Our Last Tournament Post (Until Next Year)

A few things before we start;

1) Like most people who fill out a fantasy sports bracket, I had more than one bracket to complete. But unlike most people, I filled out all three of them exactly the same. Now, from conversations that I’ve had with people who felt the need to rationalize every pick in every bracket they’ve ever filled out, I realize that most people love to hedge their bets. I talked to people who filled out as many as 5 brackets, and filled them all out differently. While I understand this is a logical move, I can’t see how this can be beneficial from a superstition standpoint. Sure, in one of your pools you may do well, and if you fill out enough brackets, the odds increase in your favor. But then you’re that guy (I’d say or girl here too, but Girls are probably smarter than us) at the casino who puts a hundred dollars on the roulette table, spreads it all out over every number, hits one number, celebrates incessantly without bothering to do the math and realize he barely broke even. I’ve seen it happen.

2) While I’m complaining about how bad my bracket is, I should address an experiment I did before the tournament began. My friend Weasel (not her real name, but one I gave her) knows nothing about college basketball, so I entered her in the Burnside pool to see if her random picks would grant her success. The reason being, I wrote in an NCAA preview a while back that stated confidently that most people who pick a solid bracket know little or nothing about basketball. I let her click away at random, and I wasn’t even going to tell her what the seedings meant, until she clicked Jackson State over Florida and I had mercy. Her Final Four? Louisville, UNC, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech (I think she found a lot of allure in the Technical schools. You can’t get distracted in this business). Anyways, I beat Weasel, but only by three correct picks and we both finished bottom five in the group. The lesson here? I suck, she sucks and I hate fantasy sports because they make me look stupid.

3) The more I thought about it the more I realized North Carolina’s meltdown against the Hoyas last weekend was absolutely ridiculous. I tried to think of another time in sports where one team was clearly in the driver’s seat and then stopped doing what it was that made them successful. The Tar Heels took jumper after jumper, never bothering to make the Hoyas defend, and basically handed the game over on a silver platter. Which got me thinking; coaching has to be one of the worst jobs in the world. Can you imagine Roy Williams thought process while he’s watching this happen? What was he saying in timeouts? “Sure Wayne (Ellington), I know you’re not hot right now, but keep jacking 20-footers until you get it figured out. Take your time.” I’m thinking not, but it happened anyways. I’d probably die of a heart attack on the sidelines, blue in the face from stress and yelling. Add to the fact that they have to recruit and there is little job security and I’m thinking coaches should be higher than dentists on the ‘professional most likely to commit suicide list.”

4) Another reason there’s egg on my face; I bolded stated a while back that there was NO WAY that Ohio St and Florida would meet in the championship because the odds of two schools playing in the National basketball and football championships had to be so miniscule it simply could not happen. Well, here we are. I am actually kind of pissed about it. I watched the game between the two teams in late December which Florida won by a little less than one million points. But Ohio St is rolling right now, with Mike Conley Jr stealing the show, so it should be a great game. I’ll say a little more further down.

5) I feel I should weigh in on the Oden or Durant for first pick debate. Watching Oden elevate and try to dunk over a Hoyas player yesterday, I was again struck with the big man’s athleticism. He looked more like a 6’6” swingman with springs than he did a lumbering 7-footer. I feel it was the most exciting moment of the entire tournament. I have spent a lot of time wondering how each one projects to the NBA level. Oden represents limitless potential for a big man, but I think it’ll take him a little longer than Durant to blast through the stratosphere of NBA stardom, as they say. For now, offense is no problem for Oden, because everyone (except Hibbert) was at least 4 inches smaller than him. Sure he dominated the stronger Joey Dorsey, but Dorsey is headed to your local YMCA, not an NBA starting line-up. When Oden does refine his offensive game, which I have no doubt he’ll be able to do, he’ll have no problem scoring virtually at will. Defensively, he won’t be able to cheat as much for weak-side blocks as he does in college, because NBA players force you to be more honest. He’ll still be a dominant factor on defense before he will on offense. And as a bonus, he’ll have that extra foul.

Durant represents what I feel is an NBA sure thing. I think people give him credit for being more athletic than he really is, but his offensive game is as diverse as we’ve seen in college since Carmelo Anthony, and you could make the argument Durant was better in college than Anthony was. At 6’9” and with endless range, if Durant improves his explosiveness off the dribble he’ll be like a hybrid of Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady, meaning he’ll be a double-double machine that can shoot from 25-feet out and get you 12 boards a game. Both of these guys will define a franchise or the next 10-years or so. No pressure though. I’d hate to be a GM trying to split hairs with the first pick of the draft. Although, I’m certain you can’t make a bad pick out of these two guys, and it certainly won’t be as high on the draft-blunder list as Darko Milicic before Anthony, Bosh and Wade.

Some thoughts from the Final Four:

I was thoroughly looking forward to the Oden-Hibbert match-up which of course was hindered by the big fellas frequently finding themselves in foul trouble. Hey, it wouldn’t be a college game if key big men weren’t in foul trouble. I understand that they play 8 less minutes than the NBA, but the college game isn’t as fluid, and if the refs are going to keep calling early ticky-tack fouls, why not throw the world a bone and give the players the extra foul. We want to see those guys on the court, and its not like some of these touch fouls are sufficient cause for the “if they can’t stop fouling they shouldn’t be on the court,” argument.

Nonetheless, Roy Hibbert has done a lot to improve his draft stock in this tournament. All of the talk before the game was about how Hibbert had a chance to improve his draft stock if he put a big game against Greg Oden. Hibbert showed in the last two weeks that he’s grown more comfortable in his 7’2” frame, and he posted 19 points and 6 boards in just 23 minutes in the biggest game of his life. Last weekend against the Tar Heels, Hibbert showed a drop-step-dunk move that dropped my jaw, and on that play alone I’d give Hibbert a look in the lottery. At his size it’s a wonder he’s that fluid, especially since two years ago he looked like a robot in Air Force One’s. John Thompson III said in Hibbert’s first year all he had to teach him was how to run and catch. It’s amazing that he’s come as far as he has.

Mike Conley Jr blows my mind. I know everyone is raving about him after the Buckeyes win, and while I’d love to bring you a different perspective (and maybe give all the credit to Matt Terwilliger) I can’t break out of the mould on this one. Conley does everything well, and he does it like he’s 23, not 18. I’ll stop here and avoid repeating the cliches (floor general, poised, potent scorer, takes over games at key times, etc.).

I didn’t watch the Florida-UCLA game because I had to play in my hockey teams league championship game (we won). I still hate Florida, still can’t stand Joakim Noah and I’m growing quite sick of all the hype around the Gators. That being said, you may have inferred that I’ll be cheering for the Buckeyes on Monday night.

By now I should have learned that I shouldn’t make predictions. I’m almost certain I doomed Georgetown by jumping on their bandwagon, and you’d think I’d learn my lesson, but I can’t concede to the Gators on this one. The only thing that will salvage this tournament is a Buckeye victory.