How’s your bracket doing?

Day one is complete and day is about to get underway in the NCAAs and many people are probably kicking themselves for having made silly picks in their brackets. Any one who took Duke should be feeling pretty sad right now as they were bounced in nail-biting fashion by VCU. Vanderbilt straight up jacked George Washington and I know someone personally who had the game going the other way. Penn and Davidson both kept it close before bowing to the higher seeds.

Largely, there weren’t many day 1 upsets but look for day two to potential make up for it.

It's Finally Here!

I our tradition of “friendly” competition, the Intern and I have, like a large percentage of people in North America, have filled out our brackets and are going to face off in a head to head over the next few weeks for bragging rights. Since we wouldn’t want to run our entire brackets here, we’ll just give up our final four picks.

Dan

Florida: They’ve returned their five starters from last year’s championship team but more importantly, have you seen the competition in the Midwest bracket? It’s pathetic. The only team with a chance to unseat them is Wisconsin, but their Centre’s injured.

UCLA: My pick to win it all because, quite frankly, they’re my pick to win it all every year and I have no idea why. I’m not buying into Kansas’s team and I don’t know enough about Pittsburgh and So. Ill to take them. I do know that Duke sucks though.

Ohio State: Mark my words: If Ohio State and Texas A&M reach the elite 8, that will be one hell of a game to watch. Acie Law IV is going to show what he’s made of and Greg Oden is Greg Oden.

Texas: They have, by far, the hardest competition in their region but I can see Kevin Durant shining under the tournament’s pressure a la Carmelo Anthony. They’re going to have to fight through every game, well, except for their first round match up with New Mexico State.

The Intern’s picks will come later…

The Intern's thoughts on: The NCAA tourney

I am sitting at home right now, watching the two juggernauts of the West fighting for alpha-dog status in the NBA; the Dirk led Mavs vs. Steve Nash’s Suns and the funny thing is that I really don’t care. Usually in situations like this, I would be clutching my knees giggling like an Asian school girl, but on the eve of the NCAA Tournament, all I can think about is my bracket. I keep going over in my head can Georgia Tech actually beat the Gators to advance to the final four and who will come up victorious in the elite 8, the Hoyas or the Longhorns? I might not be a college hoops guru, but every March I always get swept up in the excitement of the tournament. One thing is for sure and that is I will definitely not get a good night’s sleep because I will be up tossing and turning all night dissecting my bracket.

What’s the point?

Yesterday, Niagara best Florida A&M in the NCAA’s play-in game by a score of 77-69. While I did learn the actual reason for having this play-in game yesterday, it still seems very unfair to the participants, even if they are the two of the worst teams in the tournament.

Firstly, the NCAA added the play-in game because after another conference joined the fray, they had to add another automatic bid and, instead of taking away an at-large bid (which could be given to a better team from a big conference), they just upped the field to 65 teams.

While the play-in game seems harmless enough, most people forget that there’s already another tournament going on for the teams that didn’t make the big dance: The NIT. While it is a second-string tournament, shouldn’t the team losing the play-in get some sort of consolation prize and receive a high seed in the NIT considering they would theoretically be the best team in that tournament? But that argument might lead to a team throwing the play-in game to get a high seed and at least on home game in the NIT as opposed to facing off against the nation’s best team a few days later.

The only issue that that practically no one will argue is that the play-in game is next to pointless. Still, I applaud you Niagara; have fun against Kansas

Sucks to be Kansas City

Has anybody ever heard the story about the first casino in Atlantic City? Well this new development about the Kansas City Penguins sort of applies. Back before gambling had been legalized in the state of New Jersey, one man started gambling huge before the bill went through. In a huge risk/reward move, he started building his casino before gambling was legalized to have it completed by the time the bill had moved through. Well, we all know how that turned out because you can gamble in A.C. now. The bold man who made that gamble had a huge monopoly for the entire construction period for the other casinos and (I’m guessing) made a ton of money.

How does this apply to Kansas City? They built an arena in hopes of landing the Penguins from Pittsburgh and are now stuck with an empty Sprint Center. You win some, you lose some.

Sifting through the brackets

Selection Sunday is a joyous day for gamblers around the world. Even pseudo-gamblers and office poolies love to see the brackets and make their picks. It can be taken casually or super-seriously depending on the stakes of your wager. But, most of all, it’s a day that encourages fun.

How often can you enter a contest where people are evenly matched and knowledge of the subject might even turn into a liability? How often does the fact that your second cousin’s or your uncle-in-law’s Alma mater actually have a chance to make you money? Unless you work at a sporting goods store, a team’s jersey isn’t going to make you money. But, if last year, you picked George Mason (where?) to make a Cinderella run because a relative went there once upon a time, or maybe you just really liked Florida’s jerseys so you picked them to win it all, you would have probably made a handsome sum from your fellow poolies.

I would go into whom I’m picking and what my bracket looks like, but I wouldn’t want to give away too many tips. You’ll all have to wait for Thursday for those tidbits.

The Pats keep on spending

It seems that New England is going in the exact opposite route that they have been for years past during this off-season period. After being over $8-million under the cap last season and staying away from giving lucrative deals, they have landed both Adalius Thomas and now Donte Stallworth this off-season. It looks like Belichick may be changing his philosophy but, overall, this is just him using his savvy to fill holes on his team with players that can perform. This may just bring him and Brady another ring or two.