Sweet Sixteen

Wow, what a crazy first two rounds of the tourney. Their were numerous buzzer beaters and upsets alerts. 

Cleveland State a No. 13 seed shocked No. 4 Wake Forest by beating them handily by 15 points. The final score 84-69 looks much closer than the actual game itself. 

Cleveland State came out of the gates with a purpose and took it the young and inexperience Demon Deacons. They jumped on them early and didn't step off the gas. 

Wake Forest was never able to recover and Siena was able to cruise to an easy victory. Some people had the Demon Deacons going as far as the Final Four. 

But they were surely one of the most disappointing teams in this year tourney. I'm pretty sure no one had this upset on their bracket. 

The buzzer beaters between  Oklahoma State Cowboys and Tennessee Vols  was a sure classic. It came down to a last second game winning shot by the Cowboys. 

The Cowboys held on with an 77-75 victory over the Vols to move on to the second round. 

It was like watching a heavy weight fight, each team kept making incredible shot after shot but neither team wouldn't fold. They both keep answering one another and you were just waiting for one team to finch.  

One of my Cinderella teams, the Arizona Wildcats made it to the sweet sixteen but they'll have to go against the tournament No. 1 overall seed the Louisville Cardinals. If they want to advance to the elite eight. 

These are just some of the highlights that stood out to me during the tournament thus far. But I'll see you all in less than a week where I'll re-cap the Final Four.   

My Final Four Picks

Oh right, my bracket is filled out and I'm ready for the maddness to start. 

My Final Four picks go as following:

• The North Carolina Tar Heels from the South Region
• The Memphis Tigers from the West Region
  
• The Pittsburgh Panthers from the East Region
• The Louisville Cardinals from the Mid-West Region 

In the national championship game I have North Carolina Tar Heels playing the Memphis Tigers and the Tar Heels beating the Tigers for the national championship. 

I believe that North Carolina will win it all because they are the most talented and explosive team in the field. They have the current ACC player of the year Ty Lawson and reining Naismith player of the year Tyler Hansbrough.

They also have a hall of fame coach on the sidelines Roy Williams. 

Along the way I have upsets and some Cinderella teams making some noise. I have Arizona Wildcats, USC Trojans, Mississippi State, Western Kentucky and  Wisconsin all advancing  to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Check out how my Final Four picks may be different from those ESPN analysis like Dick Vitale's, Jay Bilas and Andy Katz.

Now after you've seen my Final Four picks and Cinderella teams. Go fill out your own brackets and good luck on beating your friends in your pools. 

Talk to you all after the first two rounds and I'll recap who's made it to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Let the Maddness Begin

After a long and exciting season, where we saw numerous No. 1 seeds fall. We'll see who the best team in the country is in Detroit. Where this years Final Four will be played on April 4 and national championship game will be played on April 6. 

March is my favorite time of the year because 64 teams have the same opportunity to be crown national champions, no matter if your from a mid-major team like Western Kentucky or Cal State Northridge or from a power conference like the ACC or Big East. 

The only thing that matters is how you play on the court and not the name on your jersey. This is why so many people across the country including myself love March Maddness because of its pureness. Any team has just as much opportunity to play for a chance to be national champions than the other team. Unlike college football where schools from the major BCS conferences are the only teams who have a legitimate chance to play for a national championship. 

This is why college basketball is so different from any other collegiate sport.  As a fan we love to root for the underdog and this year is no exception. So who will be this years Cinderella team? 

Join me tomorrow where I'll give my final four picks. Tell than have fun filling out your brackets. 

Rivalry's Renew

It was senior day for the Pittsburgh Panthers (28-3, 15-3 Big East) Sam Young #23 who scored a game high 31 points to lead Pitt to a clean sweep over rival No. 1 Connecticut Huskies (27-3, 15-3). Young outshine the big men in the middle. Fellow team mate DeJuan Blair finish with eight points and eight rebounds while UConns Hasheem Thabeet had a quite double double with fourteen points, thirteen rebounds and five blocks. UConn had no answer for Sam Young game high 25 point in there first matchup and with his dominating 31 point performance in the rematch lead Pitt to a 70-60 win over UConn on Saturday. This win solidifies Pitt to be a number one seed in next week selection sunday. But But the Panthers still have some work to do in the Big East tournament, of they win-out. They will clearly be the tournaments overall number one seed. However, the win over UConn did not get Pitt the Big East regular-season title with No. 6 Louisville winning at West Virginia 62-59 to claim their first Big East regular-season championship. 

One of the greatest rivalry's in sports Duke North Carolina was renewed on Sunday for the ACC regular-season title in Chapel Hill. It was Taylor Hansbrough final home game and surely citified him as one of the ACC greatest players ever. Hansbrough lead the Tar Heels with 17 points in a win against their fiercest rival the Duke Blue Devils. It was a pure classic with ever shot that No. 2 Caroline hit, No. 7 Duke answered back. But Duke did not have Ty Lawson who played with a toe injuring. Lawson was involved in numerous key plays and almost had a triple-double. In the end was to much for the Blue Devils with a 71-79 to North Carolina. With the win North Carolina is the number one seed in next weekend ACC tournament and surely will be a number one seed in next weeks selection Sunday. 

With all the conference tournaments starting next weekend, automatic bids will begin to be stamps to the big dance. Some teams like Northern Iowa have their ticket to the big show already. So let the March Maddness begin. Which teams will be on the bubble of getting in and which will be looking on the out? Till next weekend, enjoy all the games.