The NCAA Tournament opens up business today, without our beloved Tar Heels which means in a little over three weeks, UNC’s reign as national champion will end with a whimper instead of a bang. Among the frustrations of frustrations this season, this might be chief among them. Instead of UNC being in the tournament and fighting gallantly to defend their title they have been relegated to play out their season in the NIT which has been fun but not the same. It is a little like the king who instead of rallying with his loyalists to fight off a coup is instead lying in bed slowly dying while some whiny, arrogant usurper(read: Duke) runs around trying to assume the throne and is given aid by a bunch of pansy members of the royal court(read: NCAA Selection Committee.) Hopefully someone, anyone will make sure that does not happen. The problem is the choices among the #1 seeds outside of Duke are not great. Having Kansas, Syracuse or Kentucky assume the throne is only better than Duke because those aren’t rivals nor close by. Still, none of those options really make the good Tar Heel fan happy.
The silver lining? It is the NCAA Tournament and despite the copious amounts of chalk being tossed about out there, the parity(and weakness) of this bracket has never been more stark. There has been far too much in the way of inexplicable results this season to think we are going to see a repeat of 2008 when four very good #1 seeds showed up in San Antonio. I would be shocked if we did not see massive upsets across the board making everyone’s office pool look like Gettysburg circa July 4th, 1863. In other words it could get messy out there. Speaking of which, if you have not filled out a bracket yet, you still have time to hit the THF Tournament Pick ‘Em.
So as a final goodbye to the reign of the 2009 Tar Heels I offer this parade of You Tube videos after the jump.
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Watching this version of “OSM” just makes me angrier that they are now having Jennifer Hudson sing it. The new version is almost as bad as the 25th Anniversary Edition of “We Are the World,” which is so bad that I still don’t honestly believe that it is not a SNL-spoof…
As for the tourney, I’ve come to the opinion the KU is the best choice of the 4 #1-seeds. Self runs a clean program, coaches a style of ball that is pleasant to watch, and the tie between the two programs is still undeniable. I actually think they will be the only #1 to make the F4.
The Jennifer Hudson thing is annoying. Of course so is it moving to 96 teams so I guess it is fitting they destroy OSM right before they do the whole tournament.
^If they if they follow Arne Duncan’s advice and ban team’s that don’t have a 40% grad. rate, would they even be able to get 96 teams?? The NCAAT might just end up being UNC, Duke, Stanford, ND, G’town and the Ivies…
It is interesting that they made the switch the very next year after the guy who created OSM originally died. Bet he will be spinning in his grave.
I know Gary Williams was trying to defend the fact MD only had an 8% graduation rate. 8%? Really Gary?
^^The last year David Barret sung it was 1993. The last year Luther sung it was 2009. Hopefully next year will be the last year Hudson sings it…
^^8% is almost impossible to defend, even with the messed up way they calculate the rates. If they were to exempt players who where drafted into the NBA and transfers who leave the school in good standing, then I would be more in favor of supporting some type of requirement. Of course, then you would have to deal with schools who lower their requirements to graduate players. Basically, this becomes an idea that sounds good in theory, but doesn’t stand up to reality.
How many actual players is 8% though? I know it is rolling sort of thing but aren’t we talking about a small number of players who actually get a degree out of the MD program?
Be comforted, THF. We all know that the Sweet Sixteen is like winning the National Championship for Duke these days. Texas A&M will take care of them.
^That was my thinking too, Matt. If both teams get that far maybe Houston will give A&M an edge.
I want to avoid chalk simply because I think bracket success this year is going to require a certain amount of creativity. Could someone play the devils’ advocate and give me a good reason Kansas will not make the Final Four?
Thank you THF for the videos. I have to admit after watching some of the final against MSU again, I had forgotten really how GOOD those kids were together. Each and everyone brought something and when it all came together, as in the final, it was just AMAZING. Yes we have pulled apart this year and there are things that went wrong. We have seen there is still a beating hart and the future looks good. While being in the NIT is, well, The NIT a another game or maybe two is still nice to see.
“How many actual players is 8% though?”
Apparently it was for people who entered into college from 1999-2002, which is probably 12 players, so that would be 1.
“Could someone play the devils’ advocate and give me a good reason Kansas will not make the Final Four?”
Evan Turner. Before the brackets came out I was pretty much planning on putting KU and OSU in the Finals. I though KU would beat OSU, but not by much. Go figure, they are in the same region…
^ Same reasoning here, CM. I don’t think you’ve made it any easier for me though (lol), it’s still a tough call.
Good luck to everyone with your brackets!
Villanova beat down Duke last year. Look who is Duke’s bracket this year….
C. Michael,
Don’t forget Michigan State. They could beat them again this tourney.
For some reason this year’s brackets brought out the hater in me. Don’t like Calipari, don’t like Bob Huggins, don’t like Rick Barnes, don’t like Syracuse and of course don’t like Duke. Really hard to grit my teeth and pick these teams in the early rounds while secretly rooting against them.
Agree on both points, faustus. Duke may have the easiest region, but L’ville, Nova, or Baylor (in Houston; Duke hasn’t been good on the road this year) all present real hurdles for Duke. Unless they avoid all 3 of those teams, I don’t see Duke making it to the Final 4.
The easiest brackets sometimes end up being the hardest, and vice versa. I remember in 2005 everyone thought UNC had the “Bracket of Death,” with UConn, KU, and Florida as the 2,3, and 4 seeds. Then, when none of them made the Sweet 16, everyone thought Syracuse was going to turn into the UNC Invitational, only to see the Heels win two extremely close games.
I thought UNC had a tough draw last season but none of it mattered. That team was winning regardless of who they played.
^Yeah, short of playing the Pistons in Detroit, that team wasn’t losing once Lawson came back.
yep–addition by subtraction is the way to go imo:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5004089
Thanks for the videos. I needed that.
A few years ago I would have rooted for Kansas in the tournament but their fans continued whinyness and spoiled attitude about Roy Williams, 7 YEARS after the fact with the success that they’ve had really makes them hard to root for to me.
^: X’s 5
Thanks for the vids THF. I also recommend the NCAA Vault for those of you like me that would like to live in the past for a little while. I’ve looked at the brackets but I don’t know that I want to fill one out this year for the first time since 2002. It’s hard to be happy for these other teams when yours isn’t invited to the dance.
I suppose Kansas would be who I want to see win it. Mainly because I know that’s who Roy and Dean are pulling for. I agree about their whiny fans but I’m pulling for the program that was affiliated with our Carolina family, not their complaining fans. The only thing that bothers me about pulling for them is that it would give them 2 titles in 3 years and that would put UNC’s accomplishments this last decade somewhat in eclipse.
There’s no way I’m pulling for Duke, Syracuse, or KY to make the Final 4 though. KY and Duke’s fans are obnoxious enough already, most of the Big East fans are way too full of themselves, although I wouldn’t object to WVU making it to the Final 4.
It’s unlikely that any of the ACC teams outside of Duke will make it to the Sweet 16 unfortunately. The rest of the ACC may hate and envy us but they are going to miss having anybody to root for at the end of the month.
Since I can’t pick Carolina to win, I’m refusing to fill out any brackets. So there. No Carolina, no pool.
There is, as ever, good news and bad news. Good news: Dook, despite its easy bracket, will find a way for an early exit. I mean, some things never change. Hopefully, this will prevent my smart-****** nephew, a Dook freshman, from sending me any more sarcastic e-mails.
Bad news: The PC police are coming after THF for referring to “a bunch of pansy members of the royal court.”
Living about 30 minutes from lawrence and ku, and being surrounded by their fans, as mean as it sounds, i hope ku loses, quickly, and badly. i might actually support the local team after of course UNC, if it werent for the extremely annoying fans. i have to see dozens of ‘rock chalk’ and other stupid ku cheers everytime they play all over their facebook status, and idiot comments when they had a few close calls about how awesome they are. So i am rooting for anyone other than dook, ku, and kentucky, in probably that order.
for the few ku fans that i actually dont want to slap whenever they bring up how no one can beat them, or how great the big 12 is, i am tired of hearing how painful this year was for me, or how they went through the same thing the awhile back.
i am looking forward to next year, more than any other year, at least all last summer i had to spend nervous about how we would handle this past season, next year though, can only be better, so no being nervous, just excited to see the incoming class, a few pounds heavier Henson, Zeller, hopefully Davis, the Wear’s, and hoping to hear the crowd chant biscuits and me joining the chant, at least a few times while watching from my couch.
I lived in Wichita, Kansas from sixth grade until I graduated from High School (Wichita Southeast Class of ’87)… It was easy to have KU as my 2nd team because Larry Brown was there coach and then Roy Williams.
I really rooted for KU when Roy coached them, not just because I like Roy a lot, but because I loved the way KU played and they had great players.
Ever since Roy Williams came back to Carolina though, it has gotten real hard to root for KU. Their hatred for Roy Williams inspite of what he did for that program to me is the sticking point. It would be like Carolina fans hating on Dean Smith, if Dean had decided in the late 80′s or early 90′s to go back to KU to coach.
So, while I don’t root for KU to lose, I don’t root for them to win either… They are neutral to me…