Confusing Imagery at Vols Game
The Tennessee Volunteers pulled out all the stops en route to a victory over the struggling Florida Gators last night.
Former Vols quarterback and recent Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning gave the team advice before the game, probably instructing the young players to make intelligent communications and technology choices, singling out specific companies that provide great products.
During a timeout, college hoops’ all-time winningest coach Pat Summit dressed in a cheerleader’s uniform, sung “Rocky Top” for the crowd, and tantalized excitable announcer-personality Dick Vitale with her feather hat.
Gender Studies 101 at the University of Tennessee campus is going to have an interesting discussion to lead off today’s class. In what must have been one of the most ironic moments in recent Vols basketball socio-political history, one of female athletics’ most enduring figureheads clearly showed a national TV audience her orange cheerleader panties while attempting to mount a three-man pyramid at center court.
To see if the Vols have anything left up their sleeves to top this performance, check out SEC Tournament tickets at your source for transcendent sports moments, StubHub.com.
Gators Stock Falls, Vols Stock Summitts.
Some of the top four teams that aren’t looking too good this week include the Wisconsin Badgers, who not only lost to Michigan State and Ohio State (okay- that’s not too horrible), but also lost one of their scoring threats, and a huge inside presence in Brian Butch, who might not come back this year.
Stock in the Badgers is falling, and could sink lower still if they have a bad Big Ten Conference Tournament performance.
Florida isn’t looking so well either. The once No. 1 Gators dropped to #5 in the AP, and have recently suffered two big losses at LSU and Vanderbilt. Tonight they face Tennessee. The 20-9 Volunteers aren’t half bad at home, and they might be entertaining some Tournament thoughts if they can pull off a win here and play well in the SEC tourney.
And if that doesn’t scare Gators fans, Pat Summitt is planning on making an appearance. Whatever that means.
A lot of teams are still vying for invites to the Dance. Plenty of good NCAA basketball tickets for pre-conference tournament week games can be found at StubHub.com.
No. 11 in the Polls, No. 1 in our Hearts
AP and USA Today both gave the Southern Illinois Salukis the number 11 spot in their polls, so that makes them our spotlight team of the day!
I know what you’re fist question is. So let me tell you. The Saluki is actually a very unfortunate looking breed of dog, which appears to be a mix between greyhound and Owen Wilson.
One thing that isn’t ugly is the Saluki’s game, which is why so many polls agree that they are the 11th best team in the nation. The Salukis have a 25-5 record as of their last game versus Evansville, and have a 15-3 record in the MVC (the Valley of Death!).
Randal Falker, the Salukis junior starting forward, scored a career-high 30 points in their recent win over Evansville. Falker is one of almost four Salukis averaging double digit points, making his performance somewhat of an anomaly on a very balanced offence.
You can check out the the Salukis in action at their conference championship by getting MVC Tournament tickets at your source for absurdly named teams, StubHub.com.
Yeah? Well my Conference Could beat your…
According to ESPN’s Andy Glockner, the best basketball conference appears to be the ACC this year. The Atlantic Coast Conference has six “locks” to enter the NCAA tourney, and no less than three “should-be-ins.”
Well done. Of course, you and I both know to never call anything a lock, even as obvious as some of the predictions Glockner makes. “Lock” could mean anything from Dewey for President to Rocky in his next unbelievable comeback.
The Titanic? “Lock.”
Never the less, the ACC is followed quickly by the Pac-10 at five “locks,” one “should,” and the Big East, with five “locks”.
This tournament within a tournament between the major conferences is only of concern if your particular team doesn’t make the NCAAs (even though they were such a lock they had a combination, man!).
If your specific team doesn’t make it, but “should be in,” you’ve got to root for a same-conference team. Have some conference pride when you’re getting your NCAA basketball tickets this year at StubHub.com.
No. 1s Get all the Chicks
The Wisconsin-Ohio State match up ain’t what it used to be before Wisconsin lost to Michigan State. But who cares? It’s No.1 versus used-to-be-No. 1, and it could determine the winner of the Big Ten, and … a top seed in the NCAA Tournament!
We all know that being a No.1 seed in the Tournament has all the perks. You’re at the top of the bracket row (you get buried at the bottom if you’re No.2), you get the easiest route to the Final Four, you know that a 16 seed has ever taken out a No. 1 in the first round, and most importantly, you get all the No.1 seed groupies. No woman wants to be with a No.2. Please.
This match up between seniors (Badgers) and freshmen (Ohio State) has been anticipated all season long. If you get a chance, check out StubHub.com to see if you can get into the game. If you can’t fly out to the Midwest, there’s a good one on the coast if you can get UCLA-Stanford tickets.
Tigers Devour Owls
The AP Poll No. 7 ranked Memphis Tigers beat the daylights out of the team that sounds the most herbivore-like of any D-I program, the Rice Owls.
The Tigers put up 99 points in an impressive offensive performance that the Owls just couldn’t keep up with. The win secured the Conference USA regular season title for Memphis for the second straight year, but the players and coaches conspicuously hardly noticed.
“I don’t even know if we addressed it. So we did win it outright. Huh. Congratulations,” said Memphis coach John Calipari, shrugging his shoulders and glancing at his wristwatch. No big deal.
Calipari added, “That’s not why we’re playing. It’s not, and the league tournament is not why we’re playing. That stuff is all part of the bigger picture.”
Sure, Coach. It’s great to keep focused on your larger goals in this thing. But if NCAA Tournament tickets to Memphis Tigers games don’t show up on StubHub.com after the first round, you might be pulling that C-USA banner out of your back seat and trying to unwrinkled it for the all the Tigers fans back home.
Let’s Give a No. 3 Seed Some Attention
The top five in the national rankings have been pretty clear now for a while, and they don’t look to change too much, barring any conference tournament disasters. Florida, UCLA, North Carolina, Wisconscin, Ohio State: they’re all getting way over played. Let’s take a look a little farther down the polls, down to the number 3 seeds, the Teams Most Likely to Be Upset.
ESPN’s Power 16 ranks Washington State, Pittsburgh, Georgetown and Nevada three tiers down. On paper, they’re all solid picks to make the Elite Eight. But who will crumble? You just know one of them will.
For me, it’s Washington State. The Cougars lack seniors, three point shooters, a superstar to rely on (Derrick Low?) and most of all, name recognition. Washington State won’t intimidate any teams coming into the tourney, and that’s exactly what you need to do to get out of the first two rounds. I predict whatever school they get in the first round will make all the lists of Possible Cinderellas.
Of course, what do I know? There’s probably a reason the Cougars are so high in the rankings, and a reason they managed to accrue a 22-4 record in the usually tough PAC-10.
Washington State tickets will be available at StubHub.com. But for how long into the month of March, it’s anybody’s guess.
The Good, the Bad, and the Joakim Noah
Getting fully immersed in college hoops around tourney time doesn’t mean just following PRIs, AP Polls, and the scoreboard. To be a real fan, emotional, moral, and philosophical involvement is key to appreciating and understanding the complex world of NCAA basketball.
Of course, sometimes people get caught up in the negative aspects of athletes outside of the arena, like Gonzaga’s ‘shroom habit, or Bobby Knight’s unquenchable hellfire. So here are some positive things that happened outside the lines.
First, sports marketing students at Central Florida have set up a fund raising agency with the intention of helping out hurricane victims in New Orleans. Awesome, guys. I like what I’m seeing.
Elsewhere, Joakim Noah hasn’t taken a swipe at any women or seniors in over 24 hours. I like that improvement, bud. Really showing me something.
Lastly, the Illinois hit-and-run drunk driver has made it clear he intends to give himself up peacefully- although not just yet. I think we could all take a page out of that guy’s book.
If you want to see all of the feel-good stories on the hardwood, though, you’re going to have to get NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com.
Good Losers
One pervasive strategy when it comes to team sports is that a loss before the postseason, if done right, will fire a team up. If you go into the tournaments feeling invincible, you will certainly be proved otherwise. That’s why a good, well-timed loss can be the best thing for a team with championship aspirations.
The same theory can work for wars and passing paternity tests.
Wisconsin and Florida both know this. The Gators lost to Vanderbilt and they think it will give them just the right amount of fear and urgency to make it all the way.
The number ones are getting their losses out of the way before the conference championship tournaments start, so Ohio State really has to buckle down against either Penn State or (preferably) the Badgers on Sunday.
The Wisconsin Badgers took theirs against Michigan State last night in a 55-64 away game. If they had to loose once before the postseason, Michigan State isn’t the worst place to do so. The Spartans will probably make the tournament for the 10th straight season, so it doesn’t count as a bad loss.
See if Wisconsin got the fear put in ‘em by getting Badgers tickets at your source for smart tourney teams, StubHub.com.
Out of the Bubble and into the…
Did anybody notice that Duke was unranked last week for the first time since the ESPN/USA Today poll? Well I did. Let me tell you about it. The Blue Devils reemerged into No. 17 after they took care of business against B.C. and Georgia Tech. But before that, they were nowhere to be seen.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Blue Devils seem to be on the right track now, and if they can put together a good SEC performance, they might move a little further away from The Bubble, up around…
Well, what do they call it? The area in the rankings between the twenties Bubble, and the Top Five? The area of the rankings where Kansas, Memphis and Pitt seem to have found a home? I think I’ll call it, the Monster Energy Drink Performance Six through Thirteen Presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon.
If you think that college hoops phrases need to be slowed down with some sponsoring, don’t get Final Four or Sweet Sixteen tickets at StubHub.com. Somebody is losing a lot of ad space, but not me.