Marquette did play athrilling game against UW, but it was a UW wearing purple. Washington bouncedthe Golden Eagles in the first round, 80-78, and Wisconsin fared little better, edging tinyWofford only to get buried by Cornell in the second round, 87-69. Meanwhile, astring of upsets shredded the Observers' prediction brackets and made themwonder if their guesses are really no better than anyone else's.
Frank: What a disaster! Out ofthis year's Sweet Sixteen teams, each of us was correct on only a Sickly Six.
Artie: So what? It was a hellof a four days. This is the best tournament in years, just fabulous with NorthernIowa knocking off Kansas,St. Mary's over Villanova and, yes, even Washington and Cornell winning twiceas 11 and 12 seeds. Plus Milwaukee's own KorieLucious hitting a buzzer-beater to put Michigan Statein the Sweet place.
Frank: Yeah, I suppose a lotmore brackets than ours are toast with half of the remaining 16 seeded higherthan fourth.
Artie: Even the Bracketologistin Chief got burned. Mr. Obama had Kansasand ’Nova in his Final Four. But he made up for it Sunday with that 219-212final score in Congress, ain’a?
Frank: What made Lucious' shoteven better was the fact that the pass to him almost never got there.
Artie: Yeah, that teammateheading to the hoop had to duck his head so the ball could get to Korie!
Frank: For me, though, thebest moment was when that kid from Northern Iowa got the ball with a one-pointlead over Kansasand about 40 seconds left. He's wide open at the three-line but there's no onein purple near the basket. So he should run some time, wait to be fouled, playit smart, right?
Artie: Wrong!
Frank: You betcha. So helaunches—and drains the three to finish the Jayhawks.
Artie: Just a typical Iowa kid with a typical Iowa name—Ali Farokhmanesh. His dad used toplay volleyball for Iran’snational team, so I guess that nutbag president over there will try to takecredit somehow.
Frank: When that shot went inI thought of my father. When I first started playing hoops he told me, "Ifyou get the feeling, don't be afraid to shoot." Of course at the time hewas demonstrating the two-handed set shot.
Artie: Ali had time to do itthat way if he wanted.
Frank: As for our state teams,well, maybe our jinxing them wasn't the only reason they lost.
Artie: I sure was disappointedwith the Badgers. Ever since February, when they lost to Illinoisat home and then a couple of games later at Minnesota, I was kinda worried about them.They got Jon Leuer back from injury but never seemed to get back to where theyhad been. They were cold against Wofford and then against Cornell I was saying,"Who are these guys?" It just seemed like they were a half-step slow;they looked gassed.
Frank: They did win their lastfour in the regular season, but Illinoisspanked ’em again in the Big Ten tournament.
Artie: And losing to Cornellwasn't a big upset. That team can play! They can run more than the Badgers andthey certainly shot well—just like Northern Iowa.I'm with Cornell all the way against Kentucky—andSt. Mary's against Baylor and Ali's Bunch against Michigan State.It's tremendous theater!
Frank: Talk about dramatics, Marquette sure knows howto produce them in the tournament. For the third straight year, the breaks justdidn't go their way down the stretch.
Artie: Two years ago, Stanfordwins in overtime on a really tough shot. Last year, Missouri edges the Eagles in a wild one. Andthis time Quincy Pondexter chases down a long rebound, Washington works the clock down andPondexter hits the deciding shot in the final second.
Frank: I have a buddy who saidMU should have fouled when Pondexter got the rebound, put him in theone-and-one and guaranteed themselves the last possession.
Artie: Woulda, coulda,shoulda. They had a 15-point lead in the second half but had no answer when Washington shot theirway back into it. The Huskies are no fluke, as they later showed against New Mexico. That LorenzoRomar is a mighty good coach.
Frank: As we always say about Marquette, they lefteverything they had on the court. Without much size, they relied on three-pointshooting more than most teams, but they were never, ever out-hustled.
Artie: Like I said, thisyear's tournament is the best in years because of all the upsets. I don't carethat my stupid bracket is all blown up, but I have a worry. I hope the NCAAisn't going to spin this like, "See, if you like this, think of all theupsets we could have with a 96-team tournament."
Frank: As we said last week,there's no way that 31 more teams deserve to have even a remote shot at thetitle. Check the records: None of these Sweet Sixteen surprises is a 17-15team. Northern Iowa is now 30-4, St. Mary's is28-5, Cornell is 29-4. They're not big names, but they're all conferencechamps.
Artie: NCAA, for once leavewell enough alone!
This Time for Sure
Frank: Well, even though wedivined only 37.5% of the Sweet Sixteen, we still could nail 100% of the FinalFour.
Artie: And why should we denyour readers such potential wisdom? Chances are they didn't do much better thanwe did last week. Let's reboot!
Frank: OK, in the MidwestRegional it's Northern Iowa vs. MichiganState and Tennesseevs. Ohio State.
Artie: Ohio Statehas come a long way with essentially just six players, mostly because they haveone tremendous guy in Evan Turner. I say they get to the Final Four.
Frank: I was all set to gowith Michigan State; Tom Izzo always seems to turn theSpartans on in March. But they lost a key guy Sunday in Kalin Lucas, so now I'mgoing with my heart and picking Ali and the Iowans.
Artie: That wouldn't bother mea bit.
Frank: In the West, it's Syracuse vs. Butler andXavier vs. Kansas State.
Artie: K-State has beenunderrated all year and has great guards, but I like the way Syracuse played the first two rounds withouttheir big guy, Arinze Onuaku. That Wes Johnson is a terrific player! I say the Orange rolls to Indianapolis.
Frank: And I'll say Kansas State,just for fun. In the East it's Kentucky vs.Cornell and Washington vs. West Virginia.
Artie: Ugh! Two coaches welove to hate, John Calipari and Bob Huggins. Well, I can never root for Kentucky and I'd love tosee Cornell beat ’em, but I guess I'll hold my nose and say Huggins and theMountaineers advance. After all, what else does West Virginia have?
Frank: Huggins and Calipari, abully and a flimflam man. I'm saying Washingtonkeeps finding ways to win. And in the South, it's Duke vs. Purdue and Baylorvs. St. Mary's.
Artie: I feel about Duke thesame way I feel about Kentucky—privilegedand overrated. I'm going with Baylor.
Frank: And because I reckon aNo. 1 seed has to win somewhere, I'll go with the Dukies.
Artie: There you go, readers.We guarantee that we won't have 10 spots wrong this time.
