Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Does anyone want to go dancing?

By Brendan Loy

This is unbelievable. Fans of South Alabama, Illinois State and VCU ought to be jumping for joy, because today has been an absolute disaster for the bubble teams still in action. Almost nobody is playing their way in, and a lot of teams are playing their way out. If there is ever going to be a year when four low- or mid-majors (i.e., the three above-mentioned teams plus St. Mary's) can all reach the Big Dance despite disappointing conference tournament finishes, this is that year.

The list of bubble teams that have lost today now includes Oregon, UMass and -- in humiliating fashion -- Florida, in addition to the ones I've mentioned previously: Dayton, Villanova, UAB, Houston, and Arizona State... plus Baylor, which wasn't even a bubble team this morning, according to Joe Lunardi, but may be one now. (On the other hand, maybe not; who's going to take their place?)

The only bubble teams that have won today are Miami (which was at the very top of the bubble, per Lunardi, and presumably can now be considered a lock), Florida State and Temple (both of whom were at the very bottom of the bubble, but may have a realistic shot in this crazy environment), UNLV (barely!) and St. Joseph's.

Bubble teams with unfinished games tonight: Texas A&M (winning), Arizona (hasn't tipped off yet), New Mexico (hasn't tipped off yet), Mississippi (losing) and Maryland (losing).

Bubble teams who start their conference tournaments tomorrow: Arkansas, Ohio State, Virginia Tech.

What a crazy day of basketball this has been.

UPDATE: Of the five "unfinished" teams mentioned above, only Texas A&M won. Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi and Maryland all lost! Unreal!

This reminds me a bit of a really compressed version of the last few weeks of college football season, when all one BCS contender after another kept losing, thus opening the door for teams who thought they'd been definitively eliminated from the championship picture. Remember when Illinois "crushed" Ohio State's title hopes, and when Arkansas "knocked out" LSU from any possibility of reaching the title game? Well, yesterday's bubble "eliminations" are similarly suspect, thanks to all the other losses. Arizona State, Villanova, UMass, etc. -- you may yet get in. After all, somebody's gotta! They aren't going to shrink the tournament to 60 teams just because no one seems to want the final few spots.

Goooo Irish!

By Brendan Loy

Beeeeat Eagles!

Winner gets Pitt tomorrow at 9:30.

UPDATE: Marquette wins, 89-79.

Oh, it's on.

By Brendan Loy

USC 59, ASU 55. UCLA 88, Cal 66.

You know what this means: my season-series bet with Mike Tran will be decided in a dramatic Pac-10 semifinal rubber match, an intra-city battle royale at the Staples Center tomorrow night at 9:00 PM EDT.

As specified by the terms of the bet, if UCLA wins, I have to change the name of my men's basketball pool to "The 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool, presented by the UCLA Bruins." I have to include the "presented by the UCLA Bruins" in every full-fledged pool update that I post on the blog, and UCLA also has to appear somewhere in the pool's official logo.

If USC wins, Mike has to go to Tommy Trojan and get his picture taken in front of Tommy, doing the victory sign and wearing a USC shirt of some kind (with "USC" in big letters, clearly visible). He has to get me this picture by next Wednesday, and I get to post it on my blog as often as I want during March (and early April, i.e. Final Four weekend).

FIGHT ON, TROJANS!!! BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

And the winner is...

By Brendan Loy

The winning logo in the NCAA pool design contest comes from Tom Greca, the designer of last year's logo, who strikes again with this nifty-looking design:

At my request, Tom also made a simpler version that will work better for the 200-pixel-wide thumbnail that'll eventually go in my left-hand column:

Some additional minor tweaking is possible -- and of course, in according with my bet with Tran, something about UCLA will have to be added if the Bruins win tomorrow -- but that's the basic gist.

Thanks, Tom! And thanks to the other entrants as well.

Baylor stunned

By Brendan Loy

As of this morning, Joe Lunardi had Baylor listed as a lock. Does that still hold after the Bears lost -- albeit in double overtime -- to last-place Colorado in the Big 12 first round? Yikes!

On the other hand, Baylor can't very well lose its spot in the Big Dance if nobody rises up to claim it. So far, the question today has been, "Does anyone want it?" Bubble teams losing today: Villanova, Dayton, UAB, Houston and Arizona State. The only bubble winners are Florida State, which is just barely on the radar, and St. Joe's, which likewise probably needs at least one more win. (Although, with all this bubble carnage, who knows?) Oh, and Miami won, too, but they're a near-lock anyway. Likewise, West Virginia solidified its position. But among the teams truly on the bubble, nobody's distinguishing themselves. If things continue in this vein, the committee is going to have some very tough decisions to make.

Oh, and with UAB and Houston going down in the quarterfinals, how freakin' easy is Memphis's road to a C-USA title? Good grief.

Pop!

By Brendan Loy

...goes UAB's bubble. And Dayton's and Villanova's, probably. Good news all around, so far, for the VCUs and Illinois States of the world.

But what about Arizona State's bubble? Fight on Trojans! Pop Beat the Sun Devils! (Actually, I hope ASU loses, then makes the Big Dance anyway.)

UPDATE: Uh-oh... another controversial ending to a Pac-10 game?

I don't know what the rules are on over-the-back fouls, and the FSN announcers are doing an absolutely horrible job of explaining what's going on. Can someone fill me in? I really hope the Trojans aren't winning this one illegitimately.

UPDATE 2: USC won 59-55. Here's the ending:

What do y'all think?

Design contest & open thread

By Brendan Loy

One final reminder that the design contest for my NCAA pools' logos ends at 5:00 PM EDT today; that's the deadline to submit your entries. I've already got some good choices, but the more, the merrier! Details here.

Also, if any of y'all are in front of a TV watching this afternoon's basketball games -- lucky dogs -- or otherwise want to comment on the results, feel free to do so on this thread. There's solid basketball from noon until after midnight today, with bubble implications galore, so there's plenty to talk about. God, I love March. :)

P.S. Here is Joe Lunardi's current assessment of the bubble, with 25 teams competing for eleven spots. They're listed in "S-Curve order," so the higher on the list your team is, the better. Italics indicate the team's season is over.

• IN: Miami, Texas A&M, Arizona, UNLV, Arkansas, South Alabama, Oregon, Massachusetts, Illinois State, New Mexico, Arizona State

• OUT: Ohio State, Florida, VCU, UAB, Dayton, Saint Joseph's, Villanova, Mississippi, Syracuse, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Temple, Houston

Of course, a whole bunch of those teams have games today -- every non-italicized team, in fact, except Arkansas, Ohio State and Virginia Tech, all of which have byes until tomorrow -- so the situation is very fluid.

NOTE: This post will stay on top all morning & afternoon. New posts will appear below.

Oh, no, they didn't! Tattle-tale Tennessee reports UConn recruiting violation

By Brendan Loy

In the latest escalation of the Pat Summitt-Geno Auriemma War, Tennessee recently reported UConn for an alleged recruiting violation -- arranging a tour of ESPN's studios in Bristol for star freshman Maya Moore  back when she was a recruit who was heavily prized by both schools.

ESPN, obviously keen to avoid "becoming the story" again in the future, says that "to avoid future incidents, our tour policy will now prohibit high school athletes from receiving tours at the request of a college or university athletic official."

But the bigger story here, in my mind, is the Summitt-Auriemma angle. It has become increasingly clear that these two really don't like each other. In fact, here is some exclusive footage of Pat and Geno going at it before a recent ballgame:

Correction: I'm told those are the Oral Roberts and IUPUI mascots. My bad. But if Connecticut and Tennessee meet in the Final Four, that's pretty much what it'll be like.

Harry Potter 7... and 8

By Brendan Loy

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies. Part I will be released in November 2010, Part II in May 2011. David Yates will direct both. (Hat tip: Andrew H.) [Bumped. -ed.]

All I can say is, I seriously cannot wait for the climactic Battle of Hogwarts scene. It'll be, for me personally, the most-anticipated cinematic event since the Mount Doom scene in Return of the King. :)

Resignation

By Brendan Loy

The New York Times busted out its MAN WALKS ON MOON / CLINTON IMPEACHED / U.S. ATTACKED headline style for Governor Spitzer's resignation:

Meanwhile, the Post, Daily News and Newsday all seem more interested in the latest revelations about the identity of the governor's call girl than about the fact that, er, the governor resigned yesterday. Heh. God bless tabloid journalism. (And some people say the interest in this story is primarily prurient in nature. Puh!)