The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is in the books and surprise, surprise, surprise, my bracket is absolutely busted. I've done fairly well in the West and East but have been killed by the Southeast and Southwest. How bad is it you ask? Out of the 12 games played in the Southeast bracket, I picked 4 of them right....all in the first round. I do have 2 Final Four teams left but at this point, I'm just hoping to try and escape being the dunce.
Regardless of what my brackets look like, as a college basketball fan I've been glued to the TV set all weekend watching all the madness unfold. Here's what I have learned....
Ohio State and Kansas are the real deal
Both programs have rolled thru the first two rounds with relative ease. With all due respect to Duke fans, OSU and Kansas look to be on a collision course to meet for the National Championship.
VCU absolutely belonged in the tournament
They were the mid-major that took alot of heat from the "experts" when they were added to the field. Their response has been to take down 3 teams from BCS conferences in dominating fashion.
Butler is not a Cinderella team
Let's stop with all the talk about Butler being Cinderella. The Bulldogs have proven over and over again that they are at the top of the list of mid-major teams. They are always a tough out in March and once again have found their stride when it mattered most.
Big East basketball is over-rated
The conference that had the most teams in the tournament (a record 11) finds themselves with only two teams in the Sweet 16. Ironically, those two teams had to play two teams from the Big East to get that far. Pitt was disappointing as always, Louisville proved it wasn’t as good as its record, Syracuse never seems to play up to its talent level and Notre Dame was show to be nothing but an overachiever. Overall, the conference is 9-9 after the first weekend. Not exactly a banner tournament for the conference that all the experts say is the best in college basketball.
Parity in college basketball is at an all-time high
Here's the breakdown of the teams in this year's sweet 16. The power conferences are represented by Duke, North Carolina and Florida State (ACC), Kentucky and Florida (SEC), Ohio State and Wisconsin (Big Ten), Marquette and UConn (Big East), Arizona (Pac-10) and Kansas (Big XII). The rest of the sweet 16 includes San Diego State and BYU (Mountain West), Richmond (Atlantic 10), VCU (Colonial) and Butler (Horizon). Thru the round of 32, teams that arent a part of the power conferences have won 15 games. Last season thru the whole tourney, they won 18 games and from 2007-2009, those schools won a total of 28 games. Anybody want any more proof why the power conferences refuse to play mid majors during the regular season?
What have you learned thru the first weekend of the tournament?
NCAA Tourney Recap
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What I learned after the first weekend of the 2011 NCAA Tournament
3/22/11 in NCAABB
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Scott
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41509 respect
3/23/11 | jaysinw | 4677 respect
Wow people can complain all day about the Big East being overrated because they have 2 teams standing. The have the deapest conference in basketball. Take the top 8 team in any other conference and the Big East not only can play with them but would be favorites to win. Now that does not mean they will, every team can be beaten. Thats one of the things that make the tournament so great. As gearhead said Marquette being the weakest of the teams from the Big East is 1 of the 2 in the Sweet 16 should be saying the Big East is not overrated they all earned ot be there, still at the same time they can be beaten.
3/22/11 |
gearhead
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6360 respect
My only issue with the complaining about the Big East 11 bids is who of them would you have taken out of the tournament? The team with the weakest resume (Marquette) is one of the 2 in the Sweet 16.
3/22/11 |
Scott
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41509 respect
I dont remember the basketball experts pimping up the Big Ten like they did the Big East. Hell, Joe Lunardi and company were lobbying for 11 teams in the tournament since the end of December. All that talk, all those predictions about multiple Big East teams in the Final Four and heading into the Sweet Sixteen, the only two teams remaining are the two who were at the bottom of the Big East standings
3/22/11 | hotdog5054 | 12234 respect
IT APPEARS LIKE THE BIG 10 IS SLIGHT OVERRATED TO ME TOO. THAT HAD ALMOST AS MUCH AS THE BIG EAST DID.AND ONLY 2 MADE THE SWEET16 THE SEC WAS UNDERRATED THIS YEAR.THEY HAD LESS THE EITHER OF THEM AND OF SAME MOUNT OF TEAMS LEFT IN SWEET 16.THAT 2 FOR BOTH BIG10 & S.E.C.. ONE OF THESE LEAGUE WILL LOSE A TEAM AND MAYBE BOTH OF THEIR TEAMS THIS WEEKEND.I AM PICK THE S.E.C TO GO TO THE FINAL 4.