NCAA Tournament Pool Round 2 Day 2 Standings

Ladies and Gentlemen:

So we now know the entirety of the Sweet Sixteen, and we have lost more champions with Michigan State’s victory over Virginia and Wichita State’s defeat of Kansas.

Particularly hurt by the loss of Virginia is Justin Yung of Raleigh, NC, and Mac Kroesen of West Palm Beach, FL, who are the highest ranked brackets with Virginia as a champion, and nobody even remotely high had Kansas.

As a reminder, the champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.  As usual, bold teams remain in the tournament.

I would like to welcome Paul John Reichert IV, Allison Parker and Griffey Parker into the pool.  For some reason I never initially printed out Paul’s brackets, but when double checking all of the entrants I saw his timely sent e-mail.  Allison and Griffey Parker’s entries showed up in the mail, appropriately time stamped as being completed prior to the start of the tournament.  Paul and Griffey are doing very well to this point as they are tied for 5^th Place, and a second Paul entry is tied for 7^th.

Kingfish Rod Parham of Atlanta, GA maintains his lead with the help of going 8-0 on Sunday.  The only thing that kept him from maximum points is he had Michigan State defeating Belmont, not Virginia, and thus did not earn the 5 bonus points for that game.  Several entries did earn both bonuses and rocketed up the standings, most notably George Walks 1 of West Palm Beach, FL, who is now tied for first.  Anthony LaPira of Demarest, NJ, Day Yi of New York, NY, Brent Bellinger of Duluth, MN, Cory Mauro of West Palm Beach, FL Carolyn Fowler of West Palm Beach, FL and Steffan Alexander of Portland, OR all earned 10 bonus points for selecting Wichita State and Michingan State.  They, however, did not earn the picks of the day as three entries won their guaranteed bonuses in the second round.  This is even more impressive given the fact that there is no guaranty their preferred second round matchup will occur, as one of the teams could be beaten in the first round.  That being said, Cheryl Spuhler of Acworth, GA, Hershey Zdrowak of Orlando, FL and Brian Spatchek of West Palm Beach, FL won their guaranteed upset picks, Cheryl and Hershey for Wichita State and Brian for Michigan State.

As a reminder here is the payment information:

For those that wish to pay via PayPal, my e-mail address is:  sosalaw@yahoo.com

For those that prefer Google Wallet, my e-mail address is:  pepsosa21@gmail.com

The Sweet Sixteen commences Thursday, so relax until then.  I will have at least one more update before then, showing how many of the Elite 8 and Final 4s each entry has left, along with identifying Champions.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something.  I corrected a few ballots from yesterday’s results, as yes, I even double-check myself.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.         Kingfish Rod Parham – 76

            George Walks 1 – 76

3.         Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 63

            Silas Nichols - 63

5.         Griffey Parker – 61

            Paul John Reichert IV 1 – 61

7.         Adam Jorgensen – 60

            Anthony LaPira - 60

            Paul John Reichert IV 2 – 60

10.       Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 59

            Colleen Hamilton – 59

            Si Nichols 1 – 59

            Si Nichols 2 - 59

14.       Jacey Fowler 2 - 57

15.       Sasha Moon – 55

            Steven Usma 4 - 55

            George Walks 5 – 55

            Day Yi – 55

19.       Jacey Fowler I – 54

            Cory Mauro - 54

21.       Carolyn Fowler – 53

            Kyle Henderson 2 – 53

            Arlene Hopps – 53

            Brian Spatchek - 53

            Cheryl Spuhler – 53

26.       Ashley Poer 1 – 52

27.       Katie Butler Litsey - 51

            Ashley Poer 2 - 51

            Chad Upson – 51

            Katie Zdrowak - 51

31.       Debbie Nieman – 50

            Rich Samuels 1 – 50

            Rich Samuels 2 - 50

            George Walks 2 – 50

            Jonathan Wasserman - 50

            Justin Yung - 50

37.       Brent Bellinger – 49

            Alvaro Gonzalez – 49

            Eric Inge – 49

            Greg Kummerlen - 49

            Traci Lynn Sheehan and Kyle Sheehan - 49

            Hershey Zdrowak - 49

43        Steffan Alexander - 48

             Jed Dorsey - 48

            Albert Harper III – 48

            Jessica Koch – 48

47.       Karen Katz – 47

            Kareem Montague – 47

            Jason Schultz - 47

            George Walks 3 - 47

51.       Serena Davila - 46

            Mac Kroesen – 46

            Trenton May - 46

            Allison Parker – 46

55.       Kyle Henderson 1 – 45

            Michael Litsey - 45

            Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 - 45

            Noel Martinez - 45

            Matt Nieman - 45

            Jane Reynolds – 45

            Rich Samuels 3 – 45

            Stacia Wilkaitis 1 – 45

63.       Matt Hopps – 44

            Martha Kroesen – 44

            Steven Usma 2 - 44

            Steven Usma 3 - 44

            Amy Zdrowak – 44

68.       Alex King - 42

            Sam Lozier - 42

            Jen Mahoney - 42

            Steven Usma 1 - 42

72.       George Walks 4 – 40

            Stacia Wilkaitis 2 – 40

74.       Koma Gandy - 39

            Ty Leatherman – 39

            Abigail Sosa – 39

            Hannah Sosa – 39

            Jason Spuhler – 39

            Joshua Zdrowak - 39

80.       Barkley Sosa - 38

            Pepe Sosa – 38

82.       Vic LaPira – 37

83.       Erin Devlin - 33

            Keith Zdrowak – 33

85.       Chris Kroesen – 32

86.       Braeden Helland – 31

NCAA Tournament Pool Round 1 Day 2

Ladies and Gentlemen:

So the first round is complete, and unfortunately day 2 was nowhere near as exciting as day 1.  Only 1 lower seeded team was victorious (more on that later), meaning chalk rules the day.  Let’s hope Round 2 starts off with a bang.

We have solved the nameless bracket, and I found 1 bracket which was more than timely.  My apologies to Karen Katz as her missing bracket was my doing, and not hers, and she even included her name and e-mail address, as per the rules.

Speaking of rules, I just have to include the body of an e-mail I received from Captain Kyle M. Meisner, an Operational Law Attorney with Army Special Operations Aviation Command – and I hope that she appreciates the shout-out and doesn’t put me on any type of “watch list”. 

“Please find my husband’s WINNING entry for the Tournament attached.  He apologizes for not sending it in himself and making his wife (me) do it for him, but those new-fangled printers and scanners are confusing to him, especially when he is on a crunch to, you know, get to the actual games.

In other news, you may owe me 15-20 minutes of my life back because Kareem forced me to listed to your ‘fantastic’ rules last night.  Yawn.”

You have a good one Kareem Montague, if she is willing to call both you and me out.  My wife and bracket participant Hannah Sosa, agrees with your wife’s entire sentiment.  Glad you at least thought the rules were as funny as I did typing them.

We lost no champions yesterday, so the champions in play remain the same.  As a reminder, he champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.  Bold teams remain in the tournament.

For yesterday's games we had only 2 unanimous selections, duke and Gonzaga.  Yes that means somebody picked Coastal Carolina over Wisconsin.  Tough break Braeden Helland.    We had 11 entries select Dayton, with three of the picks being guaranteed.  The pick of the day goes to Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Adam Jorgensen of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and Katie Butler Litsey of Redondon Beach, CA.  Katie correctly selected 15 of the 16 games from yesterday as well, with Davidson being her only downfall.  Davidson – by the way – was an extremely popular pick.

The antithesis of the pick of the day goes to two separate entries:  Jason Spuhler of Acworth, GA and Albert Harper III of Pahokee, Florida.  Jason Spuhler simply forgot to select a winner in the Wichita State – Indiana game and Albert Harper III selected Robert Morris.  Now Tournament Host, you may be thinking, how can that be if you said that Duke was a unanimous pick.  If you are thinking that, and chose to ask me, I would answer you by saying that Albert selected Robert Morris to win the San Diego State – St. John’s game.  Boy would that have been an upset!

Have fun watching the second round.  Remember today’s game count for two points each, plus bonuses.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something.  I corrected a few ballots from yesterday’s results, as yes, I even double-check myself.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 45

2.  Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 39

       Silas Nichols - 38

4.  Colleen Hamilton – 37

5.  Karen Katz – 37   

6.  Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 36

7.  Adam Jorgensen 35

     Katie Butler Litsey - 35

     George Walks 1 - 35

10.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 34

      Jessica Koch - 34

       Ashley Poer 1 – 34

       George Walks 2 - 34

14.  Chad Upson – 33

15.  Arlene Hopps - 32

      Si Nichols 1 - 32

      Si Nichols 2 - 32

     Steven Usma 4 - 32

     George Walks 5 - 32

      Jonathan Wasserman - 32

21.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 31

      Greg Kummerlen - 31

      Stacia Wilkaitis 1 - 31

24.  Albert Harper III - 30

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 30

       Anthony LaPira - 30

       Sasha Moon – 30

      Rich Samuels 1 – 30

      Kyle Henderson 1 – 30

30.  Eric Inge - 29

       Debbie Nieman – 29

       Jane Reynolds – 29

       Rich Samuels 2 - 29

       Cheryl Spuhler - 29

       Day Yi – 29

36.  Jacey Fowler I – 28

       Martha Kroesen - 28

       Cory Mauro - 28

       Ashley Poer 2 - 28

40.  Jed Dorsey - 27

       Michael Litsey - 27

      Justin Yung - 27

43.  Matt Hopps - 26

       Mac Kroesen - 26

        Traci & Kyle Sheehan - 26

      George Walks 4 - 26

       Katie Zdrowak - 26

48.  Carolyn Fowler – 25  

       Koma Gandy - 25

       Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 - 25

       Rich Samuels 3 – 25

       Hannah Sosa - 25

       Brian Spatchek - 25

       Steven Usma 2 -25

       Hershey Zdrowak - 25

56.  Alex King - 24

       Sam Lozier - 24

       Kareem Montague - 24

       Jason Schultz - 24

       Steven Usma 1 - 24

       Stacia Wilkaitis 2 - 24

62.  Serena Davila - 23

       Vic LaPira - 23

      Ty Leatherman - 23

       Jen Mahoney - 23

      Trenton May  23

       Jason Spuhler - 23

68.  Brent Bellinger - 22

       Chris Kroesen - 22

       Noel Martinez - 22

71.  Abigail Sosa - 21

       Steven Usma 3 - 21

       Amy Zdrowak – 21

      Keith Zdrowak – 21

75.  Steffan Alexander - 20

       Matt Nieman - 20

       George Walks 3 - 20

       Joshua Zdrowak - 20

79.  Erin Devlin - 19

       Braeden Helland – 19

81.  Barkley Sosa - 17

        Pepe Sosa - 17

Hoop It Up

It's almost time for the start of the Final Four, so I will make this brief in order to get the picks in before tip-off. North Carolina rolls, Connecticut close. This will make it a Big East - ACC final on Monday.

The Meeks Shall Inherit the Earth

This past week in college basketball, something happened that had never, in the history of one of the most storied programs in college basketball history, occurred. Jodie Meeks, a talented junior shooting guard for Kentucky, went into Thompson-Boling Arena and absolutely lit up Tennessee for 54 points. That's right, 54 POINTS!!! Against Tennessee, an incredibly athletic, legitimate NCAA team.

Meeks' 54 points is the highest single game total in Kentucky history, surpassing the 53 and 51 put up by scoring machine Dan Issel almost 40 years prior.

Even more phenomenal is the way in which Meeks scored his 54. Meeks' ouptut came on only 22 field goal attempts. 22!!! Hardly a ball hog, Meeks shot 15-22, including 10 of 15 from 3-point range. He also shot an efficient 14-14 from the free throw line, where he is shooting an SEC best 90.8% for the season. (In the next game, against Georgia, Meeks snapped a 36 consecutive free throw streak with a rare miss). Although 54 cannot be expected, Meeks is averaging a cool 25.7 points per game, placing him fourth in the NCAA to date. If he can continue to produce at this level, then Kentucky can make a big run in the SEC, and hopefully deep into the NCAAs.

So Jodie, how did you feel after the Tennessee game?

Did You Know?

The Final Four teams in the NCAA tournament have been decided and a plethora of history remains among the contenders with North Carolina (Michael Jordan, Phil Ford, Dean Smith), Kansas (Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning, Phog Allen), UCLA (Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, John Wooden) and Memphis (Keith Lee, Anfernee Hardaway, William Bedford) (William Bedford???). All four teams are home practicing before they arrive in beautiful, little, quaint San Antonio, Texas for the games to begin.

Wait, did I just type little and quaint? What on earth was I talking about? Did you realize that San Antonio is the 7th most populous city in the United States? Seventh!!! Its population of 1,296,682 makes it larger than such bustling megalopolises as Dallas (9th - 1,213,825), Detroit (11th - 871,121 and dropping), San Francisco (14th - 744,041), Baltimore (19th - 631,366), Boston (22nd - 590,763), Seattle (23rd - 582,454), Washington, D.C. (24th - 581,530), Denver (26th - 557,917), Atlanta (35th - 470,688), Miami (45th - 386,417) and Minneapolis (48th - 372,811). Atlanta 35th? San Francisco 14th? San Antonio 7th? When did this happen?

Since I am currently looking at the Census, I spot a few other interesting numbers. San Jose, California is the tenth largest city in the country (in terms of population), Jacksonville, Florida is 12th (primarily because it is so large in area), Columbus, Ohio is 15th (must be all of the Ohio State students/alums), Louisville, Kentucky is 27th (bigger than Atlanta?), Albuquerque, New Mexico is 33rd, New Orleans is now 38th (thanks to the population drop after Katrina), Honolulu, Hawaii is 47th and Arlington, Texas is 50th. Arlington is scary at 50th since Dallas is 9th and Ft. Worth is 18th. That is a lot of people in one single (non-New York City) area.

So for those of you expecting a nice little town to visit for this tourney, San Antonio may be all that you are expecting, and much more.

Are a Zebra's Stripes Black or White?

This year has been particularly bad for referees in the NCAA. (Does anybody remember the Georgetown game?) Now, of course, referees that are incredibly good at their craft do exist, while some, shall we say, fall a little short. But that's OK, because only the best crews, or at least the best officials, will be chosen for the NCAA tournament, right?

Now granted, that query was rhetorical, but perhaps it needed to be answered in the affirmative, since that could attempt to make us all feel better about this tournament and perhaps make us forget about what we have been seeing these last couple of weekends. It goes back to the old adage, "who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes". And our eyes seem to be more trustworthy than the men in the striped shirts this year.

Now it would be too easy to go to the UCLA - Texas A & M finish, as that was simply a missed call. Period. If you don't know what I am writing about, then you didn't see the game.

However, the problem goes much deeper than missed calls or referees that swallow their whistles at the end of games. Some referees are simply influencing the entire tempo and feel of the game. Take last night's Louisville - Tennessee game for example. Both teams guard tough, get up-and-down the court at breakneck speed and rely on athleticism to force teams into shaky passes, bad decisions and tentative play which can all lead to easy baskets. A game that everyone knows is going to be frantic and involve a little bit of tough play both on and off the ball. The game starts and next thing you know, Wayne Chism has 2 fouls a few minutes in. He goes to the bench for (what we thought would be) the rest of the half. More importantly, Tennessee not only loses an athletic inside player and defensive presence, but they also lose their aggressiveness. This occurred especially since a couple of the early fouls were dubious at best. In the second half, Louisville had two plays, at least one by Earl Clark, where great passing led to an inevitable dunk. A Tennessee defender was in the area during each of these plays, but not close enough to make a defensive stop. Each time the defender backed off so as not to incur a foul and give Louisville a three point play, only to actually be called with the ever present "anticipation foul" by the official.

Now, I am not saying that Louisville didn't deserve to win, or that Tennessee was robbed, since Louisville certainly took the play to Tennessee the entire game. I am just saying that the officials did not let the athletic match up develop that I, like most of America, was expecting.

Another example is how Roy Hibbert fouled out of Georgetown's second round game against Davidson, with 3 offensive fouls. This even though Hibbert is not your typical drive to the rim at all costs guard who becomes prone to charging defenders.

Another weird play occurred in the UCLA - Western Kentucky game last night. Western Kentucky was in the middle of its second half run when Courtney Lee took the ball on the left wing and drove into the left elbow when he inexplicably stopped. Realizing he was about to travel, he lofted a floater toward the half court line for Tyrone Brazelton, which was intercepted by Darren Collison and taken the other way for two easy points. Why did Lee, who had a tremendous tournament by the way, just suddenly stop for no reason, leading to a turnover. The answer was right before our ears. Someone in that stadium blew a whistle. I heard it through the television, and lest it just be that whomever blew their whistle was close to a crowd mic, the announcers heard it and even commented on the whistle. Nothing from the officials. Nothing whatsoever.

This tournament is replete with call after call after non-call that are affecting teams, their style of play and the ending of the games themselves.

As we wind down to 8, then eventually 4 and 2 very good teams, most of which are going to be fairly evenly matched with a lot of athletes, the NCAA needs to insure that the games are decided by those athletes, and not by the less athletic threesome on the court in stripes.

Heroes of March Madness

It has been a very exciting first two rounds of the NCCA Tournament this year. Some players, however, have made a much more lasting mark on the tournament than others. Unlike some conferences, the Big East for example (which just simply has an 11 man All Big East first team), I will select the best players from the first two rounds of the tourney as if I was selecting a basketball team; 2 bigs (center or power forward unimportant), 2 wing players (small forward or off guard unimportant) and 1 point guard. Since North Carolina and Kansas have been so balanced, neither of those teams placed anyone on this list, even though their players are collectively playing great. The players:

C - Kevin Love, UCLA

Love started the tourney with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots against Mississppi Valley State, but quickly showed that was just a warm up. In the second round against Texas A & M, Love had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 7, yes 7, blocked shots. Included in those 19 points were two big shots, one with 3:20 remaining that tied the game at 45 and the other with 1:37 remaining that gave UCLA a 47-45 point lead. Oh, and did I mention he now has 11 blocks for the tournament?

Honorable mention: Robin Lopez of Stanford, who is averaging 16 points, 6.5 rebounds and has 8 total blocks.

F - Brook Lopez, Stanford

Brook Lopez only had 4 points in the first round route of Cornell, but came back strong with a 30 point performance against Marquette, all of which were incredibly important in Stanford's one point overtime victory over the Golden Eagles, even though coach Trent Johnson was thrown out of the game in the first half for receiving two technical fouls. Lopez had 8 of his teams 11 points in overtime, and even assisted on a three pointer by Mitch Johnson. There is no way Stanford comes close to beating Marquette without Brook Lopez.

Honorable mention: Joe Alexander of West Virginia, who not only averages 18 points and 9.5 rebounds in this tournament, but is the absolute focal point of the Mountaineers offense and Michael Beasley who scored 46 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in Kansas State's two games, a victory over USC and the defeat at the hands of Wisconsin.

F - Courtney Lee, Western Kentucky
Lee, after scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds against Drake in the first round, exploded for 29 points and 7 rebounds in helping Western Kentucky earn its Sweet Sixteen birth over San Diego.

Honorable mention: Joe Crawford of Kentucky because of his 35 points in Kentucky's loss to Marquette, Gyno Pomare of San Diego for his 21 point average against UConn and Western Kentucky in this tournament, as well as his name (even though it is pronounced Gino).

PG - Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

Reynolds is averaging 23 points per game for the Wildcats, as they cruised into the Sweet 16 with relatively easy victories over Clemson and Siena. He has done this while averaging 36 minutes per tournament game. He has emerged as the one absolute Big East star in this tournament (with Alexander), while the other highly publicized members (Roy Hibbert for example) of that vaunted conference have had less than stellar tournaments. Several point guards have had amazing performances, but none have played better than Reynolds.

Honorable mention: Tyrone Brazelton of Western Kentucky, particularly for his 33 point performance against Drake in the first round, Joe Mazzulla, for his 13 point, 11 rebound and 8 assist performance against Duke from off the bench, and Jack McClinton, Miami, 38 points in the first round and 18 critical points to make the Texas game interesting in round 2.

SG - Stephen Curry, Davidson

Hopefully I shouldn't have to justify this pick, but I will say that he has scored more points in the second halves of the two games, 55, than any player has scored in the entire tournament. He followed his 40 point performance in the win over Gonzaga with a 30 point performance in the come from way behind victory over Georgetown and its vaunted, nation leading, defense. There should be absolutely no debate that Curry is the MOP of this tournament to date.

Honorable Mention: Jerel McNeal of Marquette, who scored 50 points in the two games against Kentucky and Stanford.

That Cat Can Ball

So we have had a couple of absolutely phenomenal performances today in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, none more so than that of Davidson sophomore Stephen Curry. This should come as no surprise to basketball fans, as Curry burst onto the scene in last year's NCAA Tournament, scoring 30 against Maryland. This year, he averaged 25.1 points per game, good for fifth in the nation.

In today's game against 7th seeded Gonzaga, Curry was an absolute monster. He scored 40 points (30 IN THE SECOND HALF) on 14-23 shooting, including 8-11 from three point range. Lest we think he is simply an offensive juggernaut, Curry also had 5 steals on the defensive end. He did everything except take Gonzaga inside and make them pancakes. And he did this all without the help of any "fruity picks". I just hope that Gonzaga brought their peoples with them, even though they didn't get embarrassed.

Miami's Jack McClinton, Western Kentucky's Tyrone Brazelton and Drake's Jonathan Cox had monster outings, but Stephen Curry, you are the clutch player of the early games.

Let Them Play, Let Them Play

I like to think I know a lot about the sport of basketball. However, even I must admit that most actual college basketball coaches know much more about the sport than I. Even with all of the knowledge that these coaches possess, they sometimes forget the easiest adage in the world, one that goes all the way back to the 1977 classic Bad News Bears in Breaking Training: "Let Them Play!"

Last night, the Belmont Bruins were on the verge of a colossal upset of the number 2 seeded Duke Blue Devils. In fact, with under one minute to play the Bruins held a one point lead over Duke. What does Belmont Coach Rick Byrd do? He calls timeout. Belmont, with the lead, a big defensive stop, the ball and the momentum suddenly had to stop everything for Coach Byrd to design a play. The play apparently was to hold the ball until the last second of the shot clock, drive and throw up a wild "shot" toward the basket and hope for a miracle. Now I understand that wasn't the play called by Coach Byrd, but it might as well have been. The wild shot missed, and Gerald Henderson then went coast-to-coast absolutely unimpeded for the game winning layup. Belmont gets the ball back, rushes over half court and then calls timeout again. Needless to say, Belmont lost.

Now, before you start to defend the timeouts, since almost every coach would have done the same thing, let's look at some of the facts. This is Belmont's third trip to the NCAA tourney in the past 4 years, losing to UCLA in 2005, Georgetown in 2007 and now Duke in 2008. They are incredibly experienced in playing in the NCAA tournament. They start four juniors and a senior. The one great equalizer for the teams from smaller conferences is that they are often experienced and have played together as a team for several years. At some point in time you have to trust your experienced players. The entire game Belmont ran their offense the way they wanted and did not let Duke dictate the game. What made a possession with 50 seconds left any different? Play your game and take a good shot in the course of your offense. When a team relies on the stall and prayer offense (which inevitably always occurs), that team is then unbalanced on defense and a team can exploit them on a fast break the other way.

Coach Byrd, your players had the basketball opportunity of their lifetime. When your four returning senior starters come back next year, let them play their first round game using their talents and knowledge of the offense. Save the timeouts for times to stop the opponents' momentum, to give your players breathers or to correct problems that you observe from the sidelines. Calling the first timeout last night gave Duke the opportunity to set-up on defense, took the momentum away from your team, and also took the crowd out of the game. The second timeout gave Duke the opportunity to set-up their defense and, perhaps more importantly, gave your players time to think about how they just blew the opportunity to beat Duke. Keep them on the court, let them think only about beating their man, running the play, setting screens, etc. Do not give time for doubt to set in.

You noticed that Coach Kryzewski didn't call timeout down one with the ball in that same situation, right?

Inevitable Rules of College Basketball

When predicting the NCAA tournament, prognosticators often look to two specific aspects of the game to determine which teams will win games in the tournament; guard play and free throws. These two key factors merged into one person during the Kentucky-Marquette game this afternoon: Wesley Matthews.

(As a quick aside, this is Kentucky and Marquette's tenth meeting in the NCAAs, the last time being Dwyane Wade's famous triple double in the 2003 Elite Eight to earn a berth in the Final Four. Now back to our regularly scheduled post.)

Matthews is a 6'5" junior guard, and is often the afterthought of the three guard lineup that Coach Tom Crean often uses, after stars Dominic James and Jerel McNeal. For most of today's game, Matthews struggled, going 2-10 from the field, including one miss from three point range. But when it counted, Matthews calmed his nerves and shot the ball extremely well.

HE WENT 8-8 FROM THE FREE THROW LINE IN THE LAST 31 SECONDS.

That's right, Matthews shot 8 free throws and hit all 8 in the last 31 seconds of the game. Every one of these free throws was critical to the victory, despite the 74-66 final score, as Marquette only held a 2 point lead with 24 seconds left. Matthews iced the game at the charity stripe, allowing the favored Eagles to advance to the second round to play the Stanford-Cornell winner. He finished the game with 13 points, including going 9-10 from the free throw line.

Congratulations to Matthews for his performance down the stretch. That was one well earned victory. You are the clutch player of the afternoon.

A Spartan Record

As another NCAA men's basketball tournament approaches (and no - last night does not count), it is time to pay homage to basketball's history. There is no better way to do that than to celebrate the breaking of records long held. This will occur tomorrow, March 20, at approximately 12:30 Eastern Daylight Time when Michigan State takes the Court. At that time the record for NCAA consecutive tournaments played will be broken.

This record can only be broken by a good not great player, as the truly talented like Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony only stay for one year, while others jump to the NBA after 2, 3 or 4 seasons. That is why this year we send a hearty congratulations to Drew Neitzel, who will be appearing in his 9th consecutive NCAA tournament breaking the record of 8 that he held jointly with Duke's Bobby Hurley, Seton Hall's Arturas Karnishovas, Connecticut's Jim Leahy and Indiana's Damon Bailey. (Hmmmm - I wonder if there is a connection among all these players, perhaps something colorful?)

It truly is amazing for a college basketball player to spend 9 years in college, but it certainly seems longer in Netizel's case. He is good enough to be important in every game he plays, but not great enough to leave college for the NBA, or at all for that matter. No press conference has been scheduled to see if Neitzel will return to college next year, but perhaps it is best if that announcement comes after Michigan State ends its tourney run.

Our almost sincerest congratulations to Drew Neitzel for breaking this unbelievable (literally) record.

Please note - the actual record for most NCAA tournament games played is 23, by Christian Laettner. The actual record for most NCAA games played is 151 held by Kentucky's Wayne Turner. It only seems like Neitzel has played over 5,000.