Monday, March 15, 2004

Daily Swarm

ELDER NAMED TO ACC TOURNEY 2ND TEAM
Congrats to BJ on a solid tourney. He was the only guy really making playes during the last 15 minutes of the Dook game. My guess is that there is about a 90% chance he returns next year. That will be unbelievable with a guy like that as a senior. Wow.

DID YOU KNOW
Thanks to GTsaltheart at the Hive for providing these stats - 13 of 32 games we played this season were against top 6 seeds. 14 of 32 were against top 8 seeds. 50% of our games were against teams that are in the dance. Non-conference opponents in the dance included UConn, Texas Tech, Louisiana-Laf. and VCU - all of whom we beat.

GAMETIME IS SET
Tip-off around 3:00pm on Friday (Eastern time), then a Sunday game at either 1:15 or 3:45.

12 POINT FAVORITES AS IT STANDS NOW
.... to beat N.Iowa. This is a game we should win - of course they don't call it March Madness for nothing.

MILWAUKEE A MAGIC PLACE FOR THE JACKETS
The "Miracle in Milwaukee" was the famous 3pt buzzer beater by James Forrest to take down USC 79-78. As you can read in this article, J.Jack has seen that clip about 20 times and hopes to repeat the magic.

LUKE EVIDENTLY DOESN'T KNOW WHERE MILWAUKEE IS
Check out this quote from Luke - "Coach came in and said we were playing in Milwaukee, I said 'Where's Milwaukee?', and he said it's in Wisconsin, and I said 'Where's Wisconsin?'. I know where Iowa is, and I've been near there. I came over on a tour with the Australian team and we were in that area." I love it!!! For more quotes from Coach Hewitt and the team - click here.

MEDIA "EXPERTS" LIKE GT'S CHANCES
If you have watched any of the shows on the dance, a lot of experts like GT's chances to get anywhere from the final 8 to the final 4. Digger picks us to upset KY. Dickey V has us in the final 8 losing to Kentucky. Steward Mandel over at SI.com has us in the final four. Check this out - Sportingnews.com has brackets from their "experts" you can download. Frank Burlison has picked us in the finals to lose to Stanford. Tim Brando has picked us to win the whole dang shootin match - no kidding!!!

UGA HEADED TO THE NIT
.... where they belong. Coach Felton will have them back on a winning track but they are where they deserve to be this year. Yes they had 3 strong wins - 2 over KY and 1 over GT, but losing 5 games by more than 20, including one to Wintrop - just doesn't cut it.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Not ONE of the current UNC playes has EVER played in an NCAA tourney game. That is an unbelievable statement when you think about it - speaks to their struggles the last few years, but also to the fact that they are young.

BRACKET TIPS
For those of you picking your brackets, I won't claim to be an expert, but I can offer some tips.
1 - always pick some upsets in the 5/12 seed games. It is inevitable but there are usually at least 2 upsets in that slot and have been as many as all 4 in some years.
2 - never pick a #1 seed to lose in the 1st round. A no-brainer, but it has never ever happened. Don't pick a #2 to lose in the 1st round either. OK, so maybe these aren't rocket science.
3 - Don't listen to all the hype over Air Force and the "Princeton" offense - UNC will crush them - don't pick this upset. Air Force should not be in this dance.
4 - Pittsburgh deserved better than a 3-seed. They got jacked badly by the committee - they could play Wisc at Wisc. and Okl.St.
5 - It usually pays off the pick a lot of wins by ACC teams. ACC teams have a strong historic showing in the dance.
6 - It usually pays off the pick a lot of SEC teams to lose. Aside from Kentucky, I won't pick many to go far. I like Florida to lose in round 1.

BEESBALL TEAM GETS SWEPT BY UVA
Well, the struggles continue.

PREVIEW OF FOOTBALL TEAM BY POSITION
Good look at the team, returning players and new additions from Ramblinwreck.com.............. Here is a nice look at all the ACC teams heading into spring practice.