It's time for everyone's favorite feature...

Which until bracket projection time comes around (mid-January, folks) is the only feature.

To refresh your memory, this is Games to keep an eye on the ticker for, with the restriction of nothing on the national tube.

Tonight
Davidson at Chattanooga
-Two upper-division SoCon teams that are likely to have top conference tourney seeds
UAB at Old Dominion
-UAB has not been impressing anyone, but is 25th in RPI
South Florida vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Las Vegas
-USF: 7-1 and loving the cupcakes; TAMU-CC: 4-3 with less sweetening to their slate.
Missouri State at Saint Louis
-Why is Missouri State not getting any Wichita State-style love? They beat Wisconsin on a neutral floor you national hacks!!!
Charleston vs. Coastal Carolina at Myrtle Beach
-I'm a South Carolina native, so from now on, all in-Palmetto state games go in this space. The Cougars and Chanticleers should make for a decent game, though.

Tuesday
Appalachian State vs. Virginia at San Juan, Puerto Rico
-Will Appalachian stay Hot! Hot! Hot! after their national championship in football?
Drexel at Syracuse
-I correctly predicted one upset for Drexel, but I'm not as confident on this one.
North Texas at Western Kentucky
-My Mean Green are so completely schizo that it wouldn't surprise me if they lose by 30 or win by 15.
Illinois-Chicago at Mississippi
-Rebels are 9-2, but only against the teams they should obviously beat. This isn't that obvious a win.
Stanford at Fresno State
-Fresno State is showing how good UCSB could be (that's their only loss on a slate that saw Creighton last Saturday)

Wednesday
Savannah State at Louisvile
-These two teams have the same number of wins. (That's a true statement, now stop laughing.)
Wyoming vs. Nebraska at Honolulu
-Cowboys have a starting backcourt that is averaging over 40 a game

Thursday
North Carolina A&T at Arizona State
-This game is only on here because it is called the "ASU Sleep America Classic". Worst. Promo. Ever.
Charlotte vs. Houston in Honolulu
-Oh, two teams whose hype I fall into every year! Joy!
San Diego State vs. Washington State in Seattle
-These two teams are great in the efficiency margin statistic
Valparaiso vs. Creighton in Honolulu
-A poll of the same Valley media might not even have Creighton as even the fourth-best team today. Shooting, something that was assumed to be solid for Creighton before the season, has been below average and is why they are only 4-3.

Friday
Georgia at Georgia Tech
-Right now, of these two teams, Georgia is playing the better basketball.
Massachusetts at Kentucky
-If UMass can win this game, they establish themselves as the team to beat in the A-10 when conference play starts.
Hofstra at Syracuse
-Hofstra can surely put those struggles of November away if they can win this one.
Drexel at Temple
-When was the last time we could say that Drexel was the better team of these two?
Nevada at Akron
-This would be a great game for BracketBuster Saturday, but the Zips have been struggling too much on defense to make this matchup happen again.
Evansville at Butler
-Matt Webster! A.J. Graves! It's the White Scorers Bowl brought to you by Daisy Sour Cream! Live from beautiful Hinkel Fieldhouse!
Oral Roberts at Arkansas
-For the Eagles, there was really no where to go but down after winning at Allen Fieldhouse. But not one of their five losses has been horrible.
Wichita State vs. New Mexico in Las Vegas
-Do the Shox play any non-conference home games?
Cal at DePaul
-Cal shot better than and outrebounded San Diego. But lost. How? You got it. Turnovers.
Dayton at Pittsburgh
-"at Pittsburgh" is always a daunting assignment, but Dayton is playing amazing defensively and will keep this game close

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for...

There's a light schedule this week, and that's because of good ol' finals week at most schools.

Monday
Mississippi State at Miami FL
-Two teams very likely to be in the three letter tournament
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at New Mexico State
-UAPB could be a top 3 SWAC team, but that won't get into NMSU's level

Wednedsay
UMass at Louisville
-Very interesting matchup in a game named for Rick Pitino's late best friend and brother-in-law, Billy Minardi
Belmont at Arkansas-Little Rock
-Road game where the so-called "low-major" should win comfortably

Friday
Eastern Washington at Oregon
-First big upset for Stuckey and Co.? Probably not.

Saturday
Purdue vs. Butler at Conseco Fieldhouse
-Let's see if the Indiana State game was an abberation for the non-power conference media sensation of the first month of the season
Temple at Towson
-Pat Kennedy's team will make things tough for a Temple team in a down year
DePaul at Rhode Island
-Which of these wins doesn't belong: Eastern Illinois, Chaminade, Kansas or Chicago State?
Akron at Illinois-Chicago
-Some nice "mid-major on mid-major action" as Kyle Whelliston would put it
Western Kentucky at Tennessee
-Should be some good offense put up in this one
Utah State at BYU
-A surprising Utah State team takes on a good BYU team
Northern Iowa at Loyola-Chicago
-See Akron-UIC
Indiana State at Missouri State
-If that Butler game wasn't the fluke I think it was, Missouri State will need to play up to the standard that they beat Wisconsin with
Alabama vs. Southern Miss at Mobile
-Does anybody realize Southern Miss is undefeated? No...well, they won't be after this game
Loyola Marymount at San Diego State
-Two good SoCal teams, one of which is likely to play the annual "WCC Runner-Up to Gonzaga" role in the college basketball play
Creighton at Fresno State
-The Xavier win was a good way for the Bluejays to get back on track, and this road win would surely put them squarely back on that track

Never in a million years...

did I think that Jim Nantz and Billy Packer would be doing a game involving Texas A&M.

Winthrop: Princeton of the New Millenium?

Every time I see Winthrop just nearly miss out on upsetting a giant, I can't help but think of those Princeton teams that gave Georgetown, Arkansas, Villanova and Syracuse edge-of-your-seat near-upsets in succession the 1989-1992 NCAA Tournaments. I wasn't too old then, so the only real recollection I have of those games are watching the old highlight shows where an announcer says something like, "Everyone's underdog Princeton came close once again in 19__, but it was not to be as ______ beat them (some score in the 50s to 40s)."

These words were accompanied by an image of Jim Boeheim one of the other great coaches (Thompson, Richardson, Rollie) with a look that said, "Oh my god, we just barely beat Princeton. I'm glad that's over."

But eventually, Princeton had their amazing 1996 and all that heartbreak was essentially forgotten. You really have to think that a huge win like that has to come for Winthrop one of these years.

Another thing that I have heard asked about Winthrop is what it will take for them to get an at-large bid, should they lose in their conference tournament. Three things must happen in order for the Eagles to be one of the 34 non-champions:
1. Win at Old Dominion on December 29
2. Run the table in the Big South
3. Win in their BracketBuster game

This is assuming, however, that Winthrop beats Mt. St. Mary's and East Carolina, but loses at Texas A&M (a game which I will be attending). The only real precedent set here in recent memory is Pacific two years ago, who went 18-0 in the Big West, but lost in the Big West final to a hot shooting (and now departed from the conference) Utah State team. That team finished 24-3 against D1 teams, while Winthrop would be 22-4 assuming all of the above. The four defeats would be high-quality road losses with marquee wins over ODU and their BracketBuster opponent. That would, in my opinion do it, but the Big South is not as good a conference as 2005's version of the Big West, making all three of the scenarios very important.

Enough with speculation for tonight, though. Time to watch the Jimmy V games.

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for...

Tuesday
Loyola-Chicago at Purdue
-Once Horizon League favorites would love to notch up BCS-conference road win
Charleston at South Carolina
-In-state rivals each looking to turn things around
Northern Iowa at Iowa
-What kind of backwards world do we live in when you could make a strong case of UNI being completely better going into this one?
Texas A&M at LSU
-Only on ESPN FC...
New Mexico at New Mexico State
-I guess rematches come early for these two
Gonzaga at Washington State
-Interesting clash of tempos here

Wednesday
Providence at Florida
-Note to Florida: Don't wear those atrocious black unis and you might win. Oh, that and foul trouble.
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech
-Both will be, at very least, NIT teams
NC State at West Virginia
-Would have been just a little more attractive last year
Utah at Utah State
-USU might not be head for that lull after all...
Fresno State at Cal-Santa Barbara
-Two very underrated teams

Friday
Ohio at Louisville
-Louisville has no excuse to lose to another Ohio team this early (Dayton, if you were wondering)

Saturday
Oral Roberts at Georgetown
-Maybe my Big East pick won't disappoint...AGAIN
Missouri at Purdue
-Didn't expect even Mike Anderson to have it turned around this quickly.
Nebraska vs. Oregon in Portland
-Oregon is better, but still an interesting matchup
George Washington vs. USC in Anaheim
-USC is currently hanging in there at Kansas as we...uhh...write?
Wichita State at Wyoming
-What's another long road trip for the Shockers anyway at this point?
South Carolina at Baylor
-Baylor should not be underestimated under any circumstances
Charlotte at Davidson
-2-4 is definitely not what the Niners had planned right now
Drexel at Villanova
-Fire off the upset alerts...
Southern Illinois at Western Kentucky
-Two mids whose names should be called out on March 11
Kansas State at North Dakota State
-First, Marquette, now, K-State?
Xavier at Creighton
-Really solid matchup between two excellent teams without numbers next to their names
Arizona at San Diego State
-Great clash of big men in this one
Washington at Gonzaga
-Might be the last time we see this normally excellent matchup for a while

The Oden Era Begins

On Wednesday night, Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale made it sound like the earliest that Greg Oden could suit up would be on the 16th against Cincinnati. Guess not...

I highly doubt he gets more than 15 minutes a game before the Florida game on the 23rd, but just having him adds a new element to the currently jumpshooting-heavy Buckeyes.

Two signs that the season is really getting ramped up: the 06-07 debut of games on CBS (and therefore Billy Packer) and no less than 15 conference games over the course of the day.

Speaking of that game on CBS, Tubby's eyebrows are Andy Rooney-style out-of-control. As for the game, it's observation time.

-Kentucky seems like they are on perfect course for the same kind of season as they had last year.
-Randolph Morris needs to have more of those kinds of performances. Hopefully the next time he goes 11-12 from the floor and shuts down a great big man defensively, someone on his team wakes up on the offensive end.
-Brendan Wright may not be among the freshman scoring leaders, but he needs to be mentioned in the same breath with players like Kevin Durant.

It looks like the ESPN idiot who forgot to schedule Wichita State-Syracuse was reading the blog and then scheduled it for the 400 of us who get ESPNU. To steal a British phrase, good on you, mate!

Games to keep an eye on the ESPN ticker for...

....because games to watch is all-too blog generic. And look for this feature on Monday's from now on. The caveat here would be that no game I pick from will be on the national TV schedule.

Tonight
Charleston at Kentucky
UAB at Western Kentucky
Oral Roberts at Tulsa
New Mexico State at New Mexico
UNLV at Arizona

Wednesday
Oregon at Georgetown
Robert Morris at Pittsburgh
Old Dominion at Marist
North Texas at Nebraska
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Oklahoma State
Iowa State at Northern Iowa
Wake Forest at Air Force
Kansas State at California

Thursday
Villanova at Stony Brook

Saturday
Northern Iowa at Bucknell
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Mississippi State
Saint Louis at Southern Illinois
Fresno State at Oregon State
Wichita State at Syracuse (what ESPN genius forgot to schedule this one???)
Villanova at Penn (you know the season has began when we start getting Big Fived!)
Holy Cross at Dayton
Boston College at UMass
Charlotte at Indiana
Akron at Oral Roberts
Loyola Marymount at USC

Sunday
Bradley at Michigan State
Evansville at Missouri
Bucknell at George Mason
Pittsburgh at Auburn
Virginia Tech vs. George Washington @MCI Center
Notre Dame vs. Maryland @MCI Center

Observations About Last Night in Vegas

Now THAT game had a late-season atmosphere. I'm not going to just bandie around terms like 'March-like atmosphere', but it had all the intensity of a mid-February conference game between two powers ramping up for March. Oh who am I kidding... it was a great game and it doesn't need a corresponding month of importance. Even if it is at the poor-man's Allen Fieldhouse.

I could hear a collective "What the hell?" from my fellow college hoops fans when The Deuce had the proverbial "technical difficulties" with 1:30 left in a tie game. The next six and a half made up for it, and then some.

It was nice to see Darrell Arthur succeed on a national stage like that, as he could end up being the Dallas area's best product since Kenyon Martin.

For the first 30 minutes the game seemed like a soccer match where one team has repeated chances to extend their lead, but just can't because the team they are playing is so strong. In fact even in the first half, as Kansas played their best basketball all season, I felt the game would come down to the wire as the Jayhawks just couldn't pull away.

An extreme rarity in that game was that a team with a lead made ALL its free throws down the stretch and still managed to throw-away a two-possession lead. That's what happens when the leading team fouls for no reason.

I really questioned Florida's bench and the quality of their depth before this game. In the first half, they made my questions seem very viable. I'm still not impressed with Walter Hodge, but Chris Richard made some key defensive plays in the second half and down the stretch to ensure that Florida kept it real close. But now, teams know that they can make Florida look oh so mortal if they can get a couple of those 'Big Five', if you will, in foul trouble.

Thriller in Vegas

What an amazing game of basketball. What a classic nail-biter. I'll come back and organize my thoughts later (today).

Conference Champions

Here we go and very quickly in a quick-hit manner. And, by the way, these have nothing to do with results thus far.

America East – Albany
Atlantic Coast – North Carolina
Atlantic Sun – Lipscomb
Atlantic 10 – Xavier
Big East – Georgetown
Big Sky – Eastern Washington
Big South – Winthrop
Big Ten – Wisconsin
Big 12 – Kansas
Big West – Long Beach State
Colonial Athletic – Hofstra
Conference USA – Memphis
Horizon – Wisconsin-Green Bay
Ivy League – Penn
MAAC – Marist
Mid-American – Akron
Mid-Continent – Oral Roberts
MEAC – Delaware State
Missouri Valley – Southern Illinois
Mountain West – BYU
Northeast – Long Island
Ohio Valley – Tennessee Tech
Pac-10 – UCLA
Patriot – Holy Cross
SEC – Florida
Southern – Charleston
Southland – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SWAC – Jackson State
Sun Belt – Western Kentucky
West Coast – Gonzaga
WAC – Nevada

Highlights of the First Full Week

And by far my favorite highlight of the first week was Rick Majerus abbreviating Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespides as P-Mac during the Gonzaga-Rice game.

Other highlights would have to include Winthrop nearly beating North Carolina, then taking it to Mississippi State, a team some think will surprise in the SEC this season. Up next for the Eagles is 5-0 Maryland tonight.

The two biggest upsets to this point happened as well in the past week with Oral Roberts over Kansas and Georgetown getting beat by an Old Dominion team that didn't realize that on-campus games for the Hoyas were supposed to be walkovers. Twenty-four years of walkovers in fact.

Michigan St.-Maryland Reaction

Ok, the officials screwed up twice. First, the obvious shot clock violation (what horrible shot as well) and secondly, Ibok was just controlling the ball, spawning the dive (I don't even think contact was made). You see that kind of play in so many games and it is correctly no-called.

Gary Williams chose a very savvy move to foul the on-fire Drew Neitzel in the final seconds, though.

Speaking of Neitzel, I can't believe that this is the same guy from the February and March of last year. It's almost like he morphed into Gerry McNamara. Michigan State will be absolutely fine this season if that solid play can continue.

A Knight Controversy? Oh goodie...

The thing is it shouldn't really be much of a controversy at all. In fact, just in covering high school games in the DFW area last season, I saw the same type of thing happening from a hard-nosed girls' coach. Perhaps it would have been news if she had more career wins (but likely not).

Besides, when Bob Knight is talking to you, Michael Prince, you might want to look at him. He's won more games at this level than you have played in just about your entire life. He knows what he's doing.

Another thing I'd like to mention is how pleased I've been with the media on this one, as (for the most part) the consensus seems to be that this is not a big deal. Another good thing has been their mention of Knight's kicking Jarrius Jackson off the team for a couple weeks to get his grades up as a very refreshing thing Knight has done thus far in the fetal stages of this season. That's what we call fair, ladies and gentlemen.

As for the actual games, pretty much everything (from a national scale) has held serve, except for Virginia opening up their new barn against 'Zona's highly-touted team. And while that may seem like a big upset, it's truly not. Virginia has a very talented team, a superb backcourt and should be a force in the ACC.

The bigger upset, by far, was the good ol' Catamounts beating 30-percent shooters Boston College by 14 on the road in what could start out another America East championship campaign.

More is coming in the next few days, with my makeshift season predictions and other good stuff.

Annnnddd.....we're back

Due to my lackluster blogging of a year ago, I imposed NCAA restrictions on myself that I could not blog until after the Friday closest to October 15. I guess I could have started at 7 pm last night.

In any event, I’ll try and avoid gems like this for the 2006-07 season:

“Here is a very narrow limb I am willing to go out on: Florida will not win the SEC East or even come in second. Yes, you heard it here first.”

And the funny thing is that if Kentucky beats Florida on the final day of the regular season at Rupp, I end up being right!

What the national media are usually failing to tell you in the obligatory “Can Florida Repeat?” story is that after Florida started 17-0 against largely crap, they went 5-6 and were 8-6 in the SEC going into March.

Who was also 8-6 in the SEC going into March? Kentucky.

At that point in the season the odds Florida wins a national title and gets mentioned in the same breath as 1992 Duke would be about the same at Rutgers being undefeated in football in mid-October (wait…)

After one round...

(At least my final four are all still in...)

Nevada, I touted you to people as the best mid-major all year, as that's what you go off showing people. Other than Kemp and Fazekas, the rest of the team might as well have not shown up. Everyone might as well have not shown up on defense.

You can't help but be happy for Northwestern St. I thought they got jobbed by the committee being a 14, and would subsequently lose. They proved me and the country wrong...I did know, however, how good they could be (as if that counts).

Speaking of the committee, I'm going to bitch about them some more and blame them for giving me bad karma after messing up the selections *cough Air Force cough* so profusely. Yeah, that's it...

Hopefully, I wont be this bitter after the next round.

This...is Life

Watching Milwaukee-Oklahoma and Wichita St.-Seton Hall at the same time.

Here is my bracket, so at least I'm accountable for something.

This UWM-OU game looks like it will be very well-played and close.

The Hall are acting like brick-layers early on against the Shox.

Much more later.

The Final Bracket Projection

Atlanta Region
Greensboro
1. Duke (1) v. 16. Southern/Hampton
8. Wisconsin v. 9. UNC Wilmington

Jacksonville
5. Washington v. 12. Seton Hall
4. Florida v. 13. South Alabama

Detroit
6. Syracuse v. 11. San Diego St.
3. Illinois v. 14. Montana

San Diego
7. Nevada v. 10. Northern Iowa
2. UCLA v. 15. Pacific

Oakland Region
Jacksonville
1. Memphis (4) v. 16. Belmont
8. Indiana v. 9. Arizona

Dallas
5. West Virginia v. 12. George Mason
4. LSU v. 13. Northwestern St.

Dayton
6. George Washington v. 11. Bucknell
3. Pittsburgh v. 14. Murray St.

Dayton
7. Wichita St. v. 10. Alabama
2. Ohio St. v. 15. Penn

Washington Region
Philadelphia
1. UConn v. 16. Monmouth
8. Southern Illinois v. 9. UAB

San Diego
5. Kansas v. 12. Kent St.
4. Tennessee v. 13. Milwaukee

Greensboro
6. Michigan St. v. 11. Cincinnati
3. North Carolina v. 14. Winthrop

Dallas
7. Marquette v. 10. Bradley
2. Texas v. 15. Oral Roberts

Minneapolis Region
Philadelphia
1. Villanova (3) v. 16. Albany
8. Kentucky v. 9. California

Salt Lake City
5. Oklahoma v. 12. Missouri St.
4. Boston College v. 13. Xavier

Detroit
6. Georgetown v. 11. Texas A&M
3. Iowa v. 14. Iona

Salt Lake City
7. NC State v. 10. Arkansas
2. Gonzaga v. 15. Davidson

Seeds after Saturday

The final bracket prediction will be released after the SEC, ACC and Southland games are complete.

1: UConn, Duke, Villanova, Memphis
2: Ohio St., Gonzaga, Texas, UCLA
3: Illinois, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Iowa
4: LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Boston College
5: Washington, Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma
6: Georgetown, George Washington, Michigan St., Syracuse
7: Marquette, Nevada, Indiana, Wichita St.
8: NC State, Wisconsin, Southern Illinois, Kentucky
9: Arizona, UNC Wilmington, Arkansas, UAB
10: California, Alabama, Bradley, Northern Iowa
11: Texas A&M, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, Bucknell
12: George Mason, San Diego St., Missouri St., Kent St.
13: Xavier, Milwaukee, Northwestern St., South Alabama
14: Iona, Winthrop, Montana, Murray St.
15: Penn, Pacific, Oral Roberts, Davidson
16: Albany, Belmont, Monmouth, (Southern, Hampton)

Brackets after 3-9

Washington Region
Philadelphia
1. Villanova (1) v. 16. Delaware St.
8. Arizona v. 9. Kentucky

Detroit
5. Boston College v. 12. St. Joseph's
4. Iowa v. 13. Milwaukee

Dallas
6. George Washington v. 11. Seton Hall
3. Texas v. 14. Montana

Greensboro
2. North Carolina v. 15. Davidson
7. Wisconsin v. 10. Northern Iowa

Oakland Region
Dayton
1. Ohio St. (4) v. 16. Monmouth/Southern
8. Arkansas v. 9. Southern Illinois

Dayton
5. Oklahoma v. 12. George Mason
4. Pittsburgh v. 13. Kent St.

San Diego
6. Marquette v. 11. Bucknell
3. UCLA v. 14. Iona

Jacksonville
2. Memphis v. 15. Oral Roberts
7. NC State v. 10. Bradley

Minneapolis Region
Philadelphia
1. UConn (2) v. 16. Albany
8. Indiana v. 9. UNC Wilmington

San Diego
5. Kansas v. 12. Missouri St.
4. Florida v. 13. South Alabama

Dallas
6. West Virginia v. 11. Texas A&M
3. LSU v. 14. Murray St.

Detroit
2. Illinois v. 15. Penn
7. Nevada v. 10. Syracuse

Atlanta Region
Greensboro
1. Duke (3) v. 16. Belmont
8. Alabama v. 9. UAB

Salt Lake City
5. Georgetown v. 12. San Diego St.
4. Washington v. 13. Northwestern St.

Jacksonville
6. Michigan St. v. 11. Cincinnati
3. Tennessee v. 14. Winthrop

Salt Lake City
2. Gonzaga v. 15. Pacific
7. Wichita St. v. 10. California

So, I had a bracket made...

but Syracuse, Temple and Wake Forest all busted it in the highest degree, however.

What do these games mean?

Well, first of all, the Big East is going to have nine in, creating the surreal sight of teams from the same conference in the same half of a region.

Either Villanova or Duke is getting the No. 1 overall seed.

I can't see the Valley getting more than four (I know, great way to backtrack from a week ago, right).

Was anyone else reminded of Xavier-St. Joe's from two years ago when you found out that GW was knocked off today? Of course, an undefeated A10 record and an A10 quarterfinal loss are about the only similarities you can make between those two teams.

As for the rest of the A10 tournament, I will be rooting for La Salle. If you could see Steven Smith play, you would want him in the dance as well.

I'm going to put back together my busted bracket tonight during the Washington-Oregon game.