'll put the Cougars here. Yes, I love the Jimmer. I just think the loss of Brandon Davies is going to kill their chances for a title.
20. Vanderbilt - John Jenkins. Sophomore. Scores from everywhere. (Note: I feel like there is a big gap from 20 to 21.)
21. Washington - The East, man. I'm tellin' ya.
22. Arizona - Great big man, but great big men can't do it alone in the tourney.
23. Michigan St - When in doubt, take Izzo with talent.
24. Temple - Bill Cosby went here.
25. UCLA - Off-year for the Bruins, but I love their coach.
26. Butler - I feel like last year's experience is more of a curse than a blessing for this year, but the Bulldogs are still tough without Gordon Hayward.
27. St. John's - This is about right for a team that I've been arguing has peaked.
28. Penn State - I like teams with guards who can score, like Talor Battle.
29. Utah St - They deserved much better than a 12-seed, but the committee always hates the Aggies.
30. Gonzaga - Word on the street is they'll be better next year, but senior Steven Gray might have a few things to say to the street before he's done.
31. Texas A&M - Not the best Aggies in the tournament.
32. Richmond - Gotta love the Princeton offense.
33. Memphis - Hey! Memphis is in this tournament!
34. Oakland - Cinderella, meet Keith Benson.
35. Old Dominion - For some reason, I like to call Old Dominion "Old Dirty Bastard" in my head.
36. Florida St - Whatever.
37. Cincinnati - Eh.
38. Georgia - Bah.
39. Illinois - Hm.
40. George Mason - Ah!
41. UNLV - So.
42. Clemson - They really stuck it to my "UAB is going to play the 'nobody believes in us' card and win two games" theory.
43. Belmont - Beware.
44. Marquette - I would like these guys more to do some damage in a weaker bracket.
45. VCU - Not bad. Actually, I would have them a few notches lower but I forgot about them and didn't feel like changing a bunch of numbers.
46. Villanova - Disastrous.
47. Missouri - Also not playing great.
48. Michigan - I didn't watch the Fab 5. Heard it was good, though.
49. Tennessee - Never pick a team whose coach is being investigate by the NCAA and whose AD just said he might not be back next year.
50. West Virginia - Ha ha ha HA HA HA! Classic Huggins!
51. Indiana St - Yes, I do believe Syracuse got the toughest 14-seed. Always fear the Missouri Valley Conference. This could be Vermont all over again.
52. Morehead St - There's a small but real chance Louisville sucks. I just can't tell. Kyle Kuric haunts my dreams.
53. Akron - Look out Notre Dame! They play good basketball in the Mid-America Conference.
54. Princeton - Won't happen this year.
55. Wofford - BYU's first round game will be closer than you think. (Yes, I know it's called the second round now. I refuse to follow that crap. Just like when they started naming the regions after the city where they were being held rather than the directional name. No thanks.)
56. Saint Peter's - Possible.
57. Long Island - You think...nah!
58. Bucknell - Nah.
59. Northern Colorado - Well, one team from Colorado is dancing.
60. UC Santa Barbara - Nope.
61. Boston U - I asked Boston grad and friend of the Sauna Andrew if the Terriers had a chance. He said they had a chance to have the first lead of the game. Well then...
62. Hampton - Hampton beats Duke...would make an amazing headline, wouldn't it?
63. UNC-Asheville - No.
64. UT-San Antonio - I have nothing else to say.

Happy March Madness! Go Orange!

Alternate NCAA Gambling: The Individual Points Game

It's that time of year again. Time for me to watch jealously as my brother Dan competes in his delightful individual players scoring pool. Here are the rules:

1. Five participants draft 11 INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS.
2. Total points scored by your team of players over the course of the tournament wins.
3. In the 11th round, everyone has to draft one player from a double-digit seeded team
   

There's different strategies here. Some like to pound the best per-game scorers. Others like to ride the high seeds, hoping for more games. This year the play-in games added an interesting twist to the "double-digit" pick, since theoretically a double-digit seed has about 50/50 odds of getting a second game.

Round 1

Nolan Smith	Duke	Jon
Jimmer Fredette	BYU	Aaron
Ben Hansbrough	Notre Dame	Ryan
Jared Sullinger	Ohio St	Dan
Marcus Morris	Kansas	Jamie

The Ben Hansbrough pick is a head-scratcher, but otherwise you have to go best 1-seed players here. I think the Jimmer pick is dicey this year. BYU won't sneak up on anyone, although their path to the regional finals isn't too tough.

Round 2

Kyle Singler	Duke	Jamie
Ashton Gibbs	Pitt	Dan
Kris Joseph	Syracuse	Ryan
Kemba Walker	UConn	Aaron
Markieff Morris	Kansas	Jon

Ryan continues to pick drunkenly. With none of the 1-seed scorers, Aaron is gambling on a wide-open tournament.

Round 3

Harrison Barnes	UNC	Jon
Jujuan Johnson	Purdue	Aaron
Brandon Knight	Kentucky	Ryan
Kawhi Leonard	SD State	Dan
Bradley Wanamaker	Pitt	Jamie

Jamie is trying to grab 1-seed guys, but Wanamaker is a stretch here.

Round 4

Tim Abromaitis	Notre Dame	Jamie
William Buford	Ohio St	Dan
E'Twaun Moore	Purdue	Ryan
Jordan Hamilton	Texas	Aaron
Jon Diebler	Ohio St	Jon

Dan puts all his eggs in the Buckeye basket with Sullinger-Buford.

Round 5

Erving Walker	Florida	Jon
David Lighty	Ohio St	Aaron
Jon Leuer	Wisconsin	Ryan
Tyrel Reed	Kansas	Dan
Tyler Zeller	UNC	Jamie

Aaron grabs his first 1-seed player - the fourth Ohio State player taken.

Round 6

Jordan Taylor	Wisconsin	Jamie
Kenny Boynton	Florida	Dan
Jacob Pullen	Kansas St	Ryan
Terrence Jones	Kentucky	Aaron
Gilbert Brown	Pittsburgh	Jon

By this point the strategies are clear. Dan and Jon are going with the top seeds. Aaron is going with the top scorers. Jamie is finding a balance. Ryan is apparently insane. (That said...fear the beard.)

Round 7

Carleton Scott	Notre Dame	Jon
Tyshawn Taylor	Kansas	Aaron
Malcolm Thomas	SD State	Ryan
Preston Knowles	Louisville	Dan
Scoop Jardine	Syracuse	Jamie

Jon is digging deep into the 1- and 2-seed rosters. He's yet to take a player from a lower-seeded team. Unless they get bonus points for threes inside of 20 seconds left, the Scoop pick is a bit optimistic from Villanova grad Jamie.

Round 8

Jeremy Lamb	Uconn	Jamie
Rick Jackson	Syracuse	Dan
Dwight Hardy	St. John's	Ryan
Brandon Triche	Syracuse	Aaron
Derrick Williams	Arizona	Jon

All the relevant Orange players are gone now. Jon breaks with his strategy to take Williams off 5-seed Arizona.

Round 9

Seth Curry	Duke	Jon
Kalin Lucas	Michigan St	Aaron
Mason Plumlee	Duke	Ryan
Jackson Emery	BYU	Dan
Tristan Thompson	Texas	Jamie

Duke ties Ohio State for most players chosen. Will Kyrie Irving play? He could cut into Seth Curry's minutes, and steal points from other Blue Devils. Aaron gambles on a Tom Izzo run from a 10-seed. Dan grabs the other Cougar in the tournament. Interestingly, no one took Brandon Davies, who leads BYU in scoring.

Round 10

Kyle Kuric	Louisville	Jamie
Alex Oriakhi	UConn	Dan
John Henson	UNC	Ryan
John Jenkins	Vanderbilt	Aaron
Tu Holloway	Xavier	Jon

Jenkins (19.5 ppg) and Holloway (20.2 ppg) are potential stars in this tournament. It would have been a shame if no one had rolled the dice with them.

Round 11

Marcus Denmon	Missouri	Jon
Taylor Battle	Penn State	Aaron
Justin Harper	Richmond	Ryan
Jamarr Sanders	UAB	Dan
Demontez Stitt	Clemson	Jamie

Everyone has to take a double-digit seed here. Dan and Jamie are in direct competition in Tuesday night's play-in game. I would have also considered Nikola Vucevic, playing for USC in the other play-in game Wednesday. Of the other three, Harper scores 17.9 per game for Richmond; they're a 12-seed but I think their Princeton-style offense could be dangerous.

How I Would Fix the NCAA Selection Process

Pre S. - If you believe Lunardi, Orange fans should root for Florida over Kentucky to help Syracuse's chances at a 3-seed. You could also make an argument to put SU ahead of UNC if the Tar Heels lose to Duke.

Also, everyone should always root against Kentucky and UNC because they're evil.

--------------------

On Sunday, March 11, 2007 most Syracuse fans watched the selection show waiting to see what seed Syracuse would get. The Orange were 21-8 with a 10-6 record in the Big East. No 10-win Big East team had ever missed the NCAAs. SU had finished the season 5-1, and had just beat UConn in their opening Big East tournament game in what many perceived to be a "play-in" game to make the NCAAs. A tourney birth seemed certain. It wasn't. Syracuse was left off the bracket.

For the first time in over 15 years, I didn't fill out a single bracket that year. In fact, according to The Sports Sauna's official history the 2007 tournament didn't happen. (Much like Syracuse mysteriously never played Seton Hall this year, according to Sauna archives.)

I also cooked up a neat conspiracy theory, suggesting Arkansas had more friends on the selection committee than Syracuse did, which helped them get the last bid into the field.

Now, I'm kinda like John Locke before his dad stole his kidney; I'm a pretty trusting person. I don't believe that there are secret plots and backroom deals to get certain teams in and give certain teams better seeds. I trust that when a team from a committee member's conference comes up for discussion, they really do leave the room. However, I think to suggest the process is foolproof and above reproach is naive. You can't expect committee members to be emotionless, and to not be moved, one way or the other, even on a subconscious level by their fellow committee members' loyalties, especially when you sequester these people together for a full weekend. It's human nature. Furthermore, you can't expect committee members to follow every team all year round, and to be informed enough heading into their duties to grasp the basketball landscape.

Four years later I still hate the selection process. Here are five things I'd do to improve it, partly to protect against something like the 2007 debacle, and partly get more mid-majors into the tournament:

• Put journalists on the committee - You can see the current committee roster right here. Right now the committee is made up of 8 athletic directors from Ohio State, Xavier, Wake Forest, UConn, Texas-San Antonio, Utah State, California, and Southern Methodist. Two conference commissioners, from the Big Sky and the Big 12, round out the group of ten. I would rotate four media members, one from each of the four "regions," onto the committee every year. Call me crazy, but I think college basketball journalists know more about the college basketball season than ADs and Conference Commissioners. Okay, so it's a dicey area as far as ethics goes to have journalists shape the tournament they will be covering. But aren't journalists already shaping college sports through the weekly polls in both basketball and football?
  

• Put a "Bracketologist" on the committee - It doesn't have to be Joe Lunardi. It could be...one of the other guys. Joey Joe-Joe Junior Lunardi Shabadoo, of collegebrackets.org. The thing I love about Lunardi is not that he projects so many teams correctly when the brackets come out. It's that he lays out all the information in a way that is easy to follow throughout the season, and makes sense as he puts his final bracket together at this time of year. It is rational and transparent. And again, I guarantee you he's spent exponentially more time thinking about the bracket than the selection committee.

• Increase the value of the Polls and the RPI - Here's where I want to help the little guys. Remember when Utah State was left out of the 2004 tournament despite a 25-2 record and being ranked at the time? (Neither did I until I read it on wikipedia.) Why not put in a rule that says if you get 10 votes or more in the AP or Coaches poll, you're in the tournament? We'd have to figure out a way to have those polls updated after the last games on selection Sunday, but 35 teams in the most recent polls got 10 votes or more. Most of those teams are already locks. St. Mary's would be breathing easy (11 votes in the coaches) and deservedly so. They're a good team.

As for the RPI, a quick comparison between the top 30 and Lunardi's latest bracket tells me all 30 are locks for this tournament. Once you get to number 31, UAB, you start to hit the bubble teams. A 30 RPI or better should be safe. (Note: it hasn't always been, especially if you're a mid-major. See: Missouri State.) You don't even have to set a specific cut point for mandatory entry into the field. If the committee is given specific instructions to weight the RPI and the polls heavily - more heavily than they have in the past - teams like UAB, Harvard (37), and Penn State (39) will make the field.

• Weight a Team's Regular Season In-Conference Result - I would love it if regular season conference champs AND conference tournament champs got automatic bids, but there is no way the major conferences would let that happen without the field expanding to 96. Plus, there would be an incentive for small conferences to convince their regular season champs to throw conference tournament games. It's problematic. But the committee should still consider a regular season conference championship when it is weighing a bubble team.
  

• Tell the committee to select "the 37 teams who had the best season" - Right now the instructions ask the committee merely to select "the 37 best teams." You'll hear Jay Bilas repeat that line tonight on ESPN's selection show as he supports the major conference teams that got in over mid-major teams. (I really hate Bilas at this time of year...except 2007, when he was SU's biggest supporter. On a related note, I hate Doug Gottlieb all times of the year.) To an extent, I do think the committee measures teams based on what they accomplished during the season. Otherwise there would be even fewer mid-major at-large bids. Still, you're more likely to see an underachieving talent-loaded major team than an overachieving mid-major get a higher seed than they probably should.

Quick Reaction: Defending Scoop

I've heard several people blaming Scoop Jardine for the OT loss to UConn tonight. I have to say, I think the Scoop hate is going way too far. We all know the guy does maddening things all the time. He drives us crazy. But you're going to kill him for going for a game-tying three with 17 seconds to go? Yes, getting the quick two is the right play there. But how many times do teams actually do that when they're down by three with less than 20 seconds to go? Maybe...50% of the time? Maybe more, but the point is you see it pretty regularly. And it's right at the border of when you can argue it's time to jack up threes.

Plus, the guy hit not one but TWO THREES to end regulation and complete the comeback of the season! The bank was lucky, yes, but that's why the straight-away three is the better desperation shot. That last shot of regulation, though, was incredible. Give the young man some credit! We're going to hold Scoop to a 3-for-3 standard in the category of "3-point shooting with 20 seconds or less to go"? Absurd.

Here's the relevant play-by-play on the SU side after Scoop Jardine - the very same Scoop Jardine we're blaming for this loss - tied the game at 70 with 4:01 to go in OT.

3:16 - CJ Fair Turnover
2:49 - Scoop Jardine Steal
2:44 - Scoop Jardine missed jumper
2:40 - Rick Jackson missed dunk
2:39 - Kris Joseph missed three-pointer
2:23 - CJ Fair missed free throw (front end of one-and-one)
1:55 - Jeremy Lamb made jumper - 72-70
1:37 - Brandon Triche turnover
1:10 - CJ Fair block and rebound (!!!!!!!!!!! Glue guy!!!!!!!!!)
0:51 - Kris Joseph 1-2 free throws - 72-71
0:26 - Jeremy Lamb made jumper - 74-71
0:17 - Scoop Jardine missed three-pointer

After that the game was over. Okay, so you need more than the play-by-play to evaluate the point guard, and he deserves some blame for no FGs over the last 4:00. But I see the Orange defense forcing someone other than Kemba to beat them. (Lamb was fantastic. We haven't heard the last from him.) I see turnovers from CJ and Triche. I see a disastrous trip to the line for CJ, and a minor debacle at the line for KJ.

And after all of that, Scoop is our goat? 20 points Scoop? The same guy who hit two ridiculous threes to bring us back from the dead?

Here's some other reasons why we lost:

• Boeheim's subs. Triche stayed on the bench too long. Dion was playing well, but if that was the reason Dion stayed on the court way too long. Triche's shooting was off, and his shot selection wasn't great, but he should have played the last eight minutes. Also, my buddy Short Paul thinks Boeheim should have left Fair in on defense. CJ might have helped on that Lamb floater play, but Boeheim put in Melo to get Ricky's length out to the wing. I'm not going to kill it.
  
• The officiating was atrocious. It went both ways at times, but two series loom in my memory. The Dion-phantom-foul on Kemba, followed by the Scoop-phantom-offensive-foul. That came RIGHT after the KJ 4-point play, killing the Orange momentum. And the missed goal tending followed by the three on the other end. Instead of a tie game it was a 5-point UConn lead.
• UConn out-hustled the Orange. Syracuse fans, if you want to complain about the team, feel free to hit them here. There is no way a team that has played 4-straight games and is smaller than you should out-rebound you 45-37. There's no way that team should be killing you on the fast break. Despite Triche's off day, despite the officiating, SU should have won that game. They didn't because of shot selection, because Kris Joseph is developing a nasty ball-stopping habit, and because they played like crap most of the night.

So lay off Scoop!

Predaction: Pitt-UConn, SU-St. John's, and UConn-SU

Let's say an alien scientist came to earth just to check things out. He'd study the earth - biology and geology. He'd study human history, religion, and philosophy. We can assume he's a pretty sharp creature, you know, since he's figured out interstellar travel. So he'd probably blow through those topics pretty quickly. It wouldn't be too long until he turned to popular culture. And not too much longer before he got to sports. And eventually, he'd get to college basketball.

"Who are the best teams in college basketball?" he'd ask.
"Well," I'd say. In this reality, I'm the appointed expert on college basketball for planet earth. Me and Dick Vitale, who become BFFs from the experience.
"That's debatable," I'd say. "But the objective consensus is that the Big East is the best conference in college basketball."
"Show me this, 'Big East!'" he'd say.

That's when I would pull out the Pitt-UConn and SU-St. John's games from yesterday - two great snapshots of what Big East basketball is like in 2011; indeed, two pretty good representations of what Big East basketball has always been.

On Wednesday, Sauna Emeritis Chris twittered, "If I could choose one sporting event to attend every year, I would choose the Big East tourney. NYC, top-flight talent, great rivalries"

Well put. Thursday afternoon, we also had a buzzer-beater, ridiculously physical play (well-officiated, it should be noted), passionate effort, top-notch coaching, excellent defenses, and an awesome crowd.

The UConn-Pitt finish was so good, it 1.) solidified a legendary season for a brilliant player, Kemba Walker; 2.) probably bumped Kemba up a couple spots in the draft, and 3.) revealed a fascinating coach-vs-coach feud boiling under the surface in the conference. The finish was so good, I've just thought of three more points about how good it was. 4.) I hate UConn as much as anyone and more than Georgetown, but I'm going to link to the video of that shot anyway because it was so awesome. 5.) I hate UConn as much as anyone, but Kemba Walker is the best late-game player in the NCAAs.

Finally, 6.) I hate Jim Calhoun as much as anyone and think Jamie Dixon is as good as any man-to-man coach in the nation, but Dixon was spectacularly out-coached on the final play. If you're Calhoun, you run a screen to try to set up a mismatch for Kemba. That's a no-brainer (although it's shocking how many teams don't at least try this when you have 10-15 seconds to run your last play). He did it. If you're Dixon, you want Wannamaker to do his best to stay with Kemba through the screens. You DON'T want Gary McGee on Kemba! Anyone but Big Gary! Yikes! McGee should NOT have switched off the screen. Who cares if some guy named Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is free on the perimeter for a couple seconds?? The only Husky I'm remotely worried about is Jeremy Lamb, and as scary as his talent is, he's still pretty raw. I'm no Jamie Dixon, but if I was, in that final huddle, I tell my guys not to switch on the screen. They switched on the screen, and the step-back was that much easier for Kemba. Long story short, you know a play was great when I'm offering a mild complement to Calhoun, although I think he looked up that final play on a stolen laptop hidden under his chair.

On to St.Johns-SU...

I watched the first half, which was great, and then followed the scoreboard on my laptop during class. (Don't tell Professor Basu!) Even following the score was riveting, and I could just sense it was an amazing game. I went back and watched the second half when I got home. Yup. Classic Big East.

So you know how good Fab is suddenly playing. And Triche, of course, was massive. I think the larger story is that Syracuse is playing really, really good basketball right now. After those annual early and mid-season losses, I don't always buy into the old line, "that loss will be good for us." But in retrospect, the flow of this season really played into our hands. As Villanova's season spirals out of control, it's pretty easy to think, "that could have been us." Nova peaked while the Orange bottomed out. Now Nova bottomed out and has no time to right the ship.

Meawhile SU is better than ever. Let's start with the Freshmen. Speaking of them, Baye Moussa Keita, literally translated, means "remember when I was the best Freshman on the team?" Also, remember when CJ Fair was the best Freshman on the team? As of today, it's 1. Melo, 2. Dion, 3. CJ, and 4. Keita. Would you be surprised if Dion had a big game today? Or CJ? I wouldn't. Dion has been quietly electric off the bench. He can shoot. He can drive. I'm extremely excited about him.

Triche's improvement this season is critical for one important reason. We don't need him to have a great game on offense every night, but when he goes off Scoop doesn't need to. Against the best teams, we need one or the other to be great, but not both.

Triche, along with the rest of the vets - Ricky, Scoop, KJ - look so comfortable in their roles right now, don't they? They've been playing together for 3 years or more at this point, and it shows. That is a huge advantage. Compare them to St. John's; even though they're led by seniors, two of the Red Storm's three best players were JuCo transfers. Plus, their coach is brand new. I would say that SU's experience trumps its poor team free throw shooting in late games. And by the way, Syracuse has its best cooler [Bill Simmons' term for a clutch late game free throw shooter] in Triche since Gerry. Why wasn't the end of the game as close as the rest of the game? SU's experienced talent beat out St. John's guts. I'll say it again - I'm not taking St. John's deep in my bracket.

And now, tonight's game...

If you haven't heard, ESPN U is showing a shortened version of 6OT from 1:00-3:00. Then ESPN Classic is showing the game in its entirety from 3:00-7:00. I've got history reading to do, but you can be sure I'll have the game on in the background all day.

Here are the stakes for tonight's game:

• Building the Big East Tournament's Mystique: Casual college basketball fans will be following this game tonight. If it is as solid as the games were yesterday, it will continue to shape the legend of this tournament. If it is classic, it will take the tournament's status to another level.
• Building the UConn-SU rivalry's status: This rivalry is a strange one, because everyone knows that for SU, Georgetown is their traditional rival. Yet everyone also knows UConn-SU has been a better rivalry over the last decade. Unless Georgetown hoops falls back into something like the Craig Esherick Era doldrums, they will remain rival #1 to the Orange. UConn will be #2. But consider this...how awesome is it that Syracuse has had two legitimate super-serious rivals for over 15 years? What other consistently great program can make that claim? Not Duke, since they stopped playing Kentucky, and since Maryland fell off the map. Not UNC. Not Kansas. Not UCLA. Kentucky-Louisville is probably the best non-conference rivalry today, but neither team has a transcendent conference rival, do they?
• UConn's momentum: They'll be tired if they make the finals of the Big East, and they'll probably lose to the Irish, but with a win over the Orange the Huskies will have earned a high seed in the tourney. Plus, they will have set themselves up for comments like "They'll go as far as Kemba can take us" and "Kemba Walker might be the best player in the tournament" leading into the NCAAs.
• SU's momentum: Hang on...we're going to be using block capitals a BUNCH of times in this paragraph. Make no mistake, this is a MUCH better match-up for the Orange than that impossible Pitt defense. Syracuse is the better team; they're taller, more athletic, and more talented. The Orange SHOULD win. Still, excuse me while I gird my loins: the St. John's win probably sealed a 3-seed for the Orange, and if Syracuse plays well and loses, they'll still take a lot of confidence into the tournament. There's not much to lose tonight. Having said that, a Syracuse win DEFINITELY locks up a 3-seed, gets people talking about SU as a dark horse in the tournament, and gives the Orange even MORE confidence. Plus, they'll be the favorites in the finals against whoever emerges. (Trust me, Notre Dame fans. The bookies will pick SU in the Garden against little Hansbrough.) Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Big East titles?

I'm excited.

Big East Tournament Preview

Pre S. (Like a P.S. but before the body of the post, not after.) I thought this "Who should I root for" flow chart on Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician was hilarious. My favorite part ws the "Irish Catholic?"-No, "Roman Catholic"-No, "Some other weird Catholic?"-Yes arrows that lead to Providence. Awesome. Also awesome is Nunes-Magician blogger Sean Keely, who put a link to the Sports Sauna on his "Cuse Connections" list. That means I am now 2 clicks away from espn.com, since Nunes-Magician is on ESPN's college basketball blog roll! Great stuff. On the days when I don't post, read Nunes-Magician.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I love conference championship week. It's my fourth favorite week of the college basketball calendar, after 1.) The opening weekend of the NCAAs, 2.) NCAA Championship weekend, and 3.) NCAA regionals weekend. Actually, when I really stop to think about it, there have been years when I've had more fun watching conference championships than that year's Final Four.

Sports Sauna Emeritus Chris asked me this a couple weeks ago. At the beginning of the year you have two options. 1.)You could win the Big East Tournament but lose in the Sweet 16. 2.) You could play out the season and see what happens. I said 2, but that I even had to think about it shows how much I care about the Big East tourney. (Chris said 1, by the way.) Throw them all out there and play to win the game, Jim! And honestly, if you gave me that same choice today, I'd take 1. This isn't a national championship-caliber SU team.

Who is going to win the Big East? I don't know. But I'm going to give you predictions anyway, because that's what we do, and by we I mean bloggers (not historians). But first let's look at the big picture. Bubble watchers and bracketologists will know that the Big East has locked up 10 bids. The last remaining question mark is Marquette. (In fact, we should call them Question Marquette until Selection Sunday.) Question Marquette has some nice wins, but their season finale defeat at suddenly lukewarm Seton Hall was typical of their season: some nice wins, some eyebrow-raising losses. Still, even if they merely beat Providence in the opening round tomorrow, they should be in. The Big East will have 11 bids.

That's amazing, but Question Marquette's fate isn't particularly evocative. What is fascinating is the way those 10 teams that are locks for the tourney can be split into two distinct groups:

The Mila Kunis "Looking Fabulous" Group
Pittsburgh
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Louisville
Cincinnati

The Nicole Kidman "Past Peak" Group
St. John's
Georgetown
Connecticut
Villanova

Oh! I almost forgot! There is a third group:

The James Franco Group
West Virginia

Marshon Brooks and Providence is the poor man's Justin Timberlake to West Virginia's James Franco. I would much rather watch Brooks play a game in the tourney, even if the Friars got knocked out immediately then see Bob Huggins and Co. go one- or two-and-out from the 5-seed Lunardi currently has them projected for. (By the way, I came up with the "Timberlake should have hosted instead of Franco" idea before I listened to Dan Silver suggest the same thing on the BS Report, but I did love his idea of just giving Timberlake the hosting gig for 20 years, Bob Hope style.)

But I digress. Most of those teams are self-explanatory. Putting St. John's in the Kidman group might be a bit harsh, but that Seton Hall loss earlier this week was very telling. The Red Storm were playing for the double-bye, and they couldn't get it done against an inferior team. Steve Lavin is going to rebuild the Red Storm, but they're not for real just yet.

That brings me to my larger point; besides pulling for Syracuse, I'm very interested to see which of the Kunis group keeps the momentum riding, and which of the Kidmans can get things turned around. Of course, I'm not saying that teams always carry momentum into the tournament, or that teams can't turn their momentum around when they get into the tournament. But if you're an SU fan, you'll feel much worse about the Orange's chances if they get upset in their first Big East game. They've looked great, and we want them to keep looking great. The same is true for the rest of the Kunis teams, while the Kidmans want to shake off that botox and rediscover their mojo. That's what I'll be watching for this week.

What do I think will happen in every game? Glad you asked! (Here's the bracket, by the way.)

First Round
9. UConn over 16. DePaul
12. Seton Hall over 13. Rutgers
10. Villanova over 15. South Florida
14. Providence over 11. Question Marquette

Comments: The Friars get the upset in an otherwise quiet first round, keeping Question Marquette a question mark heading into Selection Sunday

Second Round
8. Georgetown over 9. UConn - both teams have lost 4 of their last 5, but I think Kemba Walker's red hot start screwed up UConn's identity in the long term. Chris Wright probably won't be back yet for the Hoyas, which seems like a critical problem for this match-up, but my gut tells me JT-III will pull this out. And that is despite knowing the Hoyas scored 46 points in the game Wright got hurt in against Cincy, and 51 and 47 in the two games after that (SU, @ Cincy).

12. Seton Hall over 5. St. John's - The SU-St. John's 3rd round matchup is too good to be true. Jeremy Hazell is the story of the opening rounds.

10. Villanova over 7. Cincinnati - The Wildcats are the Kidman team that turns things around. They're not this bad, and their 4-game slide has come against 3 of the Kunis teams plus St. John's.

14. Providence over 6. West Virginia - Seriously, can we make this a play-in game for the NCAAs?

Third Round
1. Pittsburgh over 8. Georgetown - Maybe I've had my head buried too deeply in the books, but I feel like Pittsburgh hasn't gotten enough credit this season. I'm not going to say they're the team to beat in the NCAAs, but I feel like this wide-open field will lead to Jamie Dixon's deepest run yet.

4. Syracuse over 12. Seton Hall - I'm a bit confused about how the Big East scheduling works...why didn't the Orange didn't play the Pirates this year?

10. Villanova over 2. Notre Dame - I wish I could see a poll of all non-Notre Dame and non-SU fans asking, who would you rather have on your team - Ben Hansbrough or Ricky Jackson? I can't even think about that question rationally, which is part of the reason I don't take the Irish seriously.

3. Louisville over 14. Providence - The Marshon Brooks dream dies.

Semi-finals
1. Pittsburgh over 4. Syracuse - I'd like to hire Leonardo DiCaprio to place the idea in my brain that the Orange can beat Dixon's man-to-man, because I just can't believe it at this point.

10. Villanova over 3. Louisville - Impressive job by Pitino this year. Anytime you can finish 3rd in the best conference in the country with Kyle Kuric as your 2nd best scorer, you deserve to win Coach of the Year.

Finals
1. Pittsburgh over 10. Villanova - The best team takes the title.