got ask this one question before anything else:
can anyone think of a team in recent memory (not an upper echelon team) that played almost perfect basketball for four games the way xavier did in their elite eight run? kent state comes to mind when they beat oklahoma state, alabama, and pittsburgh before losing to indiana. the one reason xaviers run is slightly more impressive is because the game that they lost, they still were almost flawless and played absolutely balls out. kent got beat soundly by indiana to end their run. but xavier just didnt give a fu/ck for four straight games. its like they werent even the same team that i watched for an entire atlantic10 season. every single player that stepped on the floor for them played above their normal abilities for two weeks (and probably more if you count a10 tourney). two months ago, this is the same team that lost BOTH games to duquesne and got blasted by george washington. now they can say that they were the story of the ncaa tournament for 2004 and absolutely outplayed all four teams (and damn GOOD teams no less). major props to xavier. that team didnt look outclassed for even one second of any of their games. talk about catching lighting in a bottle. those guys could play uconn right now and play like THEYRE the favored team and expect to win
* iowa state
just think isu has more balance and overall firepower. rutgers is not the same team away from the rac. theyll obviously have a regional advantage and the familiarity with msg from the big east tourneys, but i dont see iowa state having a problem here. knights rely too much on the 3. when theyre hitting, theyre tough. but they sit around the 3pt line too much and jack perimeter shots
* oregon
michigan looked impressive in the first 3 nit rounds. but ill take a second tier team from the pac10 before a second tier team from the little10. wolverines had all those nit games at home. theyre awful away from crisler though. oregon simply the better team.
* duke
duke looks very mediocre vs xavier and struggled a bit with illinois. uconn absolutely buries their four tourney opponents. this weekend swung duke from (-1.5) to (+2) in my opinion. every time i see a team absolutely steamroll through the first four rounds, i think of kentucky and jamal mashburn with their final four against michigan. two premier programs. dont underestimate an enormous free throw % discrepancy (duke is +13% at 75/62). when teams are as evenly matched as these two are, something like FTs can play a huge part in the outcome. duke hitting close to 80% in the tourney, and theyve shot 104 in 4 gms. doubt anyone is surprised by those numbers. i think a lot of people are just itching to go anti-duke, especially since they get a solid team to put their money behind in uconn. but i just refuse to go against this program in a big game. devils get payback from the uconn/duke final where langdon dribbled off his own leg with a chance to win. i actually find it funny that some people are saying duke stands no chance in this game, especially with a uconn team that has shown an inability to play a full 40:00 in a lot of games this year. the path taken by uconn is awfully similar to that mashburn kentucky team. teams that laugh their way to the final four are NOT always good final four bets (and theyre often valued out)
* georgia tech
at what point does georgia tech start getting respect? times running out on the season. wins at cameron vs. duke, at wake forest, at msg vs connecticut, a quasi-road game in the elite 8 vs. kansas. gimmie the dog from the premier conference in the country. not necessarily a play against osu. really nothing bad to say about them. but im not convinced that osu wins this game 2 out of every three times they play as the moneyline suggests. georgia tech has just totally bought into hewitts system. this is way too live a dog to go against. this could easily be st.joes/osu all over again where both teams make mini 5-0 runs and the lead keeps flip-flopping for 40:00.
can anyone think of a team in recent memory (not an upper echelon team) that played almost perfect basketball for four games the way xavier did in their elite eight run? kent state comes to mind when they beat oklahoma state, alabama, and pittsburgh before losing to indiana. the one reason xaviers run is slightly more impressive is because the game that they lost, they still were almost flawless and played absolutely balls out. kent got beat soundly by indiana to end their run. but xavier just didnt give a fu/ck for four straight games. its like they werent even the same team that i watched for an entire atlantic10 season. every single player that stepped on the floor for them played above their normal abilities for two weeks (and probably more if you count a10 tourney). two months ago, this is the same team that lost BOTH games to duquesne and got blasted by george washington. now they can say that they were the story of the ncaa tournament for 2004 and absolutely outplayed all four teams (and damn GOOD teams no less). major props to xavier. that team didnt look outclassed for even one second of any of their games. talk about catching lighting in a bottle. those guys could play uconn right now and play like THEYRE the favored team and expect to win
* iowa state
just think isu has more balance and overall firepower. rutgers is not the same team away from the rac. theyll obviously have a regional advantage and the familiarity with msg from the big east tourneys, but i dont see iowa state having a problem here. knights rely too much on the 3. when theyre hitting, theyre tough. but they sit around the 3pt line too much and jack perimeter shots
* oregon
michigan looked impressive in the first 3 nit rounds. but ill take a second tier team from the pac10 before a second tier team from the little10. wolverines had all those nit games at home. theyre awful away from crisler though. oregon simply the better team.
* duke
duke looks very mediocre vs xavier and struggled a bit with illinois. uconn absolutely buries their four tourney opponents. this weekend swung duke from (-1.5) to (+2) in my opinion. every time i see a team absolutely steamroll through the first four rounds, i think of kentucky and jamal mashburn with their final four against michigan. two premier programs. dont underestimate an enormous free throw % discrepancy (duke is +13% at 75/62). when teams are as evenly matched as these two are, something like FTs can play a huge part in the outcome. duke hitting close to 80% in the tourney, and theyve shot 104 in 4 gms. doubt anyone is surprised by those numbers. i think a lot of people are just itching to go anti-duke, especially since they get a solid team to put their money behind in uconn. but i just refuse to go against this program in a big game. devils get payback from the uconn/duke final where langdon dribbled off his own leg with a chance to win. i actually find it funny that some people are saying duke stands no chance in this game, especially with a uconn team that has shown an inability to play a full 40:00 in a lot of games this year. the path taken by uconn is awfully similar to that mashburn kentucky team. teams that laugh their way to the final four are NOT always good final four bets (and theyre often valued out)
* georgia tech
at what point does georgia tech start getting respect? times running out on the season. wins at cameron vs. duke, at wake forest, at msg vs connecticut, a quasi-road game in the elite 8 vs. kansas. gimmie the dog from the premier conference in the country. not necessarily a play against osu. really nothing bad to say about them. but im not convinced that osu wins this game 2 out of every three times they play as the moneyline suggests. georgia tech has just totally bought into hewitts system. this is way too live a dog to go against. this could easily be st.joes/osu all over again where both teams make mini 5-0 runs and the lead keeps flip-flopping for 40:00.
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