Livin’ on a Prayer

Saturday gave us plenty to talk about.
Bubble teams saw too much go wrong and very little go right.

Memphis marched closer towards a 2-seed by dispatching Houston. Vermont choked away a golden opportunity vs. Albany (horrid coaching). UNC whipped up BC. (Did Dudley intentionally hit Hansbrough?) Oden and OSU took care of Purdue, as expected. Kansas held on vs. pesky Kansas State. Va Tech slipped up AGAIN, this time vs. NC State. The state of Mississippi took a step back off of the bubble with Ole Miss losing to Florida handily and Arkansas outgunning and outrunning Miss State. Oklahoma State’s season ended vs. Kevin Durant and Texas. Illinois became the penultimate big-name bubble team with a bad loss to Wisconsin. GW stamped a ticket from the A-10. Miami (OH) got the luckiest shot of the day to advance to the dance. UNLV had just enough against BYU and is hot entering March Madness. Hang Time alum Reggie Theus led New Mexico St. to the dance out of the WCC. Georgetown pummeled Pitt and an overwhelmed Aaron Gray to capture the Big East title. Florida A&M provided memorable late-second drama, Jackson State is back dancing again, and Long Beach State took home a late-night ticket. Most surprising to me though had to be Oregon annihilating USC from start to finish.

Deep breaths. Quite a day!

Sweating it out most heavily has to be the likes of: Drexel (CAA), ODU (CAA), Stanford (Pac-10), West Virginia (Big East), Air Force (MWC), Alabama (SEC), Appalachian State (SoCon), Kansas State (Big 12), Purdue (Big 10), Oklahoma State (Big 12), Missouri State (MVC) Texas Tech (Big 12), Illinois (Big Ten), Xavier (A-10), and Florida State (ACC). [I know I forgot a team or two…]

Perhaps Arkansas (supported by some and forgotten by others) is the only true bubble-team still playing tomorrow. Sorry Michigan fans…you’ve been TKO’d ever since Friday afternoon. Although you had to know that.

Problem is: Sunday may have even more in store for the true bubble teams. [Arkansas, Stanford, Air Force, Illinois, Drexel, ODU, Purdue, Missouri State, Florida State, and Xavier…in my humble opinion)

Here’s the lineup…

SEC Championship Game: 1:00 pm in Atlanta, Georgia
Florida Gators vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Pick: Gators by double-digits.

ACC Championship Game: 1:00 pm in Tampa, Florida
North Carolina Tar Heels vs. North Carolina State Wolfpack
Pick: Tar Heels pull away late.

Big Twelve Championship Game: 3:00 pm in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Kansas Jayhawks vs. Texas Longhorns
Pick: Durant and co. fall short at the buzzer vs. Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk.

Big Ten Championship Game: 3:30 pm in Chicago, Illinois
Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Wisconsin Badgers
Pick: Oden and Conley Jr. pace the Buckeyes past Tucker in another ugly matchup.

There’s also one minor bid up for grabs, from the 1-bid conference known as the Southland Conference, in which Texas A&M C.C. faces one of last year’s tourney darlings Northwestern State.

So while the committee remains hard at work, much of the country will be tuned into a spectacular quartet of games. Question is, will they be watching them or just hearing updated scores here or there?

Quick Thoughts
-Arkansas isn’t an at-large yet, but you have to believe even a close showing here might be just enough to sneak them in due to “how well they’re playing RIGHT now”.
-Florida is playing for a 1-seed in the South in my opinion. This is no time to waste this opportunity.
-North Carolina could win and still not earn a 1-seed. However, I see them winning AND acquiring one of the four 1-seeds.
-NC State isn’t in…but they’ve beaten Carolina before this season (albeit in Raleigh). Anything can happen with a jacket like Sidney (not Suge Knight) Lowe's in the St. Pete Time's Forum.
-Kansas may be the hottest team in the country, yet still seems incredibly venerable at times to me. It’ll be interesting to see if Durant can stay 100% the entire game.
-Texas will be one of the sexier picks to make a deep run, perhaps even as champs, within numerous brackets. If they win this game, most media pundits will put them in their Final Four.
-Ohio State will secure the overall #1-seed, and continue a massive winning-streak, if they can pull a win here.
-Wisconsin needs a win to become a #1, potentially replacing Ohio State (especially if the committee wants to keep UCLA as the #1 out West and push Wisconsin past the Buckeyes in the Midwest or South). Kammron Taylor must be related to Chris Rock, right?

Drama galore. It should be great.
Obviously EVERYONE on the bubble is rooting for the Tar Heels to dismantle the Wolfpack EARLY and for Arkansas to be toppled by the Gators in easy fashion. Of course, it never seems to happen that way.

Final Thought: If the CAA ends up being a one-bid conference…the entire committee should be fired instantaneously. Bias or not…it’s true to me.

See you at 6pm…