2009 NCAA Tournament: Round 2, Day 2

Well that was all kinds of ugly for Maryland. Not surprised that was the outcome. A little disappointed that Maryland never really mounted any sort of rally after the ten minute mark. But Memphis is pretty good. This is one of the top seeds that Maryland just didn’t match up with. Going into the game, I knew that Memphis would have to have an off shooting night, and they had the exact opposite. They hit everything. It was reminiscent to the 2nd round loss to UCLA in 2000. It didn’t matter what the Terps did. The Tigers were simply better yesterday. End of story. Still, a great ending to the season for Maryland. Reinforcements are coming. The days of Dave Neal and Landon Milbourne composing the frontcourt are over. If Greivis Vasquez stays, and Lance Stephenson does indeed come to College Park, Maryland could be very, very dangerous next season. We’ll have to see on that. Now to Sunday’s action. We’ll do the abbreviated version like I did yesterday. The record is now up to 31-9.

EAST REGION

University of Dayton Arena
Dayton, OH
#8 Oklahoma State Cowboys (23-11, 9-7 Big XII) vs.
#1 Pittsburgh Panthers (29-4, 15-3 Big East)
OSU has played very well over the past month. Pittsburgh hasn’t looked great since beating Connecicut several weeks ago. However, something tells me that Pittsburgh is due for a dominating game. You know, something to lull the rest of the country into believing that Jamie Dixon won’t choke again in the Sweet 16. Espeically after that lousy performance against East Tennessee. The Pokes can score, but they don’t have the inside game to contain DeJuan Blair and Sam Young. All the OSU big men either don’t play enough due to stamina or consistent foul trouble.
Pick: Pittsburgh 76, Oklahoma State 65

Taco Bell Arena
Boise, ID
#4 Xavier Musketeers (26-7, 12-4 A-10)
#12 Wisconsin Badgers (20-12, 10-8 Big Ten)
Another great coaching job by Leonard Hamilton sent the Seminoles back to Tallahassee and left the Badgers remaining in Boise. Normally, I wouldn’t have picked Lenny’s bunch to do much of anything. But they matched up so well against a Badgers team that can’t score and a Xavier team that couldn’t have gone inside against the taller Noles, they were just so tempting. I overlooked Leonard Hamilton at my own peril.

So now I’m left the Bo The Barnyard Owl and the Muskies. Hmmm… Well Xavier can at least get to 60 points without the aid of overtime and they had a nice relaxing win against Portland State. Let’s go with the Musketeers.
Pick: Xavier 69, Wisconsin 56

SOUTH REGION

American Airlines Arena
Miami, FL
#6 Arizona State Sun Devils (25-9, 11-7 Pac-10) vs.
#3 Syracuse Orange (27-9, 11-7 Big East)
This is another game where my Sweet 16 team is no longer around (just wait, this will be a recurring theme). ASU beat my upset special in Temple. Dionte Christmas showed up in Miami, but the rest of the Owls stayed in Philly. The reason I took Temple so far was because I thought they could legitimately beat ASU. I also thought that Syracuse was immensely overrated, and I had no confidence taking them after the first round. So even though I went against James Harden and the Sun Devils in round one, I like them today to knock this Big East squad back north for the summer.
Pick: Arizona State 72, Syracuse 66

MIDWEST REGION

University of Dayton Arena
Dayton, OH
#9 Siena Saints (27-7, 16-2 MAAC) vs.
#1 Louisville Cardinals (29-5, 16-2 Big East)
It figures that when I actually do take a Big Ten to win a tossup game, I somehow get it wrong. Michigan manages to pull one out. Florida State gives Wisconsin a gift. The Saints tried everything possible to give Ohio State a win. They missed free throws. They turned the ball over 22 times. The committee even handed OSU a home game. But the Buckeyes simply didn’t want to win it. This is the second year that these hacks from Albany have taken a bite out of my brackets, and I’m not happy about it. As for this game, there isn’t much to talk about. Louisville should cruise.
Pick: Louisville 85, Siena 68

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN
***The Predictor Game of the Day***
#10 Southern California Trojans (22-12, 9-9 Pac-10) vs.
#2 Michigan State Spartans (27-6, 15-3 Big Ten)
I’m sitting here listening to Tim Brando and Mike Gminski argue over who the best Ratface coaching disciple is. The conversation went a good three to four minutes (in a game where Ratface was not involved) which is about three to four minutes longer than it should have gone. Here’s the short list: no one. Jeff Capel lucked into the Oklahoma job and lucked into having Blake Griffin on the team. Mike Brey has done nothing special at Notre Dame. Actually, he’s wasted quite a bit of talent. Johnny Dawkins has a long way to go at Stanford before the Cardinal are competitive again. And Quinn Snyder? He was last seen gelling his hair, paying his recruits and is now coaching somewhere in the D-League. So in other words, there is no one worth mentioning.

Anyway, there may not be a hotter team in the tournament than USC. I watched most of their game against BC, and they absolutely dominated the second half. They completely shut down Tyrese Rice, they didn’t let any of the supporting cast get hot from outside, and they utterly manhandled the Eagles inside. Taj Gibson has finally been playing up to his potential the past two weeks. I watched a few USC games back in February. The Gibson I saw then and the Gibson I saw Friday are two entirely different players. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Trojans jumped up and bit Michigan State. I’m going to stick with Sparty for the sake of my brackets. That’s really the only reason.
Pick: Michigan State 67, Southern Cal 64

#11 Dayton Flyers (27-7, 11-5 A-10) vs.
#3 Kansas Jayhawks (26-7, 14-2 Big XII)
Ah, an upset I actually landed! Along with Arizona, the Flyers are single-handedly keeping me alive in the ol’ office pool (had FSU won, I’d actually be leading…again, thanks a lot Lenny). And a Big East team to boot! We’ll see Jump Suit Bobby and the Fightin’ Hicks next year…or not. They don’t have much coming in. But thanks to Chris Wright and Dayton, your check is in the mail.

Meanwhile, I knew that Young Kansas (as opposed to last year’s Old Kansas) would have problems with a veteran NDSU team with two very good scorers. So the final score doesn’t really concern me. It’s important for the Jayhawks to get a tournament game under their belt. I think Kansas has an easier time in this game with a Dayton team that just survived a dogfight.
Pick: Kansas 80, Dayton 68

American Airlines Arena
Miami, FL
#13 Cleveland State Vikings (26-10, 12-6 Horizon) vs.
#12 Arizona Wildcats (20-13, 9-9 Pac-10)
Could it be a Sweet 16 birth for Arizona? I think I smell one. Would is surprise anyone if Lute Olsen suddenly appeared in Miami and tried to take the team over to get all the credit? Not at all. Regardless, I was really surprised not that Cleveland State won, but how easy they made it look. I think that has more to do with Wake’s late season tank job than anything the Vikings actually did. So, as usual when these low seeded small teams spring an upset, it’s not that wise to pick them twice. Give me a suddenly dangerous Arizona team to advance to Indianapolis.
Pick: Arizona 76, Cleveland State 71

WEST REGION

Taco Bell Arena
Boise, ID
#6 Marquette Golden Eagles (25-9, 12-6 Big East) vs.
#3 Missouri Tigers (29-6, 12-4 Big XII)
Marquette managed to knock off another one of my upsets specials, Utah State, by one point in a game that they trailed by seven late. So now they get a team that they can’t run with, can’t score with and can’t stop defensively. In other words…why couldn’t Marquette just do me a favor and lose in the first round like I needed them to? These Eagles don’t have the firepower to run with Missouri. The Tigers didn’t look great against Cornell, as the Big Red did manage to slow the pace down and limit the transition game. Mizzou should be able to speed up a Marquette team without their star Dominic James.
Pick: Missouri 81, Marquette 66