The Legend of Tom Izzo

More often than not, I have been a total homer when it comes to discussing college basketball. On numerous ocassions I have discussed how much national championships are the most valuable thing you can measure a coach and/or a program by. However, in this post I will concede that such tough criteria is somewhat unfair. Why? Because some coaches just cannot be measured simply by looking at how many titles they have. Michigan State's coach Tom Izzo has "only" one national title since he took over the helm in East Lansing. With yesterday's thrilling win over Tennessee, he and his team have a chance to double up their amount of titles. Not impressed yet? Consider this fun fact: every upperclassman in Izzo's program has been to a final four. What is even more absurd is that he now has SIX appearances in the last twelve seasons. Not many coaches, let alone elite programs, can claim to have been to as many final fours as Coach Izzo has. Georgetown and Illinois? Five. Arizona and Syracuse? A mere four. All of those have been around for decades. Tom Izzo? For only a decade and a half.

The most impressive thing though about Tom Izzo's success is how he did it without dominating NBA prospects on a regular basis. The most talented team he has was the one who won the title in 2000, and a couple of those players are still in the NBA in Jason Richardson and Morris Peterson. The Spartans have been to multiple F4's since, yet barely have any players currently employed by NBA teams. I would find it hard to believe any top notch school can claim the same. Izzo clearly has done more with less than anyone else but has barely received any recognition about it. Sure, professional analysts who follow college basketball might give him praise but not as much as they would someone like Jim Boeheim (1 NC, 3 F4's) or Lute Olsen (1 NC, 4 F4's) and those coaches were coaches for over 30 years.

Brittney Griner is a Beast

For those of you who were not bored enough to watch the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament this morning, you missed out. It was a great block party. Seriously, it was. It was the first time all year I watched more than five minutes of a women's game that did not involve UCLA or Stanford and I was not too disappointed. Baylor trots 6'8" freshman sensation (and amateur boxer) Brittney Griner. Yes, she has the height of a guy who could play D-I men's basketball at center. This basically never happens. Usually women centers hover around 6'3" (give or take), so there is an inherent advantage for the Baylor freshman. Today against #1 seed Tennessee it was no exception. She did not have any mercy on the Lady Vols as she tallied 27 points and a cool 10 blocks. Oh by the way, that is no fluke for Ms. Griner. In the second round game against Georgetown, she had a smooth 14 blocks. Those numbers are plain ridiculous and should not be taken lightly. When was the last time we saw a center in the men's game that had such a height advantage with such dominance? Long ago. Ok ok, enough about the blocks! You know those 27 points I mentioned that she poured on Pat Summitt's crew? Eleven of them came from the stripe. In thirteen attempts. Coach Howland, can we get her to transfer and play for us? She has a better looking shot then any of our players, seriously.

Kentucky and Kansas Winningest Ever? Really?

Recently I heard about how Kentucky and Kansas are have the most wins out of any school in D-I history. Obviously, no one can argue with that fact. I even blogged about it. Nonetheless, hailing either one of those as the most prestigious would be ridiculous and shameful. Kentucky with all its winning, has only made 13 F4's while Kansas has the same amount. That ranks fourth behind UCLA, UNC, and Duke. And to put the final nail in the coffin, we all know that unless you win a championship, you are not the best. You can be one of the best, but not the very best. I mean, winning 35 games in a season doesn't bode as well when a team who wins say 33 beats you and takes the championship from you. In light of that factor, I have decided to do some very simple math. So simple even the Trojans might be able to follow (well, maybe). Kansas has 3 NC while Kentucky has 7. Add both of those up and you get 10. That'd be one less than what UCLA has. Sure, UCLA might have a couple hundred less wins than either of the previously mentioned schools, but at the end of the day, it has found a way to come up on top. To put it simply:

It's Been a While But...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has been quite a while since we last spoke. In fact, it's been since the conference tournament weekend. That was two weeks ago. What have I done since you might ask? Took some finals, flew to the nation's capital, and a couple other historic United States cities. Some might say I have traveled more than such schools as Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova from the Big East or maybe Kansas from the Big 12, or even those "good" schools out of the A10. Either way, lots has happened in these two weeks. Brackets have been destroyed, weird white guys have been winning games they shouldn't (Northern Iowa and Cornell) and even the Pac-10 has had a winning record thus far in the tournament at 3-1.

I was there in person for Georgetown's fall from grace against Ohio (who?). Well, I was visiting Georgetown when it happened, so not really in person, but kind of. Better yet, I got to watch Kansas lose live and screw my bracket even though I was travelling around DC. I saw part of Nova's game as they lost to the Bay Area's new pride, St. Mary's. And lets not even start talking about Cornell and Northern Iowa because that's been done by every professional on ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, SI, and some random foreign media. But you know, enough about the past. It is time to look forward towards a tasty Sweet-16. Here is what I want to see happen this weekend and why (by region):

MIDWEST:
1. UNI beats MSU. Why? So I can laugh even more at that super ugly white guy who looks like a leprechaun on growth hormones and anabolic steroids.
2. OSU loses to TN. Why? Everyone loves Bruce Pearl... unless of course they hate Jews. Nothing like having a member of the tribe having a chance to advance to the F4.
3. 1+2=69. Why? If you combine the previously mentioned outcomes, the Elite-8 match-up will be a "69" and no college male will object to that, right?
4. Evan Turner has a great game for OSU. Why? I want him to solidify his National Player of the Year over John Wall, simple as that.
5. TN beats out UNI and moves on to the F4. Why? see reason #2.

West:
1. Butler beats 'Cuse. Why? My adventurous weekend with some homegurlz in DC led me to not like 'Cuse. I think they will win, but lets give one out to the Hoyas. You know, because they blew it (like the rest of their conference).
2. KSU destroys Xavier. Why? So KSU fans can rub it in to the Jayhawk faithful how much closer they are getting to winning a championship. Two more and they catch "tradition heavy" Kansas.
3. KSU beats Butler. Why? see #2. Having Butler in the F4 would be comical cause they could barely beat UCLA, but I'll go against it.

East:
1. Cornell over UK. Why? So Calipari doesn't have a chance to vacate another F4 appearance. So UK has no shot at being two away from double digits. Lastly, so the team that claims to be the greatest ever (umm 11 > 7, sorry) loses to an Ivey League school.
2. Washington over WVU. Why? All my friends in the Big East give the Pac-10 shit. However, for the sake of comedy and West Coast bragging, lets have UDub get this one.
3. A double digit seed advances to the F4. Why? Everyone loves an underdog. Especially when their team is already out of it.
4. Kentucky gets sanctions. Why? It'd be hilarious. Third time is not the charm for Calipari.

South:
1. Duke loses. Why? No one likes the smug Dukies. Losing to a team from rural Indiana without their biggest star will be even funnier.
2. SMC over Baylor. Why? I'm from the Bay Area and so is Saint Mary's. Plus, it'll be funny to have another Big 12 team to a much lower seeded foe.
3. SMC advances to F4. Why? This will potentially set-up a match-up with Bruce Pearl and his band of Vols. What better than a title game between a Catholic school and a Jewish head coach?
4. Coach K loses, a sponsorship. Why? Everyone is sick of him. Except Dick Vitale. But everyone is sick of Dickey V. Therefore, no one really likes Coack K.
5. Chris Kramer dunks over Nolan Smith and/or Lance Thomas. Why? Duke plays like four whities at all times (sometimes three, god forbid), so why not have a white boy from Purdue hurdle Duke's remaining rotation players. A dunk over Andre Dawkins would suffice too.

Crazy Start To Conference Tourneys

With most conference tournaments from the Big-6 under way, it is time to look back at the day that was. That day was Thursday (clever, I know). All across the country lower seeds took out higher ranked teams. To be honest, due to finals and all that, I only got to concentrate on two tournaments. However, those two provided plenty of upsets. To get the most out of today, I decided to follow the best conference, Big East, and its polar opposite, the Pac-10. Both provided plenty of drama and excitement. Sure the Big East featured five ranked teams, while there were non on the Left Coast, but oh well. The day began with Georgetown showing it only knows how to play against good teams, as it beat archrival and squeeze of the month Syracuse. The Hoyas did not slip as they did against the Orange earlier this year as Chris Wright was dominating and Greg "Craig" Monroe showed why lefties are so awesome. The day continued with Marquette taking on Villanova. The announcers kept talking about how it was going to be a good game and all that jazz, but I wasn't buying it. And I was proved wrong. 'Nova decided to also shoot itself in the foot and lose to a lesser (though talented) opponent. Then came the Bruins turn to pull of an "upset".

Even many die-hard UCLA fans didn't expect their Bruins to pull out the win against the Wildcats of Arizona and to fall to them for the third time this season. For what ever reason (that reason was probably Reeves Nelson), the Bruins dominated throughout most of the game, and sent Arizona and it's "25 year streak" of NCAA tourney appearances back to the desert. Though then Cal dominated the Ducks, the third game of the tournament was a thriller. Well, not really. Stanford jumped out to a lead early one, gave most of it up, but then stepped on the gas in the second half and embarrassed those Shocker-waving-Sun-Devils all the way to Tempe. But back to the lEast Coast. Notre Dame and Shrek, err Luke Harangody sent much higher ranked Pitt packing a bit early for Jamie Dixon's taste. This marked the third straight upset in the Big East Quarters. Luckily for WVU, they had a miraculous bank shot to win against the Bearcats of Cincinnati. The same thing almost happened back in Los Angeles, where Beaver Fever was in full swing against UW, but the Fever fell asleep halfway through the middle part of the second half and Washington prevailed. This sure sets up a fun march for all fans out there. I wonder if Syracuse, ASU (if they make it in), Nova, and Pitt play well or play like this guy sings:

There's a Real Ran Jeremy

Hopefully none of you thought that I was Ran Jeremy. The name is a combination of my name and my good friend Jeremy who helped inspire the creation of this blog. Anyhow, a few weeks ago, my friend and colleague Ryan James Walters I and I did some googling about our blog and found a real person that is Ran Jeremy! The link was to the guy's facebook, and because of it, we had to friend him. Today, he finally friended back! Don't believe me? Here it is:

Pac-10 Tourney Preview

Since it has been a while since I last blogged up, I would like to first apologize for the absence. Secondly, let's get to the topic at hand. The regular season is over and now a bunch of pretty bad teams will try to steal an automatic bid to the Dance. What will happen? By the way the that league play has gone, I'll probably be completely wrong, but might as well take a stab at it. I will examine each matchup and offer my prediction and quick reasoning for the predicted outcome. This will be done for all ten games.

"Play-in Game":

Oregon v. Wazzu - this will be difficult to call because UO has lame-duck coach Ernie Kent, so it will be interesting to see how he gets his team ready for this game. The Cougs can definitely put up some points if Thompson and their young guys decided to do so, but they have been inconsistent so that is a toss-up. In the end, I think that Tajuan Porter will take care of business and send Oregon to their next game.

1st round:

Cal v. Oregon - This could obviously be Cal against the Cougs, but either way Cal pulls this out. Their three main guys are all seniors who want to prove winning the regular season title was no fluke. They are also coached by one of my favorite coaches growing up in Mike Montgomery, so I have to go with them.

Arizona v. UCLA - Oh man, let's see. Arizona swept the Bruins, though the Bruins dominated the last game, only to lose it in the closing minutes. This game is played in Los Angeles, but it probably does not mean much since the Wildcats destroyed the Bruins at Pauley on Jan 2nd. Though my heart says Bruins, I have to choose the Wildcats.

Washington v. Oregon State - Beaver fever will probably not be enough to stop senior Quincy Pondexter and tiny soph Thomas. Washington has too much fire power to lose this game.

Arizona St. v. Stanford - The Cardinal cannot win away from Maples and Arizona State is simply better than them. So the loose-shocker waving Devils will advance.

semi-finals:

Cal v. Arizona - Arizona has been way too up and down this year to win this game. You also have to figure the Berkeley faithful will try to make this game a home game since they usually don't have too much of a reason to be excited about Cal basketball. Also, Nic Wise will get destroyed by Jarome Randle, and I personally will love to see that happen.

Washington v. Arizona State - Both feel like they have a legitimate case to make it as an at-large but know they are by any means locks. Both teams have also been hot of late but the last time I checked, the game will be played in Los Angeles not Seattle. Washington has issues on the road, so ASU should be able to pull this off.

championship game:

Cal v. Arizona State - Cal pretty much is a lock to make the tourney. Arizona State has a great chance, but is not assured of anything. We do know one thing, Cal sports tend to choke. This could very well happen, and none of us should be too surprised to see ASU win the tournament to earn the automatic bid.