Elite 8 Day 2 - 2 Fast 2 Furious

Pool Peeps:

We have ourselves a Final Four, and Wineguys has extended the lead in Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool (with lots of movement in the standings after that).

Wineguys picked both Houston and Auburn to win on Sunday (they did), and leads the pool with 90 points. Drift and Thomas Cat also both picked both Sunday games, and are tied for second with 88 points. Twisted Slinky, Net Prophet, and Jim Fynes are tied at 86, while Winner winner chicken dinner and ATX are tied at 85. Head to the site for complete standings heading into the Final Four.  Final Four games next Saturday are worth 5 points each, and Monday’s title game is worth 6. For those wondering, our leader has Duke beating Florida in the championship game.

Houston, we (DON’T) have a problem

In the early game, Houston was just too much for Tennessee, but the Volunteers didn’t really help themselves. They missed their 14 3-point attempts – yikes! – and shot 21% in the first half. You’re not going to beat many teams playing offense like that, especially a No. 1 seed. Houston led by double digits for the final 31 minutes and change of the game, so this one was never really close. I thought this game was going to be an epic clash, so it shows you what I know…

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Auburn holds off Sparty

The game featured a pretty heroic performance (22 points, 16 rebounds) from Auburn’s Johni Broome, who went down with a pretty horrific-looking injury in the second half. He landed awkwardly and seemed to hurt both his leg and his elbow, and there were some emotional moments there for a bit (camera showing his parents crying in the stands).  But minutes later (apparently after X-rays), Broome came back on the court. No clue what his status will be for the Final Four (he said after the game that he’ll play), but they are going to need him for their next game, against Florida in the Final Four (Florida won by 9 when they met in the regular season).  One interesting fact from this game - Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had a 10-0 record against the SEC in March Madness before Sunday. He is now 10-1 (no, I was NOT a math major, but thanks for asking).

“If you ain’t first, you’re last” – Ricky Bobby

Like it or not, this Final Four will feature all four No. 1 seeds for the just the second time in tournament history (2008 was the only other). As I said yesterday, it’s weird that we don’t have many Cinderellas in this tournament, but we do have two fantastic matchups between talented teams coming up next Saturday. Up first is Florida vs. Alabama for bragging rights from the best conference this season (and oh yea, also a place in Monday’s title game). Houston vs. Duke is the nightcap, and that should be a barnburner.  Can’t wait!

Enjoy the hoop detox, and I’ll talk to you Saturday night after the Final Four,

Jabin