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.

I heard a crazy stat this week that the combined average of fouls for both teams in the Duke/UNC rivalry is 40 per game.  It seems kinda high, but when Duke played at Chapel Hill in February this year, Duke had 24 fouls and UNC had 26 for a combined 50.

When I saw this picture on the Wake boards this afternoon I thought it was a nice example of the kind of fouls we have seen in this hallowed rivalry game.

And don’t worry guys, no pressure tonight.  Just the regular season champs on the line….

Last year most of my time trying to watch the NCAA games online was spent yelling at my computer for not only being slow loging-in, but also the slow stream.  I couldn’t even watch the game because someone was texting me with the latest scores and big plays five minutes before I would see it online.

Well, apparently if you sign up now, you can still have VIP access through NCAA March Madness on Demand which promises quicker access to the games.  I am skeptical of the promise, but regardless I will be on NCAA’s site starting March 20th.  And I will be screaming at the computer again- either for the slow stream/lack of game seen online or for the first #1 upset by a 16 seed.

 Sign up for the VIP access at NCAA March Madness on Demand powered by CBSsports.com.

If Miami makes the NCAA tourney this year, NC State will be the only ACC team that didn’t make a post-season appearance in a Bowl game for football or the Tourney for NCAAs.  Check it:

Teams that went bowling-

Boston College: Champs Sports Bowl

Clemson: Chick-fil-a Bowl

FSU: Music City Bowl

Georgia Tech: Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl

Maryland: Emerald Bowl

UVa: Gator Bowl

Va Tech: Orange Bowl

Wake- Meineke Car Care Bowl

Teams that didn’t make Bowls:

Duke- either a #1 or #2 seed in NCAAs

Miami- Currently at .500 in the ACC, they have BC at home on Wednesday and will be at FSU on Saturday.  They will finish at .500 at the least in the conference and with key wins against Duke and Clemson at home they are on their way to the dance.

UNC- #1 seed in NCAAs

And that leaves us with…NC State…so it looks like a team has it’s work cut out for itself next year…

It’s March and the Madness is on!

The conference games at this point in the season are anything short of dull.  And with Selection Sunday being two weeks away the ACC is cut-throat.  The biggest complaint I ever hear from ACC fans is that the conference teams beat each other up so bad in conference play that it hurts their record and they keep eachother away from top seeds in the NCAA tourney, if not their chances to get in at all.  All I’ve heard on ESPN is talk about the PAC-10 this season and I hate to be the one to point this out but their conference play is not nearly as strong, and neither are their non-conference schedules.  Analysists have been saying that the ACC will only have 3 teams dancing this year, but I am willing to bet that 6 ACC teams will make it to the big dance.  Even though the ACC has had a down year over all, they are still a strong conference and playing each other (specifically Dook and UNC) only makes them stronger…and this is who it will be:

1-UNC (duh)- They had this locked back in August…and we thought UNC was playing well when Q was running point, it’s only gonna get tougher for their opponents now that Lawson is back…

2-Duke- Came up big after a close game at State on Saturday, had State followed through and won Duke would not even be considered to be a 1 seed…they still have a chance at being a #1 in the NCAA’s, but need to win the ACC tourney to be sure to secure it.

3-Clemson- If they beat the Terrapins tonight in College Park, they will definintly secure their chances

4-Maryland- Their key win was in Chapel Hill (which was the first time MD has ever won in the Smith Center), they have Clemson at home and then play at UVa, I give them a chance to finish 9-7 in the ACC

5-Miami- They still have to play BC at home, and then at FSU, but barring any major catastrophies (which could include BC’s PG Rice) they will finish .500 at the least.  They have a good overall record (20-8) but have no really key wins over big teams outside of conference play and the W over Duke late in the season.  They need the two wins to seal the deal, and it would help to make a good run of it in the ACC tourney.

6-Virginia Tech- Clemson, MD, and VaTech are all neck-in-neck in the conference standings, each with 8 wins.  They have Wake at home, then play at Clemson.  I think this team needs to win the next two games to make a good run for it.  They had a tough sechedule to start the season against #22 Butler and #14 Gonzaga that gave them early losses, but they have been able to turn it around in conference play.

cartoon courtesy of:

On Wednesday, February 27, the Close the Gap campaign will be raising awareness of heart disease risk factors at the NC State v. Florida State men’s basketball game. Heart disease is the number one killer in North Carolina, accounting for more than a quarter of deaths in the state.

Boston Scientific’s Cardiac Rhythm Management division, has partnered with the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC), Black Coaches and Administrators (BCA), WomenHeart, the Athlete’s Heartbeat, the National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses, several National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools (including NC State) and the NCAA itself in launching Close the Gap earlier this month to address disparities in cardiovascular care for the underserved patient populations of women, black Americans and Latino Americans.

A couple weeks ago, a twenty year old basketball player at a university in Ohio passed away from sudden cardiac death and just this past Tuesday, a star girl’s high school player tragically collapsed and died during a regional playoff game in Baton Rouge. The Close the Gap campaign is educating coaches, young athletes and their parents that with simple heart screenings, many of these deaths can be prevented. A key goal of the Close the Gap campaign is to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) as a leading cause of death among young athletes. Statistics reveal that in the United States, a young competitive athlete dies from sudden cardiac arrest every three or four days. The average age of those who die is 17.5 years, ninety percent of them are male, and more than half are black.

The Close the Gap campaign will feature PSAs running throughout the game and display a booth with information on heart disease and sudden cardiac death.

For more information please see the press release below and visit this link: www.heart-health-disparities.org.

-from Boston Scientific, Rachel Lonsdale

This senior from Fayetteville, NC has stepped up as a leader this season.  Her 241 career blocks puts her at 2nd in school history and one of the leading blockers in the ACC.  Even in her freshman year she averaged 1.5 blocks per game and was ranked 5th in the conference.  She injured her hand in UNC’s game against FSU and then twisted her ankle in practice and didn’t play at Miami last week, but is expected to play tonight.

Pringle was born in Germany, where her parents were stationed with the Army.  She played High School basketball and volleyball at Seventy-First High School in Fayetteville.  As a junior and senior in high school she led the team to winning the 4A State Women’s Basketball Championship in 2003 and 2004.  Even as a senior she was able to lead her team in blocks, averaging 9 blocks per game.  Also, her junior and senior years at Seventy-First she was named NC’s Miss Basketball.

The Lady Tarheels have 2 home games left in the regular season, one against NC State tonight at home, and against Duke on March 2nd.  This is the second week they have been ranked #2.  But with only 2 losses this entire season to the Lady Vols when they were ranked #1 and then at UCONN, and the strong play from upperclassmen including Rashanda McCants, Erlana Larkins, and Pringle combined with the efforts of rookie guard Cetera DeGraffenreid they will have a strong presence in post-season play.

Picture courtesy of Donna McWilliam, AP

The Pack’s schedule isn’t getting any easier and after their loss at home to UNC last week, the fans are still wondering what has been happening to their team in the second half.  Every team goes into the locker room at the half and makes changes to their game to adjust but the Pack has not made the same adjustments and come out with less effort and will to win than most of their opponents in the 2nd half.  We saw it in their game last week vs. UNC, and in games vs. Duke, Maryland, and GT.

With all of that in mind, former coach Herb Sendek is looking a lot better now than he did to the fans two years ago. Mediocre (22-10 record in the ‘05-’06 season, 11-5 in the conference) is now looking appealing compared to their 15-11 record this year (4-9 in the conference).  Sendek has done well for himself at Arizona State and his Sun Devils even upset #7 Stanford two weeks ago. 

Check out this parody below on what kind of message Sendek would send State after all they have been through this year, posted by hpermar.

Check out Wakefield’s Varsity Girls Basketball team, making it into the Girls’ Super 25 this week in USA Today!

They are still undefeated (24-0) after winning their game tonight against Broughton, 65-60.

The Lady Wolverines won the GlaxoSmithKlein Holiday Invitational in December led by their strong defensive that continues to intimidate their opponents and bring them a win.

For other stories on the team and their schedule and results check out MaxPreps.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of State’s NCAA Tourney win over Houston in 1983.  With point guard Sid Lowe from the 83 Championship Team at the helm now, it brings even more meaning to the significant anniversary.  At all of the games this season they have been playing highlights from the 83 season, and they all give me chills to see them.  So in honor of the team from ‘83 check out this video I found on youtube from the news coverage of the big win.

Check out the local coverage, by Eyewitness News 11, live from the Brickyard at State below:

National coverage: