Basketball Talk

Welcome to the Saturday morning edition of "the stache." I took yesterday evening off to recover from the travel home as well as to enjoy some more basketball.

Last night at many points during the night, there were as many as 5 basketball games on TV. At one point there was the ACC Tournament game(s), SEC Tournament game(s), the Atlantic 10 semifinals, the Big East semifinals, and some NBA action with the Atlanta Hawks taking on the Indiana Pacers. I had the rotation flowing and the remote hand was in mid-season form. At one point during the night we had Syracuse-West Virginia in a point game with less than a minute to go, Duke-Boston College in a point game with about a minute to go, and Auburn-Florida in a one point game with about 2-3 minutes to go. Did not miss a single finish, as the right thumb guided the way to see all the exciting finishes. Let me start with the Big East. One of the reasons I was so tired yesterday was because I stayed up to watch all 6 overtimes of the Syracuse-Connecticut game, the second longest game in overtime periods in NCAA history, and I believe the longest game from start to finish. The game ended around 1:20 AM Friday Morning. Syracuse never led until the 6th and final overtime when they pulled away from the Huskies. Both teams never stopped attacking, and some players played more than 60 minutes during the game, simply incredible the amount of heart these guys show. It remains to be seen how much Syracuse will have left for the big tournament next week. They may end up knocking off Louisville in today's championship, but at what cost to the team. I know there is a lot of pride to win the Big East tournament in the worlds most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, but recent success in winning this tournament has not led to success in the Big Dance. Last year's winner Pittsburgh was so beat down, they lost in the second round of the tournament to Michigan State. This unsolicited free advice from yours truly about trusting the winner of the Big East, especially if it ends up being Syracuse. This will be their fourth game in as many days after already playing 7 overtimes over their last couple of games. The zone defense they play saves them a little bit and Johnny Flynn may have become one of my new favorite players (the PG for the Orangemen), we'll just have to see how it turns out. This may be a blessing in disguise for the Connecticut Huskies as they will have about a week to rest to recover from the other nights 6 OT game. Then again, no team has won the national title after losing their first conference tournament game. Once again some unsolicited free advice for those tourney pickers out there, be weary of teams such as Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

The ACC tourney has pretty much got straight to form, with 3 out of the top 4 teams in the semi-finals this afternoon. The disappointments being, once again, Wake Forest and Clemson. Georgia Tech nearly spoiled the party by upsetting Florida State yesterday but could not stop Toney Douglas and crew at the end. Trying to attempt what Georgia did last year in the SEC Tournament was just to tough for the Jackets to handle, man it feels good to say that.

The SEC Tournament has been pretty true to form as well, I expect the Auburn Tigers to win the next two games and get the automatic bid from the SEC. My ACC winner is the winner of the Maryland-Duke game, which I am leaning towards the Dukies at this moment. I don't like North Carolina as much because of the uncertainty of PG Ty Lawson, and plus it would be too easy to pick them to win it. The Big East I like Syracuse to continue their spectacular run and beat Louisville in a thriller. In the Big 12, I like upstart Baylor, who struggled in conference play, to knock off Missouri to get the auto and knock an at-large team out of the tournament. Pac-10, I like Arizona State, Big 11- Michigan State, possibly getting a #1 seed in the tournament.

I should be back later today with my Saturday Top 5. In the words of Tigger, TTFN, ta ta for now.

Mb