Madness

Scottie Reynolds had 5 seconds to score. He drove through the Pitt defense, put it up...

and scored.

That. Was. Awesome.

Agree? The valiant efforts of Sam Young (28 points) and LeVance Fields (2 clutch free throws to tie it) were not enough to put a halt to their college careers. An updown game for Nova seemed to be over as Dwayne Anderson hit a 3 and Nova hit free throws to go up 2 with ten seconds left. But then a home run ball was not to be as Pitt sent a "free safety" back, to get a steal. Fields then was fouled, and overtime looked sure... but... no. Not on Reynolds' watch.

Final Four so far is Nova and UConn, who advanced over Missouri in a great, overshadowed game. In that one, Kemba Walker the freshman stepped up, had 23 points, and led UConn to an 82-75 victory in which Missouri could NOT HIT 3s.

Today we have Michigan State Louisville, and UNC - OU

NCAA Tourney...down to the Elite 8

The Elite Eight is now set...Tonight's matchups include...

UCONN vs MIZZOU- Uconn still looks very good after their double-digit win over Purdue, but Mizzou just ran over Memphis! Sure Memphis had that late surge at the end of the game, but the Tigers just dominated for most of the game! This game should be a great one!

PITT vs 'NOVA- Thanks to Levance Fields late heroics, the Panthers escaped yet again!  Scottie Reynolds and Villanova just destroyed Duke, as their defense was exceptional throughout the entire game! This is a rematch of the game at the Wachovia Center, when the Wildcats defeated Pitt on January 28th...another great game to watch!

Alright thats it for now...much more to come! -Matt

College B-ball and more...

Hey its Matt!

I know Teddy or I hasn't posted much lately...our apoligies for that. Alright, lets get to it...

The Sweet 16 games for the NCAA Tourney will soon be underway! Tonight's action includes UCONN-Purdue, Pitt-Xavier, Memphis-Mizzou, and Duke-'Nova. These are some great matchups, and they should all be interesting to watch, because its the top 16 teams playing! But I believe UCONN should handle Purdue, because the way they've been blowing out there opponents, they look nearly unstoppable! Now Pitt I'm a bit worried about because they've not been playing their best at all! I don't understand what Jamie Nixon is telling those guys to do!-Because they havn't been giving the ball to Blair enough down low! Both 2v3 matchups tonight should be great ones! It will be interesting to see how Duke can handle Donte Cunningham down low, and if they can shoot the 3-ball tonight...and Memphis looked very good against MD, as Mizzou slipped past Marquette! I love College Basketball!...

In other sports news, Japan repeated there success from '06 (it was '06 right?), as they defeated South Korea 5-3 in 10 innings in the World Baseball Classic Final! It was a shame the U.S team didn't make the finals, but they certainly improved from there terrible performance last time! For those of you who follow the NBA, who do you guys like for MVP? Kobe for the repeat? Lebron because of his outstanding success this year? Or the incredibly athletic D-Wade!?

Alright time to go watch College Basketball for 5 hours straight!!!...Peace.

Random Sports Ramblings II

So I'm listening to Mike and Mike. Now I hate this talk show. So when some A-rod talk comes on during the holy week of college basketball, I am not surprised. When I learn the subject, I am SHOCKED. WHO CARES IF A-ROD WAS KISSING HIMSELF! TELL ME ABOUT JAY CUTLER UPDATES! GIMME A PREVIEW OF THE TOURNAMENT. SOMETHING!

OK.

NBA MVP race. D-Wade, or LeBron? Could Kobe take it? CP3? Dark Horse Dwight Howard? Personally, I go with Dwayne Wade. I thought, watching him on team USA that he was back. And he is. LeBron has done superb, and Kobe not far behind, but Wade's recent explosions of 50 and 52 win me over. ... NFL Draft thoughts. Andre Smith is a straight up idiot. Losing millions. Good job, bud. Potential unforeseen include Baltimore, to get Darius Hayward-Bey at Detroit's 20 spot. Also, keep an eye out for Michael Crabtree to drop below Jeremy Maclin. Another unforeseen pick could be, the man, Maclin, at Seattle. Detroit could potentially grab Stafford at 1 and Smith at 20. That would be a good draft. ... Could the World Series participants disappoint? Maybe if you believe the naysayers. This year, the Rays are in a very tough AL East. I don't see the Yankees winning the division. But, I see them coming in second. I still believe the Rays will win it! 1)Rays 2)Yanks 3)Sox.

What do you think? Poll question!

Bracket

St. Mary's got snubbed. Another major-conference team, Arizona, did not deserve that bid... I think. What do you think?

BRACKET

Conference Tournaments

What a wonderful time. All these bubble-spot stealers are taking spots from majors, and I love that.

ACC: Maryland stays in at-large talk. I think they're in. UNC - FSU, Duke - MD. Probable 7 bids. [EDIT] Duke FSU final. Could Duke get a 1 seed? I don't see it happening. Not over Louisville, certainly, not over Pitt. Maybe over Memphis, Maybe UConn. I can't see it, though. UMD loses, and this is an interesting team.

B10 - Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue get no respect because of their style of play. They play defense! Possible 8 bids? MSU, PU, Ill, OSU, locks. MINN, WISC, should get in. PSU, MICH, maybe. Probably 7 bids, because I can't see Penn State in. Michigan beat Duke, UCLA, so they should get in. That's as many bids as the almighty ACC and Godly Big East are getting. (I have to point out this is biased. But, the RPI isn't -- #2 rated RPI conference)

BE - 7 bids? Not predicted. Providence cannot get in now with all of this carnage. Syracuse always turns it on in the conference tournament. Final tonite, LVille Cuse.

B12 - Could Baylor take another bubble spot? I never thought they were as bad as they played in conference... [EDIT] No. so, 6 bids. I can't see Kansas as a legit 2 seed. 3 line, maybe falling to 4.

PAC10 - 5 or 6 bids. Arizona seems fringey. Also, USC helped their case. [EDIT] A stealer! USC wins a great game.

SEC - 2 bids. UK done. [EDIT] Auburn loses. 2 bids, unless Mississippi State wins the final. Auburn probably won't get in.

A10 - 3 BIDS! Duquesne - Temple final. [edit] Temple wins.

Round up - SDSU should get in and give MWC 3 bids, also. [EDIT] Basically, today was a day when all that surfaced was the race for a 1 seed. Memphis won their conference tournament final 64-39. My 1s are in order UNC, MEM, PITT, LOUISVILLE. I don't think UConn is deserving, not now. 2 line is in order UCONN, DUKE, MSU, OKLA. Oklahoma falters down the stretch and falls to the bottom 4 seed. Also, MSU won a game in their conference tournament, unlike OU, and beat Okla. State by 15 in their noncon. On the eve of the Sunday of Sundays, my last 4 in are Maryland, SDSU, StMarys and ArizzzFlorrrPennnnUtahstaaaMinnesota.

World Baseball Classic

Who was the favorite in the World Baseball Classic, none other than the Dominicanos. Filled with MLB players like David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez, and Miguel Tejada, they were the consensus winners. The only team that was supposed to challenge them was Japan. Well last night in San Juan, that all changed. The Netherlands, a team headed by failure Sidney Ponson, and the likes of Leon Boyd and Sharlon Schoop took out the Dominicans, not once, but twice! The first time was supposed to be a fluke, oh, upsets happen. But this time, the Nederlanders defeated the Dominicans 2-1 in 11 innings to shock the world... Watch here.

Random Sports Ramblings

Time for a post. I like these kind because I don't have to format anything. By the way, welcome Matt, newest contributor. Already 76 hits! Wow! OK, let's go.

T.O to the Bills. Well he's a franchise wrecker, but it's only a one year deal, I see where the Bills are coming from. Hoping to develop a QB, Trent Edwards, now they have a very good receiving core. However, I wouldn't do this to my young QB. That's tough. ... Talks of expansion for the NCAA tournament? Not happening. Auto bids are here to stay and all this talk reminds me of Billy Packer. Teams like Georgetown and Notre Dame need to win, they know how it is and how it's always been. ... Saint Mary's got SMACKED 83-58 against Gonzaga. I was under the impression they could go far with Patty Mills back, but not if they play like that. Bubble trouble. ... NASCAR points unexpected. Jimmie Johnson is lying around not in the top 12. Meanwhile, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, and Matt Kenseth (winless last year, albeit successful in the past) are in the cutoff and surprising. Kentucky... Sucky? A Kentucky team that has not missed the tournament in 18 YEARS is almost certainly out. Billy Gillispie has turned this program around... downhill. Should've kept Tubby Smith? Losses to Gardner - Webb and VMI in the last two years are making it look like a bad decision to fire Tub.

Comment!

Answer the poll Question.

College Basketball Weekend.

For those of you who don't know, I'm Matt Leach, and as Teddy mentioned, I will be a contributor once in awhile to the Concentric Sports Network...

Some of Sunday's Games...

PU at MSU- This was a great way for the Spartans to finish their season, as they didn't really even need to win this game.  MSU already won the outright Big Ten conference title with the win at Indiana this past week, and have now won 5 straight games going into the postseason.  MSU's outstanding point guard Kalin Lucas had 21 points, as this was the Spartans first outright conference title since 1999.  Congrats, guys!

VT at FSU- Virginia Tech just hurt their chances even more at making the field of 65, just as Maryland did yesterday.  Tony Douglas led the Seminoles to victory with 22 points, as FSU has now secured an opening round bye in the ACC tournament...

DUKE at UNC- This was similar to the first meeting between these two rivals, as Duke lead 39-38 at halftime.  Duke shot nearly 60% from the floor in the first half, but went cold in the 2nd half.  This game was extremely close the whole way, as neither team could get up by more than 7 points most of the game.  This was a very emotional day for the Carolina seniors, especially foward Tyler Hansbrough, as it was the seniors last game at the Dean Smith Center.  North Carolina proved in both meetings that they were the better and more talented team this year.  Jon Scheyer didnt miss from the field for Duke today, going 7 for 7 with 24 points.  Ty Lawson light up Duke like he did at Cameron Indoor, but he made some key shots in the end to secure the win for Carolina.

As the regular season nearly comes to a close, there is a great chance that there may be three #1 seeds from the Big East!  Many think that the #1 seeds will be Pitt, Uconn, UNC, and L'ville...we'll see what championship week brings!  Selection Sunday is just right around the corner!

College basketball weekend.

Saturday's roundup.

3PITT 70 - 1UCONN 60 This game was fairly pointless, unless you count the number 1 overall seed and perhaps number 3 overall seed a huge dropoff. That's where I'm calling these teams to go. Sam Young had a super game with 31 and 10 rebounds. The "injured" LeVance Fieldshad 10 and 12 assists. Hasheem Thabeet, once again, was not top notch with only 14, all in the first half. UConn trailed for most of the game, and got within 2 before letting Pitt take over once again.

TAMU 96 - 12MIZZ 86 Missouri got hammered! Up and down team, the very definition of one. They got drubbed at Kansas, beat then no. 4 oklahoma, and lost to bubble fringe resident Texas A&M? DeMarre Carrol had 18, but Missouri still lost by double digits. On the flip side, Huge win for the Aggies. Donald Sloan led them with 16. However, I'm not sure it's enough, they might have to win a couple in the B12 tournament.

MICH 67 - MINN 64 This was a must-win for michigan, and they got it. This should impress the committee. Deshawn Sims had 24, Manny Harris 14, and Lavelle Lucas-Perry had 19 to give Michigan a good 1-2-3 combination. At a tough Minnesota team, (who is also precariously on the bubble) and add to the resume of a michigan squad that took out Duke, a (overrated) UCLA team, and beat Northwestern twice. They've got a good SOS, RPI, and are in a very good Big 10.

PSU 67 - IOWA 75 2OT Uhh. Penn State lost to Iowa. After beating Illinois. Twice. And a win over Michigan State. But, with no nonconference

strength. Good luck, Selection Committee.

FLA 60 - UK 53 Kentucky basically killed their hopes at an at-large bid. Billy Gillispie has done zip, zero, zilch since coming to Kentucky Sucky.

Florida, meanwhile, led by Calathes, still has work to do, but got the upper hand backed by their home court.

CUSE86 - MARQ 79 OT Marquette is killing their seeding, and will not be a threat to go deep in the NCAAs. They can't seem to do anything without James. Jerel McNeal had 25, but it just wasn't enough.

VA 68 - UMD 63 Familiar story, huh Maryland? They beat North Carolina, and get all but knocked out of at-large consideration by losing

to Virginia, the bottom-feeder of the ACC. Greivis Vasquez and co. could not take care of business at Virginia.

Welcome

Yeah, maybe it's a dumb name. Concentric, what are those anyway? Like concentric circles. Like a bullseye. That's what my geometry teacher told me. So, what is Concentric Sports Network about? Uh, sports. Not like T.O., Man-Ram, all that, actual sporting events. I'll try not to be biased in coverage. I've got no contributors as of now, but that should change within the first month. Ted Kupfer, the name. I am currently residing in Penna. But, my heart lies in Texas. And my head in Michigan, because those are where i was born and raised, respectively. (currently watching UT-Martin vs. Morehead State, OVC tourney). Yeah, that should sum up what kind of sports fan I am. Teams supported? Los Baltimore Ravens. Michigan State Spartans, in basketball. Texas longhorns in football, baseball, and somewhat in basketball. San Antonio Spurs. Maryland terrapins for basketball. Johns Hopkins for lacrosse. Now, I will post about these teams, but i will refrain from doing so more than other coverage. I am realistic, and know that no one will be reading this right now, but let's be optimistic... (Cornell is the first bid in the tournament!!!) Possible contributors include: friends Nate and Matt, or relative Charlie.

If you read, contribute with a comment! Spark discussion!