Saturday, March 23, 2013

Wichita State

          What a great game. When I posted earlier today these are the games that I was thinking about. The best clutch shooting down the stretch that I have seen in a long time. The end of the game reminded me of times watching the Winthrop Eagles in Rock Hill. Mary Ann has Wichita State to the Elite Eight.  Jim Goff also called the Shocker’s shocker of Gonzaga.  He is well entrenched in first place at the end of the second round. May all of your teams win.

 

Clarkson

 

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

          If you are not watching this one you are missing a great game. You have to love former Winthrop coach Greg Marshall. His teams know how to scrap.

 

Clarkson

 

Butler Marquette

The last minute of this game has really been something else.  2.4 seconds left, Butler still has a chance.

Bracketology and Life - The Philosophy of a Busted Bracket

          Can you remember how you felt Thursday morning with your bracket freshly picked?  All of your teams were undefeated and looked like sure winners.  Thursday morning before they play the games is one of my favorite days. I dream of Cinderella teams and old favorites that can’t lose.  My bracket is full of winners.  Then they start playing the games. Oh, if they didn’t start playing the games.  How grand it would be. Davidson would win the first two rounds. UNLV would be able to shoot.  Teams would win because they were on my bracket. Upsets would only happen if I called them.   But they do play the games, and my bracket never seems to work out. Davidson has the game won, but then loses in the final seconds, UNLV cannot convert a shot, and Georgetown is not as good as we all thought. The glass slipper fits a team we never heard of – Florida Gulf Shores. They wear it with pride and grace. We enjoy the game, though our bracket suffers.  Harvard also wins a shocker and is fun to watch though we may have gone to school somewhere else and picked New Mexico to go to the final four.

          Life is like our brackets. It often takes turns that we never expected.  The person in our class voted most likely to succeed sometimes doesn’t do very well. You go to a high school reunion and learn that the star athlete is now a fat guy, the boy voted wittiest isn’t very funny anymore, and some of your friends have strange political views. You also learn that the girl that was kind of nerdy in high school is really bright and leads and interesting life. Our lives, like our brackets, also go directions that we did not expect.  Most of our original dreams don’t happen. Most of us don’t play center field for the Yankees.  But we soon learn that there are better dreams that we would have never imagined before. That is why they play the games.

         

 

Clarkson

 

The Other Ball Game

After hours of basketball yesterday, I switched over to the USA Men's Soccer vs Costa Rica last night. It was not your typical soccer game.  Check out the scene from Denver.  It was not a beautiful game but the US won.  - Will



24 months to celebrate before the other shoe drops

Leonhardt was being kind. I feel like there's an 80% chance Ohio State will have to vacate its championship  -- a championship which I've predicted in my bracket in exchange for Dodie giving me a free tattoo. When Yankee Interloper wins, I'll get the credit; the victory relinquishment and NCAA sanctions probably won't happen for a couple years, which leaves plenty of time for jersey popping and general celebrations.

Meanwhile, my kids are solidly in the middle of the pack in their first-ever bracket.

The High Road

I am about one loss away from joining Piers on the high road of principle that always follows people who have a really terrible bracket.

 

Clarkson

 

Saturday's games

Every single one looks very interesting. Sorry to have to miss most of them.

See schedule here.

[or copy and paste:] http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/schedule?date=20130323


--Piers