One Sad Note, A Wild Thursday of NCAA Hoops

Thursday was an incredible sports day that was marred by a terrible tragedy. John Vukovich, who has been in the Phillies organization seemingly forever, passed away at age 59. Vuke, who had the shortest tenure of any manager in major league history of about one hour with the Cubs back in the mid 1980’s, is a guy that probably nobody outside of Philly knew of, but everybody inside Philly loved. I would go into more details, but Jayson Stark did it for me (and a lot better). If you want to read more, go here.

Now back to college hoops. One note, I will be updating the blog both Saturday and Sunday this weekend (and maybe a second post today), so check back often…..

Wow. If Thursday was any indication, next week is going to be as wild as ever in the NCAA Tournament. Of all the conference tournament games yesterday, over 35% of the lower seeds won their games outright. Nine (yes, 9) games went into overtime, and three went into double overtime. The ACC alone saw all four lower seeds win, three of them in overtime, Wake Forest in double OT!

Now, let me get right to addressing Duke. I have a few comments:

• Their season continues to be disappointing. They have now lost 7 of 11 and seem to lack the ability to make the big play (scoring, rebounding, whatever) at the big time
• I would hope no Duke fans would use the Henderson suspension as an excuse for losing last night. The bottom line is that if you cannot beat the #10 seed on Thursday, you do not deserve to stick around for the weekend.
• Anyone that says that Duke does not deserve to make the NCAA Tournament based on the current criteria of choosing the 34 best non-automatic qualifiers either does not understand the criteria, does not understand college basketball, or simply blindly hates Duke. Duke is 22-10 against the second hardest schedule in the country. They have 3 wins against the RPI top 25 and 8 against the RPI top 50 (they had 9 but Davidson dropped to #51!). Only North Carolina (11), UCLA (9), and Maryland (9) have more (interesting that both UCLA and Maryland also lost yesterday in HUGE upsets, but I digress). So let’s just admit that Duke is not all that good this year, but they are certainly good enough to be in the tournament, and in my estimation, are very clearly headed for an 8 vs. 9 game.
• The “growing up” and coming together” of this team was supposed to happen by now. It hasn’t. Your time is up, coach!
• The last time Duke had a seed this low was 1996, when they, as a #8, lost to a mid major in Eastern Michigan, led by a tiny guard names Earl Boykins.
• The last time Duke failed to make the Sweet 16 was 1997, when as a #2 they lost to #10 Providence and Austin Croshere in the second round.

I am simply amazed that Maryland, who is as hot as any team in the country, and I even picked on the George Rogers show this week to go to the Final 4, lost to Miami for the second time this year. As strange as it sounds, that loss may help Maryland avoid that kind of performance in the NCAAs. It will cost them a seed or two for sure, so it may not have been worth the wake up call.

The two most disappointing teams in the entire country this season both had their hopes and dreams shattered yesterday, with Alabama going down to Kentucky, and San Diego St. losing to Colorado St. Alabama will point to Ronald Steele’s ongoing knee troubles. In my opinion San Diego St. was faced with a mediocre at best head coach who was not able to adjust his coaching to fit his talent this year (or he couldn’t get them to listen). I really thought both these teams has Sweet 16 if not Elite 8 talent.

The team that everyone will be picking to go far, that will lose early is Texas. Everyone is on the Kevin Durant bandwagon and rightfully so. He has a chance to be an All World player, and from what you read, he seems like he is a great kid as well. However, the guy that may have more to do with their postseason success than Durant is D.J. Augustin, a tantalizingly talented guard who has shown more and more brilliance as they season has worn on. I still think Augustin, also a Freshman, is prone to playing out of control too much, something which I fear is most likely in the early rounds of the tourney, especially when they start pressing in a game they feel they should be winning but is close late.

On the flip side, the team that nobody will talk about, everybody will pick to lose early, but could surprise people with how long they stay around is Pittsburgh. This team has experience, good guard play, perimeter shooting, a good big man, and a solid coach. Watch the Panthers.

The two teams that deserve to be in the big dance but could get left out Sunday are Drexel and Appalachian State. Keep your fingers crossed, as these guys can win a game if they get there.

We have 39 more glorious games today, starting at noon (we’ve got day games!!!). For people stuck at work, you can see some of the espn stuff free on espn 360.

A couple slam dunks today: Purdue over Iowa, Indiana over Illinois, Vandy over Arkansas, Kentucky over Mississippi State, Miami (ohio) over Toledo, and Georgetown over Notre Dame, and Pitt over Louisville. Good luck, and enjoy.