2008 conference tournaments – Rush The Court

Late Introduction & Weekend Thoughts

rtmsf — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:38:18 +0000

By way of a late introduction, we wanted to thank our buddy N-Bug for his detailed postings this past weekend on the various conference tourneys and bracket analysis. We’ve been insanely busy with our real job(s), and haven’t been able to do much more than catch the occasional game and periodically watch Bob Knight get molested by Digger. Somebody should call an Amber Alert on Digger and just get it over with – that dude is creepy. As for Knight, we figure that one of these times where Digger is busily groping his arms and shoulders, he’s going to snap and [...]

Mulligan (Part 2)

nvr1983 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:50:35 +0000

Short recaps now since I’m running short on time before the selection show starts.

SEC – This deserves a lot more attention because UGA should be the team of the day even if they got a huge no-call against Kentucky in their early game and Dennis Felton was whining before the night game about having to play 2 games in a day. UGA managed to beat UK and MSU in the same day, which is a pretty impressive feat. Arkansas beat Tennessee 92-91, which will cost the Vols a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. – Prediction: Arkansas. We think the fatigue will [...]

Can I take a mulligan?

nvr1983 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:29:39 +0000

So my predictions yesterday didn’t turn out so well and I might have left out a few things. . .

Ok, if you used my picks in Vegas you are probably reading this blog at a public library because you lost your home yesterday. And yeah, I completely forgot about that small conference called the Big East. I’ll chalk it up to trying to cover one of the busiest days in the sport on my first day.

Big East – Pittsburgh 74, #9 Georgetown 65: Pitt is rounding into a very dangerous team as they recover from early-season injuries. They basically won this [...]

Night in Review: March 14, 2008 (Part 2)

nvr1983 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:45:21 +0000

Back for the second part of the review after a short 2+ hour nap.

Pac 10 – We’ll get the late game over with first since it was past our East Coast bedtime (had to get up to watch a bunch of 9 year-olds “run” a 5k at 8 am). #11 Stanford beat #22 Washington State 75-68 behind Brook Lopez’s 30/12/3 for the third time this year. Basically the Cougars don’t have anybody who can match Lopez inside and not even a 12/20 showing from 3 could save them. Not much to say here except it sets up a rematch of the [...]

Night in Review: March 14, 2008 (Part 1)

nvr1983 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:52:00 +0000

I am not sure what to call this column because I don’t want to steal rtmsf’s “After the Buzzer” title and it’s too damn early to think straight. If you have any clever ideas for a title, leave a comment and I’ll consider it. I’m breaking this into multiple parts because it would take me roughly the entire day if I tried to do this for every conference tourney. I’ll try to recap the major conferences with more emphasis on the games I actually saw. Since there is just too much stuff going on for one man to cover (thanks [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: SEC

rtmsf — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:36:23 +0000

Next Up: SEC Tournament. The SEC has been an interesting league this year. Tennessee is clearly the class of the conference, but after that, it’s been a nightly tossup as to who the next best teams are. Whether this belies a competitive balance including several good-not-great teams such as Vandy and MSU, or mimics the staid mediocrity of the middle of the ACC, we’re not sure yet. Althought we’re tending toward believing the latter.

Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA When: Thursday-Sunday

The Favorite(s). Tennessee, with a significant asterisk. The Vols and Bruce Pearl don’t tend to fare so well in this event. In [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: ACC

rtmsf — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:40:32 +0000

Next Up: ACC Tournament. Does anyone else have the feeling that this league was consistently better when it was only nine teams? At any rate, the ACC Tourney kicks off tomorrow for the 55th time, and while it used to deserve top billing on Fri/Sat of conference tourney weekend, we’re not sure that it places in the top four at this point. The projected Big East, Pac-10, Big 12 and SEC semis all look more compelling to us.

Where: Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Charlotte, NC When: Thursday-Sunday

The Favorite(s). Um, Carolina? Look, there are two really good teams in this conference (although Duke is flawed when it comes [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: Pac-10

rtmsf — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:06:19 +0000

Next Up: Pac-10 Tournament. The best conference in America this year should provide us with more entertainment this weekend, as there are arguably nine teams who have enough talent to make a run and win this thing. One question – why is it in the Staples Center every year? Memo to the Pac-10 commisioners: there are other NBA arenas in Phoenix, Oakland, Portland and Seattle that would also make great venues for this event.

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA When: Wednesday-Saturday

The Favorite(s). Vegas Watch doesn’t have the Pac-10 odds up yet, but UCLA is sitting on a 94% chance at a [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: Big 12

rtmsf — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:06:28 +0000

Next Up: Big 12 Tournament. So… last year, with Kevin Durant, Texas finished third in the Big 12, while this year the Longhorns finished first. Dunno about you guys, but we’re hoping for a rematch of last year’s final game, which Kansas won in overtime 88-84.

Where: Sprint Center, Kansas City, KS When: Thursday – Sunday

The Favorite(s). Texas and Kansas are the co-favs (both finished 13-3), although Vegas Watch will have the odds for us soon as to who is the actual favorite. In the unbalanced schedule of the Big 12, we were only treated with one matchup between these two [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: Big Ten

rtmsf — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:26:59 +0000

Next Up: Big Ten Tournament. Who can predict this tournament? Every team has a flaw or three. Of the top four seeds, Wisconsin runs a program system, MSU can’t win away from E. Lansing, Indiana is on the brink of implosion and Purdue plays a bunch of freshmen. If we’re feeling sleepy next weekend, we’ll just turn over to one of these games for a certain sedative.

Where: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN When: Thursday – Sunday

The Favorite(s). Wisconsin is the favorite because the Badgers went 16-2 and proved itself very proficient at beating other Big Ten teams. The one team it [...]

Conference Tourney Mini-Previews: Big East

rtmsf — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:18:53 +0000

We’re less than a week away from Selection Sunday, and already five teams have earned automatic bids to the NCAAs. Congrats to Belmont (Atlantic Sun), Winthrop (Big South), Cornell (Ivy), Drake (Missouri Valley) and Austin Peay (OVC) for securing bids over the weekend. Belmont (2006 and 2007), Winthrop (1999-2002 and 2005-2007) and Austin Peay (1996 and 2003) are old hands at March Madness, but some special love should go to Cornell and Drake, as Cornell hasn’t been to the Dance since 1988 and Drake since 1971!

Every year we always have trouble finding brackets for each of the major conference tournaments, so [...]