Bobs Bracket

I’m going old school, basically because Kevin knows how to do a lot more with this thing than I care to.  You won’t see any pop ups or links, you’ll just have to trust me.

I will quote a line from David Letterman though to cover my butt “this only an exhibition, this isn’t a competition, please, please, no wagering.”

That being said…

We’ll jump right to the end, because honestly that’s what everyone cares about.   My Final Four is as follows: Memphis, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina.

My final two, Louisville and Pitt.

Louisville is my National Champion.

I can honestly say that the Cardinals wouldn’t have been my pick to win it all at the beginning of the season.  I would have bet the house that Carolina had the thing in the bag.  I’m not so sure right now.  With Ty Lawson questionable and definitely not at 100% for any part of the Tournament, I just can’t see the Tar Heels winning six-straight.  Florida State, the team that knocked the Heels out of the ACC Tournament, is out in the first round of my bracket.

The one team I’m having a hard time turning my back on is Michigan State.  I’ve heard three different interviews with head coach Tom Izzo this week.  His teams have been in 12-straight Tournaments, won a Title, and this years version of the Spartans are a physical bunch.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they get past Louisville to make it to the Final Four, and if they do, I’m out of the money.

For the record, here are my first round upsets: USC over Boston College, Maryland over Cal., Tennessee over Oklahoma State, Wisconsin over FSU, Butler over LSU, Western Kentucky over Illinois.  I like to roll the dice in the first round, which typically comes back to kill me when I lose by one or two points.

In my second bracket I went with most of the higher seeds.  Of the upsets I picked in the above bracket, #2 has OK State, Florida State, LSU all first round winners, and Oklahoma into the Final Four instead of UNC.  Everything else is the same with Louisville winning it all over Pitt.

Let the madness begin!

Kevin’s 2009 bracket

There’s my NCAA Bracket – all filled out.  Click on it to see the full sized version.  Or if you have super vision, just read the thumbnail.

As I’ve said before – do not take these picks worth anything.  Do not copy my picks and think you’re going to win your office pool – because you won’t.  You’ll be lucky to not finish last.

Some notes on my bracket:

• A month and a half ago I wrote I was picking Wake Forest to win the whole thing saying – I’m quoting myself here – “it would take something dramatic for me to pick a different champion before then.”  Well – something dramatic happened: I realized Wake Forest isn’t very good.  I now have them losing in the second round.
• I have one simple rule – if a team lost to UNCW this season, they’re not winning a game in the NCAA tournament.  So VCU, – you lose in the first round.
• Of course I picked my home town team Siena to win in the first round.  Go Loudonville, NY! 
• Based on their performance this past weekend, I have Duke in the Elite Eight.  If Jon Scheyer shoots like he did in Atlanta, they might go even farther.
• Finally – I picked North Carolina to win, and I have exactly ZERO confidence in that pick.  To be clear, I made that pick assuming Ty Lawson plays but if he doesn’t – they’ll lose in the second round.  Beyond Lawson’s health, I think there is something missing with this Tar Heel team, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.  Their lack of defense?  How they seem to freeze up in close games? Coaching? But - to be honest – I haven’t seen enough (or any) of Pittsburgh to know if they’re better.  So the Tar Heels it is.  Might as well go with what I know.

Who you got?

  kevin

You should watch baseball…

I just read Kevin’s post about A-Rod.  I didn’t think it all the way through like he did (I rarely do when it comes to baseball) but when I heard about his injury on the radio, I did think, wow, that’s funny.  After all of the trouble he’s gotten himself into it’s very convenient that he can now just go away.

That being said, I’m still high on baseball.  More specifically UNCW.  And if you live in the area you should take the time to go watch this team (team is home all weekend with temps near 80…what are you waiting for).

After losing 75% of the offense from last years team that established a program record for wins, all this year version has done is open the season with an eight-game win streak (program best) and come from behind in seven of those wins. 

The pitching has been solid from start to relief.  The boys come up with timely hitting and I’ve yet to see the team panic.  Simply, the team is playing loose and it’s working.

It’s clear that people are buying in to the product that Mark Scalf puts in the field.  The crowd that showed up for the opening series with Maryland rivaled that of an ECU, NCSU, or UNC game. 

And the seats have been filled for every game this season.  Alright, it wasn’t packed for last night’s Wake Forest game, but it was 37 degrees outside.

Too bad.  The team came from five runs down to win again.

While it’s still very early in the season I get the feeling that something special is happening with this club.  If I were you, I’d get on the bandwagon while there’s still room.

Is this thing on?

There are times that I’m convinced nobody watches our news.  Most of the time I think this when I read comments on this or that blog about a story in the paper that we had the night before.

Today it was two phone calls hinting that we don’t cover the UNCW women’s basketball team or any high school teams outside of New Hanover county.

So here’s the thing.  If you are reading this and happen to be one of the people who called to complain last night, take a look at the video on our website from last night’s 11pm newscast.

Second story, Pender boys high school basketball from Greenville.  Third story, UNCW women’s basketball final home game.

I know I can’t please everybody all of the time, but the nice thing about television is there’s always video proof of what we do, be it right or wrong.

I think we got it right last night (and most nights).

ARod conspiracy theory…

Ok – so bare with me on this one….

Alex Rodriguez admits to using steroids.

The penalty for using steroids is sitting out 50 games.

Alex Rodriguez meets with MLB officials on Sunday.

Just a few days later – Rodriguez has a hip problem.  Amazing!  Now Rodriguez is having hip surgery – and will be out ten weeks.

Anyone want to bet he ends up missing about 50 games?

Seems awfully coincidental, doesn’t it??

   kevin