Sports Greatest Rivalries

For many southern universities, football is king.  Not for these two campuses separated by a few miles of dusty tobacco land and Hatfield and McCoy’s type basketball feud.

A group of 20 sportswriters found bracket selection is a much more ardent task than anticipated as discussed by Pat Ford of ESPN in What I learned at Bracket Camp.

This is not likely to do much to slow the bracket bashing and second guessing that has increased to epic proportions over the last few years.  As the difference between the 75th and 50th best college basketball team continuing to shrink, these calls will increase.  Fortunately, the likelihood of leaving the eventual winner of the tournament to the NIT is very low.  There are three ways to reduce this risk, none of which I recommend.

1.  Increase the number of entrants.  Let’s hear the presidents defend this while protesting against increasing the college football post-season.

2.  Eliminate some of the automatic bids.  Let’s face it, the debates are not about who should be a 13th or 16th seed, they are about 11th and 12th seeds.

3.  I don’t recommend this approach, but it would allow a few more teams to participate.  Have four games to play in for the 16th seeded slots.  This would allow the conferences to continue their automatic bids while adding 3 at-large teams.  In essence you simply move the bubble 3 slots and do little to quiet the furor.  Bottom line: someone always get left out.  And that team can look at 2, 3, maybe 4 games where they had the chance to make it a no-brainer for the selection committee.

Oregon looking to stay in the top eight and possibly move up, fail to get it done on the road against Washington.  Without Aaron Brooks, sitting out for an elbow in last year’s Pac-10 tournament, Oregon seemed shorthanded throughout the game.
As reported on ESPN.com “We’re mature enough to know that it’s unacceptable to play like this — effort-wise,” Bryce Taylor said. “Giving up 90 points on the road is not going to get it done.”

Wisconsin claims to be on a mission as they upend Michigan for a record 16th straight win and maintain leadership atop the Big Ten conference. At 20-1 they have tied their best season start ever and have their eyes set on bigger goals.

“In the grand scheme of things it really means nothing,” Brian Butch said. “Those are all great things to achieve, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to downplay them, but right now we’re on a mission.”

The SEC will once again beat each other into submission before tournament time rolls around.  After Florida the middle of the league, on the court if not on paper, shows to be balanced with any team able to dominate another on a given night.  Take the recent beat down Auburn handed the Tide after the tigers lost 7 straight. Come Tourney time this may leave a few SEC tournament hopefuls looking to the NIT.

How many teams out of the Pac-10 will be playing for the NCAA Basketball title come March?   Yoni Cohen at Yoco: College Basketball is suggesting as many as eight teams from the conference can make it to the show.  “Given all of the above, five bids are all but certain, six are likely, seven are possible, and eight…who knows?”

Meanwhile, Joe Lunardi’s Braketology over at ESPN shows only five in the latest rundown.  They have a long way to go.

If you have yet to see the basketball score map over at The Mid-Majority you really should check it out.  You may want to zoom in a bit to be sure to select the correct site.

A sounding 26 point thumping of the Ohio State Buckeyes gives the Gator Nation cause to celebrate as many see it as a sign of things to come in January.  Too bad Florida was not allowed to put a touchdown or two in their pocket for January 7th.

2006 ACC Football Preseason Poll and Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson named Preseason Player of the Year.

Media attending the 2006 ACC Football Kickoff in Jacksonville picked Florida State and Miami to win the league’s Atlantic and Coastal Divisions, respectively.

The Seminoles were the media favorite a year ago and tied Boston College in the regular season title. Florida State went on to win the inaugural ACC Football Championship Game 27-22 over Virginia Tech. The Hurricanes claimed the media’s choice to win the Coastal Division, ahead of last year’s Coastal Division champion Virginia Tech.

Miami also edged Florida State as the favorite to win the 2006 ACC Football Championship Game in Jacksonville on December 2.

Congratulations, Iris! Florida’s win rockets Hellen Craft to the 7th slot, dropping 11 players one spot in the process. The top 6 remain unchanged. The final tally shows these top ten finishers: