Thursday has come, everyone has filled out their brackets and opening tip-off of the 2011 NCAA Tournament is just hours away. The first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament have a certain buzz about them, kind of like we are watching something great develop in its infant stages. I, of course, have taken the afternoon off and a vacation day on Friday to watch all of the action.
Before we get to the games, however, it is time to unveil the “official” People’s Quarterback bracket. I call it official because like so many of you, I fill out too many of these things to keep track of. This one, however, is the one I am holding myself accountable for, as Regis used to say, “final answer!”
If those first two paragraphs sounded familiar, they should! Those were the opening two paragraphs I used last year before I went on to say how much I know, blah, blah, blah. I know you just want the picks, so we’ll get right to them.
I like upsets early and chalk late. I also have the same Final Four and champion as the President, which isn’t such a bad thing in case he ever gets bored with that simple job he does and comes across the blog. Here are the picks:
East
Ohio State over George Mason
Kentucky over Clemson
Syracuse over Marquette
UNC over Washington
Ohio State over UNC
West
Duke over Tennessee
Texas over Arizona
UConn over Cincinnati
Penn State over San Diego State
Duke over UConn
Southwest
Kansas over UNLV
Louisville over Richmond
Purdue over Georgetown
Texas A&M over Notre Dame
Kansas over Purdue
Southeast
Pittsburgh over Old Dominion
Utah State over Wisconsin
BYU over Gonzaga
Florida over Michigan State
Pittsburgh over Florida
Final Four
Ohio State over Duke
Kansas over Pittsburgh
Kansas over Ohio State
Showing posts with label NCAA Basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA Basketball. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Bracket Thoughts
- For those of you that are not long-time readers you probably don’t know that Selection Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year. To check out the piece I wrote about Selection Sunday last year, click here.
- Pitt fans should be thrilled with the Panthers draw. I commented to my brother on Sunday that I do not think Pitt could have received a better region if they had picked it out themselves.
- I have read or heard others who do not think Pitt’s draw is as good as I believe because of their potential second round (I guess it is now called the third round but nobody is speaking in those terms yet) match-up with Old Dominion or Butler and a possible Sweet 16 opponent of Kansas State. Listen…if you are a number one seed and you are worried about a 2nd round game against a non-power conference team and the team you think offers the most potential problems in your region is the #5 seed, you got a damn good draw.
- I would agree that Duke has the second easiest region among the four number one seeds (many of the TV experts think Duke has the easiest). That leads me to the question of what the heck is the committee doing? Ohio State and Kansas are clearly the #1 and #2 overall seeds in the tournament and were named rightly so. How can the committee justify having their regions being the most difficult? I know this is a matter of perception but still, it is pretty clear to even the least knowledgeable college basketball fan that Kansas and Ohio State were not rewarded properly for their overall seeds.
- I guess the actual reason is not the committee’s fault. This whole idea of putting the top seeds in their “pods” and then placing them in the respective regions to keep them close to their fan bases is ridiculous. Line the teams up 1-68 and seed the tournament accordingly.
- Another pet-peeve of mine that has developed is listening to these “experts” calling teams such as Purdue, Louisville and Syracuse a “sleeper”. We need to make some kind of universal ground rules up for what a sleeper is. My suggestion is two-part:
(1) If we are talking about the ability to win the national championship, no team that is a top four seed in its region can be considered a sleeper. If you are ranked in the top 15 or 16 in the country you have a legitimate shot to win six straight games and cut down the nets.
(2) If we are talking about true sleepers, as in a team that people would be at least a little bit surprised if they made the Sweet 16 or better, then a team must be seeded 7th or higher in its region to be considered. No one would be surprised if #6 seeds like Georgetown or Cincinnati make a little run to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. They are not sleepers.
- Speaking of Georgetown, if it is true that Chris Wright is expected back I see a legitimate scenario where the Big East has seven or eight Sweet 16 teams and possibly three of the Final Four teams. Even with that kind of depth, however, I still don’t see a Big East team winning the National Championship. My money today would be on Duke, Ohio State or Kansas…and I am leaning towards Duke after seeing each team’s respective brackets.
- I will make my official picks Thursday morning. We have to see who wins these horrible, nobody really cares about them, play-in games before we make our official predictions right?!? But since you’re reading this today, I’ll take Clemson, USC, UNC-Asheville and UT-San Antonio in the play-in games.
- Pitt fans should be thrilled with the Panthers draw. I commented to my brother on Sunday that I do not think Pitt could have received a better region if they had picked it out themselves.
- I have read or heard others who do not think Pitt’s draw is as good as I believe because of their potential second round (I guess it is now called the third round but nobody is speaking in those terms yet) match-up with Old Dominion or Butler and a possible Sweet 16 opponent of Kansas State. Listen…if you are a number one seed and you are worried about a 2nd round game against a non-power conference team and the team you think offers the most potential problems in your region is the #5 seed, you got a damn good draw.
- I would agree that Duke has the second easiest region among the four number one seeds (many of the TV experts think Duke has the easiest). That leads me to the question of what the heck is the committee doing? Ohio State and Kansas are clearly the #1 and #2 overall seeds in the tournament and were named rightly so. How can the committee justify having their regions being the most difficult? I know this is a matter of perception but still, it is pretty clear to even the least knowledgeable college basketball fan that Kansas and Ohio State were not rewarded properly for their overall seeds.
- I guess the actual reason is not the committee’s fault. This whole idea of putting the top seeds in their “pods” and then placing them in the respective regions to keep them close to their fan bases is ridiculous. Line the teams up 1-68 and seed the tournament accordingly.
- Another pet-peeve of mine that has developed is listening to these “experts” calling teams such as Purdue, Louisville and Syracuse a “sleeper”. We need to make some kind of universal ground rules up for what a sleeper is. My suggestion is two-part:
(1) If we are talking about the ability to win the national championship, no team that is a top four seed in its region can be considered a sleeper. If you are ranked in the top 15 or 16 in the country you have a legitimate shot to win six straight games and cut down the nets.
(2) If we are talking about true sleepers, as in a team that people would be at least a little bit surprised if they made the Sweet 16 or better, then a team must be seeded 7th or higher in its region to be considered. No one would be surprised if #6 seeds like Georgetown or Cincinnati make a little run to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. They are not sleepers.
- Speaking of Georgetown, if it is true that Chris Wright is expected back I see a legitimate scenario where the Big East has seven or eight Sweet 16 teams and possibly three of the Final Four teams. Even with that kind of depth, however, I still don’t see a Big East team winning the National Championship. My money today would be on Duke, Ohio State or Kansas…and I am leaning towards Duke after seeing each team’s respective brackets.
- I will make my official picks Thursday morning. We have to see who wins these horrible, nobody really cares about them, play-in games before we make our official predictions right?!? But since you’re reading this today, I’ll take Clemson, USC, UNC-Asheville and UT-San Antonio in the play-in games.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Pitt Needs More from Brown
Gilbert Brown has proven over his career at Pitt that he is a fantastic role player. The fifth year senior is a terrific athlete, excellent defender, good rebounder, strong finisher and has even improved his jumpshot to the point that it is respectable. It has also become clear that Brown will never develop into the star some people believed he might early in his career after witnessing one of his incredible dunks or fabulous defensive plays. That does not mean he does not have more to give to this current Panthers team.
For the season, Brown is averaging 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game to go along with his stellar defense. Those are decent, but not great numbers and not all that much different than his numbers from a year ago. Balance is a trademark of Jamie Dixon teams and scoring has never been Brown’s forte but still, a jump in scoring should have been expected for a guy entering his fifth year in the program. What is more telling, however, is that while Brown has improved his free throw shooting, both his three-point and overall field-goal percentages have gone down from last year. Brown’s two-point field goal percentage has dropped significantly. This confirms what my eyes have been telling me in that Brown is not getting the easy baskets in transition and dunks in the half court like he was in the past.
Last year it was inconsistency that plagued Brown on the offensive end where he seemingly scored 20 points or 5 points from game to game. This year, while being a little more consistent, we have yet to see the explosiveness he showed in games last year. Case in point: Brown has scored 20 points only once this season and has scored more than 15 in only two other games while scoring more than 15 in a third of his games just a season ago.
One could say that Brown has taken a back seat to Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wannamaker on the offensive end but even in the three games that Gibbs missed with a knee injury, Brown failed to step his game up, only scoring a total of 24 points over the three contests. The Panthers were able to win those three games without Gibbs, in part because of Brown’s and the rest of the team’s defensive effort, but if the Panthers are going to reach their goals this season, most notably a Final Four appearance, both Brown and the Panthers are going to need to produce a little more firepower in the offensive end.
Pitt is having a fantastic season and is poised to earn a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Gilbert Brown’s role as a complimentary piece is a big reason why the Panthers are enjoying so much success but more can be expected of the senior. I am not saying the Panthers need Brown to become a 20 point per game scorer to reach the Final Four, but an offensive outburst here or there could sure enhance their chances.
For the season, Brown is averaging 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game to go along with his stellar defense. Those are decent, but not great numbers and not all that much different than his numbers from a year ago. Balance is a trademark of Jamie Dixon teams and scoring has never been Brown’s forte but still, a jump in scoring should have been expected for a guy entering his fifth year in the program. What is more telling, however, is that while Brown has improved his free throw shooting, both his three-point and overall field-goal percentages have gone down from last year. Brown’s two-point field goal percentage has dropped significantly. This confirms what my eyes have been telling me in that Brown is not getting the easy baskets in transition and dunks in the half court like he was in the past.
Last year it was inconsistency that plagued Brown on the offensive end where he seemingly scored 20 points or 5 points from game to game. This year, while being a little more consistent, we have yet to see the explosiveness he showed in games last year. Case in point: Brown has scored 20 points only once this season and has scored more than 15 in only two other games while scoring more than 15 in a third of his games just a season ago.
One could say that Brown has taken a back seat to Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wannamaker on the offensive end but even in the three games that Gibbs missed with a knee injury, Brown failed to step his game up, only scoring a total of 24 points over the three contests. The Panthers were able to win those three games without Gibbs, in part because of Brown’s and the rest of the team’s defensive effort, but if the Panthers are going to reach their goals this season, most notably a Final Four appearance, both Brown and the Panthers are going to need to produce a little more firepower in the offensive end.
Pitt is having a fantastic season and is poised to earn a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Gilbert Brown’s role as a complimentary piece is a big reason why the Panthers are enjoying so much success but more can be expected of the senior. I am not saying the Panthers need Brown to become a 20 point per game scorer to reach the Final Four, but an offensive outburst here or there could sure enhance their chances.
Monday, February 22, 2010
What is Pitt's Celing Now?
Pitt won for the third time this year against a top five team, this time beating #3 Villanova 70-65 yesterday at Petersen Events Center. Pitt has the trademark of every good team and that is they keep getting better every time out. One game after playing what I thought was their best all-around performance of the year at Marquette; Pitt topped that performance yesterday in a game that is sure to raise the expectation level of the Pitt faithful.
Jamie Dixon and company won yesterday with their typical suffocating defense and their prowess on the offensive glass. Pitt collected 21 offensive rebounds, eight by Gary McGhee, and used their second chance opportunities to offset a poor shooting day (35% on field goals). There is no need to get into the many details of the game as I am sure most people either watched it or have read about it. Pitt did a great job breaking Villanova’s pressure, running their offense, and limiting the very dangerous guard duo of Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher. Ashton Gibbs had 21 points and Gilbert Brown chipped in 16 off the bench, including a thunderous dunk down the stretch that may have saved the game for the Panthers.
So where does that leave the Panthers and their expectations going forward? For now it is sure to vault the Panthers up in both pools, however meaningless they are, and has moved Pitt into 9th in the RPI standings. The remaining four Big East games are all winnable (at Notre Dame and St. John’s, home against Providence and Rutgers) giving the Panthers an outside shot at the Big East regular season title. I do not think Syracuse loses two more, but Pitt should have secured a two-day bye for the Big East Tournament with yesterday’s win. More importantly, without a collapse in their final four regular season games, the win should leave Pitt with no worse than a #4 seed and more likely a #3 seed in the Big Dance, with the opportunity to earn as high as a #2 seed with an extended run in the Big East Tournament. My guess is that the Panthers win out in the regular season before losing in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament and earning themselves a #3 seed in the tourney.
With a #3 seed, or even a #2 or a #4 seed, expectations are going to be high. Anything less than a Sweet Sixteen appearance would be a major disappointment and an Elite Eight appearance could be reasonably hoped for. That, again, is a long way from where this team looked headed back in December. I am not sure how many different ways to say how great of a coach Jamie Dixon is, but this has truly been his best job of his tenure at Pitt. BUT, there’s always a but right, this team reminds me so much of the Brandin Knight-Julius Page era teams at Pitt. That normally would be a good thing, but in this context it is not.
Come tournament time, when it is one loss and done, who is going to score the basketball for Pitt when things are not going smoothly? Who is going to break another team’s run? Who is the go-to guy at crunch time to get his own shot or create a shot for a teammate? All of these things remain major question marks for the Panthers as the tournament approaches. Yes, this team has a wide variety of options just as the Knight/Page teams did. Yes, Ashton Gibbs is their best scorer and player just as Knight and Page were. But just like Knight and Page, Gibbs is not a great creator and is not great at scoring off the dribble. This has been a recipe for early exits and disappointing losses to inferior teams in the past and I am afraid it could be the path this team is headed for as well. With the right match-ups and Pitt playing well in all facets of the game, I can see a run to the Elite 8, but (there’s that word again) more likely I see Pitt running into a team with a dynamic superstar that Pitt cannot match and going down once again in the 2nd or 3rd round to a team they would normally beat. Here’s hoping I am wrong…
Jamie Dixon and company won yesterday with their typical suffocating defense and their prowess on the offensive glass. Pitt collected 21 offensive rebounds, eight by Gary McGhee, and used their second chance opportunities to offset a poor shooting day (35% on field goals). There is no need to get into the many details of the game as I am sure most people either watched it or have read about it. Pitt did a great job breaking Villanova’s pressure, running their offense, and limiting the very dangerous guard duo of Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher. Ashton Gibbs had 21 points and Gilbert Brown chipped in 16 off the bench, including a thunderous dunk down the stretch that may have saved the game for the Panthers.
So where does that leave the Panthers and their expectations going forward? For now it is sure to vault the Panthers up in both pools, however meaningless they are, and has moved Pitt into 9th in the RPI standings. The remaining four Big East games are all winnable (at Notre Dame and St. John’s, home against Providence and Rutgers) giving the Panthers an outside shot at the Big East regular season title. I do not think Syracuse loses two more, but Pitt should have secured a two-day bye for the Big East Tournament with yesterday’s win. More importantly, without a collapse in their final four regular season games, the win should leave Pitt with no worse than a #4 seed and more likely a #3 seed in the Big Dance, with the opportunity to earn as high as a #2 seed with an extended run in the Big East Tournament. My guess is that the Panthers win out in the regular season before losing in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament and earning themselves a #3 seed in the tourney.
With a #3 seed, or even a #2 or a #4 seed, expectations are going to be high. Anything less than a Sweet Sixteen appearance would be a major disappointment and an Elite Eight appearance could be reasonably hoped for. That, again, is a long way from where this team looked headed back in December. I am not sure how many different ways to say how great of a coach Jamie Dixon is, but this has truly been his best job of his tenure at Pitt. BUT, there’s always a but right, this team reminds me so much of the Brandin Knight-Julius Page era teams at Pitt. That normally would be a good thing, but in this context it is not.
Come tournament time, when it is one loss and done, who is going to score the basketball for Pitt when things are not going smoothly? Who is going to break another team’s run? Who is the go-to guy at crunch time to get his own shot or create a shot for a teammate? All of these things remain major question marks for the Panthers as the tournament approaches. Yes, this team has a wide variety of options just as the Knight/Page teams did. Yes, Ashton Gibbs is their best scorer and player just as Knight and Page were. But just like Knight and Page, Gibbs is not a great creator and is not great at scoring off the dribble. This has been a recipe for early exits and disappointing losses to inferior teams in the past and I am afraid it could be the path this team is headed for as well. With the right match-ups and Pitt playing well in all facets of the game, I can see a run to the Elite 8, but (there’s that word again) more likely I see Pitt running into a team with a dynamic superstar that Pitt cannot match and going down once again in the 2nd or 3rd round to a team they would normally beat. Here’s hoping I am wrong…
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