Thoughts from Day 1 of the Tournament

It wasn't too exciting of a first day of the 2007 Tournament, with one thriller in VCU's upset of Duke and only one other pretty good game in Xavier-BYU. With that in mind, here are some of my other thoughts from yesterday:

- Eric Maynor, the point guard of VCU who calmly sank the game winning shot against Duke last night, is a star. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of him until about a week ago, but this is now twice in the course of a week that he has willed his team to huge wins in the final minutes. Last week in the CAA Conference Tournament final, with his team losing to George Mason, with a couple of minutes left, he was clutch on the offensive and defensive end with a couple of steals to rally the Rams to the win. Yesterday against the Devils, everyone knew he was going to have the ball in his hands in the final minutes, and he still delivered. He's shown to not only be a composed leader but also an aggressive and quick player who penetrated into the paint time after time against the bigger Duke players.

-Speaking of VCU, their coach Anthony Grant looks like he's about 25 years old. I heard that he's 34 actually, but man, he looks young.

-What happened to George Washington yesterday? You'd think having been in the tournament for the third year in a row would translate into some kind of success on the court. Evidently not, as Vanderbilt mopped the floor with the poor Colonials.

-I know that North Carolina ended up winning by 21 over Eastern Kentucky, the #16 seed. But to take a 22-3 lead to start and let it get down to 6 in the second half is unacceptable for the Tar Heels. They were able to pull away at the end, but the lack of a killer instinct to put down an inferior team is troubling. This team just reminds me a lot of last year's UConn team - NBA talent all around, but you somehow doubt they can win a national championship.

-I'll be the first to admit, I was guilty of this, having picked Oral Roberts in the Sweet 16. (Ouch, that hurts.) But it's amazing how a lot of people dogged Washington State for their lack of tournament experience in picking them as the #3 seed most likely to be upset. But we don't seem to mind that lack of experience or lack of familiarity with teams from smaller schools when picking our upsets in our brackets.

- I love James Brown, but he doesn't do anything for me as a play-by-play man. He does best when he plays his role as the down-to-earth moderator in a group of over-exuberant jocks. As a play-by-play man, he's just not that exciting to listen to.

Games of the day today:

- Texas vs. New Mexico St. - because every game could be Kevin Durant's last in college

- Notre Dame vs. Winthrop - let's see if the Eagles can match the hype they've generated in recent weeks and pull off the upset

- Nevada vs. Creighton - good chance for the nation to see Nevada's star Nick Fazekas, one of the country's best players

eric maynor
nick fazekas
vcu
duke
washington state
james brown
kevin durant

Where's Gaudet when you need him?

After ten years of winning the regular season or the tournament, the Duke Blue Devils have finally finished a season without an ACC championship. This is also the first time sine 1997 that Duke has not won a single game in the ACC Tournament.

Finishing the season at 8-8 in the conference, losing in the first round of the ACC tournament, and having no real inside or outside threat, it is hard to believe that this team is still ranked 21 in the country according to both major polls.

They've lost 7 of their last 11, and somehow this team is a lock for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. With numbers like that, this team looks destined for the NIT, but with a name like that, they're one of the top teams in the country.

Besides winning the National Championship (highly unlikely) or winning the NIT Championship (even more unlikely), there's only one thing that can salvage this year's season: Steve Wojciechowski manning up and taking the losses on his personal record like Pete Gaudet did in '95. Coach K doesn't need this season on his record, and I'm sure he doesn't want it, no matter what he says ten years from now. Besides, unlike Gaudet, it'll be easy to put the losses on Wojo since he is the only man with a harder last name to spell than Coach K himself.

And speaking of manning up, I think Mike Krzyzewski should do his duty to NBA's to-be MVP, Gilbert Arenas. No, I don't mean put him on the USA team, that would be too decent for the Weasel Coach K. (If you're not going to put Allen Iverson on the team, the only All-Star who was willing, proud, and honored to play in the last Olympics and who expressed clear interest of returning, then you clearly have no soul.) No, no. I mean scheduling that game between the 2007 Blue Devils and the one-man team of Agent Zero. Hey, I bet he'd win that game with one hand.

Glibert Arenas Gets the All-Star Nod

Wizards point guard and mid-season MVP candidate Gilbert Arenas came from behind to pass Vince Carter and eke out a spot as an Eastern Conference All-Star Game starter.

I should be thrilled that we have a legitimate star in town for the first time since the Stone Age. (And no, I don't count Michael Jordan. He was as much a true Washington Wizard as much as I am 7 feet tall. And yes, I realize I just used the phrase "true Washington Wizard." Yuck.) But I can't help but say that I'm a little disappointed he got the starting All-Star spot. Why do you ask?

Well, a little bit because that could have been about the 359th slight, real or perceived, that he would have used as motivation to raise his game to an even higher level.

But mostly, I would have liked to have seen how he would have tried to get back at the people who left him off the starting squad in favor of Carter. What would he have done? Take on 4 Nets fans and a random Raptors fan in a pickup game to make them pay for their sin?

Maybe that could be the first game of a doubleheader. Game 2: Gilbert vs. the 2006-07 Duke Blue Devils. First to 85 points wins.