NCAA 2008.pdf (425.81 kb)

That's who I've got. Who you got?

The Georgia Bulldogs come into the NCAA tournament riding the wave of possibly the biggest emotional high of any team involved this weekend. A team that wasn't "supposed" to be in the tournament at all is now the tourney darling. The Bulldogs got the bid as the number 14 seed in the West by beating four teams in four days in the SEC tournament. Really they won four games in three days as they had to play two games in one day due to the tornado that ripped through Georgia on Friday night and ripped apart the Georgia Dome (the host site for the SEC tournament). Because of that Georgia had to play two games on Saturday. The first game was against one of the hottest teams coming into March Madness, the Kentucky Wildcats. What made things even worse was that the Georgia had to go to overtime in order to beat Kentucky. They did just that and moved on to play the SEC West regular season champions, Mississippi State.

If ever there was a Cinderella team in a conference tournament, Georgia was it as they went on to win yet again and move on to the SEC championship. There they played the Arkansas Razorbacks, a team that just defeated the best team in the SEC in the Tennessee Volunteers. So this had to be the end of their run right? Wrong! Georgia would pull away from Arkansas early and coast to an SEC title.

In the end, Georgia turned a rough season into one that ended up saving their head coach's (Billy Humphrey) job. They only won four games in the SEC in the regular season and then won the SEC tournament in amazing fashion. They come into the Big Dance with a 17-16 record. That's not a record that should scare anyone in the tournament really, especially considering Georgia played in the SEC, which wasn't nearly as great a conference as it has been in the past.

Unfortunately for Georgia, their dance will probably be short as they drew the Xavier Musketeers in the first round this weekend. Xavier, the Atlantic 10 regular season champs, got bounced early from their conference tournament by St. Joseph's. Even with that the Muskies got a #3 seed, their highest seed in school history. The time off for the Muskies is exactly what they needed in order to get Drew Lavender's leg as close to 100% as possible. With that rest Xavier is one of the scarier teams in the tournament. A run to the sweet 16, even the Elite 8 isn't out of the question for them. And it starts Thursday afternoon at 12:20 when Xavier attempts to show dance darling, Georgia, the door, and spin them right off the floor and right out of the tournament.

Despite the fact he would make $250,000 for showing, Chad Johnson is opting to not attend the team's voluntary workout this weekend, according to the Cinicnnati Enquirer. It would be the first time Johnson has ever missed the workouts.

"I will not be there," Johnson said. "There are a lot of issues that need to be dealt with. Nothing has changed." Johnson wants either a new contract or a trade. The team is unlikely to deal him due to the $8 million cap hit it would take.

Johnson appeared on NFL Network on Tuesday night...

Looking to take an upset underdog in round one of the Big Dance?  Here are three lower seeded teams and five reasons they’ll walk away winners in their first game.  

UPSET 1: #11 St. Joseph’s over #6 Oklahoma
These seeds could have been flipped because the teams are so similar. Here is why the St. Joseph's Hawks will come out victorious:

• Oklahoma struggles to score (68.4 ppg), their leading scorer is a freshman.
• The Sooners have had four anemic offensive outputs of 45, 45, 54 and 54 in their last seven contests.
• St. Joe’s has allowed more than 66 points just once in their last eight games (79 @ Dayton).  Four of those games were against NCAA tournament teams Xavier & Temple.
• The Hawks will not have problems scoring.  Pat Calathes, Rob Ferguson and Ahmad Nivins have combined for 3,468 points over the last three seasons.
• Coaching Preparation – Phil Martelli will be able to calm his team down if they struggle early or face a Sooner second half flurry.  It’s the X factor.

UPSET 2: #10 Davidson over #7 Gonzaga
This could be the year the Davidson Wildcats breakout and win that elusive first round game.  Here is why they will against the Zags:

• Senior leadership, the Wildcats four-year players (Thomas Sander, Boris Meno and Jason Richard) are 98-31 in their careers with three straight NCAA appearances an NIT Elite Eight finish as well.
• Great guard play led by sophomore All-American Stephen Curry (1,503 career points on pace for 3,000) and outstanding point guard Jason Richard who averaged 13.0 points and 8.7 assists in the three loses vs. UCLA, Duke and North Carolina earlier in the year.
• Over confident Bulldog pre-game tone.  The Zags approach should reflect an urgency rather than overly confident arrogant swagger they seem to be portraying going into this match up.  The Zags may already be looking ahead to a potential second round tilt with Georgetown.
• Weak WCC schedule, it is hard to judge how good Gonzaga is when five of eight conference opponents were sub .500 on the year.  They combined for just 51 wins and 106 total loses.
• No senior leadership on offense for Gonzaga. Four-year players are non-existent as scoring threats, no “go-to” guys.  Top four point producers are underclassmen.

UPSET 3: #5 Drake vs. #12 Western Kentucky
A 28-win season gets the Drake Bulldogs a #5 seed and a bad opening round match up with WKU.  The Hilltoppers (27-6) have won 18 of their last 19 games: 

• Equal footing, neither team has Tournament experience BUT WKU has tourney history, which could play a big advantage in this game.
• Pressure defense on the Drake guards.  The Hilltoppers defense forces a turnover in one of every four opponent possessions.
• America meet NBA prospect Courtney Lee.  The WKU difference maker is a  6’5” senior “slasher” and has tallied 2,176 career points.  This is a coming out party for him.
• Offsetting guard play.  The Hillltoppers top five scorers are guards.  Drake’s top two scoring threats are guards who are being fed by MVC POY Adam Emmenecker.
• Mediocre MVC, only three teams finished more than four games above .500 on the year.  Hard to get a grip on how special Drake’s season was. 

I thought the NIT trying to sue the NCAA Tournament was about as low as it could get in the NCAA.

I thought the NIT trying to offer money to the top teams to play in their tournament instead of the Big Dance might be it.

Now the NCAA goes and creates the Can't Be Invited (CBI) Tournament for teams that were too bad to even make the Not Invited Tournament (NIT)

Is it money and greed that is driving this or sheer stupidity?

UC's players should have told Mick Cronin they just want to go home.  There is no way I would play in that tournament.