SouthSideRyan

I hate how now a deserving Valley team who played a tough out of conference schedule will probably get left out because Syracuse, who plays no road games every year in the preconference finally decided to start playing. What about having the 6th toughest schedule in the country or playing the top 2 teams in the nation 5 times and maybe 6 if they go on to play Villanova? Plus, how did they just start playing and have 21 wins? And if anyone thinks UConn didn't care you are very wrong. They hate losing to us with a passion and think they own the BE. People look at one of those Valley teams if they play 3 teams in the top 25 they get all kinds of praise for playing a tough schedule but Syracuse plays 1/3 of thier games against top 25 teams and gets criticized for playing teams outside the conference in the Dome? I could also see it if the Valley teams had 1-6 lossses but they have even more playing in an average to slightly better than average conference with easy games in the bottom half which the BE, other than SFlor, doesn't have. Rutgers, St. John's, Providence, and DePaul are all worse than the top 6 in the Valley.

We should get rid of the WBC.

Both are out if it were up to me. Michigan's done, without my say-so. FSU is probably one of the last teams in at best. Michigan's resume is much better than Syracuse's, and especially FSU's. Even with today's loss. Main question will be what sticks in the minds of the committee tonight and tomorrow while they pick the field. I'm having a tough time seeing how Michigan's resume is much better than Syracuse's. KenPom's breakdown showing their records v. different ranges of RPI's is very similar, and Syracuse has a much better SOS. Add in the fact that Michigan is fading hard while Syracuse appears to be coming on strong and I'd say that Syracuse has a better case. FSU has wins over Maryland, Duke, and Miami in the last month. Granted Michigan has had injuries, but FSU's resume is just as good/bad. I agree with TT, Cuse has a better one than both. Miami is not a good basketball team, and Maryland is a borderline bubble team at best. Michigan has beaten MSU, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

My point is we don't know if it's going to be a Valley team kept out, it could very well be another Big East team that winds up missing the spot because of the BE Tourney.

Sorry I misread, I thought you said just a #1 seed, not overall. UConn probably did lose it. The conference tourneys work both ways. Cincinatti and Seton Hall were both thought to be in, and now after losing to Syracuse and Rutgers respectively, they're talked about as bubble teams. It gives the big conference teams one last chance to play their way in, but it also gives them one last chance to play their way out. I have no problem giving teams a lot of chances to do it on the court as much as possible rather than having to play it out in the committee's minds.

That's absurd. Syracuse isn't touching a 6 seed with anything less than a Big East tournament title. And UConn is not losing their 1 seed either. Only teams that could jump them would be Villanova, Duke, and Ohio St.

Hey Penn St., Beat Ohio St.

Cintron hit .273 with 19 doubles, 8HR, and 48 RBI and hit .304 with a league-leading 3HR as a pinch hitter. His lifetime avg. is .279. He plays 3 positions, is 5 years younger, and he's much cheaper. Now tell me again that "he's not necessarily a better player than Neifi". Some people carry this "players who can catch the ball" thing too far. Cintron career OPS+ is 85 Perez career OPS+ is 65 ain't no amount of glovework making up for that. How often did Cintron get on base? What about in 04? Looks awfully Neifish (with more power) to me. Let's put it this way, is there anybody out there that doesn't make a Cintron for Perez trade if offered? I would make that deal in a second. That has more to do with Neifi being Dusty's pet than anything else.

Illinois kept #1.

Esteban Loaiza (12-10 3.77 ERA 105 ERA+) vs. Jeff Francis (14-12 5.68 ERA 83 ERA+) There's no excuse for Mexico to not score 3 runs against a staff that gave up 8 to South Africa. Please Mexico put up 3 in the first and remove the suspense.

I'll second that and say the same thing for Barrett and Lee. Go Mexico and the Dutch Antelees! Watching the USA get beat by Canada proved what a farse this WBC is. Upsets make competition a farce?

I don't know two tournys ago Illinois was ranked number 7 in America had won the big ten outright and was rolling like 12 straight wins, Wiscy was ranked number 9 and just waxed us. Their reward for beating a top ten team by 20 plus, a 5 seed. I don't think this tourny has any impact for the top teams. I remember that and remember feeling completely hosed. I remember that and feeling completely hosed with just a 4 seed...in the hardest bracket. Then I was in disbelief with Wisconsin as a 5.

Yeah except for the whole point when Canseco was the source, informant, and some guy in his book.

fear isn't stopping scouts from basketball and football teams from going into the inner cities and watching kids play. good article, but i'm not feeling that quote too much. i'm surprised by the cost of playing baseball...i was in a little league team in '94 and it didn't cost THAT much. maybe $250-$300 at the most. all we had to do was show up for practice with a bat, glove, cleats and some flexible clothing. the jerseys and gameday clothing were part of the fee you paid at the begining of the season. how much is it to play baseball on a high school or college team? i'm guessing it'll be in the $1000-$2000 range? My high school team all you needed to buy were cleats and a glove, but that was in the late 80's. Personally I think a lot of this is the difference between "have to buy" and "want to buy". In Dusty's quote he referred to the kids all wanting bat bags so they could fit in. You don't have to go all out on baseball equipment. Teams don't need more than 2 or 3 bats and 5 helmets. There's no reason for little league or even high school players to all have their own bat. I went to a relatively well-off school and we had maybe 4 guys with their own bats. I just grabbed one of theirs or the school's. A lot of people are protective of their bats, and don't like other people using them, especially when some people violently throw the bat aside after swinging. My guess on expenses would be on the traveling teams that one must play on to have shot at being recognized by a scout, but basketball is the same way, so I don't see the difference.

Pretty sure you list 34, not including UCLA.

I just don't know what kind of experience it gives them to get swept by the Pistons.

No team battling for an 8 spot should really be taken seriously unless tehy had some huge injury problems holding them back most of the year. All this fighting for a spot is just fighting to get rolled in the 1st round by a far superior team. All that matters is that the Knicks lose games.

Full list just so it's in one place so people don't waste an at-large spot: Belmont, Montana, Winthrop, UNC Wilmington, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Penn, Iona, Oral Roberts, Southern Illinois, Monmouth, Murray St., Davidson, South Alabama, Gonzaga

Montana and Monmouth are in. REMINDER: PM Bukie your 34 teams +10 by 8 Central tomorrow.

Louisville loses by 4. Pitt doesn't score a basket for about the last 12 minutes.

My only complaint with the Big 10 tourney is that it ends roughly 5 minutes before the selection show renderring the championship(unless a team earns an auto bid from it) worthless.

Whoops, upon review, the runs allowed matter only in games played among the tied teams, not all game in pool play. So Mexico has allowed 2, Canada has allowed 6, US has allowed 8. If Canada loses they can't allow more than 2 runs, which looks kind of unlikely given their bullpen.

My guess is it has to do with interfering with classes.

Yeah. Francis got progressively worse offensively as he went thru school. As a freshman, he looked like he would be a guy that would be in college for 3 years at best and become a lottery pick. He had size, strength, and athletic ability. Definitely a waste. Blame Brey.

Another new rule is that you don't need an over .500 record anymore, so the win over NU may not even be necessary. Auto NIT bids so far: Manhattan, Georgia Southern, Lipscomb, Fairleigh Dickinson (Edit to add FDU)