The Obligatory Blog Post Before the Opening Day Blog Post

 Hi kids, how are we all doing lately?

Me? Oh, I've been just peachy. It's been almost a month since my last blog post, but I swear I have a good explanation for it (er...sorta). Not only do I work most of the day away, but when I'm not working, I'm tuning up my resumé and continuing to hunt for job. Annoying, but something we all must do, like writing this blog post.

Not only that, but thanks to my pal R-Matts (who I sincerely hope reads this post to see the adorable nickname I just came up with), my TV show watching has been increased two-fold. In the past month, I have chugged out 'Modern Family', 'Arrested Development' (for the 2nd time), and have begun 'Deadwood' and 'Mad Men'. When I'm not watching those, I've been spending my time watching the NCAA tournament. If you didn't get a chance to read my post evaluating Wisconsin and Marquette's chances, go back and read them to see how dead on I was.

Despite their exits in the round of 16, I'm proud of my boys. That's a rare feat for any school, hell, even a 1-seeded team like Pittsburgh couldn't get there. That said, I like the rest of you have a completely busted bracket. In the 3 I did, only 1 did I have UConn in the Final Four, and I regretted that selection almost immediately. Butler doesn't shock me after they made the championship game last year, but VCU? Obviously the selection committee isn't so stupid, are they? (VCU was HIGHLY criticized for being chosen to make the tournament over several teams). And hey, did you know Shaka Smart was from Wisconsin? Just one of many winners this year from America's Dairyland, let's quickly break down this year in sports in the state of Wisconsin:

- 2011 is kicked off with Wisconsin Badgers football in their first Rose Bowl (as well as BCS bowl) in 10 years. They lost, but an 11-2 season is nothing to scoff at.


- The Packers just squeak into the playoffs but winning consecutive 'do or die' games, and then go on a miraculous run of winning 3 road playoff games to make the Superbowl and defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers to bring home their 13th NFL title, 1st since 1997. No matter what happened after, this completely made my year already.

- Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey wins what feels like their 100th championship. Obviously, that's an exaggeration, but these girls are well coached and good year in and year out. An easily overlooked achievement.

- Wisconsin Badgers and Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball both make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. One of them would have great, but both is just awesome.

- Shaka Smart, native of Madison, WI, takes his 11-seeded underdog Virginia Commonwealth to the Final Four. A truly outstanding achievement for a young coach on the rise.

And I'm sure there are more teams who have been involved with national tournaments and athletics, and probably a few coaches or players from the state, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Something is in the air, Wisconsin, and our athletes are drinking whatever is in that water supply we got pumping right now (though it's probably frozen since it's March 28th and still 30 degrees outside).

What more could this year hold? Guess we'll just have to wait and see. I won't let the Bucks bring me down, we've got Opening Day right around the corner, and I'll be doing a super duper awesome Opening Day primer on Wednesday for all of you to read (for the baseball fans and ones who don't care as much). Smell those brats folks, no matter what the temperature is outside, spring is in the air...

Road to March Madness

In the midst of teams gathering for Spring Training this week, basketball season heated up quite a bit. While I won't claim to be a big expert on the NBA (and specifically with the Bucks continuing to spin their wheels), certainly some of the trades that took place will help many teams contend...but that's for another time. Today I'd like to talk about college basketball, and what to expect from the big tournament next month.

There are few playoff setups in sports today that really get it right. Partially because of how some sports are played limits their formats, partially because few are able to capture the tense atmosphere. The NCAA basketball tournament, which has been given several catchy nicknames like "The Big Dance" and "March Madness", is without a doubt my favorite format. Each game matters, and I'm convinced any team can win on any given day. That's something that can't be said for rotisserie and best of 7 formats, the excitement just lacks a little there. Because if you lose, you always have the next game to look forward to.

Not only is each game exciting, but the field is so wide and there's so much action going on. If one game turns into a blowout, it's likely there will be another one at the same time which might be more exciting. The game makes it so that the teams can keep playing day after day, and there are no week breaks until it gets down to the finals, so there's just non-stop action. You can argue whether its the best format, but it's by far my favorite.

So who should we keep an eye on? Personally, I don't see a clear cut favorite. For as good as Duke is, they are beatable. Kansas is a very good team, but they also can have an off day. The Big East is all great, but it's been almost a decade since one of those teams won a national championship. My advice is to ride the number 1 seeds till a tough matchup and then make a gut call. People love upsets, but these teams get those seeds for a reason, far too often do people try to call a #1 upset too early. Sometimes you get lucky, but the rest of the time you're just being stupid. Chances are if a #1 loses early, nobody in your pool called it.

Wisconsin and Marquette are both coming off big road victories this week. In the Big Ten, home court advantage means a lot. So to beat a fairly good Michigan team in their house on a buzzer beater is nothing to discredit, it was a solid game that Wisconsin overcame with some heroics. Marquette gutted out a hard fought match at #14 ranked UConn. Gold Eagles fans be proud, I'm about 99% sure Marquette just punched their ticket for the dance with that victory. Late season signature wins like that mean the world no matter what your record is.

Jordan Taylor

I'm uncertain what to expect from each team, both of whom have weaknesses that can be exposed by even decent teams. Wisconsin lives outside the paint, and with a pressure defense on them, they struggle to score consistently. If they are going to be successful, they need to use some of their size inside with Leuer and Brusewitz and try to open up the outside more for their prime scorer Jordan Taylor. If Wisconsin will have one difference maker this postseason, it will be Taylor, who has turned out to be a pretty special player. He is a true guard who remains fairly consistent. A game manager who averages 18 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds a game. That's solid production, and it's his well rounded game that makes him such an important player.

Jimmy Butler

For Marquette, the other end of the court seems to be their issue: defense. It's partly that Big East style, but this team can't get away with some of sloppy fundamentals they show. The silly turnovers, the breakdowns in coverage, they've shown time and again that a 10-point lead is not safe. However, when they get on a roll, they can't be stopped. They can hurt in you so many ways with several scoring threats, and if they can limit the mistakes, they can beat anyone. Inside and outside, they can come at you in so many fashions. If Marquette will have one difference maker this postseason, it will be Darius Johnson-Odom or Jimmy Butler. Each brings a somewhat similar game, but strength where the other lacks. DJO can be a big time scorer and carry the team on his back, as he showed against UConn last night. Butler makes his presence known inside, and can rebound with the best of them, grabbing an average of 6 a game. Butler has been known to have a hot hand too, and is mostly the go-to shooter when they need points. Both need to bring their 'A' games to this tournament to be successful.

That said, my expectation for each team is unfortunately not great. With some good luck and slight adjustments mid-games, each in their own right can make a solid run, but I think it'd be a hope and prayer to even see Wisconsin make the Final Four. This has been quite a year for the state so far though, we'll see if that magic from the Rose Bowl appearance and the Superbowl win can carry over.