Sports Articles by eazybetz.com staff members

Half Time for NCAA's Basketball Tourney.

March 24, 2010

By Budd Foxx.

The NCAA Men's basketball tournament is half way over. Just a week ago we had 65 teams, all with different goals and expectations, and now there are just 16 teams left. The sweet 16. Some of these teams, like Kentucky and Syracuse, probably expected to be here, and won't be satisfied until they make the final four.

Other teams, like Cornell and Northern Iowa, probably didn't really expect to make it this far, and even if they lose this week, will feel this tournament was a success. Cornell could be a threat because of their three- point range shooting, but I just can't see them hanging with KY, and I expect a 2 digit point loss, but also expecting a high scoring game. But either way, it's nice to see the Ivy League representing.

Hey the Bulldogs are in there too. Oh wait, it's not Yale, it's the Butler Bulldogs. Just how many Bulldogs' teams are in the NCAA anyway? That seems to be the safe bet in the NCAA, just bet the Bulldogs to win; you probably have a one in four chance of being right. And then there are teams like Kansas and Georgetown, who had first or second round exits, and have to be questioning just what went wrong. One thing is for sure; even the most skilled college hoop followers most likely didn't see the Kansas collapse coming. So that leaves a lot of busted brackets. This could leave to low ratings for the final four. I think that many people, besides true hoops followers, turn into March Madness just to follow their brackets; especially if they have money on the games, but even if they do not. Other people who follow these games do so because of the school still in it being their alma mater.

With a lot of potential final four teams already out of the tournament, and with potentially more top seeds to fall in the next round, we could end up with some bottom seeds reaching the finals, and this could lead to less TV ratings. There are a lot of top players on teams still remaining hurt, so I would expect the lines to stay the same until we reach closer to game time, and we have a better idea of who is playing, and how hurt players really are. We know Darryl Bryant is out for sure for West Virginia, and Washington definitely can win that game, even more so now that Bryant is out, but they would still likely have to play KY, so in the end I don't see that game really mattering as far as a final four potential. Let's not forget the Duke Blue Devils. This could be their year. KY could fall just because they lack experience.

Duke, some would argue, had the easiest road to the final four, but if they end up cutting down the nets in Indy, it won't matter, because those elite 8, final four, and the championship game, no matter who is in there, will not make it easy for them. Their big 3 haven't even been really dominating and they are still winning big, so they are a dangerous team to face in the coming weeks. I think for this next round at least, Purdue will be able to hang around, their D should keep the game under a two-digit lead, but I don't see their offense keeping pace. As far as having an easy road, nobody will remember in a few years, when we look back at the record books, and it shows all the teams Duke beat to win the championship, many of us will not even remember how good, or bad, those other teams were. And the Blue Devils will get to hang another banner in their gym, and in the end that is all that really matters.

Well, when this is all over in the next couple weeks, we will already be talking about the upcoming NBA and NHL playoffs, and the starts of the MLB and college football seasons, but we will already have in the backs of our minds potential upsets for next years' brackets, which will be just one short year away.