Clarion Content

These guys look familiar...

By request, the Clarion Content is not posting our Final Four predictions. The jinx of our pick is too renown. We are laying low as far as that goes, but we did want to give you, dear readers, a few quick thoughts.

One: Overrated! As in the Big 10 is overrated. Penn State, please! They wouldn't have been able to finish in the top twelve teams in the Big East. Wisconsin, a paper tiger, who made their rep on one big homecourt win this season. They beat then #1 Ohio State. This says more about Ohio State than Wisconsin. The Badgers best out of conference win? They beat the 11th best team in the Big East, Marquette. We don't expect a first round loss from Wisconsin, but hey, you never know. And we would be shocked if Ohio State won its regional, with the likes of Carolina and Syracuse waiting in the weeds.

Two: The play-in games and sixty-eight teams are a farce. None of the play-in teams is going anywhere, all the more reason why we do not need to hear the carping from near misses, Colorado and Virginia Tech. Have you heard the conspiracy theory making the rounds? It has some appeal. The committee is deliberately screwing the bubble teams to build momentum for an expansion to a one-hundred and twenty-eight team tournament. As Coach Knight has noted, it is only one more game for each team, but it is a boatloads more revenue for the NCAA. Colorado and Virginia Tech, both of whom have switched conferences in pursuit of the all mighty dollar in recent years, will be highly motivated to grouse.

Three: True TV? Barkely and Kenny in the studio on TNT? Come on! We love Sir Charles and Kenny Smith's witty repartee as much as the next guy, but there are dudes on bar stools all over the country who have watched waaay more college basketball the Kenny and Charles this year. Spare us.

One final thought, absent the Indiana and the Hoosiers, we can only say, "Let's go Duke!"

Labels: college basketball, sports