Day 2: Bracket Pwnage

I'm officially out. Thank you Wake Forest, Florida State, BC, and Clemson...

Quick Conference Roundup (will update throughout tourney)
ACC: 3-4 (42.8%)
Big East: 6-1 (85.7%)
Big 10: 4-3 (57.1%)
Big 12: 6-0 (100.0%)
SEC: 1-2 (33.3%)
PAC 10: 5-1 (83.3%)
Other: 7-21 (25.0%)

Oglesby Ejection: Lone Vigilante or Second Shooter?

Terrence Oglesby, Clemson's best 3-point shooter, was ejected last night for throwing a bow to the face of Michigan's Stu Douglass. The video evidence appears to be on Douglass' side but upon further review was the ejection too harsh and ultimately what cost Clemson a shot at OU? Here's a second clip from the side. It looks like a mixture of separating from Douglass' grasp, collision with Booker, aggressive reaction by Oglesby, and basketball acting on Douglass' part, to me.

Either way Clemson should've won that game. 40:28 rebounding advantage including 20 offensive boards should've equaled a W. Purnell's gotta get the post-season monkey off Clemson's back. It's one thing to get a bunch of wins in the regular season but postseason is what brings in the dough and gives you leverage in the off-season (ala Paul Hewitt's '04 team).

Day 1 dust settles

After Day 1, my bracket went 13 of 16. Clemson (my ACC homerism) let me down alongside Illinois so I've lost two Sweet 16 teams, which isn't terrible but still sad. The other mistake was Washington over Mississippi State. I shouldn't have trusted the damn SEC. I knew they were terrible... Today, I'll probably take some big hits but we'll see.

As of right now, UNC and UConn look pretty strong (playing cupcakes). Duke, Nova, and Memphis struggled pretty mightily against their patsies. After last night, I don't see Michigan (or Clemson if they'd won) getting past OU.

Quick Conference Roundup (will update throughout tourney)
ACC: 3-1 (75.0%)
Big East: 2-0 (100.0%)
Big 10: 2-2 (50.0%)
Big 12: 3-0 (100.0%)
SEC: 1-1 (50.0%)
PAC 10: 2-1 (66.7%)
Other: 3-11 (21.45)

Any thoughts out there on Day 1?

Tech levels Kennesaw, builds playground

In case you haven't noticed, Tech's baseball offense is back to Danny Hall Form. We kicked the crap out of Kennesaw State outscoring the Owls 22-3 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tech pitchers contributed 21 strikeouts to the series, which ain't too shabby for a midweek pitching staff.

Next up is VT @ VT this weekend and it's probably gonna be a little chilly for baseball but Summer rapidly approaches. I don't know about y'all but I can't wait 'til I instantly get backsweat in the SC Summertime.

Also of note, Spring Practice starts this coming Monday. We should have some loyal fan reports from the sidelines of the Rose Bowl soon. Spring practice and the Spring scrimmage are where my dreams have been partially realized for about 8 or so years now. The raw talent, sloppy play, and coaches "public patience" is ridiculously amusing for a football starved fan. Can't wait.

ACC football musings

Apparently Cutcliffe, like America, decided Zach Asack's name was too ironic to play quarterback and is moving the career punching bag to safety. Asack was suspended in '06 for plagiarism and has been stuck behind Thaddeus Lewis ever since. In case you were wondering, he's been sacked 27 times in his career.

Andy Staples wrote an interesting article about Russell Wilson on SI.com. Too bad all of this hype is for naught 'cause Jon Dwyer will take ACC POTY back to back seasons.

And finally FSU is fighting their win forfeitures. I understand their case. GT had a similar (not identical) situation but personally I think FSU's record should remain blemished. The sheer level of cheating was pretty reDUNKulous. However, why are they only attacking FSU when the NCAA truly needs to audit a lot of school's approaches to treatment of athletes in academia. If the NCAA wants to get on a high horse about FSU, why not other schools that relegate athletes to "General Studies" and "Communications" majors? Schools that truly don't care about educating their student athletes should all be punished.

So goes life.

The only bracket that matters

I'll forewarn you with I don't watch a lot of hoops outside the ACC so my bracket is BIG TIME biased but here're my picks. Tear it up all you want 'cause this is what I'm sticking with to the end. I picked based on teams I've seen and OOC performances 'cause honestly there's not really much objectivity in this stuff.

I pick my bracket like Will Bynum - from the heart. That clip is why college basketball is so ridiculously good.

Call me a super ACC homer but it's never really hurt me in the past. Any bracket buster thoughts out there?

St. Patrick's Day Celebration

It's St. Patrick's Day. March Madness is about to begin. Tech plays baseball and softball today.

Everyone needs to take down a pint of the finest Irish brew their local pub serves on this partially cloudy Spring Day. Cheers to those of Irish descent (like myself), those that wish they were of Irish descent, and to the GT athletes competing today. Good luck.

Busy Tuesdays

Just received text from Winfield/Dane: "At the beach, blog abandoned for week"

Silly Bird. Spring break is for kids.

So here are some quick hits from the news world. Ninth seeded Tech is headed to Iowa to play the Hawkeyes in the Women's NCAA Tournament. Congrats to Coach Joseph. Women's bball is becoming a legit ACC team. Mark Bradley pours some gas on the fire Hewitt fire. Softball is on a five game win streak headed into today's games against Western Carolina. And the Joltin' Jackets welcome inner-metro rival Kennesaw State to the Rusty C. for a home-home series starting today.

If there's one team I've been waiting to see this year, it's baseball. I wanna see the GT bats hittin' like they used to.

Also, here is an awesome website with 1990/2008 highlights on it. Shawn Jones is a bad mother.

Early bracket thoughts

Let me start by stating that GT played 8 tourney teams this season (7 ACC teams and Southern Cal). And obviously GT had a brutal time of it only winning 2 games against tourney-bound teams.

First thing I found humorous as an ACC homer/SEC hater were the 3 bids accidentally assigned to members of the SEC. Wow, what a pathetic state the SEC is in. Way to build off those UF national championships. I'm gonna assume that if Miss State hadn't won the SEC title, USC would've gotten that third bid. Either way... HA!

Looking to members of the ACC, the roads look mighty treacherous for a national title:

10) Maryland - PAC10 matchup favors the Terps. I think they should make it into a danceoff with Memphis. Surviving much further? Probably not.

7) Clemson - The NCAA's want to make sure Clemson doesn't make it out of the first round. Michigan is on a roll but Clemson is a better team. I don't see Clemson making it past OK though.

7) BC - BC is in a similar situation to Clemson. Playing a team with momentum (Southern Cal) and a looming big time opponent in Michigan State. However, Michigan State is beatable, in my opinion, for BC.

5) FSU - If FSU doesn't make the Sweet 16, someone in Tallahassee should get a punch in the throat.

4) Wake - Why am I worried about Wake choking? I don't know but I'm concerned for the well-being of that sophomore/freshmen team.

2) Duke - I really want to see Nova and Duke play in the Sweet 16. The Elite of Choke Jobs: Duke vs. Villanova. I can't wait.

1) UNC - Unfortunately, I think we got screwed as a conference as UNC is in the strongest bracket by far. They put the three Big East teams in brackets opposite Duke, Michigan State, and Memphis - three teams that have shown glaring flaws this season. While UNC is opposite Oklahoma, a debate worthy one seed.

Oh well. We'll see. Good luck to ACCers as they hit the hardwood.

The Big East Superiority Con

Don't let the Big East and ESPN fool you. There is a better conference in the country or at least a valid argument disputing the Big East's supposed college basketball dominance.

I was sitting at a bar last night in Raleigh with some NC State grads. One was from Connecticut and a huge UConn fan. He was drooling over Okafor and Ben Gordon and I loudly stated that Gordon and Okafor sucked balls. To which we started a heated debate relating to GT, UConn, and the Big East vs. the ACC.

His argument was that the Big East is the greatest conference ever. Used the 6OT game as an example of its greatness. I was pretty plastered as was he so I just started running off random ACC-Big East matchups this season that the ACC won. I also reminded him that we dominated Thabeet in 2006 at the GA Dome.

The following string of words followed - please imagine a thick New Hampshire/Connecticut accent:

Husky fan: "You're about to receive a black eye."
Me: "I'm not really worried about that."
Husky fan: "Why not?"
Me: "Well, I'd say you weigh about 120-125 pounds and I weigh about 185."
Husky fan: "F*** you. I gotta smoke."

So he assessed the situation after I took my coat off and then he stormed off to apparently smoke. He had the makings of a coward so I wasn't terribly worried about a physical confrontation. Douchebag indicators = bandwagon UConn fan + terrible New England accent + drives a Pontiac Aztek.

Now, let's talk real numbers. ACC OOC record is 147-37 (79.9%) while the Big East was 171-59 (74.3%). The ACC was 7-6 versus the Big East in regular season play. We'll see come tourney time. I'm sure the Big East will send a lot of teams for the pure hype factor but I wouldn't be surprised to see more ACC in the Sweet 16 this year just for the fact that our top 5-6 teams are really deep.

Any thoughts on the Big East or ACC? I personally have hated the Big Least since2004 for the way the Big Least treated BC in its last season.