Tales after the First Weekend


{*Cough, Cough*} Sorry, I’m choking on some chalk…


Hold on, I think UCLA just missed another shot…


I’ve FINALLY learned my lesson: Never, NEVER pick Wake Forest for the Sweet Sixteen!! They could have Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, and 3 Mythical Gods playing for them and somehow they’d still end up losing to West Bumblefuck State in the second round…


Speaking of which, fuck you, ACC. That’s what I get for backing BC and Florida State. I officially apologize to the Big East for ever thinking the ACC was better this year. Please take me back, baby…


Quick Quote: “You thrive when you can, then when rotate up into that (difficult schedule), can you survive?" – Mike Brey

Seriously Mike, STOP BLAMING THE SCHEDULE!!!!!!!!!!! You weren’t that good and that’s the end of it. Just lose already so I don’t vomit at the sight of a “2009 NIT Champion” banner…



Maydog’s Top 3 2009 Teams that can Go to Hell, Under the radar Edition:

3. Chattanooga - A 56 pt loss? What idiot thought that game had a chance to be close? Oh yeah, me...

2. Ohio State- Thanks for making the MAAC think they’re a power conference.

1. Cal St North – Thanks for scaring the crap out of me.




Good for American…In fact, I’ll go this far: I’d be more proud of what American did (lead Villanova with 9 minutes left) than EVER winning an NIT game. You hear that, Brey?



Overrated Conference of the Year: With Apologies to the ACC and the Mountain West, The Pac-10 takes home the “What hell was I thinking when I thought this conference was awesome?” award. Arizona St, UCLA, Cal, Washington all putt up a lot of stinkers…



Arizona’s run settles it: Always pick the ‘team that didn’t belong in the tournament’ to win a few games...


It took the awesome power of Bob Huggins to counteract the awesome power of West Virginia. Bravo, drunkie…


I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I think I’d give it all up to go back and be the Syracuse Orange. Coolest mascot ever and it’s really not even close.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball, Verse of Maydogma

The 2009 Mike Lupica Memorial "I couldn't possibly care about who your Final Four picks are, but here are mine" FF Post:


MAYDOG PICKS:
East: Villanova
Midwest: Louisville
South: Oklahoma
West: Memphis

Champion: Louisville


I could see it happening:
East: Pitt
Midwest: Michigan St.
South: UNC
West: UConn

Champion: UNC


Dream/Who I'm rooting for Final Four
East: Villanova
Midwest: Somehow, everyone loses
South: Somehow, everyone loses
West: Somehow, everyone loses

Champion: Villanova


Nightmare/'There is No God' Final Four
East: Duke
Midwest: West Virginia/BC/Southern Cal
South: Michigan/Syracuse
West: Maryland

Champion: West Virginia / BC


(Congratulations to West Virginia asscending to the BC level of "If this team wins a championship before Notre Dame does in my lifetime, I'm giving up and living in the mountains." A proud day for all.)

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The “Maydog Inflated Ego” Rule: Try to be a hero/ Duplicate past successes- For two years, between 2005-2006, MAYDOGMA gave you THE correct ridiculous upset pick of the first round, hitting with #14 Bucknell over #3 Kansas in 2005 (which was awesome), & then #13 Northwestern St. over #4 Iowa in 2006 (which was awful because I ignored my own stupid advice and bet money on Iowa). Of course, the last 2 years weren’t as good because, well, these are ridiculous picks; they aren’t supposed to work in the long run. You’d think, armed with this ironclad logic, that I’d stop now, right? RIGHT!?? Of course not! So let’s try to figure out this year’s ridiculous upset pick:


Here are this year’s candidates, in order of elimination:

-Morehead St. over Louisville (too insane)

- E. Tennessee St. over Pitt (Would be the biggest tournament choke of all-time, so no)

-Cornell over Missouri (Cornell lost by 300 last year)

-Stephen F Austin over Syracuse (Hmmmm......)

-Akron over Gonzaga (Because it’s Gonzaga, not big enough upset)

-West Kentucky over Illinois (A lot of people are already picking this one)

-Binghamton over Duke (Shockingly, I think the Duke hatred is clouded the judgment of those ACTUALLY picking this.)

-Second runner up- Chattanooga over UConn (Can anyone else see a tie game in the 2nd half?)

-The runner up- Robert Morris over Michigan State (The Big Ten thing. They should take away the automatic bid if this one actually happens)


And the winner of this year’s ridiculous Maydog upset pick is #14 North Dakota St. over #3 Kansas

Shades of Princeton over UCLA. (Defending Champion going down) Shades of Bucknell over Kansas. (Kansas choking) Shades of George Mason. (ND State has been told all week this should have been in the play in game.) I don’t know ANYTHING about ND State. And Kansas was smoking hot until a bump in the Big 12 tournament. So this pick is BEYOND ridiculous. Let’s see how it turns out.



Of Course…

-Finally, the Dick Vitale Final Four Picks Rule- Never pick a lower seed to win. Upsets? There are never any upsets!!


Happy picking everyone.

-The Pittsburg(h) Rule- Pick with (insert team). Or against them. Or with them. Or against them. Throughout the years, I have learned that there are some teams just can’t be trusted, no matter how good or bad they are playing. Here are a few teams that will always give you headaches:


• Pittsburg: The MVP of the list. The best Big East regular season and tournament team of the last few years, probably the best team in the country this year, a strong #1 seed…and they never, NEVER made it passed the Sweet 16.. Does it really fill you with confidence to build your whole bracket around the Panthers? PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!!!


• Arizona: Lose when they should win; win when they should lose. As a 12 seed and last team in this year, they have no business winning a game. You know what that means...


• Maryland: Never trust the Turtle. You’ll regret it!


• UConn: Can't get into the Sweet 16 recently.


• Any team coached by Roy Williams: UNC but Roy’s teams do tend to choke when they don’t have 5 NBA-caliber players on them. Or to quote Roy: I don’t give a shit about North Carolina.


• Any team associated with Gerry McNamara: Any year I pick a long Syracuse run, they crash and burn.


• Any team from the SEC: Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina. All victums of early round upsets in the last decade.


• Wake Forest NEVER gets to the Final Four. Hey, I'm just the messanger.


• Purdue: Anyone else remember backing Big Dog, then crashing and burning?


• Any team coached by Bobby Knight: Doesn’t apply this year.


• Indiana: Doesn't apply this year. Fucking corn boys...


• Gonzaga: I STILL have never picked a Zags games correctly. Have they ever won as a high seed?


And of course:



- The Posers Rule- Underestimate Duke. Or Don’t Underestimate Duke. Or Underestimate Duke. Which Coach K team will show up this year: the one that wins championships or the only that chokes against UConn, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan State, LSU, VCU, etc, etc. (List gets longer and longer every year)? I never have any idea.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The Big Ten Rule- Develop a biased opinion against one specific conference. Talk yourself into calling all its members ‘overrated.’ Let's go through the candidates this year:


The Pac-10 - Called underated all year by many experts, even though many haven't seen them play. ASU and UCLA are solid teams though, and Washington is quality upper-echlor team.


The MAAC - The MAAC GETTIING A 9 SEED?!?! WTH? Should I start planning now for the apocolapse?


The Big East - Look, they've been called the best conference all year, and proved it with it's high seedings. That said, if 3-4 BE teams don't get to the Elite Eight, they wouldnn't have been rated properly. Just something to consider.


Runner-upThe ACC - 1 top team, 2 semi-decent high seeds, and glut of mediocre teams that all beat each other. Color me unimpressed.



But of course, there’s only one winner of this coveted award. This year’s run away winner for overrated, crappy conference goes to:



- The Jenna Jameson “I’ve been screwed too many times” Big Ten Rule- Never, NEVER, NEVER (!!!!!!) pick a Big Ten team (expect Michigan State every other year (maybe)) 7 teams?!! Come on! Would any of these teams gone 8-10 in the Big East? What a joke.


(So why is it I'm considering Final Four runs for Purdue and MSU? Ah crap...)

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The Valpo rule- Mid majors suck and never win.


-The 16 years of Catholic School rule - Pick against the Mormons. Later BYU…


-The St. Joe's in 2004 rule/Memphis in 2006-9 rule- ‘Bad’ Conference Champion=Elite Eight. I’ve been following this line of thinking for a few years now, ever since my St. Joe's Final Four pick in 2004. ‘Upper’ mid-major (Non-BCS: CUSA, A-10, Horizon league) champions that receive high seeds have most people picking against them making the Sweet Sixteen because it’s perceived that they came from a crappy conference. Teams like that ALWAYS surprise you. Consider picking Xavier or Memphis this year and what happens.



- The 'Hey, It could happen' rule- Pick a 16 seed to win.-


The “Gold star” rule- Long tournament drought=Short tournament run Michigan and Florida State just broke long tournament appearance droughts and may see that as enough of an accomplishment. Beware the letdown…

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

-The Kentucky Rule- Pick the #1 team in the country to win it all. Hey, they’re the best team in the country. The best team ALWAYS wins. Go Lousiville…

Or Pitt...

Or UNC...

(Seriously, who IS the best team this year?)



-The UCLA in 96 / Michigan State in 2001 Rule- Overrate the defending champion. Normally, the defending champion has lots of experience winnning big games. However, Kansas ended up turning over half its team. So, tread carefully when picking the Jayhawks.



- The Providence in 95/Seton Hall in 97/ Saint John's in 2000/Syracuse in 2006/Pitt in 2008 Rule- Pick a team that ONLY looked good in the Big East tournament, unless they are the dirty hillbillies of West Virginia.- Another pristine example this year with Syracuse, who looked like decent, solid team all year, then all of a sudden turned into World beaters at MSG and are given a ridiculous 3 seed. If they were playing anyone decent in the first round, I would put money on a 14-3 upset (complete with a 1 for 19 McNamara-esque performance by Mr. Roofie. But Stephen F Austin would be hard pressed for an upset. That said, picking long runs by the 'hot Big East team' almost never ends well.



- The Rose-Colored Glasses Rule- Pick your alma mater to win several games. Trust me, your favorite team will ALWAYS make a deep run, especially if you pick them. Doesn't apply this year because of Mike Brey. Long live the NIT King!


(As always, there is ONE exception to this rule. If your alma mater is in the tournament, and there’s a good chance they probably won’t be there again for another 20 years, by all means, pick away. I call this the Loyola-Maryland corollary. This year’s team: Binghampton. Honorable mention goes to Michigan (Ha!))



- The Pinky and All-Brainy Rule- Pick the Ivory League team to win. I do this every year just because Pete Carrill won those games in the mid 90’s, which I correctly picked in my brackets. Of course, Cornell goes destroyed about 1 million points last year. So what do I know?

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

I had forgotten how much I hated watching the NIT. Good thing Mike Brey is around to remind me...

What a miserable effort by ND last night, mulipled by a miserable atmosphere (no one was there b/c of spring break/St Patrick's day). Sure they won, BFD. They were playing the 4th best CUSA team at home; they damn well should have won!

That said, this bares repeating: There is no 'joy' to be had out of winnning this tournament. When you start the year as a Top Ten team, and all you do is win the NIT, that is NOT memorble, it's embarassing and shows the program has peaked. So let's end this thing Thursday and move out to forgetting this awful year ever happened.

Labels: 2009, NIT

- The Jane Krivickas- Illinois rule- Find out which STATE has the most schools
from it in the tournament. Pick all those schools.

http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/march-madness-65teams-in-2009-ncaa-division-i-basketball-tournament_c.gif

I love this map. It really lets you see where the hotbeds of college basketball are annually.

This year's winner: Ohio, with Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton, Akron, Cleveland State, Ohio University of the Flatland, Route 180 Neverending Journey School, Jose Mesa Public School, and the rest...

Honorable mention: In a shocker, New York , with Syracuse, Sienna, Binghamton, and Cornell. Maybe Mike Jarvis didn't completely kill us after all.


Other thoughts/observations on this map:

-Only one team from Florida. How the mighty have fallen.

-Georgetown was incorrectly included for some reason or another.

-Decent rebound by the Northeast after last year's pathetic 3 teams.


One other state rule:

- The Bugsy Siegel rule- Pick teams from the states of Nevada and Utah to win their first games. - No UNLV this year, but Utah and Utah should be locks in round 1.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

Due to a my current sickness (great timing) sapping away my ability to write a coherent column, I am going to forgo a 'big' tournament column and expand on many of my 'rules' in seperate posts leading up to Thursday. Sorry to anyone out there that was actually planning on following my crappy advice all at once...

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

A Maydogma Tradition continues...

http://www.nit.org/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nit/sports/m-nit/auto_pdf/Bracket

For those who have to gamble on everything, here are my Notre Dame Invitational Tournament presented by Mike Brey NIT Picks:

1st Round: San Diego St., Kansas St., South Carolina, Wash. St (hot team rigtht now), Auburn, Tulsa, Baylor (Georgetown doesn't care anymore), Va Tech, Florida, Miami, URI, Penn St., Creighton, Kentucky, New Mexico, Notre Dame (please lose quickly and put me out of my misery; that said, they aren't losing a home game to UAB)


2nd Round: San Diego St., South Carolina, Tulsa, Baylor, Florida, URI, Kentucky, New Mexico (there we go)


Semi-Finals: South Carolina, Baylor, Florida, New Mexico


Finals: Baylor, Florida


Winner: Florida


(Note: Really no rhyme or reason to the picks this year. I just think Florida might actually enjoy winning this crappy thing for some reason or another. As long as ND loses so this year won't stupidly be remembered as a 'success,' that's fine by me.)


Happy Picking...

Labels: 2009, NIT

Maydog’s Updated Projected Big East NCAA Bids (Seeds)

As promised, my updated projected BE teams and seeds for the NCAA tournament:

Louisville (1) (BET champion and regular season champion may get #1 overall as well, but probably not)
Pitt (1) (Early exit cost them #1 overall, maybe. I can’t wait to pick against them.)
UConn (2) (Loss in Classic plus Memphis surge drops UConn to 2 line)
Villanova (3) (Did just enough to keep their seeding)
Syracuse (4) (Run to Finals ups Orange's seed; that said, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a flip with ‘Nova. Let the outrage begin)
West Virginia (6)
Marquette (8) (Injuries/Late Losses plummet their seeding)


NIT: Providence (Too many better teams than them on the bubble), Notre Dame ({sarcastic cheer}), Seton Hall, Georgetown (although SJU deserves it more)

Labels: 2009, Big East, College Basketball

Tales in the afterglow of Syracuse-UConn



Top 7 Things I loved about last night’s Syracuse-UConn game 6OT Classic:


1) 2 extremely talented, fundamentally sound, teams hungry to win, not giving an inch to the other team until it was clear past midnight and into the 6th overtime. I.E., the EXACT opposite of the ND-West Virginia shit show.


2) Both team’s lineups kept getting shorter (height-wise) as the game progressed. Loved it.


3) A spectacular officiating performance, a HUGE rarity in basketball.


4) Paul Harris’s performance (good and bad) throughout the game, especially when he was blocked on the clearpath layoff at the end of the 4th OT (hilarious and dramatic), and in the 6th (?) OT, when he didn’t have enough energy to dunk the ball but still scored.

(Plus, wow, 22 rebounds! West Virginia had that many in the first 5 minutes vs. Notre Dame!)


5) Due to the bandwagon jumpers local flair of both universities, the Garden was rocking after every basket, adding to the drama. What a crowd, another rarity these days.


6) Gaining new respect for Tabeet and how much he can change a game. That still doesn’t mean he was POY though. But he is UConn's BIG advantage and the key to their Final Four run. Of Course, I thought the same thing last year.


7) Jim Boeheim’s facial expressions. Put this game over the top.


(On a personal note, this was my favorite, random “Perversely enjoyable television experience, but only because I could care less who wins” sporting event since the Penguins-Flyers 5OT classic in 2000. During that one, I sat down during the third period to watch “just the end of the game.” SIX periods later, after so many close calls, Keith Primeau scored the game winner in the 5th overtime. Same thing here: I tuned in at 11:30 to see the ending. Just ending. 2 hours later, Syracuse finally pulls away, and I go to sleep thinking “Thank god that wasn’t one of my teams; I’d be having a coronary.?”)


With that said, and with all the praise that Syracuse is due, I can’t WAIT to pick against an over seeded Syracuse team next week. 14-3 upset, here we come…

********************************************************************


Other BET thoughts:


Get outta here, the year I rename the BET into “The Pitt Invitational,” Pitt loses its first game for the first time in years. Get outta here,that shit NEVER happens.


Does any team actually want to be a #1 seed? Pitt? UConn? Oklahoma? Anyone?


Seriously, Brey, it was 17-2 BEFORE I EVEN FUCKING SAT DOWN!!!! What a disgrace…


Good for DePaul. (That still doesn’t mean they deserved to be in the BET.)


Ah crap, West Virginia is looking frisky again. Somebody get Bob Huggins another whiskey.


So let me get this straight: Last year, we couldn’t go five minutes without some announcer bringing up Notre Dame throwing KMac out of school for smoking pot. But 6 OTs pass without a single mention of the women-beaters / laptop stealers on UConn and Syracuse?


Speaking of which, move over, Costas and McNamara. I have a new “Least favorite person who when to Syracuse.” Devendorf, be thy name. I can’t wait for your 1-19 Round 1 shooting performance, douchebag. 10 bucks says he celebrated by buying some roofies in Times Square at 2 in the morning


Georgetown does NOT deserve an NIT bid over Saint Johns.


That game winner for ‘Nova rolled around the rim JUST a little too long for my comfort. Thank god it fell.


Little thing that pissed me off last night: In the 4th overtime, announcer Sean McDonough brings up the ND-GT 4OT classic from 2002…and claimed Georgetown won!!! And he never corrected himself. And he would never be called out for it because it happened at twelve fucking thirty! Well, I’m calling you out for it. I was watching that game in 2002: Georgetown lost. Get your facts right, a-hole.


It came to my attention that some readers (ha!) had some problems with my comments about West Virginia this week. To which I respond: If you don’t want to get made fun of for eating raccoon meat and having sex with your siblings, stop eating raccoon meat and having sex with your siblings. It’s that easy…


Good job by Marquette, getting off the snide and obliterating SJU. Marquette would be a great sleeper pick right now if they hadn’t gotten injuried.



Mike, you were out-rebounded about 6 million to 5 in the first ten minutes!!! Come on!!


I won’t put Providence in the tourney just yet. To many bubble team + bad RPI/SOS numbers + looking shaky vs. DePaul + blown out by Lousville = Won’t be safe until Sunday night.


If the Big Ten gets 8 (of 11) teams in the NCAA’s, I’m gonna throw out. Seriously, did you see that UConn/Cuse game last night? Could any of the Big Ten teams play like that?

(Now watch the Big Ten get 4 Final Four teams.)



Excerpt from a future conversation:

Grandson: Grandpa, tell me about the year Notre Dame started the season ranked in the Top Ten.

Me: Sure, sonny. 2009, what a great year that was. Notre Dame won the NIT that year…

Grandson: Really?

Me: Yep…

{Pause}

Grandson: That’s pretty fucking pathetic.


(Let’s pray for a quick exit next week to prevent this scenario from actually happening.)

Labels: 2009, Big East, College Basketball, Verse of Maydogma