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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > March > 23 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USIt’s called Madness for a reason
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Birmingham — What can we say about an NCAA tournament that still includes as many No. 12 seeds as No. 2’s? How do we account for the Sun Belt having as many teams remaining as either the ACC or the SEC? How can we describe a Big Dance that twirls onward without Coach K but with Stephen Curry and Courtney Lee?
That such craziness, coming after a year in which favorites held swaggering sway, is more like it?
Well … yeah.
“Tennessee is one of the top teams in the country,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said here Sunday. “And we took them to overtime. And we shot 36 percent.”
We don’t set our calendars to March Sameness. It’s called Madness for a reason, and there was little of that in 2007. The lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16 was UNLV, a No. 7. This year there’s a No. 7 (West Virginia), a No. 10 (Davidson) and two No. 12’s (Western Kentucky and Villanova). UCLA, the choice of many, if not most, to win it all, was lucky to survive Texas A&M in Anaheim on Saturday, and one day later the board was nearly swept clean of No. 2’s.
Duke lost Saturday. Georgetown lost Sunday. Texas barely held off Miami. And Tennessee, ranked No. 1 in the polls at the end of February and still No. 1 in the RPI, was forced to work five extra minutes to subdue Butler, a Brand Name Underdog that didn’t play very well.
These were the Vols’ final two possessions of regulation: J.P. Prince threw the ball out of bounds, and then he walked. And why, you might be asking, was J.P. Prince on the floor playing point guard, a position he’d barely manned all season, for a No. 2 seed in the 40th minute in the second round of the Big Dance? Because Bruce Pearl, the Vols’ overstated coach, decided to tinker after the SEC tournament.
“The point guard play we were getting wasn’t going to win a national championship,” Pearl said, and the point guard play — Prince had more turnovers (six) than assists (five) — the Vols got against Butler almost kept them from the Sweet 16. Pearl again, trying to convince himself: “What happened totally gives us a better chance to advance.”
He wasn’t saying the same thing in the moments between regulation and OT. Instead, Pearl said, he told his men this: “J.P. and I did not close out regulation well — bail me out.”
The Vols outlasted Butler because Tyler Smith blocked an A.J. Graves layup inside the final minute — “I don’t know if I caught it on the way up or the way down,” Smith said, and it was close — and because Graves and Mike Green, the senior guards who’d led the Bulldogs to heights unknown picked the worst day possible to miss 27-of-37 shots between them.
“It was just me and the rim,” said Green, who missed eight shots inside five feet, “and I failed to finish.”
It’s hard to imagine Tennessee beating anyone remaining in the East Regional with such a performance, but the lesson of March Madness is that there are no lessons. This isn’t the BCS: There are no style points in this event, and this week’s shaky winner could be next week’s power player.
Still, the temptation to re-handicap the field is too powerful to resist. Any of the four remaining teams — Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Michigan State — could win the South Regional without it seeming an upset, but it’s hard to imagine any squad but Kansas prevailing in the Midwest. Or any team winning the West except UCLA, even after its scare.
The glamour region is the East, the only one that has seen its four top seeds advance. Louisville is playing too well for Tennessee, and North Carolina was clearly the class of the first weekend. Still, the Heels will have to fight past plodding Washington State on Thursday and probably Louisville on Saturday, and the Cards have the depth and the talent to give Carolina a run. But nobody is apt to unhorse the Heels before the Final Four, if then.
We learned again this weekend that just about anything can happen in March. Even with all the undulations, the championship will come down to UCLA against Carolina. Unless Western Kentucky pulls a Texas Western. Unless Davidson pulls a Villanova. Unless Villanova pulls another Villanova.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC, UGA/SEC
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By SECFan
March 23, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this
UGA Football in 2008 9-3…at best. You guys suck in just about everything you do. Only good thing is the w******* students you have running around downtown Athens. I hope Munson dies this season, I want it on air too.
“And Death has just stepped on his face with a hobnail boot”
HAHAHA It’ll be great.
Go to hell Georgia.
By Blaine
March 23, 2008 11:26 PM | Link to this
Go Vols, A* clown
By don
March 23, 2008 11:29 PM | Link to this
Turn off the hate Mark. The Vols are 31-4 with the #1 RPI and strength of schedule. Pretty good for such a poor team.
By don
March 23, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
Turn off the hate Mark. The Vols are 31-4 with the #1 RPI and strength of schedule. Pretty good for such a poor team.
By don
March 23, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
Turn off the hate Mark. The Vols are 31-4 with the #1 RPI and strength of schedule. Pretty good for such a poor team.
By Andrew Workmon
March 23, 2008 11:35 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the hate on UT. Sounds like someone doesn’t like Tennessee, must be a butt sniffing Dawg. I’ll post again when the Vols take down the Cards on Thursday.
By Matt
March 23, 2008 11:47 PM | Link to this
Think it’s a coincidence Butler played as poorly as they did and Graves/Green shot as poorly as they did? It’s called not-playing-a-Horizon-League-game. Tennessee is a big boy team, not a Detroit or a Youngstown State. A lot of teams “coincidentally” play poorly against good teams.
By 92 Vol Grad
March 24, 2008 12:14 AM | Link to this
You sure are hateful for a guy that doesnt look like he knows how to dribble a basketball or have ever spent any time player basketball. Give Coach Pearl credit would yah ? He is the biggest thing to hit the SEC since Adolf Rupp. I bet you havent even seen Louisville play a game this year. Vols will win and you will be worng.
By 92 Vol Grad
March 24, 2008 12:14 AM | Link to this
You sure are hateful for a guy that doesnt look like he knows how to dribble a basketball or have ever spent any time player basketball. Give Coach Pearl credit would yah ? He is the biggest thing to hit the SEC since Adolf Rupp. I bet you havent even seen Louisville play a game this year. Vols will win and you will be wrong.
By 92 Vol Grad
March 24, 2008 12:14 AM | Link to this
You sure are hateful for a guy that doesnt look like he knows how to dribble a basketball or have ever spent any time player basketball. Give Coach Pearl credit would yah ? He is the biggest thing to hit the SEC since Adolf Rupp. I bet you havent even seen Louisville play a game this year. Vols will win and you will be wrong.
By Barry
March 24, 2008 12:48 AM | Link to this
I am a firm believer in an American’s right to express himself/herself. However, SECfan’s comments regarding Larry Munson are despicable. I hope the AJC will swiftly act to ban this individual from future comments.
By Matt4rockytop
March 24, 2008 1:04 AM | Link to this
After reading you garbage for years growing up in ATL, how do you still have a job? As Sir Charles would say…..Mark, you are turbul, just turbul.
By heeldawg
March 24, 2008 4:35 AM | Link to this
SECFan: I hope the hatred you expressed in your post turns to dust in your mouth. I hope it taints everything you experience and poisons every experience you savor. To have a clean, essential dislike for a team is one thing. There is an innate beauty in competition, and it is natural for lesser competitors to fear and even dislike the strongest of the strong. As far as the 9-3 comment goes, you are entitled to your opinion. The season will play out as the season does, and we’ll see once the teams take the field in the fall. I don’t see a team in the SEC capable of beating Georgia unless Georgia beats themselves, but I anticipate the team itself will do the talking for me when the time comes.
HOWEVER, to defile this Blog by wishing for the on-air death of Larry Munson is despicable and classless. Regardless of how you may feel about Larry (and I know that his enthusiastic calls of “Touchdown! A long touchdown!” will grate on the nerves of some when he is making that call for the fifth or sixth time every game this fall), he is a human being, and a pretty extraordinary one at that. You, by contrast, are a slime mold, a petty coward hiding behind that cheesy misnomer handle of yours.
I hope they ban you from ever posting on an AJC blog again. Forever. As in for life.
(Oh, and by the way, whenever Larry does go—and I hope it’s years away from now—he’d probably like nothing better than to pass away from sheer excitement during a great Georgia victory. He’s given his heart and soul to the Georgia football program over the years. Certainly, he’d find that sort of bold exit preferable to any other.)
Finally, to talk about basketball (Mark’s original topic), Bradley’s right: it doesn’t matter who wins the UT-Louisville game (and, quite frankly, I think that the Cards will win that one handily). The winner of that game will run into a buzz saw called North Carolina—a team that, with a healthy Ty Lawson, is virtually unbeatable in this tournament. This isn’t a “lack of love” for the Vols. This is just reality. Bruce Pearl is great. His team is not.
By Capt. Caveman (the original dawg)
March 24, 2008 5:55 AM | Link to this
AJC
If the person who posted as SECFAN isn’t BANNED by this paper than I would consider your censors as non-caring. I am a loyal GA fan and HATE with a passion some other SEC school programs and teams, but do not take it to the personal level that is expressed by this person.
BAN this blogger immediately from ALL blogs here on AJC.com
By brad
March 24, 2008 6:35 AM | Link to this
yeah we sucked, playing a team ranked 10th, that won 30 games in the second round is a cake walk. By the way what has Louisville done?
By CarolinaJacket
March 24, 2008 7:29 AM | Link to this
I am a long time loyal Tech fan — we DO NOT need posts like that one from SECFAN. Please ban him. His is a sick message.
On a more positive note — GO DAVIDSON WILDCATS!!!
By James
March 24, 2008 7:41 AM | Link to this
Hey SEC fan…. I have a good friend that is an executive with the AJC and I am about to find out who you are and where you are at. I am not much for words so I am going to leave it at that. Sleep tight…..
Do you hear the dawgs barking outside?
By Tony
March 24, 2008 8:04 AM | Link to this
Pearl may be “overstated”, but he has put Tennessee basketball on the map, not with his mouth, but with results. Three straight years in the NCAA. Two straight Sweet 16 appearances. If he feels he needs to make a change at point guard, he has earned the trust of Vol fans.
Mark is right about one thing, Tennessee must play better to beat Louisville. And you never know, they just might…
By Paul
March 24, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
Bradley - you are such a “homer.” The Dawgs were “One and done” in the Big Dance, and yet you want to make disparaging comments about the lone SEC team left to carry the banner for the SEC. Not asking for glowing butt-kissing, just be fair. Yes, UT hasn’t been winning pretty, but the name of the game is “Survive and advance.” Hopefully the Vols can do just that and make the Elite 8.
As far as SECFan, “Shut Up, man.” will suffice.
By AugVol
March 24, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this
Ole Mark is a Kentucky boy, you see. What that means is he hates ANYTHING to do with Tennessee. For the record, he feels the same way about Louisville. It’s amazing how much of an idiot one can make out of themselves. Here is a team that won 27 games going into the SEC tournament, had the #1 RPI ranking after having big wins over teams like Xavier, Gonzaga, Temple, W. Va., Western KY, and .. hmm who else (tapping my temple…..) Oh Yeah! number one ranked Memphis! They won the opening SEC tourney game, and lost a heart breaker to Arkansas. Then, they beat a decent American U. team. The Vols struggled, but they won. The next game, against a Butler team that should have been seeded higher (they were ranked #10 at season’s end), the Vols went up to double digit leads at times and pulled out a win despite bad guard play. After considering all of that, Bradley is foolish enough to call Pearl overstated and criticize TN’s play. All I can say about that is “Wow”. It takes a great coach, overstated or not, to have the balls to make a critical change in the lineup to make something work, especially in tournament time. Yes, Prince had some turnovers, but it was still a good gamble. If you don’t think so, then you didn’t watch the game. Look at his assists, including one fast-break bounce pass that resulted in a score. It was amazing. So, if you are looking for objectivity, you will not find it here or in any of the Athens papers. To All Ga Fans: I assume the SECFan post above was one ours and I apologize for that. Mr. Munson deserves better than that, Hob Knob comment or not. Please remember that all of our fan bases have inbred idiots like that. It’s a shame we can’t exclude them from accessing the Internet.
By Tony Heringer
March 24, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
He said “overstated” not “overrated”. The next game will prove out if he should have chosen the latter as Pearl faces off against another “overstated” coach in Rick Pitino.
Bradley, your bracket is now incomplete as Pitt proved a poor choice for the South. I’m in the same boat in the West as I got all sentimental and took my Aggies there. UCLA does have the parts to win it all, but they better step it up if they even plan on getting out of the West much less the final 4. I still like UNC, KS and tu (Texas for you non-Aggies) for the East, Mid-West and South regions.
It would be great to see Davidson make it all the way. They’d need Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper to coach the final game though :-)
How is everyone else doing on the Final 4?
By CarolinaJacket
March 24, 2008 9:44 AM | Link to this
If they made it to the Sweet 16 they beat whomever they had to beat, regardless of how they did it, blowouts like UNC or “ugly” like UT. They got there. They deserve respect for what they have done. Maybe some day we will see my beloved Jackets get there again.
By BeattieFeathers
March 24, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this
Mark Bradley is a clown who ALWAYS hates on the Vols. Hey Mark, I recall you predicted Terry Bowden would outlast Phil Fulmer at their respective schools. You’re an idiot……
By Joshua
March 24, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
Damn thats hateful !! What the hells the matter with you !!!
By TERRY
March 24, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
SECFAN….YOU ARE A D—-! YOU DO NOT REPRESENT THE SEC OR TENN VERY WELL WHEN YOU POST BULLS—- LIKE THAT….YOUR MOMMA- IF YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS- MUST BE PROUD OF YOU.
By No Dawgs Here
March 24, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this
SEC Fan, that was disgusting. I’m a big Tech fan. I really don’t care for the Bulldogs either. But, I would NEVER wish ill will towards a certian individual. Yes, I hope they have a bad year. (probably not going to happen) But, never the less I always root for the team that plays UGA. However; that is about as far as it should go. You are a disgrace to anyone whoever was and is a fan of college sports. AJC should ban you for ever posting again. What a loser!!
Oh BTW!
Go Jackets… (A rough year is ahead)
By Mark Bradley
March 24, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
FYI: Rupp’s first name is spelled “Adolph,” not “Adolf.” And if Pearl is the biggest thing to hit the SEC since Rupp, that makes him pretty large.
By Brian
March 24, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this
GO DAVIDSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Mike
March 24, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
I bet all of these Tennessee posters are cousins and in-laws. Get a grip
By Mark Bradley
March 24, 2008 10:38 PM | Link to this
Just testing.
By Nate
March 26, 2008 7:40 PM | Link to this
Any team that lost to Kentucky this year has SERIOUS flaws. I’ll leave my analysis of Tennessee at that.
By Jimmy
March 27, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this
James, have you gotten to “SECFan” yet? Hopefully so.
By Katherine
March 29, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
a way of paying his foreign debts, rather by the exportation of http://idisk.mac.com/dukebluedevilsfreewe/Public/0/ho-scale-model-train-track-layouts.html >ho scale model train track layouts backwards and forwards between the ground and the granary, it never changes pkkqjxvgcf
By Katherine
March 29, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
a way of paying his foreign debts, rather by the exportation of http://idisk.mac.com/dukebluedevilsfreewe/Public/0/ho-scale-model-train-track-layouts.html >ho scale model train track layouts backwards and forwards between the ground and the granary, it never changes pkkqjxvgcf