JAG’s Sports Blog

When the NCAA basketball field is paired down to 8 teams after Friday Night, we’ll be guaranteed that at least one of those pre-tournament selection teams that no one thought should get in will still be dancing through the night. Wichita State takes on George Mason Friday Night to highlight the “Sweet 16″ schedule that also includes fellow ‘Cinderella’ Bradley University going up against forgotten #1 seed Memphis. This year’s tournament is what makes the NCAA college basketball tournament the best among any high school or college tournament. Throw in pros also because we never know which team will shock us on the first weekend of play.

Duke takes on LSU in the first game Thursday and we get a chance to see if J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams can take control of this team and lead Duke to their usual spot in the ‘Final 8′. Duke has to get production from their role players if they expect to beat LSU. Duke will always be prepared, so it all comes down to which team wants it more. LSU has been one of the quietest teams in the country with not many people even knowing they were a good team and ranked nationally. This can probably be attributed to them being more of a football and baseball team with all of their past success in those sports. They have a lot of quickness, toughness on the inside and good shooters when they get it going (their ranking was very low in 3-point field goal % during the season), so it will come down to defending Redick decently well to have a chance.

That surprising Bradley team goes up against the young Memphis team that is so young that they don’t even realize that they aren’t supposed to win every game they play. It’s always said though that by tournament time, kids are no longer freshman. Memphis has looked good so far in the tournament and probably are still upset at people thinking they play in a weak Conference USA and what they did in the preseason means nothing. Bradley likes to run and they have a big man in Patrick O’Bryant that dominated Pittsburgh’s 7′ foot ‘big man’ Aaron Gray. Bradley has a chip on their shoulder because there were more than a few people that thought they shouldn’t have even made the NCAA tournament. They beat Kansas and Pitt, so the game is played on the court and not in the press.

Texas takes on West Virginia in an interesting match-up. Texas clearly has the better physical talent, but in a one game battle, talent is never the true judge as to who the best team is. West Virginia shoots as many three-pointers as they can get up and that includes ‘big man’ Kevin Pittsnogle. West Virginia has proven over the last two years that they can knock off talented teams, so Texas had better put their horns on and be ready to play defense out far and all over the court in this one. The last game of the night Thursday will feature two ‘West Coast’ teams, UCLA taking on tournament darling Gonzaga. Everyone wants to know how Adam Morrison will play against a tough, defensive minded team in UCLA. The big question is whether Morrison still has the flu-like symptoms and will he be ready to go. Gonzaga will not beat UCLA without a huge effort from Morrison. The key could be how their ‘big man’ 6′9″ 265 pound giant J.P. Batista can control the inside. If he takes attention away from Morrison, Gonzaga has a chance.

On Friday Night, Florida takes on Georgetown. This could be Florida’s best chance to win it all. They are quick, athletic and talented. They have a great role player in Joakim Noah (son of former French Open champ and tennis star Yannick Noah) that complements the other guys. This team is young and now is the time, not next year. Georgetown is one of the big sleeper teams of the year. They still play all out like year’s past, but there aren’t any ‘big name’ players to grab our attention. They handed Duke their first loss and that just shows how capable they are to beat any given team on a certain day.

Villanova and Boston College is an old match-up from the Big East Conference. Villanova had a scare when star Allen Ray was poked in the eye and they weren’t sure he would see again after the incident. Villanova lost to winner Syracuse, but is back and seems ready to challenge for the title after a tough fight against Arizona last Sunday. Boston College is a hard-nosed team that added a different attitude to the ACC with their tough lunch box mentality on offense and defense. This game could be either a high-scoring game if Villanova can set the tempo or low-scoring if Boston College dictates the game with their inside presence. This will be a great game to watch because they still know each other so well.

The University of Connecticut finishes off the ‘Sweet 16′ as they play against Washington. This is as an intriguing game as any in the tournament because of the way Connecticut has played all year. There is no team in the country as talented as UConn, but they seem to be sleep walking through many games this season. They have athletes, good shooters, defenders and once again, the best shot-blocking team in the country. Yet, Connecticut seems to struggle from game-to-game in beating teams. They were 12 minutes from becoming the first #1 ranked team to lose to a 16^th ranked team.

It’s either put up or shut up because Washington is a good team led by 6′6″ guard Brandon Roy. Roy averaged 20.2 points a game with 5.7 rebounds and follows that up with 4.2 dishes a game to his teammates. Washington isn’t really a big team, but will fight and claw with you. Connecticut will have plenty of chances to block shots because Washington will bring it in. Connecticut will have to decide if nap time is over because every team is dangerous if you blink against them and fail to come ready to play.

There’s still 5 teams that most people give a chance to win the title and maybe even 8 if you count West Virginia, UCLA and Gonzaga. The tournament this year is so wide open that fans every where are truly having knots roll up in their stomachs because no one can remember a time when there was so much disagreement just on the teams that should have gotten in let alone the #1 seeds in the tournament. Connecticut should be the prohibitive favorites with all that talent, but they aren’t. Duke is Duke with their team full of McDonald’s High school All-Americans, but they aren’t. Villanova almost had their star’s eye poked out, so no one is sure how good they are in the end. Memphis is so young and talented, but experts don’t want to pick Memphis because Memphis is so young and talented. People just can’t get off the age thing. Texas is just like a #1 seed, but everyone still remembers that shredding they took from Duke earlier in the year by 30+ points. Adam Morrison is the feel good story of the tournament, so a lot of fans would like to see a Redick versus Morrison match-up in the finals.

What more can be said about this tournament this year? There’s 16 teams left and at least 8 of them could be called ‘Cinderella’ trying to wear her glass slipper for at least one more weekend. I have no idea which teams will win because everyone is somewhat vulnerable this season, but I do know that the fairy tale will continue at least until the weekend with Wichita State and George Mason playing each other. I guess this is proof that every team doesn’t have to be born with a silver spoon or have a fairy godmother to be able to go to the dance. Every team can’t have all the poster boys on their team, but they can give their fans hope if not just for a couple of weeks to believe everyone has a chance.

March Madness is what makes college basketball the best sport of them all because people care and it’s not decided by a committee and sports writers trying to figure out who they would rather watch for the national title rather than letting the schools decide on the court which one is the best. I’ve got my shoes ready, does your school?

Editor’s note:
I just wanted to give the owner of this site a shout out. His brother Rob plays for Olivet College out of Illinois playing in the NAIA tournament. Olivet defeated #1 ranked team Mountain State before losing in the quarter-finals to Oklahoma Baptist. Texas Wesleyan was the eventual winner of the tournament. It was their first championship and only goes to show that the dream lives on at every level of competition and the glass slipper can be worn by more than one team.