Armchair Weekend in Review (March 9-11, 2007)
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by user JB82
While the NCAA Tournament does not begin until later this week, the buildup concluded this weekend with a slew of conference championships and the culminating Selection Sunday.
Major conference tourney finals
- The Hoyas of Georgetown University capped a dominating season with a 65-42 blowout of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. A program that was dominant with John Thompson as coach and Patrick Ewing was its most dominant player in the 1980s clinched their first Big East title since 1989 with the progeny of the two aforementioned names (i.e., John Thompson III and Patrick Ewing, Jr.)
- The University of Memphis Tigers proved why they were the fifth-ranked team in the country and the class of Conference USA with a 71-59 conference final win against the University of Houston Cougars.
- The University of Florida Gators looked ready to defend their national title thanks to a 77-56 win over the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in the Southeastern Conference title game thanks to a near double-double by Joakim Noah (17 points, 8 rebounds).
- Bill Self's University of Kansas Jayhawks needed overtime, but they managed to hold off Kevin Durant and his University of Texas Longhorns, 88-84, for the Big 12 Conference Championship.
- Another freshman sensation, Greg Oden, helped end a memorable Big 12 Conference campaign with a 66-49 championship clincher. Oden, though, got 12 points and 10 rebounds in only six minutes of action.
Best of the rest
- Bryce Taylor and Aaron Brooks led the charge as the University of Oregon Ducks won the Pacific 10 Conference title, 81-57, over the University of Southern California Trojans
- Anyone on this side of the pond remember a show on NBC called Hang Time? One of the stars was a former NBA player named Reggie Theus. Theus' career path took him to New Mexico State University, and he will be making his first trip to the "Big Dance" with a 72-70 win against the Utah State University Aggies in theWestern Athletic Conference Championship
- During the season, Burlington, Vermont's Patrick Gymnasium was nothing short of a house of horrors for the University at Albany Great Danes. But the Purple and Gold fought tooth and nail in a game punctuated by an exciting second half. "UAlbany" went back-to-back America East Conference title, 60-59, over the University of Vermont Catamounts. All this coming from a grad student at UA...
- Yet another example of March Madness: The Redhawks of the Miami University were down 52-50 late to the University of Akron Zips. Bu Doug Lenno rose to the occasion and banked a three-point shot as time expired to give the Hawks the win ... or did he? The officials thought otherwise, but a review changed their opinion and soon put 0.6 seconds left to give Akron one last chance. But the inbounds pass went errant and the game ended with the Redhawks' first
- Others with automatic bids included the College of the Holy Cross, George Washington University, Jackson State University, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
- To read about the complete Field of 65, click here.
Armchair NBA Game of the Week
- The powers that be on the Sacramento Kings allowed enfant terrible Ron Artest back to the team in time for their tilt against the Denver Nuggets. Artest poured in 17 points to go along with four steals, three helps (assists) and eight boards, but the Nuggets helped Allen Iverson overcome early foul trouble to defeat the Kings on their home court, 113-101.
Notable Notes: NHL
- The good: While his team fights to stay in the Steel City, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in league history to tally 100 points in back-to-back seasons, doing so in a 3-2 overtime win over the New York Rangers on Saturday.
- More of the good: Paul Stastny, the Colorado Avalanche's rookie sensation, made his own piece of hisory as he notched a point in his 18th consecutive game. The son of Peter Stastny accomplished this feat in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild
- The bad and the ugly, all in one: Remember that hit by Chris Simon on the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg last Thursday night? Well, the NHL came down hard on the New York Islanders enforcer, suspending him for 25 games, which would probably amount to the rest of the regular season. Editor's RX (reaction): NOT ENOUGH!
Odds and Sods
- The defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson took his first checkered flag of the season at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was thought that the driver of the #48 Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse Chevrolet would come up snakeyes after a penalty caused by a runaway tire, but Johnson shrugged off the error to score a three-peat in Sin City USA.
- Chelsea look in fine form to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup they won two weeks ago with a 2-2 draw against London rival Tottenham. The replay will be one week from tomorrow (3.19) at White Hart Lane.
Happy anniversary to me
Pardon me if I get into some personally self-biased stuff here. This weekend marked my one-year anniversary with AGM, and I'm glad to see how things have changed around here since I joined up near the very beginning. For those of you wondering how I got here, let me take you back to February 2006. One day, as a member of Wikipedia of over two years and in good standing, I logged in to find that I had a new message, which read as follows (with some stuff deleted):
I noticed you were active on a bunch sports pages. My friends and I started a sports wiki that you may be interested in. It uses Wikipedia's software but we made a lot of technological improvements to allow for more news and opinion articles. [...] We're not "officially" launching until March 6th, but you can feel free to poke around and add content.
This user, who noticed my work with articles related to the 2006 WInter Olympics in Italy, gave me two chances to join, the last of which I finally accepted. My first contribution was just like my most recent one: the NCAA men's tournament pairings. Look for my picks within the next 24-36 hours on this site. And, if you so desire to take on yours truly and about a dozen other AGM users, click here for particulars. You have 'til Wednesday, so line up, sign up, and join in now!
As for this regular feature, its one year anniversary will come next month.
Happy belated birthday, AGM!
And let's all be good sports, as always. See ya next week when March Madness will rule the roost!
