A night of revelation

One of us loves dejected photos of the Dorks from Durham, the other weeps

Monday, March 16th, 2009 will not be any normal Monday.  On that particular morning, after you tap into that free coffee that tastes like muddy water, you will collect your 5 brackets from the printer.  Instead of analyzing financial reports, government projects, or whatever garbage occupies the morning hours of your day, there will be brackets to browse.  This year we recommend taking a different approach, by just freakin’ guessing.

There’s been talk about a pattern of incongruities (can you say that?) throughout this season, with team’s not being able to “find” themselves.  Last night’s slate of games pretty much sold us on that school of thought. Syracuse started all the action with a response victory that had Syracuse fan’s thinking of Eric Devendorf as a Catholic Alter Boy.  Jeff Diveronica of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle referred to the ‘Cuse as a “boxer on the ropes.” Syracuse’s beat down of the Mountaineers helped Jim Boeheim and the Orange out of the corner they were backed into, losing three of their last four.

Wake Forest, everyone’s favorite big game team got waxed on the road by the ‘Canes, 79 -52.  The end result: The ‘Canes snap a three game losing streak and sending Wake to their second straight loss, both to an unranked club.  Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald called the ‘Canes victory, “the perfect remedy.” That’s now three ACC road losses for the Demon Deacons.  Will Wake’s fate be a loss to a 14 seed?

Halftime Score: Michigan State 42, Minnesota 16…Game Recap done.  The #19 Golden Gophers came into The House that Izzo Built after building a 18-3 record on the year.  However, the Spartans defended Sparta from warm ups on, jumping out to an impressive halftime lead.  Durrell Summers dropped in 21 on only 10 shots compared to the entire Minnesota starting lineup’s 19 on 27 shots.  Myron Medcalf of the Minneapolis Star called the Gophers debacle “an identity crisis.” He’s probably right, but let’s not forget the Spartans lost both games to Penn State this year.

Two weeks ago Clemson was downed by the very same Wake Forest team that was previously mentioned.  One week ago Wake eeked out a squeaker over the then #1 Duke Blue Devils.  We saw a completely different Tigers team when Duke rolled in last night.   The swarming press of the Tigers made Greg Paulus, Brian Soubek and the rest of the Dookies cough it up more than a pediatrician conducting back to school physical exams.  Clemson was able to pour it on, handing the Blue Devils their worst loss since 1990, a 27 point mauling 74-47.  Clemson did not let the lead drop below 20 points over the final 9 minutes.  Ron Green Jr. of the Charlotte Observer reports that even Clemson Coach, Oliver Perry was surprised by margin of their victory. Clemson might be a National Contender after all.

Notre Dame came into the season as one of the Big East favorites and a Top 10 ranking.  How the mighty have fallen, losing to Cincinnati on Monday night.  Notre Dame drops its SIXTH straight loss and Mike Brey still think “The beat goes on baby,” reports Joe Kay of the Chicago Tribune. Notre Dame is now on the outside of the bubble looking in at teams like Providence, Cincinnati and WVU.

The one certainty from tonight: Heather Cox should not be in HD.

Quickie Recap 12.2: Jack McClinton has to slap Buckeye?

In a game that showed how reliant Miami is on their standout Jack McClinton, the Hurricanes blew a 14 point lead after “Apples” slapped Ohio State’s Anthony Crater about midway through the first half.  Great audition tape for the Real World (see Jack’s Profile from Siena days).  Ohio State, who really isn’t that good, dictated the pace of the game and chipped away at the Hurricanes, turned tropical depression, to get the mild upset W.  

Steve Lavin made the whole situation sound cool and unfortunately Nick missed it, instead electing to watch the beginning of the end of Will Ferrell’s movie career.  Anyways we’ll wait to see if McClinton is reprimanded further, aside from the predictable bashing he’ll hear from ACC crowds.

In the night cap, Purdue students slept in the cold for two nights just to see their boys play 40 minutes of fairly uninspired basketball, losing 76- 60.  The Boilermakers are clearly talented but are going to have to learn, on-the-fly, how to win big games after missed opportunities against Oklahoma and now the Dukies.  The Blue Devils got 20 each out of Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer.

Notre Dame has announced that Mike Brey will be the offensive coordinator for the football team…well no, but it’s not a terrible The Irish basketball team rained triples all over South Dakota. They were without the services of Luke Harangody (pneumonia), but that had zero bearing on the outcome.  Ryan Ayers and Kyle McAlareny were the key culprits responsible for the team’s 37 three point attempts.  Usually that’s enough to make a coach cringe, but when you hit a school record 19, apparently you just keep telling ’em to fire away.

Quickie Recap 11.23: Good Mornin’!!!!

Turducken!!!

Happy Monday! We’re excited…three day week then it’s T-GIVING!!! For our readers that actually know us, which is probably much larger than those that don’t know us, the better half of this blog will be in Maine for the long weekend. Matt has decided to jet to Happy Valley, PA, probably to continue lamenting that loss to Iowa. Nick will see the rest of you at “Bull Feeney’s”.

**Also note that we have taken that extra step and bought the domain name and dropped the .wordpress. It sounds easy but it wasn’t, and we hope to never have to ‘domain map’ ever again.**

Anyways, we had a fairly quiet weekend in the world of college basketball. Xavier did pull out a victory over Memphis, who is nowhere near the 12th best team in the country. They still need to determine their backcourt rotation and Tyreke Evans needs to realize that he’s got a lot to work on before he goes pro.

As a XU alum (Nick) it’s tough not to give special attention to them, but it truly is a big win for the program. For the past few years their success has been in March, usually after slow starts and missed opportunities in early season tournaments. This win is significant for those close to the program and have watched the Musketeers take the steps to gain recognition over the years.

Another game we highlighted, but unfortunately missed out on was UCONN and Miami. While they will finish no better than 3rd in the ACC the Hurricanes are an intriguing team with Jack McClinton, a guard with ‘light it up’ potential. JM led all with 27, but the rest of his team shot a dismal 22 percent. UCONN was in control most of the game with 19 from Thabeet, and 36 combined points from that discusting backcourt (Price, Walker, Dyson).

Looking ahead, the Maui Invitiational and Old Spice Classic get underway this week. We’re can’t wait to get our first look at a pair of Big 10 teams, for very different reasons. The sure-to-be trainwreck that is the Indiana Hoosiers open up against Notre Dame in Hawaii…meanwhile, we’re guessing the rest of their coaching staff will be devising a way to beat Chaminade he 7th place game.

Also want to check out Michigan State, to see just how good Raymar Morgan can be as a leader this year. Drew Neitzel was the glue guy–he’s obviously gone–it will be interesting to see the early season chemistry on this team.