I say this every year – This Tournament
produces 67 losers and a winner. Whether
you like it or not. And the winner is
the only one anyone remembers.
Sometimes, not even then.
But when something like this happens?
You’ll remember where you were and who you
were with for a LONG TIME!!!
I’m creating a poll and the fans and readers
can decide: Who did it Better?
Meanwhile, back in the bar….
Bartender: “Hey, 2018 NCAA
Tourney. How many have you had?”
2018 NCAA: “Why? I feel greaaaaat!”
Bartender: “2018, I think you
need to slow down. You can barely sit on
that barstool…”
2018 NCAA: “I’m as judge as a sober!!! In fact, I wanna’ buy YOU a drinkie-poo!!”
Bartender: “That’s it. You’re out of here! I just called Uber. Go home and don’t come back until Thursday!”
2018 NCAA: “But – but I thought this
is what you liked and wanted? Me doing
insane things and ruining brackets and crushing March hopes and dreams??? You don’t like me anymore?? (sobbing a
little) I mean, jeez. I was just
trying to be the life of the party!”
Bartender: “I just like
you a little more when you’re not quite this tipsy, that’s all.”
2018 NCAA: “Okay. Well, I’ll be back on Thursday with bells on!!”
And that, my friends, is what is happening in
the NCAA’s right now. There’s
absolutely no other reasonable explanation.
There’s nothing else you can say at this point to convince me otherwise.
The 2018 NCAA Tourney is drunker than a skunk…
Some of the numbers:
1. It HAPPENED!
136-1!!! And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer team
that was doomed to lose without a flexible offense or game-plan. The UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore
County) Retrievers took down the overall #1 Seed Virginia!!! And it wasn’t even a contest.
2. IF you’d
have taken the money line with UMBC? A cool
20-1. Seems like it should have been
more…
3. Bennet’s
coaching style will be questioned until he wins the ACC next year and also wins
the ACC Tourney.
4. And gets
a chance to repeat as the only 1-Seed to ever lose to a 16-Seed and has dreams
crushed, again!
5. Michigan
won ugly Thursday and every fan I think I know texted and complained about how
bad they looked. My collective answer to
all of you: So What? They won, and that’s all that matters in
March. More on that in minute.
6. Michigan
is now the highest remaining seed on the entire left-hand side of the
bracket.
7. Michigan
is only behind Gonzaga (statistically) of the teams that are left in the West
and South.
8. (but
Texas A&M scares the bejesus out of me!!)
9. There are
as many 11-Seeds alive and well as there are 1-Seeds
10. There has
never
been a 22-point comeback so Nevada crushing the final hopes of the final ohio
school in the tourney is a first, also.
11. Texas
A&M, a pre-season Top 5-10, CRUSHED the north carolina tar heels in
convincing fashion and meet Michigan Thursday, riding an emotional
wave.
12. Two 9-Seeds
(First time ever) will play in the Sweet 16…
13. Loyola
has a 98 year-old sister, Jean Delores Smith, that is their inspiration.
14. The BFF
(Boeheim F@#$%ck Factor) is IN FULL EFFECT!
Ask sparty about that one.
15. Sparty –
hee-hee….HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
16. Sorry
about that, just tickles me to think that “The greatest coach of the best team in
Michigan with 2 lottery picks is – get this – out of the Tournament!!!”
17. Was that LNU
and Sex Scandal Karma for Sparty?
18. More on
Sparty in a minute.
19. There’s a
bracket out of 17M in the ESPN Tourney that has 15 teams correct out of the
Sweet 16.
20. I wish I
was young and could stay up all night filling out brackets on ESPN.
21. There’s
not a sober person who would have picked this Sweet 16 given 1,000 chances.
22. Sunday
isn’t usually as upset ridden as yesterday was as teams see the first one and
get a wake-up call. Sparty (karma), Cinci(ohio),
Xavier(ohio) and north carolina (karma) all went DOWN as favorites on SUNDAY.
A Brief Review of the Michigan Games:
They won
2 in the 1st weekend!!! Survive
and Advance!!
That’s
really all I care about that this point.
The
Houston Post-Game Press Conference:
Feel free to ask fans around the Water Cooler
this AM about how they’re feeling about their current situation:
Sparty
Virginia
Unc
Xavier
Cincinnati
Arizona
Yep – any one of them would trade some “Ugly
Wins” for what they’re looking at right now.
Jeez – that group of teams would
make a great “Loser’s Tourney”, wouldn’t it?
And some of you texting after both games (I
can’t believe how everyone was complaining after a 14-point win) that if we “play
like that again, we’re screwed!” are missing the big
picture.
MICHIGAN is still playing.
When has a Beilein team ever let you down in
March?
They’re always in it, aren’t they?
Yes, Michigan missed free throws. So did the other guys. Game winners, in fact (Houston)
Don’t even get me started on the Refereeing
in the Montana game.
Beilein wasn’t pleased with the refs, either.
Yes, there were HORRIBLE decisions made late
in the Houston game by a few players…But the Man-Bun went down, anyway!!!
And then there’s Poole. And winners find a way to win.
Maybe Michigan WASN’T deserving
this time, but I want to take you on a little walk down memory lane, for Karma’s
Sake (sometimes you throw the dagger, other times the dagger catches you right in
the heart):
1.
Michigan vs. Kentucky (2014): First, the MMPG’s Take from that loss and the
highlight:
In my humble opinion, there was never a MORE DESERVING TEAM than
Michigan in 2014. They were one of the
best statistical teams in the country and had a “Failure is NOT In Our
Vocabulary!” attitude. Though
while that Michigan team was extremely deserving of moving on in the Tourney,
Kentucky through the dagger that day.
2.
Michigan vs. Louisville (2013): As I recall, that was one of the few times
that the ole’ MMPG was too crushed after a game to post about it. I remember the Burke Block and the foul that
wasn’t and other memories immediately come to mind. Like this one:
And Watch Spike’s Story on The Journey….
All I can say is, we now
know how Louisville won that game…
They cheated.
Michigan Deserved to Win in
2013.
3. Michigan vs. Oregon (2017): Here’s what the MMPG had to say…
Threw the dagger, missed the shot…
In Summary:
Michigan was deserving in all of those game and played more or less well
enough to win. Thursday and Saturday
might have been ugly, but maybe, JUST MAYBE, Michigan’s got a little Ju-Ju Karma
in the Bag!!!
Sparty Woes
I was going to make this a separate
post, but there will be a lot more to post about this week.
In the last three NCAA Tourney’s,
Sparty has:
1.
Lost as a 2-Seed in the 1st
round
2.
Was blown out as a 9-Seed in the 2nd round by Kansas.
3.
Lost to an 11-Seed play-in team (ranked #68) in the 2nd
round
And Sparty has accomplished that feat with arguably the best
talent in the state of Michigan and in the collective B1G. So what isn’t the troll (Izzo) doing now that
he used to do before or what are other guys doing better?
I have a theory: I play a
lot of poker. When you’re playing in a
cash game (think regular season) you wait for opportunities and look for
weakness in players that you get to know over a period of time and you exploit
them when the time comes. When you’re
playing in a poker tournament, that strategy doesn’t work. Sooner or later you’re going to need to get
in there and gamble, win or lose.
Izzo’s game control style and method during the regular season
works great. But in the Tourney, well,
time has passed him by. Better coaches
have adopted the “house money!” attitude and let’s go out there, have fun and
maybe make a little history! Perhaps
Izzo should come up with a new hair style for the Tourney?
Beilein, OTOH, is a riverboat gambler, plain and simple. He keeps the team loose and has them
believing. That’s all you should care about in March. You are what you are when it comes down to
the fundamentals.
Last Week, This Was Absolutely Music To My
Ears!!!
TV Teddy OUT of NCAA Tourney – Will not
Referee any games!!!
All I can say is: IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!
I couldn’t name another ref
(well, I mean, I can) but I can name another ref that has blown as many calls,
insulted players and coaches alike, and still somehow had a job after all that.
I am very hopeful that the B1G is DONE with
this asshat and the ACC can have him.
MMPG’s
Brackets (2)
How am I doing? Not too bad, but I will be battling for the
top spots with two other people in this pool that happened to think Michigan
was a pretty good team, also.
The MMPG’s alter ego for the pool
is “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. Cincinnati hurt
a little a dropped me down further, but I have at least one side of my bracket
that can still produce points.
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