On The Plate ... 3/18/04 - 3/21/04

The Weekend -- Part 3 of 3

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Thank God that there was only one early game on Saturday. I seriously needed some couch time. Seriously. So I took the time because I knew the Maryland vs 'Cuse game was going to be insane later.

Saturday

Early Game…

Duke vs Seton Hall I have very little to write about this. Seton Hall shouldn't have been an 8 seed. It showed against the Devils. This was a route from the tip. And although I was pissed that the big boys of the ACC dogged a lower Big East squad, I wasn't too upset with the fact that this was a blowout. I needed to rest my brain.

Afternoon Games…

Syracuse vs Maryland The quiet couch time I enjoyed during the Duke game quickly ended when I met up with the crew at Ryleigh's. The bar was absolutely mobbed. And kids were ready to throw down. On both sides of the ball. Obviously there were a bucketload of Terps fans, but the 'Cuse guys from Thursday were in the house and brought numbers. And weren't quiet about it. Any notion of being tired that I had had when I got to the bar quickly faded. I rolled upstairs in the bar with the 'Cuse contingent which was money because it was 25 times easier to score a beer. Downstairs was mayhem. The energy in the place was tip top. Big East versus ACC. The last two national champs in a second round battle. Disco rocked his UConn gear to support the Big East. Because I had already shown my St. John's and Villanova gear, I rocked a Clemson T-shirt because it was the closest thing I had to Orangemen orange. (Needless to say, I had to answer the following question several times, "As a Clemson fan are you rooting for the Terps or Syracuse?" Guess who asked the question every time. Maryland fans. And you know what my answer was. "The 'Cuse, obviously." The questioners weren't too happy with my response and I loved it.) But by far the best gear of the day belonged to my buddy Kenny who kicked Orangemen warmup pants, a Carmelo 'Cuse jersey, a long sleeve T-shirt with "Orangemen" written down the sleeves and a Syracuse visor. It was money, and the kid was loud. I had told my Dad before the game that I didn't think that MD could shoot over the 'Cuse zone. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, but I was right. The Terps reverted to their mid-ACC-season shooting form and couldn't throw it in the ocean. And the 'Cuse executed. And I loved it. The Big East boys represented. Barely, but did. If Maryland had sent that game to overtime on that final possession, I might have thrown myself down the stairs at Ryleigh's. "Let's go Orangemen" echoed throughout Ryleigh's as whining pissed off Terps fans left the bar. Either way, a hell of a season for the Terps. Much more than could have been expected. They'll be money next year.

I have only one complaint about the 'Cuse vs Terps experience: Every TV in the joint was tuned to that game. In other words, I only saw the CBS live look-ins of the following three games…

Alabama vs Stanford I really would have liked to have seen the 15-0 run that 'Bama went on to take the lead. But there was nothing I could do. All I could do was smile. Why? Because the Pac 10 was officially out of the tournament. And it became official that Pac 10 ball eats. I'm brilliant. Also, 'Bama had just knocked of a #1 seed and Vandy beat 'Bama in Tuscaloosa. Good vibes. SEC 5-2.

St. Joe's vs Texas Tech Congrats to the Joe's. Sweet 16. I didn't think that they could beat Tech. And they did. The kids on Hawk Hill must have been rocking. FYI, check out Dick Jerardi's column on the Philadelphia Daily News' website. He's doing a running diary with the Hawks throughout the tournament. Lots of smack about King Jackass Billy Packer.

Wake Forest vs Manhattan The end of the road for the Jaspers. You heard it here first…(Actually, no you didn't but I'm staking a claim) but Jasper head coach Bobby Gonzalez will coach St. John's next year. The Wake win set up a dope matchup for the Sweet 16 between Wake freshman sensation point guard Chris Paul and National Player of the Year Jameer Nelson. Should be a dandy.

Late Games…

Nevada vs Gonzaga Holy crap. This wasn't just an enormous upset. It was an enormous beating. This was the kind of upset missing from the first round. How pissed are the Zags? Ranked #3 in the country heading into the Dance and get bounced in the second round by a fellow small school west of the Mississippi. How good is Nevada? Apparently pretty damn good. I'm still pissed at myself for riding the UTEP train and not the Nevada train. I felt bad for Blake Stepp. The poor kid couldn't get anything to go down. Whatever man, either show up at showtime or go home. The Wolfpack showed up and the Zags are going home.

UConn vs DePaul I tried to get Disco nervous for this one. I was preaching about how good Delonte Holland, Drake Deiner and Andre Brown were for the Blue Demons. Then UConn opened the game with a 17-0 run. Yea, the Demons aren't that good. Two rounds down for the Huskies and Disco hadn't broken a sweat. A good sign for UConn fans.

Texas vs UNC Clearly the marquee matchup of the first round. There was a sizable crew of Heels fans in the joint for this one. And many that weren't wearing Carolina blue were still cheering for UNC because they had the Heels going deep in their brackets. Not me. I had Texas. And I only got nervous when UNC cut the lead to 2 with 3-4 minutes to go. (To be honest, I can't remember exactly what the situation was. Why? Because I got to talking with a random guy at the bar from Louisiana who was telling me how good roadkill is to eat down south. This is no BS. It was enthralling. His best line, "It's better to run squirrels over than to shoot them. That way you don't have to clean the lead out of them before you cook them." Amazing.) Anyway, the 'Horns were just too big and too experienced for the Heels. I think TX is looking awfully dangerous right now. And I don't like saying that because that jackass Digger Phelps picked the Horns to win it all, and I don't like agreeing with a man that never makes any sense. Want to make a bet? I'll bet anyone that Roy Williams is telling McCants, May and Felton to go pro right now. I don't think he wants anything to do with them anymore. Give Roy a new crop of his own recruits and then look out.

Sunday

After Disco left in the morning, I decided it was time for a change of venue. My partner in Madness crime had rolled, I felt like crap, I couldn't deal with having to move around to see different games and I needed some quiet. So when Bow Wow called me and said he was parked at the bar in Mad River tuned into the BC game, I said OK. Why OK to Mad River and when did they get the package? Mad River had apparently always had the package. The old man at the bar that fed Disco and I bad info on Thursday morning had no idea what he was talking about. (Frankly, I'm glad he did because the 3-day Ryleigh's experience was priceless.) And it was Sunday at noon, and I figured Mad River would be less crowded than other places. And I could swivel in my barstool to see all four games. To their credit, their TVs were well placed. Did I feel good about going into my arch-nemesis bar? Not really, but due to the way I physically felt on Sunday morning, I understood that I needed a place to collect my thoughts and get riled up for the Vandy game without having to fight over what game was on what TV. So I cruised to Mad River for a calm afternoon of hoops…riiiiiiight.

Early Game…

Xavier vs Mississippi State Before I left for Mad River, I watched this one on my couch. And was shocked. I thought that maybe Xavier would run out of gas. That the Bulldogs were too big and athletic for the Musketeers. That MSU would simply beat them up. Nope, not even close. Xavier beat up MSU. Xavier was more athletic. And Xavier couldn't miss. Everything they threw up dropped. The big white freshman, Justin Doellman, was the difference I thought. (You don't hear that often, do you?) I know that Chalmers was unconscious but Doellman made key buckets at key times to keep the Xavier lead at 10 points. Wow. And in typical fashion the "mighty" Mississippi State Bulldogs bowed out early. I said I didn't buy them. But I didn't think they'd lose to Xavier. SEC 5-3. Did this one get me nervous about the 2:30 matchup with NC State for the 'Dores? Yep, totally.

Afternoon Games…

Georgia Tech vs Boston College I couldn't believe that BC hung with the Jackets. Believe me I was on my feet with Bow Wow in the last minute hoping for a huge Big East upset over Tech. I never knew what the line was in this one, but I guessed it had to be no smaller that Tech giving 7. BC totally got Tech to play their version of ball - Big East slowdown, slug 'em ball. And I thought BC had them. But then BC pulled a typically bad Big East move by having a horrendous second to last possession that ended up with Hailey making a bad pass that Jarrett Jack picked off, took the length of the floor and jammed. Typical Big East ball. It sucked. (For the record, Bow Wow is my buddy Paul. He kept calling BC point guard Steve Hailey Lil' Bow Wow. So I told him that I was going to call him Charm City Bow Wow. Why? I have no idea.)

Illinois vs Cincinnati This game marked the beginning of the end for C-USA. And frankly, I wasn't sad to see it happen. Sorry, Hepatitis, but I told you to watch out for the Illini. The kids have gelled at the right time and are legit. Daron Williams went off on the Bearcats. And Dee Brown was his usual solid self. So I'll take any heat from anyone about saying that C-USA was legit. As usual they weren't. I gave them props and they didn't show up. Like my brother told me, "C-USA is like a minivan with tinted windows and big rims. It might look pretty cool, but it is still a piece of crap." Word to that. One question: I want to know how many of those UC pullovers Bob Huggins has? Does he have a closet full of them somewhere or does he wear the same one to every game? Will he ever take it off? I've got coin up that says he gets buried in that junk.

Oklahoma State vs Memphis Once I saw the score of this one, I didn't even turn my head to take a peek at the action. A beating. OSU flexed their muscle and another C-USA team dropped.

Vanderbilt vs NC State To say that I went completely insane after this one is the understatement of the year. I was certifiably crazy. I ran around Mad River like I had just escaped from prison. I ran outside. I ran back inside. I didn't know what I was doing, but I was doing it. Could I talk? No. Breathe? Barely. What an UNBELIEVABLE ending? The 'Dores in the Sweet 16? What?!? Are you kidding me? Coming back from down 10 with 2 ˝ minutes to go? And to do it against the Dumbest Team in America couldn't have been more fitting. Freije was nothing short of sensational. How money was his baseline jumper with just under a minute to go? Seriously. And State was nothing short of illiterate dumb. Fouling Freije on two 3's? Intentionally fouling Corey Smith on a late fastbreak when State was up 6? Getting beat on a backdoor play on Vandy's last possession even though State is a backdoor team? It was shocking. And what about State's last possession? Laughable. A 30-footer is all they could get? Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Vanderbilt turned every State mistake into something good. Every single one. And now they are going to Phoenix to tangle with the mighty Huskies. Sweet Jesus.

After the ending of the Vandy game I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I was exhausted. So I left Mad River, went home and sacrificed watching the end of the Pitt vs Wisconsin game and the Kansas vs Pacific game for watching the Kentucky vs UAB game on the local CBS channel

Late Games…

Kansas vs Pacific I got nothing here. Nothing, except that wins over UIC and Pacific doesn't exactly make me scared of the Jayhawks.

Pitt vs Wisconsin I was ticked that CBS didn't give a live look-in quicker for the ending of this one. Nothing I could do. Pitt's legit. A road tournament win against the Big Ten champ is nothing short of very impressive. Obviously. I'm delirious right now.

UAB vs Kentucky One of the most shocking upsets I've seen. And the kicker is that it didn't really feel like an upset. UAB was that damn good. When Kentucky came back and took the lead I thought it was over. I thought the Blazers would fold under the pressure. Instead they rose to the challenge and UK folded. Mo Finley's jumper was as pure as they get. And UK's last possession was heart-stopping good. Fitch's missed three and 2 tips. Wow. I feel bad for Tubby Smith. The poor guy is probably catching a ton of heat in Lexington for not making the Final Four for the second year in a row as the overall #1 team heading into the tournament. Another amazing ending to another amazing day of hoops. What a weekend.

And I'm exhausted. And I have to do it all over again tomorrow. Do you think I'll have any problems motivating? Me neither. 'Dores in the Four!

Quick picks for Thursday and Friday…

'Cuse over 'Bama
'Dores vs UConn - no comment

Wake over St. Joe's
Pitt over OSU

Illini over Duke
Texas over Xavier

UAB over Kansas
G-Tech over Nevada

Expect something new on Monday morning. Next week won't be as chaotic as this one was. Sorry for the delays.