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I'm still mulling over how I want to approach yesterday's first round loss to Old Dominion.  I'm disappointed, but not surprised.  We'll talk about it in-depth once the dust settles, but for now, keep on enjoying the tournament.

If you're stuck in the office or class or something equally terrible, the fine folks at CBS have provided us with a nice little widget to watch all of the games live right here on Rakes.  To launch the application, click right here

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Go Irish, Beat Monarchs.

If you're stuck in the office or class or something equally terrible, the fine folks at CBS have provided us with a nice little widget to watch all of the games live right here on Rakes.  To launch the application, click right here

Joe Raymond - AP

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Over the years, I've grown less and less interested in my own bracket.   My only goal is to nail one sleeper among the usual 1's and 2's that make the Final Four.  Sometimes, this goes really well, as I had Davidson in the national semis in 2008 and was oh-so-close to everlasting glory.  More often, my sleepers fall in the first round, cut down at the buzzer by Drew Nicholas, such as the poor Seahawks of UNC-Wilmington in 2003.  The trick is to only pick out one sleeper, because if you just have every Elite Eight a match-up between 6's and 7's, then happen to get one right, where's the glory in that?  This year I like BYU, but I could absolutely see them getting out-athleted by Florida in the first round.  But we'll see, that's the beauty of the next three weeks. 

There are actually a few things to hate about the NCAA tournament, although it is pretty close to perfect.  The main reason is the committee's propensity of pairing up exciting mid-majors next to each other.  This has happened a lot over the years, and there's no excuse for it.  Western Kentucky/Drake.  Gonzaga/Davidson.  Kyle Korver/Chris Kaman.  As with everything the NCAA does, it is to protect the big guy, and it's no different from pairing up Boise State and TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.  Ignorance is almost always bliss, but the less you think about shady underhandedness of college athletics, the better.  But honestly, once "One Shining Moment" starts playing, I forget how much I loathe Dan Guerrero and move on with my life.  (This might not happen this year with Jennifer Hudson singing it.  Might as well mess with a good thing!)

Not that it matters in the slightest, but I have Kansas beating Kentucky in my championship game.  It's boring, and it's probably wrong, but I accept that.  We all like to be adventuresome in our picks, but in the end, it's almost always one of the top five or six teams in the country that wins this thing.  Your bracket will make you feel good when you fill it out, but by the time the Elite Eight rolls around, you're losing to some nerd in your office that couldn't tell you Duke's leading scorer, let alone who knocked off the Blue Devils each year since they won it all in 2001.  (Indiana, Kansas, Connecticut, Michigan State, LSU, VCU, West Virginia, Villanona.  And that's from memory, sadly.)

So I say fill out your bracket, tuck it away, and root for chaos.  It's always more fun that way.  Pull it out before the Final Four and see if you're in the running to win some cash.  If so, great, now you know who to root for.  If not, continue supporting chaos.  On the morning of one of the greatest days in sports, here are sixteen random tournament-related thoughts.

1)      Is this West Virginia team discernibly different from the one that lost in the first round to Dayton last year?  They're certainly better, but that much better?  Their guard play is still divided between a sophomore that just doesn't quite get it yet and a one-armed gamer who has, well, one-arm.  And don't give me the "Da'Sean Butler Won't Let Them Lose" argument.  The last player with a season as clutch as Butler was Acie Law IV in 2007, and he ended up missing a lay-up against Memphis that knocked the Aggies out.  I could see Missouri giving them a lot of trouble in the second round with the press.  Or they could wax Kentucky in the Elite Eight.  I just don't think they're the lock of locks everyone thinks they are.

2)      Sticking with Kentucky, they have a very difficult draw to the Final Four.  There isn't one team that is clearly dangerous until they'd hypothetically get to the Mountaineers, but there are all sorts of fun, varied tests for a young team.  In the second round they're going to get a very talented but poorly coached Wake Forest or Texas team that could put together a good weekend of hoops.  Then they get Wisconsin, Temple or Cornell, all incredibly smart, slow teams that could hinder Big Blue's immense athletic advantages.  And then in the Elite Eight they could get a bunch of ridiculous, blood-thirsty 6' 9" Mountaineers that will attempt to neutralize the Wildcats' prowess by pounding them into submission.  Tricky, but the Coach Cal + Lottery Pick Point Guard formula has worked out very well the last few years.

3)      I said I like BYU as a sleeper, but I'm very nervous about them even surviving to face Kansas State.  (Who I don't believe in, but honestly, haven't watched played that much beyond the Kansas losses and Texas win.)  They've lost something like a dozen straight first round games, yet they have a guy named Jimmer.  When push comes to shove in the NCAAs, just always pick the team that can shoot, unless they have a huge, huge size disadvantage.  But even then, teams with only one big man have done a lot of damage before falling in dramatic fashion (St. Joes in 2004, Davidson in 2008). 

4)      UTEP/Butler is one of those bullshit small school vs. small school things the tournament does just to screw with people.  UTEP's front line is monstrous and Randy Culpepper can score, but Butler has been here before and won't get rattled, even with the Miners' huge front line.  The winner will either face Vanderbilt - a team I liked all year due to having guard play and a post presence, but who sputtered down the stretch - or Murray State, everyone's favorite Cinderella.  Looking at the Racers' numbers, it's hard not to be impressed, especially when you consider Siena blitzed the Commodores in this same seeding match-up two years ago.

5)      I'm not sure I'm sold on Syracuse, especially if Arinze Onuaku is banged up.  Yes, they dominated the Big East regular season, but Boeheim's track record in the tournament post-Carmelo isn't stellar.  Onuaku is so important to a team where everyone knows its roles so well, he's got to be healthy for the second weekend.  The one factor that would relieve my doubt is if Wes Johnson's health has benefited from the limited action over these last two weeks.  If he can be Carmelo or even Carmelo-lite, then that solves a lot of the Orange's ills.

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More photos » Nick Wass - AP

3 months ago: Old Dominion's Chris Cooper (20) celebrates with Kenyon Carter (33) after Old Dominion defeated Georgetown 61-57 during an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, in Washington. Also seen is Gerald Lee (12). (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Sorry for the delay, folks, but I was traveling the last couple days and only now have been able to sit down and digest the Fighting Irish's first round opponent.  This seems to be a pretty difficult draw, as Old Dominion is a big, deep, veteran team that's comfortable playing slow.  They've already played a lot of bigger conference teams this year (Missouri, Dayton, Richmond, Mississippi State, Georgetown, Northern Iowa), including a victory over the Hoyas on campus.  They're coming out of the Colonial Athletic Association, a league that's seen some tournament success the last few years with George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth.  The odds of the Monarchs being intimidated by playing a Big East school are somewhere south of zero.

Things revolve around 6' 10" senior Gerald Lee, the only ODU player to average double digits on the season.  Lee is one of the main reasons Old Dominion is highly ranked in 2-point field goal percentage (49.4%, good for 107th) and offensive rebounding rate (42.4%, first in the country).  I'm particularly impressed by Lee's numbers in the game against Mississippi State, because even with Theo Ratliff 2.0 Jarvis Varnado patrolling the paint and collecting five blocks, Lee went 9-for-15 for twenty points.  Complementing Lee on the inside is 6' 8" Frank Hassell, the team's leading rebounder and shot blocker, as well as the second-leading scorer.  Coming off the bench in support of the front line is a very intriguing player in Keyon Carter, another 6' 8" body that can rebound and shoot three at a 35% clip, good enough to lead the team.

And that, friends, is where we find Old Dominion's apparent weakness: they cannot shoot the three.  To their credit, they recognize this and don't shoot that many.  When the treys fall -as they did against Georgetown when the Monarchs hit 7-of-16 - they seem very, very difficult to stop.*  Their guard rotation consists of 6' 1" Darius James, 6' 5" Ben Finney and 6' 5" Kent Bazemore, so some good size in the backcourt as well, making this team's offensive rebounding rate make more and more sense.  This would also lead me to believe Notre Dame could institute the same sort of sagging man they used on Connecticut and Pittsburgh players not named Ashton Gibbs, but perhaps Mike Brey has something else up his sleeve.

* When we discuss the Georgetown game, I think it's important to note that Bad Chris Wright showed up, shooting 2-of-8 and going 0-for-3 from three.  When BCW is in the game, any loss is possible for the Hoyas.

Here is the weird thing about the Monarchs: despite an absurd proficiency for scoring 2-pointers and some very good big men in the post, they barely ever get to the free throw line.  They're not particularly good at shooting as a team when they get there - although Lee, their leading shooter there, is 76% - but I'm excited to crack open 360 and see what kind of offense they run that they're scoring a ridiculous amount of 2-pointers without getting fouled that much.  Crafty Monarchs.

If you're interested in taking your own look at Old Dominion, they have four games on ESPN360, including all of their CAA tournament contests and the win at Georgetown.  I think I'm going to start with their semifinal win over VCU (in overtime) and then move onto to the Hoya victory.  The Irish have been playing great basketball, but this Monarch team seems like a tough, slow, big team that is going to be a very, very difficult out.

~

Some other random stuff:

• In case you were not aware, the game will start at 12:25 Thursday afternoon from New Orleans, with Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas on the call.
• Old Dominion is based in Norfolk, Virginia, and has an enrollment of over 24,000 students.  They're a little short on famous alumni I could dig up, so for our purposes this week, focus your hatred on Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander and Cash Cab host Ben Bailey.  Et tu, Ben?
• Notre Dame is a two-point favorite over the Monarchs, and if you're really feeling confident about their chances, you can get them at 20-1 to advance to the Final Four. 
  

As we count down to the release of brackets on Selection Sunday, the most important thing to remember is this: Match-ups are more important than seeding.

With Notre Dame's new reduced pace, they have the ability to drive teams that play fast insane and completely take them out of their game.  Conversely, teams that are used to playing slow will gladly trade 33-second possessions with the Irish.  Here's a few of each, using KenPom's pace numbers:

POTENTIAL TOURNAMENT TEAMS THAT PLAY FAST:

10. Washington

11. BYU

12. Villanova

14. Texas

28. Kansas State

36. Xavier

39. Syracuse

40. Missouri

48. Georgia Tech

49. Wake Forest

POTENTIAL TOURNAMENT TEAMS THAT PLAY SLOW:

341. Wisconsin

333. Temple

332. Pittsburgh

331. Utah State

305. Marquette

301. West Virginia

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As an Irish fan, I'm disappointed with losing last night, but it's not a bad way to go out.  They were playing against a top ten team whose best player was hitting everything (Da'Sean Butler went 9 of 15, and I don't remember him missing those six shots) and still had a shot to win the game.  The Irish were killed on the boards, and it took a fantastic performance from Ben Hansbrough to keep them close.  This was really a worst case scenario match-up for Notre Dame - a team comfortable playing slow, a lot of athletes, capable of hitting the boards well - and they acquitted themselves quite well.  Now we sit, and we wait and pray for a good match-up. 

On the other side of the bracket, Georgetown just overwhelmed Marquette in the final quarter of the game.  The Golden Eagles' threes stopped falling and that was that, as Greg Monroe continued his surge through the Big East Tournament and up NBA draft boards with a 23/13/7.  It's a battle between him and Da'Sean Butler for winning Big East Championship MVP, and they're both very deserving candidates.  West Virginia has the advantage of playing a game less  than the Hoyas, but JT3's team is humming along right now.  Should be another classic in the Garden after four days of them.

Huge day of hoops today, so enjoy folks.  We'll be back to cover the bracket selections tomorrow.

More photos » Henny Ray Abrams - AP

COME STRONG OR DON'T COME AT ALL.

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Normally I hate it when announcers come out strongly for or against something over the course of the game, but there are a few exceptions, especially when A) the announcers we're discussing are the McDonough/Raftery/Bilas that's probably the best broadcast team we've seen in years and B) they're condemning the current Big East Championship bracket.  It's too big, it takes too long and there's no reason that they can't unprotect the top seeds or kick out the bottom seeds.  At least some of the coaches at the top will be complaining, as it took a late turnover and buzzer-beating three for the double-bye teams to fall to 0-4 yesterday and 2-6 all-time.

Tonight's games are rematches of two great regular season match-ups, as Marquette beat Georgetown by three and the Irish beat West Virginia by two when another buzzer-beating three attempt kindly rolled out.  What are these teams playing for?  Well, Marquette and Notre Dame could conceivably work their way up to a 5 or 6 seed if they keep winning, Georgetown can maybe eye a 2 and there's no reason a surging West Virginia squad couldn't grab that fourth 1 if Duke falters in the ACC.  Three more great games left in what has seemed like a fortnight-long affair most resembling the labyrinthine BASEketball postseason.

Anyway, onto some bullet points:

• This could also appear as the headline of Duh Aficionado magazine it's so obvious, but if Arinze Onuaku misses any amount of time, the Orange are in big trouble. He anchored the zone and was uber-efficient finishing around the rim, but more importantly, their bench is so thin they don't have anyone remotely seasoned to replace him. Granted, when the Cuse won the title in 2003 they were usinga Craig Forth/Jeremy McNeill combination at center, but at least those guys had played all season and knew their roles. Boeheim can probably buy time until the second weekend unless there's a particularly tough 8/9 team, but a Final Four trip seems unlikely without the big man.
• I've always considered Villanova a lock to go deep in my bracket, but do I have to abandon that idea after their cavalcade of late season losses? Or is this simply a matter of Big East teams being used to Jay Wright's style of play and being able to best him in some close games? They've gone to at least the Sweet Sixteen four of the last five years, so I'd lean towards it being similar to the Syracuse situation, where league teams are just comfortable playing them.
• Dion Dixon must be the sickest man in America, but can we all question what sort of play Mick Cronin drew up there? Or why he didn't put a man defending the inbounds pass so the Mountaineers couldn't get a clean entry right to certified assassin Da'Sean Butler? Some questionable late decisions by the Bearcats' coach wasted a huge, huge effort from Lance Stephenson. "Born Ready" has nothing to be ashamed of after that Big East Tournament run.
• Let's say Marquette loses to Georgetown tonight and settles in at a 6 or 7 seed. Can you imagine being the poor 3 or 2 that has to match up with those guards in the second round? You'd just have to pray you'd have the size to expose them, but even then, you're praying they don't shoot an absurd percentage from three like they did in the second half versus ‘Nova.
• Georgetown is going to screw up a lot of brackets, because they're as likely to lose in the first round as they are to make the Final Four. Anyone who tells you they know how they Hoyas are going to perform next weekend is a giant liar and needs to be slapped. Unless you're in love with a match-up, split the difference and put them in the Sweet Sixteen, because we are all merciless at the hands of Good Chris Wright's diabolical doppelganger Bad Chris Wright.
• I'm disappointed Cincinnati lost for a number of reasons, but perhaps highest on the list would be to see what style Mike Brey would employ against them. I assume he'd take a "Ain't Broken, Don't Fix It" approach with the slowdown offense, but with the Bearcats sporting leaden legs and playing their fourth games in four nights, you'd think there'd be at least some interest in breaking out the old up-and-down style of play and attempting to emulate the 83-65 Irish win back in early February. Sadly, we'll never know.
• SI.com's Andy Glockner, their "bracket expert," is conspiring with the front page editors to annoy me. After last night's game: "The Irish move into lock status with their win over Pitt to make the Big East tournament semifinals. Combine the late-season surge with the losses around them in other leagues, and the Irish can book their seat at the dance." Couple that with the "ND Means No Doubt," or whatever the nonsense headline was after the Irish beat Pitt and you would have thought every single other bracket projection didn't already have Notre Dame safely - and I mean safely- in. Heck, even Doug Gottlieb with his notoriously high (delusional) bubble standards had Notre Dame in the field regardless of the Pitt result.
• If Notre Dame wants to run its record against West Virginia to 2-0 this season, they're going to have to do a better job on the boards. Against Pitt, the Irish only got one offensive board, while giving up eight, although it felt like a whole lot more. I also don't think ND is going to be able to rely on four threes from Tory Jackson again, but the senior point guard has always played well in Garden come March.
• Big East fans are lucky to have New York Times writer Pete Thamel covering their tournament, simply because he's one of the best at what he does. Here's a little blogpost on Luke Harangody as he continues his 2010 redemption tour.
• I'm picking the Hoyas to win tonight, as in their first meeting with the Golden Eagles, Greg Monroe and Wright combined for only 18 points while Marquette shot 12 of 23 from 3, yet Georgetown only lost by 3 on the road. In the second half of the double-header, I'll guess Da'Sean Butler makes up for missing the late three in South Bend and hits another clutch shot to dump the Irish.

More photos » Henny Ray Abrams - AP

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Wow, that was an incredibly ugly second half, but the Irish made all the plays they needed down the stretch to secure the victory.  Big free throws from Luke Harangody, big block from Tim Abromaitis and an excellent effort across the board by all involved.  Notre Dame now awaits the winner of West Virginia and Cincinnati.  We'll discuss this more tomorrow, but the way this win streak is going, there isn't a way Notre Dame can win that would surprise me.  A fluid, offensively beautiful first half gave way to extended scoring droughts in the second, but the lead was never lost.  Pittsburgh showed some flaws , but this is still a huge win.

Will Arnett, what were you saying?