Travel costs for universities are a big deal in this economic climate. Look no further than the bowl "selections" that occurred this year -- there were a substantially larger number of teams hanging close to home, presumably to allow for cheaper travel for both the schools and their fans.
But the NCAA says that will not be a huge deal this year, and supposedly, geographical distance will not affect a team's pairing.
I'm not sure what's replaced the watercooler as the gathering place in offices of the 21st century but, whatever it is, the buzz around it this morning is the Final Four. For the first time ever all four first seeds have advanced to the final weekend and the biggest beneficiaries are no doubt making themselves known to their co-workers. Maybe it's the receptionist who spends more time discussing her romantic life than studying Pomeroy Ratings or the guy from Accounting who doesn't watch sports but likes to be part of the office hullabaloo but those are the ones counting their winnings right now.
Whether you thought the tournament was boring or scintillating to this point, you'll doubtlessly agree that the top seeds advancing has taken some of the fun out of it. Hopefully it will mean some spectacular basketball on Saturday and Monday but it is antithesis to the surprise and drama that has made March Madness part of the national lexicon.
That surprise was what made us take a chance on Pittsburgh or West Virginia two weeks ago because we've watched for years and knew that it wouldn't come down to the chalk teams. And for that we've been repaid by the heckling of coworkers who wouldn't know Stephen Curry from Eddy Curry. And, worst of all, Clark Kellogg's annual safety dance has finally paid off which ensures another decade of bland picks.
Earlier today, my esteemed colleagues Charles Rich and Michael David Smith labeled Memphis's vicious blowout of Texas as yet another boring game in a string of second-weekend snoozers. Now, I like a close game as much as anyone else does, but I fail to see what is so boring about the most athletic team in the country playing at the height of their powers against another Top 10 team.
When Memphis is on, they're quite simply awesome to watch. Their superb athleticism at every position creates countless alley-oops, blocks, and transition opportunities. Derrick Rose, a certain Top 3 pick in June's NBA Draft, dominated DJ Augustin, a player most experts call the best point guard in the country. The Tigers used their insane quickness to make one of the quickest, steadiest backcourts in the country look out of control and outclassed. From my point of view, these accomplishments are rarer and more noteworthy than a tight finish. No matter the score, Memphis will always make a few plays that make your draw drop.
Exciting endings are obviously great and memorable, but they often come at the end of mediocre games. For instance, it's hard to argue that either Kansas or Davidson looked particularly stellar in today's admittedly exciting second game. As cool as it was to see the Wildcats nearly nip the Jayhawks, I have to admit that I had more fun watching Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts dismantle the Longhorns.
The way the games have been this weekend, there better be a heck of a pay-off next Saturday with (likely) all the top teams facing each other. Right now, it hardly seems worth it.
There have been moments this weekend where the games have gotten good -- Louisville tying UNC in the second half and Stanford's nice run at Texas come to mind -- but the overall games have hardly been riveting. Instead I find myself grateful for the bourbon by my laptop, then the games themselves. Wait, that came out wrong.
Right now Memphis is controlling the game against Texas, as they lead 39-28 at the half. The game started with promise, but now has the feel of the Louisville-UNC game from last night. One team dictating tempo, style and ultimately in control, no matter the score.
I am just hoping Davidson can continue to shock. Who knows? After all, Gus Johnson will be calling the Davidson-Kansas game.
Forget (if possible) that Texas shot nearly 50% in the game that shredded Stanford's defense while attacking the basket. The inability of Stanford to score for long stretches in the game killed the Cardinal's chances at both ends. Ultimately Texas ran away with the game 82-62.
Stanford only shot 34% for the game. They struggled from the perimeter, they struggled inside. All those misses created opportunities for Texas to get out in transition and attack before Stanford could set on defense. Texas was able to use their athleticism to get to the basket and go inside. Heck, despite the Stanford size, Texas was was 25-43 (58%) from inside the perimeter.
The one stretch where Stanford shot well -- a roughly 5 minute stretch early in the second half -- the Cardinal went on a 14-5 run, the Longhorns found little space to attack the basket. Stanford had time to set their defense and not run after the swifter Texas guards in transition. It became a 1-point game. Then Stanford went cold. Once Stanford went back to their poor shooting ways, Texas blew them out 30-11 to the final horn.
Texas was shooting well in the game, but they couldn't have done it without Stanford's poor shooting.
The Memphis Tigers, the No. 1 seed in the South region, struggled to beat 8 seed Mississippi State to advance to the Sweet 16 because they couldn't make their free throws, going a horrendous 15-for-32 from the line.
"What I'm taking great pride in is we won it with Chris's free throw," Memphis Coach John Calipari said. "So all that stuff about our free-throw shooting now goes out the window, I guess."
Calipari's remark elicited laughter from the news media because Memphis (35-1) finished the game 15 of 32 from the free-throw line (46.9 percent). The Tigers entered the game shooting 59.7 percent from the line.
Mississippi State (23-11) made 14 of 20 free-throw attempts (70 percent). The Bulldogs had a game-high 21 points from Gordon, a junior guard.
"We made more free throws than them," Calipari said. "We beat them at the free-throw line."
The media were right to laugh. Calipari is a great coach whose team is now 35-1 even though it ranks dead last in the nation in free throw shooting. But he's in serious denial if he thinks ranking dead last in free throw shooting can't eventually catch up to his team. March is too late for him to do anything about it, though, which means denial may be the best option Calipari has.
Although most commentators have said Johnson should not have been ejected, Johnson made no complaints and no excuses.
"There was no profanity or anything like that used but I had been warned prior to that, and I put our team in a bad position, and that's unacceptable," Johnson said, before crediting assistant Doug Oliver for leading the team the rest of the way: "I'm very thankful and I'm fortunate to have guys like Doug."
It's a credit to Johnson that he isn't looking to blame the referee who tossed him. I wonder if he'd be quite so calm about it if his team had lost.
Whether fatigue caught up to them or simply an off night shooting, Pitt struggled miserably on offense. The Panthers shot under 33% and was only 2-17 on 3s as they lost to the Michigan State Spartans 65-54. Bob Knight, who picked Pitt to win the whole thing, has his bracket officially wrecked.
Michigan State struggled holding onto the ball, but when they did, they scored. Drew Neitzel was on this evening with 21 points. He shot 5-8 on 3s which opened things up for Kalin Lucas to attack the basket and Goran Suton was able to clean things up inside (14 points, 9 rebounds).
Both Pitt and Michigan State only had 3 options on offense. Neitzel, Suton and Lucas provided 54 points on 21-38 shooting. Fields, Young and Blair could only counter with 44 points on 14-35.
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo now improves to 12-2 in second round games. On the short turnaround, Izzo is arguably the best coach to have on the bench.
Trent Johnson's questionable ejection from today's Stanford/Marquette game could have sunk Stanford's season, but the team's two best players simply wouldn't allow it to happen. The Brothers Lopez combined for 48 of Stanford's 82 points in their overtime win over Marquette, including Brook Lopez's difficult leaner with 1.3 seconds left that gave the Cardinal the win.
Referee Curtis Shaw's ejection of Johnson had a huge effect on this game, although it's difficult to say who was given the bigger edge. The Cardinal got a lot of calls in the second half of this game, which gave them 20 free throws (in comparison to three for Marquette) in the second half. The twins certainly force their fair share of fouls in any game, but this large disparity suggests that the referee's might have made some makeup calls after the break.
Then again, Trent Johnson might have made some better coaching decisions in this game than the ones by assistant Doug Oliver. With Stanford up six points with 11:18, Oliver sat both Brook and Robin Lopez for the next 4:18. When they returned, Marquette had a one-point lead. Now, the decision to take them out was probably a good one given that they seemed on the verge of picking up technical fouls (and Robin had already picked up one of them), but sitting them for so long turned the momentum back to the Golden Eagles. It's tempting to think that Johnson would have brought at least one of them back sooner.
Stanford's head coach Trent Johnson was ejected with 3:36 remaining in the first half of their NCAA tournament second round game against Marquette.
Johnson was disputing a foul call called on the Cardinal's Lawrence Hill when he picked up the first technical. Then, during the ensuing television timeout, he walked halfway out on the court and was given his second tech and an automatic ejection.
Judging by the actions, there really is no reason to T him up. That means he must have said something to really peeve off the officials. As it was happening, Stanford assistant coach Doug Oliver put his head in his hands. Oliver is currently acting as head coach.
Resident FanHouse contributor Ty Keenan says"I cannot frickin' believe this. You do not eject somebody for that. Absolute crap."
Travel costs for universities are a big deal in this economic climate. Look no further than the bowl "selections" that occurred this year -- there were a substantially larger number of teams hanging close to home, presumably to allow for cheaper travel for both the schools and their fans.
I'm not sure what's replaced the watercooler as the gathering place in offices of the 21st century but, whatever it is, the buzz around it this morning is the Final Four. For the first time ever all four first seeds have advanced to the final weekend and the biggest beneficiaries are no doubt making themselves known to their co-workers. Maybe it's the receptionist who spends more time discussing her romantic life than studying Pomeroy Ratings or the guy from Accounting who doesn't watch sports but likes to be part of the office hullabaloo but those are the ones counting their winnings right now. 
The way the games have been this weekend, there better be a heck of a pay-off next Saturday with (likely) all the top teams facing each other. Right now, it hardly seems worth it. 
Forget (if possible) that Texas shot nearly 50% in the game that shredded Stanford's defense while attacking the basket. The inability of Stanford to score for long stretches in the game killed the Cardinal's chances at both ends. Ultimately Texas ran away with the game 82-62.
Whether fatigue caught up to them or simply an off night shooting, Pitt struggled miserably on offense. The Panthers shot under 33% and was only 2-17 on 3s as they lost to the Michigan State Spartans 65-54. Bob Knight, who picked Pitt to win the whole thing, has his bracket officially wrecked.
