Thoughts Before March Madness Begins


2009 College Basketball Final Four in Detroit, Michiganphoto credit

Well, Tonight is the night all the conference tournaments in College Basketball begin, and it is actually the beginning of the “Big Dance” or “March Madness”. Some or most would say that only when the 64 team NCAA Tournament begins you can say it’s “March Madness” time, but I believe that it starts a week earlier, like tonight. Besides deciding tournament champions for each Conference, who will get in or out of the tournament it can be a factor in deciding how many Big East teams get a number one seed, and who will get it at all. My guess it’ll be two, Pitt and one out of Uconn and Louisville. North Carolina, being the No.1 team in the country right now, by rankings and by my opinion will get another no.1 seed, and the 4th one will be between Michigan State and Memphis I believe. Oklahoma might get a shot at it, but they need the Spartans to be knocked out early as well as the Tigers.

As for the NCAA Tournament itself and it’s ending, I’m pretty sure North Carolina and Pitt will be in the Final Four, hard to say about the other two, but Louisville seem like a good pick for the 3rd spot. Uconn just seem to be missing something, maybe it’s the injured Jerome Dyson, who knows, but those 2 losses to Pitt made me and a lot of others very shaky about the Huskies for a Final Four berth. As for the fourth? I think a surprise could be in the making, not one of the favorites to reach it. It depends a lot on the final seeding, but I feel like a Cinderella story coming this year to the final four.

That’s my hunch about the teams, but like every year, some players will stand above the rest. Here are 3 that have shot to be remembered after this year.

Blake Griffin( Sophomore, Oklahoma Sooners)

blake-griffin1photo credit

First comes Blake Griffin, another “Beastly” type player who will probably beat Tyler Hansbrough for player of the year honors this season. 22.1 Points per game and 14.2 Rebound per game, leading Oklahoma to #6 in the nation and making a strong case for no.1 pick in the 2009 draft creates these expectations.

Dejuan Blair( Sophomore, Pittsburgh Panthers)

dejaun-blairphoto credit

Another big guy, who’s wider than he is tall is Pitt’s Dejuan Blair, Scoring 15.6 PPG and grabbing 12.4 Rebounds. He leads Pitt to #2 in the nation, and I think had his stocks rise high by his man handling of Uconn’s Hasheem Thabeet in both wins against the Huskies. He still lacks some mid-range jumper, but he’s a beast in the paint, and makes Pitt a very good and dangerous team against anyone.

Ty Lawson( Junior, North Carolina Tar Heels)

Ty Lawsonphoto credit

Yes, we got to North Carolina, the No.1 team in the country and preseason favorites to go all the way, and I’m not writing about “Psycho-T”, Tyler Hansbrough, but about Ty Lawson. Because Lawson is their X-factor, and he’s the guy who gets it all going. When he’s good , the Tar Heels are unbeatable. He scores close to 16 per game and dishes 6.5 assists per night, and if he’s got it his groove going for him in the tournament, than North Carloina can make room for another banner to go up there at Chapel Hill. He’s the best point guard in the nation, and this will probably be his last chance in College to get a Championship he really wants before he finally goes to the NBA in this year’s draft(Ty withdrew out of last year’s draft so he can give it another shot with all his starting 5 teammates this year).


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