Joe pump faked me and I bit on it and I learned my lesson.

On Saturday night I couldn’t sleep at all. I tossed and turned as I thought back to all the missed chances Illinois had against Ohio St. I was upset that Utah St and UTEP had both lost and that took up some spots for some bubble teams. I knew the ILLINI had lost 14 games but I was hoping they’d get Arizona’d into the tourney. (Arizona went 18-14 last year and still got in the tourney and I was hoping for the same)

3 pm MST on Sunday and Lunardi announces his bracket. ESPN talks him up and says he is 97.6% accurate since 2000 so I was ready to take him at his word. If he said illinois was out then they would be out but if they were in then I was going to buy in. Why wouldn’t I when he’s 97.6% correct? Then I saw it…Illinois as a 12 playing Butler as a 5. I was ecstatic. I made some phone calls and some plans for the tourney and I was pumped. All I needed was the confirmation that was going to come in about an hour and that would seal the deal. Instead it was like trying to tackle Barry SAnders in his prime. I was juked out of my shoes because the ILLINI didn’t get in.

I’m not going to rant about bubble teams and how Illinois deserved it because they blew it, not the committee. The committee didn’t lose a couple games to utah and Bradley, but Illinois did. My rant today is about Lunardi and his power. It’s really useless if you ask me. I’m sure he knows all about where the teams play and the rules but beyond that he is just like you and me. I put together my own list of which teams would make the tourney after the automatic bids were all done and I only missed one team and that was Virginia Tech. No ACC team in the history of the conference had that many conference wins and didn’t make the tourney. I buy so much into Lunardi and I won’t ever again, not because he crushed my dreams like the Cubs every season, but because we don’t need Lunardi to tell us things we already know.

Bookmark It

With my lovely rant yesterday against North Carolina I’m sure you’d assume that I want them to keep losing and that isn’t true. Those that know me know that I never cheer for Duke. In fact, Duke is on my list for top 5 most hated sports teams. I don’t want to get into the reasons just know that for me I am nearly as happy when Duke loses as when Illinois wins.

This game though is going to be won by Duke. I’m accepting it now and buying into it so that when it happens I won’t be dissapointed. North Carolina is coming off some horrible losses and is just in a funk right now. Duke will pressure those weak Carolina guards into some bad choices and Carolina is still a year away in my opinion. This year just isn’t the same and Carolina had better win at home cause they for sure aren’t winning at Duke.

I do think the game will be close and I will be watching very closely just in case Carolina wins. If that happens my night will be better and I’ll take the family out for ice cream.

Bookmark It

FALL OF CAROLINA BASKETBALL

I normally write every couple days but I read this article today and had to laugh. I actually read this and laughed out loud. How ridiculous is it to call out Carolina as ‘the Crash of Carolina basketball’? Then i had to read through an article about Roy Williams not being able to sleep at night. Name one college coach who feels envy right now. Sure you’ll get sympathy from Calipari and coach K but not the coaches in 4th place in the atlantic 10 who have their life riding on this. I look at the roster of UNC and I see 7 mcdonald’s all americans. Do you realize that most programs in the country won’t have 7 EVER in the history of their program let alone at one time? I know he lost players to the pros but he also is coming off 2 titles in 5 years.

I’m sure Bill Carmody at Northwestern is crying for Roy. HIs team has never been to the tournament ever and he has to scrape for every high level recruit he can get. He doesn’t get Mcdonalds AA’s. I wonder how he sleeps at night.

The article just bothered me in a number of ways and I love Roy Williams. He recruited a teammate of mine in high school and i got to deal personally with him and he is class all the way. This just might be the first time he’s experienced life on this side of coaching and I’m sure it isn’t fun. Luckily he has his two titles and other final fours to fall back on and doesn’t have to worry about being fired. Other coaches aren’t so lucky.

I don’t want to make this seem like Roy doesn’t work hard either because he does. He’s a great recruiter but he also has the benefit of recruiting for Carolina and that’s a big big thing. I love Roy but I know he’ll be just fine. Those kids have no leader on the floor right now and that person may not be on their roster. I have a hunch they’ll be just fine. Anyone agree?

Bookmark It