What do you call 6 OT's? A good start...

This blog brought to by Butler. Butler--for all those times you need an underachieving mid-major and get tired of resorting to Gonzaga.

Needles to say, the conference tournaments so far have been incredible. 6 OT's, Oklahoma, Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Connecticut all losing in the Quarterfinals of their conference tournaments. North Carolina with a near miss (damn Hokies) and Cleveland State invoking memories of the mouse with an upset win over Butler in their conference champion. You might remember the Vikings--as a #14 in '86, they beat #3 Indiana and #6 St. Joe's (yes, they used to be good) before losing to #7 Navy in the sweet 16. Navy, you say? Yes, the same Navy that had Admiral David Robinson at the helm.

If you take away the Gophers win against Louisville, there is no way they make the NCAA tournament. It is going to be an absolute joke if the Big 10 sends 8 teams. If you forced their top 8 to play one game each against the top 8 from the Big East, the Big East would win at least 50 of those games. If the Gophers played each of the top non-qualifying mid-major schools (St. Mary's, Creighton, Illinois State, Davidson, Niagara, Weber State), I'd say they go 3-3 at best if not 2-4. Penn State being blown out right now might be their only saving grace. Jesus' committee does not like blow out losses by bubble teams in the conference tournament. Just ask Creighton.

Speaking of which, your Bracketologist, Joe Lunardi has Creighton in the tournament when they were blown out by an obviously better Illinois State team. In fact, ISU (the REAL ISU, not the phony school in Ames) beat Creighton twice by 20+ points and lost by only 4 on the road. Couple that with 3 tough losses to conference regular season and tournament champion UNI by a total of 9 points, 2 games in OT--no reason they are not considered the #2 team in the MVC.

Could Baylor burst someone's bubble? Could that help the Gophers make the NIT?

A big 12 tournament final without Texas, Kansas or Oklahoma? The only thing better is a Big East final without Georgetown, UConn, and Pitt or an ACC final without NC or Duke.

UConn was up 6 twice in the first three OT's. Why do I know this? I had UConn minus 5 1/2.

Syracuse started their game against West Virgina tonight as 6 1/2 point underdogs. Why does Vegas put too much weight on tired legs? These are college kids with nothing better to do than play basketball (you don't think they actually go to class, do you?). The fatigue factor is overrated--it's not like they're a bunch of baseball players who smoke in the clubhouse between innings.

Questions for you...

1). Your bubble pick team to make it? Not make it?
2). Do you have an "Illinois State" who is on no one's radar but you think will make the final 65?
3). Does Memphis deserve a #1 seed when they play in a conference with no viable runner-up and their only "meaningful" games during the year were losses against Syracuse, Georgetown and Xavier (I'm not even going to count the Gonzaga game--if you saw the game, you know Gonzaga didn't even show up).
4). Are Shamrock shakes the greatest delicacy ever?
5). When it comes to stewed prunes, is three enough--are four too many?

Peace,
Reg