The Curse of Gus: The Madness Thus Far....and takes from the Portland Regional

First off…..no smack from anyone in the Insanity Pool? None? Not even from the Commish?….so here’s some thoughts…….

A huge chunk of the Insanity Board of Governors went to Portland….saw some Madness live, so here’s some takes from the Portland trip….

Highlight game of the weekend for sure was the Long Beach State/New Mexico game. The whole Madness crew snuck down to 10 rows behind the Long Beach State bench and saw the Madness intensity in it's truest form! We felt it and witnessed it! Long Beach State's Casper Ware was tryin to take over, but him along with the rest of the Long Beach State team was dog tired at the 8 minute mark and tried to truck a win v. New Mexico. They grinded and grinded and came up short. Ware had two great, but contested looks to the hole, but missed both in the last minute. He makes those lay-ups, then LBS wins. But all can attest that everyone could feel the Madness! We all felt it, but a small part of us felt like we were robbed. Why? Hopefully this wasn't an omen for this year's Madness.....hmmmm!

Anywhoo...Louisville/Davidson was the first game of the Thursday games, and Vancouver, BC product and Davidson point guard, Nik Cochran was as useless as McDonalds' attempt to make gravy for their fries back in the day! This kid is on the All-Ten-N-Two Team…..he played way too safe and made no attempts to go after anything! Cochran and Davidson had so many chances to make a run and even take a lead. The door was open for the LBS/New Mexico energy to start rolling here. But Davidson decided to go Clive Owen in "Inside Man" and stay in the safe! Lame!

The last game of the night had New Mexico State with their lame ass mustached-cowboy mascot vs. the upstart Indiana Hoosiers. New Mexico State owes the entire Portland Rose Garden their money back for their horrendous performance vs. Indiana. They didn’t try at all. They pulled off the Kobe Bryant sand-bag performance of the Madness! Plus, you could tell that Indiana is a HUGE program with their get-up and two whole sections of Hoosier fans, but their band was also on the All Ten-N-Two Team....they played it safe AND were boring!

The first of the two major highlights of the trip was sitting behind the Wichita State Shockers Band for the WSU/VCU game and realizing the Wichita State Shocker Band and cheer-leaders sign was indeed the Shocker Sign!!!!! No sh^t! They bent that ring finger and slung the sign up for all free throw attempts and cheers! Whaaa!?!?!? This is the Madness.......you know you're in a different stratosphere when College Hoop schticks can cross the borders of appropriateness and add to the energy of the MaDneSs!!!!

But, K-Smack didn’t know what the sign meant, so it had to be googled on the ol' smart phone! K-Smack being K-Smack!!!!! Plus the Wichita State Shocker mascot, WuShock was hilarious as hell giving us an entertaining as hell show! When the band was on the floor during a timeout, WuShock used the curtained partition to rise up and down like those elevator bits and rose up like he was doing the wave with different hand gestures. Yes the Shocker sign was one of them, and being the first row behind, everybody was laughing their asses off! WuShock, your the Official Insanity Pool Mascot of the Madness!!!!

The Official Insanity Pool Band of the Madness!?!?!? Hands down the VCU Pep Band!!!

This was the second of the two main highlights with Tuba Man stealing the show for the VCU Pep Band! This guy swiveled his hips while playing his tuba rocking the tunes out while being in his own Madness world! He was possessed! Check him out. See if you can make out where Tuba Man is......so good! This is actual footage from the Madness in Portland and VCU Band/Tuba man owning it!

And check out this video……on the day off on Friday, the VCU band played in a park in Portland and we just missed them by 10-15 minutes as we sat down for lunch. Here’s their performance though, we found it on Youtube. They're freaking amazing and the VCU Pep Band is the exact opposite of Nik Cochran...they go after it!

So good. Chills! The band leader was a piece of work too. He started every game with a 3-piece suit on, eventually taking off his jacket and then changing into a black Batman t-shirt with his yellow VCU hat on backwards. In the Saturday game, he tore off his suit down to a Superman t-shirt this time. As you can see in the video, there are few people that love their job as much as the VCU Band Leader and the whole VCU Pep Band! Huge ups! I've watched this Portland Director Park performance fiddy times already, never gets old!

Other highlights included watching Lehigh's stomping of the Puke Poo Devils at the Blitz Ladd sports pub on Friday night, right after watching Ohio's upset of Michigan. There was a huge crowd of Ohio alumni in the Blitz Ladd pub as well. They were led by Ohio lady fan who owned it with her drunken chant of "Fuuu-ucck Mish-ihh-gan!" (clap) (clap), (clap) (clap) (clap)!!!

Also there was the Gonzaga/Ohio State game we watched on Saturday morning with our TV having the only high def channel in the whole bar, so our TV was 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the other TV's, which meant that our cheers were always 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the bars....it was prophetic!

It was an epic trip. Huge thanks to Schmitty and Jesse for organizing a huge chunk of the trip with the house and all and showing us around Portland! Everybody has to experience the Madness live, at least once in their lives!! The Insanity Board of Governors are busy planning next year's Madness trip to San Jose! Can't wait!

One casualty of the trip was missing out on UBC's epic March Madness run in Calgary! Their the best team in Canada! Epic run Birds and congrats to Alex Vieweg and Zara Huntley on their legendary 5-year runs! Watch out for the Birds next year!

And then there is the rest of the Madness! There's many takes to be said, and perhaps they'll be said in future Insanity Reports, but to adhere to the new policy of shorter Insanity Reports, lets end on this point.

There's no doubt that this year's Madness has been fantastic, highlighted by two #15 seeds winning on the same day where there was a record of 8 upsets on the Friday of the Madness!

But what has been severely lacking is a BUZZER BEATER in this years Madness!!!

Here is our eye-witness view of VCU's near miss at the buzzer vs. Indiana. You can see VCU drive down the floor and set up a good look with the puppies set. Even though VCU misses, it is a great Madness moment with Indiana rushing the court, but the disappointment on T-Smack's, Martina's and Tarah's face is very apparent. The upset is extremely rampant in Paulsen's face as he is so mad, he's as upset as Amy Squirrel in "Bad Teacher"....Paulsen........"don't do that with your mouth....regular mouth!" Here's the clip......

This is no accident!

This year is the first year in many years that Gus Johnson has not been involved in any play-by-play of any game in the Madness. It is a travesty that even though he is not signed by CBS anymore that there was no loophole where Gus could still be involved in the Madness broadcasts!?!?!?!? No Gus this year? No buzzer beaters? Coincedence?

First, please allow us to re-iterate Bill Simmon's first decree of the Law of Gus back in November 2010:

I keep mentioning the Law of Gus without ever really defining it, so let's do it right now. If Gus Johnson is calling an NFL game, the odds quintuple that (A) the lead will change hands in the fourth quarter; (B) someone will complete a long pass in a big moment that will make Gus' voice hit an octave only dogs can hear; and (C) the game will go into overtime or at least come damned close. It seems impossible that the mere presence of an announcer would alter the course of the game, but here's my theory: I think God sits in his Man Cave on Sundays and says, "Which game is that Gus Johnson calling? I get a kick out of that guy. I think I'll make his game exciting and see if he completely loses his mind."

Bill's "Law of Gus" has, of course, transferred to the Madness with many legendary calls from Princeton's backdoor upset of UCLA in the late 90's to 2006's epic Gonzaga/UCLA ending. We can't forget the Xavier/Kansas State game from 2 years back!

How bout this year?

Nope, the Madness is batting Oh-fer-Madness, and as J-Dawg called it, "It's The Law of Gus in Reverse".

Indeed J-Dawg.....it's the Curse of Gus!!!!!.....it's the Curse of the Gus-bino and The Curse of the Billy-Gus rolled up into one!

Well until CBS/TBS/TNT and/or TRU TV brings Gus back, all we have is this clip of one of Gus' legendary calls in the Pac-12 tourney last year! "Cooooold Blooded!!!!"

I know we are part of just a cult following of major Gus Johnson fans, but something has to be done.....CBS has to hear our voices! Our cries! Gus and the Madness is like peas and carrots! Like Starsky and Hutch! Like friggin' Charlie Sheen and a crack pipe!! They have to be together!

Enjoy this Gus clip, it's all we have so far....memories of Gus Insanity of the Past.....(sigh)....enjoy!

During last night's game the Insanity Board was texting back and forth with takes of the games. J-Dawg, of course sparked the convo that led to the "Curse of Gus" conclusion. We all felt slightly empty inside, but as soon as the Sweet 16 ended on Friday night, Hoosiers was on TV!

It was like the Madness gods heard our cries......as we flip the channel from the Madness onto Hoosiers, it was on the part where Shooter organizes the picket-fence and Merle curls the screen and swish!!!!! Buzzer beater!!!!

You could here Gus somewhere saying, "Merle....Rise and Fire....with the J....(swish)...Haaaaahh Haaaahhhhhh!!!! Coooold Blooooded!!!......Whhaaattta game!!!!"

J-Dawg and I exchanged texts of classic Hoosier lines for the rest of the movie and Paulsen said that the convo should have been archived.

"Think of chewing gum.....at the end of the game I wanna know what flavor he is"....when Buddy fouls out, Gene Hackman looks over at a slumping Buddy. Buddy turns to him and says, "It was dentyne!"

Then Gene Hackman needs the preacher's son, Strap to go into the game........"Strap...god wants you on the floor"........"Don't shoot the ball unless you're under the basket all by yourself!!!".....Strap makes some hoops and he tells Hackman, "It's the lord, I can feel his strength." Coach Hackman says, "well keep his strength in the dribble alright!"

Then there's the scene where they enter the HUGE and legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse before the State Championship. Coach Hackman get the players to measure the length of the free throw line to the hoop and the height of the hoop.....he concludes with, "I think you'll find these exact same measurements as our gym back in Hichory!"

Pure Madness....pure chills.....here's another spine tingling scene from Hoosiers. This is the essence of the Madness!

"...and David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it....and it struck the Philistine in the head, and he fell to the ground. Amen."

Enjoy!

To save space still, and to sum up......as J-Dawg put it....."this is a perfect way to end the Sweet 16!"

But as much as we loved watching Hoosiers and old Gus Johnson clips...we need some real buzzer beaters! It'll happen......David will always trump Goliath. Patience!

Please Madness Gods, lift the Curse of Gus for one, maybe two buzzer beaters today! Or perhaps tomorrow or next week in N'awlins!

Patience though! Trust the Madness!

We need Gus back!

.......Eff it!!!! Here's some more Gus clips from Madness past. Enjoy....

Here's Gus' "The Slipper still fiiiiiits!!!" call from Gonzaga's first NCAA run back in 1999.

Another favourite from 2006....UCLA's comeback vs. Gonzaga with the steal and put back. Gus loses his shit highlighted by his classic, "Heartbreak City" call! Watch until you hear Len Elmore's "Holy mackeral!!!!!"....then you can click to the fast forwarded clip in the clip below when Gus has a near aneurism from the last second shot. If Batista's shot, "with the caaaaaa-tch!" goes in, I've said many times, Gus would probably have died of a heart attack

Here's the 2005 Vermont over Syracuse upset:

Technically not a Gus moment from the Madness but it's still crazy, especially with Bill Raftery calling the game with Gus and both being speechless after the shot's made and then Bill's classic call. Gus leads the call with, "Here come the All-America!"........then Raftery with, "Gus!!!!! Major Onions!!!!!"....."Oh whatta smooch!....Whoooooo!!!!!"

Again, not a Madness moment, but here's a classic call from this year from one of Gus' Big Ten Network broadcasts:

And lets end on a high note. Back to the 2010 classic Xavier/Kansas State game.....it's a long clip, but it was quite possibly the greatest game in Madness history! So many moments!

LONG LIVE GUS! BRING GUS BACK TO THE MADNESS!!!!!

REVERSE THE CURSE!!

FAVORITES, FRAUDS AND DARKHORSES OF THE MADNESS!: The Definitive Preview

So we had one day of Madness in the “First 4” with two pretty good comeback wins from Western Kentucky and BYU to give us a pretty good sized dish of chicken wings as Madness Appetizers! (But ahhhh, I ordered the dry garlic ribs……shut up you got you’re comebacks!!)

Today should be no different with the other 2 play-in games: Cal vs. South Florida. Cal is a good team in a bum conference and South Florida is a mediocre team in a beast conference. Compelling match-up.

Oh and there’s the other play-in game for another 16th seed, which brings us to some Pat Knight karma, who coaches Lamar as they play Vermont. Check out his “tell-it-like-it-is” press conference a couple weeks back. J-Dawg was pretty pumped….it’s absolute gold for the first 4 minutes of the clip. Pat Knight kicks his player outta a news conference saying, “get outta here, you have no idea how to win!!!”…..ziiiinnnng! …..he goes on saying, “these guys are stealing money by being on scholarship”….now this is quality reality TV!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72nc62XAcY

Like I said, some good dishes of appys.

But onto the Madness! Onto that one moment that’ll punch you in the face with unexpected comebacks….unexpected wins by surprising teams! Again, this IS tru reality TV….key word on REAL! Beat it producer driven shows like the Bachelor Geek choosing that phony stease!!!! I’ll take a game orchestrated by Pat Knight…..Tom Izzo…..and yes even Coach Sha-shaka-smart-is-coming-after-me-ski over a producer-driven “reality” show any day of the week.

The Insanity Crew is hittin the road in a couple hours, so lets get to the shot gun preview of the Favourites, Frauds and Darkhorses. Enjoy

FAVOURITES

NORTH CAROLINA
Everyone is aware of the top three forwards and point guard, Kendall Marshall. Some concerns are the health of John Henson and his wrist injury. There’s UNC’s somewhat susceptible defense, however improving. There’s Harrison Barnes occasional questionable shot selection at key moments of the game.

But there’s the rise of UNC freshmen, James Michael McAdoo and PJ Hairston. There’s Kendall Marshall’s finally looking for his own shots instead of the pass-only approach.

And there’s UNC incredible fast break that no one can contend with. They look like Kris Young, Alex Vieweg, Zara Huntley, Leigh Stansfield and Kristen Hughes running show on this side of the border! If Henson’s wrist is indeed healthy and not as limp as Bradley Thomas’ then the UNC is my team to go all the way. It’ll be a berve wracking run, but their bracket is quite favorable.

There’s alotta questions for UNC, but no one has their ingredients! NO ONE HAS THE INGREDIENTS LIKE THE UBC THUNDERBIRDS EITHER! Good luck Birds at Nationals in Calgary! Bring home that banner! Black on black!!!!!!

KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Again, the main scoop on Kentucky is in the first Top 4 seeds Insanity Report. Again the huge strength in Kentucky is their extremely talented team led by All-Adolph Player of the Year candidate, Anthony Davis. I challenge all of your potential Smack to veer off the obvious take regarding Davis’ uni-brow. Yes, it instantly grabs your attention, but when the guy can jump from the key and still block an effing 3-point shot, Davis can have a freaking upside down face ala Family Guy’s Jake Tucker!

Let’s see if super talented sophomore, Terence Jones can have his second ball to finally drop. This is a guy that came outta the blocks with great games as a freshman last year turning everyone’s head, then once the SEC schedule and Madness came around, he wilted like Lebron James in the 4th quarter. But Jones did show some stones in the SEC final finally going after it, despite their loss to Vanderbilt. If the second one finally drops, the Wildcats will be dangerous! If not, then the Wildcats are a prime target for a senior-laden team to out-physical them which shouldn’t happen until the Final 4 with whoever comes outta the West Region. (cough) Michigan State or Mizzou.

MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
There’s Coach Tom Izzo and Forward, Draymond Green! Nuff’ said. Draymond Green is a dangerous yet undersized 6-6 post that gives teams fits with Izzo’s maestro-like game plans of hiding Green’s and the Spartans weaknesses (undersized frontcourt and lack of fast break) and highlighting their strengths (relentless rebounding and opportunistic points of turnovers)

Insanity Report Law #1 states: “Never bet against the Izzo….you don’t have to bet for him, but never bet against the Izzo!” No more true with this years Spartan team and especially their bracket match-ups.

SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN
The most stable favorite going into the Madness despite their early exit in the Big East Tourney this past weekend. They don’t have the questionable youthfulness of Kentucky or the injury questions of UNC.

The ‘Cuse have 3 veteran ballers in PG Scoop Jardine, Wing, Brandon Triche and Forward, Kris Joseph. Fab Melo is a huge huge presence in the paint, making Coach Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone even more deadlier then an Alex Vieweg jumper! The x-factor is their bench. The ‘Cuse have Forward, CJ Fair and Guard, Dion Waitors offering instant offense off the bench. However, their shot selection is predictable and they can be as cold as a Bradley Thomas jumper. Waiters can score at will, demonstrated by his 13 ppg (2nd on the team), but he is prone to bad turnovers at bad times and he is a liability on the top of the 2-3 zone.

……OH WAIT, Fab Melo was deemed ineligible for the Madness…….adjust those brackets if you must! Will Terry McKaig stick to his guns or fall victim to the sexy pick in Florida State or darkhorse pick in Ohio State! Well? T?

FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
These guys were originally pegged into the Darkhorse section, but their resume and ingredients scream Madness favorite.

First off, they beat UNC twice and Duke twice in the same season! They have all the ingredients with huge size in the blocks with stingier defense than a Cav Whitely tip-calculator. They can rain 3’s consistently with rare droughts! They have all the ingredients highlighted by THE BEST defense in the nation.

They are officially the “sexy” pick to win the Madness, which at most times seems, too obvious, but the proof is in the pudding for Florida State who have been slowly building their team through 5-star and blue chips recruits. This could be their coming out party this month.

MISSOURI TIGERS
These guys sneak into the favorites column as well. They “sneak” in due to the their offensive make up with a 4 guard, 1 post offense! There is no size, but they have proven all year that they can get timely rebounds despite their size disadvantage. They have lost their games due to mismatches in the paint. But their bracket has no teams with such advantages, leading to a dream match up vs. Izzo and the Spartans who also have a great, yet undersized front court!

FRAUDS

PUKE POO DEVILS
Soft and slumping frontcourt in the Bumlee brothers. Plus softie forward Ryan Kelly is questionable with an injured foot. There is no true point guard with the failed experiment to convert super 3-pt shooter, Seth Curry to the point. And Austin Rivers is a solid solid freshmen, yet he jacks too many shots and tries to force Nolan Smith-like scoring spurts way too much. K-Smack made a good point in that Duke doesn’t have any other option but to have Rivers jack shots, but even if he does get hot, it won’t last past the first weekend.

Duke is susceptible to even a first round loss to #15 seed Lehigh as Duke has the WORST defense against the dribble drive leading to so many drive and dishes for easy lay-ups or open treys. This was evident all the way back in November and Duke has showed zero improvement in this weakness!

Lehigh has a scoring machine in CJ McCollum. Duke should still win, BUT if they are cold and McCollum gets hot, then we party like it’s 2007 when Duke was out in the first round to a buzzer beater from VCU!

LOUISVILLE (?)
I’m just saying, cuz Louisville’s entry to the Madness this year is just like last year’s Madness. They entered as the Big East Tourney champ and heavy favorite vs. an unknown. Then blam, Morehead State explodes onto the scene with a win and the best t-shirt this side of “I’m with stupid” t-shirts!

As much as I respect Coach Pitino’s coaching job this year, they are Big East tourney champs, and are going up against a relatively unknown Davidson squad. I fell for this last year in choosing Louisville to win, and go deep in last years Madness and it feels like history might repeat itself. I choose Davidson on the basis of ‘Fool me once (like last year), shame on Louisville, Fool me twice, shame on me’! Go Davidson!

FLORIDA GATORS
They have OK forwards, which I always under-rate, but they jack way too many treys still. Very few of those are in Kristin Highes-like rhythm. Plus they look like they’re facing a defensive juggernaut in Virginia in the 2nd round. So bye-bye Gator clamp!

SAINT LOUIS BILLIKENS
This year these guys would win a game in convincing fashion, which would make one think they’ll win easily the next time out, and almost like clockwork, they choke! Look for the same vs. Memphis. Plus what makes them, so special that they get the full spelling of “Saint” Louis and everything else is “St.” Louis!?!?!? Beat it Billikens!

WISCONSIN BADGERS
We love Wisconsin. Got much respect for the Badgers and Coach Bo Ryan, but just don’t feel the mojo from PG Jordan Taylor and this year’s Badger crew. However, Forward, Ryan Evans flat-top is a repeat winner of this year’s Chris Mullin Do-of-the Year.

MURRY STATE
Don’t trust their 30-1 record. Just ask T-Smack and the Commish!

DARKHORSES

GEORGETOWN HOYAS
Not many peeps are glossing over the Hoyas, but they are ferrrr real!

They are led by their Senior Center, Henry Sims who leads the team in freaking assists. Only Zara Huntley and Leigh Stansfield pass better off the high post and short corner then Henry does! This offensive set is so tough to stop as the ball goes through Sims on every possession with many looks. Sims will dish a high-low pass to Otto Porter from the elbow or pass outta double teams when he’s on the blocks. He can make timely hoops, making forcing the opponent to have to respeck his jumper.

GTown has typical John Thompson III blue-collar defense, but look for this year’s Madness to be the coming out party for Freshman forward, Otto Porter! He oozes offensive IQ like a young K-Smack, yet displays some defensive lapses like a young (and old) Dave Adolph. His timely hoops will overshadow the defensive lapses he has.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
They have super forward Thomas Robinson and a mish-mash of solid role players. Trust in Coach Bill Self to pull off an Izzo-like performance for the Rock Chalk Jayhawks for a deep run, but their lack of a “Robin” to Thomas Robinson’s “Batman”, will be tough vs. Georgetown in the Sweet 16

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
The Buckeyes are only a darkhorse as they have had some untimely losses vs. great teams, which has led to them dipping under the radar. But they have all the ingredients in Center, Jared Sullinger, 3-pt specialist (yet, cold 3 point % this year), William Buford and PG Aaron Craft.

Look for an amazing match-up in the paint in the 2nd round with Gonzaga and Robert Sacre vs. Sullinger and the Truckeyes.

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
A lot of ingredients in Freshmen PG Trey Burke and wing, Tim Hardaway Jr. But little experience, that I feel will hinder them in the 2nd round or Sweet 16. This will be great building experience for John Beilien’s squad.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES
They had a very disappointing non-conference schedule with many bad losses, as well as bad start to their SEC conference sked this year. But the Commodores have used their senior laden line-up to dig themselves outta their huge hole to take the SEC Tourney title last weekend.

K-STATE WILDCATS
Any team that swept Missouri twice in one year can beat Syracuse in the 2nd round, especially with Fab Melo’s ineligibility.

LONG BEACH STATE 49ers
Chalk up one of the yearly 12 seed upsets to Long Beach this year as they have been preparing for this years Madness with the gauntlet of all gauntlet non-conference sked vs. Pitt, San Diego State, Louisville, Kansas, North Carolina, Xavier and K-State! Wow!
Plus look for Casper Ware to score at will like a Young Coach “Bear” Corness at the Bear Café in Cali, and James Ellis’ go-go gadget arms to get many a steal at the top of the Long Beach 2-3 zone.

BELMONT BRUINS
Before the bracket came out, we had Belmont pegged as a 14th seed dynamo upset pick, with their senior laden line-up with 2 years of great Madness experience…….until they were paired up vs. Georgetown in the first round. Sorry Belmont. Great run though!

That’s it.

Please allow this opportunity to congratulate Brent “Iron Dawg” Day and his beautiful wife Chantelle on the birth of their Madness Baby Boy!

Enjoy the Madness. Fill out those brackets and bring the Smack!

Yours in Madness,
Commissioner Adolph

Tonight's March Madness Play-In Games.......it starts!

Don't worry everyone, tonight's play-in games don't count for the brackets, but they do offer some early Madness!!!

We ave the first 2 play-in games tonight with Mississippi State vs. Western Kentucky in the 16 seed play in game and BYU vs. Iona in the First 4 play-in game.

First, I really like BYU -2 tonight vs. an Iona that I feel has no biz getting an at-large bid in the tourney over the likes of a solid Drexel team or even Miami-Fla. Iona's a run and gun team, but BYU had a tough WCC sked to contend with and Paulsen has great intel on BYU especially their killer performance losing to Gonzaga in the WCC semi's. Iona's run and gun style plays into BYU's weakness but still, Iona played tomato cans despite a good Puerto Rico tourney showing and a slid road sked in Decemeber. Brandon Davies is an unstoppable post that offers the necessary slow down style to negate Iona's run and gun-ness! Liking BYU if ya heeeeeeeard!

And I tracked Mississippi Valley State through the tourney. A dominating performance in the reg season and tourney in their tiny conference. Western Kentucky was a 7 seed in their tiny conference tourney. No other intel but if you have ESPN Insider, Joe Lunardi has the perfect breakdown of each team with intel on the teams strengths and weaknesses and player reports and all stats. Looking at his breakdown, I'd still lean Miss Valley State due to their performance and the Jerry Rice alumni karma, but gonna stay away.

Ohhhhh the Madness!!!!

Commish is out!

The 2012 Bracket is out!.....Initial Takes!

So it’s here!!!! The Insanity Report Staff have been working around the clock for the final takes on this year’s Madness! There will be full breakdowns for all 4 regions, but here’s an initial shot gun take of some teams.

Note: there will be an attempt to make this years blogs less like War and Peace and more like a piece you can read in under 40 minutes. (“War!....what is it good for?....absolutely nothing…hhhuuuggghhhhh!)

Let’s start off with the Top 4 teams in each Region:

SOUTH REGION

#1 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Freshmen-laden line-up with uber-talented sophomore in Terence Jones. They’ve taken all opponents with an undefeated SEC regular season. They have tough offense and an unstoppable defense, led by Uber-browed Freshman, Anthony Davis. Coach Calipari knows how to handle super talented one-n-done freshmen, but the question is not if, but when will Kentucky’s youth and inexperience show up to spark a tight game? They have a pretty cake region led by the #2 seed coming up….

#2 DUKE BLUE DEVILS
Ohhhhh-ver raaaate-ed!!!! Clap! clap!....clap! clap! clap!!! Overall a line up that is still swapping their starters as Coach K can’t find a consistent line up yet. Duke’s defense is atrocious! They can’t stop the drive and dish for open lay-ups or treys all year and it looks like they still haven’t made any adjustments to fix this. Duke is not peaking. #15 Lehigh has a super scorer in CJ McCollum that could give Duke fits if they have an off night in the 1st round.

#3 BAYLOR BEARS
Another team with great talent. They seem to be plateauing as well. The 2 Jones’-ezzzzz are in a lull, and Baylor has not had many big wins in the regular season. Their Big 12 tourney is a fitting storyline for the Bears. What game was the indicator of how they’ll do in the Madness? The big win vs. Kansas in their first game in the Big 12 tourney? Or the poop-kicking they got at the hands of Missouri in the Big 12 final?

#4 INDIANA HOOSIERS
So pumped to being able to see this team in Portland! They came outta the blocks with huge non-conference wins and then did some damage in the rough and tumble Big Ten Conference. IU runs the ball great but at inopportune moments. They can get hot and cold from the three and are starting to use super freshman center, Cody Zeller more in the blocks. IU did lose Senior guard, Verdell Jones in the Big Ten tourney to a toen ACL. We’ll see how IU can adapt.

WEST REGION

#1 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
Two words: Coach Izzo! Last year Michigan State had a talented but messy locker room off the court. They were also quite injured. This year MSU has played a murderer’s row schedule with a healthy line-up and players that like each other. Sr. F Draymond Green leads a smart Spartans team that play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses better than any team in the country

#2 MISSOURI TIGERS
They live and die by the jump shot but execute their offense fantastically to get these shots in rhythm as opposed to just jacking shots like a Florida Gators squad. They pose a risky match-up with their 4 guard starting line-up. They have great pressure D and if their jumpers are falling then there are few teams that can keep up with Mizzou. Can they stay hot for 4-6 straight games to go deep in the Madness? Mizzou has been prone to be a tale of two halves team as well with a cold 1st half followed by a hot 2nd half or vice versa. They did pull out a full 40 minute performance in the Big 12 final…we shall see. It’ll be dependent on the match-ups

#3 MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES
They have Michigan State size (undersized) without the Michigan State talent. They are prone to stretches of “flatness” during games. To be honest, I gotta look into Marquette more, but the Insanity Staff agrees that Marquette poses some threat, but are not coming into the Madness with guns a-blazing

#4 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
Flat out a bang up coaching performance by Head Coach Rick Pitino with Louisville winning the Big East Tourney despite a huge rash of injuries to key players all season. Jr. PG Peyton Siva is over-achieving right now. How long will it last? Louisville have no huge guard or forward threats but just find ways to win.

EAST REGION

#1 SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN
The top team coming into the Madness despite their early exit in the Big East Tourney. They are led by a trio of veteran players in PG Scoop Jardine, Wingman Brandon Triche and Small Forward Kris Joseph. All 3 have Madness experience with Sophomore huge bigman, Fab Melo being a game changing defensive presence in the post. The ‘Cuse have the wingspan in the frontcourt to make Coach Boeheim’s 2-3 zone tough to score against.

#2 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
This team can do damage with their starting lineup, but their main players in Soph. Center, Jared Sullinger, Soph. PG Aaron Craft and Sr. SG William Buford have under performed compared to last season. As talented and experienced as they are, they seem to be the most talented darkhorse team in recent memory.

#3 FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Let’s see….an FSU team that has beaten both UNC and Duke twice each this year. They have commanding size and guards that can shoot the lights outta the gym. And their defense? In my opinion, regardless of defensive stats, the Seminoles have the best defense in the nation. They had their coming out party with their ACC Tourney win today. Will they continue their winning ways in the Madness or wither away from the hype? They have the ingredients to go deeeeeeep into tourney. Watch out for the ‘Noles

#4 WISCONSIN BADGERS
Another team under performing compared to last years performance. They have a tall line-up of forwards that like to shoot the trey. But they don’t shoot as well from the three point line as good as last year. The Badgers are prone to long stretches of scoring droughts and offer little scoring threats in the paint. Sr. PG Jordan Taylor peaked last year, as this year he his is “good” at a lot of things but not “great” in certain aspects as was previewed in the pre-season.

MIDWEST REGION

#1 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS
In my opinion, the Heels were the favorite to win the whole damn thing this year…….until Forward, John Henson’s wrist injury in the ACC Semi-Final. Henson is one of the three defensive game changers in blocks with Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Syracuse’s Fab Melo. The front court of UNC can be unstoppable from both sides of the court led by Sr. Forward, Tyler Zeller who is so consistent on O & D. UNC’s weak defense continues to improve and their freshmen are showing quality minutes due to Henson’s injury and a drastic need for a three point shooter. Stay tuned for more smack on the Heels! Very compelling.

#2 KANSAS JAYHAWKS
A team led by on of the best forwards in the nation, Jr. Thomas Robinson. KU has many other good role players with Sr. Connor Teahan as a three point shooter and Jr. wingman, Elijah Johnson as a great spark. Look for high flyer transfer Kevin Young to have some highlight dunks followed by little to offer on defense. KU has to play a full 40 minutes with their drop in talent after Robinson. If any coach can develop such a game plan, it’s KU Head Coach, Bill Self.

#3 GEORGETOWN HOYAS
Officially the darkhorse of the tourney. They have 2 solid guards and Sr. Center, Henry Sims who leads the team in freaking assists! Sims will be either on the blocks, short corner or high post, and the ball will go though him on EVERY possession with either look to the hoop by him or a great pass to on of the two guards or solid 4 freshmen crop of players coming off the bench. Look for Fr. Forward Otto Porter to have a huge coming out tourney.

#4 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Early in the new year, Michigan was in G-Town territory as a huge darkhorse to go deep, but they have fizzled off a bit. Regardless, they have a great freshman PG in Trey Burke, and Soph. SG Tim Hardaway Jr. is a consistent scorer. They have two veteran guards with solid leadership in Seniors, Zach Novak and Stu Douglass. Michigan has solid defense which is a staple of a John Beilien coached team.

That’s it for now. Hopefully it’s not too long, but just enough to get a taste on the newly released brackets!!!!

Sign up for the March Madness Insanity Pool! This year is primed for some great upsets but some tough possible match-ups later in the Madness if the top seeds make it through.

Harvard is smart dancing!

In the year of Linsanity, we see his former alma-mater Harvard officially making the big dance.  Tonight Penn hardly looked like a desperate team needing a win to force a one game playoff, as they lost by 10 to Princeton and handed the Crimson the Ivy title.  Congrats to Harvard for making the big dance for the first time since 1946.

Today a couple more teams earned their dance tickets, including Western Kentucky (15-18) winning the tragic Sun Belt conference tourney.  Upsets in the non-power conferences have been a theme lately.  Western Illinois stunned #1 seeded Oral Roberts Monday night and nearly did the same to #2 seeded South Dakota State, but South Dakota State came back to win in OT and claim the Summit championship.  Red hot Detroit beat Valpo at home to take the horizon.

So far we twelve conference champions crowned:

Atlantic Sun - Belmont
Big South - UNC Asheville
Colonial - VCU
Horizon - Detroit
Ivy - Harvard
MAAC - Loyola (MD)
MVC - Creighton
OVC - Murray State
Southern - Davidson
Summit - South Dakota State
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
West Coast - St. Mary's

There won't be too many at-large teams from the above conferences:  Gonzaga, Wichita State, and Drexel should be it.  Thus, we have almost a quarter of the field set -15 of the 68 teams.

Three more auto-bids will be claimed tomorrow.  In the Big Sky, #1 seed Montana will play #2 Weber State in great matchup for the conference championship.  Montana is an early 5 point favourite.

The Patriot league will crown their champion when #1 Bucknell plays #2 Lehigh.  Bucknell is an early 4 point favourite.

The Northeast will also crown their champion with LIU Brooklyn playing Robert (not Phillip!) Morris.  LIU is an early 1 point favourite.

Along with the Big East and Atlantic 10, more power conferences are beginning their tourneys on Wednesday.  We have some early leans for potential teaser teams in the PAC12 and BIG12 - i.e. garbage teams, playing decent teams :

• Colorado (-13.) vs Utah
• UCLA (-13) vs USC
• Oklahoma State (-8.5) vs Texas Tech
• Stanford (-10) vs Arizona State

Conference Tourney madness is in full swing - more to come!

Four Dance Tickets for Grabs Tonight

Four Teams are officially dancing as of Sunday night.  We get another 4 teams officially in the big dance tonight with four conference tourney finals.

Sunday was a tough day, bit sad to see good teams like Iona and Middle Tennessee stumble as they will no longer make the big dance.  But you gotta win to get in and that what makes the tourney so awesome and provides amazing drama.

This weekend provided further confirmation that the PAC12 is really bad this year.  Arizona losing to Arizona State was a big shocker, and now forces them to win the PAC12 championship to get into the big dance as their bubble has burst.  California losing to Stanford hands Washington the PAC12 conference title. It is not crazy to think the PAC12 is a one bid league if Washington wins the PAC12 tourney this weekend.  California now had better make it to at least the PAC12 finals to keep their at large status alive.

Michigan State getting up big and then collapsing and losing to Ohio State was a bit of a shocker.  But the big news from that game was forward Branden Dawson tearing his ACL.  That injury may have longer term implications on MSU making the Final 4 as many have been predicting recently.  We will see how MSU adjusts during this weekend's Big 10 tourney.

Onto todays games - like a few today:

Bowling Green (-11.5) vs Central Michigan - (4:00pm PST tip off)
The MAC has been a pretty shizzo conference this year, but we see a significant class mis-match here worthy of our hard earned cash.  Central Michigan (10-20 on the season) has an RPI of 290 and their 'best' win was Friday night at home to Western Michigan who's RPI is 209.  Bowling Green (16-14 on the season) has an RPI of 142 and has beaten Temple and Ohio (two top 100 RPI teams) and their worst loss on the season was on the road vs Eastern Michigan (RPI#225).  Bowling Green is 12-3 at home, which is where they are playing for Round #1 of the MAC tourney.  They are a solid play to at least win tonight - just like they did by beating CMU by 13 points on Jan 25th - very solid in a 8 or 10 pt teaser.

Oral Roberts (-8) vs Western Illinois - (4:00pm PST tip off)
Semifinal matchup in the Summit League has #1 seeded Oral Roberts (17-1) plays #4 seed Western Illinois (9-9) tonight.  The Summit League appears to be a showdown between Oral Roberts (RPI#38) and South Dakota State (RPI#53) for the conference championship, not sure if either team has enough of an at-large resume to get in the big dance, so expect a motivated Oral Roberts.   Western Illinois has given ORU a bit of trouble, losing by only 1 at home back on January 12th and by 10 on the road on Feb 11th.  Expect ORU to get the win tonight and advance, best to put them in an 8 or 10 pt teaser as they could win by 2 or 20 in my eyes.

South Dakota State (-12) vs Southern Utah - (6:30pm PST tip off)
This Summit League matchup shouldn't be as tight as the Oral Roberts vs Western Illinois game.  South Dakota State has won both meetings vs SUU this season and is ballin' right now - winners of 6 straight and 9-1 in their last 10 games.  Southern Utah got lucky as Oakland absolutely collapsed in the final 3 minutes of their quarterfinal matchup last night to give away an 11 point lead - really SUU shouldn't even be playing this game.  SUU can feel happy to get the extra game, but this shouldn't be close.  Strong play towards South Dakota State today in any teaser.

Davidson (-12.5) vs Western Carolina - (6:00pm PST tip off)
Davidson (24-7) is clearly the class of Southern league and should be able to punch their dance ticket with a win over Western Carolina (17-17) tonight.  Davidson has played a strong season, claiming a huge win @ Kansas and decent showings vs tourney teams Duke, Vandy and Wichita State.

Western Carolina had an easy draw and is playing their fourth game in 4 nights and don't expect them to have much left in the tank vs the best team in the league.  Feel good about getting to the conference finals, but they are going down hard tonight.  Davidson in a teaser and may take them -12.5 against the spread, should be a big mismatch tonight.

In other games.....

Strong lean to Gonzaga (-3) to beat St.Mary's to win the WAC.  Both teams are dancing, but feel Gonzaga is playing better than St. Mary's is right now and Gonzaga wants to exact some revenge for not winning the conference title for the first time in years.  Sacre is a big force for the Zags that can wear down other teams.  Should be a good one to watch.

Small lean to VCU (-2.5) over Drexel.  This should be another great game tonight.  Winner gets the autobid for the under-rated Colonial, which VCU needs a bit more than Drexel - Drexel should get an at large bid.  Drexel is scary, winners of 19 straight games, and will be tough out in the tourney for whoever they match up against.  Like the experience factor for Shaka Smart's team who had to run the table as an underdog last year and made it to the Final Four.

Fairfield vs Loyola MD is a coin flip MAAC championship game.  These two teams split the season series with each team winning in the others building.  Fairfield is the hotter team coming into this game and beat #1 seed Iona which was impressive.  Loyola MD has had a much easier road beating Sienna and Niagara.  Slight lean to Fairfield, but not sure you should bet this one.

Eastern Michigan (-8) should beat terrible (4-25) Northern Illinois tonight, but don't trust it.  Last time these teams played it was a 3 point game.  Don't get sucked it, just be happy that in two days both of these teams will be out of the running.

Good luck and enjoy the games!

Yesterday love the Drake.... today hate the Drake!

Strong day yesterday, going 6-0 SU and ATS with our picks.  Great way to start off March.  Let's see if we can keep this rolling!

Today's menu of games is not as appetizing so fewer plays - no need to force it.  Tons of actions in the next couple days:

Creighton (-9) vs Drake  (tip at 4:05pm PST)
Yesterday we told you to love the Drake, today... you guessed it, we hate the Drake!  Creighton is ranked #24 in the country and a big step up in class for Drake who lost both meetings to them this season.  Creighton hasn't been playing as well lately, so tread lightly as we expect them to win but may not cover.  Creighton -1 in a 8pt teaser looks solid.

Harvard (-7.5) @ Columbia  (tip at 4:00pm PST)
Columbia is 3-9 in the IVY and majorly outclassed by Harvard tonight.  Harvard is motivated to keep winning as they no longer have the Ivy wrapped up after their loss to Penn last weekend.  Expect Harvard to win and like them in part two of the 8pt teaser.

Georgia St (-6) @ Hoftra (tip at 5:30pm PST)
Another class mismatch.  Hofstra is 3-15 in the Colonial, Georgia State is 11-7.  These two teams met on Feb 4th and Georgia State won by 13.  Expect a similar result tonight.  Add this to the 8pt teaser and like Georgia State to cover the -6 tonight.

Other thoughts....
Niagara (8-10) should be able to handle the (1-17) Canisius in bottom feeder MAAC action.

One loss Murray State (-8) should beat Tennessee Tech, but not sure if they will cover.

Penn should be motivated to keep pace with Harvard in the Ivy and trounce Brown tonight.

LMU will be a live dog tonight in WCC conference tourney action.  LMU had the better conference record and beat San Fran already twice this year - hard to do a third time - excellent value.

Good Luck tonight!

The March to the Big Dance

What a great leap day. Only thing better is we are now OFFICIALLY into MARCH!  That's right, March Madness is here and we are 10 days away from selection Sunday.

Last night we witnessed heartbreak with Northwestern narrowly losing to Ohio State.  (Everyone feels bad for this team who just can't get over the hump.  A win at Iowa and a round or two in the Big 10 Tourney, may still get it done though.)   Solid day with yesterday's recommendations.  Purdue sent Robbie Hummel out in style on Senior day, New Mexico beat down Air Force, and Alabama & Lehigh won by enough to cover their teaser plays.  Now onto today's plays:

Washington (-7) @ USC.  (7:30pm PST tip off)
USC is 1-15 in PAC12 play and is basically playing out the last two regular season games before they are eliminated in the first round of the PAC12 next week.  That one win vs a depleted Utah (3-13 in the PAC12.)  Last time the Huskies played USC they won by 28.  We know that Washington is not as good on the road, but there should be at least a double digit victory here for a team that needs to win out to quiet any bubble team notions.  The line in the last matchup between these two teams was -12, shift 6-8 points for home court advantage, add in past results, and the -7 makes sense to oddsmakers.  Expect this one to be closer than last time, but not much.  Love this game, teased to +1, or against the -7 spread.

Bradley @ Drake (6.5).  (6:30pm PST tip off)

Catch that Seinfeld reference? Love the Drake!

Arch Madness begins tonight in St. Louis, with Bradley - who is the bottom feeder of the Missouri Valley Conference - taking on Drake.  Bradley was 2-14 in conference play, 2-22 in last 24, and lost both times against Drake this season (by 6 & 8 points).  Drake is in a logjam with five 9-9 teams in the conference, but won the tiebreakers to get the right to play Bradley in the opening round of the MVC tourney - lucky them!

We love the Drake today.  Take them -6.5 against the spread, or better yet +1.5 in a 8pt teaser!

San Francisco (-9) vs Portland (6:00pm PST tip off)
Round 2 of the West Coast Conference tourney.  Portland (7-23) escaped with a 4 point win last night vs tragic Santa Clara.  (They must be so happy to be put out of their misery.)   San Fran (18-12) beat Portland earlier this year by 34 and will be ready and rested tonight.  San Fran has been an above average team this year and easily handled Santa Clara, Pepperdine, San Diego, and even got a surprise win recently vs Gonzaga.  This game shouldn't be close and you gotta really like San Fran in an 8pt teaser (-1) - a very solid play tonight.

San Diego (-3.5) vs Pepperdine (8:00pm PST tip off)
Staying in the West Coast Conference, Pepperdine is not a good basketball team about the same as Portland.  4-12 in conference play, 10-18 overall.  Pepperdine's only wins came against Santa Clara, and a home/road split vs Portland & San Fran.  These two teams have played twice this year, 9 & 13 point victories for San Diego.  (Pepperdine hit a last second three in the 9 point affair - SD was up double digits most of the game.)  Expect more of the same tonight, taking a shot with San Diego -3.5.

Utah (+18) @ Oregon State (7:00pm PST tip off)
Ugh, the PAC12 is a bad league this year and we got two teams that are near the bottom of the league. Utah has been playing better of late, losing games by closer margins before upsetting Stanford the last time out.  Oregon State is in freefall, losing 5 in a row - last win was 18 points vs Utah.  23 turnovers and general bad play in the last matchup has the Utah players talking in the papers recently about taking this game with Oregon St. a little more seriously this time around.  Expect a slower pace, a better effort from a more confident Utah team, and really like them to cover the +18 today.  A tease with Utah +26 is also a pretty good play.

LIU Brooklyn (-8) vs Sacred Heart
Conference tourney week allows up to bet on a Northeast conference game.  Quarterfinal matchup between league #1 LIU (16-2), vs #8 Sacred Heart.  Not sure how much heart, the Pioneers have as they lost both matchups to LIU this year (by 6 & 12 points).  A expect a broken heart after the game as LIU should roll here, really like them in a teaser to get this to a PK as we don't expect them to lose tonight.

Lots of other games tonight to watch.....

Oregon (-6) vs Colorado in a battle of bubble teams.  Loser will be done.  Winner is barely still alive.

Michigan (+2) @ Illinois.  Has the Illini fixed their problems after breaking a 7 game losing streak?  Will the Wolverines continue a streak of rebounding off a loss.  (15-0 coming off a loss.)

Kentucky (-21) is too big of a spread to trust vs Georgia.  Will win, the question will be by how much?

Good luck today and let's go cash some tickets to get March off to a great start!