Thanks to all of my followers.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The End
Due to recent events, BernieBall will no longer be around. If you'd like constant updates please refer to my twitter page: www.twitter.com/901Bernie.
Friday, August 28, 2009
For Curt Runger...
Clemson is the most overrated school on the planet...if anyone wants to win some money find Curt Runger and make him a bet he will undoubtedly accept.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Let the Madness Begin...
This year's March Madness will be one of the craziest in years past in my opinion. I do not think there is any team besides the 15 and 16 seeds that can't win a game.
Questions entering the tournament:
Can Pitt FINALLY make that deep run? Can Duke toughen up enough to get past the first weekend? How will Ty Lawson's absence affect the heels and for how long? Will Memphis use its snubbing of a 1 seed as motivation and make it to its 4th straight elite eight? How will Louisville play after its remarkable run through the Big East Tournament? Will Clemson play like the Clemson of last year in March? Which 10-14 seed will surprise people? Can the 40 minutes of hell really make a deep run through Marquette and Memphis? Will the Big East play well with all the pressure on the conference? Will the SEC win a first round game?
Best First Round Matchups:
-Eric Maynor vs. Darren Collison
-Dionte Christmas vs. James Harden
-Grevis Vasquez vs. Brian Randle
-Sherron Collins vs. Ben Woodside
-Jeff Teague vs. Cedric Jackson
-Tyrese Rice vs. Daniel Hackett
-John Brockman vs. Jarvis Varnado
Although I predict this could be a wacky tournament, I still feel like the big boys will be there in the end competing in the final four. I am taking off work tomorrow to watch the games. I hope I don't miss a minute of the competition as I will be competing with myself to stay awake and continue filling my body with gross bar food and cheap beer. Wish me luck and enjoy Day 1.
Questions entering the tournament:
Can Pitt FINALLY make that deep run? Can Duke toughen up enough to get past the first weekend? How will Ty Lawson's absence affect the heels and for how long? Will Memphis use its snubbing of a 1 seed as motivation and make it to its 4th straight elite eight? How will Louisville play after its remarkable run through the Big East Tournament? Will Clemson play like the Clemson of last year in March? Which 10-14 seed will surprise people? Can the 40 minutes of hell really make a deep run through Marquette and Memphis? Will the Big East play well with all the pressure on the conference? Will the SEC win a first round game?
Best First Round Matchups:
-Eric Maynor vs. Darren Collison
-Dionte Christmas vs. James Harden
-Grevis Vasquez vs. Brian Randle
-Sherron Collins vs. Ben Woodside
-Jeff Teague vs. Cedric Jackson
-Tyrese Rice vs. Daniel Hackett
-John Brockman vs. Jarvis Varnado
Although I predict this could be a wacky tournament, I still feel like the big boys will be there in the end competing in the final four. I am taking off work tomorrow to watch the games. I hope I don't miss a minute of the competition as I will be competing with myself to stay awake and continue filling my body with gross bar food and cheap beer. Wish me luck and enjoy Day 1.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tourney Time
To find out all my thoughts on the way the brackets shaped out, please come back to Bernieball on the eve of the tournament. I will not give my predictions on winners specifically because I can't give away my picks as I will be in many pools, but I will breakdown certain matchups and what could arise.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Heading into the Second Season
Simply put, this has been an awesome year for college basketball. It seems like every time a new team was ranked No. 1 they lost. However, there were some things that people expected that ended the way it should:
-North Carolina stumbled a little because of its defense, but ended up winning the ACC conference as everyone predicted.
-Memphis went undefeated in Conference USA and inevitably will earn a No. 1 or No. 2 seed going into March Madness. They also have the clear cut number 1 recruiting class in the nation after getting a commitment from big man Demarcus Cousins.
-Louisville won the Big East which might surprise a few, but Pitt and Uconn will still get the number 1 seeds in the tournament...how is that for some irony.
-Gonzaga went undefeated in the WCC and after a shaky mid-season start, got their act together and seem to be hitting their stride at the right time.
-Duke again seems like it is not tough enough to make a serious run, although inserting Elliot Williams into the starting lineup has made a very big impact.
-The Pac 10 and SEC were down this year without a clear dominant team. Both need to pick it up in recruiting or they will continue to struggle in post-season play.
I was very surprised at the teams that struggled during the second half of the year. These teams have loads of talent and just couldn't string anything together when they got deep into conference play.
-Notre Dame, Tennessee, Baylor, Georgetown and Texas. Only Texas and Tennessee will make the dance simply because of the conferences being down this season. Texas, however, did string some nice wins together in UCLA and Villanova. Mike Brey keeps coaching, but I am wondering when ND will cut its losses and try and find a proven winner.
The conference tournaments should be fun this week and I'm hoping to get out to the Big East tournament either Wednesday or Thursday night. Bubble teams are rooting hard for schools like Memphis, Gonzaga, Xavier and others to win so a random teams like Southern Miss, San Francisco and St. Joe's doesn't steal an automatic bid.
Let the fun begin.
-North Carolina stumbled a little because of its defense, but ended up winning the ACC conference as everyone predicted.
-Memphis went undefeated in Conference USA and inevitably will earn a No. 1 or No. 2 seed going into March Madness. They also have the clear cut number 1 recruiting class in the nation after getting a commitment from big man Demarcus Cousins.
-Louisville won the Big East which might surprise a few, but Pitt and Uconn will still get the number 1 seeds in the tournament...how is that for some irony.
-Gonzaga went undefeated in the WCC and after a shaky mid-season start, got their act together and seem to be hitting their stride at the right time.
-Duke again seems like it is not tough enough to make a serious run, although inserting Elliot Williams into the starting lineup has made a very big impact.
-The Pac 10 and SEC were down this year without a clear dominant team. Both need to pick it up in recruiting or they will continue to struggle in post-season play.
I was very surprised at the teams that struggled during the second half of the year. These teams have loads of talent and just couldn't string anything together when they got deep into conference play.
-Notre Dame, Tennessee, Baylor, Georgetown and Texas. Only Texas and Tennessee will make the dance simply because of the conferences being down this season. Texas, however, did string some nice wins together in UCLA and Villanova. Mike Brey keeps coaching, but I am wondering when ND will cut its losses and try and find a proven winner.
The conference tournaments should be fun this week and I'm hoping to get out to the Big East tournament either Wednesday or Thursday night. Bubble teams are rooting hard for schools like Memphis, Gonzaga, Xavier and others to win so a random teams like Southern Miss, San Francisco and St. Joe's doesn't steal an automatic bid.
Let the fun begin.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
2nd Half of the College Basketball Season
Well folks, it has been a while and I am sure I have lost some of my loyal readers because of my lack of posts, but I assure you....I have been watching A LOT of college basketball.
I am making it my goal to give a final post before conference tournaments begin and then of course you will get ALL of my thoughts on how the brackets shaped out and who I think got snubbed as well as who shouldn't have gotten in.
I am making it my goal to give a final post before conference tournaments begin and then of course you will get ALL of my thoughts on how the brackets shaped out and who I think got snubbed as well as who shouldn't have gotten in.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
First Half of the Season...
Ahhh, the first half of the college basketball season is finally over and we are now into conference play. There are many things that stand out in my mind right now as I have watched HUNDREDS, yes, HUNDREDS of games throughout the first 2.5 months of the year.
North Carolina has the most talent in the country, period....however, THEY DO NOT DEFEND. They will not win the national championship if they continue to defend the way they are defending right now. Ty lawson and Wayne Ellington just can't stop penetration and has cost them two games....they are really missing Marcus Ginyard.
The Big East is by far the best conference as everyone has predicted and the depth in that conference is simply amazing. Syracuse, Pitt, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Connecticut are all LEGITIMATE final four contenders with Villanova, Marquette and West Virginia as solid mid-level teams.
Stephen Curry has been all he has been talked up to be and so has Blake Griffin, but the surprise player in the country right now has to Jodie Meeks who just dropped 54 points on Tennessee while hitting 10/15 three's. Meeks is capable of taking Kentucky far in the tournament because Billy Gillespie teams always get better when March rolls around.
Memphis is not as good as last season which we already knew, but what we didn't know was who was going to play point guard and the Tigers have found their answer. Tyreke Evans has been phenomenal at the point and continues to make strides as the season gets older. Memphis beat Tulsa last night on an Antonio Anderson buzzer beater (the kid is straight clutch) and this was after shooting 11-25 from the free throw line (44%). How many teams would shoot 44% from the line and still win the basketball game? Not many is the answer.
Tennessee is really struggling right now and I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Now maybe those Tennessee fans will quit thinking they are a top 10 team and just shut up and watch them derail. Bruce Pearl has loads of talent and is continually finding ways to get blown out on the road and at home. He is a poor man's John Calipari and will never make it as far. His organized chaos will not work in the NCAA tournament over a 4 game stretch. Teams are not going to turn the ball over 20 times 4 games in a row. You have to play defense if you want to win in March and this is something UT refuses to do and they will keep losing if this continues.
It should be a very exciting conference season and I will give a mid-conference update in 2-3 weeks. My pick to win the NCAA tournament is still the University of North Carolina, however, if they do not pick up their defense I will be completely wrong.
North Carolina has the most talent in the country, period....however, THEY DO NOT DEFEND. They will not win the national championship if they continue to defend the way they are defending right now. Ty lawson and Wayne Ellington just can't stop penetration and has cost them two games....they are really missing Marcus Ginyard.
The Big East is by far the best conference as everyone has predicted and the depth in that conference is simply amazing. Syracuse, Pitt, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Connecticut are all LEGITIMATE final four contenders with Villanova, Marquette and West Virginia as solid mid-level teams.
Stephen Curry has been all he has been talked up to be and so has Blake Griffin, but the surprise player in the country right now has to Jodie Meeks who just dropped 54 points on Tennessee while hitting 10/15 three's. Meeks is capable of taking Kentucky far in the tournament because Billy Gillespie teams always get better when March rolls around.
Memphis is not as good as last season which we already knew, but what we didn't know was who was going to play point guard and the Tigers have found their answer. Tyreke Evans has been phenomenal at the point and continues to make strides as the season gets older. Memphis beat Tulsa last night on an Antonio Anderson buzzer beater (the kid is straight clutch) and this was after shooting 11-25 from the free throw line (44%). How many teams would shoot 44% from the line and still win the basketball game? Not many is the answer.
Tennessee is really struggling right now and I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Now maybe those Tennessee fans will quit thinking they are a top 10 team and just shut up and watch them derail. Bruce Pearl has loads of talent and is continually finding ways to get blown out on the road and at home. He is a poor man's John Calipari and will never make it as far. His organized chaos will not work in the NCAA tournament over a 4 game stretch. Teams are not going to turn the ball over 20 times 4 games in a row. You have to play defense if you want to win in March and this is something UT refuses to do and they will keep losing if this continues.
It should be a very exciting conference season and I will give a mid-conference update in 2-3 weeks. My pick to win the NCAA tournament is still the University of North Carolina, however, if they do not pick up their defense I will be completely wrong.
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