Congrats to Melly's

[Snaxx]

agita inducing Owlets! Temple won the automatic NCAA bid out of the A10.

Last night I had a case of food-poisoning and have NFI what food caused it. I thought I had a pretty safe meatless diet yesterday. I watched the semifinal game TU vs Xavier and maybe I caught Owl fever as well. Right now I would be in NY driving my dad and sister home from a family gathering but the sickness kept me home and gave me a chance to see the A10 final.

Now I'll be looking to the Buffalo-Akron MAC title game. I have a cousin who is a Buffalo alum and went to Buffalo's first-ever bowl game (50 years after they declined a bid after they were not allowed to bring their black players). Maybe he might make a trip to the NCAA tournament which would be Buffalo's first ever.

[Bob78164]

Uly is happy as well. USC probably needed the automatic bid to make the Big Dance. They got it. So it looks like 5 from the Pac 10 this year. Possibly 6 if the Committee takes pity on Arizona, but I doubt it. --Bob

[elwoodblues]

And Missouri beat Baylor in the Big XII final. So some bubble teams now have more hope, and Cal has a depressing drive back home from OKC.

[Snaxx]

Buffalo lost to Akron in the WAC final.

I'll retire for the night and leave one more note: Evil and not-so-evil squirrels are on Temple's side:
http://broadandcecil.temple-news.com/20 ... es-richie/
http://temple-news.com/2002/03/21/harml ... es-campus/

[TheCalvinator24]

And Missouri beat Baylor in the Big XII final. So some bubble teams now have more hope, and Cal has a depressing drive back home from OKC.

Actually it was a ride back. My friend drove, which I guess makes the fact that he talks almost non-stop bearable.

Had I driven up myself, I probably would have tried to make contact with silvercamaro after the game, and I would have spent the night at my uncle's house in the area. Then, I would have gone to tomorrow's Big XII Women's game to see the Lady Bears trounce the Lady Aggies of Texas A & M.

[mellytu74]

I AM SO HAPPY FOR MY AGITA INDUCING OWLETS!!

Coach Dunphy has continued Coach Chaney's tradition of having the players involved in the community. This group, a nice group of kids, are involved in Big Brothers & Big Sisters and Race for the Cure.

This players in the avatar are the three seniors -- Semaj Inge, Sergio Olmos and Dionte Christmas.

My cousin's daughters are both Temple students and very active in the Cherry Crusade, which is the student booster group. This year, the booster group really had a connection to the team -- I haven't seen anything like it in a while.

There were three-foot high pictures of Dionte Christmas, who was the Atlantic 10 tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second straight year. And they had plastic snow that they kept tossing when Christmas scored (he had 29 points). And Santa hats.

When Sergio Olmos, the Owls' 7-0 center from Spain, scores or has a block, the kids all do the soccer chant. The O-le, ole, ole, ole cheer.

We didn't make it down there. We were afraid that it might be a bit too soon for the trip -- I am just completing my first week on the cane alone.

[Snaxx]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

[Bob78164]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

I was quite surprised to see that the Pac 10 again got six bids, with Arizona's consecutive-tournament streak surviving by the skin of its teeth. --Bob

[kayrharris]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

My thoughts, in that order.

[TheCalvinator24]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

Thanks for the thoughts, but Baylor had no shot once they lost the Big XII Championship game.

We only went 5-11 in regular season conference play. Inexcusable losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State coupled with our only quality win being against Arizona State killed us. If we had won the 2 games I mentioned and managed to take the home game from Texas, I think we would have gotten in. Especially if we had also made a similar run in the conference tourney.

[silverscreenselect]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

I was quite surprised to see that the Pac 10 again got six bids, with Arizona's consecutive-tournament streak surviving by the skin of its teeth. --Bob

Arizona's getting in shows just what kind of a biased joke the selection committee is. Schools like Arizona, which have a long national reputation, get credit based on that reputation, while the Baylors, Auburns, and Creightons of this world do not get the benefit of the doubt. Unless you play in one of the six major conferences, you have almost no chance of getting in. Four at-large bids which might have been two or three were it not for upsets in the conference tournaments. And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

[SportsFan68]

. . .

And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

[AnnieCamaro]

Arizona's getting in shows just what kind of a biased joke the selection committee is. Schools like Arizona, which have a long national reputation, get credit based on that reputation, while the Baylors, Auburns, and Creightons of this world do not get the benefit of the doubt. Unless you play in one of the six major conferences, you have almost no chance of getting in. Four at-large bids which might have been two or three were it not for upsets in the conference tournaments. And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

If they had play-offs in football to decide the national champion, wouldn't pretty much the same thing happen, except more people would be mad, since fewer teams would be picked for the playoffs?

[christie1111]

. . .

And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

[Appa23]

Guess which was the last of the 65 teams to be revealed on the selection show? I suppose it would only be agita-inducing if they were up for an at-large bid.

Too bad for PSU, St. Mary's, Creighton, Auburn, and Cal's Baylor.

I was quite surprised to see that the Pac 10 again got six bids, with Arizona's consecutive-tournament streak surviving by the skin of its teeth. --Bob

Arizona's getting in shows just what kind of a biased joke the selection committee is. Schools like Arizona, which have a long national reputation, get credit based on that reputation, while the Baylors, Auburns, and Creightons of this world do not get the benefit of the doubt. Unless you play in one of the six major conferences, you have almost no chance of getting in. Four at-large bids which might have been two or three were it not for upsets in the conference tournaments. And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

Well, I am not sure that you can lump Baylor, Auburn, or Penn State in with Creighton. They play in a "Major Conference" and are given chance after chance to get into the tourney.

Creighton shot itself in the foot with a bad loss in the MVC semifinals. Lose in a close game, and the Jays are dancing. Lose in the MVC finals, and the Jays are dancing with an 11-12 seed.

The general thought is that TPTB want to reward teams playing tough, OOC schedules. I have only one issue with it -- what about the teams that can not get games with major conference teams, unless they want to give up the necessary money from home games. (Here is where basketball and football differ -- teams are willing to travel to play Oklahoma, Nebraska, USC, LSU, et al, because they do get more money for playing them on the road than they would get from a home game before a small crowd. Meanwhile, Creighton ranks in the top 20 nationally, if not nearly top ten, in attendance. In addition, with no football team, the men's basketball team is the moneymaker.)

Creighton used to schedule teams like Iowa, Iowa State, and Kansas State, but they begged off after Creighton started beating them. There are 6 teams that have won 20+ games over the past eleven years --Duke, Kansas, Florida, Syracuse, Gonzaga, and Creighton.

In the long run, playing in the NIT likely will be better for Creighton than the NCAA tourney. If they can get on a run and keep playing (and, more importantly, keep practicing), then they can have an even more successful year in 2009-10, leaving nothing to the whims of the dreaded Committee.

Anybody know a gifted, extremely tall basketball players who would like to go to school in Omaha for a few years?

[SportsFan68]

. . .

And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

Ouch!

I have seen the error of my ways!

I recant! I recant!

GO UCONN!!!!!!!!!!




I'm gonna catch hell from Clem over this, if he notices...

[AnnieCamaro]

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

Miss Christie, I must give you my personal apologies in advance. I feel terrible about this, especially since you made me my beautiful princess dress, but I can root for Connecticut only until the final game. You are one of my very best friends I've never met, but some other of my very best friends are playing for a team on the other side of the bracket, and there are more of them, so I have to root for them all the way. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I promise to root for Connecticut until they play my other friends, because I think Connecticut has a lovely mascot.

Okay?

/ \

[earendel]

. . .

And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

Ahem...

GO CARDS!!!!!

[silverscreenselect]

Well, I am not sure that you can lump Baylor, Auburn, or Penn State in with Creighton. They play in a "Major Conference" and are given chance after chance to get into the tourney.

Baylor, Auburn, and Penn State play in major conferences, but they don't have the reputation that Arizona does.

[christie1111]

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

Miss Christie, I must give you my personal apologies in advance. I feel terrible about this, especially since you made me my beautiful princess dress, but I can root for Connecticut only until the final game. You are one of my very best friends I've never met, but some other of my very best friends are playing for a team on the other side of the bracket, and there are more of them, so I have to root for them all the way. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I promise to root for Connecticut until they play my other friends, because I think Connecticut has a lovely mascot.

Okay?

/ \

Annie Dear, please don't fret. I am happy that some of your very best friends are playing and of course you must root for them! I think that I will also be rooting for them also for a while because I have picked them in my pool to win many games. Your Mom was nice enough to give my son a t-shirt in a very pretty shade of red. I am sure he will wear it when your friends are playing.

Sprots understands because I help cheer for her favorite team. I adopted the Denver teams for when I don't have a favorite. And we all know how nice adoption is!

The Husky mascot is a very nice one indeed. I have met him on many occasions and he is very well behaved and quite nice looking. In fact one of our friend's sons was one of the people who helped the Husky when he had to be at more than one place at a time. Sort of like those extra Santa guys.

Hugs and scritches to you and Lizbit.

[TheCalvinator24]

Well, I am not sure that you can lump Baylor, Auburn, or Penn State in with Creighton. They play in a "Major Conference" and are given chance after chance to get into the tourney.

Baylor, Auburn, and Penn State play in major conferences, but they don't have the reputation that Arizona does.

I am convinced that if Baylor had gone 8-8 in the Big XII instead of 5-11, they would have gotten in.

At one point, Baylor was listed as a 4 Seed on ESPN's Bracketology. My beloved Bears have nobody to blame but themselves for not making it to the NCAA tournament.

[Weyoun]

Mississippi State took Auburn's spot. Auburn beats UT on Saturday, I like their chances against MSU. But they didn't, and they're done. I'll root for Pitt out of self interest.

[Spock]

. . .

And teams with reputations in the power conferences get the benefit of the doubt over teams without reputations.

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

Pardon my sports ignorance, but why are you rooting for a team from Canada in the NCAA's? Especially since the UConn has more moose than people.

[christie1111]

The announcer pretty much said that, especially when it turned out that the Big East had three of the top seeds.

GO PITT!!!!

Now wait just a minute....

I root for Denver and you won't root for UConn?

Hmmmmmm

Pardon my sports ignorance, but why are you rooting for a team from Canada in the NCAA's? Especially since the UConn has more moose than people.

U Conn, not Yukon!

Actually, when I first moved to CT, I couldn't understand why so many people went to the Yukon. I knew the gold rush thing was pretty much over.

And then it slowly became clear they where talking about the Universtiy of Connecticut.

[mellytu74]

I LOVED this story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.

The player in the story, Juan Fernandez, arrived at Temple from Argentina right around Christmas (the holiday, not the shooting guard). He played the second semester and quickly became a crowd favorite.

The first game, a home game, the student section began to chant "Juan Fer-nan-dez! Juan Fer-nan-dez!" as a greeting. He was stunned that his arrival was so eagerly anticipated.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_up ... ogy__.html