Hey! Big East Champs!

I wanted to hold off on this until I had something to say about it. I still don't. But in a good way. For this team, this year, despite the record there seemed to be a lot of close games and I was never quite sure they deserved the ranking they were getting. I would be lying if I told you that I haven't been a glass half empty guy through the snopocalypse of 2010. Luckily, I've kept that to myself.

I saw a tweet from another Big East blogger that said, "WVU beat the #11, 8, & 7 teams to win the BE tourney. Two locks and one bubble team. Take that every other conference." You have to see that as a positive. Sure we didn't get to play the higher ranked teams. But shit, those teams came to play all year long and I don't know that anyone else could have beat them given the way the top teams performed in the tourney. Other than the losses to Purdue and Syracuse I felt like we had a chance to win all those games after falling behind. WVU played one of the tougher schedules in the country this year. Certainly one of the toughest we've seen in a long time, and came out relatively unscathed. Having said that, I think we do deserve the ranking. Plus, Country Roads playing after the game was pretty awesome! It got better when I considered how painful it was for Pitt fans. Yeah, I'm thinking about the ones that bought tickets for the whole tournament.




And you knew this was going to happen...



Looking at our bracket, you can't be too disappointed.There's some chances there. I don't want to say anymore strictly out of concern for messing with the Basketball Gods. Anyhow, WOOOOOO!!

Good Enough To Win Is Better Than Losing

I've done enough poo-pooing on Elmo to last a life time. So let's instead remember that on a day when the high seeds were going down left and right, West Virginia found a way to win. Maybe it's the two days off, or maybe it's the Moon's orbit. It doesn't really matter. Yesterday was a day for upsets, and the only rule on days like this is survive and advance.

Hopefully WVU got all the bad shots out of their system, because they won't win shooting like that against Notre Dame. And we can't expect the Irish to shoot as poorly as Cincinnati did last night. That was a third grade sandlot bad performance by the Bearcats. Why anyone plays anything but zone against that team is beyond me.

Anyway, these late games are going to be the death of me. Let's end this by giving it up for Da'Sean Butler and his savvy use of the backboard. Yeah, there are probably better videos out there of this moment. But there's something about this one we really like.



Update: It's not like we never beat UC with at bankshot 3 in the post season before.

Punch Me Elmo Assumes The Position

It's early, too damn early. So this is the kind of photo-shopping you get. I was wrong about the winner of the UL-UC game, but the reason the Bearcats won wasn't because of Elmo. If he was any kind of coach, Sosa would have never made it across half court at the end of the game. UC just wanted it more, and the way they were shooting they had to. Because they couldn't hit anything but a dunk or a layup. Scarlet Pitino should have packed it in tight with a 2-3 zone.

Still, seven out of eight isn't bad predicting. St. Johns showed a lot more than I was expecting. Notre Dame did exactly what I expected, as well as Georgetown.

The good news is that I find it very hard to believe that UC will be able to be successful shooting the ball like that two nights in a row. They shouldn't be able to grab offensive rebounds like that against West Virginia. Also, I have to believe that someone from West Virginia would have the guts to step in front of Stephenson and take a charge. When the momentum switched last night it was because of Stephenson driving the lane and no one from Louisville wanted to move their feet and get in front of him.

The only thing running through my head at the moment is a vision of Elmo going ape-shit on the sidelines and getting a double technical called on him. It's a dream I have that I just can't get out of my mind. So I'm not going to worry about any predictions for the other games today. I'm obviously just concerned with a WVU win.

These folks can tell you about the other games:

UC Bearcats Blog
Pitt Blather
Rakes Of Mallow
Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician
Orange 44
Hoya Suxa
Cracked Sidewalks
The Nova Blog

Big East Tourney Day Two: The Electric Boogaloo Edition

Well, yesterday went pretty much as planned. These are the kind of things I can do with a case of beer and a dart board. Anyhow, if you thought yesterday's games were intense (they were), wait until you see what happens today.

First up is Georgetown and South Florida. Dominique Jones just missed his season average, but he didn't miss on some monster dunks. I don't know how impressive it is since I could dunk on DuPaul and I can't even dunk anymore. You get a sense that South Florida has gained some confidence from the way they ended the season and yesterday's results. Georgetown on the other hand probably doesn't feel confident in anything they are doing right now. Still, I think it's too much to ask of the Bulls to win this game. They may need it to get into the big dance, but they aren't used to playing important games. Georgetown is and they will find a way to win a close one.

Marquette vs. St. Johns: Thanks for playing SJU.

Seton Hall vs. Notre Dame: Seton Hall never seems like they are out of any game, but last night's game also shows that they are never actually in control of any game either. Notre Dame is very capable of controlling the tempo of a game like this and taking the Pirates out of their offense. This will be an ugly, physical game with the Irish moving on.

The nightcap will be a battle of wits between Punch Me Elmo and The Scarlet Pitino. Since Elmo has no wits to bring to the battle, I expect Louisville to win this one going away. We may not like Pitino, but we respect him. Elmo gets no such respect.

Big East Losers Bracket: Scalpers Need Not Apply

I remember many years ago when Michael Jordan returned from his attempt at baseball to the Bulls. It was also the day the Bulls were in New York to play the Nicks at MSG. My dad and I thought it would be cool to take the tour of MSG. It was. But damn, trying to get past the scalpers was a nightmare.

That shouldn't be a problem today, though as the first round of the Big East Tournament kicks off. South Florida and DePaul have the first game at noon. By 12:05 Dominique Jones will have his season average of 21 points and the Bulls should have this one wrapped up.

UConn and St. Johns have the next game at 2pm in the 12-13 match up. Yeah, UConn is a 12 seed. That in itself is kind of hard to believe. But at the same time, would you really be surprised if St. Johns won? UConn won handily the only time they played this year. But that was right before the bottom fell out of UConn's season. I'll take St. Johns here in the mild upset.

I'm not even going to touch the 7pm game between Seton Hall and Providence. I have no idea who will win. I only know that no defense will be played. So take the over.

Finally, Rutgers and Cincinnati play the 9pm game. I've made no secret of my dislike for Mick Cronin over the years on this blog. While I expect the Bearcats to win, I'll be rooting for Rutgers.