Three SEC schools were in action yesterday, one lost, one won at the buzzer basically and one got to empty the bench with a VERY lopsided win. Vandy lost to a good Richmond team and I was not overly surprised. I had heard John Jenkins was not 100% but looking at the box for that game, he led Vandy with 21 so guess he was ok afterall. What killed Vandy is they got no production from Jeffrey Taylor and nothing off the bench-also look at turnovers, while Vandy was not bad with only 7, Richmond only had TWO on the game. Wow, that is one efficient team. I have heard the Richmond coach might be on the short list at GT, he would be a good hire for them because I think he can certainly coach-would he be able to recruit, that would the question but if they can land him, I think that would be a good hire.
Kentucky played Princeton and that was a tough matchup for those kids, obviously Kentucky has a HUGE edge in talent but Princeton of course gets the edge in experience and wisdom. The three Kentucky FR, combined to score 19 points, heck, Brandon Knight only scored 2, that being the game winning points. That being said, now that UK won that first game, I fully expect them to play much better against West Virginia-but WVU looked good to me yesterday so that should be a very interesting battle.
As for the Gators, they won by 18 but it was well into the 20's when they started pulling starters. All 5 starters played less than 30 minutes, they will be a well rested team to take on UCLA-who survived a rally from Michigan State to advance. I look for UF to coast into the sweet 16-they are playing well and they are basically playing at home.
A couple upsets did take place yesterday, the biggest being Morehead State beating Louisville-those are state rivals, would be like us playing Ga. State or Southern in the NCAA-tougher for the big school to get motivated than the smaller school typically. Louisville was a team I thought could really do some damage-they have talent and a coach that knows how to win NCAA game but for the second year in a row, they are gone early. Of course already mentioned the Vandy upset, then you had Gonzaga beating up St. Johns. I think a lot folks knew that was possible, the Zags are always a tough team out, well coached and some good players on the team-although they typically have some of the grungiest looking guys you will ever see playing for them-scary looking white boys that can play some hoops. A couple other popular upset picks DID NOT happen-Belmont was a big one that many thought would take out Wisconsin, instead the Badgers CRUSHED them. Wofford was another that many thought would knock out Jimmer and BYU but that didn't happen. I actually got to watch Jimmer play for the first time, pretty decent looking player, takes a TON of shots though and I really can't see him being much of a factor on the next level-I could be wrong.
Teams that looked really impressive on day 1, UConn for sure, UF, Wisconsin and Gonzaga. Pitt eventually turned it on and got a blowout win over UNC-A, but they still to me look like the most likely #1 seed to be eliminated before say the elite 8. I really think Kansas has a nice bracket in front of them now with the two upsets, 12 and 13 playing for a trip to the sweet 16, Kansas will play a 16 seed, followed by either an 8 or 9, then play a 12 or 13-NICE. Pitt has Butler-a scary team that knows how to win, then either K-State or Wisconsin, I can see Pitt being knocked out before the elite 8 for sure. Ohio State will get either Kentucky or WVU-I think either of those schools can give them a good game but OSU should advance but they have some talented teams on the bottom of their bracket-UNC, Cuse, also I like Xavier-I think the winner of our game vs Washington is going to really give the Heels a game however. As for Duke, of course the big news is they are getting their star PG back for the tourney, I really believe they should easily advance to the sweet 16, Texas could really give them a battle IF Texas makes it that far but then sitting on the bottom of that bracket is the dangerous UConn.
Today figures to be another exciting day, besides our game which I really believe will be VERY interesting to watch-such different styles of play, which team will control the tempo and make their shots. The Tenn/Mich game will be interesting-it appears when Pearl loses, that might be his last game as coach for the Vols. I will be happy to see it, what a slime ball and also helps us recruiting. 3 #1 seeds will be action, all three should easily advance, Memphis/Zona could be interesting as could UNLV/Illinois, George Mason/Nova, and even Texas against Oakland-that could easily be an upset in the making there.
The UGA baseball team travels to Columbia for a weekend series with the Gamecocks. It would be oustanding to win 2 of 3 but being realistic, just winning 1 of the 3 would be ok. We need to avoid being swept, anything besides that would be a positive to me because this will be one of the best SEC teams we face and it is one the road which is tough. Here is a good series preview article from the Athens paper.
http://dogbytesonline.com/tough-schedule-readies-dogs-43653/
One more note, the Lady Dogs will start their NCAA journey this weekend as well, playing Middle Tennessee State at 7:30 Sunday night, over at Auburn. Win that game and they likely face 3rd seed FSU in the second round.
Ok, hope everyone has a great weekend, if you are in the SE, enjoy the beautiful weather and let's hope we can watch the Dogs play on Sunday-taking a break from the nice weather outside for a couple of hours inside.
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