Exile on Waveland

Add to that, the Titans just signed Jake Scott to a four year contract for slightly more than that (just under $5 mil a year). Tennessee gets a 26 year old, very solid offensive lineman for just over a million more than a washed up, old QB. This has been a very good offseason for the Titans in my book. After being unhappy after last offseason (and then proven mostly wrong), I must say I'm very pleased with Reinfeldt this offseason. Where else would a former Colt end up but Tennessee? That's too much money for Scott, by the way.

It's political. The NCAA doesn't want the play-in game to feature the winners of the SWAC and the MEAC. One perhaps, but not both.

I told my wife at one point, not that she cared, that DJ has missed 1 shot all game, wouldn't the logical thing to do be to get him shots? The team is completely not listening to Dakich. I also sense some resentment in the Dakich/McCallum relationship. It's just a horrible situation right now. It truly is. I'm not excited in the least for the rest of the season. Honestly, a big part of me is ready for this season to be over with, so a new coach (hopefully a good one) can be hired and the program can move on. I have little hope for the rest of this season, and even less for the next couple years. I just want the next hire to give me hope for the future.

One would have to think so. I seriously doubt they can do better, though a 5-seed probably isn't out of the question.

IU has no basketball IQ whatsoever. Don't pick IU to do anything in the tournament; perhaps one win. Man, I want to get back to recruiting Indiana-bred players. The Hoosiers have been a dumb team for at least the past five seasons.

Ellis's attitude was bad under Sampson. It's just gotten worse under Dakich. Indiana has possibly lost its last game. I don't think that will be the case (I would expect a first round Big Ten Tournament win, if nothing else), but it wouldn't surprise me.

ESPN has all the tournament schedules: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/champweek2008/news/story?page=ncb_champweek2008#mvc The early two Friday games are on ESPN, the latter two are on the Big Ten Network. Indiana will play in the evening session either at 6:30 as the No. 2 seed or 9 pm as the No. 3 seed. I'm concerned about today's game and wouldn't be surprised to see a loss and a slide to No. 3. Oh, Wisconsin will play the first game against the 8/9 winner, with Michigan State facing Ohio State in the second game.

Providence is UConn's kryptonite. Pretty much always have been. That was not a foul on Stanford.

Don't stop believing.

Ohio State 79, Syracuse 65. Yeah, I knew that stupid game was going to hurt. It was a bad matchup for us because, well...the kids had to play man to man and God forbid they actually move their little feet and be good at it. One thing is...at least matchup wise, we got bounced last year after having a better everything than Marquette and beating them too, and yet it didn't matter. I really don't think they ever do head to heads in "The Committee" Our SOS is very strong but you have to win more games. I'm not saying Ohio State should be included instead of Syracuse because of that one game. One game is just that, a singular isolated incident. My point was that we have empirical proof that it's not a certainty some of those Big East teams would mop the floor with Ohio State. The Buckeyes, in fact, mopped the floor with Syracuse -- who played with now-injured Eric Devendorf (a 17-point scorer in his ten games this season). Comparing the teams, Pomerey has Ohio State #31, Syracuse #45, Villanova #61. West Virginia is, however, #18.* Sagarin has them #39, #50, #64 and #22, respectively. The teams schedule strengths, by Pomeroy, are #19, #12, #41, and #57. That was extremely convoluted, I'm sorry. Still, Ohio State should absolutely be in the discussion with those Big East bubble teams. If they beat Michigan State this weekend, I think they should move to the front of the line. *I'm not exactly sure why West Virginia is so loved by the computers. Outside of beating Marquette, Syracuse and Pitt at home, they haven't done much. Pomeroy also has Minnesota #43 and Illinois #37. It seems the Big Ten isn't so bad afterall.

Ohio State 79, Syracuse 65.

I don't expect anyone who doesn't follow the conference to know this but the Big West Conference reseeds the teams so the highest seeded team plays the lowest seeded team in each round. But, at least to me, the BWC is weird because the top 2 seeds receive byes to the semifinals. First round is 5 v 8 and 6 v 7. The 3 and 4 teams don't play until the quarters and 1 and 2 don't play until the semifinals. I thought some smaller conferences did reseed, but wasn't sure which ones.

i'm not certain, but i think the tiebreaker in that case would be their record against the top four teams. basically, whoever has the better combined record against IU, PU, MSU and WISC. and does the #1 seed always face the 6 vs. 11 winner, or do they reorder so they play lowest surviving seed? Is the tie-breaker overall record or head-to-head? If it's head-to-head, Purdue would be the #1 seed, since they beat Wisconsin twice this season. Right, Purdue is the #1 seed unless Wisconsin wins the league outright. Minnesota would win the tiebreaker then with OSU because they had the fortune to only lose to Wisconsin and Purdue once each (easiest schedule in the conference this year). That assumes they finish tied of course. Just hope the Boilers don't piss it away tonight at Ohio State. I've thought for awhile that Ohio State would get this game, but I also thought they would beat Wisconsin last week.

Well, that's how it works in the NCAA tournament also, just standard bracketing. Really, especially in this conference this year, there's little difference between even the 6 and the 11...well, 10 seeds. I'm not sure any conference tournament (at least the majors) works differently. As you said, so does the NCAA tournament. So do the NBA Playoffs. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for tournaments. It depends on who gets the six seed. Ohio State is pretty clearly superior to the teams below; Minnesota is just marginally better.

No. 38 in Pomeroy. On the year, when leading at the half, Illinois is 13-13. That's hardly believable. Complete Murphy's Law year for the Illini.

No. 38 in Pomeroy.

Wake Forest should've been included in the bubble section, I'll change that. You may be right about Miami as well, looking at their schedule they have Boston College and at Florida State left. If they win both, they'll be in I'm sure. I'll change them for now too.

That's too bad, would be nice to get fair representation from people that watch more Pac-10 and ACC basketball, respectively, than I know at least I do. Since I haven't really seen much basketball outside the Big 10 this year (and really not too much more inside the Big 10 this year), which teams from the Pac-10 and ACC, respectively, do you guys think should at least get a mention for an at-large bid? I'm not sure I should commit, because I may not be around. However, if I am around, plan on me chiming in. Pac 10 In: UCLA (top-2 seed), Stanford (top-4 seed), Washington State Likely: Arizona, USC Bubble: Arizona State, Oregon ACC In: North Carolina (top-2 seed), Duke (top-2 seed) Likely: Clemson, Miami (FL) Bubble: Maryland, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest The bubble is very weak this year, and I could see all/most those teams making the tournament. Oregon and Wake Forest are the most precarious of the teams listed, and probably won't be included unless they nearly win out. The others likely will.

Maybe it's just because the Colts can't stop Turner, but I think he's a really good back.

I remember people thinking that losing Jason David was going to hurt the Colts. Besides the fact he's not very good, they had a former first-round (Marlin Jackson) and second-round pick (Kelvin Hayden) to replace him. Walker would be a good gamble for someone, assuming they know he'll likely get hurt.

Exactly. But how much is his fault and how much is it the players stubborness? The Sampson "resignation" is one thing, but I think a lot of this has to do with them not wanting Dakich as much as they wanted McCallum. Clearly, the trust isn't there. They beat NW and OSU because of pure talent, and will beat Minnesota and Penn St, and win 2 games in the Big Ten and NCAA tourney's because of talent. But this team has a chance to do something special and is starting to give up. I put most of the blame on the players for this (well, along with Sampson). However, it's time for Dakich to ban the "KS" on the shoes. Either you play for Indiana, or you play for Sampson. If you play for Sampson, you can go shoot around in his driveway, because that's all he's coaching these days. Dakich is a solid coach, but the players clearly are not listening or playing hard for him at all.

I hope you are wrong on the second part. Wisky went in and won at Texas, who might end up with a 1. They also swept IU. Just because they don't have any names, doesn't mean they aren't very good. If they win out they should be a 2. Wisconsin is the best of the lot, but the Big Ten is way down this year, non-conference RPI worse than the MVC, and there's been no "clear" best team. If Wisconsin had gone, say, 17-1 or 18-0 in the Big Ten, a 2 would have been a possibility, but the flaws in the other BT tourney teams (Indiana beat down by UConn, Purdue's bad early losses, Michigan State looking awful in conference) are going to end up reflecting on the quality of Wisconsin's team, IMO. If I had to seed 1-4 today, I'd probably go 1. Memphis, North Carolina, UCLA, Tennessee 2. Texas, Kansas, Louisville, Duke 3. Georgetown, Vandy, Xavier, Stanford 4. Connecticut, Wisconsin, Drake, Pick an Indiana Team/Marquette Indiana lost by five to UConn, the #14 RPI team that has won 11 of 12. UConn was clearly better, but it wasn't a "beat down." Indiana doesn't have a great resume (lacking in big wins) but their losses are to #6 (neutral), #11, at #11 and #14. A loss at #16 is likely forthcoming. As for which Indiana team advances deepest, it's a tough question. IU has the potential to advance deeper than any of the others, but I don't think they're a safe bet at all. The safe bet would be Notre Dame, or, perhaps even moreso, Butler. Purdue may be playing the best ball of all, but is green. I should be around, if so, I'll gladly help the selection process.

Michigan State is one extremly overrated team. The selection committee better not make the same mistake that the pollsters are making. USC leads Arizona by 7 with under 3 to play :) Also, go UCLA and Wazzu tonight. Yeah, I'm really hoping IU can beat them at their place for the first time in 15 years on Sunday, because MSU has really gotten worse as the season has gone along. I didn't watch the game-why did Neitzel only play 25 minutes? And only 3 points he scored-that's almost shocking. It's actually been 17 years (1991). The 1993 team that went 17-1 in the Big Ten didn't play in East Lansing. I came into last night's game thinking Michigan State had to win for IU to even share the conference title, but I now have a little more hope IU can win up there. If IU does somehow win at MSU, they'll still almost certainly share the title, but that's better than nothing. Louisville is really good. It was just a matter of time and health.

Navigator from Michigan, Escalade from OSU, Segway and his own personal McDonalds from Penn State, Jobs for family in Oregon and condo plus guaranteed 38 minutes of PT per game basketball wise from Memphis. Indiana on probation for calling him.

On the way up, then again on the way down. So on and so forth.