Weekend Rundown
The field of 68 has been set:
The madness that is March is officially here as the NCAA tournament field has been set. No really big surprises here with the top seeds as Kentucky was named overall number one even with its loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney finals. North Carolina was in the same boat after narrowly losing the ACC tournament to Florida State and still receiving a one seed. Syracuse didn’t even make the Big East final (Which is really a shame with this being their last year in the Big East) and again with this reoccurring theme they received a one seed. As a matter of fact Michigan State was the only one seed that won its conference tournament in the Big Ten. You can really see that the conference tourney doesn’t mean much to the big boys who had already clinched a high seed.
And what’s a good tournament conversation without talking about the snubs. Marshall probably has the biggest gripe after beating Big East conference tourney runner up Cincinnati in OT, taking Syracuse to the wire with a 62-56 loss and beating Iona who slipped into a tournament. Drexel also should be angry after winning 25-2 down the stretch with the CAA conference title, the committee didn’t see the Dragons strength of schedule in the 220s as a team deserving of a bid. As long as there is a NCAA tournament there will always be a team that gets snubbed and those two teams have a legit beef.
Now that the field is set get ready to get inundated with multiple bracket requests from all your friends from every website. Its March madness baby, the best three weeks on the sports calendar so get ready to fill out those brackets and miss a few days of work if your school is playing.
Bud Adams throws the kitchen sink at Peyton Manning
Bud Adams has reportedly said he will do whatever it takes to sign four time NFL MVP Peyton Manning to the Tennessee Titans. Adams said that he has contacted Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, in hopes of setting up a visit to Tennessee. Manning has recently visited the Denver Broncos and the Arizona Cardinals in his quest to find the team that best fits him after being released by the Indianapolis Colts. Adams has gone as far as saying he would offer Manning a job in the front office. Now lets be realistic here Titan fans before you get your hopes up too high. Manning will go to a team that he feels can compete for a Super Bowl if he comes in as the last piece of the puzzle. I don’t believe the Titans fit that description. Also he has made it clear that he only has a list of three teams on his list in Miami, Denver, and Arizona. Don’t get his ties to the University of Tennessee twisted in this mess as I seriously doubt that Manning has any loyalty to anyone in this state besides those who reside in Knoxville. I don’t care what Adams throws at him it just not likely to land Peyton in powder blue.
Vanderbilt upsets Kentucky to win SEC Tournament
As I was eluding to in the beginning of the column, March madness is in full bloom and the first shocker so far for me was seeing the Vanderbilt Commodores finally showed that they have what it takes to beat a quality opponent the caliber of top ranked Kentucky. The Commodores had played the Wildcats tough in their previous two meeting losing by a combined margin of just 15 points. The Wildcats had been running over all its other SEC opponents as it defeated all comers until yesterday. Vandy played tough rugged defense not allowing the Wildcats to score over the final 8:04 of the game. Vandy’s wing duo of Jeff Taylor and Jeff Jenkins combined for 35 points as the Commodores sealed the win with a 16-2 run over the final 5 minutes of the game. John Callapari has never been a big fan of the conference tournaments and his team appeared not to care much either in this one but none of that mattered to Vandy as they clinched their first SEC tournament title since 1951. Congrats to them and good luck in the NCAA’s as they drew a tough match in their first round opponent in Harvard.
Tiger injures Achilles in WGC tournament
Tiger Woods suffered yet another setback in his latest tourney. Woods said he felt discomfort in his lest Achillies that caused him to withdraw from the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship. "I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse," said Woods, who made three bogeys and no birdies during the final round. "After hitting my tee shot at 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw. In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time, I decided to do what I thought was necessary." Tiger will likely shut it down until the Masters now after this latest injury. Woods actually had the same injury last year at the Masters as well so this turning into a chronic problem. My guess is that Tiger wants to go into the Masters as healthy as possible and lets hope he is as close as can be to 100% once Augusta gets going.
Bynum late hook shot helps Lakers take down Celtics in latest version of heated rivalry
You expect nothing less than a close game from these heated rivals and that’s exactly what you got in this one. Kobe scored 10 of his 26 in 4th quarter and even suggested that Andrew Bynum take the last shot with everyone in the building looking for Bryant to take it. “Andrew is too big. You can’t teach that,” Bryant said with a grin. “I knew it was going to be a high-percentage shot.” The teams had battled the entire game with one time making a run only to have to the other do the same. Rajon Rondo had 24 points and 10 assists. He would miss horribly on a desperate tie attempt for the Celtics. The Lakers have been nearly unbeatable at home winning for the 18th time in 19 tries at home. This game was important in the sense that it could be the last time we see this current version of both teams square off against each other. The Lakers have been in constant flux of trade rumors with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Boston has also been rumored to be ready to break up the Big 4 of Rondo, Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. If this was the last one then between the two at least they gave us one last classic to remember.
