Built Ford Tough

After this beatdown, it is going to be even more heartbreaking to see Wiggins go to Kansas next year. He should just commit to UNC out of pity.

And yet you wouldn't know it based on the way Kerr keeps on harping about KU's poor shooting and not UNC, who was actually shooting worse than KU at the time. Hairston is so damn strong, though. The fact that he was even able to get the ball above the rim on that play is a testament to that considering he had one defender bodying up on him and another grabbing him by the arm. I'm not sure how the refs missed the foul there, but I'll take the basket at this point. Hopefully that gets him going. EDIT: Well, I think i got my makeup call. Hairston looked like he slid under Tharpe on that one. Should've been a block.

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McAdoo playing like crap and just picked up his 2nd foul. You would think that would be a big deal, but, honestly, I disagree. Unlike Steve Kerr, I don't think McAdoo is the key to UNC this game. Sure, it would be nice if he could draw Withey away from the paint, but at the end of the day if UNC wants to pull off the upset, they need Hairston, Bullock and Paige to have hot shooting games. Unfortunately, Hairston is not off to a good start. 0-7 already and just got benched by a furious Roy Williams for his shot selection.

Indiana escapes by the skin of their teeth. I like watching Indiana, but I also wanted to see them lose simply because I wanted to see what kind of reaction it would've brought and how completely contradictory it would've been in comparision to the reaction to the Gonzaga loss last night.

Possible game saving block from Watford to cause the 4 point swing. I don't recal who it was he blocked, but he looked like he had a clear path to the hoop. Excellent recovery from Watford.

Guy Boucher fired by Tampa. Talk about a fall from grace. 2 years ago this guy was the second coming of Scottie Bowman and could walk on water. Also, it sounds like the Pens and Stars have a trade in place that would see Brenden Morrow go to Pitt in exchange for Joe Morrow (plus? I'm not sure of the exact details that would be going Dallas' way). According to guys like Dreger, Bobby Mac and Lebrun, the only thing holding this back at this point is Brenden Morrow waiving his no trade. Supposedly, Morrow is meeting with Nieuwendyk right now, so we should know relatively soon whether this trade will come to fruition or not. There is talk that Boston is trying to get Morrow as well. This makes me wonder about the availability of Iginla, since both of these teams were speculated to be in on Iggy. If they're both turning their attention to Morrow, it would seem that the asking price is too high right now. Should be interesting to see how that plays out.

Aaron Craft with his best Chauncey Billups impression. A bunch of mistakes and boneheaded plays down the stretch to allow Iowa St. to climb out of a double digit hole, only to make two big plays late to close out the game. Kudos to him for drawing that charge and hitting the game winning three, but if he doesn't play like complete garbage down the stretch, this game doesn't need to come to that. Now we will hear about how clutch Craft was because of that shot when it never should've came to that int he first place. EDIT: According to the rule book, the charge Craft drew actually should've been a block, so that cancels out one of his two "clutch plays".

Good for Anderson, maybe he can get his shooting percentage up above 40% by the end of the season, since showcasing him seems to be the the priority.

Sure, I'll root for Kansas. It seems like every team I root for ends up losing so, Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--sources--ben-howland-out-at-ucla-013325438.html I wonder if this was decided on already and they were just waiting until after the season to announce it or if Howland could've saved his job somehow. If the latter, I wonder where he would've had to led the Bruins to in order to save his job? Elite Eight? Anyways, this doesn't surprise me at all. With all the talk for the past year, anything short of a National Championship probably wouldn't be enough for Howland to stick around. It was clear that UCLA wanted to go in a different direction and this firing was inevitable. Any predictions on who replaces him?

Jonas Valanciunas - 4/4 11 points and 8 rebounds in 30 minutes. Alan Anderson/John Lucas - 7/25 18 points and 6 rebounds in 53 minutes. Sums up why I haven't watched a Raptors game in a week now.

The sports gods must absolutely hate me. Leafs haven't made the playoffs in almost a decade. Raptors are a futureless mess who hasn't made the playoffs in 5 years. Blue Jays last playoff appearance I was 1 year old. Kendall Marshall fractures his wrist last year, eliminating any hope of UNC winning it all. Gonzaga finally looks to have a legitimate shot at a National Championship and Wichita State hits 7 3's in a row to knock them out. To be fair, Gonzaga doesn't deserve to really win this game anyways. They played like complete shit for about 30 of 40 minutes in this game. Just really sucks to see them play so well all season long and then have arguably their 2 worst games of the year when it matters most. Even with them playing poorly, they're a Shockers 3 point barrage away from going to the Sweet Sixteen. Oh well, at least I have UNC to cheer for for another, what, 14 hours?

All things considered, Gonzaga did a nice job of salvaging that half. That could've, and really, should've, been a lot worse than it was. With how poorly the Zags played, I'll take a 5 point defecit heading into the break.

At this point, I'll settle for Gonzaga being down by less than 10 at half time. Hell, I'll settle for a field goal at this point. Brutal start.

Gonzaga's inability to get the ball inside to either Olynyk or Harris is a big concern. They've got some capable shooters on the perimeter, but if they aren't running their offense through the bigs, they aren't nearly as good as they can be. If they continue to live on the perimeter, I'm going to be worried.

Well, on the bright side, it sounds like Kansas may be in the lead for Wiggins based on what I've read. It sounds like he really bonded with Bill Self and the Kansas players during his visit to Lawernce. I actually had Kansas as my least likely destination of his prior to the high school season, but based on things I've read, if I absolutely had to make a prediction right now, I'd lean towards Kansas. Of course, I still have no real feel for where Wiggins will end up. I still wouldn't be surprised to see him end up at KU, FSU or UNC. The only thing that would surprise me a bit is UK at this point.

Problem is that the only way VCU had any shot of winning was with the pressure and forcing Michigan into turnovers. That is basically the only way VCU has any shot of winning against any half decent team. If they can't force turnovers and get easy baskets off those turnovers, they don't win games against any above average team. So yeah, it bit them in the ass today but even if they stopped with the pressure I still don't think the result is any different. Michigan would've still blown them out, especially playing like they did today. If Michigan plays like they did today, the only team I could see beating them would be Lousiville. Of course, Michigan likely doesn't play a better game all tournament long than they did today, so that likely won't be a real factor.

Best ever. They have 7 recruits committed for next year. 6 of them are in the top 100 and 5 of those are in the top 20, They have the #1 ranked players at every position other than SF (and, are still technically in the mix for Wiggins, who is the #1 SF). Even if they don't get Wiggins, they still have the #3 ranked SF in James Young, who is the 6th ranked player overall. It is the best class ever and probably by a significant margin. There was talk about the Wall/Cousins class being the best recruiting class ever and, honestly, as great as it was, it doesn't even compare to this one. Wall and Cousins were 1 and 2, Orton and Bledsoe were 22 and 23 and they also got Jon Hood (40th) and a Darnell Dodson, a highly sought after JUCO transfer. The talent level of this recruiting class is simply in a class of its own.

I'm a little late on this, but Kentucky, already having the 5th (Andrew Harrison), 6th (James Young), 7th (Aaron Harrison), 11th (Dakari Johnson) and 18th (Marcus Lee) recruits (according to ESPN), added Julius Randle, the 3rd ranked recruit, to their already godly recruiting class. This makes 6 McDonald's All-Americans going to Lexington next year. Ridiculous. As far as Randle going to Kentucky, I'm not surprised at all. I was fairly confident that Jabari Parker to Duke was a done deal even before the season started, but there was a little doubt in the back of my mind about Michigan State. With Randle, I had him going to Kentucky and there was zero doubt in my mind. Even with the charade he put on, I didn't believe for a second that Randle was going anywhere other than Kentucky. Watching Andrew Harrison and Julius Randle play together next year is going to be a lot of fun. I'm not a Kentucky hater like many college basketball fans, nor do I particularly care for them, but they're going to be one hell of a team to watch next year. The talent and potential of that team is simply absurd. One thing that I will say is that I think this officially eliminates Kentucky from the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes. I guess there is still a chance Wiggins goes there, but everything I've read, heard and seen from Wiggins over the past few years suggests to me that his list no longer has Kentucky as a serious player. I just don't see him joining a team that already has that much talent.

Glad VCU is getting dominated and we won't have to hear everybody drooling over Shaka Smart for another week. Don't get me wrong, he is a good coach and all, but I'm glad I won't have to hear about his greatness anymore. Impressive performance from Michigan. That two point guard lineup with Albriecht being the primary ball handler and Burke playing off the ball was the difference in this game (and I guess the play of McGary who's been fantastic). Michigan broke the game open int he 1st half when they went with that lineup and then did the same in the 2nd half again. This isn't too much of a surprise, though. I didn't expect a blowout like this, but I did think Michigan would win this fairly easily. If VCU can't force turnovers they don't win and I didn't expect them to be able to control the tempo against this Michigan team.

Michigan is shredding VCU's press with ease. So much for all that talk about how "Havoc" is going to fluster Burke and company. If anything, it has played into Michigan's hands because they're getting such easy looks after breaking it because of how disorganized VCU has been defensively after the press. McGary is laying some brutal screens today. Holy crap. They're completely legal, but he is absolutely crushing dudes. I think that was the 3rd time he's floored somebody in the first half.

VCU #5 S vs. Michigan #4 S The Palace of Auburn Hills (Auburn Hills, Mich.) Saturday, March 23 12:15 pm CBS Memphis #6 MW vs. Michigan St. #3 MW The Palace of Auburn Hills (Auburn Hills, Mich.) Saturday, March 23 2:45 pm CBS Colorado St. #8 MW vs. Louisville #1 MW Rupp Arena (Lexington, KY) Saturday, March 23 5:15 pm CBS Harvard #14 W vs. Arizona #6 W EnergySolutions Arena (Salt Lake City, Utah) Saturday, March 23 6:10 pm TNT Oregon #12 MW vs. Saint Louis #4 MW HP Pavilion (San Jose, CA) Saturday, March 23 7:10 pm TBS Butler #6 E vs. Marquette #3 E Rupp Arena (Lexington, KY) Saturday, March 23 7:45 pm CBS Wichita St. #9 W vs. Gonzaga #1 W EnergySolutions Arena (Salt Lake City, Utah) Saturday, March 23 8:40 pm TNT California #12 E at Syracuse #4 E HP Pavilion (San Jose, CA) Saturday, March 23 9:40 pm TBS Iowa St. #10 W vs. Ohio St. #2 W University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, OH) Sunday, March 24 12:15 pm CBS Temple #9 E vs. Indiana #1 E University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, OH) Sunday, March 24 2:45 pm CBS N. Carolina #8 S vs. Kansas #1 S Sprint Center (Kansas City, Mo.) Sunday, March 24 5:15 pm CBS Minnesota #11 S vs. Florida #3 S Frank Erwin Center (Austin, TX) Sunday, March 24 6:10 pm TNT FGCU #15 S vs. San Diego St #7 S Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, Pa.) Sunday, March 24 7:10 pm TBS La Salle #13 vs. Ole Miss #12 W Sprint Center (Kansas City, Mo.) Sunday, March 24 7:40 pm truTV Illinois #7 E vs. Miami (Fla.) #2 E Frank Erwin Center (Austin, TX) Sunday, March 24 8:40 pm TNT Creighton #7 MW vs. Duke #2 MW Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, Pa.) Sunday, March 24 9:40 pm TBS

It's funny because I usually never buy into the Georgetown hype. I had them out in early basically every year since Monroe left, yet this year i finally decide to go against my gut and have them make a deep run because I'm such a big fan of Otto Porter's game and I figured he wouldn't let them suffer any early meltdowns. Whelp.

[expletive] brackets, I'm just cheering for upsets, UNC and Gonzaga now even if I didn't pick any of them to make noise in the tourny (although in one bracket, I have the Zags in the FF). Heels on a nice run over the last minute. Hairston with two 3's and Bullock with another to push this to a 9 point lead. Live by the 3, die by the 3. EDIT: So I just noticed that there is another thread for the games today. My bad for posting about them in this thread/