Baily's Sports & Stuff

     "The NCAA Tournament captures the entire nation for an entire month". That is the words of Mike Krzyzewski, the Duke head coach and 3 time national champion. It is true, the road to the tournament and the actual tournament does capture the nation for 1 month. However, at the end of March 4 teams are left, and that is in the Final Four. But how did the teams get there?        Early Round upsets        Although a number one seed has never lost a first round game, they have had some close calls, and 15 seeds all the way to 9 seeds have beaten the higher seeded team in the first round. The tourney contains 65 teams, and 1 play in game. After the play in game 64 teams are left, and they are split up into 4 regions: the West, East, South, and Midwest. 16 teams play in each region, with each region's winner in the Final Four. The teams are seeded from 1 to 16, with 1 being the best. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, 4 plays 13, ...

     The Duke Blue Devils were ready to end the drought of the number one seeds. However, the Baylor Bears came prepared and ready to go. Baylor dominated St. Mary's and looked like the better team.     Why don't you play the game?     Nolan Smith scored a career high 29, Jon Scheyer scored 18 and hit some key threes as Duke beat Baylor 78-71 to punch a ticket to the Final Four. However, Baylor took a 3-0 lead early and hung with Duke the entire game.      Ekpe Udoh got fouled on a dunk and made the free throw, and with 12:54 left in half 1 the score was 11-11. Andre Dawkins hit a 3, but Quincy Acy converted a 3 point play. Nolan Smith hit a 3 from the left perimeter, and 2 threes by Jon Scheyer gave Duke a 25-18 lead.      LaceDarius Dunn scored 4 for Baylor, and Tweety Carter hit a pull-up three to cut the deficit to 27-25. Dunn got a steal and a dunk to make it a 1 point game, and 4 by Quincy Acy a...

     Michigan State had been a powerful basketball program for a decade. More powerful then Indiana, UCLA, probably even North Carolina. And the dominance was meant to continue today.       It did.       Durrell Summers scored 21 and he hit a key 3 pointer late, Raymar Morgan scored 13 as Michigan State beat Tennessee 70-69. However, Tennessee started out strong, with Bobby Maze and Wayne Chism hitting 3's. Tennessee led 11-6 early.        But Summers hit 2 3's, and then he hit a jumper before Draymond Green's 3 point play to give Michigan State a 21-16 lead. But Melvin Goins hit a 3 for Tennessee, and then they tied the score at 21. Cameron Tatum then hit a 3, and Tennessee led 24-22. They took a 28-22 lead after 4 of 5 free throws were sank by Tatum.      But Korie Lucious converted a 3 point play, and another bucket put MSU up 33-32. Draymond Green hit a layup at the buzzer to cut ...

      Butler vs. Kansas State      All the Butler Bulldogs had to do to play at home for the Final Four was knock off the Kansas State Wildcats at EnergySolutions Arena. Harder then it sounds, if you ask me.      Butler was up to the task.      Gordon Hayward scored 22 and grabbed 9 boards, Shelvin Mack scored 16 as Butler knocked off Kansas Stat e 63-56. A big spark was threes and play early on, and threes by Shawn Vaznant, Willie Veasley and Shelvin Mack gave Butler a 13-8 lead early. After layups by Hayward and Avery Jukes, Butler led 20-10.     Gordon Hayward stopped a 4-0 K-State run with a 3 from the right wing, but K-State cut the lead to 23-16. After 4 Shelvin Mack points, Butler led 27-16. The Bulldogs led 27-20 at the half.      But after a Denis Clemente 3, K-State was only down 27-26. Matt Howard and Gordon Hayward hit a pair of foul shots, and Hayward hit a 3 from th...

    Headlines  First half helps  Baylor  dominate  St. Mary's 72-49.   Lucious turn-around helps  Michigan State  hold off  Northern Iowa 59-52.   Kyle Singler helps  Duke  hold off  Purdue 70-57.   Tennessee vs. Ohio State        In a region where Kansas was supposed to dominate there has been a lesson learned. Never take a team lighty. That's probably what eliminated Kansas and Georgetown, as well as #4 Maryland. Ohio State didn't want to be the next victim. William Buford hit a pull-up 3 and scored 9 of Ohio State's first 13 as the Bucks took a 13-7 lead. But a Bobby Maze driving layup soon had Tennessee up 17-13. Jerimie Simmons made back-to-back threes for Ohio State, but Wayne Chism answered. Kyle Madsen and J.P Prince each scored 4 for their teams, and Brian Williams gave the Volunteers a 27-25 lead. Josh Bone hit a 3 for Tennessee, but threes by Jon Diebler and Buford gave OSU a 35-3...

Looks like another great year of March Madness! Match-ups like Cal-Louisville, Richmond-St. Mary's, and Temple-Cornell lead us into the field. Below are my picks.

Cincinnati vs. West Virginia Cincinnati had made a run during the Big East Tournament, beating Rutgers and Louisville. And the 1, 2, and 4 seeds who had a double-bye had all lost. West Virginia wanted to end that. Facing Cincinnati, it looked likely. Devin Ebanks scored 5 early points and the Mountaineers took a 13-3 lead, and 3 more by Ebanks made it 18-4 WVU. But Lance Stephenson keyed a 9-0 run that cut the WVU lead to 18-13. DaSean Butler made a 3 pointer, but Deonta Vaughn answered and Ibrahima Thomas and Darnell Wilks got a dunk to cut it to 21-20. Casey Mitchell added 2 to West Virginia, but Larry Davis' 3 tied it at 23 and forced West Virginia to call timeout. Jonnie West put WVU up 26-23 with a buzzer-beating 3. The Mountaineers went up 30-23, and Cincinnati didn't make a field goal until Yancy Gates followed Butler's 3 with 12:41 left, which is a run of 7:58 without a field goal. Lance Stephenson scored 5 straight but WVU still dominated, and a Kevin Jones layup...

Terps fight off Duke Grevis Vasquez was very happy but nervous before the Terrapins game versus Duke. However, the Terrapins 33-19 start was too much for the Blue Devils to overcome. Maryland led 7-0, 19-7 and 33-19 off of Grevis Vasquez, who made a 3 pointer to make it 33-19. Jon Scheyer cut the lead to 40-38 at the half, and just like he did many times, he took over. He hit a 3 to put Duke up 41-40, and then they went up 47-44. But Maryland didn't give up, for their seniors wanted to end on a high note. Adrian Bowie scored on a layup and a 3 pointer to put Maryland up 54-49, but Nolan Smith scored 7 straight to put Duke up 56-54, and after Maryland tied it Andre Dawkins hit a 3 for a 59-56 lead. Scheyer hit a 3 to put Duke up 63-60, but Grevis Vasquez hit a 3. Then Scheyer made a layup, only to have Maryland take a 67-65 lead with 3:26 left. Tied at 69, Jordan Williams put Maryland up 71-69 with a jumper, and then Vasquez hit a tough shot to put Maryland up 73-69. 2 free throws ...

The USA Today Poll's Top 3 teams lost last week, paving the way for the new number 1, Kansas. NCAA Basketball is getting very interesting now, and why don't you become a part of the official March Madness. 1 Syracuse 2 Kansas 3 Kentucky 4 Duke 5 Kansas State 6 Ohio State 7 Purdue 8 New Mexico 9 West Virginia 10 Michigan State 11 Butler 12 Tennessee 13 Villlanova 14 Gonzaga 15 Temple 16 BYU 17 Wisconsin 18 Pittsburgh 19 Vanderbilt 20 Georgetown 21 UTEP 22 Baylor 23 Texas A&M 24 Maryland 25 Oklahoma State Others Xavier, Richmond, Virginia Tech, California, Northern Iowa, Notre Dame, Texas, Marquette, Utah State, Cornell, UAB, Murray State, Mississippi State, Saint Mary's, Louisville, Old Dominion, UNLV, Missouri, Illinois