The Big Dance decoded - so far

Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel

With the first weekend of the Big Dance in the books, here are some early impressions:

If there were any doubts about which conference was the best in basketball, they was emphatically erased. The argument is usually between the ACC (North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest) or the Big East (Louisville, UConn, Pitt).

Guts, glory, gore. The big dance.

One conference showed up. Another largely disappeared.

The Big East put five teams in the sweet 16. Meanwhile the ACC had four first round losses—all to lower seeded teams. Wake Forest was blown out by Cleveland State. Cleveland State! Boston College was routed by USC. Florida State fell to 12th seeded Wisconsin. And Clemson didn’t play for 35 minutes against Michigan before deciding to show up. Maryland cruised by California in round one before talking smack and then being embarrassed by Memphis in round two.

Only the usual suspects from the ACC remain—Duke and North Carolina. With the Tarheels star guard Ty Lawson back, the team the President picked to win it all just might make him look smart (insert joke here depending on your political leanings).

I was from the school of thought that Lawson’s big toe would hobble the Heels. LaDainian Tomlimson had the same injury and he was practically a bust all year. But it looks like the Sergeant Hulka of tobacco road and his big toe are fine. And that’s bad news for those in the South Regional—including Oklahoma who I picked to win it because I though Lawson wasn’t going to be able to show up.

While I have yet to be proven wrong on that, I was proven dead wrong about Arizona. The Wildcats are the only “Cinderella” to make it the sweet 16. At No. 12 they are the lowest seeded team to get there. The Cats took a lot of flack—including from yours truly—that the they didn’t belong in the tournament because of their dismal regular season finish and record … and that it resulted in other more “deserving” teams like St. Mary’s and San Diego State being snubbed. Well, the Cats clearly belong. Who didn’t? My alma mater, Illinois who looked like the mid major in an opening round to Western Kentucky.

Speaking of, the Hilltoppers second-round loss to Gonzaga was one of the best in the tournament—even though they were robbed of being able to call a last second time out. The first big gaffe by an officiating crew this year.

The team with the easiest weekend was UConn. The Huskies have been playing the best basketball of any team in the tournament so far. I picked Memphis to beat them in the Final Four and now, needless to say, I’m concerned, especially being tied for first in our Morning Express Tournament bracket. That loss could be the difference now. In fact, UConn could easily win both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this year.

What were your impressions of the tournament so far? How’s your bracket doing? Post your comments here!