and I think that every one of these opening games is very winnable. I think the B10 does have something to prove and I do hope for a 4-3 record or better in the opening round. I would guess that MSU and Purdue are locks and even w/o Frasier, I think Illinois and OSU should win as well. The remaining three games are all toss ups, and I think the B10 has a good chance to win each of them. I agree with GN that FSU has to be a little pissed about drawing Wisconsin.

I think MSU has a good shot at a Final Four and Purdue is finally healthy and could be a very dangerous team. I wouldn’t want to play them.

As for the Gophers, I am thinking (hoping) they can pull out a win on Thursday. I am really looking forward to the Texas game and would love to see them play Duke.

Go BigTen!

Has the Big Ten going 5-2 in first round games but only 2 making the Sweet 16.

I did pick against the Gophers in round 1. It’s kind of one of those picks that you make when you want to at least feel good about your bracket doing well even if your team loses. I’d much prefer to see my picks suffer.

Illinois over WKU. I was hesitant before Frazier was out. They’re very inconsistent. They could go to the Sweet 16 or be one and done. Same for Michigan. They could run over Clemson or be ice cold from three and be one and done very easily.

ND, Cincy and Gtown all suck. So does Rutgers, SH, SF, st.johns and Providence. Oops, I now forgot DePaul. The Big East has so many teams it seems to be a magic trick to remember them all.

Your Conference wins are as followed:

Seton Hall = once
DePaul = once
ND = once
Cincy = once
SF = once
Rutgers = once
GTOWN = once
St. Johns = once
WVU = once
Marquette = once

I was mistaken before, you never beat Providence. I misspoke. I apologize for my incompetence. Syracuse, in fact, lost to Providence by 6 points; a game that was more like a blowout until a late run to make the score look respectable. The Orange beat Marquette in the final game of the year, which means they were without Dominic James, but more importantly they were playing without much confidence.

Your conference losses are as followed:

Louisville = Loss by ten points at home
Uconn = loss by fourteen points (Dyson played only five minutes)
PItt = loss by 18
Providence = I believe we have covered this one
Villanova = loss by 3 at home (Villanova also had control of the entire game)
                     loss by 17 at Villanova
Georgetown = loss by 14 points

Your total record = 11-7 with only one quality win…against WVU at home. Marquette would have been a quality win, but please refer to my earlier displayed FACTS. And, considering your Syracuse squad needed overtime to squirm around Marquette raises more clouds than sunny galore.

As for your conference tournament, you beat uconn in six overtimes, which I should mention was without them having jerome dyson. You also beat WVU because your team was playing out of their mind. But, that does in now way qualify Syracuse as the better team. And, like I have said before, Syracuse tends to always play well in NY.
 
As for Non-conference play—

You beat Memphis when Memphis wasn’t very good.

You beat Kansas when they were still finding themselves.

You beat florida…but who really cares…florida sucks.

Just like MN is overrated due to their Lousiville win, Syracuse is overrated due to their conference reputation and ignorant non-conference wins. Do not ever make the mistake of comparing Syracuse to Uconn, Louisville, Pitt or WVU in terms of quality basketball or respectable basketball. And, do not ever compare Syracuse with Uconn, Louisville or Pitt in terms of the potential or ability to advance in the NCAA tournament.

Have fun watching your Orange dissapoint you. Except for Routins and Flynn your team is full of punks…and sooner or later they will lose as punks. And, don’t ever say Devendorf is a better player than Routins, because he is not on the same planet as Routins…Devendorf is a punk player who cherry-picks and plays no defense at all. Routins is fundamental in everything. Devendorf may be a skilled athlete, but that does not mean he is a good player.

I apologize so deeply for not crystalizing my points earlier. When Syracuse gets bullied in the tourney (either in the second or third round) I will say:

WHAT HAPPENED?….I THOUGHT DEVENDORF WOULD LEAD THEM TO THE SHIP!

I don’t care if I spelled his name wrong….I honestly do not care.

And, just because Devendorf is more talented (which I already implied), that doesn’t mean he is a better basketball player to watch.

And I never said or implied MN was better than syracuse. I am simply tired of the national hype of syracuse. They are not an elite-eight team. I’m not saying they are not talented. All I am saying is that they are not comparable to the top teams in the country. And, if you have a child learning to play the game, they are not the best team for them to watch…they cherry-pick, act immature after shots (ala Devendorf) and they continuously play weak zone defense.