48 down, 15 to go
03/21/2007
Paulsen Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Simply stated, the first round of March Madness just wasn’t all that mad. Of the 32 first-round games, 26 were decided by 9+ points and in all but five games, the top seed prevailed. For the first time since 2000, the #5 seeds went 4-0 in the first round. For that matter, no #1 through #4 seeds were upset either. Excitement-wise, Thursday and Friday just didn’t measure up when compared to years past.
Things picked up considerably on Saturday, when Ohio State returned from the dead to beat Xavier in overtime. That game was especially poetic considering Jay Bilas criticized the committee for including the Musketeers in the field of 65. What do they do? They dispatch BYU and take the #1-ranked team in the country to OT. It just goes to show that even the best pundits make some incredibly bad statements. Also on Saturday, Vanderbilt beat Washington State in a double overtime thriller, while Pittsburgh needed an extra period to dispatch a stingy VCU squad. In fact, all of the Saturday games were pretty competitive. On Sunday, Wisconsin became the first #2-seed to bite the dust, but just one other game (Tennessee’s 77-74 victory over Virginia) was decided by fewer than seven points.
Let’s take a look at my bracket. I picked 24 of the 32 first round games correctly, but only badly misfired with my Arkansas and GW upset picks. Sadly, I would have been better off (27/32) if I had simply gone with the higher seed.
I nailed 10 of my Sweet Sixteen picks, which most years would be considered pretty good, but not when I could have picked 11 had I just selected the top four seeds in each region to advance. So far, I’ve only lost one of my Elite Eight teams (Wisconsin) and all of my Final Four teams are still alive. Really, that’s all a guy can ask for after the first two rounds.
Looking forward to the Sweet Sixteen games, five teams look like solid picks to advance: Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgetown and Ohio State. As for the other three, let’s go game by game and take a look at each matchup. My pick is in parenthesis along with how that team fares in the Six Cat metric that I discussed last week.
#3 Oregon vs. #7 UNLV (Oregon, 0-1)
The Runnin’ Rebs are gritty, but Wisconsin was just begging to be beat. Oregon is on a roll, and Aaron Brooks should lead the Ducks to a tight win.
#2 UCLA vs. #3 Pittsburgh (UCLA, 0-0)
This is an extremely close matchup pitting (no pun intended) Ben Howland against his old team. Pittsburgh looked a little shaky against VCU and I think UCLA will have enough to get by the Panthers in San Jose, but expect a low-scoring, white-knuckle affair.
#2 Memphis vs. #3 Texas A&M (Texas A&M, 1-2)
A&M showed a lot of heart by beating Louisville in Lexington. Now they get to play Memphis in San Antonio, and I think the Aggies have the perimeter defense to limit the Tigers’ athleticism.
I still feel good about my Final Four teams (Florida, Kansas, Georgetown, Texas A&M) and still like the Gators to win it all.
Now for a few random thoughts from the weekend, in memo format:
Re: Billy Packer
Does anyone really like listening to Billy Packer? In his recent column in ESPN The Magazine, Bill Simmons writes about the fact that Packer has called every Final Four game and every title game since 1975. Simmons goes on to call him “humorless,” “inflexible” and “condescending.” But my favorite quote is, “In Packer’s world, he’s always right, and everyone else is always wrong. Unless they agree with him.” When I bring Packer’s name up to my friends, a few will defend him, but none will admit that they actually look forward to him calling a big game.
During the Wisconsin/UNLV game, Curtis Terry hits a three-pointer with 1:26 to play to give the Runnin’ Rebels a 69-61 lead. Immediately after the shot, Packer quipped, “Ballgame!” declaring the contest over. Eleven seconds later, Kammron Taylor hit a three to cut the lead to five with 1:15 to play. Packer’s partner/whipping boy, Jim Nantz, exclaims, “It’s not over yet, Billy.” Packer’s response? Dead silence.
What’s my point? Terry’s shot certainly helped the Rebels’ chances, but despite Packer’s declaration, the game wasn’t even close to being over. His premature statement and his refusal to acknowledge his error is a perfect example of the man’s ego.
Packer certainly knows the game of basketball and there are few color commentators better equipped to breakdown the X’s and O’s of a game. But as a former player who was forced to watch hours and hours of tape, that doesn’t really appeal to me anymore. Besides, guys like Bill Raftery, Len Elmore and Jay Bilas are able to sprinkle in enough strategy while using their self-deprecating sense of humor to make the game entertaining. This is the side of college hoops that is completely lost on Packer. Those guys also treat their play-by-play colleagues as equals, which is a far cry from Packer and Nantz’s master/servant relationship.
Like Simmons, I used to mute the games that Packer called and listen to the radio broadcast of the game. But in this age of seven-second television delays, it’s nearly impossible to make a radio broadcast work.
The guy has been calling every Final Four game since I was two years old. It’s time for a change.
Re: Puns
Towards the end of the first half of the Indiana game, UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata catches an alley-oop dunk. Here’s the exchange between James Brown and Len Elmore as they watch the replay:
Len: Nothin’ the Mata with that one. (Ugh.)
JB: (laughter) That Mata of fact dunk broke a five-and-a-half minute scoreless draught for the Bruins. (Ugh!)
Hey, at least they’re trying to be entertaining.
And they had to be; the first half of this game was brutal. In the first 20 minutes, the two teams combined for 33 points and shot 7 of 36 from the field (19.4%). UCLA/Pitt can’t be as bad, can it? Can it?
Re: Commercials
One of the nice things about the tournament is the opportunity to see awful commercials over and over. A perfect example is Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s decision to break out the "Class of ‘95" commercial again. It’s about a guy who rents a car to impress his former classmates at his high school reunion and is rewarded at the event as a hot girl exclaims, “Lookin’ good, Moose!” Considering that the commercial is more than two years old, Enterprise must really want to target the I’m-not-happy-with-my-life-so-I’m- going-to-lie-to-everyone-at-my-reunion-about-what-kind-of-car-I-drive crowd. Way to go, Moose!
Sonic’s “Sorry, Charlie” commercial was okay the first dozen times I saw it, but it got me thinking - why are these two guys having lunch in their car? It looks like a nice day outside, why don’t they get some fresh air? The spot made me nostalgic for Sonic’s "weak tot action" commercial where the guy knocks a tater tot out of his buddy’s hand.
If you’re wondering what music is playing on all of Vonage’s ads, it’s The 5.6.7.8’s “Woo Hoo,” which was also featured in the movie, “Kill Bill: Vol. 1.” It’s actually a pretty cool tune even though it’s way too catchy.
Anyone else turned on by Erin the esurance girl? The latest one has her dunking on some robots…or monsters…or something.
Just me? Okay, moving on….
Re: Opportunity lost
The selection committee blew a chance for an interesting first round matchup. Instead of having #7 Indiana play #10 Gonzaga, they should have played #10 Texas Tech, pitting Bobby Knight against his old school. Speaking of Coach Knight, I guess we can finally put to rest the old saying, “Give Bobby Knight four days to prepare for a team, and he’s probably going to win.”
Re: Tyler Hansborough
The more I watch Tyler Hansbrough, the more he reminds me of Mark Madsen. Granted, Hansbrough’s scoring (18.6 ppg) is better than Madsen’s at Stanford (12.2), but Madsen averaged more rebounds (9.3) and blocks (0.9), while shooting a better percentage from the field (57.5%). I think Tyler will have a better NBA career than Madsen, but I don’t think it’s a certainty that he’ll be a good starter at the next level.
Re: Texas
In this week’s Matchup of Schools with Really Hot Cheerleaders, Texas had a hugely disappointing showing against USC. (By the way, USC won the hot cheerleader matchup as well.) A lot of people had the Longhorns advancing to the Elite Eight and even to the Final Four, but it’s the Trojans that moved on to face the Tar Heels. Speaking of Southern Cal, is there an easier job in America than recruiting for either USC or UCLA? Let’s see, it’s 70 degrees just about every day of the year and I’ll meet at least one starlet per day? Where do I sign?
So will Durant return for his sophomore year? Texas coach Rick Barnes says it’s 50-50 and Durant himself admitted that it’s going to be “a hard decision.” Most kids leave when their stock is as high as his, so you have to think that he’ll declare at some point in the next few weeks.
Re: Chris Kramer
If you missed it, be sure to check out freshman Chris Kramer’s amazing shot in Purdue’s game against Arizona. I was at a sports bar where there were a lot of annoying Arizona fans -- so many that I actually starting rooting for Purdue even though I had picked the Wildcats in my bracket -- and after Kramer hit that shot, one of the Arizona guys just said, “Are you f*cking kidding me?”
Re: Tennessee
The Vols have some talent on this roster, but my favorite player is 6’4” Dane Bradshaw, a “glue guy” whose bushy hairdo would look less out of place on the set of the original “Porky’s” than it does on a basketball court. I know the South is known for its big hair, but this is ridiculous.
That’s about it from the first weekend. Check back later in the week for more detailed previews of each of the Sweet Sixteen games.
Questions or comments? Send them to jpaulsen@bullz-eye.com.