Marquette lost.

Notre Dame lost.

Pittsburgh lost.

But it’s all okay. Because Duke lost. West Virginia won.

My favorite game of the tournament every year: the game when Duke goes out. Call me a hater, and you’d be right. I hate Duke. I love West Virginia. I only saw this one game today, but what a game it was! Joe Mazzulla, the backup point guard, had a near triple-double, and Joe Alexander was a stud again. Although Alexander shot a bit too much in my opinion, he made some unbelievable blocks and assisted on two key backdoor cuts. Most importantly, he talked a lot of smack to Duke. Even after the game.

Apparently, this carried on to the rest of the ‘Neers. If you have some time, read that blog post. My favorite quote from that article:

Cam Thoroughman asked whether Duke’s Greg Paulus was one of the eight McDonald’s all-Americans. When told yes, Thoroughman said, “Oh my God. Are you kidding?”

Awesome.

Categories: Commentary, donald
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When it comes to NCAA Tournament selection, there are no experts. Dick Vitale — he’s no expert. Jay Bilas — he’s no expert. Pat Forde…again, no expert. Big Willie…certainly not an expert.

Year in and year out, though, we hear the same talking heads on ESPN, giving us the “breakdown” of games and espousing “bracketology.” It’s mostly a bunch of nonsense. I’m not saying these people don’t know what they’re talking about — I love to hear Jay Bilas break down the intracacies of a game and enjoy hearing ex-coaches expose a bit of what goes on behind the scene, but I think a significant component of what happens in the NCAAs is random. Over a long enough run, I would bet that nobody beats picking higher seeds in a statistically significant way.

This is partly why it angers/saddens me that SportsCenter, a show I used to absolutely love, looks more like “The View” than a sports highlight show. Show us the highlights in a half hour. We watch because of the athletes and the game, not because of Stephen A. Smith.

Categories: Commentary, NewsWatch, donald, PunditWatch
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First off, congratulations to Pittsburgh. You’ve been in seven of the last eight Big East Championships, and now you have two wins. You’re a lot better than most people think you are. A healthy Levance Fields changes everything, and DeJuan Blair is a monster.

Here are my main questions after tonight:

1. Now that Pittsburgh overachieved in the Big East Tourney, can they get over the hump in NCAA tournament play? Can they get past the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1974, and into the Final Four for the first time since 1941? They’ve been a mainstay in the Big East and national picture for the last 10 years or so. Is this their year to get over the hump?
2. If DeJuan Blair was white, would he get the same love that Kevin Love gets? Honestly, the media adores Kevin Love just as much as they do good ole boys like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. But I think DeJuan Blair is just as good.
3. Will Patrick Ewing, Jr. be a second round draft pick? I think yes. He has a lot of potential.
4. Why does Patrick Ewing Jr. have a “Ewing, Jr.” on the back of his jersey (this was what I was getting at last year). His last name is Ewing, not “Ewing, Jr.”, and there are no other Ewings on the team. Bizarre.

   Categories: Commentary, Georgetown, donald, Pittsburgh
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The best and the brightest snippets across the Big East ’sphere:

• The FanHouse: “It’s going to be a big question about just how much Pitt has left. The Championship game will be their 4th in 4 days. Pitt rarely goes much deeper than 7. Georgetown had a first round bye and goes about 9 deep. They have looked very strong and only Jonathan Wallace has played 30 minutes or more in their first 2 games.”
• Big East Basketball Report: “Here is the crazy thing, Pitt has moved all the way to #17 in the latest RPI rankings following this win. The played 12 games without starting poit guard Levance Fields and then lost their first three games that he returned as he was assimilated back into the mix. Take away those 15 games and Pitt is 16-2 with neutral floor victories against Duke, Louisville and Marquette along with road wins against Syracuse and Washington.”
• The Mountain Top: “Again, like I said it’s not a game you should expect to win against the #1 seed team, and WVU didn’t play anywhere close to well enough to pull off the upset. But three games in three nights does that to a team, and I honestly don’t see Marquette or Pitt (looks like it will be Pitt) with much of a chance at all against the Hoyas tomorrow night.”
• The Van Buren Boys: “With a nearly 2 to 1 rebound advantage of the ‘Neers, the paint, as well as the entire garden floor, belonged to the Hoyas. The big guy looked pumped up out there from tip-off.”
• The FanHouse: “Georgetown Suddenly Looks Scary Good. Against Villanova it was bombing them into oblivion from the 3-point line. Tonight with the Mountaineers, it was going inside, attacking the basket, and letting Roy Hibbert wreak havoc inside. The defense in both games was outstanding. I don’t think they just turned it on in the Big East Tournament, but they have seemed to regrouped and rediscovered something. Their attitude and mannerisms are much more aggressive and attacking.”
• Black and Green Irish Men’s Basketball Report: “Regarding Notre Dame’s seeding, the Irish got some help from St. Joseph’s, Illinois, and Arkansas today. Hopping over Xavier in the bracket is probably a little farfetched, but both Purdue and Vanderbilt could have taken a 4 seed away from ND with wins in their tournaments.”
• Pitt Blather: “Marquette and their fans can take, um, solace in the moral victory. That their team didn’t quit. That they rallied and fought and clawed back into the game. All good things. I’ll take the real thing. Plus the fact that even as Marquette made a comeback, Pitt never lost it. They did what was needed. They regained their composure.”
• The Quad: “In the signature moment (so far, anyway) of this year’s Big East tournament — Joe Alexander’s dunk in the waning moments of West Virginia’s victory over Connecticut — Raftery appears to have added another hallmark call to a highlight that will surely appear on Big East tournament highlight reels for years to come. “Send it in Joe,” he said, bellowing in the familiar pitch that he used in his oft-repeated Jerome call. The difference is that he added on the replay, “With alacrity.” (Now if that doesn’t send you scrambling to the thesaurus, I don’t know what will.) He also called the dunk a “Taiwan special,” referencing the fact that Alexander was born in Taiwan.”
• The FanHouse: “So there you have it: Luke Harangody, the clear choice for Big East Player of the Year, likes to relax by watching people get run over by mules.”
  
  
  

Categories: BlogWatch, donald
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Some advice to BeastWofVtheUEast: get a capture card. I do like the guerilla-style feel of this clip, though:

Other highlights from Thursday’s action:

Categories: Commentary, donald, Postseason
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