A few points of interest from the 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament…. what we learned from Day 1 (and yes, the Hokie Guru knows it’s Goldie the Minnesota Gopher with a hockey stick… kind of resembles his first day picks… lol)…
1.) The Hokie Guru is in close to the bottom in Govloop’s March Madness Bracket Challenge… a humbling experience for someone who has won his bracket challenges last year, the last two college football bowl pickoffs (in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009), and the last two AP top 25 regular season game picks (2007 and 2008).
2.) Having said that, the Hokie Guru is still in a great position in the Govloop March Madness Bracket Challenge. In these contests, you cannot have any massive upsets because your bracket can be damaged. We almost had one tonight between Villanova and American University (here’s the game recap). We did not have any massively lower seeds take out any of the obnoxiously higher seeded teams that people might have picked to go to the Elite 8 or Final 4. Moral of the story: One bad pick too far will cost you. In short, there was no madness today… the Hokie Guru’s down… but not out!!
3.) The Hokie Guru’s lack of confidence in Maryland (you never know which team will show up with the Terps… the team that lost to Morgan State or the team that beat North Carolina) and misplaced belief in Butler cost him today. According to Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News, Gary Williams has done his best coaching job this year. The Hokie Guru agrees and is an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) homer… the Hokie Guru should always pick ACC teams in this NCAA tournament regardless of the opponent.
4.) The ACC and Big East Conference are showing that the east coast is the king of basketball… the Hokie Guru’s prediction… only one Big 10 team survives after the weekend.
5.) Kudos to Andrew Wright. At the time of this blog post (March 20, 2009 – 12:35 AM), Andrew went 15 for 16 in Govloop’s Bracket Challenge. Andrew picked Michigan State to go too far, though 🙂 Having said that, if Michigan State makes it to the Final Four (which is at Ford Field in Detroit, MI) then everything changes and Mr. Wright might be in “the clover” as they say.
Everyone is still in it!!
Other thoughts
Stryper is back and does a cover of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “Shining Star!!”
Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Final Five is on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Minneapolis, MN. A major upset occurred today; the University of Minnesota – Duluth Bulldogs defeated the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) Gophers. The result sets up two major showdowns on Friday, March 20, 2009 (and I will give my picks below):
1.) In the first game at 2:07 PM Central Standard Time, the #3 seeded Wisconsin (Whiskey) Badgers take on the #2 seeded Denver University Pioneers. Yes, Denver is ranked #4 in the country. But, Whiskey needs to win this game to get consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA Men’s Divison I Ice Hockey tournament (and the Badgers may need to win the whole tournament).. plus, Madison, WI is about four hours (if you are driving fast) or five hours (normal speed) to the Twin Cities… and the Badgers will have a ton of fans at this game… the Badgers, ranked #16, are a team desperate for a win to boost their NCAA tourney resume. Badgers upset the Pioneers.
2.) In the second game, the #1 seeded University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux take on the tired #7 seeded University of Minnesota – Duluth Bulldogs. The Fighting Sioux are 13-2-3 in their last 18 games. The Fighting Sioux have the WCHA defensive player of the year, coach of the year, and three first-team WCHA hockey players (you can see the full release here). This is the hottest team in all of college hockey. The Sioux win.
3.) The Hokie Guru will have a WCHA Championship Game pick tomorrow night.
Good night, Govloopers!!
GovLoop solidly at #5. I would have lost it if Villanova chocked.
Here’s the standings:
1 Andrew Wright 15 – – – – Pittsburgh 15 191
2 Terps Going Deep 14 – – – – Louisville 14 190
2 Midwest Massacres 14 – – – – Memphis 14 188
2 Bronco 14 – – – – Memphis 14 188
5 Steve Radick 13 – – – – Pittsburgh 13 189
5 Accurate like a Shaq freethrow 13 – – – – North Carolina 13 189
5 Double D Ranch 13 – – – – Pittsburgh 13 187
5 municibid 13 – – – – Duke 13 187
5 GovLoop * 13 – – – – Louisville 13 187
5 Kalki Plays 13 – – – – Pittsburgh 13 187
11 BJC 12 – – – – Oklahoma 12 188
11 mstoddard 12 – – – – Pittsburgh 12 188
11 Noel’s Snowballs chance in… 12 – – – – North Carolina 12 188
11 govloop 12 – – – – Connecticut 12 188
11 Hokie Guru Six-Peat 12 – – – – Louisville 12 188
11 Olivia 12 – – – – North Carolina 12 186
11 Kirkland’s Pride and Joy 12 – – – – North Carolina 12 186
18 H-Town 11 – – – – Louisville 11 187
18 President Obama 11 – – – – North Carolina 11 187
18 SirTrev 11 – – – – North Carolina 11 187
18 Gatorlicious NIT 11 – – – – Pittsburgh 11 185
18 ACC#1 11 – – – – North Carolina 11 183
23 NASA-Coog 10 – – – – Memphis 10 186
23 Oski 10 – – – – Oklahoma 10 180
25 badnachos 9 – – – – Connecticut 9 183
26 Kit’s Killer Koyote – – – – – No Pick 0 –
26 Texas – – – – – No Pick 0 –
I blew that one… Badgers blanked 3-0… their NCAA tourney bid is in doubt.
North Dakota loses 3-0 to University of Minnesota at Duluth… incredible… the Bulldogs take on Denver for the WCHA Conference Tournament Championship.