Ore-gone

The Illini just aren't there yet. They had a very good season, finishing second in the Big Ten regular season. Bruce Weber has garnered commitments from some strong recruits, and while they'll lose Chester Frazier, Trent Meacham and Calvin Brock, the Mikes--Tisdale and Davis--are only sophomores, and so is Demetri McCamey.

Unfortunately, some of those players looked like deer in headlights in Thursday's 76-72 loss to Western Kentucky in Portland. The game wasn't close--it was a 13-point game with 3:17 to go--until the Illini stormed back a la their game against Arizona in 2005. Mike Tisdale was invisible (zero points) unless you count his four personal fouls, and McCamey did sneak into double-figures with 10 points, but was 0-5 from behind the arc. Meacham carried Illinois with four treys and 24 points, but Western Kentucky dropped nine three-balls and outscored the Illini by eight at the foul line.

Illinois finished the season 24-10, and WKU moves on to face a Gonzaga team that got a bit of a scare in their first round game with the Akron Zips.

But the scare of the day goes to Cal State Northridge, who led #2 seed Memphis by six with 10:12 remaining. The Tigers were bailed out by a guy named Sallie, as he dropped 10 threes (!) and scored 35 in the 81-70 Memphis win. Paging Robert Dozier? Paging Shawn Taggart? Anyone? I have you in the Final Four, Memphis! Get it together!

I hope UT-Chattanooga and Radford enjoyed their short-lived dance; their March was mostly sadness. The Mocs and Highlanders (apparently they're not immortal) lost to #1 seeds UConn and UNC, respectively, by an average of 49.5 points.

P.S. I was 14-2 on day one, losing Butler and Clemson. It was a day without many shockers (see the "Notable Number"), so many people had a strong start. On to day two!

The road to Detroit

First Round
Midwest

Louisville over Morehead St. I had Alabama St. winning this one, but then they lost the play-in game and completely screwed up my bracket.

Ohio St. over Siena. They're playing this game in Ohio! Not fair!

Utah over Arizona. Until 2007, Arizona had a player with one of the greatest names of all time: Mustafa Shakur. The loss of such a wonderfully-named player still haunts them.

Wake Forest over Cleveland St. Cleveland's not even a state, is it?

West Virginia over Dayton. Dayton's becoming a trendy pick, but West Virginia beat Pitt and Villanova, and Alex Ruoff can play.

Kansas over North Dakota St. Bill Self's squad won the regular season Big 12 title, and he'll have them ready to make a run in the tourney.

Boston College over USC. Middle-of-the-pack ACC over middle-of-the-pack Pac-10.

Michigan St. over Robert Morris. The Big Ten can't beat everyone, but they can beat the Northeast Conference.

West

UConn over UT-Chattanooga. The Mocs did win the SoCon tourney, and Stephen McDowell made the second most 3-pointers in the nation ... but no.

Texas A&M over BYU. I like the Aggies' size over the Cougars' shooting.

Purdue over Northern Iowa. UNI has a chance to pull the ol' 12/5 upset, but Robbie Hummel is healthy and the Boilermakers have a big man down low in JaJuan Johnson.

Washington over Mississippi St. MSU beat Tennessee (twice), LSU and Kentucky, and if they get hot from downtown, they could take it. But the Huskies score points by the bucketful, and I'll keep my money on them.

Marquette over Utah St. This game will be in Idaho, which neighbors Utah, and that's wack. But I still think Marquette has the firepower to take down a WAC team, even if they have lost five of six after losing stud Dominic James.

Missouri over Cornell. Those 1500 SATs won't do you any good against the run-and-gun Tigers!

Maryland over Cal. See: Boston College over USC.

Memphis over Cal State Northridge. Just a warm-up for Calipari's boys.

East

Pitt over E. Tenn. St. Just too many abbreviations in E. Tenn. St. You can't win when even your name is half-assed.

Tennesee over Oklahoma St. This one's tough. Could be a shootout, and I'll put the money on Bruce Pearl finding a way to get the win.

Florida St. over Wisconsin. The Badgers lost to Marquette, UConn, Texas, Michigan St. and Purdue (twice). Florida St. can handle 'em.

Portland St. over Xavier. I wanted to pick an upset. Xavier's young, Portland St. can shoot the trey. Go get 'em, Vikings!

UCLA over VCU. If only VCU had one more letter, then maybe they could win this rather acronymous match-up.

Villanova over American. Um, Villanova's just better.

Texas over Minnesota. I had a hard time with this one, but I guess I'll take A.J. Abrams over ... wait, who the heck does Minnesota have, anyways?

Duke over Binghamton. I'm pretty sure I've never heard of Binghamton.

South

UNC over Radford. I'm pretty sure I've never heard of Radford either.

Butler over LSU. Butler beat Xavier, and Xavier beat LSU. The transitive property never fails.

Western Kentucky over Illinois. Did you know that WKU beat Louisville? Illinois has no go-to guard, hasn't been able to close out games lately, and lost Chester Frazier to injury. Plus there has to be a 12/5 upset.

Gonzaga over Akron. The Zags are my Cinderella team. Oh, wait, that was like eight years ago, you say? A 4 seed can't be a Cinderella? How about a sleeping beauty, then?

Arizona St. over Temple. Dionte Christmas is good, but he's all they've got.

Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin St. OK, I'm positive Stephen F. Austin isn't a state.

Clemson over Michigan. I'm not even sure Michigan should be dancing, though they do have talent and could cause some trouble.

Oklahoma over Morgan St. Blake Griffin = good. MEAC = bad.

Second round
Midwest

Louisville over Ohio St. The Buckeyes made a nice run in the Big Ten tourney, but Louisville won their conference tourney. Take that!

Wake Forest over Utah. Jeff Teague is sweet. Sweet Sixteen, that is.

Kansas over West Virginia. I think WVU could pull off the upset, but Bill Self will keep the back-to-back dream alive a little longer.

Michigan St. over Boston College. MSU's got Izzo, and they've got they best rebounders in the country.

West

UConn over Texas A & M. Aggies' big men ... meet Hasheem Thabeet.

Purdue over Washington. Defense over offense.

Missouri over Marquette. The Golden Eagles just aren't the team they were two months ago. Mizzou, on the other hand, won the Big 12 tourney.

Memphis over Maryland. Put a pin in the Terrapins.

East

Pitt over Tennessee. The Vols aren't disciplined enough to take down one of the best.

Florida St. over Portland St. It was fun while it lasted, Vikings.

Villanova over UCLA. Villanova beat Pitt once and Syracuse twice. They'll ruin the Bruins.

Duke over Texas. The Dookies are a little soft, but Gerald Henderson is a man.

South

UNC over Butler. Ty Lawson or no Ty Lawson, don't matta.

Gonzaga over Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers won't be able to top the hill of threes built by Gonzaga. Wow, that was awful.

Syracuse over Arizona St. They may not even need overtime!

Oklahoma over Clemson. Terrence Oglesby can only do so much.

Sweet Sixteen
Midwest

Louisville over Wake Forest. The Deacons aren't quite there yet.

Kansas over Michigan St. Can you tell I'm not real big on the Big Ten?

West

UConn over Purdue. Told ya I'm not big on the Big Ten.

Memphis over Missouri. I gotta be honest: I don't know how to judge Memphis since they play in Conference USA and weren't on the tube a whole lot this year. But I think they're good enough to beat the Tigers.

East

Pitt over Florida St. FSU meets their match, and more.

Villanova over Duke. It's no fluke Duke will get nuked earlier than expected--they do it every year.

South

Gonzaga over UNC. I guess you could say this is my upset special. I'm counting on an old-fashioned shootout, a not-100% Ty Lawson, and a classic ACC flameout.

Oklahoma over Syracuse. The Orange had a great (and exciting, and long) conference tournament, but they only finished sixth in the regular season.

Elite Eight
Midwest

Louisville over Kansas. Great coaching match-up, great overall match-up, but Louisville is older and better.

West

Memphis over UConn. The Tigers haven't lost since Christmas--can they make it to Easter?

East

Pitt over Villanova. The Wildcats won by 10 earlier this year, but move ova 'Nova, Pitt's got revenge on their mind.

South

Oklahoma over Gonzaga. The Sooners can match any style of play, and they have more talent than the Zags.

Final Four

Louisville over Memphis. Louisville didn't just survive the insane gauntlet that is the Big East--they won the regular season and conference tournament titles. They're good.

Pitt over Oklahoma. DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, Levance Fields, Jermaine Dixon--this team's loaded.

National Championship game

Pitt over Louisville. Pitino's squad won by six in the regular season, but that was in Looavul. Pitt was undefeated at the time, but fell victim to a 24-8 Cardinals run over the final nine minutes. Revenge is a dish best served in April.

Are You There God? It's me, March Madness.

It’s March, and you know what that means: It’s Fire Prevention Month!

Oh, and it’s time for March Madness! Ah, March Madness—an annual tradition of buzzer-beaters, upsets, watching basketball at work while trying not to get caught, and—most exciting of all—lots of numbers accompanied by alliterative adjectives (e.g. Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four). It’s an extended sports spectacle that grabs the attention of Americans young and old and fills the coffers of bookies everywhere. Sixty-four teams enter with one common goal: to apply the concept of Murphy’s Law to my bracket by losing if I pick them to win and winning if I pick them to lose.

March Madness is one of my favorite times of year, mainly because it features 126 hours of sweet hoops action spread out over 10 different days. But there are many other reasons to feel much gladness about March Madness:

-You get to hear Gus Johnson call last-second shots. “Rises and FIRRRRRRES … GOT IT!!!!”
Sometimes I spice up my day by pretending Gus Johnson is announcing my actions. As in: “He drives down the road, looks right as he goes to parallel park, squeezes in there, straightens it OUUUUUUUUUTTTTT … GOT IT!!!” If you don’t know what I’m talking about, or even if you do, click here, sit back and enjoy the beautiful rhetorical stylings of the third greatest announcer in the world.

-The Chippens NCAA Tournament Challenge!

-It means baseball’s Opening Day is just around the corner. In fact, the championship game often coincides with the Cubs’ first game (like it does this year), which is like having your birthday on Christmas or buying a house and discovering that it comes with a BMW.

-It’s college basketball with no Dick Vitale. Why won’t he stop yelling at me? I don’t care what BMOC stands for. What did he say? The ACC is strong this year? I can’t understand him when he screams like that. He sounds like Kermit the Frog if he were afflicted by voice imodulation disorder and injected with some sort of serum limiting his speech to strange and ridiculous exaggerations.

-Winning the Chippens NCAA Tournament Challenge!

-One word: Drama. It’s Win or Go Home. There’s something natural and Darwinian about it. Teams play 25+ games, fighting and clawing to claim a spot in the tourney, and then all of a sudden—BAM!—a last-second heave from half court (hopefully called by Gus Johnson) can send them packing ‘til next year. There’s no best of five, no byes, no Papajohns.com Bowl. It’s drama to the 64th power.

If you want to reminisce, or perhaps whet the palate in preparation for this year’s Big Dance, check out some of these clips:

Journey to the pre-Tourney tourney

Big Ten tournament: First round is Thursday, second Friday, third Saturday, and championship Sunday.

Illinois will be strongly favored in their match-up vs. Michigan or Iowa, but facing (potentially) Purdue in the semifinals won't be an easy task. The tournament is in Indianapolis, just an hour from Purdue's campus, and it's always difficult to beat a team three times in one season.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently has Illinois as a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. Dropping the game vs. Purdue could put the Illini closer to the middle of the tourney pack as a 6 or 7 seed, but going deep into the Big Ten tournament could reward them with a 4 or 5 seed, especially if they make a statement by beating Michigan State in the championship game.

Illinois has lost three of their last five games, and it would be nice to see them gain some momentum with a successful Big Ten tournament. It would also be nice to see someone step up as a "go-to" guy, as they've been faltering late in games recently. If they don't take a step forward this week, I'm not sure they'll be making a whole lot of Illi-noise in the big tournament. But it should be fun either way; the conference tourneys provide a nice little appetizer to the madness that will ensue.

It's March! Let the Madness begin

The month of March starts off with a bang as Illinois hosts Michigan State (3 pm, CBS). It's senior day at Assembly Hall, which is a good sign for the Illini: they've won nine straight senior day games.

This is the game I've been waiting for: #1 vs. #2 in the Big Ten; #9 vs. #20 in the nation. This game will go a long way toward determining Big Ten tournament and NCAA tournament seeding, and will help fans get a better sense of how good Illinois really is. This won't be their first big game: they lost to Clemson by two in December, defeated Missouri by 16 a few weeks later, and lost a tough one at Michigan State in mid-January. They've also played well against Purdue, sweeping the season series.

According to ESPN.com, the Illini enter this match-up with the nation's second-ranked defense, allowing just 55.7 points per game. It's unlikely that Illinois can launch themselves to the regular season conference title, as the Spartans need just one win in their last three games to secure that honor, but Illinois is battling Purdue for second place, and would love to win their last two (@ Penn State, Thursday at 8) to maintain confidence heading into the conference tourney.

Should be a good one! Go Illini!

Cham-pain

33 total points

0 free throws attempted

I wanted to be ill as I watched Ill. put together one of the more offensive offensive displays in Assembly Hall history last night. The Illini were like terrible battleship players (they couldn't sink anything). If they were plumbers, they'd have been fired (they couldn't drain anything). If they were a movie, they'd be The Natural (they sucked).

OK, sorry, I was just trying to distract myself from disturbing facts such as these:

• Illinois lost to Penn State on Wednesday by a score of 38-33. No, the game was not forfeited at halftime; that was the final.
  
• Illinois attempted zero free throws, the first time in school history that has happened.
  
• The teams shot a combined 29 percent from the field. I'm pretty sure Chris Kawakita and I shoot a higher percentage when we play horse, and most of our shots are from at least 30 feet away, or involve our feet, head, back, knee, non-dominant hand, a folding chair, a wall, a pillar, a nearby child, an orange cone, the bleachers, the ceiling, a cell phone, a door, the hoop at the other end of the court, an animal, a table, the scoreboard, or the shot clock.
  
• The teams combined for the lowest point total in D I since 2005.
• Illinois had six points with under eight minutes to go in the first half.
• Illinois had 29 points with 10:21 to go in the game, scored a basket with six minutes left, then another basket with about two minutes left, and that was it. Repeat: 29 points with 10:21 left. Two. More. Baskets. The. Rest. Of. The. Game.
  

Anyways, the loss drops the Illini to third place in the Big Ten, and means it would take a miracle for them to overtake Michigan State for the regular season title. But they're still in good position to get a top seed in the Big Ten tournament, and they need to move forward and pretend this game never happened.

Go Illi--I just threw up a little in my mouth.

A Look Back

The Illini had a good day on Tuesday without even taking the court. As some bloggers predicted, Purdue stepped it up with a big win over Michigan State, giving the Illini a realistic chance of catching the Spartans in the Big Ten. Here are the updated Big Ten standings:

TEAM	CONF. W-L	OVERALL W-L
Michigan State	10-3	20-5
Illinois	9-4	21-5
Purdue	9-4	20-6
Ohio State	7-5	17-6
Minnesota	7-6	19-6
Penn State	7-6	18-8
Wisconsin	7-6	16-9
Michigan	6-7	16-10
Northwestern	4-8	13-10
Iowa	3-10	13-13
Indiana	1-11	6-18

Michigan State lost for the first time on the road, as they were pasted 72-54. It was a three-point game at halftime, but Purdue dominated the second half. It looks like it will be an exciting final three weeks in the Big Ten! And I won my free sports bet at centsports.com!


My other prediction was in the NBA. The Bucks did indeed topple the Pistons, but it wasn't their offense that did the trick--it was their D. Milwaukee registered a 92-86 upset victory, and is now two games behind Detroit for the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls are just 2.5 games behind the Bucks, which is absurd, because that means they're 2.5 games out of a playoff spot, and the Bulls deserve a playoff spot about as much as Alfonso Soriano deserves a Career Postseason Achievement award. I'm selfishly glad the Bulls have a shot at the playoffs, but seriously: why does the NBA allow so many teams into the playoffs? It's Bulloney.

A Look Ahead

It's a Big Night in the Big Ten, as first place (5) Michigan State takes on third place (21) Purdue in West Lafayette. MSU fears not being on the road, as they are one of two teams (UConn) to be undefeated away from home this season.
Illinois is jammed between these two teams in the standings, so they'll keep a close eye on this one. It might be the last best hope the Illini have to pull within one game of first, as a Purdue victory could mean that an Illini win against MSU on March 1 would launch them into a tie with the Spartans.

This should be a great battle, and I think MSU's road magic has to end sometime. Why not against a strong team who knows it has to have this one? Purdue by 5.

Also, the NBA is back after it's All-Star hiatus, and I'll give you an upset special: Milwaukee has lost their first three games against the Pistons this season, but will turn up the offense tonight and get a win. There will be no bailout for Detroit this evening (ha!).

A Look Back

Illinois got all Jekyll on their Hyde last night, ending a brutal road slump by staging a comeback victory against Northwestern. Down by 14 with just 5:28 left, the Illini went on a 17-2 run, and Demetri McCamey banked in the winning jumper with 2.9 seconds left (17-2, oddly, matches the Bulls' run to beat the Pistons Tuesday). Northwestern dominated the first 35 minutes of the game, but once Illinois instituted a full-court press, the Wildcats fell apart, showing why they've never made it to the NCAA tournament. C'mon, Northwestern. The NCAA tournament has been around since 1939, and you've NEVER made it. NOT EVER. Your last conference championship was in 1933! There was no TV or radio in 1933! You are clearly the 11th wheel in the Big Ten.

The Bulls, proving they are consistently inconsistent, dropped their final game before the All-Star break, losing to Miami 95-93. The Bulls trailed most of the game, tied it with 6.5 seconds left, then lost on a Shawn Marion dunk with 1.1 seconds left. At the break, the Bulls are 23-30, in 10th place in the East.

Notre Dame's losing streak had to end sometime, and you figured that when it did, they were going to unleash their anger on someone. The Irish took out their religious wrath on Louisville, getting revenge for an OT loss earlier this season with a 90-57 victory. Louisville shot a pathetic 39 percent, while ND was 10-18 from three.

On a separate note, I'm glad to see Field of Dreams did well in the poll. Whoever voted for The Natural: you are wrong.

A Look Ahead

One day--that's right, ONE--until Cubs pitchers and catchers report for spring training. Exercising, stretching and ... well, that's actually about it for now. But still, there will be Cubs players on a baseball field, and that's what counts.

As ESPN.com points out, Illinois has won every home game and lost every road game since early January. With road games against 4-6 Northwestern and 1-10 Indiana this week, the Illini hope to change their road fortunes. Despite their struggles away from Assembly Hall, the Illini are favored by 2.5 points tonight (8:00, ESPN2), in part because they've won 11 of their last 12 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Illinois knows it's time to crank things up (only seven of 18 conference games remain), and given the fact that Illinois won't have the opportunity to beat down NW in Champaign this season, plus the fact that they only have to travel a few hours for this "road" game, I think Illinois will finally figure things out tonight. Northwestern is in the top 25 in points allowed, and scoring has been the problem on the road for the Illini, so while I expect a close game, Illinois has more talent and athleticism, and should pull it out.

It's also #1 vs. #2 tonight. No, not in college basketball. Rather, #1 overall pick Derrick Rose and the Bulls will try to stay hot as they battle #2 overall pick Michael Beasley, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat (6:00, TNT). Wade has struggled at the United Center in the past, and lately, he's been their whole team. Therefore, the call here is that the Bulls take their last game prior to the All-Star break.

Did you know: Notre Dame is French for "Not that much better than DePaul." DePaul, who wishes they had never joined the Big East in 2005, is 0-12 in conference play. Notre Dame, a program with a storied history and a preseason ranking of nine, is just 3-7, having lost their last seven. Now I know why their football team doesn't join a conference! Their seven consecutive losses have been by an average of 13.8 points. Wow. Is there anything the Pope can do?

The answer is no (I think--I'm not entirely familiar with all the teachings of the Catholic church). And tonight, there won't be much Luke Harangody or Kyle McAlarney can do to stop the bleeding against Louisville (6:00, ESPN). There doesn't seem to be much fight in this year's version of the Fighting Irish. ND goes down again tonight.