Are You (your bracket) Still Alive?

By Dan Rodgers

The NCAA has been thoroughly entertaining thus far. Most of the games have been competitive and that is what most people want. However, I have a bracket, and even though my champion has been long gone, I can still tie for first place. If you go back and look at my bracket, I have Missouri beating Louisville in the Elite 8. If only I had chosen Louisville instead...haha.

I was working all day yesterday, so I didn't have time to post my picks, but I did like Louisville to win outright, and I already have Ohio State in my Final Four so clearly I liked them as well. Today we had Kentucky do work against Baylor, so I have another Final Four team correct. UNC is the other team (I have them in the championship), and they are tied with Kansas at halftime.

Anyway, on to the NBA...

Utah Jazz @ Atlanta Hawks -1 = This is an interesting game. Utah is not a good road team and Atlanta is a good team even though they haven't been playing great. They are at home and there is no reason they shouldn't win outright. The Hawks have won three in a row and just seem to do enough to win the game. Meanwhile, even with wins in their last two road games, Utah is a terrible 7-16 on the road this season. CORRECT - it took four overtimes to get it done, but the Hawks did as expected.

Memphis Grizzlies @ L.A. Lakers -6.5 = The Lakers are 20-3 at home this season. The Lakers have won seven of their last 10. Kobe Bryant is the best scorer in the NBA (28.5 ppg). The Grizzlies have lost three in a row. The Grizzlies are 9-14 on the road this season. The Grizzlies lost last night in the same building to the Clippers by 16. These are all of the statistics I have come up with to enforce my decision of picking the Lakers tonight. INCORRECT - The Lakers played crap defense the entire night and Kobe got benched even though he had a solid shooting night.

Enjoy tonight's games. The Heat play in Oklahoma City tonight and it should be a great game.

Rodgers That

The Ever So Sweet 16

By Dan Rodgers

UPDATE: Not a very sweet night thus far. Look below for last second thoughts on each game.

Even though countless people had their brackets busted in the round of 64 with the losses of Missouri (my champion) and Duke, they might not be eliminated from the pools. I know that in my pool I can still tie for first if everything goes perfectly. So tonight could be the final make or break for your bracket, especially if you picked a No. 1 seed to go down tonight. My picks below:

(4) Wisconsin vs. (1) Syracuse -3 = I don't know about you but Syracuse showed me a lot in their last game. They struggled mightily in their match-up with UNC-A, but the Orange really responded with a convincing win over Kansas State. I thought KSU was going to really give Syracuse all they could handle, and while it was a one-point game at the half, Syracuse pulled away in the second half. KSU did what I expected in dominating the boards and especially the offensive glass (22-8 advantage); however, Syracuse shot very efficiently and played solid defense holding the Wildcats to just over 31% shooting. I think that this will be more of a scorefest than people probably think. I think people (me) underestimated the talent on Syracuse and maybe they can still make a deep run without Fab Melo. INCORRECT - The Orange played a solid game against a good defensive team. However, they got outscored in the second half after having a 6-point halftime lead. Wisconsin made 14 threes! That is unbelievable. They shot almost 10% better from three than overall. Not to mention, Syracuse missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the end that could have led to a push.

(4) Louisville +5.5 vs. (1) Michigan State = This should be an excellent game. For my bracket, this is the most important game of the night. I am one of the few people in my pool who has the Cardinals over the Spartans. I can't help but be reminded of the run UConn made in last year's tournament when I think of Louisville. Obviously, they both came out of the Big East. Louisville is playing great defense, they've held their first two opponents to under 40% shooting and forced double-digit turnovers. The Billikens gave the Spartans all they could handle and they had a poor shooting night. If Louisville can be efficient and play their usually tough defense, I don't see any reason why the Cardinals can't win this game outright. CORRECT - well, Louisville won outright just like I needed them to for my pool. This game was just about the only positive for me the whole night.

(6) Cincinnati +7.5 vs. (2) Ohio State = I do have OSU winning this game outright, but I can't believe how high this line is. Cincy played extremely well and pulled the upset last week against a very tough Florida State team. Given the tough defense that the Bearcats have been playing (haven't given up 60 points or more in their last three games), it should be a good match-up with a Buckeyes squad that averages 75 points-per-game. Cincinnati's Yancy Gates should be able to match-up with Sullinger in the paint, and I fully expect Cincy to key in on Buford. If they want a shot in this game, they will need to make sure they don't get killed by the three-pointer. INCORRECT - After Cincy took a four-point lead, I didn't think there was any way they would get outscored by more than 12 the rest of the way. They had all of the momentum, but they couldn't stop fouling and turning the ball over. What a disaster/terrible defensive effort...

(7) Florida vs. (3) Marquette -2 = The reason I liked Missouri to make it out of their bracket is because of their likely match-ups. They would have faced these teams. Florida is very similar to Missouri and Marquette likes to play to their opponent. Luckily for the Golden Eagles, Florida doesn't have many experienced big men. When Marquette faced BYU it was a scorefest, and they adjusted to a more defensive game when they played Murray State. I fully expect this to be a high scoring game, and I just think Marquette has more experience and talent. INCORRECT - The Golden Eagles shot under 30% from three and 30% from the field. Jae Crowder and Darius Johnson-Odom both had 5-15 shooting nights, and you can't expect to win when both of your top players struggle.

This should be an excellent night of games so try to enjoy it. This is clearly where everyone's attention will be, and there isn't much I like in the NBA tonight anyway. Hope your bracket stays intact.

Rodgers That

My Bracket

Here is my primary brackets, let me know what you're thinking...

Super Sunday

By Dan Rodgers

Yes, today is the day. It's Super Sunday... and I'm not talk about the Super Bowl. This is the first taste that we will get of March Madness. At 6 p.m. we will find out which schools made the NCAA tournament and what seed they earned. Below I will break down each conference and which teams I think will get a bid. The first team is the conference champion (cc) and the rest are at large bids.

America East - Vermont (conference champs)
Atlantic 10 - St. Bonaventure (cc), Temple, Saint Louis, Xavier
ACC - Florida State (cc), UNC, Duke, Virginia, North Carolina State
Atlantic Sun - Belmont (cc)
Big 12 - Missouri (cc), Kansas, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State
Big East - Louisville (cc), Syracuse, Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Cincinnati, South Florida, Connecticut
Big Sky - Montana (cc)
Big South - UNC Asheville (cc)
Big Ten - Michigan State (cc), Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana
Big West - Long Beach State (cc)
CAA - VCU (cc), Drexel, George Mason
C-USA - Memphis (cc), Southern Miss
Great West - North Dakota (cc)
Horizon - Detroit (cc)
Ivy - Harvard (cc)
MAAC - Loyola Maryland (cc), Iona
Mid-American - Ohio (cc)
MEAC - Norfolk State (cc)
Missouri Valley - Creighton (cc), Wichita State
Mountain West - New Mexico (cc), San Diego State, UNLV, Colorado State
NEC - LIU Brooklyn (cc)
Ohio Valley - Murray State (cc)
Pac-12 - Colorado (cc), California
Patriot League - Lehigh (cc)
SEC - Vanderbilt (cc), Kentucky, Florida
Southern - Davidson (cc)
Southland - Lamar (cc)
SWAC - Mississippi Valley State (cc)
Summit League - South Dakota State (cc)
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky (cc)
West Coast - Saint Mary's (cc), Gonzaga, BYU
WAC - New Mexico State (cc), Nevada

Above is your field of 68. There has been an endless debate about who the four No. 1 overall seeds will be and that is understandable. The top two ranked teams, Kentucky and Syracuse, didn't win their conference tournaments. I still think both of those teams will be awarded a No. 1 seed. I think Missouri joins them. A lot of people think Kansas should be one, but Missouri beat Baylor in that championship game. Baylor had beaten Kansas in the semifinals. Missouri also finished second in the conference and was ranked fifth so it's not crazy. People might think I'm crazy for saying that UNC shouldn't get one, but I was between them and Michigan State. UNC had the edge and if they won their conference tournament there would be no question. However, Florida State beat them and the score doesn't tell the whole story. In my opinion, the Big Ten is better overall than the ACC and Michigan State did beat Ohio State in the final. So the four seeds, in this order, should be:

Kentucky
Syracuse
Missouri
Michigan State

UPDATE: Obviously, as expected, the committee gave UNC the No. 1 seed and Missouri got the two. All of the other predictions for those two seeds are correct, the order is just off.

The No. 2 seeds would then be, in order:

UNC
Kansas
Ohio State
Duke

I could go through every seed but we will just wait for the selection show for that to happen. Good luck to your school if they are on the bubble, and I'll be back later with NBA picks and teams that missed out on the tournament, etc.

UPDATE:

OKAY! Now that we've found out who made it and who didn't, I'm going to bold my correct predictions from above... I'm also going to talk about who I think got screwed and who made it but didn't earn it. I'm not going to bold the conference champs because they obviously earned a seed.

Not bad: I predicted 65 correct out of a possible 68. I gave the mid-majors a bit more love than the committee did. Purdue, Alabama and West Virginia are the three that I did not predict.

(10) Purdue - Iona, Temple and Michigan are the only tournament teams that the Boilermakers beat, one is in-conference and two are mid-majors. They are 1-9 against the AP top 25 and lost by double digits six times to the ranked teams in their conference. They didn't have a strong end to the season to convince the committee and got destroyed by Ohio State in the conference tournament.

(9) Alabama - Wichita State, Purdue (see above), VCU and Georgetown are the only tournament teams that the Crimson Tide beat this season. They were 0-4 against the AP top 25 and had a mediocre season in a below average conference. Bama didn't even beat one of the other three tournament teams in their own conference.

(10) WVU - Kansas State, Georgetown and South Florida are the only tournament teams that the Mountaineers beat this season and two of those are in-conference. They were 1-7 against the AP top 25, and they lost in the second round of the Big East tournament to UConn. They also don't deserve to be that high of a seed, but the committee gave this Big East squad the benefit of the doubt.

I understand that none of the mid-majors I selected to make the tournament faced an AP top 25 team and that their SOS might not have been great. However, the CAA is one of the best mid-major conferences and last season had four teams make it, including one in the Final four. Drexel and Nevada both ended the regular season at the top of their conference and all three teams had 24 or more wins.

Snubs are unfortunate but at leas the tournament got 65 of the 68 correct.

Rodgers That

Picking Dirty

By Dan Rodgers

So I didn't post anything the past two days. However, I did pick the Pacers and Grizzlies (both hit), however, I got screwed by a 41-point 4th quarter by the Jazz who scored eight points in the final 20 seconds.

A basic rule of thumb I go by in the NBA: Charlotte, Detroit and New Orleans are terrible. I know Detroit has 12 wins compared to only four my Charlotte, but the Pistons are awful and always look to go against them when they are on the road or facing a damn good team (like Memphis). The Bobcats are just the worst team in the NBA bar none. They give up 15 more points per game than they score, which means the odds are in your favor to go with the other team. Plus, the good part is that the Bobcats often fall far behind early and don't fight back so you can coast to an easy win. The Hornets tend to fight at home, but Indiana is way better and a matchup nightmare. However, against a mediocre team, the Hornets tend to put up a good fight at home but often get blown out on the road.

As for NCAAB yesterday, I loved Memphis early. That game was a blowout as expected. I also liked UConn, and Jim Calhoun didn't let us down in his first game back. Unfortunately, I was on the losing side of only the second home loss of the season for South Florida. Beating West Virginia and clinching the fourth seed and a double-bye in the Big East tournament would have all but locked up their ticket to the NCAA tournament but they disappointed big time.

There wasn't too much I liked the rest of the day... But let's move on to today...

Kentucky -5 @ Florida = The No. 1 ranked team plays their final game of the season today and they look to become the third team since 1956 to go undefeated in the SEC. They handled the Gators easily last time and Florida has lost their last two. I think Kentucky will get it done and cover the five points. I'm not crazy about them but definitely confident. CORRECT

Michigan -5 @ Penn State = This line puzzles me... Michigan beat the Nittany Lions at home by 18 points. Once again, I don't feel that Penn State deserves 13 points just for being at home. Also, State has lost their last three, including a 24-point beat-down at Purdue. I think Michigan should take care of business again, especially because they are still fighting for first place in the Big Ten. CORRECT

Ohio State @ Michigan State -3.5 = The Spartans beat the Buckeyes by 10 in Ohio and I think they can sweep the season series. State controls their own destiny, if they win, they win the Big Ten regular season title. INCORRECT - MichSt was up nine at half and lost outright.

Siena @ Loyola Maryland -6.5 = Loyola is having a great season and they swept the regular season series with wins by seven and 11. I see no reason for them to not win this game convincingly as well. CORRECT

Purdue @ Indiana -6 = The Hoosiers won at Purdue by 17. Now Indiana is at home and I think we are getting a bargain with a line of six. Purdue is a decent team and they definitely fight until the very end, but Indiana is coming off of a huge 15-point win over Michigan State and I think they follow that up with another big win. CORRECT

NBA

I'm not currently crazy about any games, but I'm going to re-evaluate later and I might add something.

UPDATE:

New York Knicks +2 @ Boston Celtics = So I didn't want to make a play and I just wanted to watch this great game. If I would have done something, I would have teased the Knicks. It was a great game so I hope you caught it. DIDN'T PICK

New Jersey Nets -4.5 @ Charlotte Bobcats = So I ended up deciding that the Nets are a decent enough road team to take care of business. With Lopez back to playing in the paint, they'll take care of business. INCORRECT - The Nets dominated the second half after an iffy first half, they were covering but a couple of late buckets allowed Charlotte to kick the backdoor wide open... What a waste of a 57-point performance by D-Will... also, the Bobcats went 37/39 from the charity stripe, the Nets missed 11 FTs... it happens

Other Notes: I like the Rockets to win at home (the spread is around -1), and I also think the 76ers will give Chicago all they can handle and should cover as well at home (spread is around +4).

Enjoy the games for the rest of the night.

Rodgers That

I Hate March Madness

By Dan Rodgers

March Madness is beyond ridiculous. Anyone can beat anyone, my bracket is shot to hell, and I might as well not even write about anything. Clearly Duke sucks and Zona dominated the entire game.

I will only write about Ohio State and maybe Kansas from now on, but with my luck they will both go down tomorrow. All I have to say about the rest of the tournament is that Ohio State is far and above any other team. They have way too many playmakers and too much talent to lose to any of these other teams...but what do I know...

Rodgers That

Tourney Time

By Dan Rodgers

I want to wish a Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. I hope you enjoy it, as well as day one of the NCAA tournament.

The last time I tried to post my bracket it didn't work, but I'll keep trying to get it up here.

I have an all one-seed Final Four...which I am not happy about at all. I think the selection crew might have done something right because all four one seeds look to be the best in their respective region. I have Ohio State beating Kansas in the finals.

I want to mix it up but I just can't do it. Pittsburgh is the weakest one seed but they're in the easiest region. BYU and Florida both got overrated in the seeds, and Kansas State and Wisconsin just aren't that good.

Ohio State looks to be the best team in the tournament so they should make it even though they have a tougher bracket with Syracuse, UNC and Kentucky. Kansas is similar to Pittsburgh, in fact, the entire right side of the bracket is just cake. Notre Dame is good but not that good, and the same goes for Purdue and Louisville. Kansas is just clearly the best team.

Duke's situation is interesting because their two seed, San Diego State, might not be that strong but they also have Texas and UConn in their region. Still, I like Duke to emerge now that Kyrie Irving is supposed to play at some point.

I am trying to find the upset, but this year it seems to be tougher than past years. My two biggest upets, call me crazy, are Penn State and Michigan State both making the Sweet Sixteen. Penn State plays great defense and doesn't turn the ball over. They have Temple in the first round and then most likely San Diego State in the second round.

Michigan State has so much talent and such a phenomenal coach that gets the best from his players come March. I think if Izzo's boys can get past UCLA, they will give two-seed Florida a run for their money (assuming Florida beats UCSB).

Besides that, I have only first round upsets, like Gonzaga, Mizzouri, Marquette and all nine seeds except ODU. I am having a tough time with the Georgetown/VCU game. I didn't expect VCU to dominate USC like they did, and Georgetown's Chris Wright is coming back from injury.

Pitt is the only one seed to play today, but there are 15 other games going on starting with Clemson and West Virginia in an hour. Enjoy the madness, and have a good St. Patty's Day...if you're old enough.

Rodgers That

No Virginia Tech...AGAIN?

By Dan Rodgers

The fact that Va Tech was once again left out of the tournament absolutely infuriates me. Did you know...please read carefully...VIRGINIA TECH is the ONLY TEAM to BEAT A NO. 1 SEED and NOT make it into the NCAA TOURNAMENT.

That is correct. Every other team that beat Duke, Pittsburgh, Ohio St and Kansas all made it in. I was amazed by this stat and I checked it for those of you who think it is too good to be true.

I will break down the tourney more later, but I had to get this off my chest. I really think the selection crew just hates Tech. What do they have to do to get in?

Not to mention their joke of a matchup in the NIT with Bethune-Cookman. Tech might not win just because they are so pissed about not making the NCAA so they will not care about this game.

The madness has already begun.

Rodgers That

Surprising Saturday

By Dan Rodgers

Today we experienced just about everything except the NFL, which of course, is saved for Sundays at this point in the season. Some of the exciting headlines

MLB:

• Texas showed no hangover from the heartbreaking loss in game one, dominated game two with a 7-2 victory. The series heads to New York, with Cliff Lee set to pitch...it's getting interesting. Series even at 1-1
  
• Surprisingly enough, this game went over the six runs predicted by the odds makers. More surprisingly, San Francisco came away with a huge upset victory in Philly to take away home-field advantage. San Fran leads 1-0
  

NCAAF:

• 1 Ohio State knocked off by 18 Wisconsin. Second consecutive week the No. 1 ranked team has lost.
• Un-ranked Kentucky upset 10 South Carolina, un-ranked Mississippi State upset 22 Florida, un-ranked San Diego State upset 23 Air Force
• 5 Nebraska get completely outplayed and throws away their National Championship hopes with a loss to un-ranked Texas.
• Will 3 Boise State jump to No. 1?
  

NHL:

• Caps have early season magic, come back from 2-0 to win 3-2 in OT.
• Blackhawks show no sign of slowing with 4-3 win over Sabres.

NFL:

• Get ready for some crazy week six action tomorrow.

Rodgers That

Wall to Washington?

By Dan Rodgers

Tonight is the NBA Draft and it is a fairly exciting time in the Baltimore/D.C. area because the Washington Wizards hold the first overall pick of the draft. John Wall is the projected first pick (even though I disagree), and many people think that the Wiz should take him.

I think a better pick would be Ohio State's Evan Turner. He won the award for the best college player, and I believe he is more NBA ready. Besides, Turner has great size (6' 7") and can play the guard or forward positions. That is a much more pressing need for them assuming Gilbert Arenas reverts back to pre-gunman form. Gil can be a great play-making point guard and even though Wall is a great player, he is going to realize that he can't run over, through, and past everyone in the NBA.

The 76ers have the second pick and what they plan to do is also very interesting. They have Jrue Holiday, a young rising point guard, and Andre Iguodala at the two position (he can play the three). Evan Turner would be a nice addition and upgrade over starting small forward, Jason Kapono. However, if the Wizards draft Turner, is Philly going to draft Wall just because he is the best available?

This should be an interesting night. ESPN @ 7:00 don't be late!

Rodgers That