The A.C.C. (Atlantic Coast Conference) teams’ play has been great in the current NCAA Basketball Tournament.
Both regional finals tomorrow match ACC teams, top seed Virginia vs 10 seed Syracuse in the South and top seed North Carolina vs 6th seed Notre Dame in the East.
The A.C.C. teams have a (16-3) record in this tournament and have made “mucho dinero” for the conference
Since the winners of the East and South regions will meet in a national semi-final/Final Four game next week, it is definite there will be an A.C.C. team in the championship game.
All four top seeds (North Carolina, Virginia, Kansas and Oregon) are in the regional finals of the 2016 NCAA Basketball Tournament.
The two regional final games today match the top two seeds in both the West and Midwest Regions.
Oregon, the top seed is a 1 point favorite vs Oklahoma in the West Regional Final. The schools have enjoyed football success of late, Oregon winning the first college playoff game before losing in the title tilt after the 2014 season while Oklahoma made last season’s 4 team playoff, losing to Clemson in one semi-final game.
The Midwest Regional final also pits the top two seeds vs each other. The top seed Kansas is a two plus point favorite vs the two seed, Villanova.
Virginia University is on to the South Regional Final after defeating Iowa State tonight.
They are the third one seed to advance to the so called “Elite Eight” and may well be joined by North Carolina University which plays Indiana.
If Indiana prevails, they and Virginia will be in the final eight some 32 years after each made it in 1984.
Indiana was an upset winner in the regional semi-finals that year, something they hope to duplicate tonight. In 1984,Virginia defeated Indiana by two points in the East Regional Final.
It appears that I am not the only one just giving the American League East title to the team that won it last year, the Toronto Blue Jays.
In fact the consensus is that the Boston Red Sox and the Blue Jays are co favorites to win the division with the New York Yankees the third choice.
Both the Baltimore Orioles, such an enriching story until the 2014 ALCS when the Kansas City Royals swept them in 4 straight games, and the Tampa Rays, an unfortunate victim of baseball payroll manifestations are considered long shots for the title.
Last night’s play in the NCAA Basketball Tournament produced easy victories by the two top seeds in both the Midwest and West Regionals.
Both of my predictions were wrong as it was a night all four favorites, Kansas, Villanova, Oregon and Oklahoma all easily won and covered their games.
This sets up two fine matchups in Saturday’s regional finals with Kansas facing Villanova in the Midwest Regional Final and Oregon meeting Oklahoma, in the West Regional Final.
The winners of those games move on to the national semi-finals/Final Four next week in Houston Texas.
What follows are two predictions in tonight’s NCAA Basketball Tournament regional semi-final games. Each game is in the South Region with the two winning teams meeting Saturday for a berth in the national semi-finals/final four.
In the earlier game, Villanova is a 4 plus point favorite vs Miami of Florida.
Prediction: Villanova 57 Miami of Florida 54
Later powerful Kansas is a 6 plus point favorite vs Maryland.
I think I am forcing this one in, but I predict Maryland will keep the game close “enough.”
Kansas 76 Maryland 71.
I never met the great baseball figure, Joe Garagiola, who passed away yesterday at the age of 90, but so many of my baseball memories were described by Mr. Garagiola, some without my knowledge at a young age.
He was one of the radio play by play men along with Ernie Harwell (1963), Phil Rizzuto (1964) (Curt Gowdy and Harry Caray working together also did radio play by play in 1964) and By Saam (1965), on three incredibly meaningful World Series to me, (1963-1965), though I was not aware of the names.
Mr. Garagiola known for his baseball humor gained great fame in other fields including a stint as the host of the famed, still going NBC Today Show.
My reflections on Garagiola remember him as the founder of B.A.T. (Baseball Assistance Team) which helps so many baseball players and even more so for his battle vs chewing tobacco.
The bravery and passion both Mr. Garagiola and former player Bill Tuttle, the latter a victim of oral cancer almost certainly caused by chewing tobacco, exhibited in battling and pointing out the negative involving chewing tobacco was truly remarkable.
Joe Garagiola pictured above.
Click below to hear and view Garagiola’s excellent television play by play call of Dwight Evans’ great catch in game 6 of the 1975 World Series. Dick Stockton is heard doing commentary.
1975 WS Gm6: Evans makes spectacular catch in right field
The NHL Los Angeles Kings hope to match the baseball San Francisco Giants with their third straight “even year” title.
They will enter the playoffs as one of the top choices and quite possibly with the Pacific Division regular season crown.
L.A. made an incredible run to the Stanley Cup title, doing what has not been done before or since, winning it all from the 8th and lowest seed in their conference (The NHL West) and more incredibly, winning the first two games on the road, in each of their 4 series en route to the Stanley Cup win.
What follows are two predictions for Friday night’s round of sixteen games.
I got them all last week and two of my predictions were wins by Syracuse and Notre Dame.
Friday I am predicting each team will win, in the case of Syracuse, at least cover the spread.
First in a game against a lower seeded opponent than expected, namely Wisconsin, (Stephen F. Austin took out West Virginia and then Wisconsin did the same to Xavier) I say Notre Dame 72 Wisconsin 65.
Later on Friday, Gonzaga is a four plus point favorite vs Syracuse.
Prediction: Syracuse 65 Gonzaga 64.
My “what did I tell you” regarding the ridiculously hyped REGULAR SEASON tilt between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs is not because I predicted an 8 point Spurs win that manifested.
It refers to the point I made that the game meant next to nothing as the Warriors win or lose were going to get the best record in the NBA.
So after “Tonio” wins to cut the Warriors’ lead to a still safe 3 games, the Charlotte Hornets come from the proverbial dead and hand the Spurs their 11th loss two days ago.
Meanwhile the Warriors had a no cover, struggle win vs the Minnesota Timberwolves, to raise their record to (63-7), a truly impressive and nice looking .900 win percentage.
The Spurs record of (59-11) is also great but again I fear that the East winner, very likely the (50-20) Cleveland Cavaliers will have the intangibles vs whomever comes out of the far superior NBA Western Conference.
| Golden State Warriors | 63 | 7 | .900 | – | |||||||||
| 2y –San Antonio Spurs | 59 | 11 | .843 | ||||||||||
| 3y –Oklahoma City Thunder | 49 | 22 | .690 | ||||||||||
| 4Los Angeles Clippers | 43 | 26 | .623 | ||||||||||
| 5Memphis Grizzlies | 41 | 31 | .569 | ||||||||||
| 6Portland Trail Blazers | 36 | 35 | .507 | ||||||||||
| 7Dallas Mavericks | 35 | 35 | .500 | ||||||||||
The current top 7, NBA West standings, showing two great records and three good ones in the far superior conference.
Andy B Sports 