ICYMI Basketball edition: Dukies out of Top 25, A big upset you didn’t hear about and some other bits
Posted: February 13th, 2007 | Author: Zim | Filed under: Babble, ICYMI, NCAAB | 6 Comments »
Waaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaah! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!! Dukies have lost 4-in a row in the ACC
Can the Dick Vitale, Jim Nantz, Billy Packer and the NCAA deal with an NCAA basketball tourney without Duke?
Wright State (wrong college) upset #13 Butler over the weekend…did you know?
And some other things all In Case You Missed It
by Mike Zimmer, Bracketologist
What are all the kiss-asses at CBS and the NCAA HQ in Indy going to do when Duke is on the bubble and doesn’t deserve to be in the NCAA basketball tourney? The Dukies are (18-7) overall, and just (5-6) in conference including having lost 4-in a row in the ACC. They just fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since 1996 after the new rankings came out on Monday. With the ACC really about North Carolina and everyone else, they are mid-pack and in bad shape coming off losses to so-so Virginia, not-so-good Florida State, a close loss to UNC and then getting beat on the road at Maryland. So, are they worthy of a tourney bid if they are no better than a middle of the road team in the ACC which got no favors last year?
Look, if your team name is Duke, even if you finish at (7-9) in the ACC, you get in the tourney. Just wait and see. They do have wins over Air Force (who’ll more than likely win the Mountain West), Indiana, Georgetown and Gonzaga. Meanwhile, they have been exposed as a young and road weary team which has not been a hall mark ever of a Mike Kryzyschevskiwuzskrivsshksee coached team. The question is, do they deserve it if they continue to struggle down the stretch with so many other mid-majors on the bubble?
This year, you have 24 non-traditional conferences (along with the Big Ten, Big East, Big XII, SEC, ACC and PAC-10) getting automatic bids. Some of the mid-majors may be deserving of multiple bids. However with a team like Duke who is a major draw and other traditional big power schools on the bubble (like say another somewhat struggling traditional power like Kentucky), do those conferences get bids? The Missouri Valley Conference sent no less than 5-teams last season to the big dance, and could again this year send a bevy of teams. The MVC is log-jammed with everyone chasing #16 Southern Illinois. Creighton, Missouri State, Wichita State, Bradley and Northern Iowa are all in the race for a spot as well. The WAC has some deserving teams after #11 ranked Nevada with New Mexico State and Utah State in a position to perhaps crash the dance. And now, even the Horizon League could have 2-teams in the mix. The Horizon League you ask? Who other than #13 ranked Butler is in that conference?
DaShaun Woods of Wright State
One of the stories you may have missed this weekend was that the Wright State Raiders moved to (19-8) and got a piece of the lead in the Horizon League with their win over #13 ranked Butler. The Bulldogs who whooped Wright State earlier in the season by 31, were ambushed at the Nutter Center over in Fairborn this past Saturday 77-65. Wright State is on Butler’s heels and could be in shape to host the post-season tourney if they can win the regular season. Loyola of Chicago is also decent out of the Horizon and could cause problems for either Butler or Wright State too.
While we’re talking all this college basketball, have you noticed that ESPN has a female game night analyst for the men’s highlight show?
A sweaty Stacy Dales at a speaking engagement at Northwestern (Sorry no good pics of her apparently exist online tonight)
Dales is also a WNBA player and former NCAA Star
Her name is Stacy Dales. It used to be Dales-Schuman but she kicked her college sweetheart to the curb and took her name back. I thought I had seen her before, but recently she had popped up on the ESPN College Basketball Gamenight desk. She is also a football sideline reporter and THAT is where I remembered her from. As for her “other” career in the WNBA, she retired only to agree to come back this season to play for an expansion team. Perhaps it is her “other” interest that caused her to get a divorce. OH! I kid! I kid! The thing is, I can’t decide if she’s hot or not. One look yes, another, and she’s on that side of Rebecca Lobo. Oh, that was mean! I like Dales I think. She’s got a little Jodie Foster (pre-butchy lesbian version) cute thing going on. But that was always my problem with “Clarise”, she was good looking one look and eh in another. More than my petty man issues of whether she’s good looking of not, she makes coherant sense and for some women broadcasters doing mens’ sports that isn’t always the case. Dales looks comfortable and I actually like her insight and she appears and sounds accepted and respected for it. Her defending Duke tonight wins her no points, but she sounds quite well rounded and learned when it comes to NCAA hoops. Surprisingly, unlike the likes of one of my favs Bonnie Bernstein or the rather photogenic Erin Andrews, there are nary a few pictures to be found of Dales on the net other than when she was playing in the WNBA. ESPN.com doesn’t have anything on her AT ALL.
ESPN’s Best Gator Alum, Erin Andrews
Speaking of Erin Andrews, www.barstoolsports.com out of Boston has a Tribute to Ms. Andrews that some one posted on Youtube.com. It’s worth a watch.
And finally, as we talk about good looking women, basketball and things that you might have missed, I have been sitting on this one for quite some time now and can’t keep it in any longer…
USC women’s basketball player and Matt Leinart’s Baby Mama
This is Brynn Cameron, the mormon USC women’s basketball player that former USC and now Arizona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart knocked up. Who else is in the picture is what is funny to me. That would be Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter, who apparently Cameron is dating despite getting some sort of support and having done the baby making dance with Leinart. Cameron would appear to have a thing for PAC-10 QB’s. Who’s next Ryan Leaf’s lil’ bro up at Oregon? One thing that would seem to be out would be hooking up with USC’s back-up QB Matt Sanchez, who apparently is headed to the registered sex-offenders list after being accused of sexually assulting a fellow student last summer.
And that’s In Case You Missed It, Basketball edition. Now leave a comment and don’t make it about Grey’s Anatomy, Cooking Shows or Foam Finger Diddling.
Tonight the might Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles play at Butler… and they’ll get smashed. They are a D2 tournament bound team, and will be making the jump to D1 next year since they couldn’t find a decent conference in D2 that would take them. They’re joining the Atlantic Sun conference I believe. One thing worth noting is that instead of using their abbreviation of “FGCU” on the ticker tonight, they’re using “FL-GulfCst” or some such crap. Happy Zim?!! No mention of “Top Chef”, “The Soup”, or “Best Week Ever”. So their I managed to not plug my 3 favorite shows.
Good going for skipping out on mentions about your metrosexual shows. However, you used “their” instead of there which is just wrong.
I think it’s an injustice that they can’t use FGCU!
Oh, and no thoughts on the Erin Andrews montage or any help on whether we think Stacy Dales is hot or not?
Brynn and Rudy are just friends. In fact they have been very close friends since the 7th grade in Newbury Park. He is very close with her younger brothers and their entire family.
Wow. Actual feedback from someone in the know. And of an old post too. Kudo’s for the correction and addition and hopefully understanding the sarcastic nature of the site. Too bad for Brynn that Matty’s turning out to be a bit of a douche.
Erin is much sweeter and smarter. Stacey Dales is rude, slimy and arrogant. She fronts like a peaceful person that enjoys meditation, peace and love. She’s rude, mean, vulgar and yes a lesbo. Guys and girls keeps your girls away from this bucket of crud. I’m sorry I ever crossed paths with this one.