[The Poet]

A bit of housecleaning news before I give the games. Yesterday Jeff Capel was fired as coach of Oklahoma after posting his 2nd losing season in a row. OK, fine, I get that. But those seasons followed two where he took a Sooner team to a pair of consecutive NCAA appearances despite handcuffed by NCAA restrictions inherited from Kelvin Sampson. It also followed two seasons of bonuses and paybumbs for Capel, as well as a contract extension. Yes, there were some more problems with shady players and assistant coaches, and the potential of further sanctions looming for OU, and it is only fair that the head coach takes the heat for this. But for a school's administration to expect a coach . . . ANY COACH . . . to rebuild a program without a few bumps in the road is totally unreasonable. And this is from a Tar Heel, defending a Dook puke too!

Also, Sidney Lowe has resigned from the head coaching job at N. C. State. If you've been paying any attention the last two years, this comes as no surprise . . . unless it is because he quit before he was canned. This Wolfpack alum who was a member of their improbable national championship team in 1983 (yes, that clip with Jimmy V running around the court looking for somebody to hug) never seemed to be able to get his alma mater back on track during his 5-year tenure, going 86-78 overall but just 25-55 in ACC play. To add insult to injury, he was 7-33 in ACC road games, losing 13 of 16 to Duke and UNC. There are a LOT of things a Wolfpack fan will forgive (lifting aspirins from a drugstore, mugging a pizza delivery kid on campus, breaking into a classmate's dorm room to steal his stereo, or putting more time into writing cookbooks or making analyst appearances on CBS than to watching out for the young players under your charge), but losing to the other 2 legs of The Triangle? No way.

Play begins tonight in both the NCAAs, with the "play-in" games, and in the first round of the NIT. It also begins in the CBI and the CIT Tournaments, but this will be the first and last time I mentioned these "also-rans" tourneys, unless YOUR team is in one of them, and YOU bring up the subject. So, for the two tournaments which, to me, have some meaning, we have these in the NCAAs tonight:


UNC Asheville vs. AR Little Rock = Fans of these two may feel slighted that they need to play this game in order to advance to the "real" brackets, but I look at it much differently. This may be their best, or their ONLY, chance to ever win an NCAA game, so they should relish the opportunity. I really don't know much about either team, but I'll go with UNC-A here, and not just because they are from my home state. I seem to recall they beat Charleston, and this means a lot in my book.

Clemson vs. UAB = But here we have two pretty good teams . . . so good, in fact, that I really don't understand why they are forced to "play in" to the Tourney. Are you really telling me that a Hampton, a Northern Colorado, a Wofford, or an Akron are better than these two? Yeah, I know these extra games are for the "at-large" crowd, but let's have a little common sense here too.


In the NIT, on the home courts of the higher-ranked teams, we have:


Coastal Carolina vs. Alabama = Many of the Tide fans feel they got hosed by not getting a bid to the NCAAs. If you've been reading this thread, you saw I predicted as much weeks ago. Yeah, they beat a Georgia team that did make the field of 68 (though some question why), but their SoS and RPI was hideous. If you don't play good competition, you cannot possible score points with the Committee.

Vermont vs. Cleveland State = This should be a pretty decent game between well-matched squads.

Dayton vs. Charleston = As should this one, with CoC trying to redeem their late-season collapse by knocking the Flyers out of what has become their own personal tournament.

Harvard vs. Oklahoma State = Oak State has the bodies, and the Crimson have the brains. For that alone this will be interesting.

Murray State vs. Missouri State = And here are two good mid-majors which fell juuuuust short of making The Dance. Both feel like they have something to prove, and I expect a war. And what do YOU think, Joe?

Fairfield vs. Colorado State = I know the Stags had a decent season, and can only assume that CSU did also. Other than that, I hold no opinion.

UTEP vs. New Mexico = Here are two more teams that had to be in the discussion for at-large bids to the NCAAs, so I hope for a very good game.

Boston College vs. McNeese State = BC was also one of those bubble teams who did not make the cut, and may feel disrespected for it. Well, let's see them make their case by whuppin' up on McNeese tonight.

Kent State vs. St. Mary's = And though Kent State had no shot at an at-large, St. Mary's certainly did. In fact, had they not stumbled down the stretch, they may have joined Gonzaga in The Dance. Much like the BC game above, they need to step up tonight in order to prove their point.