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Not exactly gliding smoothly through the bracket, are they?(1) Ohio State 85, (5) Tennessee 84Talk about taking Tennessee's best shot. Bruce Pearl couldn't have dreamed up a better set of...
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The year of Lawrence WelkIn three of the four regional finals: and a 1 and a 2. (In the fourth region? A 1 and a 3. That hoops-ignorant weenie in your office pool that just picks the four 1-seeds every...
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Ode to an Odenian turnJust 23 short days ago I wrote this about Greg Oden:Greg Oden's been merely outstanding. Don't get the "merely" wrong, I want him on my team. Oden's an efficient scorer who leads...
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The return of scoring margin as a March advisorIn 2005 the top four teams in "power"-conference hoops nationally in terms of tempo-free scoring margin (i.e., efficiency margin) during their respective...
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I demand golf clubs! Rocking chairs! Liquor!I've decided that this will be the last season of "Big Ten Wonk."Next season I'll continue to write on a regular basis on college basketball. I just don't...
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Lincoln was right!Judging from reactions to the past two NCAA tournaments, it would seem, just as the 16th president said, that you can please all the people some of the time and some of the people all...
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Do "hot" coaches stay hot after they're hired?Some don't. No one could be hotter than Steve Alford was eight years ago this month. His 12th-seeded Southwest Missouri State team (since morphed into...
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If the moving van goes from Morgantown to Ann Arbor....Michigan has reportedly zeroed in on West Virginia coach John Beilein.First order of business: Beilein's Mountaineers will play Clemson in the NIT...
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The only Final Four preview I've read so farI know everybody's doing previews and I thought about setting mine apart by doing, say, a very special vowel-free preview ("Grg dn nds th bl!") or some such....
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BONUS all-red edition! Why has capitalism failed me?Note: the Final Four preview was yesterday.This evening, like every year, I'll grit my teeth and watch the games, knowing that a certain analyst...
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All other D-I schools can just withdraw from every sportIn lacrosse, tennis, field hockey, baseball, and volleyball, we'll just cut to the chase from now on and have Ohio State play Florida for the...
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A preface to previews(1) Ohio State vs. (1) Florida (9:21pm ET)Don't read any preview today without this handy accompanying piece at your side....1. Accept no discussion whatsoever of defense in any...
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Yo, John#11 in a series of 11 last-day postsLast week I said that next year I plan to write about college basketball, the whole thing. What that usually means, of course, is "all the good teams,...
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Later, Wonk#10 in a series of last-day postsThis blog had a good run: three seasons, 593 posts, and some page views by you all. The busiest month was this past March. The busiest day, February 21,...
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Hug your beat writer#9 in a series of last-day postsI don't know what the near future holds for sports coverage but I do know that, because people will continue to be interested in the games,...
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Nod perfunctorily toward your columnist#8 in a series of last-day postsFor decades the sports columnist, by virtue of their profession, enjoyed three effective though not total monopolies:1. The...
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Glance toward your blogger without hope or despair#7 in a series of last-day postsI'm here before you today to defend the college hoops blogosphere.And it needs defending. It's become almost...
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Jane Austen, press conferences, and college basketball#6 in a series of last-day postsOne of the nice things about having these here newfangled internets and eleventy-gillion channels on your HD is the...
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Regress your view of your coach toward the mean#5 in a series of last-day postsThere's a hoary old chestnut that says a quarterback receives too much credit when his team wins and too much blame when...
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Leave the tournament the way it is#4 in a series of last-day postsThere is grumbling every year in the immediate aftermath of Selection Sunday, of course, as to who gets left behind. This year the...
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Funky stats: don't bother waiting for the revolution, it's already here#3 in a series of last-day postsWe who follow college basketball confront an odd situation in April 2007. To the extent that stats...
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The Big Ten is better than people who link to me say it is#2 in a series of last-day postsI'm certainly not one of those crude unlettered souls that judges "power" conferences based solely on their...
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There was a national championship game last night#1 in a series of last-day posts(1) Florida 84, (1) Ohio State 75The thing that was supposed to be so important turned out not to be. Greg Oden wasn't...
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Wonked out...for goodAs previously announced, today is the last day for Big Ten Wonk (though not for John Gasaway).So here are 11 valedictory posts, in honor of the conference that's given me a title...
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My 598th post here This blog is no more. It has ceased to be. Bereft of life it rests in peace. Etc.My keystrokes can now be found at Basketball Prospectus. Hope to see you over there.
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