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I watch a lot of NCAA basketball throughout the year. Because of this, many people that know me figure I should win the March Madness pool every year. And while I have been fortunate enough to win it 2 out of the past 3 years, most people who know college basketball know how much of a crapshoot it is. Recently, I have just latched onto a few teams early in the year and when the bracket came out, stuck with them regardless of their “tough road” or inconsistent play down the stretch.

But enough about me. In an effort to show the amount of knowledge needed to fill out a successful bracket, my brother and I decided to fill one out for my dog, Duke. There are a few simple rules we established for Duke in filling out his bracket:


1. Obviously he never picks against his team, Duke.
2. Being a dog, Duke picks heavily for teams with dog mascots (his friends) and heavily against teams that have a version of a cat as mascot (his enemies).
3. Duke is a yorkshire terrier, all of 10lbs, so when the teams aren’t dogs or cats he tends to go for the friendlier mammal, or the mascot who would be friendlier to small dogs like him and when he still can’t decide, he leans towards the higher seed. For example, in this year’s tournament Duke picks Kansas to beat Louisville because they are both birds and Duke doesn’t hold a grudge against either so he picks the 1 seed Kansas.
4. But again, Duke is no idiot, although he has rooting interests like all of us, he begrudgingly picks the all the 1 and 2 seeds (even Kentucky last year and Pittsburgh this year) in the 1st round knowing that would be bracket suicide to have a 16 over a 1 or a 15 over a 2. But after the 1st round, all bets are off.
5. He HATES UNC.



*On a lighter note: Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t sit around all day thinking who my dog would pick for the final four. This exercise started out as a joke between my brother and I and it took about 10-15 minutes to accomplish.*


Now doesn't that sounds like a simple enough strategy? Duke’s entry was entered into the same bracket I participated in last year, featuring 28 participants. And wouldn’t you know, Duke finished 3rd. That’s right, filling out the bracket the way a yorkie named Duke would, we picked the National Champion (Duke) as well as another final four team (one of the very few in the country to pick the Butler Bulldogs) and finished 3rd in the pool. All this with Duke’s other final four teams (the Georgetown Hoyas and Washington Huskies) bowing out very early.


The Bracketologist Himself
He has been talking trash all week



As for this year, who knows? Like most bracket fillers, Duke can’t seem to ignore his loyalty to his team and the teams who helped him last year. With that being said, it turns out Duke has the same final four as last year (Duke over Washington and Georgetown over Butler) with Duke taking home the title. Just in case you needed any last second advice…….
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Big East Overrated?

March 11th 2011 01:07
I will start this by saying I am a New Yorker and have been all my life. I root passionately for my NY teams-some would say the wrong ones (Mets, Jets, Knicks). That being said; no one can accuse me of East Coast Bias when it comes to college basketball. In fact, the Big East, and the way they are covered, sickens me. The Big East probably has the best conference in the country this season, but the gushing and superlatives from many make it seem that the winner of this week’s conference tournament will next play a best of seven against the Lakers.


Big East Champions don't always fair well in the NCAA tournament (from Wikipedia)


There are so many ways to judge which conference is best, but the NCAA tournament offers us a chance to look at conferences competing against each other on a neutral floor without home court advantages. Since the Big East expanded to 16 teams after the 2005 NCAA tournament, they have been regarded as the best conference in America, even though they have not produced a national champion since UCONN in 2004.

Okay, I get it; just because their team wins it all doesn’t make their conference best. Let’s look deeper. From 2005-2010 of the 12 possible NCAA tournament finalists, the Big East does not represent any of those spots either while the ACC and Big Ten have 3 apiece. Taking one step further back, there have been 24 final four teams since 2005 and the Big East only accounts for 4 of those spots (Louisville was still in Conference USA in 2005). Meanwhile the Big Ten had 5 and the ACC also had 4. I just don’t see the superiority of the Big East.

Now seeding has a lot to do with how a conference performs in the tournament. Using the same time frame, since 2005 only George Mason (#11) has made the final four as any seed lower than 5. However, during this time, the Big East has littered to bracket with high seeds. Last year featured 5 Big East teams with a #3 seed or better and 2009 also had 5, with 3 Big East teams receiving a 1 seed. Most of these teams played well below their seed, and do not represent a dominant conference.

Enough with the numbers. I guess what I am trying to say is that it’s time for the Big East to put up or shut up come tournament time. With 11 teams likely to make the Dance, the Big East had better improve upon their 8-8 record and total of 2 Sweet 16 teams from last year. Heck, maybe have a team play for the national championship. If not, ESPN’s obsession with the Big East will begin to fall on deaf ears.


* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia pages:

Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

The picture is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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I already cringe for fans of the Panthers, Bills and Cardinals. Not only are they coming off terrible seasons on the field, they are also in need of a long-term solution at QB and are stuck drafting in the Top 5 of the NFL Draft. With that comes the distinct possibility that they will have the chance to draft Auburn QB Cam Newton. The unfortunate truth is that Newton is better off being taken later in the draft by a team with an established QB, an organization that can take a chance on possibly developing his "wondrous athletic ability" into a competent NFL quarterback.

I have nothing personal against Newton, (although I still find it quite strange that his dad could offer his services up to colleges for six figures without his knowledge), but I do doubt that he will turn into a QB who warrants anything near a top 10 selection. This being the case even though he had one of the great college seasons of recent memory, carving up SEC defenses (an unusually soft group) en route to Heisman Trophy and National Championship honors.

Newton's greatest strengths are his ability to run and run his mouth.

Who are the successful NFL QB's with those two traits at the forefront? Michael Vick is still a more accomplished runner than passer, but Vick has sub 4.4 speed, while Newton ran a more pedestrian 4.59. Plenty of defensive ends and linebackers in the NFL possess the type of size and speed to keep up with Newton's ability to run and as Vick has shown, being hit by those guys too many times leads to mostly shortened seasons.

Some mobile quarterbacks have thrived in the NFL before, some of the best examples being Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Steve McNair and Donovan McNabb. Those guys adapted when they figured out running as a first option would shorten their careers.

The prototypical QB?
Who will make the same mistake the Broncos made? (from Wikipedia)


A quick list of the current top QBs (Brady, Rodgers, Manning, Brees, Rivers) show that for the most part, accurate, immobile statues are preferred to the "athletic type" that Newton seems to be. Also, for the most part, these guys are humble and self-deprecating, not likely to be quoted as saying “I see myself not only as a football player, but an entertainer and icon” as Newton has been. Has Newton shown the type of footwork and fundamentals needed to become a competent drop back passer? Most scouts and experts do not see it and watching him in college showed Auburn’s passing game existing of the gimmick spread offense passing plays that have yet to show they could work in the NFL.

Look, Cam Newton could prove to be a great selection for whoever is seduced by the athletic skills and big smile he possesses, and in no way am I actively rooting against him. The team that drafts him may do what is right and have him sit for a year to see if he can learn the NFL game and develop the skills he needs to succeed in the league. But more likely than not, in 10 years I will be watching NFL Network's top 10 draft busts of the decade and Newton will be on the list (I am guessing Tim Tebow will be there as well).

Carolina, Buffalo and Arizona: you have been warned.




* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia pages:

Tim Tebow

The picture is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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LBJ for MVP

March 1st 2011 23:57
Lebron James ditched Cleveland
Lebron James took the easy way out
Lebron James can't win the big one
Lebron James won the last 2 MVP awards
Lebron James deserves his 3rd straight this year



Lebron James (from Wikipedia)



All but one of those statements are opinion, but its the last one that is the easiest to defend: Lebron James has been the best player in the NBA this season......again.

With apologies to Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili, and a host of others, (most especially Derrick Rose) Lebron has shown again the all-around game that allowed him to will very mediocre rosters in Cleveland to 66 and 61 win seasons the past 2 years.

But wait....how can Lebron be the MVP when he plays with Dwyane Wade AND Chris Bosh? A closer look shows James is once again the most efficient player in the game averaging 26 pts 7 rebs and 7 asts per game shooting 49% from the field and 76% from the line while being more than capable of defending any position on the floor 1-4. Taking a closer look at the Heat roster shows the likes of Joel Anthony, Erik Dampier, Carlos Arroyo, Eddie House and Mario Chalmers playing more than 15 minutes a game.

And why do we automatically want to disqualify Lebron for playing with other great players? I am pretty sure that Michael Jordan won a few MVP's playing with Scottie Pippen. Other recent greats have won MVP's playing with Hall of Famers on their team like Karl Malone (John Stockton) and Magic Johnson (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar AND James Worthy).

Much of this has to do with the way Lebron left Cleveland (which was heartless) and how the "Big Three" came about (suspicious to some). But if your still unconvinced, ask the Cavs how they are doing without the MVP.



* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia pages:

Lebron James

The picture is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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Just Your Average Joe

March 1st 2011 21:52
Hello World,

My name is Joe Secchio and the blog title says it all: I am just an average guy who has well above average passion and knowledge for sports. When not working, I immerse myself in sports while devoting extra attention to the teams I live and die with (Jets, Mets, Knicks). To me, this is one of the best times of the sports year, with the MLB season and the NFL draft on the horizon. Mix that in with March Madness and the NBA playoffs taking shape, March is one of the most exciting (and time consuming) months of the year when it comes to following sports. With that in mind, I stumbled upon this site and decided to launch the blog to share my thoughts on everything sports (please no NHL or MMA!) while opening up a dialogue with whoever wants to chat/disagree/argue. Look forward to hearing from you!

- Average Joe
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Sorry!

December 17th 2010 17:29
Sorry its finals week so I haven't had time to write, but I'll be back next week!
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Best Basketball Conference

December 10th 2010 16:29
We all know the argument, the Big East is the best conference because they send the most teams to the tournament every year, the Big Ten is the best because they have the highest quality teams from top to bottom. Well I’m going to try to find out the best major conference of this year, by using number of ranked teams, record against ranked teams, and record against the other big six conferences. The conference with the most ranked teams will get six points and the one with the least will get one point, I will do this for every category and hopefully be able to get a good measure on which is the best.
The conference with the most ranked teams is the Big East (6), followed by the Big Ten, and Big 12 (both with five) the SEC comes in fourth with only two teams, and finally the PAC-10 and ACC both only have a measly one team.
Second I looked at the records against the other big six conferences, and found only three actually have winning records. The Big East comes in first again, with a record of 21-11 (.656) then the Big Ten with a decent 14-10 (.583) the last team with a winning record is the SEC with 12-11. (.522) The ACC comes in fourth with a record of 15-22 (.405) followed by the Big 12 10-16 (.385) lastly the Pac-10 has a record of 7-12 (.368)
Finally I looked at how the conferences did against ranked teams, this included the ranked teams from the mid-major schools. We all know that most teams don’t schedule many games against ranked oppoenents so going into conference play they look impressive at 10-0 and then get destroyed, so I didn’t expect much for this one, however I found that no conference has a winning record against ranked teams. The Big Ten and Big 12 both went .500 with records of 3-3 and 5-5 respectively, then the Big East came in with a record of 5-6 (.455) then the SEC 4-6, (.400) followed by the ACC, 4-11 (.267) and once again the PAC-10 came in last with a record of 2-10 (.167)
From those stats its actually pretty easy to see what the rankings are
1) Big East (17 points)
2) Big Ten (16 points)
3) Big 12 (13 points)
4) SEC (11 points)
5) ACC (7 points)
6) PAC-10 (3 points)
It is very close at the top, however the PAC-10 is 14 points lower then the leader, so everybody who says they were snubbed last year, maybe this has something to do with it.
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Syracuse, Michigan St. recap

December 8th 2010 15:02
The game started off almost as if I scripted it myself, on the first play of the game Michigan St. turned over the ball and Kris Joseph came up with it, and got fouled making one of two free throws. Then for a few moments it seemed like the Spartans were going to run away with it, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. Syracuse called a quick timeout and stopped all momentum, and worked quickly to get back into the game and after five minutes they clung to a one point lead. All of a sudden it was as if the flood gates opened and Syracuse went on a tear (helped greatly by Spartan turnovers, and bad shot selection) and the Orange went on a 16-5 run to jump out to a 27-16 lead, with Rick Jackson leading the way with 10 points and 9 rebounds in the first half. Michigan St. tried to answer with their own run and got within five at one point but Syracuse shut them down and the first half ended 38-29 with Syracuse dominating most aspects of the game.

The second half began with a Spartan three but Joseph was fouled on a three and made all foul shots to respond. In the beginning of the second half Michigan St. stubbornly kept shooting threes, fortunately for them the Orange couldn’t capitalize on their lack of offense as both teams struggled early, both starting the second half 1-6 in field goals. Finally it was the Spartans that got hot, going on a 13-4 run to get within 2, but a Deon Waiters three shut down any momentum they had, and Syracuse stretched their lead back to 9.

By 2 minutes left in the game Syracuse was leading by 16 and the ending was never in doubt, the final score was 72-58 and Syracuse deserved the win dominating the entire game. Rick Jackson was the man of the match, having his way on the boards and finishing with 16, his 17 points weren’t too shabby either. The game proved that it looks like the Orange weren’t overrated at the beginning of the season as they beat one of the best teams in the country.
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Welcome

December 6th 2010 20:54
Hi, this blog will deal mostly with college basketball because, I'm not a big fan of the NBA. I will talk about what I think important matchups are and also do my own version of the top 25. I'll tell you straight up that I will probably be a little biased towards West Virginia, and the Big East, but I won't say that its the refs fault they lost and if the other team does outclass them I will admit it. Now that I've said a little bit about this blog let’s move on to what it’s really about, college basketball. My first important matchup I am going to talk about is Syracuse vs. Michigan St. This game is important for both teams, Cuse because they have not really played a quality team yet, yes they are undefeated, but they have still looked shaky against lesser opponents. Michigan St. doesn't need the win as much because this is basically the same team that made it to the final four last year, where Syracuse lost three starters including their leading scorer in Wesley Johnson, and possibly thier most important player in Andy Rautins. However after losing to Duke a week ago it might seem like the Spartans were ranked a little too high if they lose to the much less talented Syracuse. For Syracuse to win they must play as a team and not hope for one player to take over the game, as they have been doing lately because the Spartans are too good for that to work, they also need their highly touted freshmen Fab Melo to finally score in double digits, and possibly play around twenty minutes. For Michigan St. to win they need to cut down on their turnovers, Kalin Lucas’s turnover to assist rate is down to about 1.3 from 2.0 last year, and he’s not the only one. My prediction is that Michigan St. will win down the stretch in a tightly contested game.
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Happy 60th Dad!

August 30th 2010 13:00
Happy 60th Birthday


Today is my ole man's official 60th birthday, even though we threw the big bash on the 21st for him.

I wanted to drop a link to a post that I wrote back on Father's Day of '09 about my father.

Happy Birthday Dad.

Click HERE to read my post.

Chuck
~TCFB~
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