I don’t pretend to be a genius, and since I am writing this a week before you are reading it I don’t have the benefit of having watched the conference tournaments or seeing the bracket. Despite that, I’ll fearlessly wade into it and make a few bold predictions about things as they may unfold. Take them as you will:
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Author: T.O. Whentam
This upstart conference has been making noise for a few years now. This year they are especially strong, and have as many as far teams that could have a claim on a tournament spot, though they almost certainly won’t get that many.
This is not the best of times for the Pac-10. The ball out on the coast is fun to watch, but they are definitely having a mostly down year. Brighter days are ahead, but for now it just isn’t meant to be.
The Big East came into the season with a ridiculous amount of hype and they have, for the most part, lived up to it. The depth of the league wasn’t what it was supposed to be, but the top three teams are very good and could all win it without a huge surprise. If I had to pick one conference from which the winner will come it would be this one.
I can’t decide what I feel about the ACC. There are several teams I think are pretty good, but I’m not sure of any of them. The winner could very easily come from the ACC, but they could also be shut out of the Final Four. The conference isn’t as dominant as they looked like they would be before the season, but they are still very dangerous.
There is one word to sum up this conference – Brutal. I’m not convinced that any team here is worth a damn. It wouldn’t be an upset in my mind if this group’s tournament hopes were over by the end of the first weekend.
I am not generally that impressed by the Big 12. The fact that Kansas could win the regular season after being ravaged in the draft last year is partly a credit to their program, and partly a sign of the general weakness of the conference.
I’m heading down to Arizona for a few days to watch some spring training. I’m most looking forward to seeing Manny Ramirez in the Dodgers’ shiny new home in Phoenix. I’ll be back in time for the tournament in all of its’ glory, so while I am gone I wanted to leave you with a preview of what I expect. For each of the next seven days I am going to take a look at the best and worst of each of the seven major conferences’ tournament offerings (I have elevated the Mountain West because of how strong they are). On the last day before my return I will look at a random collection of thoughts and predictions about the beautiful lunacy called March Madness.
It has been more than 60 hours since it happened, but it still hasn’t entirely sunk in – Michigan is going to the tournament. Probably. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. For the first time in a long, long, long time. It would obviously help if we won a conference tournament game or two, but I think it would be a massive travesty for us to get bounced now given what we have accomplished so far and given the last win at Minnesota. Now I’m nervous. Not about how the team will do, mind you – I’m just thrilled we are there this year, so I’ll take whatever I can get. I’m nervous about how to act when your team is in the tournament. I was a much younger man the last time the Wolverines danced, so I feel lost.
I want Terrell Owens to find a team where he can settle in, shut up, and just play his game. It’s not that I am a huge fan of his, though I respect what he can do. For me, it’s more personal than that. For much of my life I lived peacefully as a T.O. No one had ever heard my name before, and no one cared. It was blissful. Then Owens started making the news every day for his stupidity, and suddenly my name became a dirty word. Owens needs to get back way under the radar and give me my name back. There are a few teams where he could do that. Here, in descending order of my preference, are five of those teams. In other words, if I was his agent this is the list of teams I would tell him to go to.
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