1
Page 12
SPORTS
www.guilfordian.
Mar. 16, 2007
Greensboro. N.C.
And the
winner is ...
Reid Cranfill I Staff Writer
A string of oonferenoe tournament upsets has left
the NCAA tournament wide-open to all 64 teams; at
this point your little sister's guess is as good as Larry
Bird's as to who is going to win. Duke and UNC are
in the tourney and March Madness is about to hit
Tobacco Road like a Category 5 hurricane, so print out
a bracket and get down with the sickness.
With regular season records meaningless, who is
going to cut down the net? TTie team with the most
drive, the most souL
Cheerleaders are only a distraction at this point;
tired legs and dead arms need a symbol, a source of
heart and pride to keep going. Where will they turn
when the chips are down and the dock is running
out?
That's right — the mascot Here's how to pick.
Immediately eliminate anyone whose mascot isn't
badass. Don't expect a strmg showing from the
Maryland Terrapins (any turtle that isn't a mutant
ninja loses by default), the Purdue Boilermakers,
the Virginia Tech Hokies (a turkey), the Creighton
Bluejays, or the Wisconsin Badgers. The Ohio State
Buckeyes deserve to lose in the fiM round and should
be forever shunned from the Big Dance for picking an
acorn for their mascot
Secondly, anyone with an overused animal for a
symbol has no business winning the tournament, since
having a cliche for a mascot is even lamer than play
ing for the Hawaii Rainbows. The Wildcats, Bulldogs,
Rams, Eagles, Cardinals, and Tigers are all out; there
are about three teams of each in the tournament
The Blue Devil mascot works, but Duke has been
playing like a punk this season (breaking noses, losing
to NC State in the first round of the ACQ and doesn't
deserve to be in the tourney though tihe Wolfpack do
based off Sidney Lowe's blazer/tie scheme.
Having a gcxxi college name might be essential
tcx); what's better than winning the NCAA for Oral
Roberts University? Not being from a school named
Oral Roberts. The Xavier Musketeers or the Vrginia
Cavaliers have the right sort of flair, but the Vanderbilt
Commcxlores are just a little too aristcxxatic to be
likable. The Wright State Rowdy Raiders, Carolina
Tar Heels, Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels, Notre Dame
Figjiting Irish, or Texas Lon^oms have the appropri
ate levels of charisma and panache, but lack foesse.
Maybe it's because Fra^ Miller's "300" just came
out, but the team that seems strongest is the Michigan
State Spartans. Heavily armed and ready to take on
everybody else's mascots, all at once, the Spartans
won in 2000. Lcx)k for an epic Spartan vs. Trojan (USQ
Sweet 16.
Follow this system, and you're sure to have an
edge on anyone else without a Tarot deck this season,
because otherwise any winning bracket is just a lucky
guess.
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Put on your dubbin' shoes 'cause it's
time for the BIG DANCE!
Dan Etter | Layout Editor
East
South
West
Midwest
Division
Division
Division
Division
The East Divisicn is lead
by (he excitirig UNC Tar
heels, who could be the mo^
talented team in the naticai
Their bench is deq), which
ccxiki come to haunt them
in the inexpoiaice of their
maiy fieshmoi. But watch
out fcM- number 2 GecHge-
town With Jeff Green being
erne of the few pec^)le aWe to
guard Dinant, scane experts
have chosen than to go to the
finals. Perhaps he best game
of the tcximament could
cxaito in UNC idling num-
ba- 4 Texas University. At
69", 2251bs, Kevin Dumat
can take a game ova-with his
averse 25.6 PPG. Also keqj
aneyecxi George Washing
ton's number 11, Cal Ellic^
who many see as cxie of he
be^ guarcb in he natiem.
Leading he souh is
Ohio State and only two
words need to be said:
Greg Oden, listed at 7 feet,
2801bs. They have some
competition hough, wih
a tough Memphis team at
number 2 and a p-eat num
ber 3 team in Texas A&M,
led by Acie Law IV. But
his division isn't limited to
its top three. A strong Lou
isville team, number 6,
will have the toughest first
and second round match
ups of all four 6 seeds in
he tournament and num
ber 11 Stanford can light
up he basket wih great
outside shooting com
ing fitom Lawrence Hill,
Anhony Goods and he
brohers Brook and Robin
Lopez.
Kansas leads (he west
divskxi wih a hi^ string of
vktories gctttig into the touma-
mat. They have momentum
behind (hem and j^atity of
taknt to cany (hem along he
way.Number2UdAc«ithe
oha hand, needs to pick qj
(he pace. Losit^ (hdr last two
games, hsyl rely heavily cxi
Darren Ccdliscai to y® hem
(he d^anoe. As for the rest of
the bracket, thae’s j^enty of
tsg names, including nurnba
7 Indiana's D1 WMte, who
many consida to be (he best
forward in (he bracks. This
is a k)t diviskxi iq> arxi cbwn
wih solid teams fon Virginia
Tech (5) and Kaitudty (8) to
ViUanova(9) and filing (12).
Thetis no ladcofgeat coach
es esha; indudirg Duke's (6)
hao Mike KtzyzewskL
Defendir^ champs Florida
University ae back & aiodia
title as he stars of (he Midwest
Etivisioii Keqj yoa q^es on
Tautean Green axi Lee Han-
ihsy for some great pfey.
Also wafch oitt for nimter 2
WBccnsin, who hope to ^
&iai Badi back to M healh
to acxxxqraty Alando Tucka
And keq) yew eyes out for a
mafchq) between tias 2 seed
aid rwnber 10 Geoj^Tedi.
\Whtheirrunandgai,accd-
etated style of 1%, he YeBow
Jacketsooukigiveamciecon-
asteii Visccim a mn for their
money should they meet And
fiombdtindthearc,lookoi4for
rwnberS Qtegcn aid rwnber
6 Note Dane. AMioi^ he
Ducks are one eff flie best liiee
point teams in he n^ion, tile
Kdiaent&behind.
Texas A&M's Acie Law IV
ESPN.COM
Texas's Kevin Durant
MSNBC.MSN.COM
Ohio State's Greg Oden
timesunion.com
Basketball concludes bittersweet season
Continued from page I
reason we came out as flat as we
did," Walters said. "Bridgewater
was ready, they had a good plan.
They made their shots and put us
in a big hole. We pulled it to six
points within five minutes of the
game, but just couldn't get it in
any closer."
When asked about their plans
for next season, Flamini said.
"The team will be starting their
own postseason workouts after
spring break (not mandatory),
and they are excited about the
future. So I think what they took
away from this year is obviously
a ton of experience and a taste of
the playoffs."
After the ODAC defeat, the
Quaker men were pleasantly
surprised to discover that they
had been invited to the NCAA
Division III Tournament.
"When we got the call that we
were going to get the bid for the
tournament, we kind of had a
little heart-to-heart about things,
and we played in the NCAA
tournament with a tremendous
amount of heart, desire, and pas
sion," said coach Tom Palombo.
"Our guys just played with such
a sense of purpose. We knew
exactly what we wanted to do.
and we just went out and execut
ed extremely well."
They defeated Manhattanville
101-81, Johns Hopkins 80-73, and
Lincoln University 129-128 in a
dramatic triple overtime. The
Quakers fought hard against
Virginia Wesleyan College last
Saturday, but were defeated 81-
71.
"(Lincoln) was the most intense
game I've ever been a part of,"
said Palombo. "Hopefully we'll
take this experience and use it
as motivation for the off-season.
We lost in the Elite Eight game;
you don't get to start next season
and play that game over again,
you have to start all over from
the very beginning. The journey
is what makes it fun, but we've
got to make sure we prepare our
selves for that, because it's going
to be even tougher next year."