Everyone is talking about the Ohio impact on the NCAA Tournament. Well, except for Northeastern Ohio, where the focus remains on what the Browns do with the 4th pick in the NFL Draft.
Ratings should be interesting. There are still blue-blood programs in the Sweet 16 with Kentucky, UNC, Kansas and Indiana. Plus huge alumni groups/band wagon fans for Ohio St., Michigan State and Florida. At the same time, there is no west coast presence. Baylor? Four states — Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky and Wisconsin contain 10 of the Sweet 16.
As much as people want to talk about the Ohio thing, the bigger story is UNC point guard Kendall Marshall breaking his left wrist. The fact that there is speculation that since it was to his left wrist, leaving open the speculation that maybe he could play, tells you how dire the situation is for UNC at that spot. A nasty reminder that even the best, biggest name schools can’t just stockpile talent at all spots. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the starting point guard is for a team. If he’s starting, then he is almost certainly the best you have.
John Thompson III is lucky to have made that Final Four early. Otherwise, he would have the worst reputation in the Big East for coaching flops in the NCAA Tournament. He hasn’t gotten the Hoyas past the first weekend in the last 5 tries.
As for the bracket challenge, by virtue of some more upsets I’ve actually moved from 84th to 77th in the group. Still that’s better than a certain “college basketball analyst” who is a walking definition of troll. Doug Gottlieb is below the 15th percentile after the first weekend. The only downside to crowing is that he still has 7 of his 8 Elite Eight teams, so there will likely be a late surge for his final ranking.
The present leader in the PittBlather Brackets is I need a vacation! with 500 points. He’s in the 99.9th percentile to put him at 4410 nationally. He nailed 37 of the 48 games. He’s only missing 3 teams from the Sweet 16 and has 7 of the 8 Elite Eights.
He’s not uncatchable as many other brackets have the potential to match or even exceed his final score — and having UNC in the title game could be his undoing.
