Sports With Balls  

I'll say my goodbyes to college basketball season and then it's baseball talk, with a little bit of NBA talk sprinkled in perhaps.

Yes, Sports With Balls is still alive and kicking! After a shocking and unannounced week off, the show is back this week. And the timing couldn't be better with the Final Four upcoming and baseball just getting started (Yes, I will FINALLY talk some baseball..and I'm happy to be doing so!).

Hey everyone,

Needless to say, there was no show last week. A combination of a conflicting schedule, travel plans, and laziness were all part of the fact that Sports With Balls didn't go live last week.
This week, I'm back! It's a little spur of the moment, but I'm set to do a show at 1 p.m. Eastern  tomorrow, that would be Wednesday.
Plenty to catch up on and look ahead to, including the Final 4 and of course a brand new baseball season.
So for those of you who have stuck around and not forgotten about me and my little show on blogtalkradio.com, thank you and I look forward to hearing from you (or more likely you hearing from me) tomorrow afternoon.

My bracket didn't end up as bad as I thought it would by the way. My out-on-a-limb pick of Clemson to the Final 4 failed miserably. But I did get UNC, UCLA, and Memphis correctly. Believe it or not, I still have a shot to win one of the many pools I'm in. If UNC beats Memphis in the finals, I've got it.
Also, in my little world of UMass basketball...it's nice that they're still actually playing, as they get Florida in the NIT semis tonight.
It's weird time to be a huge college basketball fan and a huge baseball fan at the same time right now. I feel like the best time in college hoops is getting overshadowed a bit. But it's the NCAA's own fault for having the season go an extra week this year. Now, they'll have a bunch of baseball games going on at the same time as the final four and championship game.

Anyway, talk to you all tomorrow!
-Matt

Sports With Balls NCAA Tournament Special. Scott Boutcher from Talkin' Sports with Mike O. and Scotty B. will join me to talk about the tournament - who got snubbed? Who shouldn't be in? Final four predictions, cinderallas and other things to watch for before the games begin on Thursday.

The field of 65 is now set and I'm getting pretty pumped up for the big play-in game tonight between Mt. St. Mary's and Coppin State.

I've filled out my brackets, but I won't give anything away here (because I want you to listen to my NCAA tournament special on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern).
But some quick thoughts on the tournament field...

-It's hard to find too many problems with the committee this year. But I still say Kentucky should not be in. I understand the 12-4 SEC record, plus the injuries, plus dealing with the weather situation before losing to Georgia. But c'mon, their best non-conference win is against Liberty! They didn't beat any half decent teams on the road either. Don't they always say the committee likes to see teams who go out and win games on the road?? I just don't get it. I probably would have had Arizona State in instead of them. But I guess you can fault the Sun Devils for their weak out of conference schedule, which led to an un-NCAA tournament like RPI of 82. So again, unlike last year, the committee did a pretty decent job.

-The seedings look pretty good. The #1s were no-brainers. Not sure why Tennessee is in the same bracket as UNC. You can say it penalizes the Vols, although it doesn't help the Tar Heels either. Otherwise, Miami as a 7 seemed a bit high and I thought Butler would get better than a 7.

-As a type this, UMass is playing Stephen F. Austin in the NIT. Thrilling, huh? I guess if UMass gets to the Garden for the semis, it would be somewhat exciting. Staying with the theme of consolation prizes, why the heck did they create this CBI (College Basketball Invitational) tournament? If you didn't check - and you probably didn't - teams like Virginia, Cincinnati, Houston, and Ohio are in it, just to name a few. So it's mostly made up mid level teams from decent to power conferences. Some of the teams don't even have winning records. Enough is enough. The NIT is a joke, this CBI is even worse. And to make matters worse, the championship is a best of 3 between the two teams. I think it would make more sense to just include teams with good records from the small conferences. I know no one would care on a national level, but maybe at a school like Navy or Cal State Northridge, it'd create a little buzz. But even that seems like a bit much. Soon enough every team will play in the postseason.

-I reviewed my predictions of the field of 65. I nailed 50 out of 65 (and got 14 of 31 conference champions correctly). You might say 50 of 65 is not very good. Maybe it's not, but keep in mind I made my predictions before any of the conference tournaments had started, so the only team I knew I had right was Cornell. I hate it when I hear people who think Joe Lunardi was a genius for nailing all 65 teams. He did his final "bracketology" right before the selection show. Jeez, if I waited until then, I would hope I'd be perfect too! At most, he should only be getting one or two wrong at that point.

Anyway, like I said, I'll be doing an NCAA Tournament Special on Wednesday, that's tomorrow, at 2 p.m. Eastern. Scotty B. from "Talkin' Sports with Mike O. and Scotty B." will join me to break down the brackets, pick our final four, and pick a couple possible cinderallas. Give us a call to give some of your picks. Talk to ya then.
Matt

Sports With Balls NCAA Tournament Selection Thursday. The top conference tournaments are underway and some conferences already have sent their champions to the tournament. I'll take a look at the big conference tourney games and figure out who's in, who's out, and who will be sweating it out on Sunday.