A Few Tournament Takes
WTF Tennessee: I’m not entirely sure what Tennessee has done to upset the sporting Gods, but the Tennessee fan experience for the past 20 years has been BRUTAL. Following that second round loss, I’m trying to discern if the Tennessee football juju found its way into the basketball Vols’ Gatorade bottles, or if sweet Sister Jean used her clout with the man upstairs to will her team to victory. That final shot’s bounce off the rim for Loyola was noting short of supernatural. Regardless, the vols didn’t deserve to win that game. They have two of the best big men in college basketball and just refused to take the ball to the rack. They played timid. It looked as if the moment was too big for them. And that freaking MVC team looked unfazed. The vols put out a video titled “Don’t Pick Us” pre-tournament, and I should have listened to them.
Kentucky is New World Order: Kentucky was no better than a run-in-the-mill basketball team all season long in SEC play. They draw a 5-seed and all of a sudden the sea parts for them as if Calipari is wielding the staff of Moses himself. This just goes to show that the college basketball regular season is a damn joke. The story is similar for Texas A&M. I don’t understand how anyone can even watch the college basketball regular season. There’s really no point to it. If you have the talent, just make sure you’re in the tournament and then turn it on.
PS: To all my Kentucky friends, your team gets the best players year in and year out yet you have one championship in the last 20 years to show for it. It took Anthony Davis, the best power forward on the planet, to accomplish that for y’all. Jon Calipari is an Illuminati wanna-be and your fanboy Drake could win more championships coaching the same talent Calipari’s had over the years.
Best Round One Moment: University of Maryland Baltimore County goes down in the history books. Congratulations to anyone who took the alternative line of UMBC (-19).
Best Round Two Moment: Are you freaking kidding me with that Michigan buzzer beater? Has to be top 3 buzz beaters I’ve ever see.
Bad Beats Galore
Every March Madness I’m reminded that college basketball is a dumb ass sport to bet on. You have to be one lucky son of a gun or some kind of prophet to nail 60 percent plus on these games. I pride myself on my picking but good gosh I’m struggling right now. 13-18-1 is my ATS record and I’ve had some brutal beats this year. Here’s a few of note:
GA State (+14) vs Cincinnati – Georgia State balls out most of the game and then runs out of gas. No matter, considering they’re down 13 with less than 30 seconds left. Obviously the cover is in hand, the game is over and Cincy will dribble it out. Except GA State decides this deficit is surmountable and decides to foul leading to a 15 point close…
Kansas (-4.5) vs Seton Hall: Kansas is up late and hitting all their free throws. The problem is Seton Hall has gone completely unconscious from three point land. Seton Hall drills a three pointer as time expires to close the game at 4, the player looks in the camera, shoots the bird and says, “Got the cover mother truckers” (Ending slightly dramatized).
Florida (+2) vs Texas Tech: I didn’t even watch this game but it closed at Texas Tech by 3 because screw A-Rob MoneyTrain.
Cincinnati (-8) vs Nevada: Cincinnati was up by 20+ with a 99.9% chance to win with 11 minutes left in the second half and lost outright because college basketball is a silly game.
Sweet Sixteen Picks
Does the fact I’ve had a rough tournament going to stop me from giving out fresh picks? Hell no. I’m set up for a major comeback. Good karma has got to be headed my way at this point. Here’s my plays:
- Loyola Chicago vs Nevada (-1.5)
- Texas A&M (+3) vs Michigan
- K-State vs Kentucky (-5.5)
- FSU vs Gonzaga (-5.5)
- Clemson (+4.5) vs Kansas
- WVU (+5.5) vs Villanova
- Syracuse vs Duke (-11.5)
- Texas Tech (+1.5) vs Purdue
A-Rob's Money Train 