Unlike Baba, there are some of us who have to work every day this week like normal. But don’t worry, my work internet speed is definitely stream-worthy and my office door will be closed because of my “important conference calls” all day.
Overview: The West Region is an interesting one because it has two teams in Memphis and UConn that many thought deserved No. 1 seeds. It also has a Big Ten Tourney champ Purdue and Pac-1o regular season champ Washington, let alone several sneaky teams (Maryland, Missouri, Marquette, A&M) who have beat top-10 ranked opponents all season.
Cinderella: The Terrapins of Maryland. The turtle has been fierce the last few weeks and PG Greivis Vasquez has been no joke. Cal, on the other hand, has struggled of late and their high seed is a bit of a surprise. In the second round, look for Maryland to give Memphis all they can handle. Memphis is a phenomenal team, but they are young and haven’t been tested since Gonzaga six weeks ago. Maryland’s Vasquez, on the other hand, dropped a triple double on North Carolina and knocked off Wake Forest in just the last three weeks.
Sleeper: Washington Huskies. I think they get all they can handle from both the hot Miss St. and the hotter Purdue Boilermakers, but they squeak by. Super-frosh Isiah Thomas is an animal. And do you think senior blue collar bruiser Jon Brockman has any plans of going out early in the tourney? Not likely that any skinny Boilermaker can handle him on the block. And remember what Pitt’s Blair did to Hasheem Thabeet a few weeks ago…
West Region Randomness: 8 and 9 seeds BYU and Texas A&M actually played eachother in the first round of last year’s tourney. And thanks to BYU’s rule of not playing on Sunday, apparently there was no way around repeating this. They were seeded exactly the same last year and A&M came out on top….don’t expect much different.
Favorites: There are going to be a lot of nervous moments in this one in what I think is the most balanced region. Expect Connecticut to have the easiest pass to the Sweet 16, with Missouri close behind given an injured Marquette squad that has dropped 5 of their last 6 games. In the other match-ups I see Brockman powering Washington through and Memphis locking down on a Maryland team that is too dependent on Vasquez.
Region MVP: Hasheem Thabeet has been the hot name all year and it is hard to argue against him, but weaker competition will keep his numbers down in the early rounds. The toughest match-ups go to Washington, so look for Mr. Double-Double Brockman to light it up.
TastyBooze West Region: UConn, Memphis, Missouri, and Washington.
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Fuck the Huskies. They only sleeping they are going to be doing is on the flight home after they get beat in the first round.
did you just compare John Brockman to Blair. WOW! Not even close.