In preparation for Vegas, I'm "practicing" my basketball picks by picking a good amount of games each day and seeing if I can go over .500. I'm telling myself that this will sharpen my concentration and get my mentally prepared for four grueling days in the spotlight in Vegas. I plan to break the record of 47 bets over 48 games, set in March, 2003.
Today, I picked 13 games; there were 8 games in the early afternoon, and I went 4-4. Typical.
Tonight, there are 5 games of interest for me:
7:00 ET: Kent -6.5
9:30 ET: Georgia Tech +3 (can it, Terps fans)
9:45 ET: Miami-OH -2
9:45 ET: Georgia +8.5
9:50 ET: USC +4
With the magic of ESPN Full Court and DirecTV, I will be able to watch most of the games. Time to live blog the session! Check in starting around 9-9:30 to see what will transpire.
(quick update: 8:10: Kent 43, Buffalo 27, 18 min to go. Go Go Flashes!)
9:30: We're live from the Zahn basement with my remote, 3 Pepperidge Farm Pirouette, and a 2-liter of Fresca! Our viewing options are:
ESPN: Pitt vs West Va
ESPN 2: Missouri vs Nebraska (ugh!)
Fox: Fordham vs La Salle (that's the A-10, Derek); after that, we will join the Cal-USC game
Full court: GT vs Maryland, Ga vs Arkansas, Wyoming vs AF, and Idaho vs Nev.
It's amazing that either Fordham or LaSalle will be in the A-10 Semis!
Any bets on GW getting 1 win in the NCAA? I see them as a #6 seed now.
9:37: And we are underway in Greensboro. 2-0 Md. Defense for the Terps seems solid, for now.
Kent did cover earlier today; is it a sign of a problem that I interrupted reading "Goodnight Moon" to Warren in order to check my pager for the Kent-Buffalo final? Don't answer that.
9:47: 16-9 Terps; I think Caner-Medley touched the ball on 5 straight possesions; I think they scored on 4 of them. Maryland is dominating underneath; GT can't hit a jumper.
In the Big East - Pitt has this 7' center who is an absolutely stiff. He missed 4 point-blank shots in a row.
9:56: Please tell me no one on this blog has watched a complete episode of "Wild N Out" 21-9 Maryland. Ga Tech can't buy a basket.
10:13. 36-16 Terps. Wow. GT is terrible. Yes, Md is playing better D, but my God - there is no offensive flow, no plan on offense. Jones a 3 - 39-16 Terps. THe announcer just talked about how some players/coaches are talking about the similarities between this team and the '04 ACC championship team. Uh, no.
He also said earlier that there are teams in the ACC that needs to schedule better. Ya think? I was going to write something about Williams' comment yesterday that the Terps "would play Missouri St anytime on a netural court - we'd sign up for a 3 year series with them".
It's kind of hard to find that credible when the schedule for the Terps this year - outside of Maui - had more cupcakes than a birthday part for an 8-year-old.
We're swithing to Denver, where Wyoming is killing Air Force 34-18 with 15 minutes in the half. An Air Force loss would certainly help all bubble teams, including the Terps.
10:26: Halftime; Md 42-27. 1 FG in the last 4 minutes. Other scores:
USC leads Cal at the half, 33-31; I'm not sure that Cal is a lock if they lose this game.
Ark 30, Ga 25 ; Wyoming by 8; Miami losing by 6 in the 1st half; and Fordham up 10.
10:49: One good game right now: Wyoming 44, Air Force 41 with 4 minutes left. I'm not convinced that Air Force shoudl go even if they win this game.
It's not looking good for the practice round now, as Cal has stormed back to take the lead over USC, Ohio leads Miami by 13, and Arkansas is up 5 at the break.
Now 2 minutes to go in that AF-Wyo game; no one has scored. Still 44-41. Ugly.
10:55: That can't be right. Air Force has lost 13 straight conference tournament games. Their last win was 1990. And the last 2 years they were a #1 and #3 seed!
4 seconds left, LaSalle with the ball down 2....no! Fordham goes to the semis. Wow. The A-10 is:
St Joe's v TEmple, and Xavier v Fordham. Everyone that got a bye in the tourney - lost today. Note: Derek Wittenburg coaches the Rams.
By the way - congrats to Virginia in beating Va Tech today. One of many coming for Dave Leitao.
11:14: Well, this is turning out to be an abysmal night. Cal is up on USC by 13 with 3 min to go; Md up by 25 over Ga Tech (yeah, that pick looks good now, idiot). Miami down 15 with 7 min to play. My hope to get one win tonight rests on Georgia, who is now down 14 with 14 minutes to go.
Yikes. Well, hopefully this will follow the pattern of the 2003 US Open Qualifier; I shot an 84 or so in the practice round. 3 days later, in the real thing, I shoot 69 to advance. Let's see that under-par round in Vegas next week.
3 comments:
1. Stick with football and women's basketball.
2. I do watch Wild n Out because sometimes its funny and that new blonde chick "Cameron" is hot.
3. MD was surprising yesterday, but unfortunately it was against GT who we had already beaten twice.
4. Damn you Syracuse.
5. Damn you Temple.
6. Lets go Villanova!
The only argument that I would have is that MD's strength of schedule is 11th in the country. Now obviously that is weighted by the ACC schedule, but Temple, Minnesota, George Washington, and Gonzaga and Arkansas (from Maui) help. If MD has such a cupcake schedule, what does that make everyone ranked 12-164?
kenpom.com has the non-conf SOS listed.
Duke #6
Maryland #56
NC #65
everyone else is #150 or higher.
Have you seen BC's or Fla St's non-conference schedule? We're talking #275 and higher! There are 334 teams in D-I.
This will make a difference in a) Fla St being excluded and b) BC's seeding dropping. Look for BC to be a 7 seed or so.
Maybe I was hasty with Maryland and criticizing their schedule. However, I would like to see some road games in there. How many true road games did Maryland play in leading up to the ACC schedule?
None.
And we wonder why they struggle on the road in the ACC? Where's the prep for that?
They only had one non-conf road game; Temple. And we know how that turned out.
Regardless, it looks like Maryland may sneak in with a win tongiht. What a perfect draw for the Terps.
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