Final 4 MADNESS!!

Mac Attack

The Madness has reached a whole new level of craziness this past weekend.  Two mid-majors pulling upsets over major conference favourites and advancing to the final four!!  Truly Amazing!

No doubt you will hear all the experts putting their spin on this year's tourney, but this has been all about riding the cinderella teams and fade the favourites.   Not a single #1 or #2 seed advanced to the Final 4 for the first time since the tourney format was changed to 64 teams in 1979.  This has caused the wiseguys to struggle mightily when trying to get ahead of public perception which usually is a key to their success.  But the tournament 'is a different animal' as mentioned by Pregame.com on numerous occasions and has to be bet that way.

VCU WHO?? 

Before breaking down the game from a gambling prospective, we saw one stat that made our jaw drop a bit.  If you had simply put $10 down on VCU money line at the start of tourney and let the profits ride through each round, you would have made nearly $14,000.00!!!!  This is an underdog that has paid some big $ to whoever has been riding this hot streak   OK, here we go....

#8 Butler (-2.5) vs #11 VCU.  Total Set to 133.  

(TIP @ 6:09pm EST)

As J-Dawg tweeted, Kansas had a pathetic performance on Sunday.  KU didn't guard anyone and was a wretched 2 for 21 when shooting 3 point FGs (9.8%).  UNBELIEVABLE!  They shot 15 for 28 from the FT line (53%) and still managed to somehow stay in the game until the last two minutes.  VCU in contrast shot a solid 12 for 25 (48%) from beyond the arc and 17 for 22 (77%) from the FT line.  KU had a really off night for whatever reason and VCU couldn't miss.  The VCU defense is good, but not that good and got a bit lucky here to catch KU off its game.

VCU also got lucky against Florida who decided to go for the glory shot when having last possession to win the game in the dying seconds twice.  Instead of getting an easier shot from in close, Erving Walker tries to jack a late three for the glory win and missed. VCU was able to barely claw it out in OT.

Don't want to discount VCU beating USC, Georgetown, and Purdue early on, but all of these programs had some internal turmoil heading into the tourney and weren't playing their best basketball against VCU and they - to their credit - took advantage.  Well done by them.

Brad Stevens

As for Butler, they haven't lost in nearly two months.  Forcing teams to play at their pace and their style.  Grinding games out and winning them late.  This team has the experience from going to the Final Four last year and has been playing well throughout the tourney.  D$ also thinks there is a coaching advantage leaning towards Butler, as Brad Stevens is one of the best coaches in American.  (Not just the best up and coming coach - but right now folks!!)

Coach Stevens should be able to draw up a good game plan to neutralize the outside game VCU was able to exploit against Kansas and the two teams play similar styles which leads to me to believe Butler has the advantage here.   Add last year's FInal 4 experience and VCU's inexperience and you can easily tell who I like in this game.

The Vegas Odds makers have been producing super sharp lines and 2.5 is a fair line.  Of the two semi-final games this one scares me the most as Butler could easily win this game by 1 or 2 points and not cover, but I like them to win by more than 3 and will be my play in the early game.
Butler 65,  VCU 60.


#4 Kentucky (-2.0) vs Connecticut.  Total set at 140.

Kemba Walker

(TIP :  9:49pm EST)

The second game of the night features two young teams who are both playing really well right now.

Kemba Walker has lead the UConn Huskies to an impressive 5 game winning streak in the Big East Tourney and followed that up with Four Impressive Tourney wins.  Freshmen Jeremy Lamb has led the supporting cast for the Huskies and they have jelled well over the past three weeks.  We don't think that fatigue will be factor to consider as this team will have nearly a week to rest and they are extremely well coached with Jim "gun-slinger" Calhoune running the show.  They will be ready and not afraid of Kentucky.

Brandon Knight

As for Kentucky, beating Ohio State and UNC in back to back games showed the nation that this team is for real.  Never been a big Calapari fan, but this team is young and talented and peaking when it counts.

Both of these teams have come a long way since December and the young players have developed into good players.  Kentucky may even have a slight chip on their shoulder as they lost on Nov. 24th when these two teams played - a factor that should not be overlooked.

What has been under-rated about Kentucky is that they are playing great defense the past two months and according to kenpom.com have a very efficient offense to go along with it.

If Brandon Knight and Deron Lamb can neutralize Kemba and Jeremy for UConn, I think the rest of Ketucky has a slight advantage over UConn and I see them advancing to play for the championship - against Butler. Give me Kentucky 69, UConn 63.  

Stay tuned for Futures and props bets we like as the week progresses.
Until then.  D$ OUT

VCU Riots and Celebrates Final 4

Great moment for VCU University, plus a little rioting.  Feel the MADNESS!!!

Elite 8

Ok here we go 2 games to break down and 3 plays. We start with Butler who is +4.5 vs Florida. I just can't pick against this Butler team and the gutty play of Mack on the outside and Howard on the inside, and the master strategist Brad Stevens patrolling the sideline. I like Butler to keep this close and at the end of the day probably win the game outright.

The second game has the Huskies of UConn taking on an Arizona team that is reminding me of the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks with Derrick Williams playing the role of DannyManning. But the Huskies Kemba Walker has been equally impressive. This is handicapping 101 Arizona being completely over valued after that impressive 2nd half against Duke. The over is also inflated after Arizona scored 55 second half points on Thursday. We feel comfortable recommending both UConn -3 and over 146.

Whether betting or not these should be two outstanding games.

Jdawg.

JESUS!!!! I MEAN JIMMER!!!! MY BAD!!! KU!!!! Oh yeah.....

Where is my head!?!?!

T-Smack, that was a complete misunderstanding on my part......got home last night and posted a quick reply.......forgetting to smack on KU is like forgetting to wake up and shave....in the commish's case, to pluck his 5 chin whiskers!

T-Smack here goes:

KU.....didn't watch the middle of the game because of the complete outclassing of the Rich-what!?!?!? Rich-the-clock-stirkes-midnight Spiders!!! Basically all pistons firing for the Rock Chalk Jayhawks last night. No bust out games, because the game was over after the first 5 minutes. So Coach Bill Self was seen already breaking down VCU/FSU game tape on the sidelines!!! And T(Almost) Smack McKaig (not T(real) Smack McCarrell), to be fair, this dub can be "blamed" on Self! Flawless game plan for KU.....Self wrote the entire game plan on the whiteboard before the game, and it said, "SHOW UP!"

Morris Twins are busting out, but one call out must be made on KU's run. They've faced no one higher then a 9 seed. They put a wallop on everyone, where the talking is indeed done on the court, but there has yet to be a presence in the paint to muscle the Twins. That is their krptonite and with no one on VCU imposing any threat in the paint, you can chalk the Jayhawks into the Final 4 and cement Carrie Watts Insanity Pool Championship!!!!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawks T-Smack, the bouquet of Jayhawk Lillies have been FTD'd!

Commish-Dopey-Dish out

Hard Core Pawn

Elite 8 action starts this afternoon - with everyone's brackets now broken we can focus on the Madness and predict who is gonna win with only two games today.

Currently Butler is a 4 point dog to Florida with the total set to 133.  Easycovers correspondents having a lot of trouble picking a side.  Florida should be able to dominate inside as bigger and stronger and their guard play has improved the past month with Erving Walker and Kenny Boyton.   BUT the Bulldogs of Butler are a scrappy, experience bunch who are getting hot at the right time of year and extremely well coached as Jdawg mentioned yesterday.

The lean is to back the favourite with a gun to our heads, but might be wise to save your cheese for the other games which we like better.

Got Gus and Lenny calling the game today, which would normally be awesome, but Reggie Miller is tagging along again.  (Definitely a third wheel that kills any mojo.)  Hopefully we get more moments like this one from Round #2.  Nice little under-rated promo.

BONUS:  VCU Celebration Last Night - Skip to 1:45 to see their victory Dance

SWEET 16 RECAP

Sweet 16 is set!!! Wow, some snoozers and some doozers! Gotta agree with K-Watt's dismay with Reggie Miller's addition to Gus Johnson's squad. Except for when Gus rips Reggie about Cheryl, Reggie should leave Gus and Len Elmore to call the doozers. And speaking of snoozers...snap on the snoozer bumper sticker on Marv Albert's calls. He called a great FSU/VCU game. And with some great and-1's, he didn't drop his famous, "YESSSSS, AAAAND IT COUNTS!!!!" What's wrong Marv? NCAA Hoops don't carry enough bite!?!?

Back to the games.

ARIZONA 93 DUKE 77
T went nuts today when we broke this game down, but it still must be said, this win for Zona is on Derrick Willaims and Arizona's hot shooting, but the loss is on Coach Has-a-crush-on-Kyrie-ski!!!

How do you give most of the touches to Kyrie Irving after he was out for 3 months!?!? He finished with 28 points, but Nolan Smith got Duke to this point, and finishes with 2 points!?!? Smith pulled Jimmer-like miracles all year by turning high ball screen into buckets. Nolan was unstoppable!! So when Arizona was going unconscious, why didn't Coach Will-probably-sit-on-the-CBS-panel-ski call at least one high ball screen to answer Zona's barrage of hoops? They may have not been able to stop Zona's hot streak, but Nolan Smith could have fought fire with fire off those high ball screens.

But not even the ghost of John Wooden's retinal scan into the Coach K's Lair could answer why Coach K, didn't give the Poo Devils a chance to win.

Even with Nolan going Nolan, it would have been tough to beat Arizona on that night. Kudos D-Will!!! And the Tar Heel nation down Tobacco Road thanks you Coach Shove-Kyrie-down-our-throat-ski.

FLORIDA 83 BYU 74 (O.T)
Bottom line, Jimmer ran out of gas. He still had a great season, but I gotta admit, in not seeing much tape on him, I assumed his 1.3 steals per game showed that he had some defense in his arsenal. But with Florida going after their last shot with 7 seconds left in the 2nd half, their missed shot from the left side went to the right side of the court, and both BYU posts made good block outs and the Florida rebound was from Jimmer's check coming all the way from the top of the key! That's bad enough, but Jimmer's reaction to the o-board was a non-chalant close-out! Shame Jimmer! If you get that rebound, you have the ball with 4-5 seconds left to win in regulation.

Shoulda woulda coulda! Jimmer had many chucks from down town before and after that bad block out, and he just ran out of steam.

Florida fills the role of "that team" that goes far in the tourney despite one's lack of respect for that team. The Gators are this year's Tennessee. They're in tough v. Butler tomorrow.

BUTLER 61 WISCONSIN 54
Butler just went Butler. I was blinded by my respect for Wisconsin and Bo Ryan because I've had the Big Ten Network up my butt all year. Paulsen was yelling on the top of his lungs in the Insanity Room saying, "Trust in the Butler!"

J-Dawg has a great point in Butler Head Coach, Brad Stevens being one of the best in-game coaches this side of a Bobby Knight chair-throw. Butler's bigs in Matt Howard should match up well vs. SEC Player of Year, Chandler Parsons. This is a great match-up, and we're gonna ride the Butler train tomorrow v. Butler!

UCONN 74 SDSU 67
Kemba Walker. Ahhhh thank you!

KENTUCKY 62 OHIO STATE 60
Tonnes of credit to senior centre, Josh Harrelson ruling the boards and making timely hoops to pace Kentucky with timely defense and 3's. Ohio State played well, but Kentucky made the last shot and Ohio State had a good luck at the buzzer and Kenucky rolls on!

UNC 81 MARQUETTE 63
Men vs. Boys. No no no, UNC-Men vs. Marquette-boys, not Duke-boys. Boom!!

VCU 72 FSU 71 (OT)
D-Watt put it perfectly when there was lack of checking in on this game because, "No one has any of these team in their brackets!!" But the ending was a great end to head into overtime, despite an anti-climatic call by Marv.

That's it, lets get our Elite 8 on tomorrow.

Commish A-Dish

Friday Night Madness

Ok one round of sweet 16 games down and one more to go. Before we get into today's games lets look back at last nights match-up. We were 1-1 in our recommended games 1-1 in our "gun to the head games".

Looking back despite scoring 28 points the presence of Kyrie Irving seemed to have a negative impact on Duke. There normally efficient offense looked out of sorts all night and having Irving in the line-up seemed to nullify Nolan Smith who had been the emotional leader of Duke all season long. As many people predicted Duke struggled with a more athletic and long Arizona team that after hanging with Duke in the first half dominated the second half.

Butler just keeps on rolling as they beat a Wisconsin team that just looked awful on offense! Brad Stevens once again showed he is the BEST game coach in the country. Give him a week to prepare and he isn't going to lose many. Butler is going to be a tough out in this tournament.

In the other 2 games as we predicted here Florida avenged last years loss against BYU but it was not easy. Using a few more big bodies throughout the game paid off in overtime as Florida appeared to be the much fresher team. The Jimmer run ends but he is what the madness is all about, and yes he can play in the NBA, because he can create his own shot better than any college player in the game today. In one of Coach Calhouns's best coaching jobs in his long storied career a very young UConn team advanced past San Diego State led by Kimba Walker who is having as good a run in this NCAA tournament as anyone.

On to today. We have two picks again for you today one side and an over/under. First we will go with UNC and the fairly short price of -4. This is a very bad match-up for Marquette. First they like to run and that plays right into the transition game of the Tar Heels, and Marquette will have no answer for Zeller and Stevens inside. Take the Heels.

We will also take the under in the FSU/VCU game. The Seminoles have the best defensive FG% in the country and will force VCU to grind it out every possession. We think this will be a very close low scoring game, give VCU a look at +3 but take the under 131.

The other two games we don't have a very good feeling about as both games have inflated lines. We would lean to Richmond +10.5, but would not risk our hard earned money. The other game has an inflated line after Ohio State crushed George Mason minus their best player. We like the Buckeyes to win but the -6 and increasing by the minute line is to high and over priced.

Good Luck and we will be down to 8 after tonight.

Jdawg.

The Madness Returns Sweet 16 Picks

Ok we are down to the sweet 16 so lets take a look at the 4 match-ups tonight:
I have two games I really like tonight and will be investing my own money. The Florida Gators will avenge last year's NCAA tournament loss and beat BYU. Last years stinging double ot loss to the Cougars is still very fresh on Florida's mind and I expect a monumental effort from the Gators, and at a relatively short price of -2 we will take the Gators. Don't forget BYU lost in December to UCLA a team Florida had litttle trouble dispatching on Saturday.

I also expect the NCAA Tournament magic to end for Butler tonight and we will take the Wisconsin Badgers -4.5. This game will feature two of the brightest coaches in the nation who make the most out of their talent. We think Wiscy can go inside and have the guard play to deal with Shelvin Mack. The Badgers have some of the best foul shooting in the nation and this should allow them to extend the lead.

The other two games we will not bet, but if you put a gun to my head I would take the points in both games. The San Diego State Aztecs are playing less then 90 minutes from home and should have a partisan crowd in their favor. That should be enough to beat a young but very talented Uconn team.

I would also take Arizona +9. I think the Wildcats have enough talent to hang around and former Xavier coach Sean Miller has plenty of experience in the sweet 16. Duke will win but it will be closer than expected.

Enjoy the games and good luck!

Sweet 16 Broadcast Schedule

Thursday, March 24

7:15 p.m, CBS, Anaheim: San Diego State vs. Connecticut - Lundquist/Raftery/Visser

7:27 p.m., TBS, New Orleans: Florida vs. BYU - Johnson/Elmore/Miller/Snider

9:45 p.m., CBS, Anaheim: Duke vs. Arizona - Lundquist/Raftery/Visser

9:57 p.m. TBS, New Orleans: Wisconsin vs. Butler - Johnson/Elmore/Miller

Friday, March 25

7:15 p.m. CBS, Newark: North Carolina vs. Marquette - Nantz/Kellogg//Wolfson

7:27 p.m., TBS, San Antonio: Kansas vs. Richmond - Albert/Kerr//Sager

9:45 p.m., CBS, Newark: Kentucky vs. Ohio State - Nantz/Kellogg//Wolfson

9:57 p.m., TBS, San Antonio: Florida State vs. VCU - Albert/Kerr//Sager

Buckle up and get ready - the Madness resumes Thursday night!

1st WEEKEND RECAP - Insanity and Smacktitude!

(sigh) Where to start? Seriously where to begin, but with the utter spazzness of the results of this past weekend.

Louisville was this years Kent State, coming in with some clout and showing absoultely NO HEART when it counted!!!....This was compounded when Louisville Head Coach, Rick Pitino rubbed salt in that wound by showing up on set of the CBS Madness panel no less than 48 hours after his supposed worst loss of his career!! Coach Pitino, tell us how you really feel about that loss? Pitino does his best Jerry Seinfeld imitation and responds, "mmmm-That's a shame!.....now get me to makeup." No class Pitino! It is now no shock as to why your team showed no heart v. Morehead State.

And spazz #2 is the ousting of Morehead State at the hands of Richmond. You had a nice run, "I (heart) Morehead" T-Shirt Girl!!!

We at the Insanity Report Headquarters at the Insanity Towers on the 33rd Floor believe that the success of a program or any team is dictated from the top down. And much blame should go to the many a coaching staff other than Coach Arm-Pitino!

Pitt's Jamie Dixon? Butler's Brad Steven's? Consider yourself on a Stephen Colbert-like "on notice" board??? hmmm, lets think about that...

Everyone is still talking about the ending of the Butler-Pitt game. 7 seconds left, Butler has the game rapped up. Pitt does a half-court hail mary and Gilbert Brown gets fouled by Butler's Shelvin Mack with 1.4 seconds left. Brown, hits the first end, and boom, tie ballgame. After Gilbert Brown misses the second foul shot, Butler's Matt Howard gets the rebound and Nasir Robinson does the unthinkable and fouls Howard just 0.4 seconds from having the game go into overtime! Howard makes the first throw and misses the second one on purpose to eat clock and send Butler into the locker room with the awkward Coach Stevens/Butler players' celebration and (yawn) another Sweet 16 birth for the Butler!

So lets get it over with. Who do we blame for this "debacle"?

The Refs? Naw, even the stripes can't be thrown under the bus for this. Moreover, that was pathetic how under the guise of journalism, every media member covering this game indirectly blamed the refs for making these last second foul calls, in the initial post-game reaction. They wussied around with their questions with each other and everyone, essentially blaming the refs for doing their effing jobs! The media members eventually came to the correct conclusion that the fouls at the end of the Butler/Pitt game were obviously fouls. And parading the NCAA Head of Referees onto the CBS panel to try to get a comment out of him and possibly corner him into admitting any referee incompetence had Jim Grey Ratness written all over it. (Coincedence that Rick Pitino just came onto the panel?)

K, so refs are outta the way. How 'bout Shelvin Mack and Nasir Robinson being freaking idiots for making those fouls!?! They're not idiots. There! But I don't think I'm alone when I say that the initial emotional response to those fouls when it came to one's brackets and/or bet made for many a name calling to Shelvin and Nasir. Mack is vindicated with his Sweet 16 birth and Robinson has to live with that foul for the rest of his life. That should be enough for him and his Pitt teammates. So name calling is above even a Jim Rome "bracket-guy" nerd such as myself.

Refs? Check. Players? Check. Coaches? Unleash the MTV-generation, "I mean, like right!?!?!?" call. Well, the success of the program is indeed dictated from the top down.

This is again evident in Bruce Pearls firing from Teenneessee today. (The end result was the "under" bet on his firing 7.5 days after their no-show v. Michigan....Pearl's essential mooning to the NCAA investigators and opening round no-show gave Tenneeesseeee no choice but to can Pearl's used-car-salesmen ass!!) Pearl was under investigation for holding a team bar-b-q at his place and for the constant mistake in Teenneessee's spelling. One of those is actually the reason for his NCAA violations! Whoa!

But back to the Butler/Pitt fiasco. Pitt Head Coach, Jamie Dixon should have had all Pitt players either off the key during those throws or instructed to "NOT FOUL!!" Shelvin Mack should have known after countless hours of Brad Stevens-led practice to know the situation and not foul Gilbert Brown!

But it's not the Coaches fault!

It's NOBODY'S FAULT!

We all love March Madness for the Insanity of it all. The upsets! The buzzer-beaters! The Gus Johnson! And why? For the mere fact that March Madness and NCAA College Basketball is FULL OF FAULTS!!! So, refs, go tell the media to suck it! Players, you're players, keep playing. Coaches, keep coaching. You all will make mistakes, and in that, is the utter INSANITY of March Madness!

Insert "Growing Pains" end-of-an-episode moral message......or just get another cheesy Jerry Springer "Final Thought" moment...."IT'S THE IMPERFECTIONS OF ALL THAT IS INVOLVED IN THE MADNESS THAT MAKE MARCH MADNESS PERFECT!...TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, AND EACH OTHER!" Somewhere, Tery McKaig is seen grabbing a chair from bouncer, Steve Wilkos and jetting it Adolph's way. "Adolph you're an idiot!"

However, a for-real Colbert-like "on notice" shout out has to go to Gonzaga Head Coach, Mark Few!! Few, you are indeed an idiot! Player's make mistakes, they go out and make a 5-second violation ala Texas' Cory Joseph at the end of the Texas/Arizona leading to 1st Team All-Adolph member, Derrick Williams to make his clutch And-1! But, the Gonzaga early exit has to do with your tutlage and tactics from your top coaching position, down to the players!

Few, consider yourself exposed! You've shown that you could always recruit diamonds in the rough. It's been evident in the past decade from Dan Dickau to Adam "Porn-stache" Morrison. And it was evident in 7-0 WING Kelly Olynyk. Few, you have a potential biggest weapon in the whole Madness with a 7-0 player who's strength's are off the wing and not in the blocks. He has shown well-above average Basketball IQ on offence and defense despite his obvious lack of speed. Just because, he's 7-0 doesn't mean you camp his ass in the blocks! This take has already been said. Kelly is a stud, and here's hoping he transfers out of Few's stinking program!

I mean Few, you have a great resume. Over a decade long dominance in the WCC and many great March Madness runs and moments. But witnessing this years debacle of player rotations, never gave your Gonzaga Bulldogs a chance to flourish. It took you 3 months to realize that David Stockton was your PG. And your blind loyalty to defensive/turnover liability, Demetri Goodson and to the inconsistent play of Elias Harris and Steven Gray led to this early ouster! Few, you had one of the deepest bench in the nation led by a potential Dirk Nowitski-dominating player in Kelly!

This freaking stinks to put Few 'On Notice' because the essense of the Mid-Major Mojo has alot to do with Few's contributions over the years, but this year is one to be forgotten for Few! Pick yo' game up Few! You have the summer. Now go!

So we straight!

And speaking of mistakes, how 'bout those brackets? Mmmm-ouch! And awesome too! Big ups go out to the Top 3 in the Insanity Pool current standings, one Tati Salgado, Tina Lum and Carrie "Water, I'm not an ER Doc" Watts! And a Florida Gator-type repeat run still possible for Ivan Bokanovic tied for 4th!

And speaking of game. How 'bout this weekends Smack? Terry McKaig, is "not really into this smack talk thing" but T gave it a go. A Cav Whitely deflection-hook followed by more PG-upper cuts! T was called out and he stepped up!

Jerry Hall. You're first forray into the Smack Fray. Big ups for stepping out of the dugout, but next time bring your Louisville-slugger rather that that nerf-bat of yours to the plate! Back to the drawing board. I know you can step up Jerry!

Original Commish, Kevin Outhet? Showing that we Commishs ride together and are forever Allies in Smack! You see T-(almost)Smack McKaig, PG is all around! The world is not all stinky Ladner marshes! It's filled with PG skidness! PG hick-ness! and PG red-neck-ness! So when you see that long-haired moo-layed, greasy PG-kat wearing the red and black lumberjack with the steel-toes to match, feel free to greet him or her with a "F&*$-ing rights!"

And J-Paq, you mention an establishment in Oakville referred to as the "PG"? Enter the Bruce Pearl weasel response of, "I can neither confirm, not deny" any involvement in a PG-Oakville establishment. All I can recall, however, is a fellow by the name of Dell with hands out under the cash dispensor of an ATM and the sound, "ppff-ddddddtthh dddddd-rrrr-dddd dddrrr-ddddd!!!!" And those who are in the know, know!

That's it for now. Gotta go back to the basement. Gotta get some rest. We have this weekends games. And before that, the 2011 All-Adolph 1st/2nd Teamers and Outhet Player of the Year presentation!

Bring the Smack! And K-Smack, T-(for real)Smack and Schmitty.....the Insanity Pool Universe is looking forward to your Denver regional Smack and thoughts!

Your Brother in Smack,
Commish A-Dish

Saturday = Chalk, Sunday = Dogs

ND shooters felt overwhelmed by Florida St. today

Wow!  The first weekend of the 2011 Madness is in the books.  Hard to believe we have already had 52 games with only 15 more remaining.

Interesting weekend with completely different results between Saturday than Sunday.

First there was chalk Saturday.  The higher seeded teams were a combined 7-1 SU & ATS - Pittsburgh was the only team to not follow this trend in their last second loss to Butler.  Favourites ruled the day and the OVER so the sportbooks took a beating.

We should have realized that Underdog Sunday was going to happen.  The higher seeds were taken down all day - going 2-6 ATS.  (4-4 SU)

UNC and Duke were able to survive the tourney but did not cover. Big East powerhouses ND & Syracuse not only didn't cover, but lost straight up.  A surprise upset by #12 VCU sent #3 seeded Purdue packing and #4 Texas also found a way to lose a game late to #5 Arizona.

The sportbooks had a very good day today at our expense and we will be eager to get this back on Thursday.

Now onto the Sweet 16 which starts on Thursday.  Three #1 seeds remain in the field, along with three #2 seeds so 75% of the tourney favourites survived.  We have six underdogs seeded #5 or lower in the sweet 16 and may be worth fading in the coming days as the clock should be getting closer to midnight for a few of these Cinderalla teams.

Get some rest, regroup and get ready for Thursday.  We all deserve it.
D$ OUT

Zebra Madness & Jimmer Time

Wow!  Some really close games including a #1 seed falling (CRASH.... the sound of broken brackets are still being heard everywhere!!!) we have been treated to an interesting afternoon of hoops.

As Jdawg says, "Zebra Madness", in the Pitt vs Butler game with 3 fouls in the final 8 seconds led to crazy swings of emotions and an improbable finish. Pitt has no one to blame but themselves who dug themselves a big hole in the first half and couldn't sustain the lead when they had it in the second.

Butler was able to cover the 7.5 point spread and the total easily went OVER 128.

Jimmer Time!
BYU destroyed Gonzaga by a surprising 24 points led by a possessed Jimmer Fredette who went off for 34 points.  Jimmer made some unbelievable shots and lived up to all the hype.

Gonzaga dominated in the paint, but couldn't guard the BYU guards who were 14-29 (48.3%) from beyond the arc. Great matchup with BYU taking on Florida in the sweet 16 coming up!

So the Zags not covering makes us 3-1 for the day, (good with Kentucky, Florida, & late magic by San Diego St.).   Looking for a strong finish with Wisconsin and UConn to make today a good one.

Sunday Spreads:
An early look at the spreads for tomorrow has an interesting 9:15am matchup with UNC -4 against WAS.  The total has been set to amazing 158!  Is it high enough or maybe a bit too high?

With VCU on a roll, is Purdue -9.0 a bit high?

Spending some time to break this down.  Lates.  D$ OUT

Go Zags!

Lots of chalk to start off Saturday with Kentucky and Florida earning late (read: high sweat factor) covers.   Sadly, the (I Heart) Morehead run appears to be over, impressive showing by the Spiders.

We hope to see our first upset of Round #3 when North Vancouvers own, Robert Sacre, and his Gonzaga Bulldogs take on Jimmer Freddette and BYU.  (Tip time approx 5:00pm PST)

Trying not to be biased we like the the Zags (-1.5).  Here is a breakdown seen on pregame.com which we liked:

This looks like a strong play after watching BYU absolutely struggle against Wofford. Not one single role player wanted to step up for BYU and help Jimmer out on Thursday and I dont think Jim can do it himself against Gonzaga. The Zags rolled Saint Johns and I think they continue that dominance against a BYU team that looks a bit lost. I like the inside presence that Sacre and Sam Dower will bring on the inside in this game not too mention guards Gray and Harris should be able to do whatever they want offensively against a weak BYU D. I truly believe this is the year Gonzaga reaches the Final 4. Big play for me and the only way this stays close is if BYU is on fire from beyond but I doubt that will happen.

Gonzaga 81--BYU 6

Go Zags!  More to come!

DAY TWO THOUGHTS

Well, we had a great start to the day with Gus calling a tight finish with the 'Nova/G-Mace game. He had one killer call going into a timeout after a G-Mason rebound dunk yelling, "HUSTLIN'!!! FIGHTIN'!!!! SCRAPPIN'!!! JAAAAAAHHH-MIN'!!!!" Just another day at the office for the Gus Karma....owning it!!!! See, the thing with Gus is his defcon levels match that of the Madness and that of the straight-jacket tearing Inmate reading this take! Rise-n-fire Gus, Rise-n-fire!!!!

And speaking of the 'Nova game, talk about an implosion with their free throws late in the game. G-Mase made some shots and weathered the 'Nova choke job to move on. G-Mason weathered that choke job like Paulsen and Foucher weathering Adolph's choke job eating the KFC Box Meal....Paulsen say's, "Hey Adolph, I know it's a freaking Big Crunch with 2 pieces of original recipe chicken, but slow down before you choke like Villanova!!" Good point Paulsen, good point! Sof was there too, by the way, she said, "MMM, I LOVE A BIG CRUNCH! IT SOOTHES MY "DEEP VOICE"-VOICE, NOW KISS ME CHRISTOPHER!!!"

Back to Madness, I heard the end of Arizona/Memphis game on the radio and talk about another typical Madness game. Chuck Barkley was speaking some truthes about Memphis being tiny and Derrick Williams having the advantage in the paint for Arizona before the game started. But, typical Madness game, turning things for a loop. By the time I left the Asylum, and had to listen to the rest of the game on the Insanity-mobile radio, Memphis had more points in the paint than Arizona. Derrick Williams was solidifying his spot on the All-Adolph 1st Team with his hoops in the paint, but he left alot to be desired on the defensive side for J-Dawg. Then, Williams steps up and hits a rare 3 late in the game. Typical Madness game.....you can have all the intel in the world....get some trends in, and the Madness will turn that into a 180 and smack you in the straight-jacket!

After that, I was relying on many a update from allies in Madness. Thanks Cait and Leigh. And no thank you phone battery!

Georgetown fizzled v. VCU. Any Smack on that?

The Bruce Pearl watch is on. Over/under on his firing is set at 7.5 days. Beat it Pearl. A fitting end to a tainted run at Tennnesseeee with the worst loss of his career getting smoked by Michigan by 30. The Vol's gave up! Pearl is so lowly regarded at this point that the NCAA is tacking the Double-Letter Viloation on his rap sheet! That's pushing it, but damn it, when do you double letter and when donn'tt yoouu on Teennesseee!?!?!?

Duke went Duke. The box score showed Kyrie having a game. Welcome back Kyrie. You are a Dukie, but probably the best player in the nation. Any smack on how this affected Nolan Smith? He only had 9 points.

Looking at the Georgia/UDub game, the Dawg's limited their turnovers, so how did they not cover vs. the Bulldogs? Bueller? Bueller? Vitale? Did they find another way to shoot themsleves in the foot? That's been their m.o all year.

And then there's the 'Cuse? Boeheim, you're an idiot! Roll with that T!

Tomorrow has some great match-ups. A real even match-up in West Virginia and Kentucky. West Virginia's 2010 Final 4 experience vs. Kentucky's young talent. The Huggy Bear v. Crap-apari!

UCLA should bow down to the Gator Nation. Pitt should put the Butler back into the kitchen.

Oh, the Zag's v. Jimmer! Get your mid-conference on mid-conference violence on!!!!

Big East 2nd round matchup anyone? Cincy with bruising Gates in the blocks vs. Kemba.

Aaaaannnd, Morehead State v. Richwhat?!? Rich-More Madness!!!! K-Smack, T-Smack and Schmitty, let us know if our T-Shirt Gal is in attendance again and invite 'er to the "I (Heart) Morehead" Insanity Facebook Group!

That's it. Go Madness and go Birds v. Congordia! Bunch of gords!!!

Commish out!

DAY TWO RANTS - Gus and Marv in the fold and bring the Smack!!!

If yesterday was Christmas day, then today, I guess, is Boxing Day. K cool, another stat holiday I guess, because GUS JOHNSON is calling his first games today!!! You see his sked in the previous blog. Gus and his partner in crime, Len Elmore are primed to tear it up with great games, especially the 8/9 matchup bewteen 'Nova/G-Mace and especially with the Indiana State SICK-amores/'Cuse game. Loving the Gus karma that he infuses with the SICK-SMOOTH-CHOCOLATE-SCHMORES!!!!! I smell upset T!!!!

And wow!!! Watching the first game this morning, Texas/Oakland, first of all has a possible upset with Oakland having a stud big man in Keith Benson. He's a projected NBA lottery pick, and is playing tuuuufffff right now!!! Texas is being Texas right now with persistent post entries, and good open jumpers made with the puppies set! They have alright high-lows and dishes for easy layups.

The kicker here with this game is the Madness debut of one MARV ALBERT!!!! Marv was my guy back in the pre-Jordan 1st retirement years. Walking away from Marv had nothing to do with his bum-biting sex trials, but the mear fact that the NBA has been UNWATCHABLE since 1998!!! So lets see what kind of Madness-karma Marv and his legendary, "YESSSSSSS aaaaannnd IITTTT COOOUNTS!!!!" can bring!!!

Okay, lets look at the standings....a 4 way tie for 1st. Boyd Jovi, Private 1st Class Major Ivan Bokanovic (defending champ, if you need 'im, by the way), Tin's Lum, and Tati Salgado!!! Props to regular Insanity Pool leader board resident, Amy Jonker with another 13/16 first day, leading the pack of 2nd placers! Big ups Jonks!

NOW SMACK!!!!

BRING THE SMACK YOU!!!! Yah, talking to you......so bring it!!

We know K-Smack and T-Smack McCarrell will bring the Smack once they return from their Denver regionals trip! xtremely jealous that they were in the building for the Morehead State upset!!! Can't wait to hear the recap! And Schmitty! He's there, so we all know Schmitty's gonna bring the noise!!!! Cuz, you know you've been called out by Paulsen!!

Loving the regular Smack-tibutions of Slider and J-Paq! Once again, Slider has the early Smack of the Tournament with his "Action Potentials" blast. Both hilarious and true!!!

Original Commish! Outhet! (Everybody stand at attention!) "A teeennnn huttttt!" Great to hear from you Brethren!!!!! Outhet, we will have the All-Adolph Awards blog, with the 2nd Annual Outhet Player of the Year!!! Gotta give props to the Outhet!!!! Just like the ol' saying goes, if you don't know your past, you won't know your future smack!!!!

So people, bring the Smack! Keerstee Taylor, you've already been briefed!!! Step up!

Billy Greene, you stink!

Whitely, just imagine this is an email about feeding the Bear his tranks!!! That smack belongs in the Insanity Pool!

T. Smack more than 4 words would be nice!

Leigh. Al. Za. Where's the Madness? Leeeeiiigghhhhh!!!!!! Alllllllll!!!!! Zaaaaa-raaahhhhhh!!!!! Smack it up if you have any insight of where the Madness is!!!

Jonks! I know you're consistent performance is reminiscent of the silent owner in the owners box, but the Insanity Pool needs some of the Jonks-titude!!!

Cait? Any basement smack?

Fouche! Sof is saying in a deep voice, "I LOVE MARCH MADNESS CHRISTOPHER!!!"

I could go on and on......bring the smack......Pimp your picks! Pimp Adolph's lack of correct picks! Bring the Smack on Jim Nantz's dry games why don't-cha! or Clark Kellogg's lame analysis! Charles is bringing it! Oh and Coach Krazy-toupe-ski is showing signs of his rug actually moving. It's still weaved with kevlar, but I saw some movement the other day in a press conference...........anything, bring the Smack!!!

Commish II out!!!!!

Gus Madness Karma

Whatta first day of Madness today! We had the Butler buzzer beater, Temple buzzer beater and the (I love) Morehead State buzzer beater!!!! Holy Mackeral!!! So lets keep the Madness karma going with Gus starting his play-by-play coverage tomorrow with:

11:10 AM #8 George Mason v. #9 Villanova (East Region)
1:40 PM #1 Ohio State v. #16 UT-San Antonio (East Region)
4:27 PM #6 Xavier v. #11 Marquette (East Region)
6:57 PM #3 Syracuse v. #14 Indiana State (East Region)

Here's preview of Gus to come: (from last weeks Pac-10 Tourney)

2011 SOUTHEAST REGION SHAKEDOWN

Huhhh...getting tired.....J-Dawg had to coach. He's not in the Asylum......D$ had to go hang out with the GF and "change his mojo" from our collective ass-kicking ATS. Weak D$!

So lets get to it.....

SOUTHWEST REGION

#1 PITTSBURGH vs. #16 UNC-ASHVILLE
Pitt looked dominating in their dismantling of UNC-One-Nice-Piece-of-Ashville today. PG Ashton Gibbs was Ashton Gibbs with 26 points and Bigman, Gary McGhee was solid with 11 boards with 6 of those off of the offensive glass. Giving up a poultry 51 points was another Pitt defensive killer effort.

#8 OLD DOMINION vs. #9 BUTLER
Perfect way to start the Madness, officially that is! With last year's cinderella team in Butler getting the first buzzer beater in this year's Madness! Matt Howard had a great putback right when the backboard lit up!!! A typical Madness game cuz it didn't make sense....Old D was 21-27 from the charity stripe while the Butler was 9-11 on their throws. Not very many trips to the line for the Butler with only a pedestrian 27% 3-pt percentage. Hmmmm! Butler's few 3's were timely and this was just pure Madness and man-e-mano with both sides pounding each other in the chin!!!!!

Oh Madness grey hairs, we love thee!!!!

#5 KANSAS STATE vs. #12 UTAH STATE
K-State has the scariest coach in the nation. Watch his timeouts, he's on his last vein to pop!!! D$'s scouting report shows that PG Jacob Pullen may be too sick to play. If it's a flu, then you go out their Pullen!!! Flu!! Get outta here! Also, K-State is playing a Utah State that has made a tradition of having great seasons followed by horrendous Madness performances. I'm booking on this trend to continue.

But Utah State does have some things going for it. They are a rare Utah school that is girlfriend-boinking free! Thus they are player suspension free! Expect Utah State to dress their entire roster this game!

#4 WISCONSIN vs. #13 BELMONT
Belmont has been getting some pub as a sexy upset pick.

Right now Wisconsin is holding strong vs. Belmont. They have an interesting team, with zero post presence. They rely on their big guys to hit 3's. They do so with a token 4-out/1-in offensive set, that mine as well be a 5-out set as that 1 player in the post is a token ball cutter rather than any threat in the blocks. Plus Bo Ryan steps up his coaching game every Madness!!!

And you gotta love #5 Ryan Evans' killer, killer flat-top. Old school!!! And better than Teeennneseeee's Scotty Hopson's flat top!

#6 ST. JOHN'S vs. #11 GONZAGA
J-Dawg put it best: This is a game of 2 horrible coaches! Well.....St John's has had a great year for Head Coach, Steve Lavin with killer wins all year. They fizzled off in the past 2 weeks, and one of their guards is out with an injured knee. About all I know of St. John's. But regardless of lack of scout, this is an even, even matchup with the Zags.

It's an even matchup because Gonzaga Head Coach, Mark Few is a complete tool!!! It takes him until the start of February to start John Stockton Jr at the point, as he's the only guard on the Zag's capable of a post entry pass. But, Coach Few still doesn't play Kamloops native, and 7-foot gigantor, Kelly Olynyk properly!!!! Kelly only played for the Canadian National team in the summer (for another horrible coach in Leo Rautins, by the way) going man-e-mano vs. NBA players as a wing! Kelly is the only Dirk Nowitski type player in college hoops as he is 7 feet tall and can drive from the wing and hit the long range jumper!

But Few plays Kelly in the post due to his captain-obvious height. The only thing is that Kelly is weaker than Adolph's/D$'s ATS game, in the post. He gets pushed around and lacks the footwork in the blocks to dominate. So way to to take one of the deadliest weapons in college basketball COMPLETELY out of his element. Oh and Kelly doesn't even start and plays 12-15 minutes a game!

Coach Few, it's easy: If you play Kelly at the wing and 25-30 minutes per game, then Gonzaga is an Elite 8 threat. If you don't, then the Zag's are just another 10 seed!

Few, you tool!

#3 BYU vs. #14 WOFFORD
Check out D$'s youtube post on our blog, www.easycovers.blogspot.com and you'll see Charles Barkley putting pompous Billy Packer in his place! Like Charles, nobody on the Insanity Report Staff knows anybody on Wofford, but they are hanging in there, as we speak, with BYU

But Jimmer is being Jimmer, with 25 of BYU's 55 points,and there's not much more to add about BYU.

#7 UCLA vs. #10 MICHIGAN STATE
Right when it looked very very grim for MSU, Tom to the Izzo goes Tom to the Izzo and is starting another Madness run. Michigan State looked un-Michigan State-like for 4/5ths of the year with an erratic Kalin Lucas. He was most likely not 100% from his Achilles tear in last year's Madness. And Drayond Green is a post player with a post player's body who's strength is in the open court on the dribble and with his 15 foot jumper. Draymond was stuck in no-man's land all year.

But Izzo has and will find a way to yet another Sweet 16 birth.

Rule #1 in the Madness universe: NEVER BET AGAINST THE IZZO!!!!!

#2 FLORIDA vs. #15 UC-SANTA BARBERA
The Gators live and die by the 3, and that was their main go to todayespecially from manin chucker, Irving Walker going 4-6 from downtown. Dunno much about this game as it was a 30 point beatdown early in the 2nd half, so no one was going to air this bust.

That's it. Enjoy the Madness, but now it's break time. But the 2011 All-Adolph Awards blog is still to come........stay mad!!!

Commissioner Adolph out!

2011 SOUTHWEST SHAKEDOWN

(sigh)....madness so far......lets keep it up.....onto the Southwest....

#1 KANSAS vs. #16 BOSTON U
Peeps are loving KU. Rock chalk Jay-hizz-awk!!!!! The top 2 choices for Tourney Champ is Ohio State and the Jayhawks! One thing about KU is that the Morris Twins are deadly, but as Slider says, they're another example of "Action Potential".....the Morris Twins are all-or-none!!! When the twins are "none" they are getting muscled around by opposing big men. The twins are like Dave Adolph in the batters box, THEY HATE CONTACT! When the Twins are "All" then they do so by getting off to a good start! As a hockey school, BU could pound KU into the boards. Or could they?

Another thing with KU is their guards. I've never been confident with the reliance on Brady Morningstar as a psudo-PG/Shooting guard.

But by my performance stats....the doubt in KU bodes well for KU and KU fan.

#8 UNLV vs. #9 ILLINOIS
Hate hate hate Illinois! The Insanity Report drank the kool-aid on the Sick Belly Buttons earlier in November. Pre-season Previews had the Illini with killer big men and a suppsed all-world guard in Demetri McCamey. The thing is, is he is more of a chucker than George Costanza.

Big men, Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis are two Stay-Pufts in the paint. They are o-fer vs. matchups against teams that have bruising forwards in the blocks. Tisdale and Davis feed off each other and off of McCamey when they have room off of the short corner for high-lows or dribble drives from McLamey.

On principle, I'm NOT taking Illinois. They killed me ATS all year! Eff them! So that bodes well for those of you that picked Illinois! Match up wise, UNLV have no bruising big men, so that bodes well for the Stay Puft brothers.

#5 VANDERBILT vs. #12 RICHMOND
Rich-whaaaaatttt!?!?!? Richmond!!!! Nice last second play Vandy!?!!? Brutal play and brutal shot to try to tie it at the buzzer. Way to take away from the Buzzer Beater mojo we've been lucky enough to witness thus far!

#4 LOUISVILLE vs. #13 MOREHEAD STATE
Best T-Shirt in the Madness.....Hottie Blond behind the Morehead State bench in a timeout with a T-shirt saying, "I (heart) Morehead". I bet!

Madness-wise, we have our #12 vs #13 match up in the 2nd round!!!!!

#6 GEORGETOWN vs. #11 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH
Georgetown have no big men threats. They rely on their 3 guards, Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark for all their scoring. Freeman can light it up when he's on though.

#3 PURDUE vs. #14 ST PETERS
Know nothing on the Boilermakers at this point. Big ups on their resiliency throughout the whole season when they lost Robbie Hummel to his 38th torn ACL. E'Twaun Moore and JuJuan Johnson not only led the Big Ten in hyphenated and weirdly capitalized names, but also in domination! But now Purdue suspends PG Kelsey Barlow a couple days before the Madness!?!?!? What's the deal with Ovaltine!?!?!? Confusing!

#7 TEXAS A&M vs. #10 FLORIDA STATE
Flip a coin. Only intel is FSU lost their main guy Chris Singleton 1-2 weeks back with a broken paw. Rumor has it, he may be back. FSU prides themselves on a killer defense and points-per-game average on D. With the uncertainty with Singleton, we're staying away. Flip your coin.

#2 NOTRE DAME vs. #15 AKRON
Notre Dame has George Costanza, eerrrrr I mean Tyler Hansborough Jr chucking shots up like he's Slider/J-Paq/Adolph at Finnies!!!! He makes alot though, but this is still a one dimensional approach by the Fighting Irish. There is something to be said about their senior laden line-up as well.

Akron? They'll continue their bad year with losing Lebron and losing badly to the Fighting Irish.

2011 West Shakedown

Apologies for the late Shakedowns after the bracket deadline, but we're sitting in the Asylum at J-Dawg's already sweating over the West Va/Clemson and Butler/Ol' D

But lets break it down anyways

WEST REGION

#1 DUKE v. #16 HAMPTON
Kyrie Irving coming back will make a difference! Period point blank! But he'll have to play 2nd fiddle still to Nolan Smith. Can you say Outhet Player of the Year Nolan!?!?!? Nolan says, "Outhet POY, Commissioner Adolph!"

It's been well documented on Nolan's dominance on the high ball screen! The brothers Plumlee will be a presence in the paint. The Dukies have timely 3's from Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins. Kyle Singler is a gamer! Straight up.....he is consistent at 2 things going on o-fer streaks and hitting timely late game shots! He is clutch and has a short memory on his 3-15 shooting performances to still have the stones to take that clutch shot without thinking twice.

Bottom line is that Nolan Smith is like Dave Adolph at an all you can eat buffet, UNSTOPPABLE!!!! Nolan is down right InsAnE! He scores at will!!! Now add the addition of Kyrie, and for you Dukie honks, you have a bonafide Madness favorite in the Poo Devils!

8 MICHIGAN vs. #9 TENNESSEE
For eff sakes, I just wasted 3 minutes back spacing the Tesseeesseeee name. When do you double up on the letters!?!?!? Coach Pearl is a weasel of a coach and recruiter. The only thing Tenesseeeessseeee's main guy, Scotty Hopson, has going for him is his wicked we-tawded flat top. He's their main offensive threat but doesn't show up in big games.

Michigan came into the year as a consensus pick to be a last place team in the Big Ten. Their PG Darius Morris is a bit of a Greg Sale ball hog, but does get his dimes to killer slasher Tim Hardaway, Jr. Freshman Big Gah, Jordan Morgan continues to develop as a semi-big post with quick feet who can run the fast break lanes. Senior, former walk-on, Zach Novak is not as completely useless as the Insanity Report Staff thought earlier on in the year. He and Stu Douglass hit timely 3's and pull off great Bernie Madoff routines with their constant hustle!!!!

Somewhere you hear Charlie Sheen with his M16 in hand taking on the Russian invasion in Colorado, yelling, "WOLVER-EEEEEEEENE'S!!!!!!" Taking Michigan's development over Tennesseeessseeee's fraud of Bruse Pearl. (Bonus Smack Cred for the first Inmate to name that Charlie Sheen movie on the Message Board.....go!)

#5 ARIZONA vs. #12 MEMPHIS
Folks, jump on the Derrick Williams bandwagon!!! You gotta, cuz he is a Top 3 NBA Draft pick this summer. Williams can post up, he can face the hoop and drive into the paint and on the baseline. He's somewhat physical on the boards, but relies on his athleticism to board on the offensive and defensive end. He is intelligent on his positioning on defense. I can hear the non-yearly Inmates saying, "What?....Adolph, english here!" My bad, bottom line with Williams, is he got game! Enjoy watching him play!

As Robert De Niro from Heat would say, "There's a flip side to that coin!" And that is the utter erratic play of Arizona PG Momo Jones! If Zona had a point guard then Arizona would probably be a mimimum 2 seed. They have size to help Williams and Kyle Fogg needs to get hot from downtown!!

Memphis? Pfffffffttthhhfff! Beat it Conference USA. Ya heard Sco!?!?!?

#4 TEXAS vs. #13 OAKLAND
What's the hub bub on an Oakland upset!?!?!? Texas has had bad scores recently and have had a bad beat down to non-Madness team, Colorado. But we'll give you one tidbit on Texas......Rick Barnes can't coach. Oh wait that's not it.....Texas is quite persitent in pounding the ball down in the blocks to Freshmen bigman, Tristin Thompson even when he's ice cold. He has a short memory and will still take shots, and he can pass well from the blocks to players like Jordan Hamilton. Barnes' defensive schemes blow but Texas' players play great one-on-one defense.

Oakland? Even Barnes can get by these tomato cans!

#6 CINCINNATTI (?) vs. #11 MIZZOU

Eff you double letters!!! Cinnciinnatti had a brutally weak non-conference sked to pad their couple wins vs. big Big East teams. And as a 6 seed? This is a brutal match up vs. another jeckyl-n-hyde team in Mizzou. Just ugliness here folks! .....just think Scottie Pippen's shaved head......UGLY!!!!

#3 UCONN vs. #14 BUCKNELL
Main fear is that it's tough to trust a team in UConn that is coming off a Big East title winning 5 games in 5 nights. That's like Jerry Seinfeld's "Heeeellllllooooooo!!!! Baaahh baahhh baahhh!!!" Belly Button quote: TIRED!

UConn was a team last year that had no chemistry and had a team full of Me-guys. This year, their main Me-Guy in Kemba Walker has a team surrounding him that has bought-in and gived Kemba his 35-40 shots per game. Let's see if UConn can continue to ride the Kemba Wave.

#7 TEMPLE vs. #10 PENN STATE
At press time, we've just had Temple make the 3rd freaking buzzer beater in the 5th-6th game of the tourney. Are you kidding me.

Before we move, big huge ups have to be given to a great team in Penn State. They have All-Adolph 1st Teamer, Taylor Battle who hit an unreal 3 to tie the game before Temple's buzzer beater. J-Dawg was saying in the Asylum during this game, "You have to guard him when he steps off the bus!!!!!!" Battle battled all year with killer performances like todays!

Then parlay that into the killer years their bigmen Jeff Brooks, David Jackson and Andrew Jones had. Jeff Brooks was a bonafide All-Big Ten player until one month ago when he separated his shoulder. All he did was come back 2-3 weeks later and help PSU get to the Big Ten final. Today he even played without his shoulder sleeve. Jeff Brooks is a MAN!!

So big ups PSU! Great year! They had these 5 guys average 35-38 minutes a game with zero bench. Way to truck this far Nittany Lions!

#2 SAN DIEGO STATE vs. #15 NORTHERN COLORADO
Apologies, didn't watch the SDSU/BYU game on CBS a coupe weeks back.

Just have one thing to say......with all the upsets so far, we're seeing if the underdogs can keep covering the double digit spreads. Northern Colly +14.5?

Onto the next region!!!!

Free Contests that Canadians Can Enter

Here are few links to free contests you can enter for March Madness that are eligible for Canadian residents.  What you got to lose??  Post your bracket and maybe, just may, you get lucky and win!

• TSN.ca Bracket Pool
• The Score Bracket Buster - Win $100,000.00!
• Sportsnet.ca Bracket Madness

Charles is ready for the tourney are you?

Sir Charles Barkley calls out Billy Packer.... gotta love it.

Madness less than 24 hours away... can you feel it???  More breakdowns and ATS picks to follow.

2011 East Region Breakdown

Well It's here folks…..the Madness. Let's get to it, get yer straight jacket out. Dust 'er off, get 'er pressed, starched and take advantage of the Insanity Discount at Asylum Drycleaners on Broadway and Traflagar!!!!

Let's get straight to the point, this year ANYBODY can win the tourney! There will be upsets, because EVERY top 15 team have had inexplicable losses this year. From St. John's beat down on Duke to Colorado's beat down of Texas earlier this season. Bottom line, there have been inexplicable results all season, and the Madness will be no different.

The Insanity Report Staff have been working hard all year. We have recipes for a team's success in the tourney just like all prognosticating honks out there. There's the half cup of senior experience. The teaspoon of quality wins/quality road wins. The cheesy slice of a quality point guard. Lets add some killer coaching and team defence to go with the presence in the paint and a great x-factor player, but all of this will still get you as far as Lloyd Christmas' one and million shot with Mary Swim….Swammi…..Swenson….Swanson………….Samsonite!!!!! I was way off!

So what we're doling out this year is the best we can muster up from games played, and taking the easy, disclaimer way out, by giving some insight with a healthy dose of Smack! But who'll win? You're guess is as good as the Insanity Staff's. If you're betting games ATS, the stats and records help, but we feel that those stats mean squat for your bracket and to look at the match-ups. So here goes….

Enjoy.

Let's start with the:

EAST REGION

1. OHIO STATE vs. #16 UT-SAN ANTONIO/#16 ALABAMA STATE

Ohio State is the unanimous choice as the #1 team in the nation GOING INTO THE TOURNEY. They have all the ingredients with guard play, although no true point guard. Fr. G Aaron Craft is a complete spark plug off the bench; He'll get in the trenches and he's as close to a true PG they got. Jr. G William Buford and Sr. G Jon Diebler can shoot the lights out from downtown. 15th year Redshirt Sr. Wing, David Lighty is one of the top 5 x-factors in the nation, although he seems not as dangerous as he was pre-6 redshirt seasons ago. Plus he seems skinnier then he was before his medical redshirt. Regardless, he's still as dangerous of an x-factor as Marc Paulsen's Muhammed Ali-like return to his PG Men's League team!

And then there's all-world Fr. Center, Jared Sullinger. Everyone has heard of his freakiness, so all that needs to be added is to notice the increased size in the junk in Jared's trunk since November, and his freaky Olajuwon-like footwork in the blocks.

OSU have had quality win after quality win this year, but Charles Barkley put it perfectly when he mentioned that OSU looks perfect on paper, but often fail to impose their presence on other teams such as in the Big Ten Final on Sunday. OSU should be heads above the rest, but they keep teams in it, which is not a great omen in single elimination Madness-ness!

#8 GEORGE MASON vs. #9 VILLANOVA

Haven't seen George Mason play. They are a sexy sleeper pick for many people. I'm leaning towards the Masonry over 'Nova by the sheer lack of guard defence on Villanova's part. Watching their one-on-one defence from their guards is like watching Dave Adolph try to trek up the Wreck Beach stairs: ATROCIOUS! Their guards are slow-footed and cross their feet when running laterally. Any guard can beat them off the dribble and G-Mace guard should do the same. Plus Villanova's considerable front court size shows spagetti-like weakness in the blocks, particularly from So. C Mouphtaou Yarou. Let's go with G-Mace!

#5 WEST VIRGINIA vs. #12 CLEMSON

Leaning towards West Va. but this is a pretty even match-up. And cue the #12 upset radar! But West Virginia have some interesting players in So. F Deniz Kilicli's timely left-handed, awkwardly-sweet hook shots, even though he's right handed. Sr. F John Flowers led the Big East in blocks at only 6-7. Jr. G Darryl "Truck or Treat" Bryant and Sr. G Crazy Joe Mazulla can show flashes of penetrate-and-dish genius or UNC guard-like turnovers within the same game! West Va. are well coached by the Huggy Bear in how they can make adjustments in mid-game and calmly break any full-court press. Clemson has talent, but never jumped out and caught any of the Insanity Report Correspondents' eyes this season, but they have a similar record vs. similar opponents as West Virginia.

A plus for West Virginia in leading scorer, Sr. G Casey Mitchell can be a Clemson plus in that Mitchell can be hot or cold. He is a shadow of his first half of the season self before he got suspended and has been coming off the bench since his return from suspension. Flipping a coin on this one, and the tie-breaker goes to the Big East tested Mountaineers.

#4 KENTUCKY vs. #13 PRINCETON

Loving Kentucky as a sleeper pick to go deep into the tourney. They definitely have a Top 5 team in the nation as far as talent goes. Kudo's go to them in terms of gelling like Magellan (they're soooooo gellin'), compared to last years Kentucky squad. They have been an up and down team all year, but I feel their defence will lift them up to anchor the gellin'!

Brandon Knight is a crafty freshman point guard, but his strength is definitely in his 3-pt gunnerage! Fr. Gunner, Doron Lamb will hit from downtown as well. Former walk-on, Sr. C Josh Harrellson has been a great surprise in his timely scoring and bruising rebounding throughout the whole season.

Fr. G Terrence Jones is this year's Gordan Hayward, as by the end of Kentucky's run, wherever they end up, the nation will know Terrance Jones' name! He is a silky smooth 6-9 wing who can create shots from all points of the court, and has alright defence positioning, but can get out muscled on particular match-ups.

And Princeton? Not even Princeton alumnus, Carlton Banks' "Carlton-dance" can dance around Harrelson's size and Jones' athleticism.

#6 XAVIER vs. #11 MARQUETTE

Can Marquette stop Tu Holloway from Xavier? That's the main question for these 2 teams who has been seen very little by the Insanity Report Staff. Paulsen says to ride the Canadian karma of Marquette with So. PG Junior Cadougan. But Tu Holloway is a killer scorer who is still under many peeps' radar, including Commissioner Adolph's.

Marquette has shown resiliency in the Big East this year, but this is a pick 'em game. Flip your loonie. Queen's grill: Xavier. Loonie Bum: Marquette. Best 4 outta 7 flips. Go!

#3 SYRACUSE vs. #14 INDIANA STATE

I'm taking an incredible gamble here and definite flack from T by going Indiana State on this one. From the onset of the season in November, even Coach Jim Boeheim has questioned Syracuse's Hoop IQ. They still have the killer Boeheim 2-3 zone with the incredible wingspan in the backcourt of that zone.

But Syracuse have over-rated players in Jr. F Kris Joseph, Jr. PG Scoop Jardine and especially in Fr. C Fab Melo. The 'Cuse had a 2-6 Big East run followed by their 6-1 finish after that 2-6 run. They've peaked, and my hunch says Indiana State based on Larry Bird alumni karma and Slider karma!

Somewhere Alex Vieweg is heard saying, "Wird to Larry Bird!" Noted, Al. Noted! Word!

#7 WASHINGTON vs. #10 GEORGIA

UDub have one of the Top 5 talented teams in the country. Bar none. A great combo of guards and forwards that compliment each other greatly in any half-court set or fast break opportunities. Jr. PG Isaiah Thomas is one of the quickest guards in the nation and probably pound-for-pound one of the strongest players in the nation, which is evident in his drives to the paint, standing up to much bigger guys compared to his 5-8 frame. Big guy, Matthew Bryan-Amaning is a definite presence in the paint, as Venoy Overton has timely hoops and defensive stops off the bench.

So what's the problem!?!?!? The problem is that the Dawg's found a way in 90% of their games to shoot themselves in the feet with horrible turnovers and easy buckets for their opponents digging themselves into nightly holes.

The Dawg's parlayed their talent into a rare backdoor Pac-10 Tourney Title, but their up tempo style will be an interesting match-up in the 2nd round vs. UNC as both teams are prone to feet self-shooting!

Georgia? Dunno. Anyone have any smack on Georgia?

#2 NORTH CAROLINA vs. #15 LONG ISLAND

Roy Williams has done THE BEST COACHING JOB with this year's Tar Heels then any of his previous KU/UNC squads! UNC still have Hoop IQ scharts, but Roy has been able to limit those scharting accidents while harnessing UNC's strength in their size and wingspan.

So. F, John "Olive Oil" Henson still has his spagetti-arm strength in the blocks, but his athleticism allows him to board and get many blocks. Fr. F Harrison Barnes has grown immensely since his ill-advised pre-season All-American nomination by the national media. His jumpshot is silky smooth and it's pretty to watch his consistent release with his shoulders nice and square on every jumper. He still needs to harness the killer instinct that he can possess, but lacks in expressing it consistently.

Jr. C Tyler Zeller is the most consistent player for UNC giving great efforts in the paint and like Shawn Kemp, is always banging! Zeller's hustle is as regular as Harry Dunne on Turbo Lax!

The thing with North Carolina is that they will commit horrible turnovers, particularly on their post entry passes, but no one in the nation can keep up UNC's fast break. That's why we're liking UNC into the Sweet Sixteen as they match-up well to UDub's turnover-prone uptempo style.

That's it for the East Region. Make your picks. Stay tuned for more.

Commish A-Dish

Out!

Conference Tourney Week!

Conference Tourney week starts off with a bang today.  Dance tickets are being punched (Butler, Oakland) and a shocking upset happened on Day #1 of the Big East Tourney with Villanova losing in the final seconds to South Florida!!

Madness is truly here folks- stand up and embrace it!!!

After a .500 weekend, we are looking to build are our bank heading into the tourney with lots of strong plays to be made.

Today we liked Marquette -7.5, Butler -4, & Dayton -2 which all won and covered.  However, it wasn't a hugely profitable day because of some unlucky halftime wagering.  Which brings us to quick take on 2nd half wagers:

Betting on Halftime Lines
When making 2nd half wagers, you are looking for value when comparing the halftime line to the original line brought out by oddsmakers for the game.   For example, tonight George Washington was a 7.5 point favourite against St. Josephs.  At half the St. Joe's was up 11.   Thus, at halftime the line is already 18.5 points away from what oddsmakers originally set the game.  Normally oddsmakers are not this far off on games so immediately this should catch your attention.

The half time line came out GW (-7.0) and immediately there is tremendous value to take that bet.  What you say???  GW was getting whooped at half yet we liked them -7?   Shouldn't we automatically like the dog who is pulling the upset?

More often then not, there will be a regression towards the mean, or towards to the true line set out by oddsmakers, especially if the favourite is down and half.   They will be motived after the coach yells at them to play better.   The value comes into play as a halftime line of -7 means that you only need GW +3 or better for the game to win your bet.  At the start of the game it was GW -7 so there is 10 points of value.  

When you combine this value, and verify some boxscore stats.  (i.e. GW was shooting poorly in first half - below their season average - and St. Joes couldn't miss), you have a halftime situation worth betting.  These kind of situations don't occur for each game so you have to watch carefully to pick your spots.

This thought process came true as GW rallied from 11 down to tie the game up with 30 seconds remaining and nearly won it in regulation on a brick shot with 1 seconds remaining.  Unfortunately in OT they didn't play well and failed to cover, but the theory held true and was simply a bad beat with good logic.


WEDNESDAY PLAYS
Reading the forums and websites there are couple key plays we like for Wednesday games:

Colorado (-4.5) over Iowa St.
Some value here as Colorado lost in a bad spot about 10 days ago to Iowa St.  Colorado had just upset Texas, then had to play Iowa State on road in a meaningless game just before returning home for Senior day.   (Bad situational angle)  Iowa St. is 2-9 in road games this year and expect this matchup to be more like the game in Colorado which was 30 point blowout as they are a bubble team and need to win a round or two in the Big 12 to justify to the committe (like Marquette tonight) that they do indeed belong.

Arizona St. (Pick) over Oregon
There was a great writeup on Pregame.com about this game by a trusted handicapper.  Case is convincing and we are following along.  http://pregame.com/forums/forums/t/152645.aspx

Other leans include...

UCONN - GTown is not playing well at moment and UConn may have build some momentum today in win over Depaul.  Watch to see if UCONN may be a small dog here.

ST. Johns - The Jonnies will be at home playing at MSG and draw a tired Rutgers team who went into OT to barely beat Seton Hall.

Missouri - With Pat Knight being fired, Texas Tech is likly in turmoil and won't be focused on this meaningless matchup as they know they aren't going to win the Big 12 and can't make the big dance any other way.  Missouri will be playing hard to ensure they don't fall on the wrong side of the bubble.

NCAA Regular Season Ends, means MADNESS just around the corner!

After a busy work stretch in the real world that has kept D$ money away from this blog - we are back strong for the Final week of NCAA regular season.  

Looking to continue building out bank heading into conference tourney week - where we can crush the books for some monster profits!

D$ has been able to squeeze in some good reads on handicapping and betting theories over of the past few weeks in an effort to continually improve those skills.  Some early dividends resulted from that work on Thursday night as I was 3-0 for day taking Wisconsin (-7) over Indiana, Washington St..(-4) covering at home against USC, and ULCA (+8) keeping it close on the road against the Huskies of Washington.  

For the Saturday games we found great videos from old school vegas handicappers at Pregame.com which break down key Big East, Big 12, and SEC games.  

Marco definitely is a situational handicapper who likes to pick teams in good spots. Missouri (+3) at home over Kansas and Marquette (Pick) at Seton Hall - both pick I like as well.

Best Bet of the day is a prime time affair on CBS with UNC (Pick) at home to Duke.  (5:00pm tip)  

UNC has many factors working in their favour playing at home, Senior day, and this will be a huge revenge game after how they lost a few weeks ago in Cameron..  Duke is very over-valued in a weak ACC this year and like our odds of North Carolina just needing a win at home here.

More picks and takes to come as the weekend rolls along.

Before finishing off this post, a big shout out to the "Dean of Gambling" and Easycovers contributor, JDawg who is headed back to the big dance for 2011 BC Boys AAA Provincial Championships.  The North Vancouver Argyle Pipers won the Howe Sound Tourney on Thursday night and punched their ticket for the second straight year.  (Nice photo JDawg!)   Check out the write up of Coach Day in the Vancouver Province.

http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/high_school_hamper/archive/2011/03/04/argyle-wins-howe-sound-pipers-make-return-trip-to-the-b-c-tournament.aspx