Ohhh, the horror. Wisconsin a 12 seed? Wow. But as anyone can attest, if there’s any place to be in the NCAA tournament as an underdog,

Bo Ryan and Trevon Hughes

it’s the 12 seed–as the history tells us that the 12 seed is actually very successful in terms of upsets. And the Badgers are playing good ball, despite getting beat in their opening round game of the Big 10 tournament.

The first round match up is against Florida State, a basketball team that was able to make it to the ACC Final after upsetting North Carolina who was sans Ty Lawson. They lost to Duke, but in the process, the 25-9 Seminoles were able to garner the 5 seed–but while this is a good seed, some think it should have been higher. Still, this is no cakewalk for the Seminoles, as the tournament-tested Badgers will bring their best Bo Ryan game to Boise in what should be an awesome game overall.

The Seminoles are talented and tall, but not rugged at all. They have streaky shooters and are not all that great defensively, but Wisconsin is not exactly an offensive juggernaut. The key to this game will be if Florida State can hold on to the basketball, as their guards have had a tendency to be sloppy at times. And with Wisconsin continuing to be a solid defensive team, they may be the Achilles heel for the upstart Seminoles.

If the Badgers can make it past the Seminoles, they’ll likely face Xavier in the second round, the 4 seed. The X-men won the regular season title in the Atlantic 10, but the conference overall was not as strong as it normally has been in the past, and overall the only big wins the Musketeers got was over Memphis and LSU. Other than that, Xavier really doesn’t have much to impress me. Still, this is a very athletic who can score in chunks and provide match up issues with the Badgers if they can control the tempo.

Predicted Outlook: The Badgers can certainly beat the Seminoles if they are on their game and Xavier as well. Asking more than that is probably too muchm but if they make it to the Sweet Sixteen, that will be a huge coup for Big Ten fans.

Purdue is too young. Baylor has something to prove. Blah blah blah.

Take that Baylor. How does 90 points taste?

To the Purdue Boilermakers, it was a culmination of the hard work and chemistry the team had put together over the entire season. To Baylor, it was a nightmare of epic proportions. The Bears normally play up tempo, and the question was whether Purdue’s slow down approach would take the lead. But Purdue shrugged off their normal game plan and decided to run–and they left the Bears staggering for air.

The Boilers shot 49% from the field, including 42% from three point range, as Purdue only played eight players, but five scored in double figures and 2 had 9 points each. Talk about balance. To boot, the team blocked six shots, which is waaaaaaay out of the norm for this team, but again showed a different dimension that shows how good they really are.  If you had to pick a MVP for the game, I guess you’d have to go with E’Twaun Moore, who had 16 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists. Just another day at the office for the freshman.

Now, however, stands a tall order in the Xavier Musketeers. For the first half, it looked like the Georgia Bulldogs were going to pull yet another upset and be Purdue’s nemesis in the round of32. But Xavier stayed patient, overwhelming the Bulldogs in the second half and taking advantage of slow feet by the weary Georgia team to go to the free throw line 33 as compared to Georgia’s 5 attempts. However, they won’t get the same advantage in playing Purdue on Saturday. If there’s one thing, it may be a bit of fatigue from Purdue just simply because they decided to run with the Bears, but this team is much deeper and solid than Georgia was. If you get a chance to watch this game, or even if you don’t–make time. This will be a great game.

Drew Neitzel had been the scoring option for Michigan State in the past. In the opening round against the Temple Owls, suddenly Neitzel couldn’t find…well, anything. Good thing for him he has teammates now that can score quite a bit. The Spartans took control in the second half against a spirited but outmanned Temple team and won 72-61 in their opening game of the NCAA tournament.

Raymar Morgan scorched the nets for 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting,  and 5 total players scored at least 8 points or more (Neitzel wasn’t one of them) as Michigan State looked very much like the team many thought they should be at the beginning of the season. And guess what, folks? They held on to the ball! I know, huge news! The Spartans only committed 12 turnovers in what can be directly attributed to their success, along with clutch free throw shooting. While I thought they would win the game, I really didn’t think the game would be almost boring to watch in the second half, but that’s what MSU does–execute, execute, execute.

But now they have bigger things to worry about–in the form of the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt, who arguably is playing the best basketball in the country over the last week, dismantled Oral Roberts in the first round and is absolutely brimming with confidence. The Spartans will have their hands full with Sam Young and company, and the defensive mindsets of both teams may mean that if one team can go on a scoring streak that it could be the difference in the game. If the Spartans want to win the game, Neitzel absolutely must be better than he was against Temple.

Ugh. The dreaded 5 seed. Sure, it means that your team is worthy of top 25 mention, but ugh…the dreaded 5 seed. Michigan State not only pulled a 5 seed in the South regional of the NCAA tournament, but they also drew the Temple Owls, one of the hottest teams in basketball and winners of the Atlantic 10 conference. Meanwhile, the Spartans have slacked near the end of the season, going 6-6 and taking a humbling loss to Wisconsin after fouling out 4 guys in less than a minute and slowly crumbling to the Badgers in the Big 10 tournament.

So, which team will show up for the NCAA tournament? Read the rest of this entry »

The “Baby Boilers”, which the Purdue Boilermakers have been dubbed with the frosh phenoms leading the way for the team, come into the NCAA tournaments as a six seed, and while they had hoped for better (who doesn’t?), the fact remains that Matt Painter is very happy with what the team has accomplished thus far. The question is: can they do more? Read the rest of this entry »

I think in order to make things more streamlined and formative, I am going to start doing some frequent posting that encapsulates different items on certain days in order for fluidity to the site. That being said, here is what my schedule will be going forward per conference:

Monday-Big Ten

Tuesday-Pac 10

Wednesday-ACC

Thursday-Big East

Friday-Big 12

Saturday-SEC

Sunday-All others

In these daily capsules, I will have different posts discussing the previous week’s events, news, and future discussions about the teams and conferences themselves (not limiting to specific sports). I will also post on news events as they transpire with my two, or three cents, maybe even a dollar’s worth. For those of you out there that would like to have a discussion on a certain topic, shoot an email my way and I’ll be happy to give it a shot.

Thanks for your support of the site and I look forward to getting started on this!

Tim AKA “The Athletic Supporter”

Like Rick Majerus didn’t have enough problems. His weight, his heart, everything, and then the stress of watching his team score 20 points–yes, that’s right–20, in a 49-20 loss to George Washington.

It’s not like the Billikens are awful, they are now 9-6 and Majerus is obviously a great coach. But 20 points? Seriously? The team shot 14% from the field and 5% from the arc. DAAAAAAANG!!!! What is this, a Mason’s convention? CLANG CLANG CLANG….

All we are is just a….nother brick in the game….
Majerus’ approach obviously with this team is slow down. In previous games this year, the Billikens have also had total scorings of 40 and 39, and the overall average is just shy of 60.  But 20 points? Seriously?

Better buy Haagen-Daaz stock today, because Majerus is probably buying it up like mad.

Dang!

Here is number six Pitt, playing good basketball, including continuing their trend as a grinder team that plays staunch defense. Enter Dayton, the A-10 overachiever that has the guts, but did they have the glory?

You betcha.

Smoking the Panthers by 25 points–dang!–the Flyers won their 10th in a row and rode 31 points by Brian Roberts, while the Flyers played the role of defensive stalwart, limiting the Panthers to 30 percent from the floor.

You can almost bet that this will mean a skyrocket into the top 25 for Dayton, who stands at 11-1.  In one of my previous posts, I talked about how the Atlantic 10 was on the rise. This win–this no-doubt victory–proves it once and for all.

Congrats, Flyers. You earned it.

Quick–before reading this article, name 5 Atlantic 10 teams…I’m waiting…

I always loved the term Dark Horse. It conjures up visions of like the Headless Horseman, the mysterious fog, and sneaking up on villains to conquer the world.

In this case, I am looking a gift horse right in the mouth. Ok, I have never gotten that statement, but I needed some type of ham-handed segue. Rhode Island beat Syracuse this week and Dayton beat Louisville.

Uh-oh. The Atlantic 10 is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

The recent RPI by conference has the A-10 at seventh overall, and this is a big surprise–there was not really supposed to be a dominant team this year and with the power shifting seemingly out West while still struggling with heavies ACC, Big East, and the Big 10, the A-10 had been pretty much all but forgotten on the national scene. But, here’s notice–they are here, and they aim to stay.

Syracuse alone has fell victim to two A-10 teams (the aforementioned Rhode Island and UMASS), and Xavier posted a huge win over Indiana early in the season. Even in the overall RPI, the A-10 has 5 teams in the top 60. Not too shabby.

Xavier and RI will continue to get the most of the press, but don’t underestimate the Flyers from Dayton nor UMASS. These are talented teams that can sneak into the tournament and make a lot of noise.

The A-10 hasn’t enjoyed much success following St. Joseph’s huge year in 2004. Perhaps we’ll see another magical run this year if the signs continue to hold up.