Throwback Saturday Part IX

Photo courtesy of kimoracochran.com. President Obama (pictured above) has proven that he really knows his hoops finishing in the 87.4 percentile of ESPN's Bracket Challenge last year.

By Josh Kramer

We have entered the third month of “Throwback Saturdays” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the routine.  This is a day where I look back at my posts on this date one year ago and two years ago.  Then we can decipher how spot on I was with my thoughts or how miserably wrong I was.  Typically, it is the latter scenario.  So what was happening on March 17, 2011?  How about March 17, 2010?  Let’s find out.

Nearly one year ago (March 18, 2011)..

Madness Highlights Thus Far

Here is a snippet..

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 (To finish reading this post, click this link).

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Wittry’s March Madness Predictions

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. According to our guest blogger Andrew Wittry, John Calipari (pictured above) will be a happy man on the night of April 2nd as he finally gets the monkey off his back and brings home a national championship.

By Andrew Wittry

Andrew Wittry is a senior at St. Xavier High School who literally eats and sleeps sports.  He is looking forward to college and avidly pursuing a career in sports journalism.  Andrew has an already well- established blog called Sports.Eat.Sleep.Repeat., where he posts new content regarding both professional and collegiate sports a few times each week.

Which month would you give up to have more March? While Buffalo Wild Wings jokingly uses this phrase in their recent March Madness advertising campaign, in all seriousness, I would willingly give up a few days of each month to be able to have more of the NCAA Tournament.

After coming home on from practice the other night and looking at the bracket, I could not have been more pleased with the field. When the biggest complaint about a team being left out is Drexel, a team out of the Colonial Athletic Association, who did win nineteen of its final twenty games, but did not have a single quality win out of conference, the committee did an excellent job.  Though Drexel’s amazing late season surge in which they reeled off 19 wins in their last 20 games was highly impressive. I was very excited about how well the local teams fared as Xavier’s run in the A-10 Tournament earned the team a 10 seed and Cincinnati claimed a six spot.  UC’s six was due in large part to giving #2 Syracuse its second loss of the season.

Here are my initial reactions from Selection Sunday:

Is Kentucky’s road to the Final Four too tough?

March Madness 2012 Preview

Photo courtesy of bleacherreport.com. The Road to the Final Four begins tonight in Dayton. Here is a guide to help with your bracket.

By Josh Kramer

For the first time in a very long time, there will be no “Food for Thought” today (Tuesday).  A higher being has taken charge.  And that would be none other than March Madness.  Sure there are other things going on in sports, but what else do you really want to talk about?  Sorry Peyton.  You will be taking a back seat today.

The brackets are finally set.  And as usual, Joe Lunardi did a wonderful job with Bracketology, correctly guessing 67 of the 68 teams in the field.  The guy is unbelievable. But enough speculation.  Let’s talk about the actual tournament bracket.

South Region:  The Region of Prestige

Overall Analysis

-Many are proclaiming this the best region in the field.  I do not agree (I think the East is).  But without question, it is not short on “prestigious” programs such as Kentucky, Connecticut, Indiana, and Duke. In addition, three of last year’s Final Four participants reside in the South (Kentucky, Connecticut, and VCU).  But let’s be entirely realistic.  This region starts and ends with the Big Blue Nation.  If Kentucky comes to play, they won’t lose.

Winner

-Kentucky

Sleeper

-Connecticut

Upset Alert

-Xavier over Notre Dame

Fun Facts

-The Connecticut Huskies are praying that history does not repeat itself. Each time UConn has won the title under Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004) the following year has resulted in a second round exit from the tourney (would be third round this year).

-A number one overall seed has been revealed each of the past eight years.  The top seed has only reached the Final Four three times. The only number one overall seed during this year eight year stretch to win the title was Florida in 2007.  Kentucky is praying that they can accomplish what their SEC rival did five years ago.

College Basketball Preview

Photo courtesy of koonskollegebball.wordpress.com. North Carolina is my pick to cut down the nets this year. In order to do that, expect Harrison Barnes (pictured above) to lead the way.

By Josh Kramer

The most recent edition of March Madness was one for the ages.  It was a tournament that kept fans on the edge of their seats from Day 1 all the way to the National Championship Game.  And as is typically the case regarding college hoops, the season has started without a bang.

How many of you are aware that real regular season college hoops has been played?  Unless your respective team has opened up the season, I am guessing that this is news to you.  Why does college basketball always start at such a weird time, amid such a lack of publicity?  Nobody knows, but things will heat up.  That is a promise.

With all of the insanity going on in sports at the moment, college hoops may be a good release.  Either way, as is always the case, come mid-January, college basketball will be at the center of the sporting stratosphere.

Here is my top five:

“Weekly Nickel”

LSU Quarterback, Jordan Jefferson (pictured above), has played a major role in LSU's surprising 7 and 0 start. Can the Tigers keep rolling against fellow SEC undefeated foe Auburn next Saturday?

Most people love lists.  Our culture is one that thrives and tends to listen better to information that is put into lists.  It is just more visually appealing and easier to follow.  When people watch SportsCenter, the favorite part of the show tends to be the “Daily Top 10.”  Or sometimes, the “Not Top 10.”  So due to popular request and advice from our very own CV3,  I am going to try to post a Weekly Top 5 highlighting some events for the upcoming week every Monday.

So here is the first annual “TheSportsKraze” Weekly Nickel:

5.  NBA Preseason basketball continues.  The opener is drawing ever closer and set for Tuesday, October 26th.  Can the Lakers give Phil Jackson his 4th version of the mythical 3-peat (AKA the Phil Jackson Peat.)

4.  NCAA Basketball is nearing as most of the big schools have had some sort of version of their “Midnight Madness.”  Very sad story about Robbie Hummel going down with another ACL tear. Purdue will still be tought, but no longer is a National Title Contender. Steve Lavin continues to make big moves at St. Johns.  Can you say sleeper team?

3.  The NFL is entering Week 7.  Hard to believe, but who doesn’t love watching football on Sunday and Monday Night?  There are two marquee matchups.  First Brett Favre and the Vikings will head to Lambeau to take on a reeling Cheeseheads team.  Second, the Giants and Cowboys continue one of football’s best rivalries in front of the Monday Night Bright Lights.

2.  4 Major College Football Showdowns: 

Wisconsin vs Iowa, Nebraska vs Oklahoma State, Oklahoma vs Missouri, and LSU  vs Auburn.  Talk about games with National Championship implications.  The 2nd version of the BCS Rankings will come out Sunday.

1.  League Championship Series continue in the MLB.  As if there was any doubt on what the top event in town is.  Can the Yankees and Phillies make a rematch happen in the Fall Classic?  Seems to be the matchup that most of America would like to see.

So there you have the first edition of the “Weekly Nickel.”  Let me hear your thoughts.

Stay tuned for the next edition of TheSportsKraze.

-TheSportsKraze

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