JJ makes picks; Dickey V's mouth

[NT80]

Ethan B. Szatmary: Oh yeah, baby

03/19/2003

Ethan B. Szatmary

As Dick Vitale would say, "Oh yeah, baby!"

It’s tournament time, and my mind is racing faster than Dickey V’s mouth after a triple espresso.

After suffering my first tournament pool loss in three years last season, I decided to go to a few experts to help with this year’s brackets — area coaches.

What did I learn? Kentucky, Kentucky, Kentucky.

The closest any Denton area team came to the tournament was a little dissing from Dickey V, but that doesn’t mean the Denton Record-Chronicle staff isn’t ready for some serious hoops starting Thursday morning.

When attacking Auburn’s inclusion into the tourney over Boston College — the winner of the Big East, East Division regular season — Vitale said: "Auburn played a bunch of cupcakes in the early season schedule — Wofford, South Carolina State and North Texas State."

After calling the Mean Green by its old moniker in the early Sunday SportsCenter, Vitale had his facts straight by the late night edition and was calling UNT a cupcake by its rightful name. While Vitale may have misnamed UNT, he still had the record straight, as the Mean Green’s 7-21 record qualifies for no postseason status other than patsy.

While Vitale’s lack of faith in the Mean Green may have stung, it didn’t stop UNT head coach Johnny Jones from giving his two cents worth about the tournament. As an LSU and Southeastern Conference alum, Jones went with Kentucky (29-3).

"Defense wins championships, and they’re playing as we well as any team in the country right now. I think they’ll be cutting down the nets."

Jones added that he thinks Texas (22-6) can make a run to the Final Four, but only if they can get by his Tigers.

"They [the Longhorns] have to go through LSU in the second round, and that won’t be easy," he said. "They’re a veteran team that shoots the ball well, and they beat Arizona (25-3) this year. If Texas can get past LSU, then I like them to get to the Final Four."

Jones added that No. 5 seed Mississippi State is a dangerous sleeper in the East bracket. Not only did the Bulldogs (21-9) beat Oklahoma, 54-45, in the early season, but they’re playing their best basketball right now. Mississippi State was the first Southeastern

Conference team to play Kentucky tough this season in losing the SEC title game, 64-57.

While TWU head coach Devin Gabbard handles women’s basketball, he didn’t have any qualms weighing in on the men’s tournament. Like Jones, he picked Texas and Kentucky.

"To be really honest with you, I think Texas has the easiest run at it," Gabbard said. "Whoever comes out of Arizona’s bracket [the West region] will be good and beat down, since that bracket has so many good teams with Illinois (24-6), Duke (24-6) and Kansas (25-7). Kentucky or Texas has the easiest route, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see either one of them win it all."

As far as local high schools goes, it comes as no surprise that Calvary Academy is pulling for Kentucky, as well. After all, assistant coach Cameron Mills has two national championship rings he won with the Wildcats.

Liberty Christian head coach Mark Knize has a personal reason for picking the Wildcats, too. He’s worked a couple of summer camps with Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith.

"He gets the most out of his players," said Knize. "Plus, when we met, he wasn’t like a big time college coach. He was like a high school coach — humble and approachable."

If these coaches are right, then Kentucky is the team to pick.

The problem is, everyone is picking the Wildcats to win. So in order to win the tournament pool, one has to pick some sleepers in the rest of the brackets or hope the Wildcats get upset.

Tip No. 1: Fill out more than one bracket. In one bracket, pick the favored team — in this case Kentucky. In the other bracket, pick a longer shot. Texas would be a good one, since Gabbard is probably right and they have the least competitive bracket. However, there are a lot of ‘Horns fans here about, so that’ll be the second most picked team this year.

Tip No. 2: Pick some sleepers for first round upsets and one sleeper to the Final Four. Last year, both Indiana and Missouri were surprise Final Four participants. Two years ago, North Carolina did the same.

Mississippi State is a good start. At No. 5, the Bulldogs didn’t get a very high seed but were playing better basketball than East Region No. 4 Louisville (24-6) or No. 2 Wake Forest (24-5) at the end of the season. Oklahoma (24-6) missed a lot of free throws and allowed Texas to come back and beat it in the regular season finale, then the Sooners almost coughed up big leads against Texas Tech and Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament. OU is definitely susceptible for an upset.

East Region No. 3 Syracuse (24-5) is another team that would fit into this category. The Orangemen are young with three freshmen starters, but they can hoop. West No. 4 Illinois also factors in as a less likely Final Four entry. The Big Ten didn’t have a great year, but it didn’t last year either and Indiana made it all the way the national championship game. The Big Ten is usually the most physical major conference, and that rough play often translates to at least one battle-tested team.

As far as early round sleepers go, West seed No. 6 Creighton isn’t exactly a true Cinderella, but the Jays are more than capable of knocking out Duke in the second round. Also, don’t be surprised to see South Region No. 13 San Diego (18-11) upset No. 4 Stanford (23-8). The Cardinal has a recent history of early season disappointment. The trendy upset picks are No. 11 Southern Illinois (24-6) over No. 6 Missouri (21-10) and No. 12 Weber State over No. 5 Wisconsin (22-7) in the Midwest Region, as well as UNC-Wilmington (24-6) over No. 6 Maryland (19-9).

Southern Illinois and UNC-Wilmington both pulled off first round upsets last year. Whether that makes the Salukis and Seahawks more or less likely to do it again, who knows. Probably less. As far as Weber State goes, the Wildcats lost to North Texas — enough said.

Tip No. 3: Never underestimate the heart of a champion. Maryland won the national title last year but comes into this season as a No. 6 seed. While the Terrapins will likely not repeat, they are a very dangerous team for No. 3 Xavier and No. 2 Florida in the South Region.

Tip No. 4: If a team looks like it doesn’t belong in the tournament, then don’t ignore that team. This one is hard to follow. But, two years ago North Carolina squeaked into the tournament and Missouri did the same last season. They both made it to the Final Four. This year, all of the pundits are saying Auburn and Alabama (17-11) should not have gotten in over Boston College or Texas Tech. What does that mean? Either Auburn or Alabama will surprise some people.

[CMJ]

Good article for the most part, BUT Mizzou made the elite eight last year. NOT the Final Four.

Check the facts guys...it's not like we're talking 10 years ago even.

[IronMan4]

Szatmary is a sports genius. He can't even research to find out last year's Final Four. It's not like you would have to dig for hours to discover it or anything.

It was cool to hear JJ's picks. I wish he was in our pick em group.

[CMJ]

It was cool to hear JJ's picks.  I wish he was in our pick em group.

Underrated post.