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By
Kevin
Duffy
NBADraft.net
3/24/08
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Greg
Paulus
Icon SMI |
This time of
year, most people are focused on celebrating the good by reviewing
the NCAA Tournament's upsets and buzzer-beaters. Let's take a step
back and look at the “not so good” from the opening
weekend of action. Here are the sixteen biggest disappointments
of the NCAA Tournament thus far:
16. The CBI.
The what? The College Basketball Invitational. Ok technically it's
not part of the NCAA tournament, but for some reason it exists,
a tournament for teams that failed to qualify for the NIT. What
good is a tournament that no one respects, no one can watch and
no one cares about? A Div 3 championship game is infinitely more
exciting.
15. CBS
Their long, devout loyalty to the smug and unpopular Billy Packer
as their lead color guy and championship game analyst is both frustrating
and enigmatic. Two words: Bill Raftery.
14. WCC "Powers"
Gonzaga and Saint Mary's - first not winning the WCC tournament
then first round exits, being outlasted by their third Conference
entrant San Diego.
13. Notre
Dame
The Irish had
a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 and prove that the Big East
was indeed the best conference in America. Instead, they fell flat
on their faces. Notre Dame managed just 41 points against Washington
State and Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody had a miserable
3-for-17 shooting performance. He did, however, pull down 22 rebounds.
12. Kent State
Ten points in
the first half versus UNLV? The Golden Flashes weren't considered
to be a “bad selection” by the committee, but they proved
to be extremely non-competitive against a team that isn't so competitive
itself.
11. Mississippi
Valley State
29 points? I know UCLA is very good defensively, but c'mon. I think
my intramural team could at least put up 30 on the Bruins. Of course,
UCLA would score 150, but that's beside the point.
10. The
Committee
No gripes with the selections (outside of Arizona State), but every
year there are some bad match-ups. Purdue vs. Baylor this season
might take the cake as the worst 6/11 game of all-time.
9. Bobby Knight
Ok, we get it.
You like Pittsburgh. But Coach Knight's infatuation with Pitt made
Dick Vitale look like an unbiased fan at a Duke game. Not only did
Knight pick the Panthers to win it all, he said they were the most
impressive team in the first round (a round that saw them knock
off powerhouse Oral Roberts) and said that Pitt-Michigan State was
“game to watch” in the second round. Enough is enough
already. Now that Pitt bowed out in the second round, I wonder what
team Knight will start worshiping next? My guess-- Michigan State.
8. Indiana
This was a consensus
top ten team at the beginning of the season. Kelvin Sampson's firing
sent the Hoosiers into a downward spiral that finally ended in a
14-point loss to Arkansas in the 8/9 match-up. Eric Gordon took
a small step back at the end of the season-- particularly with his
shot selection-- but nonetheless should find himself in the top
ten of June's draft.
7. Clemson
Second only to Georgetown in the meltdown department blowing a 15
point first-half lead to a Villanova team with no real inside presence.
The Tigers had become a chic sleeper pick, but couldn't even make
it out of the first round. The ACC has one team left in the tournament
in UNC, which doesn't speak very highly of the quality of the Conference
this year.
6. Arizona
What's that…like
10 straight first-round exits for the Wildcats? 'Zona has made a
habit of underachieving during the regular season, drawing a middle
seed, and ruining everyone's bracket by continuing to underachieve
in the NCAA's. Maybe some day the Selection Committee will require
this team to have a conference record that is above .500 in order
to qualify for the Tournament.
5.
UConn
First George
Mason and now San Diego. It's difficult to consider UConn a national
power at the moment. Though the loss to the 13th seeded Toreros
can be partially blamed on the unfortunate ACL tear of their most
indispensable player, AJ Price, Hasheem Thabeet was incapable of
defending a simple pick-and-roll, and the Huskies trademark of tough
defense completely failed them. Teams have counteracted Thabeet's
shot-blocking by dragging him out of the paint, where he is practically
useless defensively. He's far from ready for the NBA, and could
surely use another year at UConn under Calhoun.
4. North Carolina,
Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, UNC-Charlotte and Virginia
Tech
Stephen Curry
is from Charlotte, N.C. Stephen Curry is the son of one of the top
3-point shooters in NBA history (who is one of Virginia Tech's all
time greatest players) . Stephen Curry is averaging 25 points in
the second half in 2 games of the NCAA tournament. Stephen Curry
is hands down the best shooter in college basketball. And somehow,
Stephen Curry plays for Davidson.
3. Georgetown
The Hoyas became the second 2 seed to go down losing to Davidson
after completely collapsing in the second half. Regardless of the
fact that Davidson features the deadliest shooter in the college
game, for a team that prides itself on defense, giving up 47 second
half points, including a 17 point second half lead qualifies as
the biggest choke of this year's tournament.
2. Duke
For many the "one shining moment" of the NCAA tournament
is seeing the Blue Devils go down early and Coach K squirm in his
post game press conference. Duke's inability to reach the Sweet
16 for two straight years with eight McDonald's All Americans is
inexcusable. Their loss to West Virginia followed a one point win
over lowly 15 seed Belmont. After West Virginia's upset victory,
reserve Cam Thoroughman asked if point guard Greg Paulus was one
of the eight McDonald’s All-Americans. Upon confirmation,
Thoroughman replied: “Oh my God. Are you kidding?”
1. Vanderbilt
The Commodores
were absolutely pathetic. They didn't just lose to 13th seeded Siena,
they got blown out of the building. And Siena proved no match for
Villanova on Sunday. A No. 4 seed should never lose to a No. 13
seed by 21 points. Never.
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