Tourney Trip

The bracket has been posted. It’s Nashville or bust. Here is where my head is at as the tournament begins this week.

I am stoked with UNLV’s draw as a #6, playing at The Pit. Familiar building. Driving distance for UNLV’s fans to roll deep. Colorado is probably good at basketball, but they lost to the only two Mountain West teams they played this year (Wyoming and Colorado State) so whatever.

Michigan State wrapped up a #1 with their win over Ohio State this afternoon. They could have a tough game against Memphis. Day Day is leaving footprints though. You’re gonna see ‘em.

As far as Nashville goes:

#6 Cincinnati vs #11 Texas – Texas is big time, but Cincy has Yancy Gates. Should be another good game. I have to think the Bearcats are a bit more battle tested with a win over Syracuse in the Big East Tournament. Haven’t seen either team play in the tournament before either, so that’s a plus.

#3 Florida State vs #14 St. Bonnaventure – Florida State is sweet. They’ll probably win this, though, after watching the Bonnies roll up in the A-10 tournament, they have some players. This should be a fun game.

#5 Temple vs # 12 California / S Florida – More A-10 love. Temple is a sweet draw for the Trip collective. I don’t know anything about Southern Florida. Cal is pretty decent, so I hope they make it. Call me a westie if you will, it’s ok.

#4 Michigan vs #13 Ohio – Shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to find the collective rooting interests of the trip. I’ll spell it out for you though – Several Trip members hail from MAC schools. We all root for Michigan State. We all despise Michigan. Go Bobcats!

I’m going Cincinnati, Florida State, Temple, and Ohio. Then Cincinnati and Temple.

That’s it for now. Possible NIT game in the works. Good Talk.

It’s easy to be amazing when you’re playing lesser competition. Tonight was a clear example of that. UNLV hosted and roasted Canisius 95-70.My third game of the season.

Mike Moser is an absolute animal and I can’t believe he’s going to be here for three years.

I am also really happy for Justin Hawkins. Just a good kid out there playing basketball. Had 14 points with 5 steals tonight. Killing fools.

Sam said I should have picked up a Canisius tshirt and did the hulkamania with it at the game tonight. Hindsight is what it is.

Going to miss Sunday’s game vs Morgan State and the giant dancing teddy bear, as I will be in San Francisco in normal life business. Next game is on Tuesday vs Cal Poly.

Basketball has begun, and I actually have time to do a little reflection on what I’m looking forward to this season

1. UNLV – This is my first semester at UNLV. I’m drinking a ton of kool-aid as we speak. Coach Rice stepping in and lining up recruits is one thing. Getting this team to run is another. I believe they are capable because they certainly have the athletes and talent. Kruger had them plodding though, it might be hard for a few guys to shake the rust. I believe the heart of every hooper wants to run though. I expect the first games of the season to be mistake prone while they hone their style. Hopefully it will be in line for them to beat USC and allow them to give UNC a game, because North Carolina is gangster and they deserve to lose.

2. Michigan State – Down? You can’t keep the dancing teddy bear on the mat. People want to count them out and give props to sexy picks like Michigan or Illinois. Michigan State surprises you when you don’t expect them to. They’ll be just fine. Tourney team no doubt. Top 3 in the Big 10 too. I have the feeling they’ve moved past a few rotten apples and addition by subtraction could be a theme a lot of writers reference later on this year.

3. Western Michigan – Had good vibes from this team last year. New MAC tourney format may give them a shot at a hot run if they take care of the MAC West. I haven’t been able to read up on the team as much as I would like to. I’m just hoping they play well in trips to Duke and Gonzaga. Oh, and Central can eat shit. Still. Always.

UNLV home schedule kicks off on Friday. Looking to grab a game in LA when I’m there for a concert in early December.

Hoops.

Contrary to the lack of action on this blog / website, the 2011-2012 college basketball season is sitting in our laps.

With the time consuming schedule my life currently holds me hostage with, I am not sure how often I will be able to update this portal. I still plan on attending as many games as I can. We are still going to the NCAA Tournament in March. I still love college hoops as much as you probably love your mother.

Our decision to switch our site to Nashville comes with a small amount of sadz as I was really hoping to make it to another Final Four. New Orleans IS a party town, and our collective does know how to put drinks to bed. Nashville is a perfect stand-in though. Sitting right in the middle of the eastern part of the country should give us decent access to teams we may not have had at the tournament before as well. Maybe we’ll finally put that upset bug to bed as well, storm the streets and bars afterwords and rip on everybody who doesn’t have their ears plugged.

My 1st game of the season will be UNLV vs Grand Canyon on 11/11/11. The Rebel’s new advertising slogan is “Let’s Run”. I’m pretty excited for this. I believe the Mountain West is UNLV’s for the taking, no  matter what you’ve heard about New Mexico. I’ll talk more about the Mountain West when time permits.

Good Talk.

During our trip in Chicago of last year, it was decided we would attend the Final Four this year in New Orleans.

Plans change.

Due to the NCAA sticking their nose up at us and not granting us our Final Four tickets, we’ve had to change our tournament site for this year. Nashville will host five additional dudes for the first and second rounds (See what I did there?).

Our return to the Final Four will have to wait until another year. In the mean time, it’s time to buy some bolo ties.