Big Bubble Blows

Two bubble teams were knocked out of the tournament (most likely) last night, due to losses by South Alabama and Gonzaga in their tournaments. This, along with the VCU loss this weekend, makes the bubble an even muddier picture. Gonzaga is in for sure. But South Alabama and VCU are bubble teams.

South Alabama has an RPI of 37, with a strength of schedule of 127. VCU's RPI is 54, with an SOS of 155. USA finished 26-6, 16-2 in their conference to finish tied for first in the 15th toughest league by RPI. VCU finished 24-7, 15-3 in conference to finish first by 3 games in the 13th toughest league. USA lost in the tournament semifinals, as did VCU. Non-conference saw USA with a NC SOS of 73, with VCU at 81. In terms of results, USA beat Mississippi State and San Diego (two tournament teams), swept Western Kentucky, and lost to Vanderbilt and Ole Miss both by three on the road. VCU beat Maryland and Houston, lost to George Mason in their only meeting by 12, and lost to Miami (FL) by six and Arkansas by 10. It's closer than I thought, but I think South Alabama is clearly a tournament team, while VCU is probably just out.

Two more tournaments kick off today, the WAC and the MEAC, along with chamionships in the Horizon, the Sun Belt, and the Summit.

Western Athletic Conference:
The WAC is a really weird conference to me, as it seems like it should be better than it is. But it's not, it sucks. The WAC rankes 20th out of the 31 conferences in RPI. A four way tie for first just reinforces the mediocrity. Leading the way down crap lane is Utah State and superstar guard Jaycee Carroll. It's not too touch to figure out what this team is all about, as they rank 7th in the country in offensive efficiency, but 259th in defensive efficiency. They shoot 52% from the floor as a team, 39% from three, and 79% from the line - second in the country. Carroll himself is sixth in O-efficiency, shooting 53%, including 50% from three, and 92% from the line while averaging 23 points per game. The Aggies biggest competition is Nevada, who has been the favorite for several years but dropped off without Nick Fazekas around anymore. Marcellus Kemp is still around, however, and was second in the league in scoring to Carroll.
FAVORITE: Utah State
SLEEPER: Boise State. Finished in that four way tie for first, but ended up with the fourth seed after tie breakers. Led the league in scoring and have the two top rebounders in the WAC. Also swept Nevada, although Utah St swept them.
W's PICK: Utah State. I can't pick against a team I watched play in person. Especially with all the hot girls who attend there.

MEAC
One of a couple of conferences that is always in contention to send it's champion to the play-in game, and this year doesn't look much different, as the MEAC finished 30th out of 31 conferences in RPI. This year's leader is Morgan State, who steamrolled through the conference at 14-2, winning by three games. The Golden Bears are yet another one of those teams that play solid defense and a slow game, and could at least give their NCAA opponent some trouble if they make it. They'll have to get by Hampton and Norfolk State in the tournament if they want to make it, they finished in a tie for second, and Norfolk handed Morgan State one of it's losses this season.
FAVORITE: Morgan State
SLEEPER: Florida A&M. The Rattlers are on a roll (won five straight), have been here before (have won the MEAC tournament twice - including last year), and play Morgan State tough (2 losses by a total of five points)
W's PICK: Morgan State

TOMORROW: Some of the "real" conferences get things moving, such as the Atlantic 10, Mountain West, Big East, and Pac 10, along with the Big West, MAC, and Conference USA. Championships for the NEC and Big Sky, too. And it's my mom's birthday.

Watching Stuff

Just some thoughts as I watched some games tonight:

- First of all, before watching hoops we watched The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It. Was. Awesome. It's a documentary about the world of competitive Donkey Kong. The sheer nerdery on display is off the charts. I'm a fairly nerdy guy, but these guys make me look like freakin' Fonzi. I can't recommend it highly enough. It might be my favorite movie ever. EVER.

- Watching the second half of Michigan State/Wisconsin, and it's 30-26 with 13:30 left in the game. Not the first half, the whole game. If the Big Ten wants to start getting better players, they should strongly consider not showing their games on national TV. What 18 year old kid wants to play this kind of basketball?

- Arizona freshman Jerryd Bayless is ridiculous. He's got the speed of Ty Lawson and the explosiveness of Rico Tucker. I'm telling you, assuming Arizona makes the tournament, and it looks pretty likely, they could do some serious damage.

- God, Michigan State sucks on the road. And Neitzel is pulling a Dan Coleman, 1-10 shooting so far against the Badgers tonight.

- 99 total points in the MSU/Wisc game, well under the posted over/under of 124. I think just going under on every single big ten game is the way to go.

- Of course, now that I talk about Arizona, they lose at home to USC by twelve. They are a weird, weird team.

- Cal in basically a must-win game at home against Washington State, falls behind 9-2 in the first 16:35 and haven't gotten Ryan Anderson, their best player and #1 in the country in Offensive Rating among players who touch the ball on 20% of their teams possessions, a single shot. Brilliant.

- Watching the Utah State game on one of the random channels I get (the Altitude channel). Their arena is much more impressive in person. Just saying, you know, in case anybody else out there gets Altitude and was watching the game and thought "That's really not as impressive as WWWWWW said it was that one time."

- Ryan Anderson is currently projected to go 26th in the NBA Draft. He may struggle on defense due to lack of athleticism, but trust me, his offensive game will be just fine and he'll be a steal at 26. The Wolves need to trade up to get him if he's there at 26. Look at these numbers: 22 pts and 10 rebs per game on 51% shooting, including 45% from three and 89% from the line and has scored over 30 points four times this year. Sick.

- Jaycee Caroll of Utah State is shooting 51% from three. And that's with 177 attempts. That is ridiculous.

- At half: UCLA 29, Arizona St 18. Sounds like Big Ten action.

- This is boring. I'm going to give you a link, and I'm telling you not to click on it. It's not porn, and it's totally safe for work, but I'm telling you, do not click on this. Ok. Here it is. Don't click here.

Sacre Bleu!

Greetings and salutations from the great state of Utah. I have just returned from a thrilling Utah State basketball game. Before I get to that, a couple of quick thoughts:

1. Holy crap does Big Ten football suck. I was stuck at a relative's house this afternoon, and spent my time flipping between Purdue/Penn St and Iowa/Northwestern. I realize these teams aren't the cream of the Big Ten crop, but I could barely pay attention to the games. Way too boring. The only team I saw attempt anything further than 10 yards down the field was Iowa. It was nothing but run, run, run, drop off pass all day long. I even had money on the games (1-1) and I still had to struggle to keep watching.

2. If you haven't heard, Michigan State was beaten by Grand Valley State in an exhibition game in Lansing. Grand Valley State is a pretty talented D-II team, but the Spartans aren't the Gophers, and this shouldn't have happened. The loss itself wouldn't worry me too much, as MSU has three freshmen who played over 20 minutes each, and these things can sometimes happen. What would concern me is that the game went into double overtime. Meaning the Spartans had a scare at the end of regulation and then two opportunities to assert their greater ability - at home - and failed both times. I wouldn't scratch them off your contender list just yet, but they bear a closer watch.

3. On to the game. First things first, Utah State girls are very, very hot. From the dance team, to the cheerleaders, to the girls in the student section - very much top shelf.

The arena where the Aggies play, the name of which I didn't catch, is a very cool place to watch a game. It's basically a bowl, and literally half the arena is reserved for the student section. Students also get in free, as does a visitor from Minnesota if they guy he's with has a spare ID, so the student section is very full, very loud, and very rowdy. And this for a crappy exhibition, I can only imagine what it must be like against Nevada or New Mexico State.

They game was against a bunch of French commies from a school called Laval University, located in Quebec. It's so frenchified, that the school's website is in French, and their players all have first names like Marc-Andre and Jean-Phillippe and last names like Turcotte-Routhier and Beaulieu. Also, they're very crappy at basketball and should probably stick to hockey, as USU won 100-46.

Jaycee Carroll was every bit as good as advertised, scoring 32 points with a handful of assists, rebounds, and steals. He is a very smart player, doesn't force much, and always seems to be around the ball, on both offense and defense. He's the kind of shooter where if you give him an inch, he's open, and if he's open, he's knocking down the shot. Reminds me a lot of a JJ Redick (minus the whiny, bitchiness), Drew Neitzel (minus the hyperactivity and not as good a ball handler), or Deron Williams (with less court vision and a better shot). The one thing that seemed to be missing was the ability to get to the rim off the dribble in the halfcourt - he was great in transition, but I never once saw him try to beat his man off the dribble within a set offense, which could also just be the way the team runs.

The Aggies have some other decent players, but the guy who really caught my eye is a freshman named Pooh Williams. Granted, it was against pretty poor competition, but he really looked solid. A very nice touch from the outside as well as the ability to put it on the ground and get to the basket. Could be a future WAC superstar.

You heard it here first.