IS THIS THE MOMENT!!

My inspiration/home dawgs

Note: The Fab 5 never won anything - NCAA or NBA...

The real reason for this blogpost is due to Jalen Rose's absolute genius in making that 30 for 30 about the Fab 5. I watched it Saturday night and I rewatched it Monday night. I was alive in 1993, but I was not sportsconscious (vocab word - sportsconscious: being conscious of happenings in the world of athletics). I can somewhat relate to what Rose was referring to. College basketball, back in the day, was a lot better than it is now. I'm not even talking about the era of the Fab Five, the Laettner-Hurley-Hill teams or the Syracuse teams led by Derrick Coleman-Sherman Douglas etc. but I'm referring to even ten years ago. The Duke teams, which over a 3-4 year period starred future NBAers Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Trajan Langdon, William Avery, Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, etc and Maryland with Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, Chris Wilcox, Steve Blake, and Kansas with Collison, Gooden, Hinrich, etc.

Nostalgia at its best.

                   

The amount of NBA talent on one team has not been matched since maybe the UNC team that won the championship with Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Jawad Williams and the rest of the gang or the Florida repeat champions with Horford, Noah, and Brewer. Ever since the NBA made the rule that players need to have atleast one year after they finish high school to enter the NBA, the one and done concept has taken off - Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins,  etc. have all left the NCAA's after a cameo appearance and proceeded to go to the NBA. There has been a serious decline in the quality of college basketball and it will show more than ever this year in the NCAA tournament. There are some teams in this tournament that have no business being there and at some points in the season, people thought they sucked! (see Izzo's Spartans, Penn State, and countless other teams). Nevertheless, the upcoming weekend with the first 3 (not 2, which is completely asinine) rounds of the tournament is the best weekend of sports in the entire year.

Now what you've all been waiting for - my picks for the first 2 rounds of the tournament. (winner in bold)


1st Round

Larry Coker - DA U (of Texas-San Antonio)

• UTSA/Al State - UTSA's football team is coached by Larry Coker. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with basketball, but honestly who knows anything about either of these schools?
• USC/VCU - Every year people bitch about one or two teams getting in and those teams end up doing well...VCU is my pick to win this round.
• UNC Asheville/Arkansas Little Rock - I don't really care and neither does anyone else. I'm picking UNC Asheville because I've heard of them before. 
• UAB/Clemson - UAB has no business in this tournament. 

2nd Round

East Winners

• Ohio State 1, Villanova 9, West Virginia 5, Kentucky 4, Marquette 11, Syracuse 3, Washington 7, North Carolina 2

The possible #1 pick in the worst draft...ever.

• Sullinger is absolutely nasty. Ohio State is the top team in the tourney.
• Mason's going to be a popular pick because of their final four run several years ago and Nova's struggles...which is why I'm picking Villanova.
•  Clemson's extremely lucky to be in the tournament and Huggins has West Virginia playing well enough to advance several rounds in the tournament.
• Princeton deserves bad karma for keeping Harvard out of the tournament.
• Marquette over Xavier is clearly based on the fact that I think Xavier lost too much from last year and Tu Holloway and the big boy down low is not enough to replace Jordan Crawford for them to do well in the tournament
• Indiana State doesn't have Larry Bird...they're not winning a game.
• North Carolina, might actually be better than another #1 seed (Pitt).

West Winners

• Duke 1, Tennessee 9, Memphis 12, Texas 4, Cincinatti 6, Connecticut 3, Penn State 10, San Diego State 2 
• I hate admitting it, but Duke's got every mark of a championship team - Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, a bunch of shooters, twins (not hot), and oh yeah, defending National Champions
• Despite the nostalgia brought on by the Fab 5 30 for 30, Michigan is not beating Tennessee. Bruce Pearl is going to win some games because well...that's how the NCAA works - you cheat and you win (Michigan knows all about that)
• Memphis is my sleeper this year. I miss when these guys used to be good under Calipari. They're back under Pastner and they're going to surprise people.

The next great coach in college basketball

• Many people have Oakland as their upset in the first round. That's not happening. Jordan Hamilton will not let that happen despite the best efforts of UMKC transfer and Oakland's starting point guard Reggie Hamilton.
• Mizzou doesn't win away from Columbia and as far as I know, this game is not in Columbia. This is most likely Mike Anderson's last game before he takes over Arkansas.
• Kemba Walker is about to embark on a tournament of epic proportions.
• Penn State is riding some heavy momentum and has rebounded strongly from the thrashing they got at the hands of Maryland earlier.
• Steve Fisher deserves a second chance for his Michigan success and San Diego State will prove to be his vindication.

Southwest Winners

•  Kansas 1, Illinois 9, Vanderbilt 5, Louisville 4, VCU 11, Purdue 3, Texas A&M 7, Notre Dame 2

Hated his brother, love him/all white three point shooters

                                

• I don't know why I even explain why #1 seeds win in the first round.
• Demetri McCamey's coming out party.
• Vanderbilt is like my crack. I pick them every year and they always disappoint. I'm going to pick them again.
• I love Pitino in the tournament. His press messes with teams so much and they only have several days to prepare for him.
• Georgetown is not getting past the first round. Teams are going to attack Chris Wright's hand. I would slap his hand several times even if it means committing a foul.
• Robbie Hummel went down at the beginning of the year and Matt Painter's coaching still got Purdue a 3 seed. I hope they do well for Hummel's sake.
• Florida State sucks when Singletons not 100%.
• Notre Dame is my NATIONAL CHAMPION so they have to win. Right?

 Southeast Winners

• Pittsburgh 1, Butler 8, Kansas State 5, Wisconsin 4, St. Johns 6, BYU 3, Michigan State 10, UCSB 15



No Daily Darsh is complete without Jimmer

• Pittsburgh is the weakest of the #1's. They don't have a good history in the NCAA's and this goes back to the Ben Howland teams...speaking of Ben Howland...
• The Pac 10 is madly overrated and Izzo's got his team peaking at the right time. Spartans are going to put a beat down on UCLA
• Butler wins purely on the merit that they got to the National Championship game a year ago and have enough left over talent to beat ODU
• Kansas State is my semi-cinderella this year and Jacob Pullen is going to shock the world - NOT JUWAN HOWARD
• Belmont could beat Bo Ryan's Badgers, but usually a team which gets upset the previous year in the first round plays extra carefully to not have it happen again. I don't have any stats to back it up, but common sense. 
• I love Gonzaga, but the Johnnies are fun to watch and I support Steve Lavin's white sneakers
• Fredette vs NYC in the second round. This is prior to him taking on Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Hell in the battle against sinners.



Shocking the world is what the Gauchos do

• UCSB over Florida is going to be the biggest upset of the tournament which no one is talking about. UCSB is tournament tested and they're going to SHOCK THE WORLD!!!

Final Four: Ohio State, Duke, Notre Dame, Kansas State
Championship Game: Ohio State - Notre Dame
Champion: Notre Dame Fighting Irish - I have Abromaitis-itis.

Abroamaitisisisisisis