March Madness 2002

[Captain Shamrock]

and Captain whomever you support

Sandman,

I support the underdog. All my life, I have been an underdog. That would explain my loyalty to the Pepperdine Waves, Kent State Golden Flashes, and of course, the Salukis from Southern Illinois.


As for the last play, Boozer was hacked big time. But that was

moot

considering the fcuk-up by the Indiana defender to even give Williams the chance to fcuk-up, which he did nicely. As for the reach-in foul which happened just before, I don't think there was enough contact to warrant a whistle. In the overall scheme of things, Duke do not deserve to win because they blew a 17 point lead with just over 10 minutes to go. No team should do that, especially one of Coach K's teams.

BTW, Sandman, you're absolutely right about Davis(Brown ). He made himself look very foolish and selfish. Can you imagine if John Thompson acted like that when Sleepy Floyd gave the ball to North Carolina in the 1982 final? What about Steve Fisher when Chris Webber called for a timeout, when they were out of timeouts? This could come back to haunt Davis in the end. Bonehead move of the game.


Yours in analysis,


Captain College Hoops

 

[sensei_hanson]

Is it me, or does the Pacific Northwest have a monopoly on white guys with bad hair who can really play ball? Oregon has a whole fleet of 'em - but the only two worth mentioning are Jackson and Ridnour. Bloody hell, Ridnour has shown as much, if not more, than Dan Dickau has over the regular season.

I really like the way both Lukes play ball, but that Christoffersen (sp?) guy has got to go. He would make Big Country look both svelte and mobile at the same time. Texas should have gone to their post game way earlier and more often, rather than letting Ford dribble around the three-point line for hours on end. Ford's a nice player, but the only guy doing damage for Texas was Thomas, who basically made that big Swiss dink his bitch for the entire game.

Maryland continues to do the business and keep my awful pool picks alive. I don't really fancy UConn as they look like a two-trick pony with Butler and Okafor. I'd like to see Wilcox or Holden guard the fcuk out of Butler for a while, but I can't see either of them providing the foot-speed to stay with him. I forsee a lot of zone stuff on Sunday from the Terps.

Kansas bores me. They play to the level of their competition. Gooden is an excellent player but I'm beginning to think Boschee, Collison and Hinrich are all totally overrated. I do like Keith Langford. He could be an x-factor in dealing with the Luke combo on Sunday. If Oregon runs, they'll take Kansas. If the Jayhawks can make the game a slow-tempo affair and pound the ball inside to the Collison-Gooden combo, Williams might finally get to the final four.

 

[Pylon]

Bwaaah!!!

Duke lost, so I'm bummed.

But is there any sport more exciting than NCAA college basketball's March Madness? Me thinks not.

As for the Pacific Northwest - I grew up in a small BC town, which had zero ethnic people. Portland is the first place to remind me of my childhood. Strange place...

And can you believe Ridnour is from Blaine??? What the heck is in Blaine, besides a couple gas stations and a porno theatre???

 

[knvb]

Blaine has a porno theatre?


Out of gas, KNVB

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Yes, March Madness is the best.

Sensei,

Your analysis is spot on, per usual.

but the only guy doing damage for Texas was Thomas, who basically made that big Swiss dink his bitch for the entire game.

Very profound, too.

Of the eight teams left, I have to say that I have been most impressed with Oklahoma. They are very athletic and can play a solid outside/inside game whenever it is needed. If Hollis Price can light it up from the outside like he did against Arizona, they will be very tough to be with McGhee doing a lot of the dirty work inside. I certainly fancy them to beat Indiana or Kent State, if they get by Missouri........Also, Oklahoma knows it can beat anybody left in the tournament, because they have already. They thumped Maryland by 16 in December, beat Missouri by 13, beat Connecticut by 2 in Connecticut, and beat Kansas by 9 in the last meeting in Kansas. I know it is a different ball game when it comes to the tournament but it couldn't hurt the confidence.......So, I am going with Oklahoma to beat Maryland in the final by 3 points. It will be a thriller..


Captain

 

[sensei_hanson]

Can't knock Mike Davis right now. Indiana off to the Final Four for the first time since 1992. Coverdale picks up Regional MVP (He's had a nice tournament, but you have to give that award to Jefferies, don't you?), but rolls his ankle with nine minutes to go. That's not good. Didn't get to see the game but heard Indy went crazy from behind the arc, shooting something ridiculous like 80%. Davis is still new at this coaching gig, but I respect what he's done with that team this year. Yeah, the meltdown against Duke was embarassing, but he's taken over a team which was seemingly doomed to fail when Knight left, and he's taken them to the Big Dance and beyond.

Hollis Price is quickly making everybody forget about Jason Williams, Frank Williams, Troy Bell, TJ Ford, Steve Logan and any other premier PG/SG in America. He picks up the West Regional MVP and, well, Oklahoma is rolling into the final four. I don't see how Indy can match up with that inside-outside game the Sooners are playing right now. I think McGhee is too big and too versatile for any Hoosier to stop (god fobid if they try to make a reed-thin guy like Jefferies guard him), and Price is a bloody handful. I expect Davis to throw Fife on him mano-a-mano, because if Indy goes zone Hollis is going to shoot the lights out. Coverdale probably would have drawn the assignment but I wonder how well his ankle will hold up. He does have a week to rest it, though.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

To pull a page from Mophandle

If Hollis Price can light it up from the outside like he did against Arizona, they will be very tough to be with McGhee doing a lot of the dirty work inside. I certainly fancy them to beat Indiana or Kent State, if they get by Missouri........Also, Oklahoma knows it can beat anybody left in the tournament, because they have already. They thumped Maryland by 16 in December, beat Missouri by 13, beat Connecticut by 2 in Connecticut, and beat Kansas by 9 in the last meeting in Kansas.

The Prognosticator

 

[sensei_hanson]

So Kansas' frontcourt beat up on the Ducks' front line. Nothing surprising there. I wasn't impressed with a single post presence Oregon had, and Williams took full advantage by letting his big men (Gooden and Collison) out-rebound the entire Ducks team by a 35-34 count.

For Oregon to win today, Jackson, Ridnour and Jones all had to have massive games and really push the ball. Jones did his part with 32 points, but Oregon's awful rebounding totals just didn't allow them to get the ball in motion and push the game's tempo. Ridnour disappeared and only put up nine points.

I still think Maryland will handle Kansas in the final four. Gooden isn't going to have the boards or looks against defenders like Baxter, Wilcox and Holden (who's been great with his post defence this tourney). As for the rest - Kansas will really have their hands full trying to compete with all the guards Maryland throws at you. Dixon, Mouton, Blake and Nicholas are all legit outside threats, quick as hell and play that trapping defense. Like I said before, I think Hinrich and Boschee are very, very overrated (and slow). What the Ducks didn't have today - post presence - is exactly what Maryland can bring to the table next week-end.

Oklahoma should advance, but who really wants to mess with the roll Indiana is on right now? Its more than just good basketball - that game against Duke, they got all sorts of breaks to win. Its not like they put on a clinic out there...the Blue Devils just played worse down the stretch. And the game against Kent State was a scary example of how hot their shooters can get from deep.

March Madness rules.
-Sensei.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Time to see look at some of our predictions...

I like Creighton, Hawaii, San Diego State, and Kent State to make life VERY difficult for their first round opponents, with two of them causing upsets.........

Creighton and Kent State won.......


Sensei predicted Maryland would take it all and of course, he was right. Well done, Sensei........ I will try and dig up a few more predictions as the tourney went on.......


.

Stanford: Look at the time of this post - written well before tipoff v. Kansas. Jacobsen and Borschardt are gonna do the business with Hinrich out of comission. War Cardinal.

I will not post anymore of my wrong picks(See Pepperdine) so I will leave Sensei with the last incorrect pick.....

 

[sensei_hanson]

Originally posted by sensei_hanson
I'm going with Maryland this year. I don't think anybody can match the up-front presence of Wilcox and Baxter.

That was posted March 6th, 2002. What a prognosticator. I just picked up a cool $70 from my office pool with the Terps win tonite.

What a brutal game, though. Indiana looked awful, and Maryland weren't much better. Other than the good rebounding numbers, Lonny Baxter was terrible, as were Wilcox and Blake. Dixon is a player, and I really liked the way Mouton battled for rebounds and loose balls. Of all the strong Terps forwards, I think the most effective one was Tahj Holden, even though his numbers weren't that impressive. I just couldn't believe how average Baxter looked against guys he was much, much stronger than. That performance might hurt him come draft time. Wilcox has all the tools - no toolbox. He'd better stay another year and hone his limited skills before coming out. Both Baxter and Wilcox are much better than what they showed tonite.

Coverdale, Hornsby and Fife were easily Indy's best on the night...where the hell did Jared Jefferies vanish to? That was such a poor performance for such a talented player - hopefully he'll come back with a vengeance next season. Indiana really suffered as their bench was non-existent in the final. Moye, Newton and Leach, who were HUGE in the wins over Duke, Kent St and Oklahoma, didn't even show up tonite. I was totally disappointed by Newton, although methinks he might have been overachieving in that win over the Sooners. He just looked lost against the big Terp forwards tonite.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Good points, Sensei.


I think the biggest difference, especially in the second half was Maryland's pursuit of the ball around the perimeter. They were overplaying their men all night and getting away with it. This really made it difficult to get the ball into Jeffries. When he did get it, he just couldn't match the strength of Maryland's forwards. I like Dane Fife, despite his whiteness. He is a smart player and a very good defender. Overall, a pretty poor final but the best team definitely won in the end, well next to Pepperdine and Ball State of course......


Captain