NCAA Tourney Talk

In order to move ahead, you have to know where you came from. Here are observations from the conference tournaments.

North Carolina played hard when they needed to. This is Final Four material and they should get there, but this team has the defensive attention span of a small child. Virginia Tech schooled them for 32 minutes until they quit dreaming about playing the Dukies again. Speaking of the Coach K's, Sweet 16 at best for this bunch. They have peaked and have almost nothing inside. Players look worn out from long season.

Temple won the A-10, did you realize they were 13-11 a month ago? This team can shoot and will upset Michigan State in opening game, in humble opinion. (Not that humble really) Xavier, just not that that enamored with them.

If Pittsburgh could play like they did for 4 days in the Big Apple, this team would be Elite 8 material. Never like teams that win four in four in NCAA, too much emotion sucked out. G-Town capable, yet something not quite right, no Final Four. One team that looked like a lock for San Antonio even two weeks ago was Louisville; however recent games have me thinking otherwise. The Cardinals play their best when the ball goes through David Padgett. The courageous center appears to be wearing down and his teammates don't have the ball go through him enough on offense. UConn not going anywhere, Notre Dame lacks quickness (thou dangerous shooters), West Virginia could surprise once, Marquette beats Kentucky and could defeat Stanford if bigs hold there own against Stanford twins.

I did manage to get a little shuteye when Big Ten games were on. These games are like global warming, you know something is happening, but you don't need to watch all the time, because it is moving so slowing. If you saw Minnesota make miracle shot against Indiana (very cool), before that it appeared the fix was in as Big Ten officials called two stupid fouls on Golden Gophers in final seconds, which were marginal at best. The impression was they were doing everything to have Hoosiers advance, except they kept missing free throws. Not on conspiracy bandwagon, yet it was tough not to notice. Wisconsin wins a couple, so does Purdue, Indiana is gone quicker then a Kelvin Sampson dropped call. The talent level is terrible in this league, need new coaches with different ideas.

Kansas and Texas played the best game all week in in Big 12 title game. Two great teams, playing flawless offense, this is what James Naismith had in mind.

According to unofficial poll, 90 percent of for pay handicappers had Akron beating Kent State. I sent out email to Left Coast group, Kent State is real deal, they'll win by double digits. At least that was right. Good solid team that beats UNLV and gives Kansas trouble for longer than presumed.

BYU is better then UNLV, just couldn't overcome Rebels home court edge. If Texas A&M is not ready, Cougars cruise past Aggies. Watch Trent Plaisted, he's good.

Pac-10 tourney is hard to watch in early rounds, looks like Atlanta Hawks game with so few people in stands. UCLA is incredibly tough-minded and so is USC for that matter. Stanford is not and really is poor shooting team outside of 12 feet. If they could shoot, they would be cutting down the nets. Washington State fits right into Big Ten and Arizona is more up and down then a ride to Flagstaff on I-17.

Georgia winning the SEC is cute story, but what does that say about the league? Tennessee suddenly couldn't guard a rail, Vandy only wins at home, Mississippi State couldn't beat a tired Bulldog and Arkansas played like they were playing three games in 29.5 hours. Vols style can be tricky for opponent that haven't faced them, otherwise forget it.

Smaller conference impressions: Love Drake, Western Kentucky better than expected and Boise State the same.

Will post interesting NCAA system on Tuesday.