Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Title: March Madness Opening Weekend in Review
Date: March 21, 2007
Original Source: The on Deck Circle
Synopsis: After the initial article was a “success,” I followed up with a review of the tournament’s first weekend.

So, here’s my second shot at blogging and I think I’ve ironed out some of the stuff that kept my last one from being perfect, although it was highly acclaimed…by those at my house on the weekend. I should first note that this past weekend was fantastic, I had four of the boys from Cambridge up for a party weekend that did not disappoint – college ball, drinking, my newly acquired Playstation 3, and some boxing, plus more drinking. Only way the weekend could have been better was if Arizona beat Florida (uhh…beat Purdue…), which brings me to the topic for today, a review of the first weekend of March Madness.

Consider this your hold over until this weekend starts up. Think of this as heating up the leftover hamburger for lunch when the wife is making steak for dinner. Or, think of it as the shitty match they always put on right before the main event in wrestling. That’s me, the cold hamburger or bra and panties match.

The “Are You Sure You Didn’t Celebrate St. Pat’s Day Wednesday When You Made Your Picks?” Region (Midwest)
Wow. That’s all I have to say. With four teams left in each region, my goal was to have three left in each at this point and my four final four picks intact. Arizona destroyed any chance of this by not even making it to the 2nd round to beat Florida. Instead, this Gator Hater had to swallow some Haterade down and wince as I lost three teams from this region. I had Florida, Davidson, Oregon, and Wisconsin to reach this point, but only Oregon remains.

I don’t regret the Davidson pick at all, my logic for them to beat Maryland played out as I thought in the first half but stalled in the second half. Stephen Curry was also everything I promised. He wears longer shorts than Dad, too.

I do regret taking Arizona to reach the Elite Eight. While I’m fairly certain they would beat Florida, I forgot to look at the fact they didn’t match up with Purdue well at all, and generally aren’t as good as they seem on Playstation. My bad.

One important note is that I only wanted two upsets in this bracket, but liked Winthrop, Davidson, and Georgia Tech. Naturally, I scratched out the only one that actually happened (Winthrop).

Player of the Weekend: Carl Landry, UNLV
Game of the Weekend: Butler vs. Maryland
Altered Prediction: I still think Oregon makes the Final Four (…….I don’t learn)

The “Are You Sure The Midwest and West Regions Were Done By The Same Person?” Region (West)

So nearly the exact opposite happened in the Midwest happened in the West. I got every single game but one (Gonzaga vs. Indiana) correct. Granted, this was a pretty top heavy region and the top 4 seeds did make the Sweet Sixteen, however, I took Southern Illinois over Virginia Tech AND called the VCU over Duke upset, so I think I regain some credibility in this region.

Everything pretty much played out like I thought: Duke sucked, Pittsburgh looked awful but won anyways, Kansas looked much better than everyone else, and UCLA bored people to tears. The next round shouldn’t be any more interesting, with Kansas taking So-Ill handedly and UCLA and Pitt having an ugly, grind-em-out game that’s close but not the exciting “I never want this to end” close. I’m talking “wow, the Special Olympics 1500M race was close.”

The big highlight of this region (other than me being pretty money) was the thought of Jack Armstrong breaking out another “heyyyyy Salukis!” if the tournament was still on Rogers’ Sportsnet. I’ll use this time to point out that I was extremely impressed with The Score’s coverage of the whole weekend. They put on a full-court press of coverage, no hockey highlights in between games, and pulled out the checkbook to get (high profile?) guests like Mike Gamble and the Cincinnati Bearcats’ coach Mick Cronin, and used the best basketball guy on Canadian TV (Adnan Virk) for the day coverage. Big ups.

Player of the Weekend: Julian Wright, Kansas

Game of the Weekend: VCU vs. Pittsburgh
Altered Predictions: None, Kansas and UCLA win, Kansas beats UCLA, Kansas wins it all.

The “Did Rick Barnes Really Just Singlehandedly Ruin The Tournament For Me?” Region (East)

I hate Rick Barnes. I hate USC. I seriously seriously hate USC. Kevin Durant should give the Longhorns an ultimatum – Rick Barnes goes or I do. Barnes killed Durant’s shot at a big time tournament run ala Carmelo Anthony (although DJ Augustine is not without blame). It’s tough to win one-and-done tournaments with only one player, and with Augustine ice cold all weekend Texas essentially had to do that. AJ Abrams played well but not well enough to make up for the Barnes/Augustine black hole. I don’t even care that I got the Vanderbilt Sweet Sixteen pick right, Durant being out ruined this region for me.

It pains me a bit to say it but USC and UNC both looked really really good, and that should be a pretty intense game this weekend. Psycho T played out of his mind against Michigan State even though he didn’t really have to, and the mask is off sooner than expected so look for big things.

I lied a second ago, I’m amped that I got the Vanderbilt pick right. It was bold picking them to beat George Washington (even though they don’t carry the same weight without Pops Mensah-Bonsu), but the Washington State call was bolder. This double overtime game was my favorite of the weekend and had me freaking out and fist pumping in my living room. I looked like an idiot, but whatever, I boxed in my living room this weekend so I’ve looked dumber.

Georgetown is probably un stoppable, but I’m looking forward to a good UNC/Georgetown matchup at the end of this weekend.

Player of the Weekend: Tyler Hansbrough, UNC
Game of the Weekend: Vanderbilt vs. Washington State
Altered Predictions: Obviously, UNC gets in the Elite Eight now because I’ll shit if USC does. Georgetown still comes out though.

The “How Was That Not Intentional?” Region (South)

Wow. Greg Oden DESTROYS an Xavier player under the bucket worse than the Cam Janssen on Tomas Kaberle hit, and it’s not called a flagrant or intentional foul. I knew right away it wouldn’t be called, but was still shocked. It was also proof Oden should be playing football. Finally, it was proof that Oden IS actually 40, since he’s developed that “old man strength” already.

f I knew Tennessee was going to wear those sweet orange jerseys, I would have taken them over Virginia, but I didn’t and so I didn’t, bad call. I felt bad picking against Chris Lofton and he fed it to me for that, that kid is a monster.

I don’t have a ton to say about this region because it was pretty standard stuff aside from the Oden mugging, but I’ll throw some random thoughts out: Acie Law IV is as good as advertised; Memphis looked bad despite winning both games by large margins and they’re in trouble against A&M; I can’t even remember why I picked Stanford over Louisville, I LIKE Louisville.

Player of the Weekend: Chris Lofton, Tennessee
Game of the Weekend: Ohio State vs. Xavier (mad respect for Conley Jr. and Ron Lewis for the late game heroics)
Altered Predictions: No changes, Ohio State beats A&M to go to the Final Four.

Forward Thinking

So that’s it for the review of the first weekend. I’m sure you’ll get one more college basketball related blog (a draft elevator perhaps, showing the ups and downs of player’s draft stocks from the tournament). I’d also like to point out that my NIT and Women’s Final Four picks are all still alive. Enjoy the second weekend of Madness, but an important reminder: Baseball season is right around the corner.