Wednesday Championship Week Predictions

I'll go back to giving predictions today starting with the Big East Tournament games a couple others.

Big East Tournament

Villanova (19-11, 9-9) vs. Syracuse (19-12, 9-9): Expect a hard fought battle, but the balanced attack from Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, and Dante Greene will prove too much

Prediction: Syracuse 79-62

Providence (15-15, 6-12) vs. West Virginia (22-9, 11-7): West Virginia just needs to avoid a slip-up here and they're in the NCAA Tournament. Da'Sean Butler and Demitris Nichols will lead the Mountaineers perimeter attack.

Prediction: West Virginia 83-67

Cincinnatti (13-17, 8-10) vs. Pittsburgh (22-9, 10-8): A defensive battle here. Cincy has really fallen down the stretch after having a possibility of making a late run to the NCAAs. They just don't have enough to beat the Panthers.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 58-49

Seton Hall (17-14, 7-11) vs. #24 Marquette (22-8, 11-7): Brian Laing is a stud and I think this may turn out to be the most exciting game of the day. Jerel McNeal will shine for Marquette as well. This one comes down to the wire, but the favorite moves on here as well.

Prediction: Marquette 70-65

Atlantic 10

Saint Louis (16-14, 7-9) vs. Dayton (20-9, 8-8): Dayton is square on the bubble after some big non-conference wins followed by a subpar conference season. Chris Wright's back, and he'll help them pick up a win.

Prediction: Dayton 68-57

Fordham (12-16, 6-10) vs. Saint Joseph's (18-11, 9-7): St. Joe's is another A-10 team on the bubble that needs this win and probably more to get in. It's going to be about which A-10 team does the most in the tournament, and the conference will end up with 2 or 3 teams. The Hawks should have no trouble with one of the worst teams in the A-10.

Prediction: Saint Joseph's 80-62

Duquesne (17-12, 7-9) vs. LaSalle (14-16, 8-8): The one game that features 2 teams with 0% chance of an auto-bid. Duquesne's coach is very good and could move on to a bigger school following the season.

Prediction: Duquesne 83-65

Rhode Island (21-10, 7-9) vs. Charlotte (18-12, 8-8): Rhode Island could have a shot if they make a run to the A-10 finals and lose a close game. Look out for Will Daniels to shine here.

Prediction: Rhode Island 77-67

Pac-10

California (15-14, 6-12) vs. Washington (16-15, 7-11): Ryan Anderson could star if Cal can pick up a couple wins. He's perhaps the most unknown star in the Pac-10.

Prediction: California 67-65

Oregon State (6-24, 0-18) vs. Arizona (18-13, 8-10): A game Zona needs if they want to be in the NCAA Tournament. They just can't lose to a team who went 0-18 in the Pac-10 regular season.

Prediction: Arizona 63-52

Northeast Conference Final

Mount St. Mary's (17-14, 11-7) vs. Sacred Heart (18-13, 13-5): Sacred Heart gets the chance to earn their first ever NCAA Tournament bid. Brice Brooks is their key player, he'll be the focal point of their offense.

Prediction: Sacred Heart 74-62

Big Sky Final

Northern Arizona (21-10, 11-5) vs. Portland State (22-9, 14-2): Portland State brings a balanced attack led by Jeremiah Dominguez and Deonte Huff. They breezed through the Big Sky regular season, and won't have too much trouble in the title game.

Prediction: Portland State 69-56

Big East Tournament Brings Bubble Game of the Year

Does it get any better then these next few weeks? The pinnacle of all postseason playoffs, the NCAA Tournament, is in everyone's vision now. Championship Week brings the same kind of urgency and entertainment as well. The first of the BCS Conference Tournaments, the Big East Championship, starts today. The opening game of the tournament is perhaps the most important one of the week.

Starting off at noon today, Syracuse and Villanova square off in a must-win-or-NIT battle. Syracuse was written off a few weeks ago, but has picked up some huge wins against Georgetown and Marquette to put themselves back in the center of the bubble (like every year, it seems). Villanova hasn't wowed anybody, just cruising through a 9-9 Big East schedule. The winner of the game isn't guaranteed in, but the loser has almost no shot of making the field.

I like the Orange in this battle, they always seem to play their best basketball at the Garden.

We Love Our Saints

Congratuations are in order for the Siena Saints, who blew past Rider 74-53 last night and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win. Siena is a local college who has shown off their plethura of talent this season. The scary thing is, they only have one senior. That senior, Tay Fisher, led Siena with 6 3-pointers on his 22nd birthday last night. This isn't the first time this season that Siena's shown it could be this year's Cinderella.

Early this season the Saints started gaining some exposure for a 79-67 upset of Stanford here at the TU Center in November. They used a team effort, led by all-out hustler Josh Duell's 16 points in that win.

Siena didn't have too much trouble during the MAAC regular season, finishing up in a tie for first with a 13-5 mark in the league, and earned the #1 seed through a tiebreaker. Siena was selected to participate in the BracketBusters weekend, and they traveled to Boise State for that one. Siena blew Boise out 94-78, with Alex Franklin shining behind 30 points and 18 boards.

Great guard play is always needed to succeed in late March. Siena's strength is their guards. Ronald Moore, Kenny Hasbrouck, Tay Fisher and Edwin Ubiles are four of the top five Saints. All of these guys are players who star on the perimeter. Alex Franklin and Josh Duell do work underneath as well. It's the guard rotation that could help Siena upset a team like Xavier in the first round.

Considering Siena is only losing Tay Fisher, who's to say that Siena won't be one of the top mid-majors next season? Bringing back their 5 starters and 4 of the top 5 scorers won't hurt them. Just imagine Jack McClinton didn't transfer to Miami (FL).

Way to go Siena and Davidson as well, for taking care of business. As for Gonzaga and South Alabama, Thad Matta and Jimmy Boeheim want your heads.

Tar Heel Nation; Rejoice

Last nights North Carolina-Dook game was perhaps the most intense non-NCAA Tournament game I've ever watched. I was only watching it at home and I had the adrenaline flowing from start to finish.

How about Danny Green? The one Tar Heel I've written off plays the game of his life. Seven blocks! Could anyone have predicted Danny Green getting seven blocks? He also came up with a big slam over Greg Paulus in the first-half, and delivered a quote that I'm sure the Tar Heel Faithful chuckled at. "It felt good, man," Green said. "There's a lot of people in the country that don't like Greg Paulus. I'm pretty sure they were pretty happy watching that."

The defense was spectacular. Fifteen blocks, and the deemed weakness of the Tar Heels was what won the game over the final five minutes.

I saw the Dook comeback coming, just like everyone else in the Tar Heel Nation probably did. Kudos to the guys for staving it off and bringing the ACC Championship to where it rightfully belongs, Chapel Hill, NC.


In personal news, the application for the New Visions Journalism program will be mailed out tomorrow. I feel I have the essays perfected and have never felt so strongly about wanting something like I do with this program.

Bubble Is Big As We Head To Championship Week

For many teams, this Championship Week is going to make or break their season. These teams have had a solid season, but just haven't put together a resume they can feel confident about. However, a couple wins in their conference tournament could stick to the selection committee's short term memory, and perhaps push them into the field of 65. For the next couple of days, I'm going to do my own little bubble watch and tell you what teams need to do to get in.

ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Locked In: North Carolina, Dook, Clemson

Bubble Teams:

Miami (FL) (20-8, 8-7 ACC, 24 RPI, 29 SOS)
Quality Wins: Dook, Clemson, @Mississippi State
Bad Losses: Winthrop, @Boston College

Verdict: Strong computer numbers and some big wins have Miami one win away from being locked up. That win could come tomorrow at Florida State. The surprise team of the year in the ACC, Miami has picked up some very nice wins behind transfer PG Jack McClinton. I personally think they are a better team then Clemson, and have a better chance of doing damage in the Big Dance.

As of 3/7: Almost a lock

Virginia Tech (18-11, 9-6 ACC, 59 RPI, 55 SOS)
Top 3 Wins: @Maryland, Maryland, Florida St.
Bad Losses: @Penn State, @Old Dominion, @Richmond

Verdict: Virginia Tech finishes up its regular season with a tough game at home versus Clemson. A win there would put them 3rd in the ACC standings, above the Tigers. That should get them in, although picking up another win in the ACC tournament would only help. There isn't anything to work from in the non-conference schedule, so this game against Clemson is huge. A loss here and you're looking at a team that may need to pick up an upset in the ACC semis. However, if other teams continue to play themselves out of the field, Va. Tech could still get in due to a strong conference finish.

As of 3/7: In the field of 65

Maryland (18-12, 8-7 ACC, 65 RPI, 14 SOS)
Top 3 Wins: @North Carolina, Florida State, @Georgia Tech
Bad Losses: Boston College, Missouri, American

Verdict: Maryland has played themselves into a hole and now has a resume that screams NIT. They may need a run to the ACC Tournament finals in order to earn themselves an at-large bid. Outside of the North Carolina win, the Terps have nothing to build on. They have some pretty bad non-conference losses, including Ohio to go with the two above. If they lose the finale to Virginia, the Conference Championship auto-bid will probably become the necessity.

As of 3/7: A longshot to get in


Out to play some pool, I'll probably get another conference in tonight.

A Player We Can All Appreciate

In today's world of sports, there are many superstars who are idolized by both children and adults across the country. These athletes are personified as immortal beings that are more revered then workers in any other profession. All types of people scrap for memorabilia from these stars, whether it is in person or something bought on eBay. By owning an autographed or game used piece of memorabilia, one feels a certain connection to that player, despite having never met or spoken to the athlete. Most of these stars, and even the average players, don't answer fan mail, and don't communicate with fans on a daily basis. However, there are few exceptions from players with very special character engrained in their personas. One of these extraordinary individuals happens to be touted as one of the next great pitchers in Major League Baseball. He finds the time to communicate with his fans, and to give back whenever he can. While doing this, his stardom continues to grow. This man is Philip Hughes, 21 year old pitcher for the New York Yankees.

Phil Hughes is perhaps the greatest exception to the adage that star athletes do not care about their fans. Hughes isn't quite a superstar yet, but he has attained those expecations after a superb rookie season in 2007. Yet Hughes shows his care for his fans more then any other player in sports. Until it recently closed down, Phil had an official website, http://www.philiphughes.net. Not only was he a part of the creation of the site, he posted on the site's message boards, and gave away memorabilia. He gave away autographed baseballs, cleats, hats and more to fans who won the contests that he or another administrator ran. Phil Hughes chatted with his fans and had a section for fans to ask him questions. How many players do you see taking questions from fans? You can count them on one hand. The site closed down a short period ago, but that did not mean Phil stopped communicating with the Yankee faithful.

After his official website closed down, Phil took on a new project. Phil Hughes soon created his own blog, The Phil Hughes Weblog (http://philhughes.wordpress.com/). It chronicles his life in baseball from the player's perspective, and it also delves into his personal life. Fans can learn what type of music Phil listens to, what he does with his free time and how exciting it is to be a young man with so much excitement surrounding him. Not only that, Phil has transferred the contest idea onto his blog. He gave away a baseball autographed by the 2007 New York Yankees baseball team, excluding a few players. Other players have joined in with this project, including fellow young pitchers Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain who have donated autographed memorabilia for future contests. As personal has Hughes gets with his blog, it is not even the most incredible thing he has done to give back to his fans.

There is one more thing that makes Philip Hughes unlike any other star athlete you can find. Hughes communicates with a select group (including myself) through AOL Instant Messaging. Now tell me how many athletes with the popularity that Philip Hughes has garnered are willing to talk to their fans directly online. Talking to Phil for the first time was unreal. I could not believe that a player would care about the fans as much as he does. The first time I talked to him I thanked him and let him know how remarkable it is that a player with his stature would converse with the average Joe. It is living proof that perhaps famous athletes are stereotyped; and they care about the fans more then anyone thought to be true.

Now just because Philip Hughes takes the time to share with his fans does not mean that all players would do the same. It takes a man with exception character ot continue his blog and conversations through instant messaging after becoming a star. Phil has displayed that character by updating his blog frequently and by his enthusiasm to interact with his fans . His public image is on top of the world for these methods of staying in contact with the New York Yankees fan base. His love for the game and the fans who share that love with him have enabled his fan base and popularity to spike. After learning about all the things that Hughes does to give back, he soon became one of my favorite players for his willingness to let fans in. This kindness towards fans is uncanny and has distinguished Hughes as one of the good guys in sports. Here's to you Philip Hughes, a man with not only extraordinary talent but an extraordinary heart.

To be updated tomorrow

Sorry that the blog hasn't been updated in almost 3 weeks, I've been very busy with schoolwork. I've been working on an application for this "New Visions" program, which could allow me to intern at the local newspaper for my senior year. I had to submit a free writing piece of work as one of the parts to the application, and that writing sample will be the blog entry that reopens my blog tomorrow.

Stay tuned, this train's rollin' again.