Loyal reader Ivn, (thank you for pointing out the article) pointed out this Scoop Jackson article to me and I just had to cover it for today and put what I was actually going to post today for tomorrow. This article is where Scoop gives his love/hate from the NCAA Tournament, and then in a surprise reveal, says he hasn't filled out a bracket in three years! Whoops, I spoiled it for everyone. Sorry.
This is the typical "I am going to claim to not know anything about the sport so my predictions don't look wrong, yet I want you to believe I know enough to be able to give my opinion if my predictions are right" article. Scoop gives his love/hate list on the NCAA Tournament and then is quick to point out he is too cool to actually fill out a bracket. So for everyone if Scoop is right about these things, he is smarter than you AND DOESN'T EVEN FILL OUT A BRACKET!
Here's what to love, and hate, during the first two rounds of this year's NCAA tournament:
Love: College basketball games
Hate: Lists about what I should love or hate in the NCAA Tournament
LOVE
Best matchup (teams): Temple vs. Cornell will set the stage for all of the Saturday-Sunday games.
I don't think this will be as good of a game as is being predicted. Cornell is 66th in the Kenpom ratings, while Temple is 18th. Temple is 8th in real time RPI with a strength of schedule of 50 and Cornell is 46th with a strength of schedule of 205. Basically, an upset could happen but Temple is a much better team from a much better conference than Cornell. Yes, Cornell can shoot the ball well and played Kansas tough earlier this year, but I think Temple is the best team overall.
Who needs all these stats though? A strength of schedule of 205 isn't bad is it?
This game overrides everything the selection committee might have gotten wrong.
Actually the Selection Committee didn't get that much wrong this year. I know a lot of people think Virginia Tech should have made it, but the team this year was worse than the other two teams over the last two years that didn't make the NCAA Tournament either.
2009-2010: RPI 59 and SoS 133
2008-2009: RPI 61 and SoS 25
2007-2008: RPI 53 and SoS 34
So this Virginia Tech team had more wins but a much easier schedule than the past 2 Virginia Tech teams that didn't make the tournament.
LOVE
Best matchup (players): Greivis Vasquez (Maryland) vs. Aubrey Coleman (Houston) -- the best unknown superstar in the country goes up against the nation's leading scorer.
This is the beginning of a lot of love for Houston. Scoop really feels good about a 19-15 team that went 7-9 in it's own conference and finished 7th before winning the conference tournament. I don't know if I can share this love. They don't play defense and don't rebound, which are two parts of basketball a team needs to be good at to win games.
Aubrey Coleman is a great scorer, there is no doubt about that, but I don't know if Greivis Vasquez is unknown. Maybe not publicized as much as he should be, but probably not unknown.
HATE
Worst placement: Lehigh. Because we'll get only one chance to see C.J. McCollum play (he's the "other" best freshman in the country).
How can you hate the placement of Lehigh? Look, I am sure C.J. McCollum is a great player, but where else should the 22-10 Patriot League champions be placed in the bracket? Their best win this year is against Yale and they lost to Navy this year. I know we don't get to see much of McCollum but where else should the Patriot League champs be placed, but against a #1 or #2 seed?
LOVE
Best seeding: BYU. After two years of being ousted in the first round, the Cougars have a chance to finally win one game by playing a team (Florida) that lives and dies by jump shots.
I think this is actually terrible seeding. BYU went 29-5 , had a 13-3 record in the Mountain West conference, had wins against UTEP, UNLV, and Arizona State. They are 23rd in the RealTimeRPI and 8th in the Kenpom rankings. There could be a case they could be seeded higher than this.
LOVE
Team most likely you will fall in in love with (for only one weekend): Houston. The Cougars won the C-USA as the last seed. They have ballers. For one game they could be the NCAA counterpart to their inner-city companion, Yates High School, the No. 1 school in the country.
Like any true "baller" Scoop Jackson despises defense...just like Houston despises defense and doesn't seem to play that much defense. Sure, they may be fun because they are high scoring, but I won't fall in love with a one-dimensional team. What's with all the love for Houston from Scoop? Everyone loves Tom Penders, but come on, they aren't that great of a team.
HATE
Team most likely to break your heart by weekend's end: Michigan State.
I actually (believe it or not) agree with this. I have New Mexico State beating Michigan State.
LOVE
Worst team to sleep on: Northern Iowa. There are only five other teams in the country that lost four or fewer games. In a tournament where defense (yes, defense!) will determine winners, this team is one of the nation's best.
These guys are the opposite of Houston. They can't score and they have just four assists than turnovers and shoot 43.1% as a team. They are also running into an athletic, deep and careful with the basketball UNLV team. I think I am going to sleep on the slow, white team from Northern Iowa and look like an ass when (if) they beat UNLV.
HATE
Worst region: West. Does anyone really have even a "Nets win the NBA championship" or a "LeBron to the Clippers" chance of beating Syracuse? Anybody?
Without Onuaku, UTEP or Florida State could beat Syracuse. With Onuaku, Kansas State has good enough three point shooting to bust the Syracuse zone. So yes, "anybody" does have a chance.
LOVE
Player you better pay attention to: Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia). Remember CDR a few years ago? He's him, only better.
So Scoop Jackson just compared the best player on the West Virginia team and MVP of the Big East tournament, Da'Sean Butler, to Chris Douglas-Roberts. Douglas-Roberts wasn't even the best player on his own team when Memphis made the Final Four, that was Derrick Rose. Da'Sean Butler is definitely the best player on West Virginia. Also, if anyone has followed college basketball this year, they probably know exactly who Da'Sean Butler is and may not recall who this CDR guy is.
Long story short, everyone should already know who Da'Sean Butler is.
LOVE/HATE
Best love/hate relationship between player and coach: John Calipari and DeMarcus Cousins. Just watch. They can go from George and Weezie to Jon and Kate in seconds.
I like to think this is how their relationship works:
(John Calipari) "DeMarcus, please quit driving around the BMW I bought you and telling everyone I bought it for you. I could get in trouble with the NCAA, for a third time."
(DeMarcus Cousins) "Shit coach, I'm just trying to give you credit for what you have done for me."
(Calipari) "I don't need credit, I want to make sure I can leave a school before I get caught committing NCAA violations. By the way, the guy we pay to go to class for you wants a raise because your classes are getting progressively more difficult. Can you give him something from that wad of cash I left in your glovebox?"
(Cousins) "It's gone."
(Calipari) "Where the hell did it go? That was $3,000. What did you spend it on?"
(Cousins) "I'm taking a vacation with some of my boys down in Tijuana over Spring Break."
(Calipari) "That's right in the middle of the NCAA Tournament, DeMarcus. You have to play in the NCAA Tournament. You have no option, it is part of your scholarship."
(Cousins holding out $7,500 in a wad of cash Calipari and boosters had given him previously, while walking away) "Bitch, I got my scholarship right here. Give me a good recommendation for the NBA Draft or I will tell how you really got Eric Bledsoe to come to Kentucky to play out of his natural position and partially hurt his draft stock while doing so."
I like to think that is how the relationship works. Much like any coach/athlete relationship in NCAA basketball, just a little more volatile.
LOVE
Best show of favoritism: Duke. The selection committee gave the Blue Devils not only a regional and seed nod over Syracuse, but also the winner of the opening-round game. Conspiracy theorists and Duke haters all over the country are hatin' hard.
As opposed to Kansas who got a weak #2 seed in Ohio State (#22 in RPI and a team that will have trouble with any team that has height) and a Georgetown team that lost 10 times this year. Sure, Duke may (maybe, because Baylor and Villanova are terrible matchups for them) have the weakest bracket, I am not going to be a homer enough to say differently, but there are other regionals that aren't that difficult. Scoop Jackson just got done wondering if anyone can beat Syracuse in their bracket, so that may be an example of an easier bracket, depending on your point of view. I think it is a pretty top-heavy year in college basketball and the #1 seeds don't have it that easy regardless of the regional they are in.
Either way, a team has to beat a good team to win the National Championship.
LOVE
Four teams we'll be talking about next week: Siena, San Diego State, UTEP and Baylor.
So many people have picked Baylor at this point, it's almost like I expect them to lose. Interestingly, I also have everyone of these teams winning their first round game except for Siena. I'm not hating on Butler, but they have a foul-prone big man in Matt Howard and UTEP has a good big man in Derrick Caracter. I just don't think this is a good matchup for Butler.
Trust me. I'm like the black Joe Lunardi when it comes to this.
Whoa. Scoop is black? How come he never mentions this or talks about this in his columns at all? I really think he should bring this up more. Possibly he should even base his entire writing personality on this fact.
Except I haven't filled out a bracket in three years. Maybe I should have mentioned that at the top.
Oh no, I think we assumed this to be true. I have a feeling Scoop Jackson just read Joe Lunardi's predictions for the NCAA Tournament and then wrote his own short column because a deadline was coming up. In actuality, Scoop pretty much predicts the same things other people have predicted, like Siena over Purdue, for the tournament and then tells us to watch for potential Big East Player of the Year Da'Sean Butler and potential ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez because they are good players. The only difference in Scoop and other experts is he has a fascination with the University of Houston.
-I know you guys are dying to know who I am picking for the Final Four this year. I have backed off my preseason Villanova and Kansas NCAA Championship Game prediction. Unlike Gregg Easterbrook, if they are the eventual teams in the championship game, I won't take credit and say I was right because I changed my prediction.
My Elite Eight
Kansas v. Georgetown
Syracuse v. Kansas State
Kentucky v. West Virginia
Duke v. Baylor
My Final Four
Kansas v. Syracuse
Kentucky v. Baylor
My Championship Game
Kansas v. Kentucky
Winner
Kansas
I am sticking with my preseason pick for the national title. Yeah, it sounds boring and it probably is, but this year in college basketball has been fairly top heavy and I really think these are the best 8 teams in the country. Imagine how good Baylor would have been if they had landed John Wall.
Two other things...I don't think Villanova will make the Elite Eight, but it is wrong to rule them out like everyone seems to be doing. They are struggling, but this is who they have played over the last 10 games:
Georgetown
West Virginia (twice)
Providence
Connecticut
Pittsburgh
South Florida
Syracuse
Cincinnati
Marquette
They are 4-6 in that time with 5 losses to teams who made the NCAA Tournament and 1 loss to a team that didn't make the NCAA Tournament. They have 1 win over an NCAA Tournament team in that span. So Villanova is probably over ranked at #2, but they have played a tough schedule over that 10 game span. It wouldn't shock me to see them in the Elite Eight.
The second thing, UTEP will be in the Sweet Sixteen and Georgia Tech is going to beat Oklahoma State and Ohio State. Call it a gut feeling, but I also have New Mexico State beating Michigan State. I am probably wrong and will know I am wrong for sure by this time tomorrow.
I'm scared by Kentucky's youth. Even though they probably have the best talent, they let mediocre teams hang with them until the end of games quite often. But when they reach the sweet sixteen against Wisconsin or Temple (assuming they make it), they could easily let one slip. I'm also a Wisconsin fan, but let's pretend that's not true.
ReplyDeleteDylan, I think you are right also. It's what happens when you have such a young team playing. I like Wisconsin against the Wildcats (though I didn't pick them) because Wisconsin doesn't let a team go. I saw how they played Duke this year and a Bo Ryan team is going to either catch up and not let a team like Kentucky get the lead back or not ever let a team like Kentucky get the lead.
ReplyDeleteI believe they are so young they don't have a "kill speed" for teams. If those guys stayed 1-2 more years, which won't happen, they would be lethal.
Kbilly, thanks. I believe I fixed it.
Yeah the Pardon the Opinion and Sports Talk Bash links are still inverted (they go to the other's page). I also agree that Ohio State is a weak two. Even though they had a high AP ranking and they won the Big Ten, the Big Ten was weak this season (as per usual). Look what happened to Baylor today. Sam Houston played a triangle and two on them and they almost one. Same with Ohio State. If a sweet sixteen team plays a box and one against Turner, Ohio State is screwed. There's no question Turner is great, but he just doesn't have enough help. Plus Ohio State has no bench and basically only plays 6 guys.
ReplyDeleteI have Temple beating Kentucky, which could blow up in my face. I also had Richmond beating Nova which already blew up in my face. I've also got BYU beating KState...I took a lot of chances this year.
ReplyDeleteMy Final Four is Kansas, Pitt, West Virginia, and Baylor, which along with everything else reflects the fact that I did not watch a lot of college hoops this year. I still saw more than Scoop, though.
Yeah, so the spring training thing didn't work out. They wanted $50 for tix and there was a fee to park. As much as I love the sox, there was no way I was paying that much to watch a bunch of minor leaguers play. The goal of the trip now is to find alligators before we have to head back home. Like, ones in the wild. I feel nothing bad can come of that.
ReplyDeleteDammit, I think I got it right this time.
ReplyDeleteI was a little surprised at how much it seemed Baylor struggled. OSU is a good team but they aren't big and Turner has no help...not to mention they don't have a true point guard. I just don't like them that much. Now that Georgetown has lost I wonder what everyone who thinks Kansas got the hardest bracket has to say?
Ivn, nothing wrong with a few chances. I don't know if anyone can be UK the way they won tonight. I think BYU could be K-State though. I am not a huge K-State fan. Too reliant on the perimeter shot for me. I like your Final Four though I don't know if Pitt will make it...though I didn't think ND would lose to Old Dominion and had Georgetown in the Elite 8.
Fred, sorry you weren't able to go b/c it was too expensive. Get a few pictures of alligators, though I do have to warn you, there is a good chance they could injure you if you get too close. I would bet a gullible friend of yours he can't punch the gator on the nose. There is NO WAY that could go wrong.
You know, ben, when we are seperated, me an my cousin are pretty conservative. But when we get together, we get crazy. We got drunk and wondered through the woods of georgia trying to hunt coyotes at night. Then today our plan was to rent a paddleboat on a lake, tie a piece of chix to some fishing line, and try to catch some gators. Luckily, it was too late to rent a boat. I do have some pretty good vids that I can post, but they have nothing to do with sports. They are just silly.
ReplyDelete