burned....

oh the memories of 1995

Bracketology 101---Lesson One

You are now enrolled in Bracketology 101 and your instructor is Me, Big Russ. During the next several weeks this class will debate and challenge ideas and potentially entertain the possibility that anything can happen. It is after all March. March is Madness.

Lesson One: Breaking down the brackets.

East Region

North Carolina in my mind has a tough road to the National Championship game. Odd being that they were the best Number One seed, yet they have to face potentially the best number two and three seeds in Tennessee and Louisville to get there. Tennesee and Louisville could have easily been One and Two seeds which just further shows how tough this region is.

Its my belief that North Carolina will stub its toe at some point. Whethter they overcome it or not remains to be seen.

Potential Upsets I am picking: (11)St Joes OVER (6)Oklahoma

Midwest Region

Kansas being the One seed in this bracket had some people miffed as to why Kansas got the One seed over Tennessee or Texas. I think Kansas being the One seed just further proves how important conference tournments are. Kansas played brilliantly in the Big 12 Tournament, and I see one challenge for them and that will come in the Sweet 16 against Clemson.

Kansas State fans should be excited how they they lucked into the Midwest region and should hope Kansas fans cheer loud for the Wildcat fans in Omaha Thursday. A Mike Beasley vs OJ Mayo matchup in the first round is all about television ratings and what a better time for CBS than to put the game in the evening session when everyone is sitting in front of the television sets. I am really hoping to see a Kansas vs Kansas State matchup in the Elite 8. I doubt it will happen though. Wildcats most likely will stub their toe in the Sweet 16 against Georgetown. Hoya bigman Roy Hibbard is a tough match up for anyone.

Potential Upsets I am picking: (10) Davidson OVER (7) Gonzaga
(11) Kansas State OVER (6) Southern California

South Region

I think Memphis is going to be the first One seed to lose. Texas in my mind is far Superior a team than Memphis. Maybe I have a Big 12 bias, but John Calipari is giong to get destroyed in the Elite 8. The Regional is in Houston afterall.

One of my favorite coaches and now broadcasters is picking the winner of the NCAA Tournament to come from this region. His pick? Four seed Pittsburgh. For that to happen, Pitt would have to have some serious luck on their side. I could see that happening as opposed to Digger Phelps having all One seeds in the Final Four.

Potential Upsets I am picking: (10)St Mary's OVER (7) Miami

West Region

This could be the easiest Region for any One seed as UCLA should cruise. I could see Duke losing in the Second round to West Virginia. I am not sold on the Two seed Dukies. Watch out for Drake and their sharp shooters. They love the Three pointers and since I went to a Missouri Valley Conference school in Missouri State I am picking Drake to make the Sweet 16. Drake's Adam Emmenecker went from walk-on to league MVP. I see no reason why Drake can't keep their hot shooting going.

Poor Mark Turgeon. He always has bad luck. Texas A&M is going to be trounced by UCLA in the Second round.

Potential Upsets I am picking: (13) San Diego OVER (4) UCONN
(11) Baylor OVER (6) Purdue

The Maverick

Everyone has someone they would like to meet for personal or professional reasons. For me, that person is Mark Cuban. He is a genius. I've mentioned him before, but his blog is awesome. I check his blog out once a week or so to see what he has posted. Most recently, he did a blog on start-up companies.

If you have a dream or goal for your professional career and want to be run your own company eventually read it. He may be a free spender and his Mavericks have the largest payroll in all the NBA, but he wants to win and will do anything to make it happen. He is like that in the real world as well with all the companies he has ran.

Seriously good stuff.

Basketball is here....

And I am in my buddy's wedding this weekend. I won't get to see much hoops action during the Big 12 Tourney. I will have my cell on and checking scores often. Hopefully I will be able to watch Sunday's game.

Anyway my new favorite website, Hot Chicks with Douchebags.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Mathematics and Basketball

My high score the first time I took my ACT to get in college was...drum roll please... 18! Thinking I could improve and do better the second time I got a...17! Yes ladies and gentlemen, tests do not mix well with me. I really did bad on the Math portion of my ACT when I took it long ago. Not sure how I graduated and got a business degree from one of the best business schools in the midwest. Oh well miracles do happen. Just ask the 1980 USA Hockey team.

So I found this website that is lots of statistics. I love stats, but I suck at doing the math. I can understand them and interpret them, but that is about it. Ask me to calcuate statistics is basically the equivalent of asking me to find the cure for AIDS globally. Not happening anytime soon, but there is progress. I could play with formulas trying forever to figure it all out, but its pointless.

Baseball statistics are the worse to decipher. There are way to many damn calculations for me. The website above and the table below are just basketball percentages. Easier to understand than some might think.

Team Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Champ
1 Texas 100% 75.71% 51.96% 22.46%
8 Texas Tech 52.5% 13.1% 5.31% 1.21%
9 Oklahoma St 47.5% 11.2% 4.31% 0.92%
4 Oklahoma 100% 54.36% 21.13% 6.16%
5 Baylor 78.07% 40.6% 16.41% 4.99%
12 Colorado 21.93% 5.05% 0.88% 0.1%
2 Kansas 100% 84.16% 67.16% 50.3%
7 Nebraska 55% 9.27% 3.97% 1.47%
10 Missouri 45% 6.57% 2.54% 0.84%
3 Kansas St 100% 54.43% 14.57% 6.36%
6 Texas A&M 76.7% 39.88% 11.16% 5.06%
11 Iowa St 23.3% 5.69% 0.6% 0.13%

Ok so lets figure that table out together. The website used stats. I could not find what they used to come up with these percentages, but it looks like to me that the percentages show the likelyhood of each team to advance to the next round. Kansas has a 67.16% probability to make it to the finals with Texas 51.96%. Seems like the popular opinion of media and fans proves out mathematically as well.

Kansas looks to be the winner too at 50.3%. Ok i'm sold. I would take forever to figure out calculations like that. But teamrankings dot com did a good job putting it all together so people like me don't have to look stupid.

Well, not true. I will look really stupid once baseball comes here in a few more weeks.

Hey Tiger and Jayhawk fans...

nope, not a basketball post. just a way for you college football fans to get your school more exposure. check it out an vote for your mascot!

Royals Tix

Royals Single Game Tickets went on sale at 9am this morning. I made a mental note and put it on my calender so I would not forget. Well I forgot, slept in and did not get my ass out of bed. So no chance to buy home opener tix against the Yanks! Actually there is, I just will have to fork over big money to get them. Crap!