NCAA Tournament 1st Round Thoughts

How dare you bet against the Cardinal!


Well I tried to save David's bracket, but he wouldn't listen and picked Cornell to upset the mighty Cardinal! Never bet against Stanford, they have covered their last four tournament games, ride them all the way! The early line for their second round matchup has Stanford at -3 against Marquette, and I like the Cardinal again! Another trend I've noticed during the first two days of the Big Dance is taking the Under in the first half and the Over in the second. Teams are really seeming to feel out their opponent early on and then exploding for big points after the half. Just a random tidbit after betting quite a bit these first two days.

As for my first two days (bracket and betting) starting with Thursday - A group of us met up at the Hard Rock where they turned the Joint (where they hold concerts) into a gigantic March Madness orgy! So I officially hate OJ Mayo and USC. Not only did I have them making a run to the Elite Eight, but all of us also had big time bucks riding on them Thursday night, but their complete impotence in regards to rebounding left our whole group officially hating Tim Floyd. UNLV looked great and we made a great pick there, but got completely burned after picking the Under for the game and losing out by half a point! And this after Kent State scored a tournament record low 10 points in the first half! Crazy! Baylor looked awful despite the numbers saying they should have put up a good fight against Purdue, and that one stung the pocket book a bit, Doh! I didn't put any money on Georgia, but I do feel sort of bad for them after their unbelievable run this year. After being up big early against Xavier, the Bulldogs simply couldn't hold on, but I still salute you Georgia! As for Xavier, they are nasty tough, don't sleep on these guys. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame both looked awfully impressive, showing just how tough the Big East really is. It ranked #5 in regards to Conference RPI, but Big East teams are really physical and they had a very impressive first two days, going 7-1 overall, wowza! Finally, Arizona was busted out by Joe Alexander and West Virginia, we had a large sum riding on the Wildcats which would have saved our day, but alas, we finished losers for Thursday :( * Side Note - We did win a free night stay at the Hard Rock and a free cabana at the pool, so value wise we actually made out ok! I also put $60 on red and hit, which then paid for a tasty free lunch at Pink Taco!

Friday featured big time upsets, but luckily I ended the day slightly ahead thanks to North Carolina covering their -25.5 line. The biggest surprise for me had to be the crazy comeback staged by Villanova, I had Clemson making a run to the Sweet Sixteen, so my bracket isn't in the greatest of shape :( UCONN was a huge bust this year, one of the few downers for the Big East, but an early injury to starting point guard AJ Price played a major part in the Huskies loss. If not for UCONN's heartbreak, the Big East would have gone 8-0 for the first two days, just thought I would re-iterate how impressive the Big East has been. Indiana's poor performance did surprise me, I thought they would handle Arkansas, but they looked terrible and with DJ White and Eric Gordon heading to the draft, and the coaching situation a complete mess, Indiana looks to be in big trouble next year. Mississippi came through for me with a late run against Oregon but overall a much slower day in terms of betting for me since I had to work tonight, but a much bigger day in regards to upsets and excitement. I look forward to an exciting second round!

As for a quick update on my bracket, so far I have started really bad, going 21-12 in the first round, but 7 out of 8 of my Elite Eight teams are still alive so I could still make up some major ground later. Since I haven't posted my picks, here is what my Final Four looks like this -
Tennessee
Kansas
Texas
UCLA
I have Tennessee squaring off against UCLA in the National Championship game with the Bruins emerging victorious in a high scoring, exciting final game. I really like Tennessee this year, but I think UCLA will prove to be too much. So there's my college basketball update, hopefully I will fare a little better financially in the second round this weekend!