Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Blackeye nation

The women's tournament is also down to its Sweet Sixteen, and history repeats itself. Once again, I lose a Final Four pick; once again, it's Ohio State. The worst 1 seed lost to the best 8 seed, Boston College, which joins Utah as semi-surprises:

Cleveland Regional
01. North Carolina
08. Tennessee
09. Rutgers
16. Purdue

San Antonio Regional
02. LSU
07. Oklahoma
10. Stanford
15. DePaul

Bridgeport Regional
03. Duke
06. Connecticut
11. Georgia
14. Michigan State

Albuquerque Regional
04. Ohio State
05. Maryland
12. Baylor
13. Arizona State
20. Utah
29. Boston College


So what happened, Buckeye Nation? The women were riding a 20-game winning streak before getting derailed by a second-tier ACC team while playing in Big Ten territory. The men were league champs and conference tourney finalists who slipped up against a second-tier Big East team while playing in Dayton, a hour away from campus. Both teams boasted the Big Ten players of the year, Jessica Davenport and Terence Dials. At least the men were part of a conference-wide jinx; the women will notice that Michigan State and Purdue still get to play. I don't have an explanation -- only high expectations for both teams next year.

If you're wondering, the schools still able to double dip the Final Fours are Connecticut, LSU, Duke, and Boston College.

3 comments:

Oscar Madison said...

Neel, you're a very entertaining sportswriter. I wish I was more interested in college hoops, because I'd be loving this.

Neel Mehta said...

Thanks. You realize, of course, that my sportswriting stint pretty much ends once college basketball season is over. What am I gonna write about, baseball? Every game counts? Yeah, right.

Asian Provocateur said...

woohoo go LSU!!!