Continue reading »]]> 11/16 9:25 PM – This will be it for me. I slept for five hours, and will have slated a total of 20 basketball watching hours over the last 25 or so. MSU is finishing up over South Carolina. State has played sloppy over the past 10 minutes, coasting to a win. I will finish up the night by watching the end of San Diego State vs Gonzaga. It’s been fun watching and twittering with a few of you out there. The season is officially here. I have basketball on the brain and I cannot help it. Good talk fellas.

11/16 5:52 PM – I’ve been able to watch three teams UNLV will play non-con this year: Louisville, Tulsa, and Kansas State. I think UNLV will be able to hang with Louisville. Should beat Tulsa, and will probably get owned by Kansas State. Butler looking pretty brutal without #toobigyo. Howard just get into foul trouble and everything rests on Mack’s shoulders to carry the team now. Michigan State coming up next, then Gonzaga and SDSU.

11/16 5:31 PM – Butler playing their same game. Louisville now plays in the house that Kentucky Fried Chicken built. There are people in the stands wearing empty chicken buckets as hats. I am winding down again, all this watching basketball takes a lot out of you.

11/16 4:39 PM – It has been an ejoyable afternoon of basketball watching. Kansas State won a highly contested game vs Virginia Tech. Don’t let the score fool you. After, I have had the exciting prospect to watch Ohio State and Florida play. Gag me. Ohio State looks really good though. 69-63 8:55 2H.

11/16 1:12 PM – Watched LaSalle and Baylor, wasn’t a bad game overall. Baylor is athletic and they are in Waco, which looks like a dusty town. Now, I have Bobby Knight calling the game between Va Tech and Kansas State. Jacob Pullen has two early fouls, and Wally Judge is hurt. It’s ok though, as both teams are shooting a ton of bad 3′s early.

11/16 10:15 AM – I am back. UNLV will be playing Tulsa in the 76 Classic next week. They look pretty good, even tho they did lose to App. St. Oral Roberts had a giant bird mascot and will consume your soul. Big white kid for Tulsa looks pretty solid.

11/16 4:05 AM – Out like a thief in the night. (Seeing that I woke up at 6AM local time, it is obvious I could have gone for the full 24 hours straight. However, that would have put me in a bad spot to have my wits about me for the evening games with have MSU playing South Carolina, and Gonzaga against SDSU. So I made a decision to bail for a few hours of sleep.)

11/16 3:13 AM – 5.9 seconds left and Hawaii has the ball, up 1. Looks decent for the Rainbow Warriors to send Central packing. Bring me a new game and a meal that won’t make me sluggish. I have much more to go. 21 hours up. 15 to go.

11/16 3:07 AM – Rainbow Warriors up 1 with 1:30 left and headed to the line. They’ll shoot the ft’s as I type this. I’m so tired of this crap game and these guys jerking off Trey Ziegler. It’s horrible. Hawaii split the free throws and its a two point lead, Central ball. The suspense is killing me, I’m going to go get a mini cheese out of the fridge.

11/16 2:42 AM – Central Michigan vs Hawaii is the worst basketball game of all time. Tre Ziegler had his boys try to start a fight, and they collected a bunch of indian casino money. Hawaii is up 3 right now. I am hoping they extend this lead and send the MAC’s gangster program back on their turbo prop airplane back to the farmland of Michigan to lose 15 MAC games this year.

11/16 1:43 AM – Central Michigan is horrible at basketball, and this is against a horrible Hawaii team. Tre Ziegler is not the answer, and now he lives in an indian casino town. good choice bucko. Hawaii should play in an open air basketball arena. Hawaii 25, Central Michigan 28. WTF?

11/16 1:14 AM – SMC is going to pull this out. Lavin will bring the Johnnies back, just not this year. 63-53 with 1:05 left. Next game on tap is Central Michigan at Hawaii. Go Warriors.

11/16 12:43 AM – This guy from down under that plays for St. Mary’s has six 3′s tonight. You’d think Lavin would tell somebody to guard him. Dwayne Polee is really good, and I think he may be Natural Polee. The Gaels play on a volleyball court. This weird guy in a green shirt is trying to sell me on not drinking anymore. He looks like he fell off the Hale Bop comet. More to come.

11/15 11:53 PM – My dream is to upper deck a toilet in Provo, Utah. Johnnies up by a bucket early. Funner game to watch than the 1st. Bruno i sfreaking out right now.

11/15 11:32 PM – Memphis wins a snail game late with FT’s and such. Now it’s onto Saint Mary’s vs Saint Johns. Dwayne Polee plays for Steve Lavin and he should be playing for Lon Kruger. Dew #2 is coming up.

11/15 10:30 PM – Memphis comes out in the second half on a mission. Miami shooting a ton of deep three’s that aren’t going in. My wife just went to bed and my dog is dreaming of running through a forest chasing rabbits or something.

11/15 9:57 PM – Nobody can shoot it seems. Miami hanging around, getting after it in the paint on both sides. Headed to halftime, Memphis up 1, 38-37. About to hit my 1st Mountain Dew.

11/15 9:33 PM – The Raft is just great. Seriously. Talking about people leaving their underwear on the floor. I love it. Memphis vs Miami. Memphis has a guy who looks like a 50 year old heroin pusher (Garcia) playing the pivot, and two brothers who are running all over the place, and playing quite well. Miami has an athletic team of headband wearers and they’ve done nothing to stand out in a good way (Barton brothers) or bad (Garcia looking odd).

Continue reading »]]> A year ago, the five member Tourney Trip selection committee chose Buffalo, NY as the site which would play host to our yearly trek to the NCAA tournament. Yesterday, the brackets were released, and our patience was rewarded with actual basketball teams to watch play at this site. Here is who we will see this weekend, battle for the honor to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

1. Syracuse vs 16. Vermont – Personally, this is a cool game. I have never seen Syracuse, and really enjoy their hoops team. On the other hand, Vermont lives in the hearts of the underdogs, after the Catamounts knocked off the Orangemen in 2005, a very classic upset. Does this mean it will happen this year as well? Hell no. The fabled 16 seed over a 1 seed will probably never happen. However, there are a few things to take note of this year:

1. Syracuse is on a two game losing streak
2. The rock of their front court, Arinze Onuaku, is hurt, and may not play.
3. Sibling rivalry’s never die. Kris Joseph of the ‘Cuse will face off against Maurice Joseph of Vermont. This is the same Marucie Joseph who transfered from Michigan State a few years ago. He’s a senior now. This could be his last game. I will root for him as a former Spartan.

So, yeah. I’ll say right now that I won’t get my hopes up. I’m sure that won’t be the case when this thing tips off on Friday.

8. Gonzaga vs 9. Florida State – I’ve seen both teams play, but fellow trip members have not. Gonzaga is classic little guy who’s now a big guy. Florida State seems kind of gangster. I don’t really know much about their team. I’m sure the dog pound from Washington state will roll through pretty hard and make me root for Florida State.

2. West Virginia vs 15. Morgan State – Thuggins. Groan. I hope he decides to put on a goddam suit at least once. I am thinking we should find the team hotel and yell things at him, or something. Da’Sean Butler is my namesake, and has a pretty sweet basketball skillset. Morgan State only lost a single conference game, and beat Arkansas, at Arkansas. Gotta love when you collect a paycheck to make the trip, then slay the home team. I’m calling for Reggie Holmes to drop 30.

7. Clemson vs 10. Missouri – Somehow, someway, I’ve ended up with a Clemson basketball t-shirt in my travels. Can’t tell you how, or why. Missouri is super gangster, and will be rooted against heavily by this trip committee. I will watch the game because it’s a game, and whoever wins will automatically gain my following, should Thuggins knock off Reggie Holmes and company.

The trip starts on Wednesday at 3PM Eastern. I board a plan to Toronto 11:30 PM Pacific. Bring your drinking hats.

More to come.

Continue reading »]]>

#4 Gonzaga vs. #13 Akron

Well for the 9th consecutive season the MAC will place only one team into the NCAA tournament. Akron is hoping to end the streak of 5 straight seasons of one and done for the conference as well. It is not going to be easy as they are facing a powerhouse Gonzaga team. The experts in Las Vegas have Gonzaga as an 11.5 point favorite and its hard to argue with that number. As good as Akron played in the MAC tournament they are about to enter a whole new world playing this Gonzaga team. Physically there is nobody Akron can put on the court that can match up with Josh Heytvelt. Tyler Hansborough is still having nightmares about going up against Heytvelt in the preseason NIT at MSG 2 years ago. Akron will have to do a good job denying the entry pass with their smaller front court players because if gets the ball down low its pretty much game over. Even if he misses a few he can play volleyball with the backboard and eventually get it to go.

The McKnights and Nate Linhart are going to have to expend so much energy on defense their offensive game might rely heavily on making jump shots. If that is the case then G Darryl Roberts and G Steve McNees are going to need to be lights out on the perimeter. Both are streaky shooters who are capable of a big day, but neither have ever been in an NCAA tournament game before.

Akron got stronger as they got deeper into the MAC tournament. They are a program that has been hungry for this moment for a long time now, having not been to the big dance since 1986 and getting excruciatingly close the last 2 seasons before finally breaking through this season. As much as I would love for Akron to pull one out and start the MAC resurgence I just can’t see it happening against this Gonzaga team. They have too many weapons and pose big match up problems for the Zips. Gonzaga wins this one, but Akron might have taken a significant step towards becoming a mid major program on the rise just by getting to this point.

My Pick: Gonzaga

Continue reading »]]> Pregame: packed and loud. Are you sure this isn’t the NCAA’s? 80% Zags fans.
1st half:
15:22 – GU 11, SM 2 – Gonzaga is full attack mode. St Marys are on their heels. Why can’t Simpson abuse the wiry Daye in the post?
11:29 – GU 17, SM 11 – Saint Marys settling down. Gonzaga scores at will. Mills has to show up.
7:28 – GU 24, SM 15 – Gaels might not be able to keep up. Zags have some tooly fans, won’t stop me from rushing the court with them.
3:31 – GU 27, SM 22 – Gaels hanging around. Zags have slowed up a bit. Need to continue to attack.
Halftime – Gonzaga has this in the bag at it’s current pace. Too many shooters. Need to go down low if you are Saint Mary’s. The Gael will eat your face off.

2nd Half:
17:13. – Game over. See you on the court.

Continue reading »]]> Check back for some in game updates, if I can figure this thing out. Updates at time outs.

Pregame – Kenel club is out in full force, and Gonzaga has too many male cheerleaders. Ronny Turiaf hates attention. Tark the shark is sitting courtside in a huge orange Bill Cosby sweater.

18:41 1st – I was just on tv.
15:47 1st – Broncos need the hot shooting. They won’t dominate down low tonight.
11:27 1st – A ref from Spokane just bailed out Santa Clara. Missed Bronco shots = transition hoops for fast athletic teams. Gotta get back.
7:51 – WCC POTY John Bryant earns no respect from Zags fans. He can’t get any touches. SC hanging on with a nice drive and a 3 to bring the score to 25 – 19.
3:57 1st GU 35 – SC 25: 10 points seems about right. Bryant being managed by the Zags. SC band playing DMX is offputting.
Halftime GU 48 / SCU 27: Quite the flurry for Pargo and crew to end the half. SC is outmatched. Doug Christie loves lime green shirts.

15:13 2nd / GU 59 – SC 34: Pargo could have put it away. Pat Riley is now sitting courtside.
11:05 2nd / GU 65 – SC 39: Both teams going through the motions. Ruff Ryder anthem again. Broncos are about to “roll” onto the bus and head home.
7:32 2nd / GU 74 – SC 43: Josh Hyetvelt has a sweet tribal arm band.
3:36 2nd / GU 87 – SC 49: Austin Daye looks like he is 14 years old. 28 points says otherwise.
Final Score: GU 94 – SC 59.’Nuff said