Block Pool

After the first round of games the tallies are as follows:

Danny 5 wins
Rook 5 wins
Mosk 5 wins
Tuck 5 wins
JR 4 wins
Livoy 3 wins
Skip 3 wins
Yank 2 wins

The major upsets of the week include:San Diego, WKU, Siena, Nova,

NCAA Block Pool

The Block Pool I am running is still not complete, but here will be the site to give updated rankings of then tournament.

Yank
JR
Skip(BUZZY)
Moskowitz
Rooney
Danny Jenkins
...
...

Dancing on into March

Boy was I wrong with my predictions from over the weekend.
With Selection Sunday come and gone the Big 5 has 3 teams in the NCAA Tournament. So dancing their way into the tounrey are half the city teams: Temple, St. Joe's, and Villanova.
Temple (21-12) took a wild ride over the weekend in A.C. going on to clitch the automatic bid out of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Even with a loss to Temple in the conference title game St. Joe's (21-12) goes on to pick up an at-large bid, mostly due to defeating Xavier 2 times in the past 2 weeks to earn the bid.
And yes the 'cats from Villanova (20-12) are still alive after losing to Georgetown by 19 in the Big East Quarterfinals. They also received an at-large bid.
First Round NCAA Games are slated for Thursday and Friday.
5 seed Michigan St. (25-8) vs 12 seed Temple 3/20 12:30pm
6 seed Oklahoma (22-11) vs 11 seed St. Joe's 3/21 7:10pm
5 seed Clemson (24-9) vs 12 seed Villanova 3/21 9:50pm

The Bubble is Bursting for the Big 5

The Villanova Wildcats have to sit and wait until selection Sunday to see if they earned and at-large bid. The 'Cats helped themselves with a big win over the 'Cuse in the first round of the Big East Championship. They went on to face the one seed Georgetown and lost by 20points. This practically ends the season for Villanova. Of their 12 losses 9 have been by double figures. Their resume does not look all that promising of an at-large team.
LaSalle has been eliminated from tournament contention with last night's loss to Temple.
Temple still has a chance if it wins out in the A-10 tourney.
St. Joe's is alive controlling its own destiny with a win over Xavier and Temple/Charlotte winner the Hawks will have an automatic bid. However they do have a chance at an at-large with previous big wins over Xavier and Villanova.
The Ivy League has a new champion and it is not Pennsylvania. Penn did not clinch the Ivy League regular season title, and there is not conference tournament. So there bubble burst when the Ivy League was clinched by Cornell.

A Day in A.C.

If anyone wants to see some high quality college hoops The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City is the place to be. A.C. is hosting this year's Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. The semi-finals begin today at 630PM.
The match-ups include two Big 5 teams. The first game pits the fifth seeded Hawks from St. Joe's vs. the one seeded Xavier Mustketeers. The night cap pits the 2nd seeded Temple Owls, coming off of a thrilling victory over local rival LaSalle Explorers, vs. the sixth seeded Charlotte 49ers.
The winners of these games will face on Saturday 6pm at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall. It could be a classic Big 5 title game for the A-10 title with the winner gaining rights to the National Tournament automatic bid. The loser goes home.

The Bubble Might Burst

Today 12pm Madison Square Garden, Syracuse Orange vs. Villanova Wildcats. In the opening round of the Big East Conference Tournament the 8-9 game features to bubble teams for the 2008 NCAA National Tournment. Both teams come into the game defeating each other on their home floors. Those are big road wins when you play a tough Big East schedule.
However, both teams have hit some rough spots with some bad losses.
The 'Cats will ride the talent of soph. guard Scottie Reynolds, who is a joy to watch on the basketball floor. At any point in time Scottie can take over a game.
Both teams are on the bubble and quite possibly need 2 wins to reach March Madness. The winner of the game will go on to face conference champ Georgetown. If one of these teams pull off the upset of the 1seeded Hoyas they are surely guaranteed a postseason berth. The other will probably be NIT bound.
Good Luck 'Cats! Jay Wright wear a flashy suit

The 2008 Eagles

Over Spring Break I heard some great news for Philadelphia sports. The Eagles made a big signing in the first week of free agency. They signed former Patroit shut down corner Asante Samuel. They signed him to a muti million dollar, multi year deal. This is a perfect fit for Jim Johnson's blitzing defense. The Eagles were in need of a shut down corner, like they once had in Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent.
Now, they still have a problem. They currently have three corners: Samuel, Sheldon Brown, and Lito Sheppard. Rumor has it the Birds are looking to deal Sheppard who has been a liability over the last few seasons with knee injuries. Brown has been a pro-bowl type player who can really put a lick on opposing recievers/running backs.
Another rumor is that Samuel and Sheppard will be the corners next season, and Brown will move to one of the safety spots.