More Madness

[jdcord]

Well, ...

Two of my Elite Eight picks are already gone - and what's worse is that not only did I have BOTH of those teams (Texas, and Texas A&M) in my Final Four picks as well, but I had one of them (A&M) playing in the Finals!

*siiiiiiiiiiiigh*         Oh well.  Life moves on (as does the tournament).


A few thoughts on tonight's remaining Sweet Sixteen games, and the upcoming Elite Eight games this weekend:

1.    If you think Tennessee put a scare into the Buckeyes, wait until you see the fits that Memphis will give them on Saturday.  Memphis is Tennessee, only faster, much better defensively, more consistent and potent offensively (not prone to dissappearing for 5 minute stretches), and just generally not the "Jekell & Hyde" team that Tennessee is.  Memphis brings their "A Game" every night, no matter when or where, and brings it for the full 40 minutes.

2.    And speaking of Memphis, they beat an excellent Texas A&M team last night: an A&M team that six of sportsline.com's writers had picked to go to the Final Four (as I myself had also).  Not only that, but Memphis beat them in San Antonio (a virtual "Home game" for A&M), and did so without their best player (who was injured last week and missed the game).

So call me crazy, but I think Memphis will take out OSU on Saturday and advance to the Final Four.

3.    And speaking of teams without their best players, UNC's Rayshawn Terry is still battling Strep Throat (missing practice yesterday), so even if he does play tonight - and I'm assuming he will - he certainly won't be anything close to 100%.  And against a USC team that so far in the tournament has played "lights out", the Tar Heels really need Terry to be 100%.  So unless Terry manages to pull a Michael Jordan - who played in the playoffs one night with a raging fever and still dominated the game, scoring something like 40 points - barring a similarly heroic and downright miraculous performance by Terry, look for the upset tonight by USC.

4.    UCLA is playing really, really well right now, so I wouldn't be shocked one bit if they defeat Kansas on Saturday.

5.    Along those lines, I thought the Big-12 was going to be the dominant conference in this year's Final Four - figuring that at least two of their teams would make it there, and actually picking three of them to do so on my bracket (Kansas, Texas, and Texas A&M) - but if anything it's looking right now as if we might see two, or even three PAC-10 teams make it to the Final Four (USC, UCLA, and maybe even Oregon).

But as it stands right now, I think the Final Four will look something like this:  Florida, UCLA, Georgetown, and Memphis.  I still think Florida will win it all, but I'm not sure who they would play from that possible Memphis vs. Georgetown semifinal (which would be an absolutely awesome game, IMO).

[jdcord]

OK, so I totally missed on Memphis ........... (and on USC in the Sweet 16, but that's another story, .... *L*).

But I did get 3 of the Final four correct.  ........ at least, in the original post here, that is.  On my actual bracket I only had one of the Final Four correct.  ............ but that's another story.  *L*

Anyway, I'm through picking against OSU - at least, until they possibly meet up with Florida in the finals. 

Personally, I think that Georgetown v. OSU will be one extremely borrrrrring match-up.  A real snooze-fest, if you know what I mean.  Two teams that play the same, boring, half-court offense, ......... and defense, ........ "going at it".  *cough*      Woo-Hoo!  Wake me when it's over.  Thanks.

[bishopnl]

Amazingly, I got all Final Four picks right, including Georgetown upsetting North Carolina.  I felt pretty good about myself...

[natewasmundt]

I'm picking Georgetown over tOSU and UCLA over Florida . . . *grin*

seriously, those are my picks.

[jdcord]

I wouldn't be shocked to see UCLA beat Florida, but it's hard to pick against a team that won it all last year, and has the exact same roster going for it again this year.