I just finished watching the first quarter of the de facto Big East Championship game. What a great, exciting quarter. I have no idea who is going to win it – presumably the last team to touch the ball. All I know for sure is that Pitt is looking very good. Maybe DaveWannstedt can coach after all. Games like this one are why I love college football more than any sport.
The NBA Draft is now a few days in the past, so we have had a chance to let things percolate in our minds for a few days. Here are ten thoughts I’ve had about the events at this point:
1. Ricky Rubio is a jackass. I am so incredibly tired of 18 year old guys who think they rule the world. Rubio has never been to Minneapolis, so how does he know that he doesn’t want to play there. Idiot. I hope he festers in Spain forever. What a terrible way for a young guy to set a tone. The saddest thing is that in the end he’ll get exactly what he wants.
It has been more than 60 hours since it happened, but it still hasn’t entirely sunk in – Michigan is going to the tournament. Probably. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. For the first time in a long, long, long time. It would obviously help if we won a conference tournament game or two, but I think it would be a massive travesty for us to get bounced now given what we have accomplished so far and given the last win at Minnesota. Now I’m nervous. Not about how the team will do, mind you – I’m just thrilled we are there this year, so I’ll take whatever I can get. I’m nervous about how to act when your team is in the tournament. I was a much younger man the last time the Wolverines danced, so I feel lost.
Kudos to Pitt. That certainly wasn’t the outcome I was expecting last night. I had grown to respect UConn, and I had grown to doubt Pitt. Oops. Pitt came into town playing a very rough and tough game, throwing themselves around like crazy. DeJuan Blair played as well as I have ever seen him, scoring 22 points, adding 23 boards, and generally asserting himself as the best player on the court. I wasn’t expecting that. I also wasn’t expecting Pitt to be as effective at containing Hasheem Thabeet as they were. This will certainly make it easier for Pitt to get a number one seed. As for Connecticut, I’m not sure what it means. There isn’t much shame in losing to the fourth ranked team, even if it is at home. The biggest lesson out of this one, I think, is that the Huskies are going to miss Jerome Dyson quite a bit. They just didn’t have all the offense they needed in this one.
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.
