Random Sports Thoughts

Well, where to begin? First the conference tournaments that we just had this past weekend. I think that they are a waste of time. They diminish the importance of the regular season. How so you may ask?! Well here's how. They allow a team that has had a poor season to get hot over a 3 or 4 day period and end up taking the automatic bid to the NCAA championship tournament when they didn't earn it. This is especially important when you look at most of the mid to low major conferences that will likely only get 1 bid regardless of what else happens. I don't have a problem with conferences having the tourneys, but the automatic bid should not be awarded to their winner. If you want them then fine, by all means, play them and give the teams that didn't have such a great year a chance to win something, but don't tie the automatic bid to it. What you do over the entire 4 months or so of the season is more important than what happens over a 4 day period. A team should not be penalized for having 1 bad game! Now don't get me wrong, I like watching the games. I like watching any college basketball. Heck, I went to the Big 10 tournament this past weekend and enjoyed myself, but I consider Ohio State the conference champs. I know, I know, you think I'm just saying this out of bias because my alma mater lost in the championship game, but that isn't so. I would have said the same if Iowa and Ohio States positions had been reversed. This has been and will continue to be a long held position.


As an alumna of The Ohio State University and some one who's never been a big fan of UC I must say that UC got screwed!!! How in the world can UC be excluded from the tournament in favor of the likes of Air Force Academy? Let's do a little comparison shopping.

• UC: RPI-40, W/L-19/12, SOS-5, vs. Teams 1-50 - 4/8, vs. Teams 51-100 7/3
• AF: RPI-50, W/L-22/6, SOS-158, vs 1-50 - 0/1, vs. 51-100 - 5/2

There are other school comparisons that can be made, but to me this is the most egregious. UC being left out of the field in favor of Air Force cannot be justified. To be honest, the selection process cannot be justified. It's time to make the process open and bring in people to do it that actually know something about basketball.


My NCAA Final 4:

1. Duke (I hate them, but they'll probably make it)
   
2. Connecticut (Other than North Carolina and, maybe Illinios, no one in that bracket will challenge them)
   
3. Ohio State (Hey, you expect me to pick against my alma mater?!)
4. Kansas (Just not impressed with Memphis or UCLA)

Well, that's enough for now. I'll have more later.