Your Travel Guide for Tourney Trips

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, hoops fans! One of the unfortunate things about the NCAA Tournament (and there aren’t many), is that in many cases, teams will have to travel far from home to play in their Tourney games. Well, this is a problem if you can’t get the time off for travel, but if you can, and you’re interested in following your team’s journey through the Tourney, you can get some great information on the hot spots for all of the NCAA Tournament destinations. From Miami to Portland, from Memphis to Minneapolis, the Tournament will take place in some interesting cities. ESPN has a tour guide for sports travelers.

So where’s the best place to see an NCAA Tournament game, besides the obvious (wherever your favorite team is playing, and the Final Four destination, Detroit)? Well, allow us to suggest Boise, Idaho. This time of year you can do some nice sightseeing in the wilderness and desert regions if you’re into it. It’s not your typical large city, like Boston or Philadelphia, so the whole town will be abuzz with March Madness excitement. Plus you could watch local heroes Utah State in a first round game.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 17, 2009 - Post a comment

The Brackets Are Out! The Brackets Are Out!

The 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament has announced the seeds for the official bracket! In case you weren’t pumped, check out the CBS Sports viewable bracket and start thinking about where you’re going to go with it. Who is going to be your national champion?  Who is going to be your Cinderella? Do you foresee any upsets? Are you upset about Arizona getting into the Dance, while St. Mary’s was left off the roster?  So much to think about and so little time to do it. The sports media world is going crazy trying to come up with things to say about all of the first round matchups. This blog is much too small to cover it all, so we’ll just throw this little tidbit at you.

If you’re looking for a bracket-busting upset to predict, try Portland State over Xavier.

These 5-12, 4-13, 3-14, matchups are always upset central, so if you’re looking around for nice upsets, this is the wheelhouse.  Why do we like Portland State here? They enter the Tournament on a nice little streak.  They closed out the season with six consecutive wins, three of which were at away or neutral sites. Mid majors will need explosive three point shooting to win in the tourney, and PSU is well above average in three point shooting accuracy as well as overall offensive efficiency. Xavier enters the game having lost five of its last ten. Two of those wins were at an away or neutral site. Xavier shoots the three ball better than Portland State and plays much better defense. However, the Musketeers did most of their at-large bid resume building at the beginning of the season (wins over Memphis, Missouri, Cincinnati). They enter the Tourney a bit wobbly (losses to Richmond, Temple, Charlotte). You heard it here first. Portland State will upset Xavier.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 16, 2009 - Post a comment

Highlights from around the NCAA

In case you missed the action last night (and we feel sorry for you if you did) here are some of the highlights. This weekend is going to be huge for hoops fans, as you have the end of all the conference tournaments, as well as Selection Sunday, where the NCAA Tournament seeds will be determined. The bracket will be set when we get back you you on Monday.

  • In the SEC Florida rolled passed Arkansas, and ‘Bama took care of Vandy and Mississippi State gave Georgia a beating it wont soon forget. Kentucky clawed up Ole Miss.
  • In the Big 12 Oklahoma State sent rivals Oklahoma home from the conference tourney early, Texas slipped by Kansas State, Baylor shocked Kansas and Mizzou beat up on Texas Tech.
  • In the Pac-10, Southern California edged out (Northern) California, and U-Dub advanced past Stanford, Arizona State beat their rivals, Arizona, and UCLA beat Washington State with defense.
  • In the Big East, WVU shocked Pitt with a confident win, and Syracuse outlasted UConn in 6 (count them six!) incredible overtimes. ‘Nova beat Marquette by one. Louisville took care of business versus Providence.
  • In the ACC Boston College beat Virginia handily, and Georgia Tech bounced Clemson from the ACC bracket. Virginia Tech beat Miami.
  • In the Big Ten Indiana was sent home by Penn State, while Michigan creamed Iowa. Minnesota took care of business against Northwestern.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 13, 2009 - Post a comment

Teams Already Dancing; News from the Pac-10 Tourney

Quite a few teams are already dancing.  Since the conference tournaments have started coming to a close, and some conferences (like the Ivy League) don’t even do end-of-season tournaments to determine a regular season champion, there are several teams that already have an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  Gonzaga, Western Kentucky, Cornell, Portland State, ETSU, Radford, VCU, Cleveland State, Siena, Northern Iowa, Robert Morris, Morehead State, Chattanooga and North Dakota State are all locks to enter the bracket. Where they will end up is anybody’s guess.

Notice anything in particular about the above list? All the teams are mid-majors. The big conferences like to wait to finish up their games for some reason, and so we’ll have to sit here and watch exciting basketball games all the way up to selection Sunday. Poor us.  Some of you might be interested in knowing how the Pac-10 bracket is shaping up. Well, the configuration of the teams is a bit unconventional, as you can see here. Yesterday Stanford advanced versus Oregon State and Washington State whooped on Oregon. Stanford and WSU will play the top two seeds, Washington and UCLA, respectively. You can also tune in in a little while to see an excellent rivalry match between Arizona and Arizona State tonight.  USC will play Cal as well.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 12, 2009 - Post a comment

Taking a Look at the Big 12 Tournament

This time of year there’s a lot going on all over the college basketball nation, so trying to keep track of it all on this blog is darn near impossible. Today we’re going to turn our focus to the Big 12 Tournament, one of the most anticipated conference tournaments of the year. You’ve got the defending national champions, Kansas, who took the No. 1 seed in the bracket (as you can see here). You’ve got Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas State, and all the other teams hoping to lock up a bid to the dance.

As of right now, Baylor is playing Nebraska in some first round action. Later today you could watch Colorado play Texas, Iowa State play Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech play Texas A&M. What a nice batch of games. For basketball fans, from here to the end of March there’s only going to be top tier, must-see matchups. What a time to be alive! Get over to StubHub if you want tickets, because things are selling out quickly.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 11, 2009 - Post a comment

Northern Iowa, Prepare to Dance; Big East Tourney Begins Tonight

Mid Major basketball fans will love reading Pat Forde’s latest article at ESPN, as he delves deep into the storyline behind the latest Missouri Valley Conference championship game. Northern Iowa outlasted Illinois State in overtime, a thrilling game full of heartbreak and happiness. The great thing about championship week is all of the coverage that the little conference get, because no matter their overall ranking in the nation, if you get hot this week, you make it to the dance and your whole season is an extraordinary success.

But speaking of the non-mid majors, you’re going to want to tune into the Big East Tournament games starting today. The first  round of action in what should be the hottest conference tournament in the nation kicks off … right now.  The Big East expanded their tournament field to include all teams, so everybody’s got a shot. Today you can catch Notre Dame-Rutgers, Seton Hall-USF, Georgetown-St. John’s and DePaul-Cincinnati. Tomorrow more teams will jump in the mix after a first round bye, and then on Thursday we’ll see the big guns, Louisville, Villanova, Pitt and UConn.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 10, 2009 - Post a comment

WCC Gambit, and the First Tourney Teams

St. Mary’s is a bubble team, a mid-major trying desperately to get back to the NCAA Tournament.  The St. Mary’s Gaels play Gonzaga for the WCC title tonight, and although the Zags are heavy favorites in the game, winning the conference championship might not be the only chance for this team to get into the dance. You see, the coach made sure to secure a game with Eastern Washington AFTER the WCC final, to insure they’d get another chance to impress the Selection Sunday Committee. Smart move, or terrible risk?  We’ll find out soon enough.

In other news, as of this posting there are already a few teams set to play in the NCAA Tournament.  Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley title, Morehead State won the Ohio Valley, and Radford and E. Tennessee State also won their respective conference tournaments. So we at least know a few teams in the mix, even if there aren’t any big boys signed up just yet.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 9, 2009 - Post a comment

The Weekend Watch – Conference Tourneys and Season Finales

With a weekend of basketball this important, who can afford to miss a second? Good thing the guys at ESPN have been working hard to give you the need-to-see games and the guys at StubHub can help you get seats to even the sold out college hoops battles. Glancing over a few of the key elements of the Weekend Watch, our eyes have been drawn to one of the sections titled, “Stuff to Impress Your Friends With.”  Although it might more accurately be called “Stuff With Which to Impress Friends” we still love the little tidbits.

The whole gist of this weekend is season finales. The Tar Heels will play the Blue Devils, UConn will play Pitt, Washington State will play Washington and Texas will play Kansas, among some other awesome games. This could be the best weekend this side of the Tourney, so stay glued to either your television set or your team’s page at StubHub.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 6, 2009 - Post a comment

Duke-North Carolina Buzz; Bubble Watch

Duke and North Carolina will renew their celebrated rivalry this weekend when they meet in Chapel Hill for a regular season finale.  The two teams are again some of the best in the nation, and the event should be highly anticipated. However, with a string of recent injuries to the Duke Blue Devils, fans might not get the matchup of titans they truly want. According to this Fox Sports story, the Devils will miss Nolan Smith, and possibly Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas, who are currently day-to-day.

Have you been thinking about the NCAA Tournament’s bubble teams? So have we. And so has CBS Sports. They’ve compiled a nice, neat, organized file on a number of teams that are right on the edge of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. This little feature will tell you a bit about the teams’ resumes as they prepare for the Selection Sunday scrutiny.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 5, 2009 - Post a comment

Mid Major Tourneys to Watch; A Tournament of Lore and Yore

The college basketball conference tournaments are starting up and you’ve got to get in on the action. But what mid-major conference playoffs do you pay most attention to?  ESPN will surely give the ACC, the Big East and the Big Ten their due coverage, but what about the little guys?  Here’s a report on some of the best action from the smaller ponds. You might not get to see Stephen Curry in the NCAA Tournament if he doesn’t win his conference, and the Missouri Valley could be up fro grabs. Check it out.

Also, if you’re looking for some literature of a historical nature about the NCAA Tournament, you can check out this amazing piece about the 1979 NCAA Basketball Tournament’s Title Game, which featured the Larry Bird-led Indiana Sycamores and the Magic Johnson-led Michigan State Spartans. It’s interesting stuff if you have a few minutes to sit down and work though the whole read.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 4, 2009 - Post a comment


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