So 4 are in the NCAA, 3 in the NIT, and 5 are left hoping to see post season action in 2009.

The Good:

• UNC has a challenging road ahead, but it will make for some good basketball.  They will def have home court advantage being right down the road in Raleigh, but not an easy path to San Antonio.  A few teams that could give them a run for their money: Louisville, ND, Tennessee.  The one team that I questioned in the east region with UNC- Washington State.  What a weak 4-seed for that strong of a region.
• Duke should be grateful for their #2 seed over Xavier.  I thought that Xavier would end up as #2, because they finished as A-10 Conference Champions, 14-2 in the conference and 27-6 overall.  Duke had a tough loss in the ACC semifinals of the tourney to Clemson, and a few other questionable losses during regular season, but overall the strength of Duke’s schedule was harder and contributed to the rankings.
• Clemson, a top 25 finish in the AP poll is a great way to finish the season.  They made the ACC tournament interesting by stoping Duke’s run for the championship and giving Carolina a run for their money.  I think they have a good shot at making it to regionals to face Kansas.
• Miami has shown a lot of heart this season.  Picked to finish last in the ACC, Frank Haith has coached his team to a 4th place finish in the conference with the help of Jr. guard McClinton who was named to the First Team All-ACC.  I would have picked Haith to win coach of the year, but he finished 2nd behind Greenberg.  They will have a long road from Little Rock to Houston with St Mary’s, who lost in the semis of the WCC tourney but made a good run of the regular season beating Gonzaga; followed by Texas in Texas.

The Bad:

• How is the NIT gonna pick FSU over Wake AND GT?  They were all tied at the end of the season for 7th place in the conference, finishing at 7-9.  Now GT missed some opportunites but they did win key conference games including their matchups against Wake, Clemson, and BC.  But really, Wake?  Not only is Wake more fun to watch with Teague and Smith as their athletic and quick guards, they beat FSU twice during regular season, and upset #2 Duke at the end of the year.  They lost to GT twice during regular season play, and then to GT in the ACC tourney, but I was the most surprised to see them  missing from the NIT brackets.
• Can someone pull out their violin for Seth Greenberg?   His pity party started yesterday after their tough loss to UNC, and his phone call with ESPN today just fueled his fire.  All I have heard since 7:00pm tonight is how shocked everyone is about VaTech getting cut from the NCAA tourney. You know what?  I am not shocked.  I don’t think they should be in the tourney.  The only big win VaTech had was vs. Miami on Friday. They finished 19-13 overall.  Tech had a great season, after being picked to finish 10th out of 12 in pre-season polls and Greenberg was able to motivate his players to finish 4th in the ACC and even play UNC close.  But the powers that be do not look at strength of conference when considering who is getting in (which is probably a good thing for the ACC teams this year considering the way they played as a whole).   The Hokies will be just fine.  Greenberg will take his 2008 COY trophy, and they will take their #1 seed in the NIT and ball out in the post season if they are really that good.
• Maryland, well let’s just say they blew their promising start to the season, and were lucky to finish .500 in the conference.

The Ugly:

• All I have to say is: Wake, GT, State, UVa, and BC have a lot of work to do leading up to next year.  Wake has some good 5stars coming in next year and look promising.  State and BC might want to start soon for next year.  Like tomorrow, 5am- see you in the gym.

Beyond Ugly:

• Coppin State. 16-20 overall, 7-9 in the conference, MEAC Champions.  Seriously?  That Cinderella’s fairy godmother hit them with the whole ugly tree, not just the ugly stick.  They are making ugly history though, being the first team with 20 losses to make the tourney.

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