March Madness

I love this time of year. The tournament is about to start and I am finally getting into the basketball season. This past week there were quite a few good games and here are my thoughts a week before selection sunday.

1. Michigan's win against MSU was nice but the loss against Ohio St was more reflective of the true status of the team. They are mediocre on the cusp of being able to score the occasional upset. But they haven't scored that upset yet in all of Tommy Amaker's seasons. Who was the last top 10 team they have beaten? While it was disgusting to see them give away the game yesterday with Simms' missed dunk and Harris missing his free throw, part of me is glad that they lost. If they had won the pressure would be off to fire Amaker. Now there is really no excuse to keep him around. Unless they think making the NIT every year is the goal. If they do fire him, I hope they go after Tom Crean from Marquette.

2. Living in Lansing I have developed a lot of respect for Michigan State and Tom Izzo. But anybody who thinks they are a good team this year is sadly mistaken. They do have a couple of good wins against Texas and Wisconsin but both were at home. Unfortunately for the Spartans they have to play the tournament on the road and I fully expect an early exit if they get there at all. If they lose in the first round of the big 10 tourney they are firmly on the bubble and probably a 10 or 11 seed. The good news is that Raymar Morgan is a stud and if sticks around the future looks pretty bright for MSU.

3. It was sweet to watch Maryland beat Duke on their home court. At the game this week the cocky fans at Duke starting chanting the Maryland was not their rival. I guess the idea was to say that Duke was so much better that they don't even respect Maryland as their equal. In a sense they are correct in that Maryland Duke is a one sided rivalry but Maryland is actually the one who keeps winning. In fact they have beaten them 5 of the last 7. Take that you stuck up Duke fans.

4. On the issue of while Duke can anyone explain to me why they are in the top 25? They are a pitiful team offensively and their vaunted defense is based solely on the past reputation of other Duke teams. If this team wasn't called Duke, they wouldn't be ranked higher than forty. Maryland on the other hand is playing great basketball and they are not even ranked. It's a travesty but thankfully it doesn't matter what the polls say because unlike in football, basketball actually settles in on the court.

5. I have been a huge Greg Oden fan all year and have argued that he is better than Kevin Durant. Well I admit that I was wrong. After watching Durant play the past couple of weeks, I am amazed at how good he is. He probably the most dominant player I have seen in a decade. Yesterday he put up 25 in the first half against Kansas but unfortunately sprained his ankle and wasn't effective in the second half. If his ankle is healthy, book Texas in the final four. He's that good.

6. Big 10 basketball sucks. Period. Yesterday I was flipping the channels between Wisconsin-MSU and Texas-Kansas. The contrast in play between the two games was startling. Texas and Kansas are in a completely different league. They actually know how to shoot and score points. MSU Wisconsin was an awful game to watch. MSU had like 4 points after the first 10 minutes of play. How is that fun to watch and don't tell me it's because Wisconsin's defense is that good. The Big 10 is going down in the tourney this year. I don't expect any team to make the final four and this further illustrates just how crappy Michigan's season has been. If they can't win in this league, then what's the point?