Almost a perfect day

Great to see (though I missed most of the game on a plane) pull out a tough win yesterday over Washington.  Best part was we got contributions from everyone, especially Strickland on D and O. 

Harrison Barnes was once again his clutch self nailing that huge 3 late, Zeller was steady and unstoppable in the second half, and KButter5 had a great second half.

Downside was not much defense on anyone not named Isaiah Thomas.  But got to give it up for Strickland's effort on Washington's best player.

The other downside, Duke pulling it out against Michigan.

And though I'm not happy when the Hansbrough family is sad great to see FSU make it to the Sweet 16.  My years in Tallahassee have made FSU my (distant) second-favorite ACC school.  Not only did the Noles advance, over a Big East team, it gives the ACC 3 teams in the Sweet 16 - the most of any conference.

The dozens of readers of this space now I think the Big East is overrated, and this weekend's games prove it.  Odd to see Marquette as one of the survivors.   UConn makes sense, and I'll be pulling hard for the Huskies to beat Dook if they manage to defeat Arizona (a tough out),  but I thought Pitt was the only other legit Big East team.  I guess I gave that un-offfensive minded conference too much credit.

GO HEELS!

Travel Notes

I type this in the Frankfurt Airport, a nice enough place but not very efficient.  Getting our boarding passes and going through security here took forever.  

But the good news is we'll be in Athens in a few hours, and Ariadne has been a great travel companion - very mellow - despite some difficult connections.

Should NOT Go Up to 11

After watching the Carolina-Duke game for the sixth time in the last four days, I tuned into a little of the Big East tournament tonight.  I've always thought the Big East was overrated, this year and every year.  Year and year, teams in that conference are usually not skilled at a key basketball skill called "making baskets."  

Other than being bad at the main goal of the endeavor, it's a great league (honest, why would ESPN lie?).

So after watching some Big East action, and checking on the records of some of the teams in that conference, I am more convinced than ever that there is NO WAY the Big East deserves 11 bids.  

Pitt and Notre Dame are good teams playing well, and Syracuse, Louisville and St. Johns each won two-thirds of their conference games (though Louisville lost to Drexel and they only have one real quality non-conference win over UNLV; St. Johns defeated Duke but lost to Fordham and St. Bonaventure).

Those 5 are legit, as are UConn - with wins over Tennessee (a team that beat Pitt), Texas, Kentucky and Michigan State - though there were only 9-9 in conference.  Georgetown is limping-out the season without an injured Chris Wright; the Hoyas have lost 5 of their last 6.  But you have to keep them in the big dance due to their wins over Memphis, Missouri, and Old Dominion.  

Up to 7 bids for the Big East.

But the other teams often discussed - West Virginia, Cincinnati, Villanova and Marquette- have very weak cases for making the NCAA tournament.  All four feasted on bottom dwellers like DePaul, South Florida, and Rutgers.  Conversely, none of those squads have more than one impressive win.

West Virginia defeated Vanderbilt, but lost to Miami, Minnesota - two legit teams - but also to Marshall.  They have one win.

Villanova has been exposed as a fraud, losing 5 in a row and going 5 and 10 in their last 15 games.  Their best wins were early in the season to UCLA and Temple, but they too lost to Tennessee.  They do not deserve a bid.

Cincinnati has one of the weakest cases of all.  To their credit, they have no losses to Marshall or Drexel.  But their best win out of conference is Xavier.  That's it.

As weak as the Bearcats' bid is, Marquette's is even weaker. They are 19-13, and 9-9 in conference  with NO good wins outside the Big East.  They did manage to lose to every legit team on their schedule: Duke, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt. 

Maybe the Big East, a conference with approximately 47 member schools, should have 7 bids, perhaps 8 to reward West Virginia for defeating Vanderbilt.  But anything more than 8 is a joke.