He almost teared up a bit after the Iowa game...and yes, he is normally stoic.  Say what you want about him, the man is competitive and wants to win.

Memphis is terrible...they only won the first round game because George Washington suxes worse.

I don't think he will but if he does play football this fall, and hits the weight room with the football team, he could turn into even a bigger beast. Won't happen but nice to dream.

I like the guy.  I like his humble way of giving God the glory after every game.  With some players you suspect it's mostly an act, but not this guy.

We made it to the elite 8, beat OSU to get there, Motta got pissed and then the BBQ happened.... Motta got his revenge.  Did I remember that

correctly?

Yep.  Aaron fizzleing Craft...king of the rats   

Thanks Jimmy.

A rematch with you guys would be excellent . 

They are young, but do have three starters back from a team that went to the Final game with Louisville last year.  Good news...the other two are in the NBA.  

They shot 50% from 3-point land against Texas, beating them by 13.  I am not terribly impressed...including the loss to Michigan, Texas was only 4-6 down the stretch, including a loss to Texas Tech.  FWIW, I didn't pick Texas to advance past the this game in any of my 11 brackets.  I doubt seriously if they can maintain that shooting against us, that's unusually high for 3-point shooting.

Agree with what others say...not much inside game, depend on the outside shooting.  They do have a really good point guard..Staukas, who oddly enough is from Ontario.  Since when do Canadians play basketball.  

I thought Richardson did a fine job on Hall today, I expect he can handle Staukas.  Hall did get loose for some points in the second half though, but I like this match-up.  I haven't checked every game, but we seem to have struggled with other teams that have size inside this year and Michigan doesn't have much there.

But the way Richardson and Barton are playing lately, who cares about rebounds, we can apparently just shoot our way to victory.  

Uh...no.

39-17 advantage in rebounding. 

lol....

I didn't see the game, but heard it on the radio.  Would love to have seen his face at the end.   

Regardless, when Iowa scored to go ahead, the color guy said that Williams was "apoplectic" screaming at his players.   Maybe I can record a replay, get some popcorn and watch that part a few times.   

I was thinking during the game....glad he's coming back.   

On the way

I've said this before, but I'm a petty, vindictive SOB.  I want scorched earth.  As much crap as we've been through over the past decade+, I don't just want UT to get back on top- I want all of our rivals to suffer like we have.  

And besides, do you really want to play UK in Indy, in front of 50,000 blue-clad, inbred, mouth-breathing Justified extras?

Yeah, I agree.  But they will suffer just as much...or more...when Louisville or whoever they play in the Elite Eight or the Final Four, or...God forbid, the Final, beats the crap out of them, because Callipari is a choke artist par excellence.  He has no peer in the realm of choking.  He took two teams BEFORE Kentucky to the Final Four and lost.  I don't know if Providence was favored, but Memphis certainly was the no. 1 overall seed and couldn't do it (and...oh yeah, both those teams got caught cheating!).  Then he repeated that the first time Kentucky made the Final Four...they were the overall no. 1 seed and he choked the game away by failing to make any adjustments at all, whatsoever (IIRC, Kentucky was cold from outside but they kept gunning up threes).   The one time he DID win, he had LITERALLY the greatest talent ever assembled in college basketball. All five starters were first round draft picks.  Even the "fab five" of Michigan in the 90s were pikers compared to that team.

So yeah...give his dum arse a virtual NBA team and he can win.  Anything less than that, like this year, and he will choke it away.  I am not worried.  Them going deeper will just make it hurt worse for their fans.  

I do feel a bit dirty having earlier said I don't mind them winning...now that it's happened I do.    

Side note....liking that "Justified Extras" line, lol.

And IF we do face them in the Elite 8, yours truly will be there, I can promise you that.    

[Come to think of it, maybe Sergeant Schultz, the ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ character who made the phrase, “I know nothing,” famous, should be the chairman.]

http://feinstein.radio.cbssports.com/2014/03/19/john-feinstein-blog-ncaa-tournament-selection-committee-needs-to-be-selected-differently/


But, in his role as chairman, Wellman keeps saying things that can’t possibly be true. On Sunday night, he claimed he had no idea how many bids the ACC, the Big Ten or the Atlantic-10 had received. If by some chance that’s true, Wellman isn’t doing his job. Strength of schedule and, thus, strength of conference is supposed to be a factor in selecting a field.
The fact is, Wellman knows — and everyone on the committee knows — how many teams get in from each conference. They SHOULD know. When they add North Carolina State as a sixth team from the ACC, they do so knowing that they’re taking a bid away from the AAC or over-looking amid-majors like Green Bay, which comes out of The Horizon League, or Louisiana Tech from Conference-USA. They KNOW — there’s nothing wrong with knowing — but they have to play this silly game, claiming they are the only 10 people on earth who have absolutely no biases.

As bad as the SEC is this year, did the Big 10, Pac 12, ACC and Atlantic 10 all deserve six slots each?  Did the Big 12 deserve SEVEN?  Out of a total of TEN TEAMS?   Is Mizzou (a former Big 12 team) not about as good as OU or OSU?

GMAFB!

I like this quote as well...

Let’s not even get into Louisville, which should have been no worse than a No. 2 being a No. 4 or the stacking of Wichita State’s bracket; or the ‘coincidental,’ TV matchups of Louisville-Manhattan; Dayton-Ohio State and perhaps Villanova-St. Joseph’s. The committee knows NOTHING about any of that. Come to think of it, maybe Sergeant Schultz, the ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ character who made the phrase, “I know nothing,” famous, should be the chairman. Too bad John Banner, the actor who played Schultz passed away, he could have sat in for Wellman very nicely.

 

As much crap as the SEC has taken from the national pundits this year, I think we need to cheer on our conference brothers in the postseason.  With the exception of Kentucky.  Those guys suck.  Oh, and Florida.  I hate those guys.  But all the other SEC teams still dancing have my unwavering support.

LOL!  This is a rare instance I don't mind seeing either of them do well, but I appreciate your sentiments.   

Here's the deal...UK can do well...right up to the time WE beat them.   

...but after reading up on them, most of the famous people associated with them are religious figures, and I don't want to go to hell.  But if we win today, we get Michigan next.  You can bet I'll have a good one ready to go for those guys.

 

BTW, I was over at my sister's house today.  She knows about as much about sports as I do about rocket science, but the lure of a billion dollars was strong so she decided to fill out a bracket for the first time in her life.  I offered to help, but she said she wanted to do it herself.  Anyway, she had a printed copy of her bracket laying out, so I took a look.  Her pick to win it all?  Wofford.  "Dammit, why?", I asked.  Because her dog is a West Highland Terrier, and Wofford is the Terriers.  Seems as good a reason as any.  I guess.

 

But at the end of the day, I'd rather take my chances with a team of mostly 4 and 5 stars, as opposed to 2's and 3's.  We went down that road with Dooley, and we know where it leads.

Agree...but so far Butch is bringing them in, and FWIW at this early date, next year looks fine also.   

He's out now...but had he just bothered to click  a few more boxes, he would have a great shot at 100K.

It was actually a bit of a pain to sign up for that...you had to register with Quicken and they sent both a text and an email to confirm.  It took a few minutes.  I imagine that's why he blew it off.

Yeah, I saw that on the site last night.  He didn't sign up for the cash part though.   

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/02/ranking_the_rankers_revisiting.html

This article is okay...I have seen better attempts to analyze the results of recruiting and tie it to success or failure. but this article does present some evidence that recruiting rankings are literally about "50-50".  For instance, it states that there were as many 5 stars in the All American rankings last year as two stars.

But my main point is, look at the top of both Rivals and Scout.   Just re-enforcing what I have been endlessly saying...one team is a CONSENSUS no. 1, other teams are all over the map.  And just ranking the teams 1-20 over four years does not show the whole picture  Though Florida OVERALL was no. 2 at rivals the last 4 years, their four year rankings are actually:

2,12,3, 4, or an average of 4.25

Bammer's are 5, 1,1,1 for an average of 2.00

That's a fairly significant difference, but realize that 2010 was an anomaly for bammer.

They have been no. 1 6 of the last 7 years, which is simply astonishing.

Final note...currently Tennessee is no. 5 at Rivals for 2015 with nine commits.  Go Butch!   

The only thing I like about that is that I currently have two entries in the top 1%.  I have the maximum of 10 entries, in fact, and all of them are in the top 10%, so my odds of being eligible for the drawing are pretty good.

But who cares!  It's a one in 100,000 shot!   

a. The approximate retail value ("ARV") of all prizes is $10,000. Sponsor will award one (1) grand prize (the "Grand Prize") to a randomly-selected Entrant who is among the top one percent (1%) of eligible point scorers in the Promotion.

Grand Prize Winner (One): $10,000.00 Best Buy gift card (ARV: $10,000.00)
Odds of winning prizes depend on the total number of eligible entries received.

b. Random Drawing. The top 1% of entrants, based on overall points, will be entered into a random drawing.  For purposes of determining the top 1%, no tiebreaker will be used.  Instead, a "cutoff score" will be determined that includes at least the top 1% but may also include additional tied Entrants.  The Grand Prize drawing will be held on or around Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Potential Prize Winner will be notified by phone and/or by email within a reasonable time after the Grand Prize drawing, not to exceed thirty (30) days.

It's a DRAWING for one 10,000 Best Buy card from the top 1% of the entries.  There are ~ 11.1 million entries so that means 111,000 or so people are eligible to be in a drawing for ONE 10,000 dollar gift card from Best Buy.

Wow...if I was the top finisher in the contest, I would be PISSED!  

LOL!  In contrast, the Buffet Bracket is giving away 20 $100,000 prizes to the top 20 finishers...no drawing required!

 

One other thing I just noticed...we had one common opponent.  Remember us trailing USC Upstate at home early in the season.  In January Mercer lost to them in SC by 19, and needed OT to beat them at home a couple weeks ago.

Common opponents is considered a smaller factor in predicting tourney success, but it is a factor.  We win this one, I guess.  

oops...they also beat Ole Miss in Oxford by 3 while we beat Ole Miss at home by 16.  So again, FWIW, the common opponents comparison favors the Vols.

[Mercer has one of the leading point guards in the country in Langston Hall. He is both their leading scorer and has one of the leading assist/turnover ratios in the country at 1.4. He also averages 5.4 assists per game, which is a lot]

From past reading, the some conventional wisdom on tourney success that does not involve either typical statistics or even any statistics at all are:

1. Veteran and good point guard play.  A good point guard is considered a key to tourney success.  One would have to check assist and assist/turnover ratio, two things usually not included in power ratings as well as all-conference teams.

Mercer has one of the leading point guards in the country in Langston Hall.  He is both their leading scorer and has one of the leading assist/turnover ratios in the country at 1.4.  He also averages 5.4 assists per game, which is a lot

2. Veteran team that has played together for some time.  

Like us, Mercer starts or gives significant playing time to several seniors and a couple juniors.

3.  Height - being tall helps in the tourney.

While not as big inside as us, Mercer does have some size, and they rebound well.

4. A deep bench.

Mercer's scoring and significant minutes go down to the 8th man, maybe even the 9th.  They have a deep bench that definitely contributes quality minutes.

5.  Teams that are hot late in the season.  

Mercer has not necessarily stepped it up at the end of the season, other than the upset of Duke, but they have played well all year.

Those are the ones that I remember from past reading.   Since the above are rarely tracked in any rankings or power polls (though some rating systems do weight recent games more heavily, I think), it might explain Mercer's low rank.  That, and their weak schedule.  

Scanning the above, Langston Hall is probably the biggest key to their success.  I would expect Richardson to take him.  This will be a very key matchup!

I see 2 as being a push, and 3 as a slight Vol advantage.  I give 5 to the Vols, but Mercer did just beat Duke.  4 is obviously a glaring advantage to Mercer.  Again, Richardson nullifying or limiting Hall will be a big key IMO.

Overall, I see a bit of an advantage to Mercer in these, but keep in mind the "standard ratings" make us a big favorite.  I don't see this as being a blowout either way and we can definitely win.  

Mercer looks a lot like Iowa actually...high scoring offense, good outside shooting combined with surprisingly (for a team that scores a lot and shoots outside) good rebounding ability.  But they look like Iowa with out the late season slump.  

However we have one of the best D's in the land.  Should be a great game, looking forward to it.

We are rated 7th, and Mercer is only 80th, even after beating Dook.   

LOL...should be interesting.

Yeah, I knew.  I'm already pretty much out of it for the 100K, unless I run the table from here.

I didn't know that until after I signed up....I only signed up because a co-worker goaded me into it.  But I am going to be all over that next year if they do it again.