Monday, March 18, 2013

The Bracket Draw: Roy, then Burke


I always fill out my bracket with the hope that if my team goes down, then I'll still have a rooting interest in the tournament. But I do think that, while getting past Ol' Roy will be fun, our main weakness all year is going to kill us against the Michigan Wolverines. Trey Burke may be the best point guard in the country in terms of NBA talent level. plus they have athletic wings in the two 2nd generation NBA kids, Tim Hardaway Jr and Glenn Robinson III. Beelin (sp.?) is a pretty good coach as I recall from his days at WV.

Hopefully, the late emergency of Perry Ellis, combined with a "hot or cold"/ Hot performance from Ellijah will get us past that game, but it looks like the last 4 seed I would've wanted to match up with. I think we kill Syracuse or SLU (we already did kill SLU).

If we get past Big Blue, then I think we can beat Gtown/Florida (though Florida is the tougher out, with the better guard play). Then I think Indiana would take us out. But I never thought last year's team would make it to the finals either, so what do I know?

Bring on the Hilltoppers!


Incidentally, if you didn't catch the 30 for 30 special on Jim Valvano and NC State's 30 yr anniversary of their championship, very much worth watching if you can DVR it or catch it on netflix. Everyone knows about the championship game (though I'd forgotten what big underdogs they were), but they had a pretty amazing run of comeback games to get there too.

My Final Four: Mich. St, Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana

(I think Florida takes out Mich if we lose, Big10 heavy I know, or isthe the "B1G", whatever, that logo's stupid).

What do you guys think of our draw?

19 comments:

  1. I haven't figured out my brackets yet, but in terms of KU's draw, I see it a bit differently. Michigan and North Carolina present problems for us defensively, and you may be right that Burke would have a big game against EJ. But those teams don't guard anybody.

    I'm more scared of VCU in the Sweet 16, not because of the ghosts of 2011 but because they're a pressure team with the best turnover margin in the country--as Bilas points out, that's the perfect formula to knock off a KU team that's suspect at PG.

    Of course, Trey Burke is more likely to be able to handle that press, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Wolverines are waiting for us in Dallas rather than VCU, and that would be fine by me.

    Other than VCU, the teams that scare me most would be in that next round -- Georgetown and Florida, which are both powerful defensive teams. Of course, both are vulnerable to early flameouts (the Hoyas never seem to play to seed, and the Gators struggled late vs. a weak SEC), so who knows.

    I did watch "Survive and Advance." It dragged some in places, but I can never get enough candid Valvano footage. And it gave me newfound respect for him as a coach. Deliberately fouling with 30 seconds left in a TIE GAME? That crazy Italian sonofab*!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I havent seen "HAVOK" in action this year, but i can see your point on vcu.

    And yeah, ive never seen intentional fouling in tie games, that was crazy.

    Also, i will be in lawrence this weekend, so assuming we handle WKU, then maybe we could watch nova/unc winner 2nd rd.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually I'll be at the Sprint Center on Sunday; KU had better be there too. Maybe we can hook up on Saturday if we're in Lawrence...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, my Dad got us tickets just for Sunday. We were there last weekend too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, if you change your mind & decide you want to watch with the Seattle alumni group, just let me know...

    Our region looks like a lot of fun to me. And I kind of like that we seem to be getting the least amount of attention among the 1's. We're not the overall 1; we're not from the amazing big 10; we're not that upstart midmajor with a great record from a mysterious conference.

    Anyway, I need to study this field and/or just pick KU and flip coins for the rest. Cheers. Someone want to set up a Jayhawk Nation pool?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've got a bracket on Yahoo. Not on any pool, though.

    My final four:

    KU
    SYRACUSE
    OHIO STATE
    DUKE

    We beat Duke. Why not? Wouldn't be surprised to see four other teams standing.

    Suspicious of Louisville. As recently as a week ago, everyone insisted Duke/Indiana were the only elites among the field. Now, everyone admits that the field is wide open, but somehow Louisville is head and shoulders above the rest. I'm reacting more against the hype than the team, but it's a free country, so screw.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My Final Four is a hybrid of Scott's and Chris's: I agree with Scott on Indiana and (sleeper!) Wisconsin, but I concur with Chris that it's Kansas over Duke in the final.

    I'm suspicious of the Louisville bandwagoneering too. I guess they're the trendy pick because the last game all the media elites saw was the Cards coming back to crush the 'Cuse, but they've been up and down all year and they're due for another loss. Saint Louis seems like just the team to provide it. (Speaking of which, Scott, we played Saint Louis just around the time that Majerus died, so I don't think that was a good indication of how good they were.)

    On another note, I was somewhat surprised that Randle picked Kentucky today. A lot of the recruiting experts said we had become the favorite. What a weird 18-hour period for Kentucky fans--losing in the NIT to Robert Morris in a tiny gym after being exiled from Rupp in favor of rival Louisville, Calipari implying he wants to run some players out of the program--and then the #2 recruit in the nation committing for next year, giving them something like six incoming McDonald's guys and (ESPN gurus say) probably ensuring a preseason #1 rank.

    And they're somehow still in the running for the #1 guy, Wiggins, along with other schools including KU. I won't hold my breath on that one, but it is a good sign that we at least got visits from both #1 and #2--I don't know if that's ever happened.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Holy moly. Anybody else getting scared of VCU yet?

    Meanwhile, we've apparently seen the last of Phil Pressey and Marcus Smart.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was pretty disappointed by OSU. I mean, they beat us at home for heaven's sake! Oh well... That other team you mention? Meh.

    I didn't actually watch VCU; figure if we get a little deeper there's time to catch myself up. One of the halftime segments we caught made the point that VCU was basically the only midmajor high seed playing like a high seed. Which is to say, I guess, that they don't seem any more scary than any other 5 would seem...

    I'd picked Montana last night, and Duke still seems shaky to me, so I can't support many of your FF picks. I'm going with the obvious Cardinals and Hoosiers, and I do agree about the Badgers--they know how to win. Of course, I have to pick our Jayhawks in the end.

    Speaking of Kansas's excellence, did anyone catch this tidbit on kusports?

    KU is one of three teams with perfect APR scores and 100 percent graduation rates of the 68 teams in the tournament, NCAA Research tweeted on Sunday. Notre Dame and Belmont are the others. Six teams in the tourney have perfect APRs: KU, Notre Dame, Belmont, Butler, Memphis and Michigan. Eleven teams have 100 percent graduation rates: KU, Belmont, Bucknell, Duke, Davidson, Harvard, Illinois, Pacific, Notre Dame, Villanova and Western Kentucky.

    Now let's win it on the court!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You're saying our team is a bunch of NERRRRRDS?

    VCU didn't play like a 5 seed. A 5 seed doesn't beat a 12 by 46 friggin' points. They played like a 1 seed. (The caveat is that Akron was apparently beset by the flu or something, so we'll see if they can keep it up against Michigan. No disrespect to the Wolverines -- they could beat us -- but I think I'd rather play them.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think it's clear by now that if anyone is the nerd it's me. Just nice to have seniors who are going to graduate. Makes it feel like real college ball.

    Also: Ouch! So much for the Badgers! Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah, my Badgers did what 5 seeds usually do -- lose in the first round -- thanks to Marshall Mathers, er, Henderson. I should have known, after all those early Wisconsin exits over the years, but I thought they were due.

    That opens things up nicely for K-State -- except OOPS, the 'Cats are down 18 to LaSalle at the half. It's madness, I tell you, MADNESS.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your badgers huh? Well, I guess you can have them now ;)

    I do enjoy the madness.

    But when this many games look this mad, a part of me can't help but wonder about the seeding...

    ReplyDelete
  14. No question that say, Oregon and Cal were underseeded. The committee even admitted it. And Roy may be right that his boys were underseeded too, although that's debatable.

    'Cats making a big comeback...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah, not sure what to think about K-State. I'm getting upset weary, and I want the Big12 to do well... But Bruce Webber is so annoying...

    ReplyDelete
  16. They came all the way back to take the lead then blew it in the end. Nothing more frustrating for a fan than that. Can't believe the Sweet 16's going to have either Ole Miss or LaSalle.

    I'm always good with upsets as long as it's not KU being upset, but it does suck to see the Big 12 make a poor showing. I do have Iowa St. knocking off Ohio St. next round, though.

    ReplyDelete
  17. If they had to lose, I can't say I'm sorry it happened with Webber calling for a timeout but being ignored.

    And if that sounds mean, well, I guess I can live with that.

    But that comeback never felt like it would take. Can't get down by 18, it's just too much.

    I would love to see that Cyclone win, even though I didn't pick it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Meanwhile what is happening to Georgetown? And Florida? And hell, Villanova?

    ReplyDelete