I might hate Blogger more than Pitt...naaah.

I’m going to try and make this quick and painless this morning/afternoon (blogger is killing me). I’ve got a fair amount of work to get to before the week is out and I just found out that I have to go to New Smyrna on Friday for most of the day. I contemplated just saying “Fuck it” and eschewing this post altogether (it’s a little weird commenting on games that are almost a week old), but then I thought about all those kids out there who’ve been eagerly awaiting my wisdom. Much like Barry Bonds, I’m only doing this in hopes of inspiring some young slacker to follow in my footsteps and attain greatness (or mediocrity, it’s up to him…who am I Castro?) for himself.

Without further ado, here’s my first round of Random Tournament Ramblings:

- I’m officially off the UNC-Wilmington bandwagon…forever. Watching the Seahawks go down at the hands of Drew Nicholas and his miraculous buzzer beater was painful enough for me three years ago. After that, I should’ve known better than to pick them to upset George Washington. Instead I figured that I’d be sneaky and pick the CAA team that nobody was talking about against a GW team that might be looking ahead to Duke. My pick ended up working out great…for 30 minutes. Never again will I be duped into picking UNC-W in a first round upset.

- One team that I did manage to learn my lesson with was Pittsburgh. Two years ago, Pitt killed my bracket when I had them slotted for the Final Four. Last year I picked Pitt and Jamie (aren’t you a little old to be going by Jamie?) Dixon to advance to the Elite Eight and they bombed out in the first round. I finally got it right this year as I had Pitt losing in the second round like the spectacularly inefficient offensive team that they are. I’m sure that I’m not the only person who Pitt has managed to screw over the past few years. In fact, I’m willing to bet that I’m in the majority. People look at Pitt’s record, talent, and cromulent defensive play and think, “Hey, this team will be great in the half court pace of the tourney.” I know that I used that line of thinking in the past. Here’s the problem with that line of thinking: Pitt is not a good half court offensive team (and haven’t been for quite some time). When the pace of the game slows and Pitt is matched up against another very good defensive team (of which there are many in the tournament) in a half court slugfest, Pitt’s offensive deficiencies become much more problematic than during the regular season. Pitt can often get away with poorly executed offensive sets and awful shooting percentages within the Big East where they have heavily scouted their opponents’ tendencies and offensive sets. However with the short preparation time of the tournament, Pitt struggles to maintain the same level of scoring defense that they’ve played with all season. This forces Pitt to play more efficient offense and score more than they have all season and puts their players into uncomfortable situations on offense.

- I was as pissed about San Diego State losing to Indiana as the next guy, but should any of us have been surprised by the loss or, more specifically, the way in which SDSU lost? This is a team that is coached by Steve Fisher. I know it’s been awhile since most of us have seen Steve operate under the pressure and scrutiny of an NCAA Tournament game but, really is there a coach out there who inspires less confidence amongst players and fans than Steve Fisher? San Diego State would’ve been better off with Jalen Rose on the bench against Mike Davis. By the way, you have to be pretty damned awful to make Mike Davis look competent on the sidelines.

- I never knew exactly where Bradley was located. In fact, if you would’ve told me last week that the town had been renamed Hersey, Ill. after former Bradley legend Hersey Hawkins, I may have believed you. I did know that Bradley was in Illinois but I never had any idea that was located in Peoria, Ill. I bring this up because I find it amazing, even troubling that this school hasn’t seen more consistent success when you consider that it resides within the same city that has houses Peoria Manual High School. Manual has won 6 State Boys basketball titles within the last decade and have had numerous other appearances in the Illinois Elite eight during that same span. I’m sure that a lot of these kids are going on to play at bigger schools (see: Illinois) but I’m also quite sure that there’s go to be a large number of talented kids who would be able to make Bradley a more consistent power within the MVC. It’s similar to schools like St. John’s and Rutgers’ inability to consistently recruit talent out of the NY/NJ area, though on a much smaller scale.

- I have Memphis losing in the Elite Eight to UCLA, not b/c I particularly believe in UCLA but rather b/c I feel like Darius Washington is one the worst point guards in the entire tournament. It’s not that Washington isn’t talented, but rather that he doesn’t understand the intricacies of the point guard position. Watch him play and you’ll see a kid who struggles to make even the most basic of decisions within the half court offense. It’s not entirely Washington’s fault either. He is a classic “square peg-round hole” case. Washington was a star early in his high school career after he got the better of Sebastian Telfair at the ABCD camp following their sophomore year in high school. From that point on, Washington’s career took off. He led his school to consecutive state championship appearances (winning as a Senior) and scored over 3,000 points in his high school career. He was undoubtedly the best player in the Florida as a senior and even became a McDonald’s All-American. However, he did it all while playing the two guard. I watched him close to ten separate times during his final two years of high school and while he was brilliant as a scorer, he was anything but a point guard. Despite the fact that he, essentially, played the two in high school he was billed as a PG coming out of high school. He wasn’t. He played off the ball a great deal in high school and when he did bring the ball up, it was part of an isolation play designed as a means for Washington to create a shot for himself. As a result of this, Washington struggles between creating his own offense and creating opportunities for his teammates. Washington’s confidence has waned as a result of this struggle and Memphis’ half court offense has been bogged down by Washington’s lack of court sense and overall frustration with his play. Memphis has played far more efficiently down the stretch with Andre Allen at the point b/c he defers to his more talented teammates while also realizing the difference between a good and bad shot. Depending on who is on the court, Memphis may want to think about playing Allen and Washington together (with Washington at the 2) in order to create a quicker pace and inject some much needed confidence in Washington’s game.

- Whenever Villanova is brought up people always mention the four guard lineup. Another thing that often gets mentioned in the next breath is the supposed dearth of serviceable big men the Wildcats have. While Villanova would certainly be more dangerous with a healthy Curtis Sumpter or Jason Fraser, it would be unwise to minimize the affect of Will Sheridan on Villanova’s success. Sheridan (who may the most underrated player in the Big East) consistently holds his own defensively against much bigger men while also managing to provide ‘Nova with interior scoring as well as a pretty reliable baseline jumper that spreads the floor for Villanova’s penetrating guards. While Sheridan is not an elite level big man, he’s much, much better than Roger Powell of last year’s Illinois team. Unfortunately, while the media seemed to fellate Powell at every turn for his “inspired defense and rebounding”, Sheridan continues to fly under the radar as a primary reason for the Wildcats’ success. Other than writing bible verses on his shoes, is there a single thing that Powell did better than Sheridan currently does?

- In other Villanova related news: I’ve read that NBA scouts don’t think Allan Ray can play in the league. Really? While I wouldn’t spend a first round pick on him I do find it hard to believe that he couldn’t carve out a role for himself as a second unit scorer in the NBA. I’d like to meet the NBA scout that doesn’t think Ray can be as good as Eddie House or Troy Hudson.

- I don’t particularly care about the WBC or the NIT but even I was incensed that the Worldwide Leader would continue to show the entirety of Monday’s Notre Dame-Michigan game while the WBC Final was already underway. Don’t you people have like six channels? Couldn’t you have switched ND-UM to the Ocho, or even moved the start of the WBC final to one of these stations? Are you telling me that Women’s College Basketball and the NIT are more important sporting events than the supposed World Championship of Baseball? Evidently so.

- I hate Notre Dame in a completely irrational manner. So much so that I’d punch Chris Thomas (or any other current or former ND athlete, pending size) in his face right now if he walked into my office but even I feel a little sorry for the 2006 Notre Dame Men’s Basketball team. Jesus. Is there a team that’s suffered more heartbreaking losses than them in one season? Mike Brey’s reaction to Dion Harris’ fallaway, three point, buzzer beater summed it all up for me. His frustrations, his anxiety, his utter incredulity. In case you missed it, as he saw Harris’ shot fall through the net on Monday, he just smiled (like the way you smile when somebody hits a bank shot from the top of they key to win a pickup game) and calmly walked over to shake hands with Tommy Amaker. Then he went home and gave his wife two black eyes for forgetting to Tivo The Sopranos on Sunday night. (I made that last part up…or did I?)

- I’m not going to say that I don’t want the University of Florida to make the Final Four. I’d be as excited as any Gator fan if Billy D’s boys were able to make it all the way the National Semifinals (or beyond). However, I’d also be pretty worried that the strong play of the Gators would result in the early departure of any of our tremendously talented sophomore class. Joakim Noah’s recent play (as well as his antics) has made him a darling of the national media as well as a favorite amongst NBA scouts. So much so that, even if the Gators lose to Georgetown in their next game, he may choose to go to the NBA in search of lottery riches. If the Gators were to make it all the way to the Final Four, Noah would be almost certain to leave early. There’s also a fairly good chance that the Gators would lose one of either Corey Brewer or Al Horford to the NBA as well.

You have to feel a little bit for Billy Donovan in all of this. After being burned by the early entries of Donnell Harvey and Kwame Brown (as well as the transfer of James White), Donovan changed his recruiting strategy. Instead of tracking every top 20 recruit like his early years in Gainesville, Donovan began to recruit players who were a little lower on the scouts’ lists in hopes of establishing a more consistent program where players stayed for three or four years. After some initial resistance among fans it finally appeared as if Donovan had struck the right balance between talent and team with this year’s squad. He did, only he did it too well. Projects like Noah and Horford have developed faster than anybody could’ve imagined and may leave Donovan scrambling for big men to fill out his roster in Gainesville as he’s had to do so many times before. I’m sure Donovan would love to make a Final Four this year but I bet he’d be awfully happy to field a full roster of guys next year too when the Gators could be as deep as they’ve been since 2000.

With the Gators getting set to take on Georgetown there’s going to be an awful lot of talk about famous fathers. You could render yourself unconscious by halftime if you did a shot every time the announcers mentioned Yannick Noah, John Thompson, Tito Horford, or Sidney Greene. While all of this is going on, they’ll be another famous father who will go unnoticed. A man well known to all of us. A man whose son has been instrumental in Georgetown’s Sweet 16 run. A man who is probably more famous than all of the other famous fathers combined. The player of which I speak is none other than Georgetown Center Roy Hibbert and his father, Dr. Julius Hibbert.