Armadillo: Monday's six-pack
Current odds to win the college basketball championship.........
Kentucky, even-- It will take almost a perfect game to beat them.
Wisconsin 7-2-- They're playing without their starting point guard. .
Arizona 9-2-- Don't shoot ball well enough to beat Kentucky.
Duke 5-1-- If they win, maybe one of their alums can land a TV job.
Michigan State 10-1-- Izzo is getting the most out of this roster.
Gonzaga 12-1-- Had lost in second round last five years before Sunday.
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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......
13) Michigan State 60, Virginia 54-- Spartans split last four home games, went just 4-3 in last seven games before this weekend. 2-seeds are now 4-4 in this round the last two years. Quiet end to a great year for Virginia, which went 2-3 in its last five games after starting the season 28-1.
12) Duke 68, San Diego State 49-- Why do Grant Hill and Shane Battier start their TV careers at the top of the ladder? At least Corey Maggette is doing Big West games on cable, working his way up. Alaa Abdelnaby is the best of the TV Dukies, but he is on CBS Sports Network and we don't hear him much.
11) Wichita State 78, Kansas 65-- I'm thinking this is bad news for mid-majors, with the little cousin KO'ing the big $$$ in-state team in the public spotlight, after they had refused to schedule Wichita for 22 years. Next question becomes; was this Wichita's Super Bowl? They play Notre Dame next.
10) Oklahoma 72, Dayton 66-- If DePaul called Archie Miller, he'd have to listen, right? He's won five NCAA games in the last 13 months but only makes $335,000 a year. Thats a lot of $$$ for you and I, but for a coach with his accomplishments, he is vastly underpaid by market standards.
9) Gonzaga 87, Iowa 68-- Zags put on impressive display after losing in this round in previous five tournaments- they made 10-16 from arc, had an eFG% of 71.6%, which is outrageously good. Iowa won its first tournament game in 14 years Friday, but looked like a mid-major in this game.
8) Wisconsin 72, Oregon 65-- Had pleasure of watching this game with nice people from Madison; an elderly lady told me that someone she knew was dying of cancer, and got the nicest note from Russell Wilson, who played football for the Badgers. She was genuinely touched by Wilson's letter; its good to hear nice things about people.
7) Louisville 66, Northern Iowa 53-- Disappointing performance by the Panthers, who had been bet up to -2.5 in this game. Louisville/North Carolina both struggled to beat inferior teams in the first round, but then looked way better over the weekend.
6) West Virginia 69, Maryland 59-- Mountaineers forced 23 turnovers, now move on to face unbeaten Kentucky. Odd trivia: Bob Huggins had a heart attack a few years ago at the Pittsburgh airport; the paramedic who saved his life was John Calipari's cousin.
5) Coaching carousel rumors: Tony Barbee to Nevada, Ben Howland to Miss State; we neglected to mention last week that George Mason fired Paul Hewitt,, who once led Georgia Tech to a Final Four. He'd be an interesting candidate for DePaul.
4) This is time when teams in the NIT/CBI/CIT are a little less unhappy to be there, since 52 of the 68 NCAA teams are done playing and they're not. All of them would still rather have been in the NCAAs, but it doesn't sting as much now.
3) Captain Obvious reports that college sports is big business; Florida State is going to make $79.5M in upgrades to its football stadium. Thats million, with an M.
2) Murray State is at Tulsa tonight in the NIT; interesting chance for the Racers to play an AAC team on national TV, albeit on the road.
1) CBS signed up Anthony Grant as a studio analyst for Sunday, I'm assuming before the poor guy got fired by Alabama last Sunday, 45 minutes before the brackets were released; maybe yesterday will turn into an audition for a job next winter.
Current odds to win the college basketball championship.........
Kentucky, even-- It will take almost a perfect game to beat them.
Wisconsin 7-2-- They're playing without their starting point guard. .
Arizona 9-2-- Don't shoot ball well enough to beat Kentucky.
Duke 5-1-- If they win, maybe one of their alums can land a TV job.
Michigan State 10-1-- Izzo is getting the most out of this roster.
Gonzaga 12-1-- Had lost in second round last five years before Sunday.
**********
Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......
13) Michigan State 60, Virginia 54-- Spartans split last four home games, went just 4-3 in last seven games before this weekend. 2-seeds are now 4-4 in this round the last two years. Quiet end to a great year for Virginia, which went 2-3 in its last five games after starting the season 28-1.
12) Duke 68, San Diego State 49-- Why do Grant Hill and Shane Battier start their TV careers at the top of the ladder? At least Corey Maggette is doing Big West games on cable, working his way up. Alaa Abdelnaby is the best of the TV Dukies, but he is on CBS Sports Network and we don't hear him much.
11) Wichita State 78, Kansas 65-- I'm thinking this is bad news for mid-majors, with the little cousin KO'ing the big $$$ in-state team in the public spotlight, after they had refused to schedule Wichita for 22 years. Next question becomes; was this Wichita's Super Bowl? They play Notre Dame next.
10) Oklahoma 72, Dayton 66-- If DePaul called Archie Miller, he'd have to listen, right? He's won five NCAA games in the last 13 months but only makes $335,000 a year. Thats a lot of $$$ for you and I, but for a coach with his accomplishments, he is vastly underpaid by market standards.
9) Gonzaga 87, Iowa 68-- Zags put on impressive display after losing in this round in previous five tournaments- they made 10-16 from arc, had an eFG% of 71.6%, which is outrageously good. Iowa won its first tournament game in 14 years Friday, but looked like a mid-major in this game.
8) Wisconsin 72, Oregon 65-- Had pleasure of watching this game with nice people from Madison; an elderly lady told me that someone she knew was dying of cancer, and got the nicest note from Russell Wilson, who played football for the Badgers. She was genuinely touched by Wilson's letter; its good to hear nice things about people.
7) Louisville 66, Northern Iowa 53-- Disappointing performance by the Panthers, who had been bet up to -2.5 in this game. Louisville/North Carolina both struggled to beat inferior teams in the first round, but then looked way better over the weekend.
6) West Virginia 69, Maryland 59-- Mountaineers forced 23 turnovers, now move on to face unbeaten Kentucky. Odd trivia: Bob Huggins had a heart attack a few years ago at the Pittsburgh airport; the paramedic who saved his life was John Calipari's cousin.
5) Coaching carousel rumors: Tony Barbee to Nevada, Ben Howland to Miss State; we neglected to mention last week that George Mason fired Paul Hewitt,, who once led Georgia Tech to a Final Four. He'd be an interesting candidate for DePaul.
4) This is time when teams in the NIT/CBI/CIT are a little less unhappy to be there, since 52 of the 68 NCAA teams are done playing and they're not. All of them would still rather have been in the NCAAs, but it doesn't sting as much now.
3) Captain Obvious reports that college sports is big business; Florida State is going to make $79.5M in upgrades to its football stadium. Thats million, with an M.
2) Murray State is at Tulsa tonight in the NIT; interesting chance for the Racers to play an AAC team on national TV, albeit on the road.
1) CBS signed up Anthony Grant as a studio analyst for Sunday, I'm assuming before the poor guy got fired by Alabama last Sunday, 45 minutes before the brackets were released; maybe yesterday will turn into an audition for a job next winter.
