NCAA Play-In Games

Let the Play-In Begin

Now we get to the start of the Madness of March!! With the new expanded 68 team format in place, play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday will serve as appetisers for the main course of the full bracket.

Play-In Games:

Clemson vs. Alabama-Birmingham

UAB suffered a first round loss in their conference tourney but were rewarded with a controversial bid to the Big Dance much to the chagrin of Virginia Tech and Colorado. In this one I think the pedigree of the ACC will win out.

Prediction: Clemson by 7 or more.

UNC-Asheville vs. Arkansas-Little Rock

In a game featuring teams that made surprise runs through their conference tournaments Arkansas-Little Rock finished the regular season with a three game losing streak while UNC-Asheville has won six in a row. I think the Big South crew may pull it out.

Prediction: UNC-Asheville by 3.

Virginia Commonwealth vs. Southern California

Many have said that VCU does not belong but the Rams are a solid team and will give USC fits.

Prediction: VCU by 5.

Texas-San-Antonio vs. Alabama State

Two more surprise tourney winners in this one. Not much is known about either squad but I will go with the Texans.

Prediction: UTSA by 6.

I will be back in a day or so with my full bracket picks, until then tune in and enjoy the action.

WNBL Grand Final this afternoon

Bulleen hoping for charm of third time

The Bulleen Boomers will face the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL Championship for the third consecutive season today. The Boomers are looking to reverse their fortunes of the last two and get over the hump. Meanwhile Canberra, holder of a number of championships will be looking for their first three-peat.

The teams split their two regular season matches before Bulleen pulled out a 71-67 win in the First Semi Final of the playoffs. Canberra gained posted an 83-78 win over Bendigo last week to earn a return match today.

Bulleen will as always rely on the play of Elizabeth Cambage in the post to lead their efforts. Cambage averaged 22.6 points per game for the season to go along with her stellar rebounding and inside defence. The Boomers are hoping to have Kylie Reid and Rachel Jerry healthy for the match.

Canberra is hoping to have a healthy Susie Batkovic to battle Cambage inside. The trio of Carly Wilson, Jessica Bibby and Mariana Tolo will need to again step forward if the Capitals are going to three-peat.

Prediction:

I should probably say “kiss of death” for the team I pick to win with the way my predictions go but I will pick Canberra to win 70-64 and gain their third straight title.

The action starts at 3pm AEST on the ABC Network  

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.

WNBL Action

WNBL Prelim Final on tap

The hotly contested WNBL season is nearing a crescendo as Canberra Capitals face off against the Bendigo Spirit for a chance to play Bulleen’s Boomers for the 2010-2011 WNBL Championship on 13 March 2011. To get to this point, Bendigo disposed of the Logan Thunder 74-53 last weekend while Canberra dropped a 71-67 heartbreaker to Bulleen.

On paper, Canberra should breeze through this one after 64-53 and 87-59 romps over the Spirit in the regular season. Suzy Batkovic, Marianna Tolo and Carly Wilson have led from the front for the Capitals all season and should do so again in this game. Bendigo will need a boost from key players Tess Madgen, Kristi Harrower and Gabrielle Richards to be competitive.

The action can be viewed live from 1500 (AEST) Saturday on the ABC network.

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!!!

NBA Update

The Hoops Roundup……NBA

With the NBA season a little over a week old…..there are some surprises around. Chris Paul, now healthy has led the rejuvenated New Orleans Hornets to a perfect start. The team is using a balanced scoring attack to keep the pressure on opponents with Jason Smith bringing energy and skill from the bench now that he is finally getting more court time with his new team. Emeka Okafor is always a double/double threat alongside the equally dangerous David West.

The Boston Celtics are solid so far and the surprising play of Glen “Baby” Davis is a bonus. The “Big Shamrock” has been effective when on the court. Kevin Garnett’s antics have been a disappointment but are consistent with “KG”, sorry young man but the late Maurice Lucas would have probably broken your jaw!!

The NY Knicks unfortunately are looking like the same old Knicks. Chicago and Milwaukee are looking to be the cream of the Central Division with Indiana looking dangerous at times.

In the Southeast, Miami is still trying to get it together and need to find consistency. Meanwhile Orlando and Atlanta top the division at this stage.

Other than the Jazz, San Antonio and Dallas are on top of their game in the Southwest.

Utah is on a five game winning streak at the moment and looks solid with Paul Milsap leading the charge.

In the Western Division the Lakers are off and running but Golden State has regained the dangerous team label to start the season and Monta Ellis has transformed into a team leader with success.

Though John Wall is rounding into a brilliant player, the Washington Wizards are lagging behind and need to improve.

The Rookie Class so far has a few surprises to go with the expected performance of John Wall and Blake Griffin. Undrafted rookie Ish Smith has emerged to become the starting point guard in Houston, Gary Neal is impressing at San Antonio in limited court time, and Gary Forbes is looking solid for Denver.

Top 10:

My fist NBA Top 10 of the year.

1. New Orleans Hornets
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Boston Celtics
4. LA Lakers
5. Orlando Magic
6. Dallas Mavericks
7. Miami Heat
8. Atlanta Hawks
9. Utah Jazz
10. Golden State Warriors

Back in a week or so with more.