A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Happy Muppets week.
Last week, I was critical of the Disney Channel Original Movie Geek Charming. A few hours after the article posted, I got an e-mail notification that someone named Robin Palmer was following me on Twitter. It turns out that Robin Palmer wrote the novel, Geek Charming, on which the movie was based.
So now I feel bad. For what it’s worth, my wife, Ashlee, enjoyed Geek Charming and was upset that I panned it.
Anyway. Here’s what we learned this weekend.
I knocked out half of the Big East last week, including Top 25 squads Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Marquette, and Pittsburgh along with an intriguing Georgetown team. Even so, there’s still plenty of talent among the other eight teams, including the team ranked highest by most experts and a team with a Top Three recruiting class.
Full disclosure right off the top: I did not expect the mighty Butler Bulldogs to make it this far and Syracuse was my Final Four choice out of the West Region. However, now that Butler is in the Sweet 16, and my bracket has been rendered unrecoverable, I am throwing my full rooting support behind Brad Stevens and the Bulldogs.
Remember last year when Michigan State made their unexpected run to the Final Four, which was held in Detroit? I know that Indianapolis is not facing the same economic dire straits that Detroit is, but how wonderful of a story would it be if Butler made the Final Four in their own backyard?
The parallels would be far from exact, but in some ways it would be like college basketball’s version of the movie Hoosiers.
Before there can be any talk of a Butler appearance in the Final Four though, the Bulldogs must overcome a Syracuse team that has looked as impressive as any in the tournament thus far. Let’s take a look at the matchup.
March Madness is upon us, so as part of our continuing coverage here at MSF I thought it might be fun to do something a little different.
Lacking any motivation to do serious bubble or conference tournament analysis, I decided to spend a half hour with Google Images and find some of the funniest pictures of college basketball coaches that were available.
The result is what follows, a pictorial celebration of the MAD in March Madness, featuring the coaches of the current top 16 teams in America, as well as five others thrown in for good (see: hilarious) measure.
The NCAA is seriously considering expanding the annual basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96 teams. Sounds ridiculous I know, but it is real.
I have no clue where this idea came from or when it started, but one day while skimming SI.com I saw a column discussing the idea. I originally thought this was the media being bored and just creating topics to write/talk about.
Then it started coming up on sports talk radio, specifically The Dan Patrick Show, which I listen to daily. Over a few weeks, Patrick had guests such as Jim Boeheim, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jay Wright, all of whom thought the expansion was a good idea and that it would be put into play in a few years, if not next year.
With the tournament coming up in just a few weeks, I decided to take a look at what the 96-team tournament would be like. Just like everything in life there is a good side, a bad side and of course, an ugly side.
The NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament is quickly approaching as you no doubt are aware if you’ve spent any time here at MSF lately. This site gets completely overtaken by March Madness and college basketball talk during the third month of the year…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
With that being the case, it seemed more than reasonable that we take a few moments to analyze the most important individuals for the upcoming month. No, I’m not talking about John Wall, Evan Turner, or any of the players; this is college basketball, where any talk of “most important individual” begins and ends with the coaches (who, by way of their massive egos and general self-aggrandizing propensities, wouldn’t have it any other way.)
Today’s discussion will center around one simple question: who is the best active coach in college basketball?
The way I see it, a case can really only be made for eight men to even be in the discussion. I’ll rank all eight, and then you can agree or disagree in the comment section.
