Sportsmeat

Missives from the greatest weekend in sports:

My Best Hit: Davidson over Georgetown. I got a couple of others – Nova over Clemson, W. Kentucky over Drake, Siena over Vandy, but cancelled those out by picking Oral Roberts over Pitt, St. Joe’s over Oklahoma and Temple over Michigan State – but I was feeling good yesterday when Davidson clipped Georgetown. While we’re here, Stephen Curry has clearly been the best player in the tourney so far, going for 70 points (55 in the second halves) so far. He reminds me so much of J.J. Redick – a great shooter who has the ability to drive around you if you crowd him.

My Biggest Miss: USC to the Elite 8. I kind of fell for USC after watching them play in the Pac-10 tournament, and got nailed when Bill Walker rolled over them in the first round. This also cleared the way for Wisconsin, which is better than I gave it credit for. In fact, the Big 10 has not laid the egg I expected. Which brings me to …

My Biggest Surprise: Michigan State. I don’t think anyone is that surprised to see Villanova in the Sweet 16 (for the third time in four years) and the Western Kentucky and San Diego upsets were not complete shockers (particularly after UConn’s A.J. Price went down), but I really did think Temple would beat Michigan State. And I was pretty certain Pitt would as well. Tom Izzo has clearly earned his place as one of the country’s best tourney coaches, and I’m the idiot who keeps ignoring that.

Best Game: Easter cut into my TV watching yesterday, but the best game of the first three days was Drake and Western Kentucky. Take away the buzzer beater and it was still a great game – tons of scoring, running, clutch shots. And that last shot was pretty sweet.

Bad Draws: Gonzaga, which deserved a No. 7 seed (and maybe better) but got stuck playing a Davidson team that is much better than a No. 10; this should have been a second-round should have been a second-round game. Also Butler, which is probably the best mid-major team but got stuck against the best No. 2 seed (Tennessee) in the second round; this should have been a Sweet 16 game.

Good Draws: Kansas, which has a relatively easy road to the Final 4, probably the easiest of the top seeds (because Xavier can test UCLA). Oklahoma, which should have been a 10 seed and should have lost in the first round, but drew a St. Joe’s squad that probably should have been in the NIT (and don’t think Zona State and Va. Tech don’t agree). Of course, St. Joe’s beat Xavier twice down the stretch and I have Xavier going to the Elite 8, so it’s fair to argue against me on this one.

Good to be 3: All No. 1s and all No. 3s are still alive, with No. 2s Georgetown and Duke gone. The only other popular Final 4 pick to be upended so far is Pitt, meaning we have a good chance of a lot of favorites playing into April.

Sweet 16 Bracket?: OK, the Sportsmeat tourney pool has been a bit of a bust, but does anyone have any interest in trying to re-run a pool from the Sweet 16 on? If so, I’ll make it happen. If not, I’ll just call it a day.