College Basketball

This post was actually written before the tournament began.

UNC, Florida, Oregon, Ohio State….nope nope nope and nope.
I will not stray too far from what is expected but wont give the favortes a free ride to my best guess.

As of this moment, I am likely picking Kansas VS Memphis in the NCAA finals. My pick isnt one of who is the best or who could beat who but a bigger picture view of who has to do what before they get to be in the final game.

UNC is a great choice but they have such a hard road and so many “great tasks” to achieve that they will set themselves up to fail with great wins over Marquette and Texas.

All great achievements have equally great leveling off processes right around the corner, which is all a team will need to build a lead on them in the game that takes them out, likely Georgetown or Memphis in the final four.

Memphis will also have the task of handling Acey law IV in their group and Greg Oden to deal with, but I see both of those team as having a tendency toward flat spells.

Acey law is an amazing finisher, a great fourth quarter talent to rival Jordan and Wade in scope when compared to his peers, but when an opponant hits a few shots down the stretch he wont be enough.

This falling short only takes one time in the tournament.

I see memphis with a reasonible easy path and could be fresh to run over perhaps a stale Ohio State team in the round of 8.

This post, just now put live, was written before the start of the NCAA tournament.

The picks are looking pretty much spot on, so I deemed it still worthy of publishing.

Every team mentioned in this article is still alive in the Elite 8 and though Memphis isnt looking like the best of the group, this pre-tourney prediction is looking very much on target to making me look insightful.

Ok so I just got done editing and adding to this post about how Winthrop got it right, and settled the score with lady luck from last year by beating Notre Dame.

I was completely disgusted having seen that the only NCAA clips I could get for that post was garbage CBS sports puts on youtube as a “service” to us but they then ruin the fact by stamping it as the Pontiac Sponsored Clips.

I know that “a user” can mean anyone but we really didn’t need to see corporate garbage like this sneaking onto Youtube.

Youtube is the counter culture to the MTV crap like this that is force-fed to us daily from every other source of media owned by the same 1%. I had thought Youtube, not immune, but resistant to this sort of encroachment, but I was wrong.

While digging for something more tasteful and a “product of the people” to share on our “real people” news and blog, I did find alot of true Winthrop content like the video used in the post I referred to above about the Notre Dame win.

I figured while Im here and have found another video I would make another post of it.

This post will reflect on the “non-spamvertising” side of the NCAA, a sporting realm I was once a part of myself.

I imagine the same things still go on like heading down at your hotel to get that crappy continental breakfast of begals and mini cereal boxes. I imagine the hierarchy of who gets the back seats on the bus still holds true.

At whatever level of skill, its still college kids at the absolute best time of their life, jumping with fresh knees and doing keg stands nights after victories. Its still about styrofoam cups of hotel coffee, bananas and bagels in your sports bag, congregating in the stands to bad mouth opposing teams and laugh when they muff something during warmups.

Because sports doesn’t need to have a UPC code on everything at every moment, and because the NCAA was, I thought, one of the last sacred grounds of competition, here above is a video that I found that says it alot better than Pontiac can. (at the top)

I would also like to make this post an open invite to any of the current Winthrop players to do a Q/A session by email about the time at the NCAA’s. If your gonna give your time or insight, best you give it to someone writing without the intention to stamp “sponsored by Coke” on your jersey with a watermark. (critic(at)charlottecritic.com)

OK you can see the game highlights here if you want. There is online video of Winthrop beating Notre Dame here, but it was put on youtube.com by CBS Sports, and they dont allow you to put it on your blog.

What is worse, CBS sports has “sponsored by pontiac” highlights of games on Youtube. Basically they are a pioneer in ruining what belongs to the users with their spamvertising, so I have chosed to put this video of Winthrop Basketball by a WU grad, and if your desperate or a sellout you can see the “CBS and Pontiac” game highlights.

Finally getting what they deserved last year, Withrop drops the bomb on a high seed. Last year as you remember Winthrop was a 15 seed that gave the scare of a lifetime and outplayed tennessee for all but 2 seconds of a first round game.

Last year Tennessee was a surprised to be so high seeded, expected to be a 3 or 4. Tennessee was grateful and swore to show they desevred the high seed. They didn’t really do that with a game saving fall away 3 pointer with 1.8 seconds left to save the in the first round.

The reality is now that we look back, Winthrop was just that good. The fact that Winthrop was an 11 seed seems a bit disrespectful.

The tournament experience for Winthrop was most recently taking the 2 seed to the brink with the same players.

This year Winthrop lost only 4 games of 33 played. With a 29-4 record the only teams that have managed to beat Winthrop are four other NCAA teams, 1 seed UNC, 3 Seed Texas A&M, 3 seed Wsiconsin, and #5 seed Maryland.

The only four losses Winthrop has suffered since last years tournament are to 4 teams, all four on the road and all four a #5 seed or higher (Wisconsin game was OT).

When I saw this, it seems this #11 seed was more of an insult than an improvement over last year. The record and track record for this year and last merits perhaps an 8 or 9 seed. Seems Notre Dame shouldnt be ashamed but perhaps angry to be the losing end of bad seeding.

One of the teams Winthrop beat this year that is in the tournament is Old Dominion. They beat OD on the road and are seeded just one slot ahead of OD, as Old dominion is a 12 seed in the NCAA tourney.

While at a glance Winthrop is 29-4 but 1-4 against tournament teams, the committee needs to look closer and see the 4 losses are not against #8-16 seeds but all top 20 teams ranked teams in the nation, and all were road games.

Previously, I had Oregon going a long way in the tournament. They finished the Pac10 Tournament with alot of momentum and playing great, but they just squeezed by a far inferior Miami of Ohio team, and this game between an 11 and a 3 seed has to be seen as a coin toss.

Miami of Ohio was 18-13 this year and took Oregon to a 2 point game, I think this is the year an Eagle graces the sweet 16.

Go local, go Eagles… Go Carolina’s both North and South.

I picked this in my bracket.

What a game, what a game, 1.8 seconds left in the game and the camera pans onto Christian Laettner. Not enough, no help for McRoberts, and Duke went out and played VCU’s game.

First off this is an open letter to McRoberts whom in my mind and posts I have dissed for being a semi soft overrated PF/C who scores on weak teams and fouls out against tough teams.

I was wrong.

What a great game dominating on the boards, actively offensive rebounding and altering almost ever shot that came to him in the lane. A great complete game for McRoberts and some huge moves to the hoop in the first 10 minutes of the game. Josh McRoberts ended with a career-high 22 points and had 12 rebounds.

Paulus scored a career-high 25 points for Duke, but even in this great onslaught of points he had Eric Maynor in his head and all over his dribble all night.

The color annoucers spent most of the game commenting on how exhausted Duke appeared due to an incredible press VCU never let up with.

I cant attest to the fatigue of Duke players, but the shots all hit short on the rim in the final minutes of the game and constant trapping forced Duke into tons of turnovers.

I do think though VCU never could get a lead in this game as they seldom turned the steals into points. On many fast breaks VCU failed to put the peach in the basket.

Throughout the game Eric Maynor all over Paulus and had him clearly frustrated.

I can only assume the pushing and after the whistle contact went unmentioned thanks to the ever-friendly Duke refs.

During the worst altercation of the game, Maynor looked as if he was pushed during a press, so he immediately fouled back hard with the body.

Paulus, “then after the whistle” turned to walk by and push Maynor. This all happened with the camera right on these two so even a Duke fan knows what he saw there.

The refs ran over to stop this from escalating in the way refs tend to handle Duke games.

The refs ran over to Maynor while Paulus walked away after having pushed Maynor. The refs got in Maynor’s face to apparently let him know not to “get pushed”.

Needless to say, Maynor didnt care for this biased reprimand and he got heated.

After all the drama and back to the game, Paulus and McRoberts were great but had no help. Silly “ticky tack” fouls and turnovers plagued everone not named McRoberts , and in the end gave VCU lots of extra possessions in a tight game.

In the end, Maynor came down pulled up hard like Chauncey Billups and popped the bottom of the net when it counted. The final possession was one too many.

Defense is a product of hard work and mental will, offense is a product of skill, coaching and nature. Defense takes much more energy and a source of deep motivation. VCU went all day long like Lance Armstrong, and VCU saw a nation televisional audience that believed they could win.

So they won.

Well thats a headline i would love to be able to write and really mean it. When I saw the draw, I had to feel for Davidson catching a surging team like Maryland that has abused so many big name schools this year.

If I have to make a retraction post at 3pm tomorrow having watched Maryland win, I think we can just put this post on ice till next year. Davidson is so young that if they learn to build on the circle of players they now have, trust and push each other, theyll be in the 16 before Curry graduates.

On a side note, I dont wish to give Curry more love than he already gets based on the path his Dad’s name paved. I am glad he has talent that is all his own, but Davidson College has 4 players with over 10 per game, so Ill name drop some lovefor all those who contributed in large part to the SoCon Championship video you see on the left.

For Jason Richards, Thomas Sander and Boris Meno all with 11 or more point per game averages three more important less known names that are equal parts of a “whole success”.

Now for the game and what is at hand:
“Coming off their ninth SoCon Championship, the Davidson Wildcats will tip-off the 2007 NCAA Tournament with a 12:20 p.m. contest against the fourth-seeded Maryland Terrapins Thursday, March 15.”

Maryland strikes me as the brawler and legitimately tough team, and this is not the type of team you can pull a “fast one” on and still an upset. I am liking VCU’s chances at an upset of Duke much better than this game.

Can Davidson beat Maryland and open a path to the Sweet 16 perhaps? yes absolutely they have the shooters to do it, but can they keep maryland off the boards and off the free throw line? That may be a problem.

Alot of analysts are picking Old Dominion to beat Butler and that clears the other high seed out of that branch of the tourney. Maryland is hot, and Maryland is talented, but Davidson does have what it takes to win, which is the ability to score more than any other opponant on a given night. To get past Maryland would make a 12 vs 13 second round as many are calling it, and perhaps a nice local tie-in for the Charlotte area with a team back in the sweet 16.

Heres to hoping, wishing the best and praying for a bounce or two for Davidson college.

Carefule Duke you are the recipe for upset. First you need a hungry talented team that looks like they never get a chance, and to this you add a team with a spotless reputation (elbows aside) but lacks inside depth and presence on the glass and you get the chnace of a nasty upset.

The look on the faces of the VCU players when they announced them to play Duke was pure delight. They looked like they were finally getting that chance to play after a long time on the bench in a small conference with little glory. if I was Duke I would be very wary of any team with that look in their eyes.

If McRoberts picks up a few early fouls and has to sit I see VCU coming to the end of this game in a close race, and this is what every underdog wants….a chance to put up a final shot with Duke on the other side.

If Duke can get past this first game against a team that didnt look too impressed by their history I expect them to make the round of 8 before meetinga very good kansas squad, I just havnt decided if they will make it out of the first game.

This game is still blank on my official Charlottecritic.com CBS sportline bracket pick ‘em, I hate to have no faith in a local institution like Duke, but I saw that look in VCU’s eyes.

Well UNC looked like champions today holding off a surging NC State team. I want to say great game to any NC State player that reads this line and say you looked great today and were very close to to climbing a huge hill in your run late in the game. NC State should be proud of such a huge run in the ACC tourney, and proud to have traded blows with perhaps the country’s best team in UNC.

Now the other shoe dropping for UNC is this road to the finals they have laid out for them. The UNC coaches must feel like a firealker looking down at a bed of coals because they got a very nasty couple of wolves hiding in the bushes etween “here and there”.

With a possible matchup with marquette in the second roand and a very nasty matchup with the best player in the country and Texas as a four seed in the round of 16, only to be followed by a possible outing with a very strong #2 in the final 8 VS georgetown and their great inside outside game, UNC will have a road to test any possible champion.

The reality is that Texas is almost or should be a 3 seed and Georgetown was very close to a #1 seed themselves. This bracket has a very heavy 1 through 4, and likely the best combined skilled players in the 1 through 4 seeds.

I have heard rumors that the #3 seed Washington State will perhaps meet their demise in the first game against a tougher than expected Oral Roberts. I havn’t had the heart to click theat pick officially yet but Im not theonly one thinking it.

So will UNC preveil through the bracket? I think the real challenges will be with marquette and Texas. marquette could catch them before they hit there stride and texas could always have a 40 point game for the best payer in the nation Kevin Durant, who is an absolute freak and reminds me so much of Tracy McGrady, which is thehighest form of compliment to them both.

My opinion is that UNC will make the final four, but will face an Overtime game somewhere on the way. They better hit their freethrows is my advice.

Well what a great day in the ACC tourney and beyond. I just recently added this video to this post so you get what I am talking about near the bottom of this post, when I refer to the dangers of West Virginia as a bubble team.

The main story of interest in the state of North Carolina is the NC state Duke game going into OT, where as I stated in an earlier post Duke just didnt have the depth to match their reputations. I had pointed out that every long grinding game this year against physical opponants has had the same toll on Duke with fouls and lack of inside depth. NC State moves on, Duke puts its mind back on the big dance to save some face. Duke would sure make a nasty 6 or 7 seed for some unlucky at large team, but the formula to beat them seems clear, go inside all day, play physical and get to the foul line against their lack of team depth.

The more interesting overtime game for me was the West Virginia vs. Louisville game. I am the sixth man of the year and I apparently play for West Virginia. The moment I tuned into the game West Virginia began an 18 point run to take the lead. I have made it clear that with no Charlotte in the dance I would be pulling for West Virginia as they have the game style and back story I think warrants my support.

I turned on the game today with West Virginia down by 17 points. This is a coincidence since this is the largest defecit of the game. I watched 8 minutes oif game clock tick off from the moment I sat down and never saw Louisville score. This is not why I am pulling for them, which is the amazing part.

I had said I would pull for these guys in the dance about a month ago, when it was clear Charlotte had no chance this season.

So why am I pulling for West Virginia?
>#1 Pittsnogle and Gansey: Two great players that were on their sofas and looking to get drafted and didnt. I watched the draft pulling for lots of early second round prospects and saw many letdowns. Also seeing Stinson go unchosen was a shame, though hes doing well in Europe.
Kevin Pittsnogle is a great inside outside presence. He is 6′11″ 250lbs and shooting 43% from the arc? This sounds like the same formula that got Utah’s Okur into the NBA all star game this year.

Also, Kevin had a wife and child already while playing in college, and this is where I really first wished to see him get the chance and subsequent contract to take care of everything from there on out. When you dedicate your life to sports you understand the slim chance to get a return on your investment, so I hoped he would get to live in the house his hard work had built. When you see this sort of “on TV” only character in a setting of a family you can’t help but to wish him the best and hope he backdoors his way back to the NBA.

Along with this great player was Mike Gansey, whom I only got a good chance to see in the conference tourney to NCAA’s but when you add a second 40% plus outside shooter to the deadly gameplan that the mountaineers emply its hard not to root for a team that can create points in huge chunks with such skills.

This years team lacks the obvious leaders, but the strategy is the same. WV puts up 25-35 3 pointers per game with a hope that 15-20 go down, in which case any oppoanent will as well.

Tonight’s game was very different, as the Mountaineers 18-0 run had nothing to do with outside shooting. I think only one 3 was hit in that stretch. The West Virginia team fought back from 17 down with defense that was just too well put together and Rick Patino had no answers for. WV shifted from 1-3-1 to 2-3 to man to man seemingly on every possession and everytime Louisville seemed to be throwing passes right oto WV defenders completely surprised by what they had just done. The WV coach should be proud to have clearly outcoached Rick Pitino in this game.

On the other end of the floor, WV has such a dangerous game from outside that Louisville was stretched to breaking point on defense.

The Louisville defense seemed so spread out that even in the set game it looked like a half court press. The Louisville squad had 3 defenders standing outside the 3 point arch for most of every possession. With this being the case, West Virginia was in a constant state of cutting to the lane and backdoor. Round and round the offensive players cut in the thin spread defensive zones. Throughout the game nice feeds to offensive players moving wide open in the stretched out zones got well ahead of the defenders for easy layins. West Virginia was scoring inside all game with the space their outside shooting had afforded them.

West Virginia would be one of the most dangerous bubble teams in the tourney based on their style of play. I am sure all of the 2 throguh 7 seeds are hoping the get left out of the tourney so you dont have to roll the dice on them hitting 17 3-pointers. The way they play is really a crap shoot for opposing defenses, and this makes them a nasty underdog.

For their very well laid out and simple game plan, great offensive motion and surprsingly intelligent defensive shifting this is a team I hope does not get left out of the dance. The are ripe to break someones heart in the round of 64. With a bombs away appraoch they could make for a sportcenter moment or two and have to be feared since when the shots fall sao do higher seeds.

Obviously I need a post about this shot between the eyes, and also to comment on the back and forth about the intention of the play. I will first interject my opinion which is this was an accident. Here me out, he meant to make contact but Gerald Henderson’s clearly did a double take when he saw what had happened.

We have all been kidding around with a friend or perhaps a person much smaller than you and realized too late that your fun “push or poke” made way too much contact. After this happens you are left to apologize or let pride force you to walk away and pretend you don’t care.

I am NOT saying this was an “accident” or that the hit wasn’t viscous and violent but he clearly made a move which is very unconscious to a player when the game is lost.

At this stage of a heated game a person goes through the motions, and the motions is dont let the player make a layup. Gerald Henderson was doing what equates to “insert foul here”, and then realized his swipe and depth determination didnt agree and his swing made full contact.

Did he mean to hit him? YES
Did he mean to hit his face? NO
Did he mean to hurt another basketball player, no matter what teams they are on? I would expect, never in his worst day would he want that.
Will this make the rematch a bloodbath? Probally yes, mostly thanks to angry fans chatter.

I have title this post “UNC bleeds blue” because i salute the reponse from Hansbrough today. Today Tyler Hansbrough came out and said he “holds no ill will” and expects that Gerald Henderson didn’t mean to hurt him like that.

I am proud of a class player and true talent like Tyler Hansbrough for knowing the order of the game.

Any person involved in sports knows to put the following order in your mind and heart, and even before your own team colors.

Sports ethics need to go “God to Family to Country to Sport to Team to Coach”. Respect for plkayers of your sport should come before any anger of a team or rivalry.

A true athlete understands that even beyond the line of team comes a code with every sport. When you live and play in the kingdom of NCAA basketball “which is North Carolina”, you need to show the game respect, even when it is from UNC to Duke. To show respect to the game you need to put what you know in your heart to be true first.

Hansbrough knows Gerald Henderson’s situation, his intent and his mindset. He understand another player and that he didnt mean to hurt him, he was going through the motions of a game that was lost.

I hope somehwere sometime in the near future they meet as two basketball players not wearing team jerseys and shake in appreciation of the many things they have in common and the common knowledge that the game itself needs to come even before the color of your jersey.

Both these guys are part of great teams and programs, neither of them appear to want anything but to compete and win with a level of honor, in this fact I am sure they get it. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

Henderson hates easy layups with 17 seconds left, Hansbrough hates getting his nose broken, but both should have respect and no hate for each other beyond those simple facts.

Davidson College/Stephan Curry videos from this year.

Davidson gets in, once again winning the Southern conference. The last 3 times there they dropped their opening game so we won’t dance the victory dance yet. While participating in the big dance is nice, a realist must consider that the company of great teams does not make a great team. Davidson has played well, much thanks to son of ex-NBA star Dell Curry; Stephen Curry for Davidson dropped 20, 30 and 29 in the conference tournament to power Davidson over the other wanna-be George Mason’s of the world.

Davidson College makes one, UNC is a lock of course for a one or two seed, Duke should be around a 5-7 seed which is sure to haunt so poor at large bid in the 9-11 slot that has to play them first.

Duke may be a tough win for anybody drawing them at such a low spot as perhaps a 5,6 or 7 seed but they can be beat by the right team. There is a reason they sit that low and its not just a bad run of luck. In all Duke losses I have watched this year (4 of them), Duke was simply beat in the paint or faced foul trouble compounded by lack of depth. An athletic team with strong defensive rebounding and interior defense could definitely overwhelm the Duke team; they might not be a bad draw for the right competition.

Winthrop from Rock Hill, SC which is as good as a home team is on their way back again to the tourney as well. I was lucky enough to watch this final game against the Virginia Military Institute or VMI. I have to say that I naturally pull for the military academies in all sporting events. The fact that they survive on being well trained and in great physical condition against a field of scholarship athletes is something to be proud of. I also pull for teams like VMI and eventually Air Force when they get their at large bid, because our services deserve to be proud of their schools, and deserve the brief glory of competing in such an esteemed tournament as the NCAA.

VMI was a very impressive opponent for the perennial winner Winthrop. Winthrop repeatedly pulled away with 6 or 8 point leads just to have VMI hit yet another 30 ft shot. It felt like the juggler with chainsaws, as every moment it seemed just one flinch away from getting away from them, but VMI never flinched.

I am happy for all of Carolina, happy for the local teams and hope to see Winthrop survive a few rounds, but I must also take a second to commend VMI on a great game, great determination and my great respect for what they do off the court. In games like this I hope in victory Winthrop shook their hands with sincerity, as this kind of team is much more than just your competition in the larger picture.