Mission WSOP

I had to watch Dook survive… I hate you, CBS!  And I missed USC go down thanks to that.  Michael Beasley vs. OJ Mayo and I think we saw 30 seconds of the game, tops… bad programming!

I guess they figured they would show Dook and once that game got out of hand switch to the exciting USC-Michigan State game… but they got it backward. 

It must be nice to be a national columnist and go out on a limb and pick USC to go to the Final Four and they lose in the FIRST ROUND!  Dan Wetzel… fraud of the week!

Midwest Bracket: (11) Kansas State 80, (6) USC 67

OJ Mayo lumped up at the end and Michael Beasley shared the beast role with Bill Walker.  Glad to see a Pac-10 squad go down. 

East Bracket: (4) Washington State 71, (13) Winthrop 40

Bulldozed! Winthrop was another cinderella wanna-be whose glass slipper didn’t fit.  Heck, I don’t even think Winthrop got to try on the slipper.

West Bracket: (9) Texas A&M 67, (8) BYU 62

Texas, Texas Tech and Texas A&M… I always pencil them in right away to advance to the 2nd round.  It’s basically the first thing I do after advancing all the #1 seeds. 

West Bracket: (2) Duke 71, (15) Belmont 70

My hopes were high and Coach K’s heart was in his throat.  Gerald Henderson’s drive put the Dookies ahead and Belmont finally ran out of magic pixie dust at the end.  It was a big dsappointment.  Dook goes down in Round 2 if West Virginia can get past Arizona… I never pencil Arizona very far, either.

Conference-By-Conference

Big East: 2-0
Big Ten: 2-0
ACC: 1-0
Big 12: 3-1
Pac-10: 2-1
Atlantic 10: 1-1 
Mountain West: 1-1
Atlantic Sun: 0-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Big South: 0-1
Ivy: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1 
SEC: 0-2 

The 4:40 game is usually a game you can’t get to see unless it involves locals.  This year it was on CBS College which I happen to have… I wish I didn’t though:

South Bracket: (3) Stanford 77, (14) Cornell 53

This game was never close.  It was really boring and Cornell shot like it was a night game on a street court and the lights were out.

Now, the 7 PM games have come on and I was looking forward to watching USC-Kansas State.  Instead, CBS, in it’s infinite wisdom, puts on Dook-Belmont.  I know Dook is a public darling but why don’t we get the best match-up?  I’m missing Michael Beasley vs. O.J. Mayo to watch Belmont hang tough against Dook.  The only way I’m happy here is if I get to see Dook lose in the first round.  Let’s go Belmont!

4 more games… 4 mostly uncompetitive games.  Despite finding March Madness On Demand and being able to watch three games at once, I was still put to sleep by the action.  Only Marquette and Kentucky somewhat delivered with Kentucky keeping Marquette in arm’s reach but never quite making it a game:

South Bracket: (6) Marquette 74, (11) Kentucky 66

This was the only game that was halfway entertaining.  When I fell asleep, Marquette was only up 5 but it looks like it never got any closer.  Only four Kentucky players scored during the game including Joe Crawford who dropped 35 in the loss.

South Bracket: (4) Pitt 82, (13) Oral Roberts 63

Every time Oral Roberts made a big three, Pitt came right back and banged a three to cut off any momentum Oral Roberts would try to build.  It was never a game… ever.  Pitt meets Michigan State next.  I like Pitt in that one.

Midwest Bracket: (8) UNLV 71, (9) Kent State 58

Kent State tied a tournament record in the first half by scoring just 10 points and was down 31-10 at the half.  Despite 48 points in the 2nd half, Kent State still lost by 13.  If UNLV can shoot 50% they might be able to compete with Kansas… if they turn the ball over 19 times, they might not. 

West Bracket: (6) Purdue 90, (11) Baylor 79

All week I kept hearing about Baylor and how they were going to be a threat if they found a way to get Purdue into an uptempo running up and down the court game.  At halftime, Purdue had a ton of fast break points and was up by 19 and then marched to their season-high in points with 90.  Purdue looked really impressive with 5 players in double-digits and 2 more with 9 each.  Plus, they had 40 rebounds. 

So, after 7 games here are how the conferences are doing:

Big East: 2-0
Big Ten: 2-0
Mountain West: 1-0
Atlantic Ten: 1-1 
Big 12: 1-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1 
SEC: 0-2 

Today starts the NCAA basketball tournament and as always the first two rounds are chock full of exciting match-ups that will most likely produce some big upsets that will give SportsCenter some great content to loop at around 4 AM.  I have a few brackets filled out with some minor differences on each but for the most part it is UNC and Texas for me.

The first three games of the day are over already:

West Bracket: (3) Xavier 73, (14) Georgia 61

I got Xavier going deep and I loved hearing about how Xavier wasn’t really a 3 seed and Georgia wasn’t really a 14 seed.  The halftime score was a little scary with Georgia on top 35-26 but it went the other way in the 2nd half and Georgia’s hot streak ended at 4 1/2 games.  Talk about overhyped.  Some talking head on the radio screamed "I told you Georgia was the better team coming into the tournament in this match-up."  No one will call him on the carpet after this though since he’s an expert and all. 

South Bracket: (5) Michigan State 72, (12) Temple 61

I was disappointed her as on many of my brackets I had Temple getting past Michigan State and on one bracket I had them winning 2 match-ups… oops!  Temple was never in it and seemingly slept through the first half… as my brother predicted.  So on most of my brackets (I think I did 5) I can’t go perfect… oh well!

Midwest Bracket: (1) Kansas 85, (16) Portland State 61

The first of the four gimme games are over and Kansas rolled.  It was never close unless you count the first minute of the game.  Basically, it was considered over 3 minutes in but some would say these 1 vs. 16 games are over before they even start. 

Now, it’s time to go play on CBS’s website and watch two games at once.  They’re making me watch Pitt vs. Oral Roberts locally and I’m not feeling that is the best game to watch at the moment.  To me, Marquette and Kentucky is a more intriguing match-up. 

I went 1-2 in the NBA last night and am now 37-34-4 (52.1%).  My poker has slightly improved recently with a final table in a Razz tourney on Full Tilt that gave me my first BAS cash in 3 attempts and need one more in my last 3 attempts to be profitable.  I also cashed in both LAPT events on Saturday with a 3rd in the Heads Up and 2nd in the Ultimate Cash Game.

The Sixers looked great again in AI’s return to Philly with the Nuggets.  They took down Iverson’s squad on an emotional night for Iverson and now the Sixers are 16-4 in their last 20 and only the Rockets have been better.  It’s ironic the Nuggets are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs because they are in the West and the Sixers are in 6th in the East since the Nuggets are 6 wins better than the Sixers.  I hope the Nuggets can bounce back and slide into the playoffs.

Speaking of sliding, after 22 wins in a row, the Rockets have lost 2 in a row and fallen to 3rd in the West.  A few more losses and they won’t even have a first round home court advantage.

Is everyone going to end up in nude pics or videos on the ‘net at some point.  This week’s nude ‘net stars: Kristin Davis from "Sex & The City" and Audrina for the fake-reality show "The Hills.  You know you want to look… here’s Kristin (she denies they are her) and here’s Audrina (she sent them to Playboy when she was 19).

Just watched "48 Hrs" with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte.  I doubt this movie would fly today.  Nolte throws around the N-word and degrading racial remarks throughout this movie.  It’s amazing it flew then and it definitely wouldn’t fly now.

People who get too much attention: Al Sharpton and Ashley Alexandra Dupre… enough said for me.

The NCAA tourney starts in about 8 hours.  My Final Four: Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and Xavier.  I love Carolina to take it down.  Go Heels!