everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Thursday, March 16, 2006
Dance : day one
So if you check out my picks page, you'll notice that I'm placing green check marks beside the correct picks, and red X's beside the incorrect picks.
I don't know if you've seen the ending to Bonnie and Clyde, where the dudes unload their machine guns into Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. If you have, then you have an idea of how my picks bracket is starting to look.
Atlanta
Texas A&M was the popular pick to knock off Syracuse. Yes, I was concerned about them being out of gas after the Big East tournament, but thought they'd have enough to get out of the first round, especially after being upset there last year. There was no way, I contended, they would let themselves be upset a second straight year by a double-digit seed.
I stand corrected.
UNCW was killing GW - by 17 at one point, I believe - and then GW went on (at least) a 15-0 run to get back in it, then won it in OT. Duke managed to beat Southern - or should I say Williams and Redick did. Only three other players scored, and only a total of 13 points. Josh McRoberts is the only other player besides Redick and Williams with more than 2 points. All that great help they got offensively last week disappeared tonight. They'll need to play like they did last week if they want to continue playing at all.
Iona gave LSU a good game for about 30 minutes or so, but in the end LSU pulled away. I think the LSU - A&M game may be pretty good. I'll look forward to that one.
Oakland
I just finished watching Indiana beat San Diego State. IU, down by one, hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left and held off SDSU. They get Gonzaga next, who looked like they were going to be going home for most of their game with Xavier. I think they didn't take the lead until inside of 2 minutes. I still say if Indiana has a good game, they can beat Gonzaga.
I was surprised Alabama beat Marquette. Marquette had some big wins this year, including a blowout of Connecticut, and I thought they'd win this one. They got down and made a comeback late in the game, but it wasn't enough. UCLA blew out Belmont, so they'll get Alabama next.
Minneapolis
I knew practically nothing about Nevada and Montana, except that Nevada had a player that was supposed to be pretty good. So, being a 5 seed, I went with them. They are killing me. But not as bad as BC almost did. BC had to go to 2 overtimes to beat Pacific, who looked like they were going to pull it off in the first OT. But BC tied it with seconds left, then outscored Pacific something like 14-2 in the second OT. The first round is way too early to lose one of your final four picks.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee didn't surprise me at all. Especially since Oklahoma has looked fragile for some time. I don't know what possessed me to pick South Alabama to beat Florida. It was a blowout. You've got to pick some upsets, though, and I chose that one. As usual, it was the wrong choice.
Washington
Illinois beat Air Force without too much trouble. Everyone said Air FOrce didn't belong, so I guess everyone's happy now that they're going home. Seton Hall is absolutely killing me. I knew they'd been blown out - by 53 - at Duke in November, but I was thinking they'd improved a lot since then. However, I didn't know enough (obviously) about Wichita State, so I went with the Big East team. Another fine choice.
Winthrop almost proved me right. I picked them to knock off Tennessee who's really fallen off the map lately, and only an extremely tough shot prevented them from continuing that game in overtime. Chris Lofton scored with less than 1 second left to give Tennessee the win, meaning I got one more pick wrong. Just another reason on a very long list to hate Tennessee.
The other game is Washington and Utah State, which is still being played as I type. Washington is up 9 with about 5:00 to go, so I'll assume they'll win, as I picked them to, since I'm not going to stay up any longer to watch a game I could care less about.
Final thoughts
Well, my first day was a miserable 9-7, and I also lost three sweet 16 teams (Marquette, Seton Hall, and South Alabama - and no, I wasn't under the influence when I made those picks, no matter how much it may appear that I was) and one elite 8 team (Marquette). My bracket, littered with red X's, hopes to see more green tomorrow.
I don't know if you've seen the ending to Bonnie and Clyde, where the dudes unload their machine guns into Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. If you have, then you have an idea of how my picks bracket is starting to look.
Atlanta
Texas A&M was the popular pick to knock off Syracuse. Yes, I was concerned about them being out of gas after the Big East tournament, but thought they'd have enough to get out of the first round, especially after being upset there last year. There was no way, I contended, they would let themselves be upset a second straight year by a double-digit seed.
I stand corrected.
UNCW was killing GW - by 17 at one point, I believe - and then GW went on (at least) a 15-0 run to get back in it, then won it in OT. Duke managed to beat Southern - or should I say Williams and Redick did. Only three other players scored, and only a total of 13 points. Josh McRoberts is the only other player besides Redick and Williams with more than 2 points. All that great help they got offensively last week disappeared tonight. They'll need to play like they did last week if they want to continue playing at all.
Iona gave LSU a good game for about 30 minutes or so, but in the end LSU pulled away. I think the LSU - A&M game may be pretty good. I'll look forward to that one.
Oakland
I just finished watching Indiana beat San Diego State. IU, down by one, hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left and held off SDSU. They get Gonzaga next, who looked like they were going to be going home for most of their game with Xavier. I think they didn't take the lead until inside of 2 minutes. I still say if Indiana has a good game, they can beat Gonzaga.
I was surprised Alabama beat Marquette. Marquette had some big wins this year, including a blowout of Connecticut, and I thought they'd win this one. They got down and made a comeback late in the game, but it wasn't enough. UCLA blew out Belmont, so they'll get Alabama next.
Minneapolis
I knew practically nothing about Nevada and Montana, except that Nevada had a player that was supposed to be pretty good. So, being a 5 seed, I went with them. They are killing me. But not as bad as BC almost did. BC had to go to 2 overtimes to beat Pacific, who looked like they were going to pull it off in the first OT. But BC tied it with seconds left, then outscored Pacific something like 14-2 in the second OT. The first round is way too early to lose one of your final four picks.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee didn't surprise me at all. Especially since Oklahoma has looked fragile for some time. I don't know what possessed me to pick South Alabama to beat Florida. It was a blowout. You've got to pick some upsets, though, and I chose that one. As usual, it was the wrong choice.
Washington
Illinois beat Air Force without too much trouble. Everyone said Air FOrce didn't belong, so I guess everyone's happy now that they're going home. Seton Hall is absolutely killing me. I knew they'd been blown out - by 53 - at Duke in November, but I was thinking they'd improved a lot since then. However, I didn't know enough (obviously) about Wichita State, so I went with the Big East team. Another fine choice.
Winthrop almost proved me right. I picked them to knock off Tennessee who's really fallen off the map lately, and only an extremely tough shot prevented them from continuing that game in overtime. Chris Lofton scored with less than 1 second left to give Tennessee the win, meaning I got one more pick wrong. Just another reason on a very long list to hate Tennessee.
The other game is Washington and Utah State, which is still being played as I type. Washington is up 9 with about 5:00 to go, so I'll assume they'll win, as I picked them to, since I'm not going to stay up any longer to watch a game I could care less about.
Final thoughts
Well, my first day was a miserable 9-7, and I also lost three sweet 16 teams (Marquette, Seton Hall, and South Alabama - and no, I wasn't under the influence when I made those picks, no matter how much it may appear that I was) and one elite 8 team (Marquette). My bracket, littered with red X's, hopes to see more green tomorrow.
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