Well the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is almost over and the Big East results are in….some good and some not so good. Looking at the teams that did not advance here are some observations.

NOTRE DAME - A very disappointing loss in round one to Winthrop. I know everyone and their brothers were talking up Winthrop before the tourney began but the Irish didn’t lose because Winthrop is another George Mason. When a team shoots 4-13 from the free throw line you just assume they are a bad free throw shooting squad. Not the case here. The Irish shot about 75% for the year from the line. Shooting 31% in a tourney game is sure to get you a loss. ND shot 40% from the 3 point line this season but could manage 4 for 22 or 18% in the Winthrop game. They were also outrebounded 43-41. All this from a team that looked very good coming off the tough Georgetown loss in the BET. But let’s not forget that Winthrop was on an 18 game win streak with their most impressive wins over Mississippi State and High Point (twice). The Irish picked a bad time to have tourney jitters against a team that dominated squads like Radford, Coastal Carolina, and Liberty in conference. This loss was a huge blow to the reputation of the Big East.

Marquette – The Eagles just are not very good. I’m sure with McNeal they would have made a better showing but any team with a warm body up front could dominate Marquette at the end of the season. Shame because they were on a roll early on and just couldn’t get it going when it counted. 

Villanova – The worst thing that could have happened to Scottie Reynolds was scoring 40 against UConn. The Cats went 2-3 from that point on. Reynolds began to play like he had no teammates and wanted to be the whole show. He pushed Sumpter into a supporting role and Nardi was too injured to take charge of the team. Was Jay Wright looking to sell a package to the Sixers with Reynolds as the star and Wright as coach? When Reynolds got the ball it was time for all teammates to go wait in the bench area until he either took a 35 foot jumper or tried to drive through all 5 opponents on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Scottie is a tremendous talent. He should just try a little to be a team  player. His one-man show probably cost Villanova a chance to move on to the 2nd round.

Louisville – Nice first round crushing of Stanford, an average team from a weak league (with way too much respect in the seedings). Sosa had 16 in that win, but the troubling fact from that game is that he only had 1 assist. Today against Texas A&M he took one of the worst shots at the end of a game that I have ever seen. Oh, yeah, he did have 31 points. AND 1 assist. Here is a point guard who is a Scottie Reynolds wannabe. 47 points in two games and 2 assists! I’m sure that’s not the shot Pitino called for, down one with 15 seconds left. Or would Rick wind the clock down to have his freshman point guard fire one up from 25 feet? Someone has to tell these Freshmen point guards that there are TEAMMATES who are on scholarship too.

Pitt – Still going! It took an overtime to extend the Panthers’ season after blowing a 19 point lead in the second half. But they do play like a team and deserve to be where they are. More on them later.

Georgetown – The Hoyas are the toast of the Big East for making toast out of Jared Dudley and his headband teammates. BC is home again…… knocked out again by a Big East team (Nova erased them last year). Still fun to watch the Hoyas run an offense like no other BE team and when they turn up the heat on D they can put the brakes on most teams. More on them later.

Maybe when the pundits claimed this a down year for the Big East they weren’t far off target. Sure looked like our crying about ND’s 6 seed was off target. Syracuse almost lost the 1st round of the NIT, UConn could only beat Division One bottom dwellers and three of our six went out on Day 1. But we still have two in the dance.

So…… at this point we have 2 teams in the Sweet Sixteen. The scoreboard shows the ACC has one, SEC has three, Big 12 has two, Big Ten has one, Pac 10 has three, Conference USA has one, Missouri Valley has one, Mountain West has one and the Horizon has one.

Categories: Coach O, Commentary, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Postseason, Villanova
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Categories: donald, Postseason
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Jared Dudley from Boston College weighs in on the matter:

“I think it’s basically the best of both worlds – you’re playing two great conferences. But if I had to do it all over again, I would love to play in the A.C.C. UConn and Syracuse are both good teams, but when you say North Carolina and Duke it’s different – star power, Tobacco Road and everything and Coach K. This is definitely a dream come true, growing up and watching the A.C.C. I just dreamed about playing in this conference. No disrespect to the Big East, it’s just different here.”

Hey Jared — no disrespect to you, but you suck. You’re also ugly.

By the way, did you get the memo about the Big East having more NBA all-stars than any other conference?

Categories: BlogWatch, donald
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I’m so happy the tournament is here. You can’t help but be in a good mood today, even if the Huskies aren’t in it.

We all like upsets, and I love predictions. Some here’s some things to look for during the tournament.

My first round upset pick is VCU over Duke. Dukie V will be so sad. I wouldn’t be surprised to see ND go down to Winthrop either, but I think the Irish will pull out a close one. In the second round, I like UNLV over Wisconsin. I also believe the first 1-seed that will go down will be North Carolina, who’ll lose to Texas. I believe all the Big East teams will win their first game except for Marquette. Sorry Marquette fans, I know I’ve been hating on them a lot this year. I’ll jump on their bandwagon for next year though. My Sweet 16 are Florida, Maryland, Notre Dame, UNLV, Kansas, Va Tech, Pitt, UCLA, UNC, Texas, WSU, Gtown, Ohio St, Tennessee, A&M and Memphis. My Elite 8 are Florida, ND, Kansas, UCLA, Texas, Gtown, Ohio St and A&M. My final four are Florida, Kansas, Gtown and A&M. And I have Kansas beating our Hoyas in the final.

Anyway, I hope you all agree with my picks, because that is what is going to happen. Enjoy the games, this is a great weekend.

Categories: Big Willie Style, Postseason
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The View is in HD, but the first round of the NCAA Tournament isn’t (at least for me).

On the other hand, Stanford is getting their ass absolutely handed to them by Louisville (41-13 at the moment). Even if it’s not in HD, it’s wonderful to watch.

Categories: Commentary, donald
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