Gator, Interrupted

Day of upsets. Oh, sorry, Dick Vitale. IT'S A DAY OF UPSET CITY BAAABBBYYYY!!!!

Let's get to it, shall we?

1. Florida: at Vanderbilt. If you knew very little about basketball and looked at this match-up on paper (or even with any kind of logic) you would say that the Gators would easily win. Let's do remember, however, that the Commodores (without Lionel Richie) almost beat Florida in Gatorland nary 3 weeks ago, so we all know that they COULD pull off the upset. But will they? We think they can, BUT, they need to get more players involved in the offense (one player alone cannot beat the Gators), limit turnovers, slow down the game, and rule the offensive boards. So WILL they? We're going to go out on a limb here to say that Vandy will pull off a major upset here. Dance on, Commodores. And they are dancing in Nashville tonight! A bit of drama in this game as Vandy coach Kevin Stallings got into it with Noah (the one without the ark), but you expect some heightened emotions in a game like this. Oh, and Vandy won. Who knew. Well, we did. Or at least we thought we knew. Our keys for a Commodore win were to limit turnovers (they did fair on that one), slow down the game (uh, not exactly), and rule the offensive boards (again, no). So, we got the outcome but not the reasons. Vandy looked tough. Are they peaking at the right time? GAME NOTE: neither Lionel nor Nicole Richie were on hand to cheer on the Commodores. Lady?

3. Wisconsin: host Penn State. Penn State has lost 10 in a row. They are not going to any post-season tournaments. BUT: they took Ohio State to the wire this week before losing by 2. But let's face reality. Win-consin just out-ranks PSU. The Badgers have more players that can score (although they do need to share the scoring load more in the NCAA tourney to be successful) and they have only lost 2 games this season. They are very good and very confident. Badgers win. No upset here as Win-consin wins by 26.

4. North Carolina: at #21 Boston College. Here's a couple of key factors in this game: number one, BC just lost to slowly-fading-out-of-the-NCAA-tourney Duke, and looked pretty damn lazy most of the game, so they will be more than ready to take on the Heels, especially at home; number two, looks like Brandan Wright will not be playing for UNC because of a shoulder injury. Losing 15 points and 7 rebounds a game there. NOTE: Brandan also did not play in the Heel's massacre of Arizona, at Arizona, and was not really missed. Bottom line? There are more than enough talented Carolina players who will be able to fill the loss of Wright. AND, the Heels are coming off a 1-point OT loss to the Virgina Tech Thugs--uh, we mean Hokies. So, who wins this game? We're going to have to say Boston College. One of those rare instances where we are glad we were wrong. Depsite listening to Dook Vitale for 2 hours and 3 minutes telling us how "special" BC's Jared Dudley is, it was a great down-to-the-wire game. "Special" Dudley missed 3 key free throws (after a flop) in the final seconds as UNC squeaked out a win. This was a tough arena for Carolina, and they showed that they are all that. NOTE: we actually heard Vitale say that the Heels were going to win the NCAA Tourney. He said, and we quote: "I just have a feeling about this Tar Heels team." We have that same feeling. Oh, and Brandan Wright did play, despite the sore shoulder, and scored 13. Nice.

5. Pitt: hosts Washington. Hard to call this game because they are both fairly decent. Pitt is overrated, and the Huskies beat a very good Stanford team on Sunday. We think the Pac-10 is a much more competitive conference than the Big-East (except for Georgetown). We wish we could cite some statistical reason why one team is better than the other. Pitt plays more folks, but Washington averages more points per game. And, we don't see what all the hype about the Panthers is about, so we'll call an upset here. Huskies win. This was close all the way, but Pitt shows us (or tries to show us) that they are worthy of being in the vicinity of the top-10. We'll see.

6. Texas A&M: at Oklahoma. The Aggies must out-rebound the Sooners to win this game. Both teams are coming off a tough loss. Maybe were crazy, but we're going with another upset here as OK wins. We are crazy. Aggies win, but only by 7.

7. UCLA: at #24 Arizona. This is a must-win game for the Wildcats. UCLA had a bad scare against Arizona State this week, so they may be showing that they have hit the late-season wall--especially after losing to West Virginia. We're going to call another upset here. Zona wins. Zona keeps slipping into the bubble-zone as they lose this game.

8. Kansas: plays host to Nebraska. While the Cornhuskers are not a bad team (probably NIT-bound) they cannot manage a win at Kansas. Jayhawks win. Rebounding will be the key. No upset here. Rebounding was a key, but the key factor in this Jayhawks win was scoring as Kansas pounds the Huskers by 53.

9. Memphis: at Gonzaga. We'd lean towards an upset here if the Zags' leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Josh Heytvelt was playing. However, Josh will be watching this game from his dorm room as he was suspended this week after being slapped with drug charges after a traffic stop. Memphis will win with no problem. The Zags tried to win by playing a whole bunch of guards, but they lost in OT. A representative from Domino's reported that Josh ordered a large mushroom pizza while watching this game.

10. Nevada: hosts Northern Iowa. No need to discuss. Nevada wins. And they did. And that's it.

12. Butler: hosts #15 Southern Illinois. The Salukis (hound dogs) are just too deep for the Bulldogs, as this game just reminds us once again why Butler is all hype. Rebounds, or lack thereof, will be Butler's downfall. Southern Illinois wins. HELLO??? Does anyone else see it? Butler does not belong anywhere near the top-25. We think this team will fall hard in the Big Dance. Southern Illinois wins. The Bulldogs bite the hound dogs.

13. Marquette: play host to Louisville. While this will be a great game, Marquette cannot lose three straight. We think the Golden Eagles will win, but if they cannot control their turnovers, then they will lose. We're still going with Marquette by a nose. This was, as we thought, a close game. Ricky P. had his team fired up for this one. Spoiled rotten Derrick Caracter stepped up for the Cardinals as his team pulled off the upset. Again, forget Pitt and Marquette because Georgetown is the best team in the Big East right now.

14. Air Force: hosts Colorado State. The Falcons have looked quite vulnerable as of late, but they should beat Colorado State (and that rhymed). We are talented in more areas than just college basketball. Air Force continues to unimpress. Yes, they won this one, but they didn't look like a top-25 team. Over-rated.

16. Georgetown: at Villanova. The Hoyas roll. No contest. This was a close one, wasn't it? The Hoyas get the tough win away. They are the best team in the Big East right now, hands down.

17. Oregon: at Stanford. The Cardinals should be ranked, and they will beat the Ducks. Please don't call PETA about that last statement. We in no way condone the beating of ducks or any other types of animals. The Ducks were beaten, but it was a humane beating with PETA representatives standing by for the entire game. No ducks were actually harmed during this game.

18. Kentucky: at Alabama. Watch this game if you can. Both teams are 18-7. Both teams have lost 2 straight. Both have lost to Florida in the past week. Pretty eerie, isn't it (start creepy music). The stars are aligning for this game. We could go on and on about how the stats place these two teams dead even (points scored, rebounds, assists, assist/turnover, etc., etc., etc.). Difficult game to call? You bet. Four of UK's seven losses have been away, while only one of Bama's seven losses has been at home. The Wildcats have an eight-man rotation, and the Crimson Tide has a seven-man rotation. So, after all of that, and given Bama's record at home. we're going to have to say that the Tide will roll! OK, maybe not roll, but they will win. We won't try and over-analyze like we did pre-game. All we have to say is that we were right.

19. Indiana: at Michigan. Wow, all of these games are tough to call. Indiana will win this one, but not by much. It could even go to OT. The Hoosiers will control the boards, though. What is a "Hoosier"? Uh, the Hoosiers did not control the boards, and they lost.

20. Oklahoma State: hosts Missouri. The Cowboys take out the frustration of being embarrassed by Texas on the so-so Tigers. OK State wins. OK State probably started out too strong this season. They have the talent, and they can score, but ever since that 3OT game against Texas they have lost their center (uh, not the tall guy, but their spiritual center--like Zen, you know?) Losing to Mizzo is not a good sign. They need to regroup. Maybe a team retreat with a ropes course and some yoga?

22. West Virginia: plays host to Seton Hall. No need to comment. The Mountaineers win. Yee-ha! No comment again. Yee-ha.

Tomorrow, you ask?

2. Ohio State: at Minnesota. Have we mentioned how many lakes Minnesota has? OSU wins, though, despite the great ice-fishing talents of the Gophers.

23. USC: at Arizona State. You have to feel sorry for this ASU team. They have not one even a game in conference this season. Are they channeling the Wake Forest team of last season? Unfortunately, they will not win this game either.

25. Virginia Tech: at North Carolina State. Both teams have beaten UNC, but State has lost 3 in a row. Hokies win.

Oh, in case you care, Duke hosts Georgia Tech on Sunday. The Blue Satans were pretty fired up in their win against BC, but Tech has won four straight and beat Dook a little more than a month ago. We're not calling a win here. Just know that if that team from Durham does lose there will be some desperate need for therapists from around the country to help console those blue-painted Cameron Crazies. The Red Cross is reportedly on stand-by.

TTFN.