NCAA Performance Rankings: Day 2

Ranking the NCAA Teams:

While Day Two of the tournament was not nearly as entertaining as Day One, it did provide for some spectacular performances. The first list ranks the 32 teams from yesterday only. The second list is all 64 teams from the first round.

Day 2:

1. Syracuse (23 pt win over Vermont)
2. Duke (29 pt win over Arkansas Pine Bluff)
3. Pittsburgh (23 pt win over Oakland)
4. West Virginia (27 pt win over Morgan State)
5. California (15 pt win over Louisville)
6. Cornell (13 pt win over Temple)
7. Texas A&M (16 pt win over Utah State)
8. Ohio State (17 pt win over UC Santa Barbara)
9. Xavier (11 pt win over Minnesota)
10. Missouri (8 pt win over Clemson)
11. Georgia Tech (5 pt win over Oklahoma State)
12. Maryland (12 pt win over Houston)
13. Gonzaga (7 pt win over Florida State)
14. Michigan State (3 pt win over New Mexico State)
15. Purdue (8 pt win over Siena)
16. Wisconsin (4 pt win over Wofford)
17. New Mexico State (3 pt loss to Michigan State)
18. Wofford (4 pt loss to Wisconsin)
19. Oklahoma State (5 pt loss to Georgia Tech)
20. Florida State (7 pt loss to Gonzaga)
21. Clemson (8 pt loss to Missouri)
22. Siena (8 pt loss to Purdue)
23. Houston (12 pt loss to Maryland)
24. Minnesota (11 pt loss to Xavier)
25. Louisville (15 pt loss to California)
26. Utah State (16 pt loss to Texas A&M)
27. Temple (13 pt loss to Cornell)
28. UC Santa Barbara (17 pt loss to Ohio State)
29. Morgan State (27 pt loss to West Virginia)
30. Oakland (23 pt loss to Pittsburgh)
31. Vermont (23 pt loss to Syracuse)
32. Arkansas Pine Bluff (29 pt loss to Duke)

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NCAA Performance Rankings: Day 2

NCAA Performance Rankings

Ranking the NCAA Teams:

After 12 hours of excellent, intense, entertaining basketball, here is how the teams fared based solely on their performance yesterday. Keep in mind that a losing team (say, Marquette) can be placed above a team that won (say, Villanova). This is a completely subjective rankings system derived entirely from what I saw with my own eyes. Please let me know where I made mistakes:

1. Kentucky (29 pt win over East Tennessee State)
2. Kansas State (20 win over North Texas) 
3. Ohio (14 pt win over Georgetown)
4. Butler (18 pt win over UTEP)
5. Kansas (16 pt win over Lehigh)
6. Washington (2 pt win over Marquette)
7. Baylor (9 pt win over Sam Houston State)
8. BYU (7 pt 2OT win over Florida)
9. Wake Forest (1 pt OT win over Texas)
10. St. Mary's (9 pt win over Richmond)
11. Tennessee (3 pt win over San Diego State)
12. New Mexico (5 pt win over Montana)
13. Murray State (1 pt win over Vanderbilt)
14. Marquette (2 pt loss to Washington)
15. Northern Iowa (1 pt win over UNLV)
16. Texas (1 pt OT loss to Wake Forest)
17. Old Dominion (1 pt win over Notre Dame)
18. Florida (7 pt 2OT loss to BYU)
19. Villanova (3 pt OT win over Robert Morris)
20. Robert Morris (3 pt OT loss to Villanova)
21. San Diego State (3 pt loss to Tennessee)
22. Notre Dame (1 pt loss to Old Dominion)
23. UNLV (1 pt loss to Northern Iowa)
24. Vanderbilt (1 pt loss to Murray St)
25. Sam Houston State (9 pt loss to Baylor)
26. Montana (5 pt loss to New Mexico)
27. Lehigh (16 pt loss to Kansas)
28. Richmond (9 pt loss to St. Mary's)
29. UTEP (18 pt loss to Butler)
30. Georgetown (14 pt loss to Ohio)
31. North Texas (20 pt loss to Kansas State)
32. East Tenn State (29 pt loss to Kentucky)

Complete first round rankings coming tomorrow with blurbs for each team.

GRM

NCAA Performance Rankings

Quotations: The New F-Word

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. -Elbert Hubbard

Quotations have become the "f" word of the literary world. They can be used in almost any situation and nobody really thinks twice. Think about all the different sentences you have crafted in the past which featured the vulgarity of the "f" word. Surely it has been a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, pronoun, title, etc. It was also most likely used to convey such emotions as anger, happiness, apathy, sorrow, etc. It is the Swiss Army Knife of words, if you are ever at a mental loss just throw out a couple f-bombs to buy some time.

Very quickly, quotations are seeping into every foreseeable avenue. Competing studies have shown that society both writes more and writes less than previous generations, I will lean towards the former conclusion. While people may not be crafting epic letters with the skill of a true wordsmith as our Elizabethan brethren did, there are more circumstances in which the written word is used. It is almost never really the "written" word anymore, but instead the "typed" word. The act of putting pen to paper is not important, the putting of thoughts into words is. Twitter, Facebook, text-messaging and email have become the most common forms of communication (besides, you know, talking) and all of these methods involve placing word after word together to make a coherent statement.

Sometimes, though, it is difficult to come up with the best words. To be fair, enough people have lived and recorded statements in human history that someone, somewhere has probably captured what you are trying to say better than you. At some point, C.S. Lewis was pondering the importance of friendship, just like you might be after an important moment when a pal comes to your aide. C.S. Lewis is smarter than you and me and he has the ability to put his thoughts into words better than you and me. So when C.S. is quoted with saying, "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.", it can replace whatever jumbled mess you would have thought of. So instead of thinking more, you drop a quote-bomb on your Facebook page.

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Quotations: The New F-Word

Quick Fix: Expansion and the NCAA Tournament

There has been a growing sentiment in sports circles concerning expansion of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The opposing sides can be summarized as those who do not want to meddle with a "perfect" event and those who think more is better. A common push is a move to 96 teams (an increase from the current 65 team set-up). You could spend all day listening to arguments from both sides and not come to a conclusion. There are merits to both retaining the current form and to expanding.

By staying at 65:

• the regular season has more meaning
• conference tournaments have impact
• more drama surrounding the "bubble"
• brackets are easy to fill out

By expanding to 96:

• more teams with opportunity to compete
• less debate surrounding the "bubble"
• more chance of early round upsets
• more spots for mid-majors

In terms of my personal opinion, I believe that expansion could be good, but an expansion to 96 is the worst case scenario. Here is why:

1. 96 teams will still leave room for argument over who's in, who's out. The bubble issue remains.
2. The regular season and conference tournaments would become even less meaningful than they are now. The drama would be removed almost entirely.
3. Mid-majors would most likely not be helped. The extra spots would ensure more teams from the power conferences get in.

With this said, I am pro-expansion. I am pro-super expansion. Others have brought similar ideas to the table, but I believe I have a complete answer. The NCAA should expand the tournament to include all teams...sort of.

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Quick Fix: Expansion and the NCAA Tournament

How I Felt Like a Number...But Didn't Mind (PART TWO)

Part Two (continued from this post on Friday)

I knew this was the environment in business. Nothing was going to surprise me. But I let my guard down and let the company convince me that they had too much invested in me. I couldn't be considered disposable. What about the $75,000? This is why I dreaded the call to the corporate office to report my resignation. I shouldn't have.

I called in to my responsible party at the corporate headquarters. He answered like a customer service representative at Verizon. 

Hello, Mr. McBride, how can I be of service today?

I explained that I didn't think it was in the best interest of either party to continue our working relationship (then I cringed waiting for the hammer to drop).

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. (Pause) Well, for my records I need to ask what the reason is for your resignation?

I explained that I felt like I was not the right person for the position and that I couldn't see myself working in this capacity for the next five years (Now I was going to get it. He was going to yell at me for taking up all of their time and resources. How could I have not known this before they spent $75,000 on training me?).

OK, I will note that. The next thing I will need is an official letter of resignation. Could you email me this within the next hour?

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How I Felt Like a Number...But Didn't Mind (PART TWO)