The Week That Was

College basketball was the talk of the sports world this past week and for good reason. Championship Week(s) concluded and we now know what the field of 65 is. The North Carolina Tar Heels earned a number one seed and will play in the South region. The Heels lost in the Semi-Finals of the ACC Tournament as I predicted to Florida State. The Heels are a much different team without their best player Ty Lawson and it showed in Atlanta. Lawson should be back and healthy for the NCAA Tournament which is good news for Carolina. I was a little surprised that the Heels were ranked as the third best of the four number one seeds. The committee seemed to care more about the fact the Heels were upset rather than the reason they were upset. I consider the Heels one of the favorites to cut down the nets in April but worry about how they will do against very physical teams such as Pittsburgh, who they could potentially meet in the Final Four, or Connecticut a team they would play in the championship game. The Heels open up with Radford, which should be a nice tuneup. A potential second round game against LSU is frightening as I really don't think the Tigers are as bad as an 8 seed. Possible games against Oklahoma which would set up a Tyler Hansbrough, Blake Griffin battle or against Syracuse in the Elite Eight will be very difficult. I will go more in depth about the entire NCAA Tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday when I take a look at all four regions, the East, South, West, and Midwest and how the first weekend might shake out.

After getting waxed by VCU in the CAA Championship George Mason has to settle for a berth in the NIT. Mason was given the seventh seed and will travel to Penn State to face the Nittany Lions on Tuesday. The loss to VCU was disappointing and embarrassing but looking at the season as a whole Mason well exceeded my expectations for them. I was hoping for a home NIT game but as a seventh seed that will be virtually impossible to Mason. The new goal is to make it to Madison Square Garden and the NIT Final Four. If Mason can get past Penn State, something that will be very difficult, I like their chances in a possible second round game against either Niagara or Rhode Island. On Tuesday I will post GMU What!?!? and preview Mason/Penn State.