Aussie Hoop playoffs start tonight....

Playoff time in Australia 

Australia’s National Basketball League has reached the postseason with four teams vying for the title. The semi-finals which are the best of three start later today when the New Zealand Breakers host the Townsville Crocodiles. In the other semi-final the Perth Wildcats will meet the Gold Coast Blaze.


New Zealand finished the regular season on top of the ladder with a record of 21-7, Perth went 19-9 in finishing second, Gold Coast finished 17-11 and Townsville came in at 15-13 for fourth.


New Zealand is hoping to send the retiring CJ Bruton off in style and is favourites to take the crown. Breakers Gary Wilkinson, Thomas Abercrombie, Cedric Jackson and stalwart Daryl Corletto will be integral in making that happen. Perth will continue to look to NBL MVP Kevin Lisch to lead their charge. Jesse Wagstaff and Shawn Redhage round out the major threats for the rugged Wildcats lineup. For the Queensland teams, the Gold Coast  squad of Coach Joey Wright to advance, they will need solid play from Captain Adam Gibson and forward Mark Worthington. Finally North Queenslanders Townsville  is hoping Peter Crawford and Eddie Gill can lead them to a couple of upsets on the way to the title.


Prediction wise, I will give the nod to New Zealand and Perth for a championship series.


You can read the preview from the NBL site here.


I’ll be back with my NCAA Final Four picks tomorrow.

Let the Madness Begin!!

Finally….”The Chuck” has come back to his basketball blog…and not a moment too soon…..it is March after all.

We are at the final weekend of the regular season for most NCAA teams with conference tournaments going into full drive next week. But before next week, my focus will be on the rematch between North Carolina and Duke Saturday night!! Most of my Facebook friends who follow the Devils from Durham have been quite delighted that my background at: www.facebook.com/ChuckDownUnder has been the Duke logo since February 8. Well Dookies….let’s see if any of you will take up the challenge of using the UNC logo as yours after we #OccupyCameron on Saturday!!

Ok…now looking through the conferences here are my observations:

America East: http://www.americaeast.com

Currently Stony Brook, Vermont and Boston University are battling for the conference regular season crown. Only the tourney winner will go dancing from this conference.

Atlantic Coast: http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/acc-m-baskbl-body.html

There are three locks…Duke, North Carolina and Florida State from the ACC for NCAA action. Duke and Carolina are expected to go deep … hmm…will we finally see Duke vs. Carolina in the Big Dance?

Virginia will need a quality win or two in the ACC tourney to go dancing. The story is similar for NC State and Miami, Fla. With both needing a run in the ACC tourney.

Atlantic Sun: http://www.atlanticsun.org/mbasketball

Belmont looks to be head and shoulders above the rest of the conference but will still need to sweep through the tournament.

Atlantic 10: http://www.atlantic10.com/sports/m-baskbl/atl10-m-baskbl-body.html

Temple is pretty much a lock with St. Louis nearly there. One, possibly two more bids will go to teams from the group of St. Bonaventure, Xavier, St. Joe’s, UMass, LaSalle and Dayton.

Big East: http://www.bigeast.org/Sports/MensBasketball.aspx

Syracuse, Marquette, Notre Dame and Georgetown have pretty much punched their tickets to the dance. Louisville is just about there with S. Florida, Cincy, Seton Hall and possibly UConn or West Virginia advancing.

Big Sky: http://www.bigeast.org/Sports/MensBasketball.aspx

Expect Montana or Weber St. to advance.

Big South: http://www.bigsouthsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&SPID=1987&SPSID=25346

UNC-Asheville will face surprise finalist VMI for the NCAA bid in the championship game.

Big 10: http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/big10-m-baskbl-body.html

Michigan State has battled to the top of the conference and there are some who will say they are a #1 seed. To that I remind them of losses to both Duke and North Carolina!!

Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana should be in with Purdue needing at least two more wins to get a look. Northwestern….I’m rooting for you to make a run in the conference tourney to finally get that bid!!

Big 12: http://www.big12sports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=10410&SPID=13134&SPSID=106110

The Big 12 will get at least five bids with either Kansas State or Texas joining Kansas, Missouri, Baylor and Iowa State.

Pending tournament performance, both teams could go dancing.

Big West: http://www.bigwest.org/sports/mbball

Long Beach St. has stormed through conference play without a loss and has played enough quality competition outside of the league to gain a bid.

Colonial: http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8500&ATCLID=204843910

Though the conference will only get 1-2 bids, they deserve more. Drexel, VCU, George Mason and Old Dominion are the challengers for the title and all are capable of another NCAA run from the conference.

Conference USA: http://www.conferenceusa.com/sports/m-baskbl/c-usa-m-baskbl-body.html

Memphis and Southern Miss look to be the cream of the crop…probably only one team from this conference will go dancing.

Horizon League: http://www.horizonleague.org/mens-basketball.html

Butler is making a late season run and advanced to the conference semi-finals against regular season leaders Valparaiso. The conference tourney winner will have to only NCAA bid.

Ivy: http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/index

Harvard and Penn look to be headed for a playoff for the NCAA bid.

MAAC: http://www.maacsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17400&SPID=10446&SPSID=87906

Iona is the favourite for conference crown and NCAA bid.

Mid-America: http://www.mac-sports.com/Sports/BasketballM.aspx

The MAC has had a down year, expect only the tourney winner to go dancing and Akron goes in as the favourite.

MEAC: http://www.meacsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=20800&SPID=12094&SPSID=98180

Conference’s only bid will most likely go to Savannah State, Norfolk State or Delaware State.

Missouri Valley: http://mvc-sports.com/

Wichita State and Creighton both deserve a dance card!!

Mountain West: http://www.themwc.com/sports/m-baskbl/mwc-m-baskbl-body.html

Three bids should go to this conference….UNLV, New Mexico and San Diego State. Colorado State could sneak in with an upset in the conference tourney.

Northeast Conference: http://www.northeastconference.org/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=mensbasketball

Wagner, Long Island and Robert Morris are still kicking in the conference tourney with one of them likely to go dancing….I’ll say Wagner.

Ohio Valley: http://www.ovcsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=6200&SPID=2443&SPSID=31039

Murray State has won the conference tournament and will be dangerous in the NCAA’s.

PAC 12: http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/BasketballM.aspx

The conference has had a quiet year and may get lucky with three bids. Figure them to go to Washington, Cal, Arizona or Oregon.

Patriot: http://www.patriotleague.org/sports/m-baskbl/patr-m-baskbl-body.html

Lehigh, Bucknell or American should go dancing after the conference tournament.

Southeastern: http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/SECSPORTS/SPORTS/BASKETBALLM.aspx

Conference should get six bids with Kentucky as a possible overall #1 Seed for the NCAA tourney. The question is can Kentucky avoid the upset on the big stage??

Expect Florida, Vandy, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi State to join the Wildcats in the Big Dance.

Southern Conference: http://www.soconsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=4000&SPID=1798&SPSID=22064

Conference tournament is underway with the always dangerous Davidson squad as favourites.

Southland: http://www.southland.org/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18400&SPID=10825&SPSID=90089

Texas-Arlington is the favourite to win the conference tournament.

SWAC: http://www.swac.org/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=27400&SPID=93277&SPSID=632830

Miss Valley State has run through the regular season impressively and will be tourney favourites.

Summit: http://www.thesummitleague.org

Oral Roberts is the favourite to advance here.

Sun Belt: http://www.sunbeltsports.org/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=4100&SPID=1825&SPSID=22326

Middle Tennessee State goes into the conference tourney as the favourite to go dancing.

West Coast Conference:

http://www.wccsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/west-m-baskbl-body.html

The conference has three worthy teams, St. Mary’s, Gonzaga and BYU….will they get the three bids?? Stay tuned….

WAC: http://www.wacsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10100&SPID=4126

Nevada looks solid for the NCAA’s. New Mexico State will need a run to get to the bubble.

That will do it for now….back with a look at the Aussie seasons and some NBA stuff in a few days.

NCAA Final

NCAA Men’s Final

Well, the denouement is neigh for the 2010-2011 NCAA basketball season. Of course my bracket is shattered, of course my picks in the semi final games were wrong, of course I’ll attempt to pick the winner of the championship game and this will be my last prediction of this year’s college season.

The Final:

Butler vs. UConn

Well one UConn team has bitten the dust in the Final Four after the Husky ladies suffered a shock loss to Notre Dame in the semi finals. As for the men’s team, they come in a slight favourite over Butler although the Bulldogs are in the championship game for the second year in a row.

Prediction wise I will go with Butler due to their nucleus of players left over from last season. UConn will not get away with another bad performance like the one they put forward against Kentucky

So….

Butler wins 66-62.

My tourney picking record for 2011: 40 right-24 wrong

NCAA Final Four

Final Four 2011

Well none of my Final Four picks from my personal bracket are playing this weekend but I am by no means on an island….several brackets were shattered during the course of this years tournament.

Ok, right to the picks.

VCU vs. Butler

In an oddity of sorts, the team that made it to last season’s championship game—Butler is still a Cinderella story this year. That being said one of these two underdogs will advance to the final. Both have been on amazing runs but for this one, I’ll take VCU to advance by 5.

Kentucky vs. UConn

Both schools are making headlines for the wrong reasons over the last day or so unfortunately. UConn has been on an unreal run through the Big East tournament and the NCAA’s but will need solid inside play to pull this one off. Hmmm….Kentucky by 3.

College Hoops....

The Madness Ensues

It has gotten to that time of year again, look for a few weeks of bloodshot eyes, hoarse voices and sick days taken from work. Yep, March Madness is upon us. With the action in full swing all around the USA this weekend as teams vie for one of the 68 available places in this seasons NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships.

A few teams already have tickets to the big dance. In thus far are (Conference in parenthesis):

Belmont (Atlantic Sun)

UNC-Asheville (Big South)

Northern Colorado (Big Sky)

Old Dominion (Colonial)

Butler (Horizon)

St. Peter’s (MAAC)

Indiana State (Missouri Valley)

Long Island (Northeast)

Morehead State (Ohio Valley)

Wofford (Southern)

Oakland (Summit)

Arkansas-Little Rock (Sun Belt)

Gonzaga (West Coast)

Sizing up the rest:

America East http://www.americaeast.com/

Stony Brook vs. Boston U for conference championship and lone NCAA bid on Saturday.

ACC http://www.theacc.com/

While it is a lean year nationally by ACC standards look for bids to go to North Carolina, Clemson, Duke and Virginia Tech.

Atlantic 10 http://www.atlantic10.com/

Xavier, Temple and Richmond should all be dancing from the A-10.

Big East http://www.bigeast.org/

Conference set to have an unprecedented 11 teams in tourney…..we’ll see on Sunday.

Big Ten http://www.bigten.org/

Five bids to the Big 10 with the possibility of Michigan State making it six.

Big Twelve http://www.big12sports.com/

Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas State and Colorado should be in.

Conference USA http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/

Alabama-Birmingham could be out of NCAA play after failing to consolidate their regular season championship….Memphis and UTEP are favourites to meet in tourney final with the winner going on to NCAA play.

Ivy League http://www.ivyleaguesports.com

Harvard plays off against Princeton for the leagues automatic bid.

Mid America Conference http://www.mac-sports.com/

Conference tourney down to semis with Akron playing Western Michigan and Ball State playing Kent State. Kent State is regular season champ and most likely to win tourney and NCAA bid.

MEAC http://www.meacsports.com

Semi Finals are up with Morgan State playing Bethune-Cookman and Norfolk State meeting Hampton. Cookman should get the bid but do not rule out Morgan State.

Mountain West

Brigham Young, San Diego State and UNLV have tickets to the dance, New Mexico could crash the party with one more win in conference tourney.

Pacific Ten http://www.pac-10.org

Arizona, Washington and UCLA should be in with USC as a hopeful.

Patriot League http://www.patriotleague.org/

Bucknell faces Lafayette for the NCAA bid.

Southeastern Conference http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com

Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Georgia should be in with Alabama hanging on to hope.

Southland Conference http://www.southland.org/

Favourites McNeese State should get a win over Texas-San Antonio and the NCAA bid.

Southwest Athletic Conference http://www.swac.org

Grambling meets Jackson State and Texas Southern plays Alabama State in the semis. Texas-Southern is favourite to get the bid.

Western Athletic Conference http://www.wacsports.com

San Jose State faces Utah State and Boise State meets New Mexico State in semi final round. Utah State is the crème of the crop in this conference and should go to NCAA’s even with a loss.

I will be back to size up the brackets and make a few predictions on Sunday. Until then…enjoy the Festival de Hoops.

The return....

Back …..finally….

After spending time on the “injured reserve” list, working and doing other sports related stuff (Australian Baseball League and NFL); the “Chuck” has come back to Basketball!!

I am sure there is quite a lot for me to catch up on. Here in Australia, the NBL is getting down to crunch time, the WNBL is up to the prelim final stage and various state associations are just ramping up activities for the forthcoming season. Elsewhere, the Euroleague is getting down to the business end of the season, the NBA is in its stretch run and “Selection Sunday” is just over a week away on the NCAA horizon.

So…today I am starting with an “around the grounds” look at the hoop world.

NCAA Basketball kicks off!!!

NCAA Basketball is Back!!!

The excitement returns in earnest this week after a smattering of games over the last week or so.

Firstly, I will not openly be anti-Duke this year!! Not necessarily a fan but now have family there so good luck to Josh Hairston and Coach K’s Blue Devils, except maybe in your two games versus the Tar Heels!!!

Do not be surprised to see the ACC take its third NCAA tile in a row come April 2011. May not necessarily be the Duke squad though. North Carolina is looking for blood after a sub par season by lofty Tarheel standards.

Elsewhere around the country, Michigan State looks solid again and should go deep into the post season. Ohio State will be good, Kansas will be solid, and Kansas State may be better than their in state rivals.

As the season progresses look for St. Mary’s, CA and Gonzaga to pop up as always from the West.

Inevitably there will be mid major and small conference surprises so look out big time programmes, it only takes one game to change a season.

My Current NCAA Top 10

1. Duke
2. Michigan State
3. North Carolina
4. Pitt
5. Kansas State
6. Kansas
7. Villanova
8. Ohio State
9. Florida
10. Syracuse

The season cranks up big time tonight on ESPN….can’t wait!!!

NCAA Final

Duke Wins NCAA Crown in a Thriller

While a common thread of this season being a bit sub par compared to past offerings, Duke and Butler put on a show to remember in the NCAA Championship match. In the end the Blue Devils became the first team to score 60 or more points against the stingy Bulldog defence by scoring 61 and hanging on in the tumultuous final minutes for a 61-59 title win.

The game will ultimately be seen as a classic having gone down to the wire with a Butler last gasp heave just bouncing off of the rim as time expired. The win made it two titles in a row for the ACC after the conference was perceived as weaker than usual throughout the season.

Congrats to both teams on a match well played.

The final bit of NCAA business will be settled when the ladies from Stanford (36-1) attempt to end Connecticut’s (38-0) 72 game win streak in Tuesday night’s ladies final in San Antonio, Texas.

New Hoops concept hits Australia

Elite Classic Kicks off in Adelaide

Tuesday at noon Australian time, a new innovative basketball tourney will kick off with the start of The Elite Classic-High Stakes Hoop$ tournament. The classic will see eight teams vie for a minimum purse of $250,000 over the five day event. The event can be seen live on Australia’s OneHD.

The Classic will provide some unique features including a “Game Breaker Phase”, where on one occasion in each half for a three minute period, every made three point shot will count as four points. The phase can be initiated by either the coach of the team or the on court captain.

The Classic will also feature the “Game within the Game”, where points are awarded for winning individual quarters. This will be compiled by awarding two points for every quarter won by the losing team. The winning team will automatically receive eight points.

The rosters for the event have a smattering of talent from across the globe, some instantly recognisable with NBA pedigree and most with NCAA experience along with some of Australia’s favourites.

The Rosters:

Rush
Team Rights Owner – Lanard Copeland
Coach – Sedale Threatt.
25 Michael Boone *
23 Lonnie Harrell *
9 Chris Brown *
22 Michael Rose **
24 Brad Bridgewater
10 Sedale Threatt Jr
11 Yusuf Qaafow
12 Daniel Dillon
14 Thalo Green
Fleet
Team Rights Owner – Brett Maher & Consortium
Coach Ken Cole
12 Troy Jackson **
23 Willie Farley **
15 Brett Maher
21 Chris Goulding
20 Riley Luettgerodt
24 Luke Schenscher
7 Tom Daly
25 Chris Molitor
22 Oscar Forman

Rays
Team Rights Owner Pat Reidy & Matt Shanahan
Coach – Matt Shanahan
25 David Fisher *
14 Freddy Robinson *
11 Kevin Lisch **
13 Peter Crawford
33 Tony Ronaldson
10 Damien Martin
15 Adam Gibson
20 Brad Hill
24 Ben Allen
David Bowley

Cyclones
Coach – Bruce Bolden
21 Terrence Woodberry *
22 Mario Brown *
14 Graeme Dann
10 BJ Carter
20 Clint Reed
9 Deba George
24 Steven Broom
11 Josh Knight
12 Brad Gerlach
25 Jordan Dodman

Monarchs
Team Rights Owner – John de la Torre
Coach -  Al Green
20 Isiah Victor *
11 Scott O’Gallagher *
24 Martinis Woody **
12 Wayne Oliver **
21 Ed Millard **
15 Rashard Tucker **
22 Galen Young **
13 Brad Williamson
14 Julius Hodge
23 Lance Allred
Coasters
Team Rights Owner – Julie Corletto
Coach Darryl “D Mac” McDonald
23 D’Lancy Carter *
10 Mike Helms *
11 Bennett Davison **
15 Sean Lampley **
12 Luke McMillan
13 Kevin Ratzch
4 Brad Davidson
7 Darren Ng
9 Derrick McDonald
Pythons
Team Rights Owner – Lance “Buddy” Franklin
Coach – Mark Bradtke
10 Mark Bradtke
5 Tony Danridge **
11 Kevin Johnson **
15 Harry Lum **
23 Corey “Homicide” Williams **
4 Dante Sykes **
13 Geremy Robinson **
7 John Rillie
9 Michael Florence
8 Mike McDaniel
Reef
Team Rights Owner – Stewart Briggs & Dale Ryan
Coach Dale Ryan & Mick Downer
14 Jason Cameron
8 Nathan Niesler
13 Todd Blanchfield
15 Blogoj Janev
12 David Bartholomaeus
9 John Fitzgerald
10 Keith Borgen
11 Jason Curtis
5 Anthony Esparza
4 Stephen Hoare

*denotes Draft pick from Overseas Player Draft.

** denotes overseas player signed directly by team, these players did not nominate for the Draft and were signed as free agents.

TBA denotes To Be Announced.

The Draw:

Tuesday 6 April
12:00 pm  Cyclones v Monarchs
2:00 pm    Coasters v Rays
4:00 pm    Fleet v Rush
6:00 pm    Reef v Pythons
Wednesday 7 April
12:00 pm  Pythons v Coasters
2:00 pm    Rush v Cyclones
4:00 pm    Rays v Reef
6:00 pm    Monarchs v Fleet
Thursday 8 April
11:00 am  Fleet v Cyclones
1:00 pm    Reef v Coasters
3:00 pm    Rush v Monarchs
5:00 pm    Pythons v Rays
Friday 9 April
4:00 pm    Semi-Final #1
6:00 pm    Semi-Final #2
Sunday 11 April
4:30 pm    Championship Game

There is more info and a fan forum at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elite-Classic-Basketball/264829268543
The tourney homepage is at: http://www.highstakeshoops.com

NCAA Final on Tap

Blue Devils, Bulldogs square off for NCAA Crown

Butler’s Bulldogs scraped by Michigan State 52-50 and Duke blasted West Virginia 78-57 to set up Mondays Championship tilt in Indianapolis, just five miles from the Butler campus. The Blue Devils (34-5) go in as slight favourites but will have to contend with what will be essentially a home court advantage for Butler (33-4). The key to the match will be Butler’s defence; so far, no team has scored more than 6o points against the Bulldogs. Duke will look to make it a run and gun affair.

After much soul searching, I will have to go against my beloved ACC and choose Butler to finish their dream run by 4 points.

College Hoops Roundup

Other Tourney News

Other than the NCAA Men’s Championship, we are also down to the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Recently in Regional Finals, the Connecticut Huskies routed Florida State 90-50, Baylor’s ladies avenged the loss by their male counterparts by beating Duke 51-48, Stanford escaped 55-53 over Xavier, and Oklahoma routed Kentucky 88-68. Final Four Matches will see undefeated Connecticut (37-0) face Baylor (27-9) and Stanford (35-1) square off against Oklahoma (27-10) on Sunday US time with the winners meeting for the national title on Tuesday night.

NCAA Division 2

In the Division 2 Championship matches, Cal Poly Pomona defeated Indiana, Pa 65-53 for the Men’s title while Emporia State stopped Fort Lewis by an identical 65-53 score for the Women’s crown.

NCAA Division 3

In Division 3, Wisconsin-Stephens Point took the title with a 78-73 victory over Williams and Washington-St. Louis topped Hope 65-59 for the Women’s crown.

Also in the NAIA, Oklahoma Baptist won a thriller over Azusa Pacific 84-83 for the title. Unfortunately for Azusa Pacific, their ladies team also went down in the final losing to Union-Tennessee 73-65 in the title match. The win was Union’s second consecutive NAIA crown.

Elsewhere, in the CollegeInsider.com tournament, Missouri State topped Pacific 78-65. Virginia Commonwealth University won the two out of three series over Saint Louis University to claim the College Basketball Invitational tourney crown.

The Four Best Step to the Fore

We now have the Final four set for the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Over the weekend we saw Michigan state squeeze out Tennessee 70-69 to take the Midwest Region title, Butler earn a trip back home to Indiana by beating Kansas State 63-56 in the West Region, West Virginia end the dream for Kentucky’s young Wildcats 73-66 in the East Region and Duke end Baylor’s run to glory 78-71 in the South Region.

This weekend sees West Virginia face off against Duke and Michigan State match up against Butler in the Final Four.

I went 1 right three wrong, leaving me no chance to break even prediction wise this year for the tourney as I stand at 28 right, 32 wrong…ugh!!!! My year was as bad as the beloved Tarheels!!

Later in the week I will look into the shattered pieces of the Crystal Ball and soldier on with picks!! LOL!!

We Now Have The Elite Eight

With today’s wins by Duke over Purdue 70-57 and Baylor’s 72-49 thumping of Saint Mary’s, the South Region’s final two is set. The same for the Midwest where Michigan State put an end the Northern Iowa’s Cinderella story with a 59-52 victory that puts them in the regions title tilt against Tennessee who escaped with a 76-73 win over Ohio State.

The results of the last two days left me at 3 correct and 5 wrong for the Sweet 16 Round and 27 right, 29 wrong for the Tournament. Why quit now….I may just break even!!!

For the Regional Finals:

Kentucky by 3 over West Virginia in the East

Butler over Kansas State by 6 in the West

Tennessee over Michigan State by 6 in the Midwest

Baylor over Duke by 8 in the South

Ok, they’re out there, now I’m going to rest up for another early morning of hoops here in Australia.

(The) Butler does it to Syracuse

The Butler Bulldogs sent Syracuse packing in the semi-finals of the West Region in today’s NCAA action 63-59. With Syracuse leading by four, Butler scored eleven unanswered points before a late layup by the Orangemen. The Bulldogs will now meet Kansas State, 101-96 double overtime winners over Xavier in the West Regional final. A Butler win would send them on to the Final Four in their hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.

The East Region results saw both West Virginia 69-56 over Washington, and Kentucky 62-45 over Cornell advance to a showdown for the Regional title and place in the Final Four.

Next up we have battles between Tennessee and Ohio State followed by Northern Iowa versus Michigan State in the Midwest Region. The South Region will see Saint Mary’s meet Baylor and Purdue lock horns with top seeded Duke.

Ok, I have yet another Crystal Ball (lucky I bought in bulk), and I’m seeing:

Ohio State over Tennessee by 4

Northern Iowa upsetting Michigan State by 3

Baylor over Saint Mary’s by 8

Duke over Purdue by 11

Ok, I’m out for now…..

Sweet 16 Time!!!

The 2010 NCAA tourney has reached the Sweet 16 phase with a few surprises along the way. On Friday morning ( Thursday night US time), the East and West Regions come to the fore with the Washington Huskies facing the West Virginia Mountaineers in game one followed by Cornell facing Kentucky in a David versus Goliath battle in the East. Out West it will be Butler against Syracuse followed by a matchup between Xavier and Kansas State.

EAST REGION

Washington-West Virginia

Washington comes into the game with a 26-9 record and on the crest of a two upset wave after pipping Marquette 80-78 in the first round and blowing out favoured New Mexico 82-64 in the second round. West Virginia heads into the game on a run of their own with relatively easy wins over Morgan State 77-50 in the first round and a 68-59 victory over Missouri in round two that pushed their record to 29-6.

In a bit of bad news for West Virginia, point guard Darryl Bryant suffered a broken foot in practice this week but the Mountaineers have a deep bench and should survive.

PREDICTION: West Virginia by 6.

Cornell-Kentucky

Cornell comes in from the lightly regarded Ivy League but with a giant killing reputation after topping Temple 78-65 and Wisconsin 87-69 in the first two rounds. The Big Red feature something most big time teams no longer have most seasons---seniors and chemistry. Kentucky is full of stars and prized recruits but at this time of year, under the spotlight, could be primed for a loss. In tournaments past, the Wildcats have been known to lose a big one or two.

PREDICTION: Cornell by 2.

WEST REGION

Butler-Syracuse

The teams enter the match with identical 30-4 records with Butler on a twenty two game winning streak. The Butler crew slammed UTEP 77-59 in Round one before escaping against Murray State 54-52. Syracuse ran rampant over Vermont 79-56 and Gonzaga 87-65 in the first two rounds.

Syracuse has been solid thus far and Butler will be hard pressed to match them in this one.

PREDICTION: Syracuse by 18.

Xavier-Kansas State

Not a lot of info on this one for me, just beware Xavier, they are rugged and proven.

PREDICTION: Xavier by 7.

Cornell continues to surprise

The Cornell Big Red continued their tear through the NCAA tourney field with a dismantling of the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday by an 87-69 count. The only other minor upsets of the day were a 71-68 Xavier victory over Pittsburgh and Michigan States 85-83 squeaker over Maryland.

Purdue continued to survive with 63-61 overtime win over Texas A&M. Meanwhile, favourites Syracuse 87-65 over Gonzaga, Duke 68-53 over California, Ohio State 75-66 over Georgia Tech and West Virginia 68-59 over Missouri continued their run through the bracket.

We now have a few days off to recover from the excitement before the Sweet Sixteen games this weekend.

I rebounded for a respectful 5 right, 3 wrong day after the horrors of yesterday.

Overall for the tourney, I stand at a break even 24 right, 24 wrong for the tourney. I will be making my predictions for the Sweet 16 as soon as I put my Crystal Ball back together!!!