March Madness Notebook: Day 21

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Outside the typical NCAA Tournament talk of upsets and buzzer-beaters, one of the top conversation points is the Big East and whether it's overrated and deserved the 11 bids it got.

I said it on Twitter last night and I'll say it again here: apples and oranges, brah. These are separate debates. The answer to one has nothing to do with the answer to the other. The league is overrated, and I said that here a month or two ago. Collectively, it underachieved on opening weekend by advancing only two teams to the Sweet 16.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 20

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's funny that when the NCAA Tournament field was unveiled last week, of all the top seeds, Pittsburgh looked to have the easiest path to the Final Four. But those cute little Panthers did what they do best on Saturday; they underachieved in the postseason and became the first No. 1 team to be eliminated.

Give Butler much credit, but not all of it. Pitt needs to stop gagging in the tournament.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 19

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

There's some debate whether a 7-4 record is acceptable for the Big East's 11 teams in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and I contend that it is. I do believe the conference is over-rated, but if 16.18 percent of the 68-team field came from the Big East, and now 21.88 percent of the 32 remaining teams are from the conference, then I'd say the second round was a success.

And even if only three teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen, that's still 18.75 percent, slightly better than the initial entry. But if the Big East only sent three teams to next weekend, that would have to be a disappointment even if the math might indicate otherwise. At least four teams should be the goal.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 18

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Do you remember the last time you read an NCAA Tournament Day 1 recap that didn't begin with some corny reference to its craziness?

When you have 32 teams playing 16 games in a single-elimination tournament on national television that is pretty much the second-most anticipated sporting event in America, of course there will be some drama.

So, all that said, how 'bout Day 1? Crazy, huh?

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March Madness Notebook: Day 13

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

What a great day to have spent in the living room and in front of the TV with an apartment that smelled entirely of pork. I had the crock pot on all day, rocking the barbecued pork loin sandwiches.

And because I am only one man, there remains much more pork to be eaten. Today shall be another great day. Oh yeah, there's more basketball.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 12

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Wow, Jimmer Fredette's outburst was impressive Friday night. The BYU star made 22-of-37 shots, including seven three-pointers, and finished with a Mountain West Conference Tournament record 52 points. The Cougars avenged two regular-season losses to New Mexico with an 87-76 win, advancing to the MWC championship game against San Diego State today at 7 p.m.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 11

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Poor Cincinnati. After the Bearcats cruised in their Big East Tournament opener on Wednesday, they were trounced by Notre Dame in one of the most lopsided blowouts in the event's storied history.

Fellow alums think I'm harsh on our alma mater; it's not that I'm not excited about the job Mick Cronin has done in his fifth season in Cincinnati. But at the same time, I'm tempering my optimism because I don't think the Bearcats are back, as many of them like to think. They play excellent defense and their scrappy style is reminiscent of those great UC teams of the 1990s. But those teams also had some scoring punch. Currently there is very little offensive firepower, no go-to guy to carry a team, and that's why Cincinnati's exit from the NCAA Tournament will be an early one.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 10

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I hit up Wednesday's evening session of the Big East Tournament. Bumping into a couple dozen Cincinnati alums kept our foursome from realizing just how badly the Bearcats were putting it on South Florida. UC was in control of a typically low-scoring first half, but Mick Cronin's crew really blew things wide open after the break. Putting up almost 90 and winning by nearly 30 aren't usually staples of Cincinnati's success this season, but there's no complaining here. Anyway, I'll post a few pictures on OGS a little later.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 9

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I was walking to the train in Midtown last night and I couldn't help but be swept up by the energy around Madison Square Garden. I had no intention of going to any of the Big East games; in fact, I'd just left a University of Cincinnati Alumni social event where I was offered a freebie for the evening session.

But once I saw the Providence team bus pull into the MSG lot, and I heard a scalper bark out "two on the floor" to a man and his teenage son, I was hooked. I watched his sales pitch fail, then asked about a single. We went back and forth, and his price actually wasn't bad. But I had some work to do at home so I turned him down and continued my march to the subway. By the time I got home, I was able to watch the last few minutes of South Florida's upset over Villanova, a game for which I could have watched from a $60 floor seat.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 8

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

A writer friend tried to tell me over the weekend that the Big East is to basketball what the SEC is to football. I'm not so sure of that, since the Big East, despite its stacked lineup of heavy hitters, hasn't won a national championship since 2004. But I will say the league's conference tournament is the best to watch if you're locked in front of your television. Want proof?

Well, feel free to flip on the TV anytime between noon and midnight Tuesday and Wednesday. And really the whole week, because the closer it gets to the championship game, the more desperate the teams are and the more physical the games become.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 7

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Wow. Ohio State's beatdown of Wisconsin was as impressive as it was thorough in Columbus on Sunday. The Buckeyes showed they're clearly the best team in the country, and put the Big Ten on notice that they have no intention of loafing through this week's conference tournament that starts Thursday in Indianapolis.

Today's Headlines
+ Indiana State claimed a spirited win over top-seeded Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference title game on Sunday. The Sycamores get the automatic bid, while the Bears wait to see if their 25-8 record is good enough for an at-large bid. Without a win over a team from the RPI Top 50, the prediction here is that it's not.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 6

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It took until the final game of the regular season, but I'm finally ready to say Cincinnati can play some basketball. I've been saying on Twitter the last six weeks that the Bearcats are brutal to watch, but they bring lockdown defense and scrap their way to wins over decent teams.

If they play that grinding style in the NCAA Tournament, however, chances are good that their game(s) will be decided on a late possession or two, where they could be exposed as a team without a true game-breaker who can score when a critical basket is needed.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 5

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's the final Saturday of the regular season for many teams; others are already in their conference tournaments. ESPN Classic got college basketball fans in the mood this morning with the replay of the great 1985 final between Villanova and Georgetown. Twenty-two of the Top 25 teams take the floor Saturday; five games involve one ranked squad against another.

Today's Headlines
+ As Duke prepares to battle for ACC supremacy against hated rival North Carolina, word comes that freshman point guard Kyrie Irving's toe is improving, but not enough to play.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 4

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

The St. John's loss at Seton Hall was more surprising than it was damaging. Missing out on a double-bye and only getting one off day in the Big East Tournament won't crush the Red Storm. The conference event is the most brutal in the country, but if there's one team that can muscle its way to four wins in four days at Madison Square Garden, it's probably a St. John's team that has won a handful of big games at that very venue under Steve Lavin already this season.

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March Madness Notebook: Day 3

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I never thought I'd say this, but North Carolina hasn't gotten the hype this season that it typically gets. Perhaps it's because the Tar Heels struggled through a miserable 2009-10 and maybe expectations weren't as high for Roy Williams' bunch heading into this year.

But UNC is playing some pretty good basketball these days, and if Jared Sullinger is the only freshman you've heard a lot about, then you haven't been paying attention. Harrison Barnes is just as valuable to his Heels as Sully is to Ohio State. Did you see what he did at Florida State Wednesday night?

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