Milestone Alert! These rants hit the Internet in 2001; I save them on my computer with sequential numbers; today is the 5,000th daily rant. This endeavor has been a huge source of entertainment and enjoyment in my retirement. I intend to keep on keeping on until my fingers wear down from all the keyboard striking…
I got an email from the “reader in Houston” with pertinent information relative to the NCAA tournament that begins in earnest at noon ET today. As is customary for major sporting events, Mattress Mack has a sales promotion going on; here is this year’s deal for March Madness:
“For the NCAA Tourney, Mack’s wager will be that in the Final Four, if the team located closest to Houston wins it all, people who buy a “qualified” mattress for over four grand, will get full reimbursement for the mattress.”
Sweet dreams …
The four play-in games – – excuse me, they are now labeled as the “First Four Games” and doesn’t that make everything right in the world? – – are in the books. Tuesday night produced two games that went down to the wire:
- Howard 86 UMBC 83 [UMBC rallied in the second half to make it close]
- Texas 68 NC State 66 [Texas won on a shot with 1.1 seconds left in the game]
Last night’s games were not nearly as close:
- Prairie View Lehigh 55 [Lehigh led by 2 at the half.]
- Miami (OH) 89 SMU 79 [Miami’s record this year is 32-1.]
I don’t know if there are any omens in those four games relative to the next 63 games in the bracket, but Miami (OH) is an interesting case. Their only loss of the season was an upset in the MAC Tournament by UMass. Many people have pointed out, however, that Miami played about as meager a schedule as possible and some argued that if they did not win the MSC Tournament – – which they obviously did not – – they should not get an at-large slot in the NCAA tournament.
The Selection Committee disagreed with that stance but put Miami in a play-in game to secure an 11th seed in one of the regionals. So, the Selection Committee bought in to the assessment that Miami’s schedule was soft as cloud by seeding them as low as they did; teams with 30+ wins rarely find themselves among the last teams on the Selection Committee’s invitation list.
Miami’s first test in the “main bracket” will be tomorrow against Tennessee. Here is the line for that game as of this morning:
Tennessee – 11 vs Miami (OH) (149): The Total Line has stayed the same since the opening; one sportsbook has the Total Line at 148.5 if you want to be picky. However, the spread has moved a lot. It opened with Tennessee as a 15.5-point favorite and it has been dropping steadily since opening last night.
It has been a while since my alma mater has been a part of March Madness. Penn got in this year by winning the Ivy League tournament over Yale who was the regular season Ivy League champion. Penn’s last appearance was in 2018 when it lost to Kansas in the first round then; it would appear that this year’s team is destined to make only a cameo appearance.
Penn vs Illinois – 25.5 (151): Once again, the Total Line has not moved much since opening on Monday; it started at 149 so the current number adds one extra basket for the Total Line. However, the spread movement is not a good omen for Penn fans; Illinois opened as a 21-point favorite and the spread keeps increasing.
For today’s games, the largest spread is 31 points – – Michigan is favored by that number over Howard. The shortest spread is 2 points and that number seems to happen a lot in this year’s bracket:
- Georgia – 2 vs St. Louis
- Ohio St. – 2 vs TCU
- UNC – 2 vs VCU
- BYU – 2 vs Texas
Here is something to look for. Nebraska is in the field this year; it will take on Troy in one of the early time slots. Nebraska is a 15-point favorite in that game, and you may ask why that is something to look for. Here is the deal:
- Ever since the NCAA basketball tournament began in 1939, Nebraska has never won a game. They have made the field 8 times and have gone out in Round 1 every time.
- Is this their year …?
Finally, with the tournament in motion, I’ll close with this from Dean Smith:
“Basketball is a team game. But that doesn’t mean all five players should have the same number of shots.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………