Searching for Mr. Potato Head

Final standings

2008-03-17T02:30:00Z

Thank you all for coming on this wonderful journey with me. The first ever Conference Tournament Bracket Pool is complete. Wisconsin's victory in the Big Ten tournament delivered the title to Jim, who scored an even 300 points out of a possible 582 and will receive his virtual trophy virtually instantaneously.

The final standings:

Jim Graziano: 300
Ed Price: 297
Rob Biro: 295
Bracket Boy: 286
Dan Graziano: 284
Jon Graziano: 274
Greg Lester: 226

Pretty tight, as it all turned out. Except for Greg. Poor Greg.

...

Sunday morning update

2008-03-16T11:20:00Z

And so we have arrived at the final day -- a day on which only five games are on the schedule, each worth 10 points, and only two of them have any potential impact on the pool standings.

First, a word about Saturday. It was brutal. Of the 19 games played, Jon led the way with seven correct picks. Ed and Bracket Boy each got 6 of 19. Dan, Rob and Jim each picked 5 correctly, and Greg picked 3 of 19.

Granted, upsets of teams like Tennessee, Duke and the Mighty Hoyas didn't help anything. Neither did two wins in one day by Georgia, a team none of us picked to win so much as a quarterfinal game. But still.

Anyway, at this point only Rob, Ed and Jim are still alive. Fullerton's win last night, correctly forecast by Ed and Jim, make them the only two participants capable of overtaking Rob and winning the first ever Conference Tournament Bracket Pool.

The winner, by the way, will receive a "virtual trophy." Meaning, he will almost receive a trophy.

The breakdown is as follows:

If Clemson wins the ACC final, Rob wins the pool.

If North Carolina wins the ACC final and Illinois wins the Big Ten final, Ed wins the pool.

If North Carolina wins the ACC final and Wisconsin wins the Big Ten final, Jim wins the pool.

Why? Well, because Rob picked Duke to win the ACC while Ed and Jim picked UNC. So if UNC wins, they each get 10 and Rob gets none. If Clemson wins, nobody gets any.

And because Jim picked Wisconsin to win the Big Ten while Ed and Rob picked Purdue. So if Wisconsin wins, Jim gets 10 points while Ed and Rob get none. If Illinois wins (and honestly, I really think there's a chance Illinois will be shut out in this game), then nobody gets any, and Jim can't make up the necessary ground.

In the Big 12, we all picked Kansas, so there's no movement possible there.

In the SEC, none of us has either Arkansas or Georgia winning, so no points possible there for anyone.

In the Southland, none of us has either Northwestern State or UT-Arlington, so no points possible there for anyone.

So with that in mind, here are the current standings:

Rob Biro: 285
Ed Price: 277
Jim Graziano: 270
Bracket Boy: 266
Dan Graziano: 264
Jon Graziano: 254
Greg Lester: 206

Today's schedule is as follows:

ACC FINAL

1. North Carolina
3. Clemson

BIG 12 FINAL

1. Texas
2. Kansas

BIG TEN FINAL

1. Wisconsin
11. Illinois

SEC FINAL

2W. Arkansas
6E. Georgia

SOUTHLAND FINAL

5. Northwestern State
7. Texas-Arlington

It's been swell, fellas. Enjoy the selection show. I will be on a plane and can't issue a final update until I arrive in Tampa tonight. I'm sure by then you'll have forgotten all about this. But as I said, I appreciate you guys enabling my sick addiction. And I promise, next year, we'll get going earlier and include all the conferences -- not just 15.

That's right.

Midnight Update

2008-03-16T03:58:00Z

Sad to say, Bracket Boy is the only one left whose alma mater can claim a conference title...

However...Triple OT in the WAC Final!!!!

Unbelievable game, in which Boise State outlasted New Mexico State to claim an automatic bid to the Big Dance. The game was a tough loss for Ed, as it would have assured that he remained alive into Sunday. As it stands, he has to sweat out the second half of the Big West final (in progress).

Now, if my math is correct, only Rob, Ed or Jim can win the pool, and here's how it breaks down:

If Fullerton wins the Big West final (in progress) AND North Carolina wins the ACC final AND Wisconsin wins the Big Ten final, Jim wins.

If Fullerton wins the Big West final (in progress) AND North Carolina wins the ACC final AND Illinois wins the Big Ten final, Ed wins.

If Irvine wins the Big West final (in progress), Rob wins.

If Clemson wins the ACC final, Rob wins.

Now, I may have missed something, but I think that's it. No other games matter, and nobody else can make up enough points on Rob to win.

The standings, with only one half of one game left to be completed tonight:

Rob Biro: 285
Ed Price: 270
Bracket Boy: 266
Dan Graziano: 264
Jim Graziano: 263
Jon Graziano: 254
Greg Lester: 206

Yes, we were all pitiful today. Jon has picked 7 of the 18 games correctly so far and leads the day.

I thank you all for humoring me. I've enjoyed this, even if nobody else has paid much attention. I'll update in the morning off the Big West final.

8:30 pm update

2008-03-16T00:24:00Z

Jim and Ed become the latest to lose their alma maters, and the loss of Ed's helps some of the teams still chasing Rob, as he had picked Stanford to win the Pac 10. Clearly, Rob is unaware that no ref in the country will allow UCLA to lose.

Also Arkansas' upset of Tennessee basically killed us all in the SEC. Ed can pick up 7 if Mississippi State beats a gassed Georgia team tonight, but nobody's champ is left alive.

So far, 11 games in the books today, and Jon leads the way with six correct picks. Eight games to go, here are the standings as of 8:30:

Rob Biro: 278
Dan Graziano: 264
Ed Price: 263
Bracket Boy: 259
Jim Graziano: 256
Jon Graziano: 247
Greg Lester: 206

I haven't done the math, but I think Lester's out.

30 mins till tip at the Garden. Go you mighty Hoyas go....

4 pm update

2008-03-15T20:11:00Z

Five games in the books today, including a North Carolina-Va Tech thriller that may have been the best game of the whole week so far. Hansbrough may be the messiah.

Biggest upset so far today is NOT Georgia over Kentucky in OT. I say it's Tulsa losing by less than 30 to Memphis in the C-USA final.

Jon is 4-for-5 today to lead the way so far in an attempt at an incredibly improbably comeback. (None of us had Georgia in the SEC semis)

The standings, with 14 games left today, as of 4:15 pm:

Rob Biro: 271
Ed Price: 256
Dan Graziano: 250
Jim Graziano: 249
Bracket Boy: 245
Jon Graziano: 233
Greg Lester: 199

Nanu-Nanu.

Saturday morning update -- Carnage in the Southland!

2008-03-15T13:15:00Z

Kind of a rough day in the pool. Of the 37 games played, none of us got more than 20 correct. Ed and Rob led the day with 20 correct picks (and 100 points) each, followed by Jim with 19 correct picks (and 95 points). Rob continues to lead, while Jim and Ed have forged a second-place tie.

The real question going forward is how many points people can still get, and in some cases the answer is: Not many.

In the Southland, for example, we're all out. Not a single one of us correctly picked either Southland finalist (UT-Arlington and Northwestern State), and the losses yesterday by Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin mean that not one of us will be able to gain the 10 points that would have been awarded for tomorrow's Southland final.

So sad.

Other Black Friday lowlights:

-Losses by Utah State and Nevada threw the WAC brackets into chaos, and Ed is the only one with a dog (New Mexico State) left in that hunt.

-Xavier's loss, coming on the heels of UMass's choke Thursday, knocked everybody out of the Atlantic 10 final.

-Cal-Santa Barbara and Northridge, the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the Big West, both lost, and Ed and Jim are the only ones alive in the Big West final. They're both pulling for Fullerton over Irvine.

-Jackson State's overtime victory over Alabama State cost the SWAC its top seed and left Bracket Boy as the only one who can still win the SWAC. He's pulling for Jackson State over Mississippi Valley State in the final, and let's face it. We all are. Who wants to try and write "Mississippi Valley State" on one of those little bracket lines when the seeds are announced tomorrow night?

-Jon became the second participant to lose his alma mater, as Boston College couldn't extend the magic to a second day. Dan, Greg, Ed, Jim and BB are all still wearing their lucky sweatshirts.

-Purdue's OT loss to Illinois cost Ed, Rob and Bracket Boy their Big Ten champion picks.

(Side note: The Big Ten? Yeesh. I mean, I guess Wisconsin's good, but so what if they're unwatchable? They beat Michigan 51-34 yesterday. That means that the entire University of Michigan scored as many points in its conference tournament quarterfinal as West Virginia's Joe Alexander scored in his.)

-And the strangest development is in the SEC, where a vicious storm forced the postponement of the Kentucky-Georgia quarterfinal until today. The tournament is moving from the Georgia Dome to the Georgia Tech campus, and Kentucky and Georgia will play their quarterfinal today at noon. Then at 6:00 Tennessee and Arkansas will play their semifinal, and then at 8:30, Mississippi State will play the Kentucky-Georgia winner in the other semifinal

Which means, of course, that Dan, Rob, Jim, Jon and Bracket Boy have all effectively picked Kentucky to win TWO GAMES TODAY.

Also, the move of the Kentucky-Georgia game to today makes it a 7-point game. Had it been played yesterday, it would have been worth 5. Such are the whims of the conference tournament pool.

The current standings, as of 9 am Saturday:

Rob Biro: 250
Ed Price: 235
Jim Graziano: 235
Dan Graziano: 229
Bracket Boy: 224
Jon Graziano: 205
Greg Lester: 185

Yeah. Incidentally, Greg got only 12 of yesterday's 37 games correct, and appears to be terrible at this.

There are 19 games on today's schedule, each worth 7 points, which means 133 points are available and movement is still possible, even as strong as Rob looks.

The first game today actually tips before noon, which means (a) this is getting crazy and (b) Conference USA just wants to get the damn thing overwith. Here's today's schedule:

MEAC FINAL

1. Morgan State
7. Coppin State

WAC FINAL

3. New Mexico State
4. Boise State

ATLANTIC 10 FINAL

2. Temple
5. St. Joseph's

BIG EAST FINAL

1. Georgetown
7. Pittsburgh

BIG WEST FINAL

3. Call State Fullerton
5. Cal-Irvine

CONFERENCE USA FINAL

1. Memphis
7. Tulsa (nice pick, B

MAC FINAL

1. Kent State
3. Akron

MOUNTAIN WEST FINAL

1. BYU
2. UNLV (wow! a 1-vs-2 final!)

PAC 10 FINAL

1. UCLA
2. Stanford (wow! another one!)

SWAC FINAL

2. Mississippi Valley State
4. Jackson State

ACC (semifinals)

1. North Carolina
4. Virginia Tech

2. Duke
3. Clemson

BIG 12 (semifinals)

1. Texas
4. Oklahoma

2. Kansas
6. Texas A&M

BIG TEN (semifinals)

1. Wisconsin
4. Michigan State

6. Minnesota
11. Illinois

SEC (bastard quarterfinal)

2E. Kentucky
6E. Georgia

SEC (semifinals)

1E. Tennessee (did you see that shot?)
2W. Arkansas

1W. Mississippi State
2E. Kentucky OR 6E. Georgia

Go you Hoyas go....

5:30 pm update

2008-03-14T21:27:00Z

The seven 5-point games that have been played to completion already today have seen a widening of Rob's lead and a bunching up of a large group around second place. Rob, Greg and Jon (!) have each correctly picked six of seven. I and Bracket Boy have picked only four.

The standings, as of 5:30:

Rob Biro: 180
Jim Graziano: 165
Dan Graziano: 164
Bracket Boy: 164
Ed Price: 160
Greg Lester: 155
Jon Graziano: 150

90 mins till Hoyas tip at the Garden...

Jon wants YouTube, Jon gets YouTube

2008-03-14T16:13:00Z

Jon thinks my still shots are boring and wants video, so here's some footage of Bracket Boy getting psyched up to write his next column.

As for the hoops, within the next hour, four of the top eight teams in the country will be in action at the same time.

Who needs porn?

Friday morning update, standings and preview

2008-03-14T12:00:00Z

The night saw some interesting and high-impact upsets, and not just in the Big East, where the Mighty Hoyas are the last of the top four seeds standing.

New Mexico, a popular pick in the Mountain West by virtue of their late-season hot streak and bad-ass mascot, fell to Utah in overtime. Rick Majerus and Keith Van Horn were said to be very excited.

There was an incredible game in the SEC, in which Georgia fouled a three-point shooter while up three in the final seconds of regulation AND AGAIN in overtime. Ole Miss drained all three shots each time to tie the game, but Georgia banked in a game-winner at the buzzer in OT.

And of course, there was the BC comeback against Maryland, which kept Jon from joining Rob in losing his alma mater on the pool's third day.

In the end, the Georgia game, combined with Pacific's failed comeback against the Anteaters, allowed Rob to grab the lead going into Friday in spite of picking Northwestern. Rob correctly picked 37 of the day's 53 games to earn 111 points on the day. Bracket Boy was second on the day with 34 correct picks and 102 points.

The standings, as of Friday morning:

Rob Biro: 150
Dan Graziano: 144
Bracket Boy: 144
Jim Graziano: 140
Ed Price: 135
Greg Lester: 125
Jon Graziano: 120

Of course, the question going forward is how many points each player can still earn. And with heavyweights like Louisville, Connecticut, New Mexico, UMass and Southeastern Louisiana all falling, some people have more potential than others.

There are 38 games on today's schedule, each worth 5 points, which means 190 points are available and everybody's still in it. I think.

Today's schedule:

MEAC (semifinals)

1. Morgan State
4. Delaware State

3. Norfolk State
7. Coppin State

WAC (semifinals)

1. Utah State
4. Boise State

2. Nevada
3. New Mexico State

ATLANTIC 10 (semifinals)

1. Xavier
5. St. Joseph's

2. Temple
6. Charlotte

BIG EAST (semifinals)

1. Georgetown
5. West Virginia

6. Marquette
7. Pittsburgh

BIG WEST (semifinals)

1. Cal-Santa Barbara
5. Cal-Irvine

2. Northridge
3. Cal-Fullerton

CONFERENCE USA (semifinals)

1. Memphis
5. Southern Miss

6. UTEP
7. Tulsa

MAC (semifinals)

1. Kent State
5. Miami (Ohio)

2. Western Michigan
3. Akron

MOUNTAIN WEST (semifinals)
1. BYU
4. San Diego State

2. UNLV
6. Utah

PAC 10 (semifinals)

1. UCLA
4. USC

2. Stanford
3. Washington State

SWAC (semifinals)

1. Alabama State
4. Jackson State

2. Mississippi Valley State
6. Arkansas-Pine Bluff

ACC (quarterfinals)

1. North Carolina
9. Florida State

2. Duke
7. Georgia Tech

3. Clemson
11. Boston College

4. Virginia Tech
5. Miami (Fla.)

BIG 12 (quarterfinals)

1. Texas
9. Oklahoma State

2. Kansas
7. Nebraska

3. Kansas State
6. Texas A&M

4. Oklahoma
12. Colorado

BIG TEN (quarterfinals)

1. Wisconsin
9. Michigan

2. Purdue
11. Illinois

3. Indiana
6. Minnesota

4. Michigan State
5. Ohio State

SEC (quarterfinals)

1W. Mississippi State
5W. Alabama

1E. Tennessee
5E. South Carolina

2W. Arkansas
3E. Vanderbilt

2E. Kentucky
XXXXXXXXXX

SOUTHLAND (semifinals)

1. Stephen F. Austin
5. Northwestern State

3. Sam Houston State
7. Texas-Arlington

11:30 pm update

2008-03-14T03:18:00Z

OK, so maybe my Southland knowledge isn't so strong.

I really thought Southeastern Louisiana had it in them to make a run all the way to the Big Dance.
Instead, they lost. In the first round. Of the Southland tournament. To Northwestern State.

Such are the whims of the conference tournament pool. If its three-day history has taught us nothing else, it's that every lead is fleeting.

On top of the world Thursday morning, I have, in one day, lost my Big East, SWAC, Southland and Atlantic 10 champions. UMass, for god's sake, blew a 17-point halftime lead and lost to Charlotte. How is that possible?

Anyway, Bracket Boy and Biro have had the best days so far, each nailing 31 of 43 with 10 games still to be completed. Even if Rob is the first participant to lose his alma mater.

The standings, as of 11:25 pm:

Bracket Boy: 135
Rob Biro: 132
Dan Graziano: 126
Ed Price: 123
Jim Graziano: 119
Greg Lester: 113
Jon Graziano: 105

This could be the last update of the night, but it might not. I know I'm not going to bed before the end of this Notre Dame-Marquette game.

Meantime, Hoya Saxa, y'all.

9 pm Update

2008-03-14T00:43:00Z

Norfolk State's victory continues what's been a very messy MEAC bracket, but there are still plenty of points on the board, especially in the big conferences. The only selected conference champs yet to be eliminated are UConn, Alabama A&M, Houston and Hampton.

Ed still leads the day, having picked 20 of the 28 games so far with 25 left to be completed.

Standings as of 8:50 pm:

Dan Graziano: 102
Ed Price: 99
Bracket B. Boy: 99
Rob Biro: 93
Greg Lester: 89
Jim Graziano: 86
Jon Graziano: 81

Louisville-Pitt is a barnburner. If the Panthers pull it out, it throws the Big East picks into chaos. CHAOS!

6 pm Update

2008-03-13T22:06:00Z

There are now 22 games that have been played to completion today, and fellas, we're struggling. Ed has had the best day so far, picking 15 of the 22. Jon has had the worst, picking only nine.

In addition, Jon and Bracket Boy both saw their Big East champion fall in the quarterfinals, as West Virginia toppled UConn. Jon and Dan both saw their SWAC champion fall in the quarters, as Arkansas-Pine Bluff walloped Alabama A&M. And Jim lost his ill-advised Conference USA champion pick when Houston fell to UTEP.

The current standings, as of 6:10 pm, with 31 three-point games still left to be completed today:

Dan Graziano: 87
Ed Price: 84
Bracket Boy: 84
Rob Biro: 78
Greg Lester: 74
Jim Graziano: 71
Jon Graziano: 68

More later....

3:30 pm Update

2008-03-13T19:12:00Z

All right. Nine games in the books today (and 44 still to go before day's end). Bracket Boy, who was the only one to correctly pick Tulsa's upset of UAB in the C-USA quarters, has correctly picked six of the day's nine games. He's the only one who has that many three-pointers today.

(speaking of three-pointers, some team in the Big East hit 17 of them this afternoon. not sure which one...)

Anyway, the leader is still Dan, who was the only one to correctly pick UT-Arlington's upset of Lamar in the Southland first round. My Southland knowledge is unassailable.

So, as of 3:20 pm, the standings are as follows:

Dan Graziano: 63
Bracket Boy: 60
Rob Biro: 54
Ed Price: 54
Greg Lester: 53
Jim Graziano: 50
Jon Graziano: 48

Some thoughts on the day's early action:

-The Tulsa-UAB game could be a swing game. Not only did BB have the Hurricane winning another game (a 5-pointer against the Houston-UTEP winner tomorrow), but four of the people who picked UAB had THEM winning another game.

-Georgetown won, without a single point from Hibbert. I find that cool.

-For some reason, every one of us had Western Michigan winning today, which they did.

-Dayton was clearly robbed.

Anyway, more later. There are currently nine games in progress, in nine different conferences. This is awesome.

Cram It, Jay Bilas

2008-03-13T16:40:00Z

There's nothing worse than hearing a Duke guy complain about calls.

On the regular-season Villanova-Georgetown game: No, the call shouldn't have been made. But it's not as if Nova was winning at the time. It was a tie game with 0.1 second left, and three Villanova players had already fouled out, so it's not as if they had something stolen from them. The Hoyas almost certainly would have won the home game in OT.

Anyway, as BB points out, it looks good early for the Hoyas (though we take nothing for granted -- this game was 26-2 last year and Nova almost came back and won), and the coolest thing about this game is that Chris Wright is playing in it.

Wright was one of the two big freshmen, along with Freeman, who came in this year, but he hasn't played since December because of a foot injury. He's back, and it's going to give JTIII some more depth, more options and a more dynamic offense for the rest of the year -- however long that may be.

As for the pool, we have six games underway, and my upset pick of Dayton over Xavier is starting to look...not real good. Results will filter in as the day moves along.

Thursday morning update, schedule

2008-03-13T04:00:00Z

The late games broke neatly for our leader, with UC-Riverside picking off Cal-Poly and Arizona crushing Oregon State's attempt to repeat the Colorado State update from earlier in the day. (Incidentally, Rob, Jon and Jim all picked Oregon State to win their first Pac-10 game of the year last night.)

As a result, Dan correctly picked 23 of 26 games on Wednesday and has surged into the pool lead in the Thursday morning standings:

Dan Graziano: 48
Bracket Boy: 42 (nice comeback from earlier in the day)
Greg Lester: 41
Jim Graziano: 41
Rob Biro: 39
Ed Price: 39
Jon Graziano: 39

But at the risk of offending Jon's sense of semantics, these standings are effectively meaningless. There are 53 games on the schedule today and a total of 159 points available. It all starts at 12 noon with games in the Big East, ACC, Big Ten, MAC and A-10 tipping off. The Big 12 tournament starts a half-hour later, and then at 1:00 we have tips in the SEC, the Southland and Conference USA.

My wife is taking the kids out for the day. That's all I can tell you.

Today's games, all 53 of them, are each worth 3 points. They are as follows:

MEAC (quarterfinals) -- 2 games
4. Delaware State
5. North Carolina A&T

3. Norfolk State
6. Florida A&M

WAC (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Utah State
8. San Jose State

2. Nevada
7. Fresno State

3. New Mexico State
6. Idaho

4. Boise State
5. Hawaii

ATLANTIC 10 (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Xavier
8. Dayton

2. Temple
7. LaSalle

3. UMass
6. Charlotte

4. Richmond
5. St. Joseph's

BIG EAST (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Georgetown
8. Villanova

2. Louisville
7. Pittsburgh

3. Notre Dame
6. Marquette

4. Connecticut
5. West Virginia

BIG WEST (second round) -- 2 games
3. Cal State Fullerton
7. Cal-Riverside

4. Pacific
5. Cal-Irvine

CONFERENCE USA (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Memphis
9. Tulane

2. UAB
7. Tulsa

3. Houston
6. UTEP

4. Central Florida
5. Southern Miss

MAC (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Kent State
8. Toledo

2. Western Michigan
7. Eastern Michigan

3. Akron
6. Central Michigan

4. Ohio
5. Miami (Ohio)

MOUNTAIN WEST (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. BYU
9. Colorado State

2. UNLV
7. TCU

3. New Mexico
6. Utah

4. San Diego State
5. Air Force

PAC 10 (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. UCLA
9. California

2. Stanford
7. Arizona

3. Washington State
6. Oregon

4. USC
5. Arizona State

SWAC (quarterfinals) -- 2 games
3. Alabama A&M
6. Arkansas-Pine Bluff

4. Jackson State
5. Southern

ACC (first round) -- 4 games
5. Miami (Fla.)
12. NC State

6. Maryland
11. Boston College

7. Georgia Tech
10. Virginia

8. Wake Forest
9. Florida State

BIG 12 (first round) -- 4 games
5. Baylor
12. Colorado

6. Texas A&M
11. Iowa State

7. Nebraska
10. Missouri

8. Texas Tech
9. Oklahoma State

BIG TEN (first round) -- 3 games
6. Minnesota
11. Northwestern

7. Penn State
11. Illinois

8. Iowa
9. Michigan

SEC (first round) -- 4 games
3W. Mississippi
6E. Georgia

3E. Vanderbilt
6W. Auburn

4E. Florida
5W. Alabama

4W. LSU
5E. South Carolina

SOUTHLAND (quarterfinals) -- 4 games
1. Stephen F. Austin
8. Texas-San Antonio

2. Lamar
7. Texas-Arlington

3. Sam Houston State
6. McNeese State

4. Southeastern Louisiana
5. Northwestern State

Hum-baby.

Shocker in the MEAC

2008-03-13T03:51:00Z

Tough one at the end of an otherwise brilliant day for Dan, as No. 7 seed Coppin State stuns No. 2 seed Hampton 75-74 in OT in the quarterfinals of the MEAC tournament. This is a win for Rob, Jim and Jon, and an especially bad loss for Lester, who had Hampton winning the MEAC tournament.

Only two games left, and they're going to end way too late for me, so here are the standings as of midnight Wednesday night:

Dan Graziano: 44
Jim Graziano: 41
Greg Lester: 39
Rob Biro: 39
Bracket Boy: 38
Ed Price: 37
Jon Graziano: 37

Once again, 53 games on the schedule Thursday, each worth three points. I will post a rundown of those games in the morning, plus you can click the SCOREBOARD link on the right side of the page to follow along. Also, you can check each conference tournament's bracket with the links on the right side.

Enjoy. And remember -- nobody gets any work done in March.

The pool for the hard-core

2008-03-13T03:02:00Z

In an attempt to pass the time and fan the insanity in the week before the NCAA Tournament (which this year will once again be known as "No Country for Orange Men"), I, my brothers and some friends have devised a pool of conference tournaments.

No, not every conference tournament -- just 15 of them. The ones that started Tuesday or later. Why Tuesday? Well, because that's when I thought of this.

Anyway, they got tired of me e-mailing them scoring updates, so we're going to do the updates on this blog, and let everybody check them out as they wish.

It's been a crazy day, with 20 of our 26 games completed, and I can't see staying up for the final scores of games that start at 11:30, so here's the 11 pm update, complete through the end of the first-round SWAC game between Alabama State and Texas Southern (won by No. 1 seed Alabama State, as all those of you with SWAC brackets surely know already).

So far today, Dan has correctly picked 18 of 20 two-point games to take the lead. The standings, as of 11:14 p.m. Wednesday:

Dan Graziano: 38
Greg Lester: 33
Ed Price: 33
Jim Graziano: 33
Bracket Boy: 32
Rob Biro: 31
Jon Graziano: 31

So far, only two people have lost teams that they had advancing more than one round. Ed had Duquesne winning two games in the A-10, and they lost to LaSalle in the first round. And Rob made the very risky prediction that No. 8 seed Long Beach State would win twice in the Big West, but they fell to UC-Irvine.

Six more two-point games tonight, and then a big 53 three-point games Thursday. Not sure if there will be more updates tonight, but check back.

Hoya update

2008-01-31T12:47:00Z

So I went to the Georgetown "game" against St. John's last night at Madison Square Garden. Wow. St. John's is really brutal. When your team takes a 41-14 lead at the half and then starts the second half on a 12-0 run, you feel kind of weird about cheering loudly in the other team's arena. I kept my mouth shut, clapped a few times and generally enjoyed the relaxed feeling of a rare Big East blowout. After the UConn, Syracuse and West Virginia games, this one was fun.

Couple of things:

1. The rebounding. Dear god, this has to get better, doesn't it? St. John's kept getting second-chance points in the second half (though as bad as they were shooting, they were more like fourth-chance points). I just can't figure it out. Is Hibbert not aggressive enough, not good enough, or what? He's got so much game, but rebounding isn't a part of it.

2. Injuries. It didn't matter in this one, but DaJuan Summers being hurt, in addition to Chris Wright already being hurt, is going to be a problem in games where a transition offense is needed. Wallace, Rivers, Sapp and Macklin ran a great half-court game last night, but it's hard to evaluate it considering who they were playing.

3. Jeremiah Rivers looks GREAT. He won the Syracuse game single-handedly and was brilliant on both ends of the court last night. Maybe he comes on in the second half of this season the way Ewing did last year.

4. Vernon Macklin is just a sophomore. And with Greg Monroe set to join him, he could form the basis of a pretty good post-Hibbert frontcourt. But the free throws....YIKES. Maybe that's all he works on all summer.

5. Yes. Yes, it did make me feel old to watch Patrick Ewing Jr., Anthony Mason Jr. and Jeremiah Rivera play against each other at Madison Square Garden. I don't have to strain too hard to remember that 1994 Knicks team that all their dads played on.

Whew

2008-01-22T02:16:00Z

Good on ya, Jeremiah Rivers. I may become a Celtics fan, just for that.

Lingering concerns:

1. Rebounding. Every game I watch, it seems the Hoyas get outrebounded. And the second-chance points the opponents are getting just were not there last year. I mean, I knew Jeff Green was good, but was he good enough that his departure turned them from a great rebounding team into a poor one? More research is needed.

2. The 3s. Why so many three-pointers? The center is 7-foot-2 -- taller than everybody on the court in almost every game -- and knows what to do with the ball. Work harder to get it to him. Yes, it's good that they're better perimeter shooters than they've been in the past, but still...they shoot too many of them, and too early. I'll chalk this one up to the Syracuse zone being tough to penetrate in the half-court, but the trend seems disturbingly greater than one game.

Anyway, that's the second time in the past couple of weeks I've watched the Hoyas play a lousy game and win. The first was the Connecticut game, which Hibbert won with the three-pointer (gotta guard it!). I guess that's good. And the way JTIII seems to work, there's a chance the offense will be more fluid and reliable by March. I'll keep the faith, but it would help to see an opponent have a little bit of a tougher time on the offensive glass.

I hate Syracuse

2008-01-21T19:24:00Z

It makes no sense, I admit it. But I can't stop hating Syracuse.

It's been almost 14 years since I graduated Georgetown, so it's been at least that long since I got drunk with my friends and went off to a home game to torment and harass Syracuse basketball players.

As a professional sportswriter for nearly all of those 14 years, I have almost completely given up on caring about which teams win which games. The only team for which I still root is the Georgetown basketball team, and I'm confident when I say I do so with a healthy detachment that may not have been evident in my student days.

Nonetheless, I cannot get over my absolute hatred of Syracuse. It hasn't waned one once since I stepped on the Georgetown campus as a freshman in 1990.

I hate their school colors. I hate their mascot. I hate their goofy hot-air balloon of a gym. I hate their coach, and the fact that he's outlasted all of the other great coaches from the Big East's glory days. I've hated every star player I can remember, from Derrick Coleman, Rony Seikaly and Billy Owens to Carmelo Anthony and that Devendorf guy who's out for the season now. I think I hated Gerry McNamara most of all, though I couldn't tell you why.

I hate that their fans would actually be whining about their team's injuries.

It goes deep, too. I hate their football team, even though Georgetown's football team couldn't beat them if we had Tom Brady as guest quarterback for the game. Once, I was flipping around channels and caught a Syracuse lacrosse game and started to root for Loyola or Johns Hopkins or whatever good lacrosse school they were playing. Lacrosse, Liz Lemon!

I hate that my chosen profession is overrun with their alumni, though in a strange twist I don't feel any actual hatred toward those individuals -- just the institution that purports to have educated them.

I hate that they won the 2003 national championship because Kansas choked. And yes, yes, YES Kansas did choke.

I really hated that their moron fans had the audacity to storm the court after winning a conference home game last February, even if it did get awfully sweet a couple of weeks later when they were totally shafted and left out of the NCAA Tournament -- a tournament in which the Hoyas were one of the Final Four teams still playing.

This is unhealthy, this hatred, and the fact that it hasn't faded one bit in nearly 18 years. I admit this.

And yet, it is real. And that is why tonight, at 7:00, I will be glued to a TV and nervous as hell. Because the Hoyas should kill Syracuse tonight, but it's never that easy.

And if there's one thing I hate more than Syracuse, it's losing to Syracuse.