TicketsFor a brief moment I forgot how fantastic Championship Week is -- then I turned on the final 10 minutes of VCU-ODU last night. There's no duplicating the desperation of a team like Virginia Commonwealth who must win to deliver its dream.
They came back from 18 down in the second half to cut the lead to one point. The intensity from the players was only matched by the roars from their crowd filling one half of the gym.
You just won't find that spirit anywhere except college basketball.
This will be a fun week.
Let's eat...
--- Obviously, some disappointment yesterday over Rashad Bishop's snub as Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Syracuse center Rick Jackson won the award.
Jackson led the league in blocks and rebounding. Traditionally, those stats have been hard to overcome. I wrote about the numbers behind that award earlier this year.
"Over the past 10 years, the award went to a center seven times. Owning the paint and leading the conference in blocks almost always equals a DPOY. Three times it went to a guard. Jerel McNeal in 2007 set Marquette's all-time record for steals in a career. In 2001 and 2002 John Linehan went back-to-back nearly setting the NCAA single-season steals record in the process."
Without numbers, it requires the coaches voting for the award to put too much time into it. Just doesn't happen. A guy like Bishop who guards and shuts down great players as he did has no real measuring stick statistic to base it on.
"Nobody on our team seems to warrant consideration for our accomplishments," Cronin said. "That's the problem with 16 teams, though. You can't honor everybody."
Cronin went on to compliment Jackson on working himself into a top tier player during his four seasons, just admitting being disappointed for his guy Bishop.
--- Bishop's snub played perfectly into the theme of the media session, though.
Cronin pointed out seven teams ahead of them in the AP poll have worse records. When a team like Georgetown at 22-9 and who UC beat up twice in the last two weeks is three spots ahead at No. 22 it's tough to phathom.
"That sucks," Biggie McClain said.
Or a team like Kansas State, who is 22-9 and ranked at No. 19. They've been hot lately, as have the Bearcats, but still only have two wins against teams ranked in the Top 25 of the RPI. UC has five.
Gary Parrish had this to say about the Coaches Poll:
Coaches poll: I doubted and discounted Cincinnati much of this season and applauded those who were with me. But at some point it's impossible to ignore the Bearcats' resume, and we reached that point over the past week when Cincinnati won at Marquette and then beat Georgetown. Yes, the win over Georgetown is a win over the Hoyas sans Chris Wright. But it's still a win that pushed the Bearcats to 24-7 and allowed them to finish sixth in a Big East conference that has seven members ranked in the latest coaches poll.
The problem?
Cincinnati isn't one of the seven.
Which is crazy considering the Bearcats have five top-25 RPI wins and zero losses outside of the top 35 of the RPI. Not to pick on Utah State, but the Aggies have zero top-25 RPI wins and a loss to Idaho (129th in the RPI), and they're ranked 17th in the coaches poll that doesn't rank UC at all. Again, that's crazy. And you'll see just how crazy next Sunday when the Bearcats get a better seed than Utah State in the NCAA tournament despite being ranked much lower in the coaches poll.
But, that's the beauty of college basketball. None of that really matters. It will all play itslef out on the court the next few weeks.
--- For the most part, Mick Cronin has played the disrespect card as a motivator all year and it meant little else. For the first time he showed some concern about a tangible effect it could have on UC's seed.
I wrote about all of his comments in yesterday's post here.
--- Bill Koch wrote about UC's defense carrying their way through the Big East tournament. UC ranks tops in the league in average points against overall and second just in Big East games (Pittsburgh).
If you look at KenPom's defensive efficiency rating, UC ranks 10th in the country and only one decimal point behind Louisville for tops in the Big East.
--- Ballin' is a Habit previews the Big East tournament and calls Notre Dame the favorite. He placed UC into the deep sleeper category. The fact he has St. John's as the sleeper playing at MSG where they have been impossible to beat this year is saying something about the league or proves BIAH is missing the point.
The Dagger previews as well and points toward a likely St. John's-Syracuse battle of New York as the turning point.
I asked Darnell and Biggie who was the favorite during yesterday's session and after saying themselves, I made them pick another team and they started running down the list of Pitt, St. John's and Notre Dame and it just proved how wide open this tourney will be.
Here's today's schedule:
Tuesday, March 8 - First Round (ESPN2/ESPN 3D)
Noon: No. 9 Connecticut (21-9) vs. No. 16 DePaul (7-23)
2 p.m.: No. 12 Seton Hall (13-17) vs. No. 13 Rutgers (14-16)
Tuesday, March 8 - First Round (ESPNU/ESPN 3D)
7 p.m.: No. 10 Villanova (21-10) vs. No. 15 USF (9-22)
9 p.m.: No. 11 Marquette (18-13) vs. No. 14 Providence (15-16)
--- I don't predict UC games on here because it ends up as a lose-lose proposition for me. But I'll go ahead and pick the rest of the games in the tournament and see how I do. (Until I miss all the games on the first day and this bit will be instantly canceled)
Winners: UConn -- With Cleveland Melvin, I would have thought about it; without, no chance.
Seton Hall -- I like Rutgers, but Seton Hall has been on fire of late, hitting 24 of 39 3-pointers.
Villanova -- I would say nobody is playing worse than Nova right now, except USF.
Marquette -- First to 100 points wins. You know when the last time Providence won away from home? Nov. 24 vs. Wyoming on a neutral floor.
It should be a pretty chalk day for the opener, but all heck will break loose after that.
--- The folks at Syracuse's Magician blog break out the flow chart for the Big East tournament.
--- Behind the scenes of the routines of teams during the week in NY.
--- Jim Calhoun is upset about Kemba Walker not being unanimous first team All Big East and some of Cronin's comments about Walker's recruitment to UC (taken out of context, Cronin was not upset) are brought up by the Huskies coach.
--- Checking in real quick with football, Brian Bennett decided to give UC's workout routine a try. He paid for it. But a great story came out of it in the process.
Sidenote: Kenbrell Thompkins, who came to UC at 180 posted on his Twitter account this week he is up over 200 pounds now.
--- Catching up with Gino Guidugli.
--- On to some randomness...
--- Tom Zbikowski wants to fight Chad Ochocinco. I have a feeling Marvin Lewis wouldn't have a problem with that offseason activity.
--- Tom Brady may or may not be responsible for breaking the Internet today.
--- There are buzzer beaters and then there is this...
How would you like to be the ref of this game? You can't whistle the kid for traveling, can you?