Archive for February, 2008
February 29, 2008 at 9:02 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Cornell Big Red, Ivy League, March Madness, NCAA Tournament
Cornell clinched the Ivy League championship with its win over Dartmouth tonight. More importantly — from a national perspective, anyway — the Big Red earned the conference’s automatic berth in the 2008 NCAA tournament by improving to 11-0 in the Ivy League, which does not hold a post-season conference tournament.
It will be Cornell’s first appearance in the tournament since 1988, when it was defeated by #1 seed Arizona by a 90-50 count in the round of 64. After the jump, a brief look at Cornell’s season to this point.
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February 28, 2008 at 8:51 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Amateur Bracketologist, Butler Bulldogs, Drake Bulldogs, Duke Blue Devils, Indiana Hoosiers, Kansas State Wildcats, Kent State Golden Flashes, March Madness, Marquette Golden Eagles, Memphis Tigers, Mississippi Rebels, Morgan State Bears, NCAA Tournament, Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, projections, South Regional, Virginia Tech Hokies, West Virginia Mountaineers, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Winthrop Eagles, Xavier Musketeers
Please feel free to post your comments regarding my first attempt at projecting the field and pairings of this year’s NCAA tournament. Keep in mind that these projections reflect games through February 24.
First and Second Rounds:
Little Rock, Arkansas:
#1 Memphis vs. #16 Morgan State
#8 Mississippi vs. #9 Butler
Birmingham, Alabama:
#5 Xavier vs. #12 Kent State
#4 Marquette vs. #13 Virginia Tech
Omaha, Nebraska:
#6 West Virginia vs. #11 Drake
#3 Kansas State vs. #14 Winthrop
Washington, D.C.:
#7 Western Kentucky vs. #10 Indiana
#2 Duke vs. #15 Oral Roberts
South Regional to be played in Houston, Texas. Winner of South Regional to meet winner of Midwest Regional in Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
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February 28, 2008 at 8:44 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Amateur Bracketologist, Belmont Bruins, Clemson Tigers, Cornell Big Red, Florida Gators, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Kansas Jayhawks, March Madness, Miami Hurricanes, Michigan State Spartans, Midwest Regional, NCAA Tournament, Portland State Vikings, projections, Robert Morris Colonials, St. Joseph's Hawks, Syracuse Orange, USC Trojans, Villanova Wildcats, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Washington State Cougars
Please feel free to post your comments regarding my first attempt at projecting the field and pairings of this year’s NCAA tournament. Keep in mind that these projections reflect games through February 24.
First and Second Rounds:
Omaha, Nebraska:
#1 Kansas vs. #16 Portland State
#8 Florida vs. #9 St. Joseph’s
Tampa, Florida:
#5 Miami vs. #12 USC
#4 Michigan State vs. #13 Robert Morris
Denver, Colorado:
#6 Wake Forest vs. #11 Villanova
#3 Gonzaga vs. #14 Cornell
Raleigh, North Carolina:
#7 Washington State vs. #10 Syracuse
#2 Clemson (yeah, I know) vs. #15 Belmont
Midwest Regional to be played in Detroit, Michigan. Winner of Midwest Regional to meet winner of South Regional in Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
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February 28, 2008 at 8:22 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Amateur Bracketologist, Arkansas Razorbacks, Baylor Bears, Cal-Northridge Matadors, George Mason Patriots, Holy Cross Crusaders, Louisville Cardinals, March Madness, Maryland Terrapins, NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame Fightin' Irish, projections, Purdue Boilermakers, Rhode Island Rams, St. Mary's Gaels, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, UCLA Bruins, UMBC Retrievers, West Regional, Wisconsin Badgers
Please feel free to post your comments regarding my first attempt at projecting the field and pairings of this year’s NCAA tournament. Keep in mind that these projections reflect games through February 24.
First and Second Rounds:
Anaheim, California:
#1 UCLA vs. #16 Holy Cross
#8 Maryland vs. #9 Arkansas
Denver, Colorado:
#5 Wisconsin vs. #12 Rhode Island
#4 St. Mary’s vs. #13 George Mason
Washington, D.C.:
#6 Texas A&M vs. #11 Purdue
#3 Louisville vs. #14 Cal-Northridge
Little Rock, Arkansas:
#7 Notre Dame vs. #10 Baylor
#2 Tennessee vs. #15 UMBC
West Regional to be played in Phoenix, Arizona. Winner of West Regional to meet winner of East Regional in Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
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February 28, 2008 at 8:14 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Texas Longhorns, Boise State Broncos, NCAA Tournament, projections, Connecticut Huskies, North Carolina Tar Heels, East Regional, Amateur Bracketologist, Murray State Racers, Alabama State Hornets, Pittsburgh Panthers, Washington Huskies, Vanderbilt Commodores, Florida State Seminoles, Georgetown Hoyas, Stephen F. Austin Jacks, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Stanford Cardinal, Rider Broncs, New Mexico Lobos, Davidson Wildcats
Please feel free to post your comments regarding my first attempt at projecting the field and pairings of this year’s NCAA tournament. Keep in mind that these projections reflect games through February 24. Here it goes.
First and Second Rounds:
Raleigh, North Carolina:
#1 North Carolina vs. #16 Play-In Winner (Murray State vs. Alabama State)
#8 Pittsburgh vs. #9 Washington
Tampa, Florida:
#5 Vanderbilt vs. #12 Florida State
#4 Georgetown vs. #13 Stephen F. Austin
Anaheim, California:
#6 Connecticut vs. #11 Mississippi State
#3 Stanford vs. #14 Rider
Birmingham, Alabama:
#7 New Mexico vs. #10 Davidson
#2 Texas vs. #15 Boise State
East Regional to be played in Charlotte, North Carolina. Winner of East Regional to meet winner of West Regional in Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
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February 27, 2008 at 4:31 pm
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Amateur Bracketology, Kansas Jayhawks, Memphis Tigers, North Carolina Tar Heels, UCLA Bruins
I’m about halfway through the number crunching — I started with the power conferences — and have discovered that the likely #1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA tournament will be North Carolina. They’re projected to be joined by Memphis, Kansas and UCLA. Despite Tennessee’s win on Saturday, the top team in the nation (not for long) was projected to wind up with a #2 seed based on numbers accumulated prior to February 25.
A full report is coming once I get done with the mid-majors, and there are some surprises in terms of seeding.
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February 26, 2008 at 9:10 pm
· Filed under General, MLB, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL ·Tagged bastard kids, breast implants, Chris Simon, Darren McFadden, Jose Canseco, Kevin Faulk, marijuana, NHL trade deadline, Roger Clemens, Yao Ming, YouTube
I’m taking another break from the tedious data entry that comes with trying one’s hand at bracketology, and figured I’d at least throw up another post in an effort to generate or maintain at least some traffic while I focus the majority of my efforts on trying to project the entire 65-team field before falling flat on my face when I attempt to project a winner of the entire thing when the bracket is released on Selection Sunday (I nail it every ten years, exactly — witness UCLA in ‘95 and North Carolina in ‘05. Why I’m admitting this, I don’t know. Please come back and visit before 2015).
Since I want to get back to crunching numbers (God, what a geek) quickly, brevity shall be the key. Here, then, is a list of links to some of the top stories in the day in sports:
- Running back Kevin Faulk, of the 18-1 AFC Champion New England Patriots, was cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession on Friday night. (ProJo Pats Blog)
- Run DMC has made a lot of babies. (Miami Herald)
- “So you’ve got something to look at while you’re talking to them!” (New York Daily News)
- Yao Ming is done for the year. (AP)
- Chris Simon was traded on NHL Trade Deadline Day. (Newsday)
- As were many others. (TSN)
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February 26, 2008 at 3:00 pm
· Filed under NBA ·Tagged Houston Rockets, stress fracture, Yao Ming
Full story here.
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Houston center Yao Ming will miss the rest of the National Basketball Association season because of a stress fracture in his left foot, placing the Rockets’ postseason chances and their 12-game winning streak in jeopardy.
The team will hold a news conference this afternoon to discuss Yao’s condition, Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis said in a telephone interview. No medical treatment has been determined yet.
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February 25, 2008 at 8:41 pm
· Filed under General, NCAA ·Tagged Amateur Bracketology, NCAA Tournament
Sorry for not updating this thing more the last couple of days, but I’ve decided to make the leap from amateur single-game prognostication to amateur bracketology, and am in the process of putting together a bunch of spreadsheets and such in order to throw everything together.
Obviously, if a huge story breaks I’ll be posting, but it might be a little bare here early in the week while I get everything prepared to project the field of 65.
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February 24, 2008 at 3:10 am
· Filed under NCAA ·Tagged Brown Bears, Centenary Gentlemen, Cornell Big Red, Fun With Reclassification, Ivy League, March Madness, Memphis Tigers, Missouri Kansas City Kangaroos, NCAA Basketball, Summit League, Tennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers will replace the Memphis Tigers as the #1 ranked team in the country next week following their 66-62 win over the team that currently holds that title. The game certainly lived up to the hype, evolving from a high-scoring track meet early on to an every-possession-is-crucial dog fight down the stretch. From the looks of things, both teams left everything they had out on the floor Saturday night, and it so happened that the team entering the game as the second-ranked team in the nation was slightly better than the previously undefeated Tigers. That may or may not be the case again if and when these two teams meet down the road, with, frankly, a lot more on the line.
Being the top-ranked team in the Associated Press poll is surely a great honor for any college basketball program, but in the end, a team can be the consensus best in the land for the whole year. It doesn’t much matter if they don’t get the job done in March (and April).
To that end, I earlier proposed that there were a few games on Saturday’s slate that had to the potential to, in reality, be bigger — or at least more significant — in terms of the Big Dance than the Tennessee-Memphis encounter. After the jump, we follow up on the outcomes of those games.
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