Alamo Futility

Target, large and still
Hovering scant feet distant.
Bend. Extend. Clank. End.

Sadly, I expect the same results in China

Hehehehehehehe!!!

And I bet y'all thought my tourney was a big bust! The Zags down in the first round. My beloved Huskies down in the first round. What joy could remain?

The greatest joy of all, of course!

DUCK FUKE!!!

Oh, and I picked that one too! I'm currently sitting unbelievably high, in the 99.8th percentile on the national bracket. Of course, that's today. Wait until all those games go by where Connecticut *doesn't* win. I'm doomed. but I'm happy! Ratface is going home this weekend, too.

DUCK FUKE!!!

Liveblog: UConn USD Overtime

Trying something new...there's a live blog below.

VCU/Pitt...so close!

Is it only 12 days ago that this year's Cinderella knocked out last year's Cinderella in the CAA Championship game?!? There's less than 2:30 to go in this Round of 32 game against Pitt and I'm starting to believe! Beating Duke was nothing. They're undermanned and under-coached¹ and rely on Greg Paulus to handle the rock. Might as well have me be their damn PG. But Pitt?

1:40 - VCU's just tied it up for the first time since early in the first half. Incredible. Odds are, I'll end up tossing this post by game's end. I mean, what chance do they really have against Jamie Dixon's confident, experienced, Big East bruisers?

Ball's in...a shot, a rebound, a tie-up - Rams' ball!

1:23 - walking the ball up court. Oh my! VCU's first lead, and then Pitt flies down the court and counters!

:30 - shot, almost an offensive board...

NO! Levance Fields is fouled by VCU with 2.1 on the clock and the score knotted up. He misses the first, misses the second; we're going to OT!

A 51-32 run in the final twelve minutes to tie up the game.

CBS keeps trying to bounce me to the 2OT Vandy-Wazzu game in Sacto, but DirecTv seems on top of the situation for once and re-bounces me back to the game I want. Mind you, I'm jumping to that game on my second feed anyway, but I've been so engrossed by the Rams' comeback that I didn't realize a second extra frame had started at Arco.

Crap. See? I was over at the Vandy/Wazzu game. Missed the tip and first minute of OT.

I had a bunch of live-blogging on the final four minutes of OT, but with Pitt pulling it out I don't see much point in keeping it (and cleaning it up.) Suffice it to say, the Rams fought long and hard to catch up to the Panthers, leaving them very little in the tank for an extra five minutes of play. Jamal Schuler got them back within three, following his own missed layup, but Pitt kept breaking the VCU traps. No stops, no steals, and Pitt just kept scoring from the line. It was a nice effort, though. Certainly one of the more exciting games of this first weekend.

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¹ Coach K is the Phil Jackson of college ball. Give him a team of all-stars and he'll do peachy. Give him anything less and...well...when was his last Elite 8?

Buckeyes Squeak by Musketeers (and avoid them for another 20 years)

INT. MIAMI BEACH SENIOR CENTER

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO AND DANNY ALMONTE SIT IN OVERSTUFFED CHAIRS IN A LARGE ROOM, WEARING ROBES AND SLIPPERS. THERE ARE EMPTY BEER BOTTLES AND PIZZA BOXES ON THE COFFEE TABLE IN FRONT OF THEM. EACH MAN HAS AN IV TO THE SIDE OF HIS SEAT.

DEKE
I hope today's games are more exciting than the first round.

DANNY
Si. I can't believe all those favorites winning in blow-outs. This has got to be the most boring tourney I've ever seen. This is worse than when my papi and I used to watch Coach Wooden's teams.

DEKE
I know. We didn't get much basketball in the Congo, but my mother took me to one of the American hotels in Kinshasa to watch Texas Western beat Kentucky. That was an exciting game.

DANNY
Greg needs to be careful out there. (BEAT) He doesn't want to break his other hip before the draft.

DEKE
But losing this early won't be good for his draft position, either. Though he's too old to be playing at all. (BEAT) Ohio State refuses to play Xavier for a good reason, I see.

DANNY
Watch. They'll come back. He's got a lot of good, young talent around him.

DEKE
There's not much time left. (BEAT) Yes! But they've got to foul quickly!

DANNY
Greg's got him...

DEKE
...but he's shoved him!

DANNY
No!!

DEKE
That's two and possession! The game's over.

DANNY
Wait...they didn't call the intentional! They didn't call it! We've got a chance...Overtime! Overtime! Overtime!

How Bill Simmons Enjoys the Dance

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Tourney Day 2 Recap

Two days, 32 games, one round complete, and only five upsets. I don't know if the selection committee was prescient, or if they just cheated. I suspect the former, since I haven't seen Dick Bavetta prowling the hardwood, though there was some very bad officiating, like the trip in the Maryland/Davidson game that was called a travel on the victim or Greg Paulus going over and back right in front of an "official" and drawing no call.¹

Still, it's been a fun opening round with at least a modicum of excitement. Some of today's games were fortunately more closely fought than yesterday's, pushing me to the literal edge of my seat a few times. I hope the Round of 32 will be tighter yet.

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¹ That official was particularly egregious in the Duke game. His head was so far up Coach K's ass that...insert your own Dickie V joke here.

Tourney Day 1 Recap

Whoooo! That was quite a day (not). There were a few scares for the favorites - UNC up by four midway through the 2nd half, G'Town looking shell-shocked for the start of their game, Maryland almost going down to a game Davidson squad, Pitt trying to rely on outside shooting - but none of them lost. Oh. Wait. I forgot.

DUKE LOST! DUKE LOST! DUKE LOST!

I think Dan Shanoff summed it up nicely on his little piece of the interwebs. At least he captured the feeling we Duke Haters have right now.

It would have been a perfect day if a single freakin' Zag could have made a layup!!!!!!!!! Soooooo happy we didn't fly to Sac and just stayed home with the TV. I think I'd have slapped Kuso. Defending is only half the battle, Abdullahi! Derek Raivio summed the performance nicely in the post-game presser:

"Some of our guys played passive," a stone-faced Raivio said. "You know, it looked like it wasn't meant to be. We had easy shots on the rim, but we just couldn't knock them down."

As for my pool prospects this year, I'm still alive after half the first round, so that's something. I haven't lost one of my round-of-32 picks yet, so - as my teachers used to say - I still have lots of potential.

Tomorrow...UNR! Fazekas! Kemp!

March Madness Came One Day Early This Year

Holy Crap!!!

It's like David Stern and the NBA have a personal gripe against the NIT. I don't really think 'Cuse/S. Alabama had much of a chance against the Suns in Dallas.

The Suns/Mavs game tonight was one of the top five games of the season, easily. The only thing keeping this from being one of the best games of the past decade was a sloppy first quarter from the Mavs and third quarter from the Suns. And even that added to the drama. I can think of no better way to start off the next four days - hunkered in the bunker, pizza guy on speed dial, potables at hand, chips and dip at the other hand, satellite beaming and laptops streaming - than with tonight's insane matchup. I am STOKED.