Monday Recap/Tuesday Preview

I'm going to try and get into the habit of posting before I go to bed every night. That way, people can read my thoughts first thing in the morning, and get a good recap of the night before, and a good sense of what is ahead of them during the upcoming day. Yeah, I'm narcissistic enough to think that people will want to hear what I think first thing in the morning, every morning. They can't eat breakfast, walk the dog, see the kids off to school, because they need to hear my thoughts about St. Marys.

Monday Recap:

Four tickets punched. St. Peters, who I sort of bashed earlier today, beats Iona after losing to them by an average of 16 pts/game in the regular season. ODU prevented VCU from stealing a bid from an at-large team. Congratulations to Wofford and friends on their second straight tournament bid. And in the game of the night, Gonzaga completed their successful turnaround by winning the WCC tournament. Earlier, I spoke about the possibility of two teams getting in from the CAA or the WCC. After watching tonight, I say no to VCU, and ehhhhhhh to St. Marys.

If I was going by the "eye test," I thought St. Marys played well tonight - until every player on their team fouled out. If I look at their entire resume, I cannot really argue their being in. Granted, 6 of their 8 losses are reallly, really good losses: BYU, SDSU, Vandy, Utah State, and Gonzaga x2. The loss to Portland is okay, and the loss to San Diego is god awful. Their best win was against St. Johns, all the way back in November (St. Johns first game!), and their best wins besides that are Gonzaga and Long Beach State. Beyond that, maybe Texas Tech - who just fired Pat Knight today. St. Marys played the 124th hardest schedule. Overall, very so-so profile. Will 24-8 cut it?

Wait a minute? Whats that you say? St. Marys' season isnt over? How is that possible? They just lost to Gonzaga. The conference tournament is the end of the season, and then you go to the NCAA, NIT, CBI, CIT, or whatever other tournament. Well, not if you're St. Marys.

St Marys went out of their way to schedule Weber State for Friday night. They didn't schedule this game at the beginning of the year, but rather on February 22nd. Is this date significant in anyway? Yes, if you consider that on Feb 16 St Marys lost to San Diego, Feb 19 they lost to Utah State, Feb 22 they scheduled the game, and Feb 24 they lost to Gonzaga. WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT. They were 22-4 and doing fine. Then, as soon as things start to go bad for them, they schedule an extra game as a hedge. Theyre asking for a mulligan, and they got one. Anyone could do this, but no one does because it is, as Jesus from the Big Lebowski would say "Bush league psycho-out shit." My hope is that the selection committee just sees this either as a loss, or a non-existent game. I can't believe there isnt more outrage over this. You play the fucking schedule you're assigned.

Tomorrows games:

Tomorrow does not feature many exciting games, but it is only Tuesday. If I had to pick any of the Big East favorites to lose, I would take Villanova, but most likely none will. Dana O' Neil of course said that Nova and Uconn, two traditionally strong teams, being involved on the first day of the Big East tourney is good for the conference, because "now they wont have lackluster teams on the first day." a) this is one of the most pathetic attempts at spinning something I ever heard. B) That doesnt even make sense. You'd rather have Uconn and Nova finish in the bottom half of your conference than be a top 4 seed? Beyond this, isnt this insulting to the other teams in the Big East, the same conference youre trying to promote? You're saying it would be worse if Cincinnati and West Virginia played the first day? Fuck you O'Neill.

The Ivy League champion could be determined tomorrow. If Penn pulls the minor upset at the Palestra, Harvard will be crowned champion and advance to the tournament. If Princeton wins, Princeton and Harvard will have a one game playoff, which I think I heard is going to be played at Yale on Friday. Im going to take the upset, and go with the Quakers.

Other upset looming: Wisky-Milwaukee, (at home) against Butler. Bubble teams better pray Butler wins tomorrow. Not so much because Butler is a lock to make the tourney if they lose, but Milwaukee certainly will not make it if they lose. So, if they don't want to have to sweat another team, Butler winning can take care of that.

Im going to go with the upset though. Milwaukee has beaten Butler twice this year. They've won 10/11, and they're playing at home. They're looking to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006, when they ran into the eventual champions, Florida, in the 2nd round.

Butler has opened as a three point favorite.

The Big Sky tourney continues tomorrow as well. Potential pitfall for Weber State, as they may be looking ahead to that meaningless game against St. Marys on Friday.