Shanoff's W.U.C.: 'How's Your Bracket Look?'

By Dan Shanoff Mar 20, 2009, 8:24am EDT

Today's Calls: Darren Collison vs. Eric Maynor, 10-7 vs. 12-5, 1-seeds vs. Mid-Major At-Large teams, Your Bracket vs. Obama's Bracket and More. â†µ

â†µThe Opening Pitch: "How's your bracket look?" It is the phrase of the day, the week, the month, the moment. You can ask your buddy, your co-worker, your mom, your President. â†µ

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â†µFWIW, I was 13-3, missing the two 8/9 games and Clemson, barely. My best pick was UCLA over VCU — especially because I have UCLA going to the Elite Eight. I think that VCU was the best team to lose yesterday; in most any other matchup against a team seeded 2 through 10, they likely would have prevailed. â†µ

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â†µUnless some of your Elite Eight or Final Four picks were eliminated yesterday, you have little reason to feel too high or too low about your success rate in the first half of the first round; things can (and will) change in a hurry by Monday morning. â†µ

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â†µSo what did we learn on Thursday? â†µ

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â†µThe Good: Philly's night set, featuring the best game of the day — UCLA's nail-biting win over VCU. (Plus, in the opener of Philly's night-set, American's spirited run against Villanova.) â†µ

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â†µThe image of the NCAA Tournament so far is three-time Final Four vet Darren Collison successfully defending VCU star PG Eric Maynor's would-be game-winner at the end. (OK: Maybe Pargo's dunk on Akron was the highlight of the day. This in-arena YouTube clip is my favorite version.) â†µ

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â†µThe Bad: 1-seed blowouts. The afternoon games of the 1st round should be reserved for close games that have you glued to your computer at work (or rushing out of work to the bar on the corner). Lopsided wins by UNC (sans Ty Lawson) and UConn (sans Jim Calhoun) deflated the late-afternoon set of games. â†µ

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â†µThe Ugly: Mid-major at-large teams. The Selection Committee took a lot of grief for only including four at-large teams from "non-power" conferences. They were vindicated when two of them lost yesterday, Butler to LSU (credit Tigers for hitting late FTs) and BYU in a why'd-you-bother ugly one to Texas A&M. â†µ

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â†µ(The Committee also took a lot of grief for sending seven Big Ten teams. Michigan acquitted their selection; Minnesota was a dud. Purdue looked good against fiesty Northern Iowa, and Illinois unluckily drew a 12-seed with winning tournament experience — credit that for WKU's 4-point "upset".) â†µ

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â†µUpset Watch: Apparently, the 10-7 game is the new 12-5 game. But if you don't really count 10-over-7 or 9-over-8 (or even 12-over-5) as an upset, the day was devoid of drama. Close games are enough to intrigue temporarily (American! Northridge! Akron!), but the power teams ultimately took the drama out of it. It does seem like the second round will be toss-up competitive. â†µ

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â†µWhat will we learn on Friday? â†µ

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â†µFriday’s 1st-Round Game Schedule: â†µ

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â†µ* — Shanoff’s pick to win. â†µ

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â†µEarly Afternoon: â†µ

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â†µ12:15 3 Syracuse* vs. 14 Stephen F. Austin (South@Miami) â†µ

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â†µHow much momentum from last week will the Orange maintain? â†µ

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â†µ12:25 8 Oklahoma State vs. 9 Tennessee* (East@Dayton) â†µ

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â†µBig 12 looking good, and SEC better than expected. â†µ

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â†µ12:30 6 Marquette* vs. 11 Utah St (West@Boise) â†µ

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â†µUpset special? Eagles playing down a top guard. â†µ

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â†µ12:30 3 Kansas* vs. 14 North Dakota State (Midwest@Minneapolis) â†µ

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â†µHow can you not be rooting for NDSU vs. the defending champs. â†µ

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â†µLate Afternoon: â†µ
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â†µ2:45 6 Arizona State* vs. 11 Temple (South@Miami) â†µ

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â†µCasual only-in-March CBB fans, meet James Harden. â†µ

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â†µ2:55 1 Pitt* vs. 16 East Tennessee State (East@Dayton) â†µ

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â†µUNC, UConn set the bar for 1-seed routs. â†µ

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â†µ3:00 3 Missouri* vs. 14 Cornell (West@Boise) â†µ

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â†µBig Red should draw inspiration from American. â†µ

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â†µ3:00 6 West Virginia* vs. 11 Dayton (Midwest@Minneapolis) â†µ

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â†µDon't sleep on Flyers, but Bob Huggins will be amped. â†µ

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â†µEarly Evening: â†µ

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â†µ7:10 1 Louisville* vs. 16 Morehead State (Midwest@Dayton) â†µ

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â†µTourney's top overall team needs a blitzing start. â†µ

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â†µ7:10 5 Utah* vs. 12 Arizona (Midwest@Miami) â†µ

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â†µCats were the last at-large team in the field. â†µ

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â†µ7:20 7 Boston College vs. 10 USC* (Midwest@Minneapolis) â†µ

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â†µApparently, 10-7 is the new 12-5. â†µ

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â†µ7:25 4 Xavier* vs. 13 Portland State (East@Boise) â†µ

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â†µX-Men are annually a great early-round team. â†µ

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â†µLate Evening: â†µ

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â†µ9:40 8 Ohio State* vs. 9 Siena (Midwest@Dayton) â†µ

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â†µExperienced Saints should win ... but in Ohio? â†µ

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â†µ9:40 4 Wake Forest* vs. 13 Cleveland State (Midwest@Miami) â†µ

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â†µDon't forget that the Vikings won AT Syracuse. â†µ

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â†µ9:50 2 Michigan State* vs. 15 Robert Morris (Midwest@Minneapolis) â†µ

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â†µThe best of the Big Ten is ready for a run. â†µ

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â†µ9:55 5 Florida State vs. 12 Wisconsin* (East@Boise) â†µ

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â†µBig Obama pick: Prez has FSU going to Sweet 16. â†µ

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â†µBonus preview! Saturday’s 2nd-Rounders: â†µ

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â†µ1:05 3 Villanova vs. 6 UCLA* (East@Philly) â†µ

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â†µBruins’ win showed Final Four vet isn’t ready to go home. â†µ

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â†µ3:20 2 Memphis* vs. 10 Maryland (West@KC) â†µ

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â†µHey: Maryland is better than Cal-State Northridge. â†µ

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â†µ3:35 1 UConn* vs. 9 Texas A&M (West@Philly) â†µ

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â†µDon't expect a 50-point romp. â†µ

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â†µ5:40 4 Washingon* vs. 5 Purdue (West@Portland) â†µ

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â†µThe least predictable game of the day? â†µ

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â†µ5:45 1 UNC* vs. 8 LSU (West@Greensboro) â†µ

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â†µWill the Heels keep resting Ty Lawson? â†µ

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â†µ5:50 2 Oklahoma* vs. 10 Michigan (South@KC) â†µ

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â†µJohn Beilein's crew should feel good about one win. â†µ

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â†µ8:10 4 Gonzaga* vs. 12 Western Kentucky (South@Portland) â†µ

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â†µThe Zags seem to struggle with Cinderellas. â†µ

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â†µ8:15 2 Duke vs. 7 Texas* (East@Greensboro) â†µ

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â†µUT will find support from UNC fans in arena. â†µ

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â†µWhat: There's actually more to talk about in sports today? â†µ

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â†µ— NFL Draft: Matthew Stafford's Pro Day. Don't be fooled by the scripted performance, Lions! Ah well: It sounds like folks were impressed by his workout. The question is: Are they impressed enough to mortgage their future to a guy who could just as easily be the next Rex Grossman as he is the next Joe Flacco? â†µ

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â†µ— WBC Finally Gets Interesting: Team USA vs. defending champ Japan in the semis on Sunday, featuring Jake Peavy vs. Dice-K. (By the way, injured Kevin Youkilis doesn't care for your WBC cynicism.) â†µ

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â†µ(Meanwhile, get ready, Yankees fans: Your entire season will come down to cringing every time you think A.J. Burnett might be injured. Is that because you expect him to get injured?) â†µ

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â†µ— NBA Instant History: The only reason the Cavs survived the Blazers in overtime was because Cleveland only turned the ball over twice — twice — all game. ... Here come the Hawks. ... Must-Read: Bethlehem Shoals on NCAA vs. NBA. â†µ

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â†µ— CFB: Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden doesn't like giving up wins. "Does the punishment fit the crime?" he asked. Well, since he's asking: Yes. â†µ

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â†µThe Last Word: President Obama was 11-5 on his bracket yesterday. His decision to publicly reveal his bracket then allows you to say, "Hey, at least I'm beating Barack." â†µ

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â†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

Shanoff's W.U.C.: 'How's Your Bracket Look?'

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