Last Saturday morning, ESPN’s College Gameday crew had a discussion about which conference tournament was going to be the one a person had to watch. Now, for entertainment purposes, that is surely going to be The Big East Tournament; however, their tourney may not have the impact on the bubble that other tournaments may. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, there are going to be a few tournaments to watch this year. With their wins over the weekend, Butler (Horizon) and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) both solidified their at-large berths by defeating Siena and Old Dominion. Fans of teams on the bubble are going to want to pay close attention to the Horizon and Missouri Valley tournaments as one slip-up by Butler or Northern Iowa will end the dream of a team riding that bubble line.
As for California, the main subject of my blog post from two weeks ago, I still do not see enough evidence to warrant them of at-large status. I know their RPI is 24; however, California got blown out by the worst team in the Pac-10 on Thursday (Oregon State). ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has California slotted as a 10 seed and the only team from the Pac-10 in the NCAA Tournament as of February 19. California is going to want to at-worst go 3-1 in the next two weeks and make the finals of the Pac-10 tournament; otherwise, it is going to be a rough selection Sunday for the boys in Berkley. Prior to the release of the bracket I’ll post my at-large teams and we will see how my selections stack up to the committee.
If you read my twitter, I’ve made daily bashings at NBC and their pathetic Olympic coverage. Alpine Skiing (and the 8 USA medals) has completely got the shaft from any live coverage, despite the fact that NBC or MSNBC could be showing the events alive, instead we get edited footage about 7 hours after it happened. While Canada and Europe get to see whatever they want live, Americans are treated to the crappy NBC coverage. Hey, NBC, its not 1988 anymore! With this thing called The Internet, we can find out what happened as it happens or just seconds after it happens. You can argue that your ratings are up, but the bottom line is that you are still losing $250 million on these Olympics and you are penalizing your viewers by this garbage. Even events that occur during the evening are getting tape delayed coverage, including Canada winning their first ever gold medal on its own soil in Moguls. Viewers in America saw that happen 30 minutes after completion, when many already knew what happened.
The United States beating Canada in Men’s Hockey on their home soil tonight by a score of 5-3 was the second coolest thing of The Olympics. Shaun White still holds that spot in my mind and his spot on my “5 coolest people in the world” remains secure. The win by the U.S. tonight forces Canada to now play 4 games in its effort to win the Gold Medal, while the U.S. will only need 3. With one hockey game to go tonight, it is too early to know if the U.S. and Canada could matchup in the next week. Should Canada get another shot at the U.S. and win, then this victory tonight would be rendered meaningless. Until then, let us (Americans) celebrate a victory over America’s hat.
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