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Archive for the tag “Maryland”

02 Apr 2013
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The Other Final Four Story

Update II: Disregard the below.  The CBI is a 3-game format.  Good grief. 

Update: Congratulations to the Broncos of Santa Clara for winning the CBI.

THE FINAL FOUR is in Atlanta this weekend.  But it is not the only final four in March.  There are three other tournaments, including the venerable National Invitational Tournament (the “NIT”), still ongoing.  The other two tournaments are the CIT and the CBI.  There are more champions to be crowned.

For the NIT, Big 10 basketball is coming to your television set tomorrow.  Although it is unclear who televises the NIT, the NIT semifinals include a barn-burner between Iowa-Maryland.  It is a barn-burner in the sense that, if Iowa loses, they will set their barns on fire.  Maryland, cash poor after being incompetently run for a long long time in the ACC for all these years, does not even have barns.  Yet.  So this is far from a true, double-barn barn-burner.  In any event, this matchup promises to be a preview of all the great Maryland-Iowa rivalry games to be seen in the future.  Jim Delaney must be so very proud.

If one game has a rather plain Big 10 aftertaste, the other game has some Big XII intrigue.  Current Big XII power Baylor takes on a school that most expansion experts like to shift right into a non-existent Big XII vacancy, Brigham Young University.  So we are looking at an NIT final–on whatever day the NIT final is–between teams between the Big 10 (kinda) and the Big XII (OK, a stretch).  One of these teams will take home the crown of being #69.  Commence giggling.

The CIT and CBI are both are past the final four stage.  The CIT is down to its final game, featuring a future member of the “Big East Leftovers,” East Carolina, and Weber State.  We are not sure what the CIT was thinking, they are holding this game on the same day as the NIT semifinals.  A lot of tough remote control decisions across America.

Did you know?  There is no state named Weber.  Weber State is in Utah. 

Meanwhile, the CBI, which may stand for the Cinderella Basketball Invitation, will hold a championship game between George Mason and Santa Clara.  Santa Clara made a name for itself by beating #2 seed, Arizona, in the 1993 Big Dance.  George Mason made a name for itself a few years ago, with a magical run to the Final Four.

Did you know?  The CBI Tournament Championship Game was actually last night.  Do you know who won?  Seriously, let us know.  It’s hard to find the scores on ESPN.com. 

While the festivities in Atlanta promise to be memorable this weekend, just remember that there are other tournaments wrapping up.  We’ll even let you root for Maryland.  It would be cute if they won something, even if they do end up pawning the trophy to buy socks for their lacrosse team.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, March Madness, Non-Serious, Opinion, Sarcasm, Satire and tagged , , , ,
27 Mar 2013
3 Comments

Because We Still Pretend to Care About Maryland

Did you know that Maryland is still playing in the NIT?  Did you care?  If yes, chances are you are a Maryland fan.  Actually, chances are many Maryland fans do not care.  Anyway, as long as the Maryland Terrapins are still nominally in the ACC, let’s find some Maryland NIT highlights on YouTube.

Here is one.

Oh, wait, that’s more of a Syracuse highlight.

This one is about the NIT.  Apparently.

Wow… someone did this.  OK.  It probably says Maryland in that blurry mess.

Here we go.  This is some of the high-quality basketball we’ve all come to expect out of Maryland in the post Juan Dixon era.

Ah screw, it.  Screw Maryland.

Time for some more DUNK CITY!

Florida Gulf Coast… the most exciting team since Phi Slamma Jamma.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, March Madness, Opinion and tagged , , ,
19 Mar 2013

The ACC & The Postseason

While the Confidential continues to invite fans and friends to join its bracket contest, what about the ACC teams themselves?  Well, numerous ACC teams are still dancing.

From a mini-dance standpoint, Virginia and Maryland did not make it to the NCAA tournament, but both were eagerly invited to the N.I.T.  Last year’s ACC champion, Florida State, stumbled this year.  But they still landed a #4 seed in the NIT and will host Louisiana Tech tonight.   Maryland was given a #2 seed and hosts Niagara tonight.  Virginia earned a #1 seed and will be hosting Norfolk State tonight.  You may recall Norfolk State as a mainstay on the Rutgers’ football schedule.

But everyone is interested in the Big Dance.  How about Louisville?  Set to join in 2014, everyone knows by now that the Cardinals are the #1 overall seed.  Many prognosticators are prognosticating that Louisville will win it all.  Giant leap of faith there.  But it is hard to disagree with that pick.  Syracuse, Pitt, and Notre Dame will be playing ACC games in the fall.  But all three are dancing, receiving #4, #8, and #7 seeds, respectively.  Pitt may have been screwed with its seed, but it can beat Gonzaga.  Will they?  We’ll see.  Syracuse also got sent to San Jose to play West Coast teams.  But they are all dancing.

The ACC is further represented by Tobacco Road, which placed Duke, North Carolina, and North Carolina State as #2, #8, and #8 seeds.  Those seeds seem fair.  Miami finishes out the ACC teams with a #2 seed in the East.  While a #2 seed is argued by some as unfair or disrespectful, it seems within the realm of appropriate.  Remember, the Committee can adjust seeds by one or two places to keep the conferences sorted out and prevent rematches.

In any event, there are eleven ACC teams left standing.  This time of year, rivalries are set aside and we can all root for our conference mates…at least until they face each other.  So good luck to all ACC teams… may your March Madness continue as long as possible…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Bracket Contest, March Madness and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
15 Mar 2013
1 Comment

ACC Bubble Watch: March 15, 2013

As the ACC tournament shifts into Day 2, the fortunes of the two ACC “bubble” teams, Virginia and Maryland, remain alive.  For Maryland, defeating Wake Forest was simply a necessity to stay in the discussion. 

ESPN has updated its bubble watch for Maryland as follows:

Maryland [21-11 (8-10), RPI: 82, SOS: 118] The Terps survived an NIT-guaranteeing potential loss against the typically dismal Wake Forest Demon Deacons Thursday, a win which nonetheless still leaves them outside serious bubble contention. After all, the Terps do have just four wins against teams ranked better than 150 in the RPI; that two of them came against Duke and NC State doesn’t really matter, given the utter softness of Maryland’s nonconference schedule (No. 297), ugly RPI and a sheet full of cupcakes. It’s easy to pick on, say, Southern Miss when we’re talking about the mediocrity on the bubble, but really, the fact that the Terps are even still in fringe contention for an at-large bid says it best. And with all of that discouragement out of the way, Maryland’s win Thursday did one thing: It gave them another crack at Duke. I’m not sure I?’d slot Maryland in the tournament even if they do win Friday, but that win obviously couldn’t hurt.

The commentary on Virginia is not all that positive either, noting Virginia’s glut of “bad losses.” 

But the great thing about the conference tournaments is that teams can control their own destinies by winning it all.  The late, great Jimmy Valvano proved that with North Carolina State.  And both Virginia and Maryland can still do so.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Uncategorized and tagged , , , ,
14 Mar 2013
1 Comment

Neat CBS Feature for Tracking RPI

CBS and Jerry Palm have this cool new feature.  Maybe it is not new, but it is new to us, anyway.  In any event, you can enter in any college basketball team and see what they need to root for that day to boost their RPI.  The link is here: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/jerry-palm-reader/.

As an example, for Virginia, it lists:

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, March Madness and tagged , , , ,
13 Mar 2013

ACC Tournament Begins Tomorrow!

The out-of-conference games are done.  Season 1 complete.  The regular season conference games are done.  Season 2 is complete.  Now the college basketball world heads into Season 3: the Conference tournaments.  For the ACC, the tournament kicks off tomorrow with four very good games.

Here is the complete schedule, courtesy of the Bleacher Report:

Tournament Schedule & TV Information

Thursday, March 14 (First Round)

Game 1: No. 8 Boston College vs. No. 9 Georgia Tech, 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Game 2: No. 5 NC State vs. No. 12 Virginia Tech, 2 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Game 3: No. 7 Maryland vs. No. 10 Wake Forest, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Game 4: No. 6 Florida State vs. No. 11 Clemson, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

 

Friday, March 15 (Second Round)

Game 5: No. 1 Miami vs. Game 1 Winner, 12 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Game 6: No. 4 Virginia vs. Game 2 Winner, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Game 7: No. 2 Duke vs. Game 3 Winner, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Game 8: No. 3 North Carolina vs. Game 4 Winner, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

 

Saturday, March 16 (Semifinals)

Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN/ACC Network)

Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN/ACC Network)

 

Sunday, March 17 (Finals)

Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN/ACC Network)

The big games to watch on Thursday are the Maryland-Wake Forest and North Carolina State-Virginia Tech games.  Maryland is squarely on the bubble. There is no room for a loss against the Demon Deacons.  North Carolina State is likely on the right side of the bubble.  But one never knows just how at-large spots will be open.  The Wolfpack are probably safe, but every year there is a surprise or two.  It’s best to remove all doubt when you get the chance to.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, March Madness and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11 Mar 2013

The Confidential Correspondent Weekly Poll: March 11, 2013

So there it is.  Another regular season in the books.  As we head into the exciting tournament season, here is the final “regular season” weekly Top 12, with 5 precincts reporting:

#1 Duke, 4 first place votes, 59 pts.

#2 Louisville, 1 first place vote,  55 pts.

#3 Miami, 50 pts.

#4 Pittsburgh, 44 pts.

#5 Syracuse, 36 pts.

#6 North Carolina. 35 pts.

#7 Notre Dame, 32 pts.

#8 (tie) North Carolina State & Virginia, 24 pts.

#10 Maryland, 13 pts.

#11 Florida State, 12 pts.

#12 (tie) Georgia Tech & Boston College lemson, 3 pts.

Wake Forest and Clemson got votes in early polls.  Only Virginia Tech failed to have ANYONE give them a top 12 vote at any point in the season.  Good job firing Seth Greenberg.

How about Syracuse–ranked #4 in one poll and #9 in another.  Virginia has a pretty good range too, from 7th to 10th.  Notre Dame ranged from 5th to 8th.  The remaining teams were not quite as variable.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your top 12…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Correspondent Poll, Opinion, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
08 Mar 2013
5 Comments

The ACC and the March “Bubble”

It’s that time of year, again.  Mediocre basketball teams all across the United States are making the case as to why their 10-loss season is superior to someone else’s 10-loss season.  It was an annual ritual for Virginia Tech, until they decided to fire Seth Greenberg and avoid the whole hassle altogether.  Expected disappointment is better than shocking disappointment, perhaps.  In any event, with March Madness around the corner, there are plenty of ACC “locks”: Louisville, Duke, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Notre Dame.  That is a TON of talent.  So who is left on the proverbial “bubble,” right now?

ESPN believes that there are two, but only two, ACC teams on the bubble:

Virginia [20-10 (10-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 132] The Cavaliers are good. They just seem determined to prove otherwise. That is the best explanation I can come up with for Virginia’s past three games, which began with as promising an RPI victory as a bubble team can get in last week’s win over Duke. UVa looked great against the Blue Devils, not only controlling pace but playing some really deep, smart defense, and all of the positive efficiency trends we’ve seen from Virginia for so much of the season were on full display. And then, of course, the Cavs lost at Boston College, and followed that up with Thursday night’s loss at Florida State. That all but deletes whatever positive profile boost they got from the Duke win, and will keep them mired in the bubble mess even with a win over Maryland in the ACC regular-season closer Sunday.

Maryland [20-10 (8-9), RPI: 84, SOS: 121] As soon as Maryland fell to UNC at home Wednesday, the pronouncements started coming far and wide (OK, maybe just on Twitter): Maryland’s done! They’re going to the NIT! Loud noises! I wouldn’t discount them so fast. Sure, the Terps’ profile isn’t great and they were already on the wrong side of the bubble before Wednesday’s loss. But I’m not sure how much a loss to UNC hurts you at this point, and the bubble doesn’t really operate on opportunity cost. Is Maryland really in worse shape now? Either way, the Terps weren’t in a great spot before the night started, and now they almost certainly need to win at Virginia this weekend in what could end up being a do-or-die bubble showdown. It’s a race to the finish.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports, unfortunately, has Virginia and Maryland on the wrong side of the bubble.  Joe Lunardi of ESPN had Virginia in, but Maryland out.  But then Virginia lost to Florida State on Thursday, apparently causing them to drop out.

Interestingly, Maryland plays Virginia on Sunday–a 6:00 pm start and a great way to finish the ACC regular season.  What do you think?  Is this essentially a “play-in” game?

Or do both teams need to each do serious damage in the ACC tournament to have a chance?  Or are both doomed, absent winning an automatic bid?

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion, Schedule and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
06 Mar 2013

ACC Lacrosse Season is Underway

After football and basketball, lacrosse may be the most popular sport in the ACC.  At the very least, it has several GREAT teams participating in it: Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.  Starting soon enough, Syracuse and Notre Dame will be part of the mix too.

The current national standings are as follows:

1 Maryland (22) 4-0 1
2 Notre Dame (3) 3-0 2
3 Cornell 3-0 5
4 Loyola (MD) 4-1 4
5 Princeton 2-0 12
6 Johns Hopkins 3-1 3
7 Denver 4-1 10
8 Ohio State 4-0 13
9 Virginia 4-1 6
10 Syracuse 2-1 16

That means 4 of the top 10 schools are either part of the ACC or will be soon.  Of course, Maryland will be leaving, but you get the idea.  The ACC is THE dominant force in lacrosse.

Also consider that North Carolina is ranked #11 and Duke just fell out of the top 20.

The question that begs is what the ACC is going to do in the future to replace Maryland.  The Big 10 is toying with the idea of adding Johns Hopkins for lacrosse purposes only (and research consortium monopoly games).

The Confidential has pondered the merits of adding Navy to the ACC as the 16th team.  Give them the same deal as Notre Dame… all sports and 5 games of football.  A 6th game could be Notre Dame vs. Navy, an annual matchup on the gridiron.  It would certainly be nice to give the ACC that 6th conference team for lacrosse too–the prerequisite for an automatic bid.

Of course, as noted above, the ACC lacrosse teams are all heavy hitters.  An automatic bid is not a make it or break it thing.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Lacrosse and tagged , , , , , , , ,
04 Mar 2013
2 Comments

The Confidential Correspondent Weekly Poll: March 4, 2013

It is basketball season.  It is also a Monday.  That means it is time for the Confidential’s weekly correspondent poll.

You have questions.  How far will Syracuse fall on its 3-game losing streak?  How far up will suddenly-hot North Carolina surge?  What to do with Virginia–who beat Duke and lost to Boston College?

We have answers.

Here is the weekly Top 12, with 6 precincts reporting:

  1. Duke (4 first place votes) 70 points
  2. (tie) Miami (1 first place vote) & Louisville (1 first place vote) 63 points
  3. (tie)
  4. Pittsburgh  46 points
  5. (tie) Syracuse and Notre Dame  44 points
  6. (tie)
  7. North Carolina  43 points
  8. North Carolina State  33 points
  9. Virginia  25 points
  10. Maryland  19 points
  11. Florida State  12 points
  12. Georgia Tech  5 points

Notes:

Wake Forest also received 1 point. 

Nobody had Duke below 2nd place.

Pitt ranged from 3rd place to 8th place.  Syracuse ranged from 4th place to 9th place.  North Carolina ranged from 5th place to 8th place.  Otherwise, pretty tight ranges.

Florida State is a unanimous #11 team.  Which is nice.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your top 12…

 

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Correspondent Poll, Opinion, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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