Daily RoundUp- Monday, March 16th

The tourney’s are over. Syracuse is finally getting their mandatory 8 hours of sleep so they can function normally over the next however long they stay on in the tourney. By the way, that tourney released its brackets and three number one seeds are from the Big East and seven overall bids. The three number one seeds is the first time in history that that ever happened. For more stats and mumbo jumbo about it, Marlen Garcia of USA Today.

Frankly, this is the only time I care for college sports. Its post season is probably the most exciting thing in sports. It’s the only saving grace for the entire sport. But as I sit and think about it more, this tournament represents so much for these kids. Each kid is out there trying to help his team win, all the while they are doing it to GET the contract.
When I’m looking for a potential sleeper in fantasy sports, one of the criteria going in is looking for that guy who is going to opt out of his contract, is a fringe player and by fringe of good to great or great to really great, and works out and loses twenty pounds, or adds about twenty pounds of muscle to his frame and goes out and is extra motivated to get that huge contract. This is why Matt Holliday, despite all the reports to the contrary, is going to have a good year. It’s the contract year corollary.
Basically all the kids who play in college are in contract year mode which is, they are trying to secure big time dollars from NBA teams who will be sending out scouts to all the different college games. The Combine completely negates that effect on college football because athletes are drafted in the top 10 in the NFL and get signed to those huge bonuses and guaranteed money and that can be evaluated by those inane drills like 40 time or high jump or how many times they can bounce 200 pounds off their chest. It doesn’t matter in real life game situations but for NFL teams scouting to find the next great talent, they are not looking for in game talent, they are looking for athletic freaks who they can mold and deconstruct and then build them into the pro player they want them to be. It’s a flawed system and we all know that. That’s why we don’t pay attention to the left tackles during the games. We pay attention to the play makers but guess who’s going to be the first round draft pick again?
But these kids are all playing for selfish purposes or fighting to build a legacy. Since the pro game only allows 12 to 15 players on a roster the idea that only ten to fifteen percent of the players playing in the tournament will be draft eligible or even a consideration is quite crazy which means that most of these guys know they won’t play basketball again and it’s a jarring reality that has set in and they don’t want to bow out early. So they will fight, claw, with all their might to get back in it.
But do I give a hoot about the college game? No. Do I care as much as I used to about basketball? No. But I do love basketball and I care about the state of the sport. I do care when its single elimination and there are buzzer beaters and exciting high lights on sports center. I do care about seeing good games and a good game is a good game regardless of what league or division its being played in. Game on. Let’s get our tournament on.
As for the Big East, its like the good ole days when St Johns, Georgetown and Villanova were all playing in the Final Four. Of course UConn, Pitt, and Louisville could make it. The way I see it, its going to be Pitt and UConn in the finals and Pitt will win again. Can they beat them for the third time this season? Should be fun to find out.

Of course there had to be one loser and its, John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers who after a 25 game winning streak and winning 30 games again this year doesn’t get the respect it wants since it plays in Conference USA. Calipari earlier on said “judge my team not my conference.” Seems fair, but for a coach who’s been given a raw deal for most of his coaching tenure yet always puts up results, its not new says Mike Lupica.

Every year there’s one team that is so wronged by the committee that they share this whole big slam session where they talk about how the critics have wronged them and have underestimated them. Frankly, a number one seed is like the leper of the brackets to me. Being a 2 seed is much more convenient for a team that is flying under the radar like Calipari’s team is. The Tigers are a good team and should go very far and having the number 2 seed means they will be more battle tested than the number one seed if you want to believe in the brackets and believe that everyone was seeded correctly.
As for the luring of Calipari to St Johns, who knows since coaches in college are known to jump ship for greener pastures as is their right. The Redmen could use a major name in their staple seeing as how they haven’t had it since the sweater was retired and Mike Jarvis took a little Johnnies team on a run a few years back. It’s a long time since Carnasecca and a long time since anything happened for St Johns and if Calipari gets lured to the Big East, boy oh boy, there might not be enough seeds for any of the other conferences.


To the big boys we go and the Yankees have this five musketeer thing going with the projected starting rotation. All the guys come together to watch one of the amigos throw and the idea behind that is to create stronger relations instead of stranger relations as was the case all these years as the free agent big shots would come into town on their high horse and lucrative contracts. These big time free agents have been on the top step to greet the day’s pitcher and offer knuckles and support. What will all this mean when A.J. Burnett’s first MRI comes out or a needle is found in Pettite’s locker, or a receipt for a hundred dollars worth of food from McDonalds is found in Cheeseburger Cheeseburger Sabathia’s locker? Who knows. But for now Joel Sherman says its creating good will amongst the teammates.

Teammates need to be close and keep things loose in the club house. It’s a very good sign that the Yankee big name pitchers are interacting with each other. One thing I heard about C.C. is that he’s an excellent teammate and everyone who has ever been a teammate of his vouches for his in clubhouse camaraderie and ability to communicate with everyone on a deeper level. I think that brings a certain credibility to this whole Yanks-keteers thing that Sherman is writing about. But like Sherman said, and as I pointed out in a not so flattering way, what will happen when adversity happens? What will happen to this team? Will they flutter and fall flat? Only dog days in July in the heat, and in Fenway and a bases loaded jam can solve those questions.