UConn star Kemba Walker made a name for himself in Maui. He continued his great play throughout the regular season and wowed New York in the Big East Tournament. Now he looks to take his team to the Final Four.
As if there is anything else going on in the wide world of sports that is on the same wave length as the NCAA Tournament right now. Sure there is the Roger Goodell versus Kevin Burnett bickering, Spring Training, and NBA Action. But none of these things compare to the first Thursday of the NCAA Tournament. And yes I said the first Thursday, because it is no longer the first round technically. It is the start of Round 2. Whatever it is the start of, you got to love it.
No predictions today. I will let my bracket play out a little. But I wanted to check in and let you know my initial thoughts of this year’s edition of March Madness.
-Number one, I only went 11 of 16 in Round 2 (Round of 64). That is not too good. Shows how much I know. President Obama went 14 of 16 and at the end of Thursday was in the 99.7th percentile in the ESPN Bracket Challenge (over 5.9 million participants). Our President definitely knows his hoops.
-The Louisville game was by far the biggest shocker of the day. I realize there were other upsets, but the Cardinals going down to an in-state Morehead State team? I guess Louisville could technically be considered the 3rd best team in the state of Kentucky now?
-What a start to the first few games of the tournament. 4 of the first 5 contests came down to final second shots. The tournament lived up to all of the hype and more in the first few hours of play. And it is a good thing it did. Because outside of the Michigan St./UCLA game, the nightcap was very weak, featuring multiple blowouts.
-Who would you rather have on your team, Jimmer or Kemba? Both guys have very cool names and can really play. Mr. Fredette dropped 32 and willed BYU to a hard-earned 31st win of the year against a dangerous Wofford team. Kemba on the other hand showed that UConn’s legs are not tired yet, in a game where he nearly posted a triple double. 18 points, 12 assists, and 8 boards. These type of numbers have become the norm for the man who should have brought home Big East Player of the Year in my eyes (though Hansbrough has been phenomenal too). I can promise you this, Gonzaga will be keying in on the Jimmer Show while Cincinnati will need to come up with a way to stop Kemba to have a prayer at winning in DC.
-The verdict is still out in my eyes on the use of 4 different channels and NBA analysts. I am neutral at this point in the tournament. I was perfectly fine with the way the television for this tourney was run the past few years. But many people had complaints, and the NCAA changed it up this year. I am just waiting for Charles Barkley to make an extremely inappropriate comment in regards to a College kid. If and when he does, then I might not be as big of a fan of the use of the 4 channel system and NBA broadcasters.
–All bias aside, I think that Cincinnati put on the best overall performance of the tournament on Thursday. They handled business against a quality opponent and walked away with an easy W. The real question now is can the Bearcats survive a date with Kemba and Co. on Friday night?
Keep enjoying the games and I want to hear what you think about the games thus far. These are the best few days of the year.
Stay tuned for the next edition of TheSportsKraze.
-TheSportsKraze
TheSportsKraze 
One comment about the way the games are being shown on TV this year. I have no problem with the 4 channels (I also had no problem the way it was done on 1 channel either). What I do not like is the size of scores posted on top of the screen. Too small and difficult to read. ESPN does it right with scores streaming by on the bottom of the page. Readable without interfering with the action.
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