With the 2005 season in the books, posting in this space will return to the usual sporadic off-season frequency. Before I sink into the background, I need to dole out some appreciation to the folks that publicized this site like nobody else could. First and foremost, the statistical experiment on this site would not have […]

The biggest single reason why Illinois lost – lack of playing time for James Augustine. Augustine picked up five fouls in nine minutes of action. If he gets his usual 27 minutes (or his 33 minute average in five tourney games), the Illini have a better defender for Sean May, Illinois gets more than six […]

…in the Blah, Blah, Blah fact checking department. Ken, I have not researched this and know you are just reporting what I have seen elsewhere but I don’t see how UCLA and UK could have been Nos. 1 and 2 before the 1975 NCAA Tournament as IU was undefeated until losing to UK in the […]

There isn’t much that needs to be said about the games on Saturday. Given what happened last weekend, and given the potential for Monday’s game, this Saturday will be forgotten before too long. I never really got into the Illinois/Louisville game. For a reason I can’t explain, I thought the game would not be all […]

It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s a real possibility. The teams ranked one and two before the tournament are a game away from meeting in the championship game. It doesn’t happen very often. It happens even less often than I thought. The last time was a long, long time ago. Here are all of the […]

Michigan State has played its three fastest games of the year in the Big Ten or NCAA tournament. Knowing what we know about UNC, the second of Saturday’s semifinal games figures to be played with 70-80 possessions, but only seven of those possessions are going to tell the story of this game. Much has been […]

As the season concludes, it might be useful to see where we have come from. So here’s a review of the season through nine notable predictions made on this site over the past year, some on the money, some so far off I wonder why anyone comes here: Good: September 20, 2004. It is interesting […]

Few things in the NCAA tournament are predictable. But one thing that slipped under my radar before the dance started was the near impossibility of Washington making the Final Four. You see, since the field expanded to 64 in 1985, only one team has started the season outside the AP top 20, been selected as […]

There was no better illustration of how random chance can affect a game than on Patrick Sparks’ successful three-pointer to send the Kentucky/Michigan State game to overtime. There were three main variables that could have flipped the other way from what actually occurred. 1) What if Patrick Sparks’ foot is a micron closer to the […]

One day, two overtime games. The first time it’s happened in the elite eight in the history of the tournament. West Virginia/Louisville: If you can’t win in regulation by hitting 18 of 24 three pointers, then you just can’t win. The 18 makes were a WVU record, and the second most in a tournament game. […]