Turning 21

So, after all my aforementioned exams, I finally was able to come home and relax. Well, kinda. I drove home, was home for less than an hour before I went straight to work. Came home, went to bed, woke up early, and back to work. Today, however, I was able to sleep in and relax before starting another full work week, and then I'll be back to school. No rest for the weary, I reckon.

I really havent done much yet today, took my little sister shopping for some new running shoes before going to see some of my family (great grandma and grandma and aunt Joyce). I watched a few minutes of the Duke/UNC game, some of the Phils/Yanks, and now the Sixers are on. I dont really plan to do too much tonight, unless one of my boys has something planned that I have yet to find out about (which is entirely possible considering how late we throw things together sometimes).

I just found out that Temple has drawn St. Joes in the first round of the A-10 tourney. That could get ugly and fast, considering how we just lost to Fordham of all teams. As long as St. Joes doesnt win the A-10 and go to the Big Dance, I'm happy with that.

For those of you who are still stuck using a dial-up connection, even occasionally, know how bad it was for me the past week. Yeah, my parents still have a good old fashioned dial up connection, and its absurd. So, having said that, my apologies for lack of posts. If you are interested in some local artists (and by local, I mean Harrisburg area), check out a buddy of mine at http://www.myspace.com/marcmcmusic

Will post later.

There isnt really a point to this entry, instead it will be a random collection of thoughts about the Big Dance.

First, March Madness is here. Best time of the year. Hands down. Locally, only Villanova is dancing, and in all honesty, if they are dancing, 'Cuse should be too (like everyone is saying, if you go 10-6 in a power conference and dont dance, thats pretty absurd--although 'Cuse didnt leave its home floor for its first like 14 games). Alas I'm not on the selection committe, therefore what I think doesnt mean squat.

Drexel thought they had an arguement to go dancing, however, they did not merit an at large bid (mostly because they couldnt seal the deal against the top three teams in the CAA). They followed their griping about lack of a bid by losing to Egin Astur and NC State at home last night. Pity, I almost feel bad. If Drexel had gone deep in the NIT, maybe the selection committee would have seen then made an awful mistake in denying the Dragons a trip to the Big Dance, but after the performance last night, it looks like the committee made a good decision in omitting Bruser Flint's boys from their tournament.

On another note, my Irish drew a bad seed and a match up with "Cinderella material" Winthrop. If you dont know much about Winthrop, you should at least know that these guys from South Carolina can play ball with the best of them. Look out for Torrell Martin, leading scorer for the Eagles, who is a 6'5" senior guard that can create match up problems for just about anyone. Look for Russell Carter, Colin Falls and Tory Jackson of ND to each try to guard him on the perimiter. Martin might create problems if he gets inside for Tory Jackson, who is only 5'11". My prediction: ND 74, Winthrop 68 (oh c'mon, you knew this was coming)

I have a few other thoughts on the tournament, and they are as such:

Duke's string of trips to the Sweet 16 might come to a streaking halt when Eric Maynor and Virginia Commonwealth come a knockin later this week. Memphis is the hottest team in the country right now, but they havent played a tournament caliber team in ages, so their streak doesnt mean much. The trendy pick of G'town to win it all is hard to ignore, with Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert really playing some outstanding basketball as of late.

Three Big 12 teams have a good shot of goin deep in the tourney: Texas, Texas A&M, and Kansas. The Big 12 Championship game was just like all the epic clashes we have seen this year between these three powers. North Carolina's Tyler Hansborough is wearing a mask to protect his recently broken nose. People are saying that it will affect how he plays and for that reason the Tar Heels wont live up to potential. BULL. That kid is a competitor. A piece of plastic will not stop him from doing what he does. If necessary, "Crazy T" will play without that mask if it means his team wins ball games. Period.

Washington State and Oregon, two Pac-10 teams, are not getting much love from analysts since Selection Sunday, but I'll give em some. Dont discount either of these two squads. WSU drew a 3 seed, as did Oregon. Oregon is red hot, and if they can get past Wisconsin, I think they can take down mighty might Flordia.

With much hesitation (their recent trend of losses in the Big Dance make me skeptical), I give you the 2007 NCAA National Champions: Kansas Jayhawks.

In my earlier post, I had written that only one local team was dancing, but overlooked the small fact that the Ivy-leaguers from Penn are goin' dancin'-- running into the buzzsaw also known as Acie Law IV. Honestly, I dont know which of the last two match ups Penn has drawn in the Big Dance is worse---last year they faced the Kevin Durant-less yet very powerful Texas Longhorns, and this year they are slated for a match up with one of the most clutch (c'mon, tell me you've watched some of his clashes with Texas and Texas Tech) scorers in the Big 12, the aforementioned Mr. Law IV.

Speaking of the Longhorns, Kansas beat them twice this year. Twice.

I was alerted that the link that I had given to my boy's website on a previous post was a broken link. Try this instead.

Oh, and my bracket is not lookin good at all. Whats with all the higher seeds winning these games? Where are the upset specials! 5-12?! C'mon now.

And I'm not talkin about just the basketball, this weather is ridiculous. But, back to basketball--- my boys lost. To Winthrop. I'm not even surprised, just kinda upset that the game coulda been won if ND had made a few more free throws.

Tonight, 'Nova vs. Kentucky. I promise there is nothing better to do tonight, so sit back and watch two solid teams duke it out (get it? Duke.... out, yessss). It will be interesting to see what Jay Wright has in store for Kentucky's big man, Randolph Morris. Furthermore, there has been a lot of speculation about Coach Tubby Smith's future at Kentucky, and a loss tonight might just open the door for a new coach next year at Kentucky.

One, GO PURDUE. You will never hear that outta my mouth ever again, but I need these boys to redeem my bracket with this one victory. Well, at least one of my brackets.

Secondly, wow public transportation on St. Pattys Day Night is amazing. There were some seriously messed up people on the trains, trolleys and buses.

Congratulations to Coach Dawn Staley and the women's basketball team for winning their first round game tonight in the women's NCAA tournament. Next up, the Blue Devils of Duke University. The Dukies have only lost one game all year long, and will look to continue their streak.

As per a class requirement, I've been working on a website. Take a look at it. It's pretty bland with HTML code, but like I said I'm just doing the minimum for class requirements (i.e. the pages, the subjects of the page, the pictures, the icons, etc etc)

http://astro.temple.edu/~tua04035