39 Days to Selection Sunday

One of our favorite teams lost tonight. Other than that, how did we fare?

1. Florida: Vandy in Gainsville. The Gators will have to do everything wrong to lose this game. And they won't. Yes, the Gators won, but they did two things that will be their downfall later on: they let Vandy outscore them in the first half, and they coasted in the second half, winning by only 10 at home. How do you beat the Gators? Like the Duke teams of the 90's, you have to make them live or die by the 3-pointer. Lots of pundits have this team going to the Final Four. What do we think? Well, we say Florida has a LONG road to get to Atlanta.

2. Wisconsin: at #25 Inidiana. We would like to watch this game, as it will be close, but Win-consin will not lose. It will be close, and maybe an OT or 2. No OT, but it was close throughout as Indiana wins by 5. The most obvious weakness for Wisconsin in this game was that only 2 players scored. Tucker and Taylor had 38 of the Badgers' 66 points. No one else was in double figures. And, Win-consin needs to step it up on defense.

3. North Carolina: play Miami at home. The Hurricanes are not good and the Heels are great. No contest. We do have to note that as bad as Miami is, they are deep. They will try to slow down the Heels and to get them in foul trouble. But, it won't be enough. Miami tried to run with the Heels, which is a BIG no-no. You can't run with this team. At the end of the game the Hurricanes had no legs. UNC wins big by 41, Oh, and they went 12-24 from beyond the arc. It seems like they show a different strength each game. Miami was out-rebounded 16-48. WOW!! NOTE: Carolina scored 64 in the second half, which, to our knowledge, is the most scored in a half by a Division 1 team this season. Let us know if we are wrong.

4. Ohio State: at Purdue. While this looks like a no-brainer, OSU could struggle if Landry can contain Oden. But, we're guessing he won't, and he won't get a lot of help off the bench. He may foul out trying to guard Manchild Oden. If we were coacing Purdue, we would play freshmen Uchendu (6-11) and Vandervieren (6-10) and have them double Oden on each Ohio State possession. Let the rest of the OSU team try and score. Risky, but why not? The Buckeyes win, though. Well, Pudue didn't listen to us, but it really didn't matter. Oden had a bad night but OSU still won by 18. Have we sold this team short?

8. Texas A&M: play Iowa State at home. The Cyclones cannot possibly win this game. A&M will win. And the Cyclones did not win.

11. Butler: at Youngstown State. No need to comment. Butler wins. And Butler did win. This one was too easy.

12. Memphis: play at Central Florida. Memphis continues to roll as they beat the Knights. Not to say this will be a blowout. UCF has won 15 games this year, but they have not won against a good team. And UCF continues to not be able to beat good teams. Memphis wins.

13. Nevada: at La. Tech. No chance for the Bulldogs as Nevada wins big. A lot closer than we imagined, but Nevada held on.

18. Virginia Tech: host NC State. Did we mention that NC State should have cancelled their season a while back? Hokies win at home. The only thing we think happened here is that Sidney Lowe printed out this blog and put it up in the NC State locker room as an incentive to pump up his team, because the Wolfpack won big against a very decent Virginia Tech team. We still stand by what we have said about NC State, though. They need to look at this season as an opportunity to "build" this team.

20. Alabama: at LSU. LSU needs to win this game. Why? Because they have been a huge disappointment this season. Coming off a 3-game losing streak they will upset Bama. No upset here as Alabama tries desperately to prove they belong to be ranked. And they don't. LSU is on our "They Suck" list. The Big Baby needs a diaper change.

23. Texas: at Texas Tech. Watch this game on ESPN2. CAN Bobby Knight out-coach Rick Barnes? We beileve he can. Texas Tech upsets the Longhorns. Texas Tech had a PITIFUL second half as they donate this game to Texas. Would not want to be at the Red Raiders' practice on Thursday. Will Bobby Knight hit someone?

We go 7-4 tonight. Has anyone checked out our overall record? We have our misses, but we bet we are riding high above 70%.

OK, Thursday. What have we got?

5. UCLA: play #9 Oregon at home. Both teams have only lost 2 games this season. This is a pretty even match-up, and despite out-rebounding the Bruins in this game, the Ducks will not win.

10. Duke: at Virginia. Well, we still don't think the Blue Devils are all that, and the Cavaliers play tough at home. We're going to say Virginia wins.

17. Washington State: at #22 Arizona. Sorry Washington State, but the Wildcats will not be in the mood to lose at home after what UNC did to them. Arizona wins.

Again, we're holding off on on top-25 comments. In fact, we're most likely not going to go any further on that until next week. Sorry.

Let it snow.