Saving The Worst For Last?

Connecticut is #1?
In what was easily the WORST NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game I have ever seen, Connecticut snuck by Butler 53-41.  Connecticut's size intimidated Butler into only making 3 out of their 31 2-point attempts by blocking 10 shots, distracting numerous more, and dominating the boards, 51-40.  It was just UGLY.  Butler played just a little better than a Church basketball team would have played.

All Butler Coach Brad Stevens wanted was for his team
to make more than 12 shots.

But before we pour it all on Butler, Connecticut didn't exactly win in style.  The Huskies turned the ball over 11 times, only scored 19 points in the first half, and went 1-11 from three-point range.  But give the Huskies credit, they stormed through the Big East and the NCAA Tournament with an 11-0 record, and they are the Champs for the third time, having won the title previously in 1999 and 2004.

Kemba Walker and the Huskies were just good enough
to defeat the Butler Bulldogs in the Championship Game.

So Connecticut's the #1 team, right?  Well, the UGLY National Championship win by Connecticut did not convince everyone that they are the Champs.  According to the final ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll, there is one coach out there who thinks that Ohio State is the #1 team in the country.  Since the final poll of the season remains anonymous, we may never know which of the 31 voters put OSU as the #1 team instead of the 30 other voters that voted for the winner of the Championship game.  By the way, Ohio State lost in the Sweet 16 round...it's not like they reached the Championship game or even Final Four!  Ohio State was ranked #1 for the majority of the year, was the #1-ranked team by the selection committee when the brackets were put together, and were picked by many experts to win the tournament, but they lost when it mattered most!  This is like saying that the New England Patriots were the Super Bowl Champions even though Green Bay actually won the Super Bowl.
I'm thinking there are  a few reasons why a voter might do this (feel free to add your own):

1) He coaches Ohio State
2) His team was upset by a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament and currently hates the "one-and-done" tournament format so he voted for the best "team"
3) He runs the BCS Football Championship where the champion is largely determined by voting
4) He had a "hanging chad" on his ballot
5) He thought he was voting for the team with the most hypocritical football coach

Whoever it was should have to at least be accountable for his vote because it makes a mockery out of College Basketball, the NCAA Tournament, and Connecticut.  Step up and explain, sir!

Jimmer is #1!
While Connecticut may have left doubt in some people's minds about which team is #1, there appears to be little doubt who was the #1 basketball player this year:  Jimmer Fredette.

Jimmer has rolled through the Awards season as easily
as he split double-teams this season.

There may not be another BYU player or even another college basketball player like Jimmer for a long time.  Jimmer will have a chance to add the last of the college basketball awards, the Wooden Award, to his trophy case on Friday, but for now he can enjoy this long list of post-season awards and accomplishments:

Naismith Award
Oscar Robertson Trophy
Adolph Rupp Award
Associated Press NPOY
Sporting News NPOY
Basketball Times NPOY
SI.com NPOY
CBSSports.com NPOY
Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

Jimmer is also a consensus first team All-American, named to teams honored by the USBWA, NABC, AP, Wooden, Sporting News, Basketball Times and many other media outlets.

So, what did you do during your Senior year in college?

This One Is For the Dogs

For the first time in this year's NCAA tournament it appears that I actually got one right (two, actually).  The putrid bracket that I completed prior to the tournament currently sits in the 9.7 percentile on ESPN.com, which means that 90.3% of all men, children, and cheerleaders may actually know more about college basketball than I do, so please excuse me as I pat myself on the back and note that I correctly predicted the outcomes in the two Final Four games on Saturday.  In my previous post, I discussed the keys to each game as well as the predicted winner.  Butler was able to keep VCU from going crazy beyond the three-point line as they held the Rams to 8-22 from the line, and Connecticut was able to pull ahead of Kentucky led by Kemba Walker who scored 18 points and dished out 7 assists to squeak past the Wildcats 56-55.

Walker (15) and Mack (1) will lead their respective
teams in the championship game on Monday night.

The Butler Bulldogs and the Connecticut Huskies face off on Monday night to see who will be the Top Dog in the NCAA (sorry - I couldn't resist).  It will no doubt be a great game no matter who comes out on top.  Both teams have shown the ability to pull out close games throughout the entire tournament.  Neither team will let the other get too far ahead as both teams are talented and mentally-tough.  They have both shown an innate ability to prevent any opponent from making a run by being extremely tough on the defensive end as well as on the boards.

Butler will be celebrating one year
later than they hoped, but they will
get it done in 2011 against UConn.

Butler is the first team since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to appear in back-to-back championship games, and Connecticut is looking to win its third national championship (1999, 2004).  Butler fell to Duke 61-59 in the 2010 championship game as Gordon Heyward's half-court prayer rimmed off at the buzzer.  Many experts had expected the more talented and more experienced Duke team to run away from the Bulldogs and dominate the championship game; however, the Bulldogs, behind their whiz kid 33 year-old coach, Brad Stevens, kept pace with the Blue Devils and showed that they were not going to back down from the big-time, East Coast school.  They won't back down on Monday night, either.  The key to the game will be the rebounding battle. Both teams are willing to play strong defense, be opportunistic on offense, and rely on their big-time guards (Butler-Shelvin Mack, Connecticut-Kemba Walker).  It will all come down to who will be able to control the number of possessions and give their guards chances to make game-defining plays by controlling the glass.  The team with the most rebounds will be the team with the title.  I think Butler will get the most rebounds as well as the celebration they almost had last year, 62-61.

Final Four Fun

From the First Four to the Final Four, this NCAA tournament has been one of the most exciting and unpredictable tournaments in recent memory.  There have been upsets, blowouts, and buzzer-beaters, and VCU has been there all along the way.  All the fun begins to wind down as the Final Four kicks off Saturday night and ends on Monday night with the National Championship Game.  Only 2 brackets out of 5.9 million on ESPN.com correctly predicted the Final Four teams: VCU, Butler, Connecticut (UConn) and Kentucky.  The teams combined to have the highest average seed of Final Four teams in NCAA history: 6.5.  To put it into context, the average seed for all the Final Four teams throughout the years is 2.3 and there has only been one other Final Four with 0 #1 seeds.  But who will come out on top and play for a chance to cut down the nets on Monday?  Here you go:

VCU and Butler continue their Cinderella stories in the Final Four tonight.

VCU vs. Butler
This Cinderella story features the highest sum of seeds (11+8=19) in Final Four history.  Butler brings a coach and a host of players back to the Final Four after a National Championship game loss to Duke last year.  VCU comes with a coach and a team with no fear and sky-high confidence after becoming the first team win 5 straight games and go from the First Four to the Final Four - which is highly unlikely to ever be done again.  Both teams believe they can win and have demonstrated they can win close games in this tournament.  I think the key factor will be VCU's ability to shoot and make the three-point shot.  VCU has shot a Jimmer-like 895 threes as a team this year (almost 30 per game), and if they can shoot 30 against Butler and make at least 12 they will be playing for the National Championship on Monday night.  But I think that will be too difficult of a feat to accomplish against a tough and stingy Butler defense who took the three-point shot out of Florida's arsenal last week in their win against the Gators in the Elite Eight.  I like Butler here - 63-59.

Kemba Walker lifted UConn over Kentucky in November.

Kentucky vs. UConn
Cats versus Dogs.  The Wildcats versus the Huskies.  UConn beat Kentucky way back in November, 84-67, thanks to 29 points by Kemba Walker.  Two legendary, yet highly-controversial, coaches bring their teams and their most recent allegations (John Calipari / Jim Calhoun) into this Final Four.  Calipari, who according to NCAA records, has never technically coached in a Final Four after his 1996 UMass and 2008 Memphis teams both forfeited their games and Final Four appearances after recruiting and eligibility violations were later discovered by the NCAA.  However, his Kentucky team comes in hot after beating the #1 seed Ohio State Buckeyes and #2 seed North Carolina Tar Heels to win the East bracket.  After losing 5 players to the NBA draft in 2010, Kentucky will bring a fantastic point guard in Brandon Knight head-to-head with many experts' national player of the year, UConn's Kemba Walker.  Kentucky used tough defense and big plays down-low to run by the Buckeyes and the Tar Heels, but didn't have to deal with a do-everything player like Kemba Walker.  If Kemba can drive to the basket and create opportunities for his teammates, while still being a potent threat from outside, it will be a long night and a short stay in the Final Four for Kentucky.  If the Wildcats can contain Kemba by holding him to less than 15 points and 5 assists, then the Wildcats should be able to win (let's just hope it stays on the record books this time).  I'm still expecting the Calipari Curse to continue as the Huskies run away from Kentucky in Coach Calipari's "first" appearance in a Final Four - 77-63.

Check in on Monday morning to see the preview of the National Championship game...enjoy the games!

We're #1...But Who Cares?

You've heard it a thousand times: "We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!" When you think about it, this cheer is utterly pointless and even outright wrong most of the time unless your team is actually ranked #1.  But does being highly-ranked or even being ranked #1 really matter in College Basketball?  Absolutely not.

Every week, the Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll is compiled from votes by 64 sportswriters from across the country.  The list of voters (and their latest poll) can be found here.  The ranked teams are then allocated a certain amount of "points" based on where they fall on each individual poll.  The #1 team in each poll is given the most points all the way down to team #25 which is given the least amount of points.  The points from all the 64 voter polls are added up and the team with the most points is the AP #1 team for that week.  As a BYU fan, I find it interesting that 2 voters (John Feinstein & Mark Berman) gave #7-ranked BYU a #1 ranking last week even before BYU beat down #6 SDSU on Saturday.

When the new poll comes out tomorrow, you should expect that BYU will pass SDSU in the overall poll.  BYU may also pass Texas, Pitt, and Duke (who all lost this weekend) on their way to a potential #3 ranking!  Incredible.  But what if the AP sportswriters still rank Texas, Pitt, or Duke ahead of BYU even if they lost this weekend and may all have more losses than BYU?  Who cares?  It doesn't matter.  A team's ranking this week or next week will have zero impact on their upcoming seed in the tournament when the brackets are announced on March 13. Why?  Because the NCAA committee members that determine the championship brackets and each team's "seed" are not among the 64 AP sportswriters that rank the teams from week to week throughout the season!

Duke was #1 in 2010 after beating
Butler in the Championship game

Take 2010 for example, Butler was ranked #11 in the AP poll just before the tournament, but when the brackets came out Butler was given a #5 seed in the West bracket, which means that the NCAA committee felt that there were at least 16 teams better than Butler (4 brackets x 4 seeds = 16 teams).  BYU was ranked #17 in the same AP poll when Butler was ranked #11, so BYU should get a #5 seed, right?  Nope - BYU was given a #7 seed.  The committee felt that there were at least 24 teams better than BYU.  Were the lower seeds a sign of disrespect to Butler and BYU?  Doesn't matter if it was or wasn't.  The tournament for the NCAA Championship is a playoff and not a Championship awarded by rankings (such as College Football).  Each team has the opportunity to win each game and advance in the tournament - just as Butler did all the way to the National Championship game last year.  By the way, do you remember who was the #1 team last year going into the tournament?  Kansas.  Where did that #1 ranking get Kansas?  Only to the second round when they lost to Northern Iowa.

So, whether BYU is ranked #3, #10, or even #1 in this week's AP poll, just tell yourself:  "It doesn't matter...when do the brackets come out?"