For the first time in my entire life, my projected NCAA tournament winner and runner-up are both still playing on Final Four weekend.
I had to change my strategy this year. Rather than taking a lot of time - time that was probably better spent elsewhere - to analyze matchups, strengths and weaknesses, trends and potential upsets, I sat down and just went with my initial gut feeling.
My time-consuming method last year led me to project a Final Four of Texas, Gonzaga, Connecticut and Villanova with Villanova beating Texas in the finals. Instead we had LSU, UCLA, George Mason and Florida. Not my best performance.
This year I went with Florida, UCLA, Georgetown and Texas A&M, with the Aggies being my only miss.
While this hasn't been the most captivating tournament, this is the best Final Four in a long time. All teams are loaded with future NBA superstars, and there could be as many as 10 first-round draft picks playing in Atlanta this weekend.
Six players - Florida's Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer, Ohio State's Greg Oden and Georgetown's Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green - could all be lottery selections.
It should be a great day of basketball on Saturday, and I'm sticking with my original pick: Florida will defeat Georgetown in the national title game.
Georgetown is one of the few teams that can match size with Ohio State, specifically Oden, but the Hoyas are also more versatile. Jeff Green has had a monster tournament.
As for Florida, that trio of players all came back to school for a reason. As long as Florida doesn't take too long to get going - which could be a real issue - the Gators should pick up their second consecutive championship.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
North bounces back
North Iredell soccer coach Tim Watson is an interesting man. Not quite as interesting as the guy I saw playing the accordion on the side of Interstate 40 on my way to work Tuesday, but interesting nonetheless.
Watson uses words like "languid" and "glorious" during interviews. He has eight children and operates a small cattle farm. And during the entire game against West Iredell on Wednesday, he paced up and down the sideline without shoes.
"I was in boots all day," Watson told me after the game. "My feet are happy they're free."
He's also a heck of a motivator. He put the Raiders through an intense practice after Monday's 12-0 loss to Lake Norman. That was an obvious move.
But he sets team goals every week. He sets individual goals for players. He has one-on-one chats with every player about what he expects from then. He makes great adjustments during the game.
North's 8-0 decision over West had the feeling of a turning-the-corner type of victory. Next up for the Raiders is a game at Northwest Cabarrus on Monday in what will be a huge conference game. The Trojans throttled North 7-0 earlier this month.
Let's see if North can respond.
Watson uses words like "languid" and "glorious" during interviews. He has eight children and operates a small cattle farm. And during the entire game against West Iredell on Wednesday, he paced up and down the sideline without shoes.
"I was in boots all day," Watson told me after the game. "My feet are happy they're free."
He's also a heck of a motivator. He put the Raiders through an intense practice after Monday's 12-0 loss to Lake Norman. That was an obvious move.
But he sets team goals every week. He sets individual goals for players. He has one-on-one chats with every player about what he expects from then. He makes great adjustments during the game.
North's 8-0 decision over West had the feeling of a turning-the-corner type of victory. Next up for the Raiders is a game at Northwest Cabarrus on Monday in what will be a huge conference game. The Trojans throttled North 7-0 earlier this month.
Let's see if North can respond.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
North Iredell/Lake Norman observations
Here are a few observations from Tuesday night's Lake Norman/North Iredell baseball game.
1. Lake Norman had a solid gameplan devised for North pitcher Aaron Johnson. Lake Norman coach Robert Little - who coaches Johnson during fall baseball - knew the Wildcats' best shot was to wear the lefty down. Johnson hung tough and pitched six gritty innings, but three walks, a hit and an error in the fourth inning led to a 4-2 Lake Norman win.
2. Some interesting stats: Of North Iredell's 21 outs, six were registered on the first pitch (three groundouts and three flyouts). Lake Norman had zero first-pitch outs. Johnson had 123 pitches (52 balls, 71 strikes) in six innings. Lake Norman starter Garrett Braun tossed 93 pitches (33 balls, 60 strikes) in seven innings.
3. North Iredell looked like it might blow open the game in the third inning. Braun tossed a nice off-speed pitch to Tyler Christenberry that was called a ball - drawing ire from the Lake Norman bench and coaches. Braun even had to step off the mound for a moment to compose himself.
Faced with a 2-0 count, Braun had to throw a strike, and Christenberry responded with a single. Christenberry then stole second, and Nick Stutts hit a single to score him. But Braun buckled down and struck out Johnson and forced Marcus Ferguson to ground out to end the threat.
4. Lake Norman is young. Six sophomores started against North, but all played well. That group is going to be pretty scary in two years.
5. North continues to tinker with its first seven spots in the batting order. Here's a quick glimpse of the Raiders' lineup against Alexander Central on March 14 compared to Lake Norman last night.
(March 14): 1. Tyler Jordan, 2. John Walker, 3. Marcus Ferguson, 4. Nick Stutts, 5. Chris Bustle, 6. Aaron Johnson, 7. Tyler Christenberry.
(March 27): 1. Tyler Christenberry, 2. Nick Stutts, 3. Aaron Johnson, 4. Marcus Ferguson, 5. Tyler Jordan, 6. Josh Gregory, 7. Chris Bustle
1. Lake Norman had a solid gameplan devised for North pitcher Aaron Johnson. Lake Norman coach Robert Little - who coaches Johnson during fall baseball - knew the Wildcats' best shot was to wear the lefty down. Johnson hung tough and pitched six gritty innings, but three walks, a hit and an error in the fourth inning led to a 4-2 Lake Norman win.
2. Some interesting stats: Of North Iredell's 21 outs, six were registered on the first pitch (three groundouts and three flyouts). Lake Norman had zero first-pitch outs. Johnson had 123 pitches (52 balls, 71 strikes) in six innings. Lake Norman starter Garrett Braun tossed 93 pitches (33 balls, 60 strikes) in seven innings.
3. North Iredell looked like it might blow open the game in the third inning. Braun tossed a nice off-speed pitch to Tyler Christenberry that was called a ball - drawing ire from the Lake Norman bench and coaches. Braun even had to step off the mound for a moment to compose himself.
Faced with a 2-0 count, Braun had to throw a strike, and Christenberry responded with a single. Christenberry then stole second, and Nick Stutts hit a single to score him. But Braun buckled down and struck out Johnson and forced Marcus Ferguson to ground out to end the threat.
4. Lake Norman is young. Six sophomores started against North, but all played well. That group is going to be pretty scary in two years.
5. North continues to tinker with its first seven spots in the batting order. Here's a quick glimpse of the Raiders' lineup against Alexander Central on March 14 compared to Lake Norman last night.
(March 14): 1. Tyler Jordan, 2. John Walker, 3. Marcus Ferguson, 4. Nick Stutts, 5. Chris Bustle, 6. Aaron Johnson, 7. Tyler Christenberry.
(March 27): 1. Tyler Christenberry, 2. Nick Stutts, 3. Aaron Johnson, 4. Marcus Ferguson, 5. Tyler Jordan, 6. Josh Gregory, 7. Chris Bustle
Monday, March 26, 2007
South makes hire
It's pretty easy to see why the South Iredell administration felt so strongly that Anson County offensive coordinator Ed Masterton was the right fit for the head coaching job.
He's energetic, young, has some good coaching experience and is anxious to take football in Barium Springs up a notch. Sound familiar? It should - that exact description also fits former coach J.K. Adkins, who left the Vikings after two successful seasons.
I talked to Masterton on Monday afternoon, and he certainly sounded like a coach more than ready to begin his first head coaching job. He is going to begin installing his offense soon. He wants to help promote his kids to different colleges. He quipped he did not know what level of math he would teach at South, but wanted "the numbers to add up on Friday night's."
In short, Masterton seems like a good man with bad puns.
The hardest thing for the new coach will probably be assembling his staff. If Masterton really is as hard-working as former Anson County head Jody Grooms says, there will probably be several current Anson coaches wanting to come work for him.
Masterton must carefully balance bringing in fresh faces and keeping some of the top assistants. The returning South Iredell players weren't expecting Adkins - who was immensely popular - to leave. They need some sort of continuity as new coaches and old players begin to mesh.
He's energetic, young, has some good coaching experience and is anxious to take football in Barium Springs up a notch. Sound familiar? It should - that exact description also fits former coach J.K. Adkins, who left the Vikings after two successful seasons.
I talked to Masterton on Monday afternoon, and he certainly sounded like a coach more than ready to begin his first head coaching job. He is going to begin installing his offense soon. He wants to help promote his kids to different colleges. He quipped he did not know what level of math he would teach at South, but wanted "the numbers to add up on Friday night's."
In short, Masterton seems like a good man with bad puns.
The hardest thing for the new coach will probably be assembling his staff. If Masterton really is as hard-working as former Anson County head Jody Grooms says, there will probably be several current Anson coaches wanting to come work for him.
Masterton must carefully balance bringing in fresh faces and keeping some of the top assistants. The returning South Iredell players weren't expecting Adkins - who was immensely popular - to leave. They need some sort of continuity as new coaches and old players begin to mesh.
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