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Random thoughts on Friday’s action

Posted by Trips Right on March 21st, 2008 under Basketball

East

Tennessee vs. American. American gave the Vols everything they wanted before Pearl’s club pulled away. Tennessee better wake up, that’s 4 subpar games in a row.

Butler vs. South Alabama. Look, we called it, the East is unbelievably tough. It’s a far cry from the West where your 2 should have lost, your 3 should have lost, your four lost, and your five lost. Butler is the only Cinderella candidate in the East, and they’re a legit top 20 team. Howard inside gives the Bulldogs a new dimension. If they hit like they did today, they can beat Tennessee.

UNC vs. Mount St. Helen’s. That’s what happens when you play at a 1 seed trying to go up and down. You get 113 points dropped on you.

Oklahoma vs. St Joe’s. The A-10 has turned out to be a fraud. Temple goes quietly into the night and Xavier shouldn’t be playing. Blake Griffin is a fucking man. I hope he goes pro. You can make a solid case for the Big 12 being the best conference. This game wasn’t near as close as the score indicated.

Arkansas vs. Indiana. Weems made a better case for being an NBA player than Eric Gordon. 3-15 from Gordon, I’d say good riddance if I’m an IU fan.

Louisville vs. Boise State. If the Cardinals shoot like they did today they’ll be in the final four. Their smothering defense and athleticism guaranteed a win. Their shooting got them the blowout.

South

Texas vs. Austin Peay. Look, if you don’t think Dexter Pittman can be a dynamic player on the collegiate level, you’re a schmuck. The kid probably averages more rebounds per minute than any player in the country. If he played in a system that put a premium on entering the post and flattening out a defense he’d be a star. Big Dex’s statline was sick. It didn’t hurt that he played against a bunch of midgets. There are two things that Big Dex hates, and that’s racism and midgets. The Horns continue to guard at a high level, and that bodes well for Sunday’s game against an undisciplined Miami team.

Miami vs. St. Mary’s. Moving on to Miami, what a come from behind, wake up from the dead game vs. a good St Mary’s club. Jack McClinton absolutely goes off for 38 on 12-19 shooting. Justin Mason better strap it on.

Mississippi State vs. Oregon. It took a whole half for the Bulldogs to realize that they could get any good shot they wanted vs. a pourous Duck defense whenever they wanted it. Oregon shot the ball poorly in the second half. Couple that with MSU’s good second half shot selection and you get the double digit come from behind win.

Memphis vs. Texas Arlington. Unless you were playing the game within the game angle, this was a yawner. Two free throws with 5 seconds left cost some Memphis backers some money.

Midwest

Davidson vs. Gonzaga. We called the upset, but didn’t account for Dell Currey’s son to dropping 30 points in the second half on Mark Few’s mushroom smokers. Unbelievable game.

Georgetown vs. UMBC. Another methodical dismantling by the Hoyas. I’m still trying to figure out how UMBC was a 15 seed.

Vanderbilt vs. Siena. A game we called the 13 seed over a 4. Vanderbilt has a very difficult time breaking teams down off the dribble, and Siena matches up well deploying four glorified guards that can create shots. And boy did they create, 9-20 from 3 and 57% from the field. Siena really matches up well with Villanova and has a solid chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

Clemson vs. Villanova. What a collapse by the Tigers? Up 36 to 18 with 28 minutes to play and you blow that lead. That’s what happens when you consistently take bad shots and are a stone cold lock to be at a deficit at the foul line because you can’t shoot foul shots. Give credit to the Wildcats for hanging around and making the Tigers grip.

West

Western Kentucky vs. Drake. Again we called this one as well. In a game that set a record for 3 pointers made and attempted, the Hilltoppers overcame getting doubled up at the foul line and a late Drake run to force overtime, to win a nailbiter in what amounts to the game of the tourney so far. Ty Rogers’ 35 footer to win it as time expired is the stuff that dreams are made of. I’ve hit that shot hundreds of times on my nerf hoop when I was a kid. It’s the Madness.

San Diego vs. UCONN. Well, it’s pretty safe to say the Huskies didn’t want to be there. My lord what an uninspired performance by Calhoun’s troops. Perhaps it’s function of the team’s youth, but the Torrero’s aren’t near as good as the Huskies made them look. Pitiful performance by UCONN.

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3 Responses

  1. CrazyJoeDavola said:

    March 21st, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Trips, I was writing my post as you were publishing. My apologies for the areas where I overlapped.

    Mount St. Helens – nice. Intentional? I don’t care, because regardless, UNC blew them the f up.

    Dex’s abuse of that AP player – where he ripped the ball out of the guy’s arms, and said guy’s arms out of said guy’s sockets – caused me to jump off the couch and go “woo!”. That’s behavior I normally don’t tolerate in myself or any other, so clearly I was impressed. I can’t wait to see him play next year.

    Butler is the anti-Drake.

  2. Kafka said:

    March 22nd, 2008 at 6:48 am

    “There are two things that Big Dex hates, and that’s racism and midgets”.

    LOL funny!

    It was equally funny to see Dex just rip the ball from a guy who had two hands securely on the ball so fast that the refs didn’t even think about calling a held ball. It was also cool to see Dex effortlessly pick up a ball (during live action) from the floor with one hand. The only down side for Dex was his 4 turnovers. If Dex can just forget about dribbling more than one dribble, it will cut his turnovers down quite a bit. If he had gotten more playing time this year, a lot of those rough edges would have been smoothed out by now. Totally agree that Dex would already be a star on some other teams.

    Mason did not look ready for prime time WRT his ball handling (props to Barnes for trying to rest Augustin). Mason looked out of control. The horns need to focus on getting the ball inside when Augustin is out of the game.

  3. Trips Right said:

    March 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am

    CrazyJoe, no worries bro, the more the merrier. The Mt. St. Helens’ reference was intentional, hope you thought it was funny.

    Kafka, thanks man. Good to see you again. The play where pittman meat hooked the ball off the floor was funny as hell. Dude’s a physical freak.

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