The Final Four

Who would have thought with a tournament full of upsets that the four number one seeds would be the last ones standing. This is the first time in the history of the tournament that all four number one seeds made the Final Four. But it wasn't easy for them to get here. The first team in the Final Four was Memphis. Memphis first rolled over the #16 seed. The had there sites set on Mississippi State. But this wasn't easy game. The game went back and forth all night but Memphis was able to hit free throws down the stretch to win by 3. In the Sweet 16 they had Michigan State to try and get passed and they showed why they only have one loss on the season. Memphis routed Michigan State by 18 points. Finally they faced Texas in the Elite Eight to see who will make it to the Final Four. I thought this game was going to be closer then what it was. Texas was shut down by a smothering defence by Memphis and Memphis flew by the South region to make it to the Final Four.

Now from the East region we have North Carolina. North Carolina was the most impressive team in this tournament so far. In the first 2 games they averaged 110.5 point per game and held their opponents to just 75.5 points per game. But that offence was soon going to put to the test in the Sweet 16 by Washington State. Washington State in the first two games held Winthrop and Notre Dame to just about 40 points in each game. That did not effect North Carolina's confidence. They came in and did exactly what Washington State has been doing they entire tournament and brought out the defence holding Washington State to just 47 points. North Carolina then had there toughest challenge yet in Louisville. Louisville, fresh of there win verses Tennessee, matched up well against the Tar Heels. It was a close game throughout the game but North Carolina managed to slip by to make it to the Final Four.

Then you have the Midwest bracket. Kansas came out on top in this bracket. First rolling through Portland State and then UNLV. They finally got a challenge in the Sweet 16 by Villanova or at least that's what everyone thought. Kansas came in looking to make a statement and they did beating Villanova by 15 points to go on and face Davidson in the Elite Eight. Davidson was the hottest team in the nation. They had a 25 game winning streak coming into this game and beating quality teams such as Wisconsin and Georgetown. In probably the most watched game in the tournament so far Kansas escaped when Davidson failed to score with 16 seconds left advancing them to the Final Four.

Lastly, there is the west bracket. The least impressive region in the tournament by far. UCLA only had to play one team with a higher seed then 9. They dominated the first round holding the opponents to just 29 points but they had a scare in the second round verses Texas A&M. A&M gave UCLA a good run but fell short losing by 2. UCLA then went on to knock off a Cinderella in Western Kentucky in the Sweet 16. In the Elite Eight they faced there only real opponent of the tournament in Xavier. But that didn't matter UCLA was determined to get to it's 3rd consecutive Final Four by beating Xavier by 19 points. The Final Four are set and the level of competition couldn't be any higher. I can't wait to see what happens.

March Madness in Full Effect

March Madness has been going on for a few weeks now and the anticipation for the tournament could not have been answered any better. There was multiple upsets during the first two rounds of the tournament. This was going to be the biggest upset bracket in the history of the tournament. They did not disappoint the public. The underdogs weren't playing like underdogs in the tournament this year. The most surprising team by far has got to be Western Kentucky. Western Kentucky started their amazing run by first defeating the #5 seed Drake in the opening round in dramatic fashion in overtime. They then went on to face San Diego who upset UConn in the opening round. Western Kentucky defeated them to coast into the sweet 16. But they run into the #1 seed UCLA to try ans extend their tournament life. One other team to watch out for has got to be Davidson. Davidson looked impressive in their victories over Gonzaga and #2 seed Georgetown. Davidson came into the tournament on a 21 game winning streak and extended it to 23 games during the tournament. They now face the #3 seed Wisconsin but I wouldn't sleep on Davidson to pull this one out. The last team that deserve recognition has got to be West Virginia. West Virginia first had a tough first round game with Arizona. They dominated the game to go face the #2 seed Duke. They started off slow but the power of Alexander inside was to much for Duke to advance West Virginia into the sweet 16. This tournament has been up and down, upsets and domination. I'm just glad that there is still 15 more games to enjoy.

Early Round Upsets and Championship Blowouts

In "Early Round Upsets and Championship Blowouts" published in the Economic Inquiry, Rich Harbaugh and Tilman Klumpp discuss how in the early rounds of the tournament the bigger teams under estimate the underdogs. Harbaugh and Klumpp go into detail about the effort that each team gives out in each tournament game. They also use the information by Nash tries to explain the equilibrium that goes into the tournament. Each team tries not to exert a lot of energy in the early rounds to save their energy for the later rounds. On the other hand, the underdogs give more effort in the early rounds and waste all their energy for the later rounds. The article goes on to show the probability of each team giving equal effort, the favorite is less likely to win. Nash uses data collected over the years of the tournament and takes the favorite's predicted margin of victory to the actual margin of victory. This article uses models, equations, data, and experiments to explain the upsets in the tournament.

Work Cited

Harbaugh,Rich and Klumpp,Tilmann. "Early Round Upsets and Championship Blowouts". Economic Inquiry (2005): 316-29

The Rivalry

One of the biggest rivalry in sports has got to be North Carolina and Duke. Well the whole basketball roll got there wish this weekend when #1 North Carolina traveled to arch rival Duke who is ranked #5. The first half seemed to be a blow out. North Carolina had a ten point lead going into halftime. Tyler Hansbrough already had a double double by halftime. Duke did not go away though. Duke battled back to even take the lead late in the second half. But North Carolina now had there point guard and captain Lawson to get them over the hump. They seemed to be too much for Duke when it came down to the final seconds. North Carolina beat Duke by eight points. North Carolina is 8-1 all time when they face Duke when they are number one. When they go to Duke they are four and zero when they are number one. The rivalry isn't over but it will have to wait until next year or a good run by both of these great teams in the tournament for them to face each other again. I'm sure you will get even more information at elliot's website in which I set a link up for.

Who Helped There Cause?

There was a lot of action this weekend with the tournament watch. There were some teams that helped there cause and others that crushed there hopes. The main winner this week has to be Ohio State. There last two games they had wins against 2 top 25 teams in Purdue and Michigan State. Ohio State had a big win on Tuesday in there 80-77 win in overtime against #15 Purdue. Purdue led most of the game but Ohio State battled back to force overtime and Ohio state held off Purdue for the win. Then Sunday Ohio State had a great performance out of their senior Jamar Butler who had 20 points to lead his team over #18 Michigan State. Sunday was certainly a dominate performance by Ohio State to almost locking them into the tournament. West Virginia is another bubble team really has had a good tournament push winning six of their past eight games. But this week they really proved themselves tournament worthy. With a win at Pittsburgh and a win in overtime against St.John on Saturday. West Virginia now have a record of 21-9 and in RPI of 39 which should be more then enough to get them in the tournament. There are other terams that did not help there cause. The main one has to be UAB. Saturday they had a devistating loss against Mephis lossing by 38 points. Although they have a 22-9 record and an RPI of 46 they still are a long shot to get into the tournament. One other team on the bubble has got to be Kentucky. Even though they have a record of 17-11 there strength of schedule is ranked 11th in the nation. They have about 5 to 6 wins against the top 25 teams. With there last win against Florida on Sunday has got to put them into the tournament.

Michigan State Smokes Indiana

Michigan State came out firing on Sunday. They put up 59 points in the first half. In there previous game against Indiana they put up 61 points for the entire game. But they were not finished there. They shot 60% from the field to go along with an outstanding 54% from the outside. It certainly was a team effort for Michigan State with 5 people in double figures. This was the first loss for Indiana since the new head coach Dan Dakich took over. Indiana just could not keep up with the Spartans in the first half. Indiana was lead by Eric Gordon who had 22 points but only shooting 1-5 from behind the arc. Also D.J. White added a double double but that was not enough in the 103-74 loss to Michigan State. The loss drops Indiana from the top spot in the Big Ten breaking the tie between them and Purdue and Wisconsin.

Harangody Big East Player of the Year?

This is one subject I'll battle for. Luke Harangody is hands down the best player in the Big East this year. Not to mention he is family. Yes Harangody is my cousin and let me tell you his performance this year even surprised me. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?id=3254631 Harangody had a descent freshman year averaging 11.2 points per game and 6.2 rebounds. This year was completely different he is now leading the Big East in scoring and second in rebounding. Harangody had to step up the scoring with absence of there top 2 scorers from last year to graduation. He now averages 20.2 points per game and 10.5 rebounds to go along with it. He has lead #17 Notre Dame to a promising year for the Irish. Harangody would be the 2nd Big East player in the last decade to average 22 points and 11 rebounds in conference play. Harangody is even being considered for the player of the year award. His name has been thrown in with the great players of Tyler Hansbrough and Micheal Beasley. It's all a matter of time to see where the cards fall where they may and I can't wait to see what card my cousin will get.