Wake Me Up In June

It's that time of year again.  No, I'm not talking about Spring, random April snow showers, Spring Break, or even Baseball.  That's right, it's time for the first round of the NBA playoffs!!!  In case you didn't catch my sarcasm in that first sentence, then please be sure to wake me up in late-May / early-June.  Okay, I am a HUGE basketball fan.  It is easily my favorite sport to watch, play, etc., but that is exactly why I hate the first (and even a lot of the second) round in the NBA playoffs.  Why, you ask?  First of all, the NBA allows more than half of its teams to get into the playoffs (16 out of 30), allowing below-average teams such as the 37-45 Indiana Pacers to play a couple of extra games in the first round every year.  The NBA then had the bright idea in 2003 to switch the first round playoff format from best-of-5 games to best-of-7 games in 2003, thus eliminating almost any possibility of a first round upset by a lower-seeded team.  A best-of-7 series guarantees one thing:  the better team usually wins.  Only once since 2003 has a #8 seed beat a #1 seed (Golden State over Dallas).

Will there be an upset in the NBA playoffs like
Morehead State over Louisville?  Not in a 7-game series.

An NBA best-of-7 series does exactly what the NBA wants it to do: it creates Conference Final and NBA Final matchups with the better teams and the better players.  Do you really think the NBA commissioner was sad to see Lebron James and Chris Bosh leave their smaller basketball-market NBA teams (Cleveland and Toronto, respectively) to join Dwayne Wade in one of the larger NBA markets (Miami) this year?  Did the league allow for the most uneven trade in NBA history to take place with Pau Gasol ending up with the Los Angeles Lakers (The Lakers have not missed the NBA Finals since Pau joined the Lakers in 2008)?  The lowest-rated, least-watched NBA Finals took place in 2007 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Even though two of the best players (Lebron James and Tim Duncan) were involved in the series, its ratings suffered from two of the smaller-market teams getting to the league's showcase event.  Is it any coincidence that the Pau Gasol trade took place the very next season?  I'm just sayin'...

NBA Commissioner David Stern would love
to see a Kobe-Lebron NBA Finals matchup.

The only advantage of the current format of the NBA playoffs is that there is rarely any argument which team is the best team in the league, unlike when Connecticut won the NCAA tournament this year like I wrote about here.  Meanwhile, the NCAA Tournament and the NFL playoff format create for much more exciting games because they are a "one-and-done" playoff system.  If even the "best" NFL or NCAA team has an off-night or makes an unusual amount of mistakes in a playoff game, then they may not have the advantage of letting the better talent or the better coaching between the two teams take over and avoid losing three more times.  Does an NBA team from Indiana (the Pacers) have the same chance to make the Finals as an NCAA team from Indiana (Butler)?  No way!  Will a small-market team like the Memphis Grizzlies have a chance to mimic the success of the much smaller-market team of the NFL (Green Bay Packers) in winning the championship this year?  Not unless they plan on signing Aaron Rodgers for the playoff run...or unless the NBA switches to a "one-and-done" playoff format.  As my brother-in-law put it a couple of weeks ago, there is a definite tradeoff between an exciting playoff format and the best team winning all the time.

Neither Kobe and Lebron has ever had the pressure
of a "one-and-done" playoff format having both skipped
to the NBA directly out of high school.

Don't get me wrong, I was one of the 4 people who actually watched the 2007 NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Spurs.  I love watching the NBA playoffs once we see matchups like the Lakers vs. Spurs or the Celtics vs. Heat, or what the NBA commissioner really wants to see this year the Lakers vs. the Heat (By the way, if want to see who the NBA wants to see in the NBA Finals, then just pay attention to which teams are scheduled to play on Christmas Day, which is probably the most-watched regular season games all year).  Unfortunately, the current playoff format elicits boring first and second rounds and a month-long wait for the best teams to be left standing.

Has anyone asked you if you have filled out your NBA bracket yet?  Me neither.

Saving The Worst For Last?

Connecticut is #1?
In what was easily the WORST NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game I have ever seen, Connecticut snuck by Butler 53-41.  Connecticut's size intimidated Butler into only making 3 out of their 31 2-point attempts by blocking 10 shots, distracting numerous more, and dominating the boards, 51-40.  It was just UGLY.  Butler played just a little better than a Church basketball team would have played.

All Butler Coach Brad Stevens wanted was for his team
to make more than 12 shots.

But before we pour it all on Butler, Connecticut didn't exactly win in style.  The Huskies turned the ball over 11 times, only scored 19 points in the first half, and went 1-11 from three-point range.  But give the Huskies credit, they stormed through the Big East and the NCAA Tournament with an 11-0 record, and they are the Champs for the third time, having won the title previously in 1999 and 2004.

Kemba Walker and the Huskies were just good enough
to defeat the Butler Bulldogs in the Championship Game.

So Connecticut's the #1 team, right?  Well, the UGLY National Championship win by Connecticut did not convince everyone that they are the Champs.  According to the final ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll, there is one coach out there who thinks that Ohio State is the #1 team in the country.  Since the final poll of the season remains anonymous, we may never know which of the 31 voters put OSU as the #1 team instead of the 30 other voters that voted for the winner of the Championship game.  By the way, Ohio State lost in the Sweet 16 round...it's not like they reached the Championship game or even Final Four!  Ohio State was ranked #1 for the majority of the year, was the #1-ranked team by the selection committee when the brackets were put together, and were picked by many experts to win the tournament, but they lost when it mattered most!  This is like saying that the New England Patriots were the Super Bowl Champions even though Green Bay actually won the Super Bowl.
I'm thinking there are  a few reasons why a voter might do this (feel free to add your own):

1) He coaches Ohio State
2) His team was upset by a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament and currently hates the "one-and-done" tournament format so he voted for the best "team"
3) He runs the BCS Football Championship where the champion is largely determined by voting
4) He had a "hanging chad" on his ballot
5) He thought he was voting for the team with the most hypocritical football coach

Whoever it was should have to at least be accountable for his vote because it makes a mockery out of College Basketball, the NCAA Tournament, and Connecticut.  Step up and explain, sir!

Jimmer is #1!
While Connecticut may have left doubt in some people's minds about which team is #1, there appears to be little doubt who was the #1 basketball player this year:  Jimmer Fredette.

Jimmer has rolled through the Awards season as easily
as he split double-teams this season.

There may not be another BYU player or even another college basketball player like Jimmer for a long time.  Jimmer will have a chance to add the last of the college basketball awards, the Wooden Award, to his trophy case on Friday, but for now he can enjoy this long list of post-season awards and accomplishments:

Naismith Award
Oscar Robertson Trophy
Adolph Rupp Award
Associated Press NPOY
Sporting News NPOY
Basketball Times NPOY
SI.com NPOY
CBSSports.com NPOY
Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

Jimmer is also a consensus first team All-American, named to teams honored by the USBWA, NABC, AP, Wooden, Sporting News, Basketball Times and many other media outlets.

So, what did you do during your Senior year in college?

This One Is For the Dogs

For the first time in this year's NCAA tournament it appears that I actually got one right (two, actually).  The putrid bracket that I completed prior to the tournament currently sits in the 9.7 percentile on ESPN.com, which means that 90.3% of all men, children, and cheerleaders may actually know more about college basketball than I do, so please excuse me as I pat myself on the back and note that I correctly predicted the outcomes in the two Final Four games on Saturday.  In my previous post, I discussed the keys to each game as well as the predicted winner.  Butler was able to keep VCU from going crazy beyond the three-point line as they held the Rams to 8-22 from the line, and Connecticut was able to pull ahead of Kentucky led by Kemba Walker who scored 18 points and dished out 7 assists to squeak past the Wildcats 56-55.

Walker (15) and Mack (1) will lead their respective
teams in the championship game on Monday night.

The Butler Bulldogs and the Connecticut Huskies face off on Monday night to see who will be the Top Dog in the NCAA (sorry - I couldn't resist).  It will no doubt be a great game no matter who comes out on top.  Both teams have shown the ability to pull out close games throughout the entire tournament.  Neither team will let the other get too far ahead as both teams are talented and mentally-tough.  They have both shown an innate ability to prevent any opponent from making a run by being extremely tough on the defensive end as well as on the boards.

Butler will be celebrating one year
later than they hoped, but they will
get it done in 2011 against UConn.

Butler is the first team since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to appear in back-to-back championship games, and Connecticut is looking to win its third national championship (1999, 2004).  Butler fell to Duke 61-59 in the 2010 championship game as Gordon Heyward's half-court prayer rimmed off at the buzzer.  Many experts had expected the more talented and more experienced Duke team to run away from the Bulldogs and dominate the championship game; however, the Bulldogs, behind their whiz kid 33 year-old coach, Brad Stevens, kept pace with the Blue Devils and showed that they were not going to back down from the big-time, East Coast school.  They won't back down on Monday night, either.  The key to the game will be the rebounding battle. Both teams are willing to play strong defense, be opportunistic on offense, and rely on their big-time guards (Butler-Shelvin Mack, Connecticut-Kemba Walker).  It will all come down to who will be able to control the number of possessions and give their guards chances to make game-defining plays by controlling the glass.  The team with the most rebounds will be the team with the title.  I think Butler will get the most rebounds as well as the celebration they almost had last year, 62-61.

Quick Hits #2

The first version of Quick Hits may have been too "basketball-heavy", but so is my life during the month of March so here are only a couple more March Madness-related items followed by some other noteworthy sports headlines:


Big L-"East":  The Big East Conference set a record this year with 11 teams in its 16-team conference getting invited to the 68-team tournament.  The Big East snatched up 10 of the 37 "at-large" bids (27%), yet only 2 of the 11 teams remain in the tournament after 2 rounds of play - as many teams as the Big Ten, the Mountain West, and the City of Richmond, Virginia!

VCU is one of the two teams from
Richmond Virginia enjoying the "sweetness"
of the NCAA Tournament

How 'bout the City of Richmond?!:  2 of the 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament (VCU and Richmond) are from Richmond, Virginia.  The 11-seeded VCU Rams and the 12-seeded Richmond Spiders pulled off two consecutive upsets each this week.  Best known as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, it is now know as the capital of the Cinderella team.

The NB-Who?:  By the way, has there even been a single NBA highlight on SportsCenter during the past week? Apparently during March Madness people pay attention to the NBA just about as much as the NBA players pay attention to playing defense before the playoffs.

Mario Lemieux may now be regretting his
demands for higher punishment for physical
play after Cook's suspension.

Irony on Ice:  Last month, the owner of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, Mario Lemieux, lashed out at the NHL for what he perceived to be an insufficient amount of discipline and punishment following a brawl-filled game between his Penguins and the NY Islanders.  Last week, Lemieux proposed tougher suspensions for players that cross the line and inflict unnecessary roughness on other players during games - even suggesting that the teams be fined for the player's conduct.  This week, after elbowing an opponent in the head, one of Mario Lemieux's key players (Matt Cooke) was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.  Mario?  Any comment now?

Bonds on Trial:  The Barry Bonds perjury trial began on Monday in San Francisco.  You can read the riveting recap of Tuesday's proceedings of this century's "trial of the century" in California here.  Barry Bonds is on trial for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs...or eat his teammates' garlic fries.  It's also interesting to note the list of Bonds' perjury trial jurors in the ESPN link above, which has led to the key question that everyone in this perjury trial wants to have answered:  "Juror 21, how exactly did you manage to become a retired cashier without committing perjury yourself or slipping at least a $100 bill in your pocket at the end of every shift?!"

Quick Hits #1

Madness, Madness, and More Madness!:  The tournament started with a tremendous bang! on Thursday when three of the first four games on Thursday afternoon were decided on the game's final possession - Butler, Morehead St., and Temple all won on buzzer-beaters.  The Madness was off to a pretty good start.

Matt Howard (54) got the tournament started in style
with a game-winning shot against ODU.

Don't Miss It!: In February, I wrote about the fact that you could watch every game in its entirety due to the NCAA's new TV deal with CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV, but the real thing was even better than I could have imagined.  Although I admittedly did catch the buzzer-beaters mentioned above on my phone while I was at work, you could find which channel had which game on as well as the scores and time remaining so you could jump over and catch a key moment of any other game.  I'm not the only one who agreed:  TV ratings were up 16% when compared to last year.  On a related note, the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament is also going on right now and can be found on ESPN3.com and ESPNTitleIX.com.

Sorry Mr. President, the Game is on:  While Pres. Obama addressed the nation on Thursday assuring the country that harmful levels of radiation were not expected to reach the United States, CBS did not cut away to hear him live as the other major networks did.  Instead, CBS summarized his report in a 60-second clip during a game's commercial break.  On Friday, when Obama addressed the country regarding potential military action against Libya, CBS  ran a split screen, with audio of Obama and his picture on top, with a silent game on the bottom.  The White House has denied that Obama's reference to wanting to "Jimmer" Libya is not in any way meant to be a threat of a potential war.

No disrespect, Mr. Gadhafi, but if you mess with
us, you're going to get Jimmered.

BYU Runs to "Sweetness":  For the first time in 30 years, Jimmer Fredette, Jackson Emery, and the Cougars have moved onto the Sweet 16 where they will face Florida in New Orleans on Thursday.  The Jimmer has averaged only 33 points in wins over Wofford and Gonzaga leading many experts to wonder if he will ever regain his ability to score.

How Do You Handle The Jimmer?:  Florida's best-defender, Kenny Boynton, missed practice on Monday after spraining his ankle in Florida's win over UCLA on Saturday.  Florida Gator Coach Billy Donovan expects him to play against BYU on Thursday, but that Boynton's history of ankle injuries does not give him confidence that Boynton will be ready to go mentally. "I think there's a mental hurdle for him that he's going to have to get over, that he does feel good and he's not playing in pain."  Ankle injury or not, the same could be said to the mental anguish Jimmer has caused to anyone who has tried to defend him this year.

Florida fans are hopeful that Kenny
Boynton's ankle will enable him to try
and stop The Jimmer.

Cinderella Story

One of the most intriguing parts about March Madness is trying to pick which lower-seeded team is going to upset a higher-seeded team.  It's going to happen.  It does every year.  2009 was the only time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in the mid-80's that all four 1, 2, and 3 seeds made the Sweet 16.  Not convinced?  According to people that are smarter than me, there are 147.57 quintrillion possibilities for predicting the possible winners in a 68-team bracket.  How confident do you feel with your bracket picks now?!

Now before you pick UC-Santa Barbara to go to the Final Four, remember this: The lowest seed to ever reach the Final Four?  George Mason (2006) and LSU (1986)? Only twice.  Villanova (1985) was the lowest seeded team to win a National Championship as a #8 seed.  But there is still going to be a team or two that is going to make you think that this year has to be another exception to the rule.

Will the slipper fit Tai Wesley
and Utah State this year?

Another case for Cinderella: A #12 seed has beat a #5 seed four years in a row and in 9 of the last 10 years.  This is not too surprising because the 5-12 game always seems to match up at least one #5-seeded team with glaring flaws (or else they'd be a higher seed) usually from a "power" conference against an underrated team from a mid-major conference that somehow didn't earn the respect of the Selection Committee.  Utah State is a #12 seed this year in the Southeast Region and is a veteran group of players that are tough defenders and do not allow a lot of second-chance points.  And they don't appreciate the way their invitation to the ball was delivered.  Cue Senior Power Forward Tai Wesley: "Our seed is a slap in the face.  We could have won three more games, then we probably could have gotten a 10 seed." (If Utah State had won three more games this year, they would have been 33-0)  Oh really, tell me how you really feel...I like it.  Upset.  Cinderella?  Maybe.

A similar scenario seems to be playing out in that same part of the Southeast bracket between another 30-win team, Belmont, and Big Ten "power" Wisconsin.  No slaps in the face here, but the result is the same: Upset.  Wisconsin has been iffy away from Madison this year and the #13-seeded Belmont Bruins can play.  The Bruins are second in the nation in 3-pointers per game and they have only lost once since Christmas.  It would set up a Second Round game between a #12-seeded Utah State and #13-seeded Belmont to go to the Sweet 16.  Is that crazy?  It's actually happened eight times, which is more times than I would have guessed.  One of these teams will go home on Saturday as a team that only pulled a First Round upset, while the other team will go on to be this year's Cinderella story going into the second weekend.  Unfortunately, Utah State should expect midnight to strike well before the Final Four.  LSU's and George Mason's records are safe.

Cinderella is a huge fan of
the NCAA Tournament...and Utah State.

Book it.  Fill in your brackets.  It's gotta be one of the 147.57 quintrillion possibilities, right?

"So, you're saying there's a chance!"  - Lloyd Christmas

Yes, Lloyd, but there is more than a chance for the Aggies this year.

Bracket Picking 101

March Madness is officially here!  The 68-team tournament bracket is set and will start with the "First Four" on Tuesday & Wednesday.  The First Four is a new wrinkle to the tournament this year and it consists of 4 play-in games between 8 different teams who were the teams that were seeded #61-68 by the Selection Committee.  The NCAA Tournament will start in full force on Thursday and continue through the Championship Game on April 4.  Now is the time for millions of people who may or may not watch College Basketball to pick up the bracket and fill in the predictions from the "First Four" all the way to the "Final Four".

There is no one right or wrong way to pick your brackets.  There will be upsets, Cinderellas, no one will have a "perfect" bracket, and there will be a lot of money that is won and lost (if you're into that sort of thing).  There are multiple methods that you may use to fill out their brackets, but here are ten things to think about as you pick up your pen:

10. Pick as many upsets as you can.  History says this will not be nearly as successful, but it sure will be fun when Oakland actually beats Texas and you can say, "I picked that one!  I picked that one!"  Careful though, 16 seeds are 0-104 all-time against 1 seeds, 15 seeds are 4-100 against 2 seeds, but the 8 seeds actually have a losing record against the 9 seeds (48-56).

Hampton, a 15 seed, beat Iowa State in 2001.  Only 4
Number 15 seeds have ever won a game in the tourney.

9. Pick the team that has the best school colors.  This totally would depend upon which colors you like, but if it was me, then I would have North Carolina vs. UCLA in the championship game this year.  UCLA has won 11 national championships while North Carolina has won 5.  Hmmm...this one seems to have worked before.

8. Pick the team with the best star player.  It seems that there are always 2 or 3 players every year that carry their team further than where they were expected to go.  18 of the 20 Naismith Award (College Basketball's "Heisman") finalists are going to be playing in the tournament.  Check them out.  They could be the key to cutting down the nets.

7. Pick the team with the best road record.  A team that proves themselves throughout the season and goes into a hostile environment (as opposed to a "neutral" court) is prepared to play in a plethora of environments and situations.  Teams such as Michigan State and Connecticut continually schedule tough road games throughout the season in order to prepare for the NCAA tournament (Michigan State has been to 8 Final Fours and Connecticut has been to 3).  Interestingly, San Diego State led the country with a 12-1 road record while BYU was percentage points behind at 10-1.  Does anyone else wonder what Jimmer said to Kawhi Leonard at the end of the MWC championship game on Saturday?  "See you in Houston!"  Maybe?

6. Pick the team that had the highest finish in its conference tournament.  Since there are 31 teams in the tournament that won their conference tournaments, you may have to resort to another method for a tiebreaker, but how well a team is playing coming into the NCAA tournament can spill over into a national championship run.

The mascot method may not be for you, but the Long
Island Blackbird loves it!

5. Pick the best mascot.  Similar to the "school color" method, this one may be much more subjective but if I  employed this method, this year's championship game would feature the Long Island Blackbirds and the St. Peter's Peacocks.  I think I just realized that I subconsciously really like birds.

4b. Pick the same team to win the championship every year.  This was my wife's "go-to" for years until she got tired of picking Duke and resorted to another method in 2010.  Do you happen to remember who won the national championship last year?  I'll give you a hint...the team's name rhymes with "fluke".

4a. Pick the team whose students enjoy the best weather throughout the year.  I believe this is the method my wife resorted to last year and believe it or not, she still didn't get the 2 final teams: Duke (North Carolina-it's not terrible in the winter, but there are too many hurricanes) and Butler (Indiana-Freeze out in the winter and too many tornadoes...not even close).  Looks like the forecast calls for a championship game between San Diego State and Florida this year.  Mmmm....interesting.  Sorry, Pittsburgh, I know you're a #1 seed and all, but I've seen those Steeler playoff games in January.

3. Pick the team with the best overall record.  The team that wins the most games throughout the season should win the most in the tournament, right?  Kansas, San Diego State, and Ohio State all tied with 32 wins this year.  All the "experts" seem to be picking Kansas and Ohio State, so maybe we should all get paid to go on TV and count a team's number of wins, too?

2. Always pick the highest seed.  The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee spent an entire week narrowing the field and selecting the teams by putting them in order from #1-#68, so they should know something, right?  Well, only once (in 2008) have all four #1 seeds actually reached the Final Four.

1. Be Loyal.  That's right, pick your favorite team no matter what and you may leave everyone saying, "Oh man, my bracket just got Jimmered!"

BYU fans would love it if the phrase
"My bracket got Jimmered" catches on.

MWC Bracketology

What a season for BYU and San Diego State!  There are very few people who would have predicted that the MWC Championship game would feature two top-ten teams.  In fact, who would have predicted that all three matchups between the two teams this year would have taken place while both teams were ranked in the top ten?  BYU finishes 30-4 while SDSU finishes 32-2 - and 31-0 against all teams without Jimmer Fredette.  Both teams knew they were going to the NCAA tournament before the game. The MWC Championship game was all about seeding, Sundays, and geography.

SDSU did the "Jimmering" in

the MWC Championship game.

On Saturday night in the MWC Championship game, San Diego State exhibited all the traits of a team that could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament (senior leadership, powerful frontline, good guard play, and an experienced coach).  Being the champion of the #4-ranked conference in the country during both the regular season and the tournament merits a No. 1 seed when the brackets come out tomorrow.  But if I'm San Diego State, I could care less if I am a No. 1 seed or not, all I care about is being in the West bracket.  Even a No. 2 seed in the West bracket is more favorable than a No. 1 seed in any other bracket (East, Southeast, Southwest) because SDSU would be able to play their first and second round games in Denver/Tucson while potentially playing their regional games a short bus ride away from San Diego in Anaheim. I predict that SDSU will end up as the No. 2 seed in the West when the brackets come out on Sunday night.  I'll take a bus ride to the Sweet 16 over a No. 1 seed any day.

BYU has long been projected to be a No. 2 seed in the West by many "bracketologists" because their well-rounded team was cruising through the MWC while defeating SDSU twice during the regular season.  They were even projected a couple of weeks ago (which seems like a month ago) to be the No. 1 seed in the West.  The No. 2 seed in the West is favorable for BYU due to the geographical advantages as well, but it is also one of the "pods" within the bracket that allow for "No Sunday" play throughout the tournament.  BYU's unwillingness to compete on Sundays is a regulation that the NCAA committee considers when placing BYU in the NCAA tournament.  In years past, it has seemed that BYU was placed into a lower seed in order to accommodate the "No Sunday" rule.  The "No Sunday" rule combined with a 3-2 record since the suspension of Brandon Davies will most definitely move them out of the West No. 2 seed Denver/Tucson-Anaheim preferred bracket, and considering the other "No Sunday" location options they may be moved out of the West Region entirely.

Jimmer would love a No. 2 seed in the West,

but a No. 3 or 4 is more likely for the Cougs.

Given BYU's RPI rating, star power (The Jimmer), and strong season, BYU should receive no lower than a No. 4 seed (or else the committee will have some serious explaining to do), which in the West bracket would put the Cougars in Tampa or Tucson for the first and second rounds, and if they were to advance to the Sweet 16, back to Anaheim.  Another alternative is that they could be shipped to the Southeast regional as the No. 3 seed.  This would give the Cougars a sense of accomplishment going in as a high No. 3 seed, but may not be preferable from a travel standpoint.  Going from Utah to Tampa/Tucson to Utah and potentially back to New Orleans may be difficult on a team that already appears slightly fatigued from an emotional couple of weeks and three intense MWC tournament games.  Although it really shouldn't be taken as a sign of disrespect, I believe the committee will put BYU in as the No. 4 seed, citing the loss of Davies and BYU's loss of momentum down the stretch as the key factors.

Hey, 2 No. 5 seeds made the Final Four last year, including Butler, who advanced to the Championship Game.

I love Mormon rap songs about Jimmer - check it out:  Teach Me How To Jimmer

MSG Magic

One of my favorite things about living in New York City is having such great access to some of the best sporting events in the world.  Madison Square Garden is just 2 subway stops away, and it is easily one of my favorite places to go to watch an NBA game, a concert, a Hockey game, or a College Basketball game.

Madison Square Garden is home to some of the best
sporting events in the world, including St. John's baskeball.

In fact, Kenna and I went to the St. John's-Pittsburgh game a couple of weeks ago, which was one of the best College Basketball games I have seen in a long time.  St. John's won on a last-second shot with 1.5 seconds left.  The Garden was going crazy!  It has been quite a few years since St. John's has been relevant, but in classic New York style, their fans have come out in droves this year to fanatically support their team.  On Wednesday afternoon, St. John's played Rutgers in a close game in 2nd round of the Big East tournament, and the Garden was going crazy - again!  Take a look at what happened here.

My biggest issue with the result of this game was actually not the referees or the blown calls that went predominantly against Rutgers during the late stages of the game.  No, my biggest issue with this game is the fact that St. John's, who plays many of its home games throughout the year at MSG, was playing a HOME game in the Big East Conference Tournament.  Playing at HOME is an advantage for teams for many reasons, including the following: familiar surroundings during the game (court, rim, locker rooms, etc.), familiar routine before and after the game (sleep at home the night before, family / local support, etc.), but I feel the biggest impact of playing at HOME is the effect the crowd and the biased supporters may have on the referees!  Referees have one of the hardest jobs in sports and I recognize that none of us are perfect, but what is not evident in the ESPN highlight is the loud and boisterous crowd that was riding the referees and criticizing them (only as New Yorkers can do) during the entire second half as the game was picking up intensity and as Rutgers pulled ahead towards the end of the game.  Seeing the reactions of the referees during the last 4 seconds of the game and their inability to make any applicable calls (1. traveling, 2. out of bounds, 3. technical foul for throwing the ball in the air, 4. etc.) only highlight the fact that their judgment was significantly impacted by the intensity of the moment and the persuasive nature of the St. John's crowd.  These were seasoned, proven Big East officials, but they just wanted to get out of there!

Duke is one of the many teams that have fallen
victim to the St. John's / MSG magic this season.

Even though the game was only this afternoon, the NCAA has already come out and said that many "unacceptable" mistakes were made in the officiating, but if the NCAA really wants to avoid these kind of emotional mistakes by the referees, then they will do everything possible to play these tournaments at "neutral" courts.  As Championship Week continues and the Mountain West Conference begins its tournament in what I like to call the UNLV Invitational, let's just hope that the players and coaches are the only ones that will have the biggest impact on the outcome of these all-important tournament games.

Championship Week!

Welcome to Championship Week!  Each Division I conference (with the exception of the Ivy League) follows up the regular season with a tournament to determine who will be receiving the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  As there are 31 Division I conferences, there are 31 teams that will automatically be included in the 68-team field as selected by the NCAA Selection Committee as a conference champion.  For the first time this year, the traditional 65-team tournament is expanding to 68 teams, which means that 37 teams will rely on the Selection Committee to select them as a participant in March Madness.  Given the expansion from 65 to 68 teams, it means that there is slightly more wiggle room than in years past, but the absolute, guaranteed way to get into March Madness is by marching through and winning the conference tournament.

Jimmer loves to talk about the NCAA Selection Committee.
BYU has a #4 RPI ranking.

The teams that are not able to win their conference tournament are referred to as "at-large" teams and will be at the mercy of the Selection Committee on what has become known as Selection Sunday, when the Selection Committee reveals the 68-team field.  Thankfully, the Selection Committee doesn't just choose the teams with the best name recognition or the teams whose fans will buy the most tickets, but they will meet during the latter part of this week leading up to Selection Sunday and be responsible for discussing the teams, comparing performances, and seeding the teams from 1-68.  There are 10 members of the Selection Committee made up of Athletic Directors and Conference Commissioners from around the country who come from both large and small conferences.  The NCAA also ensures that the committee consists of representatives from various geographical regions of the country.

Kansas is #2 in every
poll except the all-important
RPI ranking.

Now, to say the Committee has a difficult job is an understatement.  These 10 people are responsible for the fates of many coaches, players and athletic departments.  Remember, they are athletic directors and conference commissioners themselves, so they understand what the effects of their decisions will have on the individual teams.  In addition, to help the public better understand the grueling process of selecting the tournament field every year, the NCAA hosts a "mock" Selection Committee for certain members of the media.  A couple of experiences from this year's mock Selection Committee can be found here and here.  Good stuff!

As I wrote about in one of my previous posts, the AP rankings we often refer to throughout the season are determined by Associated Press writers, so there is little correlation, at times, between a team's rankings and their seed in the NCAA Tournament. One metric that is often discussed but never described is a team's "RPI".  RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index.  It's a rating system used by the Committee (and other prognosticators) to determine a team's "worthiness" to be selected to the tournament.  A team's RPI score and ranking is based upon a team's own winning percentage (25% of the RPI score), the winning percentage of their opponents (50%), and even the winning percentages of their opponents' opponents (25%).  With 75% of an RPI score based upon strength of schedule, the use of this ranking encourages teams from both "major" conferences (Big East, Pac-10, Big 12, etc) and the "mid-major" conferences (MWC, Atlantic 10, WAC, etc) to schedule a balance of games throughout the season that are both winnable yet against good competition.  The RPI is definitely not an easy thing to understand, but all you need to know is this:  It is good to be #1!

Ohio State is positioned for a #1 seed
because of their current #2 RPI ranking.

The official NCAA RPI rankings can be found here.  Where is your team?

The Perfect Storm

BYU’s dream season came to a screeching halt on Tuesday night when Brandon Davies was suspended for the rest of the season, and then the Cougars stalled terribly as they tried to get going again amidst all the media attention and scrutiny that was prevalent throughout the day on Wednesday.  It was as ugly over the airwaves as I’m sure it was to witness in person or on TV.  The rebounding prowess and hot-shooting demonstrated by the 19-11 New Mexico Lobos on Wednesday night stood in stark contrast to BYU’s worst performance of the season.  In the span of only 24-48 hours, BYU went from the highest of highs as a strong contender to receive a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and make a possible run to the Final Four, to the lowest of lows as they squandered the opportunity to claim at least a share of the Mountain West Conference Championship and a No. 1 seed in the Conference tournament while shooting a un-Cougar-like 34 percent from the field – at home – including 5-26 from 3-point range.  It was the perfect storm.

Jackson Emery can't believe how quickly
the momentum has changed against the Cougars.

Throughout the game, the BYU radio announcers kept saying: “There’s still time for the Cougars to make a run, but they have to get going right now!”  Unfortunately, the Cougars never got going.  Emotionally drained from the ups and downs of winning a huge game at SDSU on Saturday, being projected as a No. 1 seed on Monday, and dealing with losing a brother (as so many players said after the game) on Tuesday, BYU never was able to pull within single digits in the second half.  With every second half point Jimmer scored (he scored 25 of his 33 points in the second half and 25 of BYU’s 38), New Mexico had an answer by either getting a big rebound, a defensive stop, or a clutch three-pointer.  For the second time this season, the New Mexico players played their best game against BYU.  Even The Jimmer admitted that New Mexico has their number.  Lightning struck twice.

Although I believe it is still way too early to panic, this is eerily similar to when Florida State waltzed into Lavell Edwards Stadium in 2009 after the BYU football team had come off a season-opening victory over #3-ranked Oklahoma, a dominating performance on the road against Tulane, and had quickly risen to a #7 national ranking.  The season was young yet BYU was poised and ready to make a run towards a BCS Championship Game appearance.  They had the talent and game experience at all the key positions on both offense and defense, and their performance during the first part of the season gave every Cougar fan the hope that a dream season was in store.  In that game, Florida State dominated the Cougars as the hope and excitement about a championship season was ripped from our grasp on our home turf.  FSU won 54-28 and dominated by outplaying the Cougars in every single facet of the game (except, of course, in turnovers given away – we won that battle 5-1!).  A Top-10 ranked BYU team underperformed and they were exposed.  Since the most important part of its season was still left to play, the Football team made adjustments and played to their strengths.  BYU ended up winning 9 of their last 10 games and dominated Oregon State in the Vegas Bowl to end the season with an 11-2 record and a #12 national ranking.

BYU fans remember this feeling after
Florida State came to town in 2009.

Now, the obvious difference is that the 2009 Football team didn’t lose a key starter that changed the entire makeup of their team and a teammate that the rest of the players had loved and were extremely comfortable playing with.  After the Davies suspension on Tuesday, time is what the Cougars needed going into the New Mexico game, and it was simply not on their side.  They still had to go into the storm on Wednesday night and perform as a team.  They didn’t.  The loss to New Mexico only counts as one loss, and even though San Diego seems like it was a month ago, BYU is still in control of its own destiny for the No. 1 seed in next week’s Conference tournament. BYU must make key adjustments that play to their strengths because every team from here on out is going to try and do exactly what New Mexico did:  Go inside, go inside, rebound, be ready to shoot the 3 as the Cougar defense helps inside, and go inside.  Do the Cougars become Syracuse-like and play zone 100% of the time, trying to create turnovers by getting their hands in passing lanes as was the case in the second half of the SDSU game?  Offensively, if the Cougars expect to win at least a share of the MWC Championship and make a run through the MWC and NCAA tournament, they need to shoot better than 34% from the field, get more than a combined 19 points between Abouo, Emery and Hartsock (Hartsock had 0 points against UNM), and not let the pressure of playing with one less brother make them feel like they can’t run their offense and only rely on the outside shot.  Dave Rose and the coaching staff will not let the loss of Davies become an excuse in the minds of the players or the fans.

Charles Abouo will need to be a key contributor
for the Cougars to make a deep run.

The reality is that the pressure to make a Final Four run is off at this point.  The entire country is ready to drop BYU to a 6-7 seed, and the fans’ expectations of a National Championship have gone out the window – just as they did after FSU left town in September 2009.  

Is there still time for BYU to make a run?  Absolutely.  But they have to get going right now!  Let’s just hope we don’t have to play New Mexico again…

Yet Another Challenge

Wow!  I feel like I just got punched in the stomach, and here is the BYU press release that did it:


PROVO, Utah (March 1, 2011) — Due to a violation of the BYU Honor Code, Brandon Davies will not represent the university on the men's basketball team throughout the remainder of the 2010-11 season.  Davies, a sophomore from Provo, Utah, has started 26 of 29 games for the No. 3-ranked Cougars, averaging 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 24.9 minutes per game in 2010-11.  BYU does not make public details regarding violations of its Honor Code.  Given BYU became aware of this violation yesterday, some decisions regarding Davies' future on the basketball team and at the university are yet to be determined."

Jimmer will have to carry even more of the offensive
attack with Davies out of the lineup.

After 3 days of reveling in BYU's biggest road victory ever and about 45 minutes after I heard Dick Vitale (ESPN) say that BYU is a "National Championship contender and deserves the #1 seed in the West", Cougar Nation is struck with the news that BYU is going to be playing the rest of its season without its third-leading scorer and its leading rebounder.  To say this news is disappointing is an understatement.  There hasn't been this much buzz about BYU Basketball in a looong time, and just as the calendar turns to March we are hit with a press release that couldn't have come at a worse time for BYU's National Championship hopes.

What is unfortunate is that many people across the country will view this as an opportunity to pile on BYU and justify that with Davies suspended BYU is no longer worthy of a #1 seed and is no longer worthy to be considered a National Championship contender.  We'll find out pretty quickly how Dave Rose, his coaching staff, and the players react to this news tomorrow night as they have to go out against a tough New Mexico team, who was the last team to beat BYU, without one of their key inside post players.  But if past performance is any indicator as to how the Cougars will respond, this will be just another bump in the road on their way to a long tournament run.  Rose, his coaching staff, and the players will need to view this situation as yet another challenge to overcome, just like when Jimmer missed a lot of last season due to mono, just like when Chris Collinsworth went down early this season with a knee injury, just like when Davies was in foul trouble seemingly every game - you get the picture.  The Cougars still had to go out and get wins, and they did so in every instance.  The natural reaction is to say that the season is over and the Cougars are doomed, but there will be no excuses for this team, and this will be a fantastic opportunity for Jimmer to cement his legacy in BYU lore by carrying his team through the MWC and NCAA tournament.  Mark my words, BYU will still finish the season strong and most likely will still be a high seed (if not #1) in the NCAA tournament.  No doubt, the Cougars will need to have huge contributions from Noah Hartsock, James Anderson, Stephen Rogers, Charles Abouo, Kyle Collinsworth in order to compensate for Davies' absence, but rest assured that Dave Rose (who on a personal level had a much more real and life-altering challenge called cancer to overcome...which he did!) will not let his team or its fans use Davies' absence as an excuse.

Coach Rose will have to rally Cougar Nation to
overcome Davies' absence.

Who knows what the long-term impact of Davies' suspension will be or if we will ever see him in a Cougar uniform again?  But this much we do know: Davies will not be a part of the team for its March Madness run, and how far BYU goes will be determined by how BYU responds to this newest challenge.

Greg Wrubell's summary of the Davies situation hits home with Cougar fans everywhere:


"I can only imagine how Davies, the BYU players and coaches feel tonight, because I am sure most of Cougar Nation just feels crushed. An injury absence is in a way easier to overcome, because a player's health could be affected at any instant, for no reason at all. Injury may be unfair, but it is also without forethought or penalty.  Honor Code suspensions are a result of choice and consequence, and those elements make Davies impending absence tougher to understand and accept. He will now sit and watch (or possibly, not watch), as his teammates move on without him. The Cougars may or may not go farther than any team in BYU Basketball history, but Davies will not be along for the ride, and it didn't have to be that way."


Go Cougars!

Don't Miss It!

As a BYU / Mountain West Conference fan in New York City, I have struggled during the past 6 years to consistently watch BYU in action thanks to the MWC television contracts and the mtn (and yes, it deserves to be written in lower-case letters because you can barely see it).  As an alternative, I have become best friends with Greg Wrubell (BYU Football and Basketball radio announcer) while scanning the ESPN.com Gamecast.  So you can imagine that when I have a chance to actually watch a BYU game because it's on national television, you know I'll be watching.

Now that BYU has ascended to a projected #1 seed in both the ESPN and SI.com tournament brackets, March Madness will become a must-watch TV event in our home as well as many of your homes as well.  As an aside, my two-year old turned to me earlier tonight as we were watching the SportsCenter anchors discuss the new projected NCAA tournament brackets and said, "Dada, I na watch BYU! I na watch BYU!".  I hear ya, girl.

For years, CBS has been the sole broadcast channel for the March Madness NCAA tournament.  However, it has still been frustrating at times because in 2007, for example, Syracuse was playing their first-round tournament game at the exact same time that BYU was playing Xavier, so our New York region broke away from the BYU game after only 10 minutes, and I was forced to watch the rest of BYU's close loss to the Musketeers on my 12 inch computer screen.  The internet feed, even in 2007, was pretty archaic and I ended up seeing the word "Buffering..." more than the actual score of the game.  However, just in time for BYU's projected deep run through this year's NCAA tournament, CBS has partnered with Turner Sports in a multi-billion dollar deal in order to give fans everywhere the opportunity to serve as their own TV Guide during March Madness because all of the tournament games will be available live in their entirety across four national networks: CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV (formerly CourtTV).

Jimmer is excited that no one will be forced
to miss his team's run through the tourney. 

In all, CBS will broadcast 26 games throughout the tournament, TBS will broadcast 16 games, truTV will televise 13 games, and TNT will broadcast 12 games.  With BYU projected to head to the West bracket, it is most likely that the first and second-round games will be on either TBS, TNT or truTV.  You can read more about the programming details here, but one thing is certain - you better make sure you get truTV because I, for one, know what it's like when it's possible that BYU may have to play on a channel with a name in lower-case letters!  I just checked - whew!  I have truTV, so sorry, Greg, I'm going to be able to actually watch the Cougars in the NCAA tournament this year, but I promise I'll listen to the post-game show...

We're #1...But Who Cares?

You've heard it a thousand times: "We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!" When you think about it, this cheer is utterly pointless and even outright wrong most of the time unless your team is actually ranked #1.  But does being highly-ranked or even being ranked #1 really matter in College Basketball?  Absolutely not.

Every week, the Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll is compiled from votes by 64 sportswriters from across the country.  The list of voters (and their latest poll) can be found here.  The ranked teams are then allocated a certain amount of "points" based on where they fall on each individual poll.  The #1 team in each poll is given the most points all the way down to team #25 which is given the least amount of points.  The points from all the 64 voter polls are added up and the team with the most points is the AP #1 team for that week.  As a BYU fan, I find it interesting that 2 voters (John Feinstein & Mark Berman) gave #7-ranked BYU a #1 ranking last week even before BYU beat down #6 SDSU on Saturday.

When the new poll comes out tomorrow, you should expect that BYU will pass SDSU in the overall poll.  BYU may also pass Texas, Pitt, and Duke (who all lost this weekend) on their way to a potential #3 ranking!  Incredible.  But what if the AP sportswriters still rank Texas, Pitt, or Duke ahead of BYU even if they lost this weekend and may all have more losses than BYU?  Who cares?  It doesn't matter.  A team's ranking this week or next week will have zero impact on their upcoming seed in the tournament when the brackets are announced on March 13. Why?  Because the NCAA committee members that determine the championship brackets and each team's "seed" are not among the 64 AP sportswriters that rank the teams from week to week throughout the season!

Duke was #1 in 2010 after beating
Butler in the Championship game

Take 2010 for example, Butler was ranked #11 in the AP poll just before the tournament, but when the brackets came out Butler was given a #5 seed in the West bracket, which means that the NCAA committee felt that there were at least 16 teams better than Butler (4 brackets x 4 seeds = 16 teams).  BYU was ranked #17 in the same AP poll when Butler was ranked #11, so BYU should get a #5 seed, right?  Nope - BYU was given a #7 seed.  The committee felt that there were at least 24 teams better than BYU.  Were the lower seeds a sign of disrespect to Butler and BYU?  Doesn't matter if it was or wasn't.  The tournament for the NCAA Championship is a playoff and not a Championship awarded by rankings (such as College Football).  Each team has the opportunity to win each game and advance in the tournament - just as Butler did all the way to the National Championship game last year.  By the way, do you remember who was the #1 team last year going into the tournament?  Kansas.  Where did that #1 ranking get Kansas?  Only to the second round when they lost to Northern Iowa.

So, whether BYU is ranked #3, #10, or even #1 in this week's AP poll, just tell yourself:  "It doesn't matter...when do the brackets come out?"