Maddux Sports Blog

I’ll write one more article about my tournament thoughts and reflections and so on in a day or two, but let me just sum up the final last night with three words – wow, oops, and yawn. Wow, as in wow North Carolina looked incredibly good. Oops as in, oops, I guess I was wrong when I repeatedly said that I thought North Carolina looked vulnerable coming into the tournament. Yawn as in that was a truly boring game to watch despite the Tar Heels’ laser precision. Ugly.

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Yesterday’s Final Four games started out very interesting, and then ended with a dull thud. Here’s a collection of thoughts:

1. I know that Bill Self won coach of the year, and I can’t really begrudge that, but Tom Izzo is unquestionably the coach of the tournament. Twice in a row his team has had to play heavily favored Big East behemoths, and twice he has masterfully dissected them. In neither case was it just a question of coming out a head in a close one, either. The Spartans have dictated the style of play, effectively shut down the key players, and looked totally in command for the second half. Michigan State has the fewest potential pros of the Final Four teams, but Izzo has been more than able to overcome that. Incredibly impressive.

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Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao couldn’t agree on money, and their fight that was supposed to be on May 2 has been called off. It sounds fairly permanent, but I am hopeful that they can get over themselves and get the deal done. This one was going to be a great fight, and boxing needs all the big fights it can get. These are quite likely the two best fighters out there right now, and they clearly don’t like each other, so this thing could have ended with a corpse. Hatton is looking for a new opponent after pulling Pacquiao’s contract, but there is no one he can find who will be any better. Unless, of course, Floyd Mayweather can be coaxed out of retirement for a rematch. That would be one to watch. Actually, the only thing better than that one would be Pacquiao – Mayweather.

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North Carolina Tar Heels: As I write this, the team that so many thought would be number one in the nation, is 1- 2 in the ACC and 15- 2 overall. Thus far the #6 Heels have lost to unranked Boston College and  #3 Wake Forrest. Both of which are division opponents. Their lone ACC victory came last night as they beat the unranked Virginia Cavaliers 83- 61. How good is North Carolina? Time will tell but my feeling is that they are not as good as many of us thought they were.

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The New Year certainly saw the face of college basketball change quickly and fairly drastically.

The AP top-10 in week seven looked like this:

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As NCAA basketball starts conference play, this is a good time to look at the top teams in the nation. They’ve played non-conference clubs primarily. Many, but not all, of those games were cupcakes as some of the best in some of the toughest conferences met weaker teams in weaker leagues. Now the battles begin to determine league dominance and national prominence. Each team has about 16 regular-season contests left to go. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of the five top-ranked clubs in the nation.

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The 2009 National Champions will be North Carolina. They clinched the title today.

That is, of course, a ridiculous statement, and I am sort of kidding, but it will be hard to pick a team that has a better chance for them after what happened today. All three of their top underclassmen who had declared for the NBA draft – Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green – hadn’t signed with agents, so all could and did withdraw from the draft at today’s deadline. That means that North Carolina, which was already favored last season, returns their six top players from last year, including national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough. On top of that, they add a top five recruiting class that includes five star freaks Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller. Outside of a notable injury problem with Lawson this was a team that had few holes last year, and that is even more true this year as the top six are more mature and hungrier than ever. The three who entered the draft learned what it will take to make the lottery, and all could potentially do it. Hansbrough has to be the happiest guy on the planet right now, and if he’s not it’s only because Roy Williams is even happier. Of course, for bettors it means that value on the Tar Heels is a distant memory.

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I’m going to weigh in tomorrow with in-game analysis during both games. Until then, I just wanted to share a couple of interesting things that have popped up today and provide us with more to think about as we try to make winning picks on the big games:

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