March Madness Opening Rounds

The first two rounds of this years NCAA tourney have been disappointing to say the least. Despite a few first round upsets (Cleveland State pounding Wake, Wisconsin getting a miraculous layup to beat FSU, Arizona beating Utah) there are no Cinderellas left. There were some good games, like Siena-Ohio State and Gonzaga Western Kentucky, but it seems like most of them have wallowed in that 10 point, not-a-blowout-but-not-a close-game-either territory. A few observations:

-UConn and Villanova have looked the sharpest so far. UConn put the wood to the Mocs of Chattanooga in their first game, then embarrassed Texas A&M in the second. I honestly didn't think the Huskies were great without Jerome Dyson, but they've been impressive so far. Nova struggled a bit against a gritty American, but throttled UCLA in the Round of 32. That was an embarrassing loss for the Bruins. It's one thing to lose in your last game, but they looked like they didn't want to be out there.

-Pitt has looked shaky. They avoided becoming the first 1 seed to be upset, mainly due to East Tennessee State's abysmal performance from the free throw line. If you're trying to beat a team much better than you, it's a must that you make at least 80% of your freebies. The Buccaneers shot a ghastly 12 for 24. Ouch. Anyway, against OK State, Pitts vaunted defense gave up a whopping 49 points in the first half. I don't think Xavier is unbelievable, but look for a potential upset Saturday and the close of Levance Fields seemingly never-ending career.

-My beloved Zags dodged a bullet against a red-hot Western Kentucky team. The Hilltoppers played out of their minds, seemingly hitting every open three and getting big play after big play down the stretch. Gonzaga plays North Carolina Friday. By no means would I guarantee a victory, but I think the Zags have as good a chance as anyone to upend the Tar Heels. The two teams met a few years ago in the pre-season NIT, with Gonzaga coming away with an 82-74 victory. In that game, Josh Heytvelt dominated Golden Boy Tyler Hansborough. They've certainly got the the skill to play with the Tar Heels, but it remains to be seen if they have the toughness. Jeremy Pargo is going to be the X-factor. He's as athletic and skilled as anyone on UNC. If he scores 15+, Gonzaga will be in a good position to win.

-I don't remember who was announcing the game, but he was all over Maryland's somewhat portly Sean Neal, calling him a "church league all-star." Later in the Gonzaga-Western Kentucky game, the announcer(I wish I could remember who it was) made the same charge against WKU's Orlando Mendez-Valdez (who had a game-high 25 points). This raised the question: who would be a better men's league or rec player? On the one hand, Mendz-Valdez can shoot lights out from pretty much anywhere. Neal, though, would be a force on the inside. I'd have to give the edge to OMV I think, just because guards tend to dominate those leagues. Also, Neal looks like the type of guy who gets wildly out of shape during the offseason.

Orlando Mendez-Valdez, coming to a men's' league near you...

-Expect Syracuse to give Oklahoma a run for their money. If you look around the college basketball landscape this year, the good teams are all relatively "starless." Even guys like Dejuan Blair of Pitt and Ty Lawson of UNC aren't exactly of the Kevin Durant/Carmello Anthony mold. Oklahomah is not like that at all. I think leaning so much on one player, especially a big guy, means they have a good chance of being upset. Syracuse has been playing well as of late and they have a balanced team; their starters average 17,16, 12, 10, and 10. Oklahoma's average 23, 14, 10, 9 and 8 but more importantly, Blake Griffin is virtually their only rebounder. If he gets some early foul trouble or pulls a hammy, the Orange will have a shot. Speaking of Syracuse, my brother brought up a good point the other day: Arinze Onuaku looks like Jonny Flynn's father.

Onuaku congratulates his son on a job well done.

-Another thing about Syracuse, I can't think of any player in recent memory more annoying than Eric Devendorf. Everything from his "ghetto" tattoos, to his ridiculous on-court posturing and trash talking, to his abuse of women screams "I am an ignorant tool." But it's not so much his classless behavior that bothers me. I mean, Jason Williams (the former Kings pg, not the announcer turned murderer or the motorcycle enthusiast) had the same "trailer park thug" vibe as Devendorf , but he was at least fun to watch. Devendorf is a chucker extraordinaire who thinks he's God's gift to the game of basketball. Pat Forde recently wrote an article for ESPN where he interviewed Devendorf. "I'm a good dude, man. I'm a down-to-Earth dude" he says. Give me a break. Remember his celebration after his supposed game winner against UConn? Not exactly the actions of a "down-to-Earth dude." As Frank Costanza once said: This guy, this is not my kind of guy. End of rant.

-I couldn't have been more disappointed with Arizona's success this weekend. Why? Because it validates the idea of putting "name" schools who had mediocre seasons into the tourney. Are the Wildcats one of the best 65 teams in the country? Probably, yeah. But their resume did not merit them getting in. They only won 6 more games than they lost, for Christ's sake. You're telling me if, for instance, Oregon State had the same resume they would have been tourney-bound? Now, the next time some bum on the selection committee is arguing for an average school from a power conference to get in over a mid-major team that had the best season in school in school history but bowed out in the conference championship game, he can just say "Look at Arizona in '09."

-One trend I've noticed is that not many guys are rocking the high socks these days. The fashion statement that has made a huge impact has been, regrettably, the arm band/sleeve thing first popularized by Allen Iverson. For the life of me I can't figure out what possible purpose, medical or otherwise, this could serve, other than maybe covering up obscene tattoos. I'm assuming it's a "this looks cool" type thing, in which case I'm fine with it. I just wish they would admit that it's a fashion statement, instead of hiding behind the "my doctor told me I had to wear this because it keeps my arm warm" excuse. They should implement a rule that you have to be one of the top two players on your team to wear a sleeve. If you come off the bench or average less than 10 points a game and are wearing a sleeve, you're probably a jackass.

-Finally, the commercials this weekend are getting stale like you wouldn't believe. I watched most of the games, and every game used more or less the same rotation. This consisted of the Axe commercial with the sweatiest man in the world, three or four Sonic commercials with the two guys in the drive-thru, the "alright class, let's button it" for that phone company, the Jordan Legendary ones, and a car commercial or two here and there. Some of these are moderately funny, but seeing them twenty to thirty times in a day tends to ruin the humor.