I Kan Haz Mishugen playerz

Before I get to the NIT game I suggest you click on the title for the link to the latest news about Justin Boren leaving Michigan and possibly becoming a Buckeye (after sitting this year out). Two other linemen have also left the program along with their only quarterback left with game experience. This team is going to be as talented as the 1971 Marshall team. I can't wait for that sequel... "We Are Michigan!"

Could this program collapse that bad and parallel their basketball teams of the last decade? We can only hope.

Now onto the N.I.T. game. I was doing a show last night so I didn't get to catch most of it, however one of my friends sent me a text that said, "DEEBS!" I hurried home to the Internets to see that he hit a pair of 3's...whoa, a pair? You mean like a real scholarship players? Awesome, good job, super! He ended up with 10 points. You know what it was, Dayton guarded him. Yep, if you'll recall back to the exclusive interview all he needed was a hand in his face.

I would also like to note that when all of the seniors came out of the game for their final home game none of those cheers were for Terwilliger.

So is the season a success? We've been to two N.I.T. Final Four's in a matter of months. I suppose it's good to have experience, very fresh N.I.T. experience.

My bracket took a beating when UMass kept winning, but my final matchup is still intact. I'll go calculate my percentage after I ponder why Brady Quinn is already doing endorsement deals for another ten minutes.

Standings take a long time

So all we need to know is that I'm tied for first and in the lower part of the standings Reader Wise is tied with my girlfriend. In the National Standings due to yesterday's magic in Tampa no one is perfect...in fact everyone has missed at least 2 games. Still, this doesn't feel like a big upset tournament. I don't find myself screaming, "I can't believe Drake AND Vanderbilt both lost!"
Bob Knight made a good point about how talent will get you through one round, but you need a solid team to advance any further. I think this point will ring true for teams like Tennessee who were able to dick around because they're "more athletic." Then Bob Knight went back to raving about Pittsburgh.
With the Pac-10 losing so many games people are wondering if UCLA is the real deal. We won't find out until the Final Four because the only "good team" left in their bracket is Xavier (though I think Duke might turn things around and somehow advance in that piss-ant region). The Quack Attack cost me big, but that's what I get for picking a team who was 5 games over .500 (now 4 games over .500) to beat a team with 1 loss. Hopefully Pitt is as good as Knight says and will recover that section for me.
Don't forget to fill out your women's bracket if you haven't already...here's how you do it...Take the 4 teams who have dominated women's basketball for the last 20 years into the Final Four and you too can be a women's bracketologist. (haha, I said women's -somethingologist, see what I did there?)

Exclusive Interview with Diebler...kinda

We got Terrelle Pryor, suck it Michigan. What will this do for our program? I don't care...I'm more concerned about what it doesn't do, give Michigan a quarterback. They'll be starting fresh this year with someone who wasn't good enough to be mentioned last year so I'm confident that they'll suck again. It also says something about our recruiting power, not that we didn't know this already.

OK back to hoops. The team looked slightly motivated last night against THE GIANT!

Really Dur, that's the best you can do is "THE GIANT?!" Yes, yes it is. My efforts in this blog will parallel the efforts of our NIT performance. Uncreative, and just enough to get the job done. I spent all of my creativity thinking of an entry name for this year's bracket challenge (Oh what has Joel done now?). I've decided to place my yearly jinx on North Carolina (I don't think I've ever picked a winner right) because when they advance, it's boring. I don't want a guy named Tyler taking up half of "One Shining Moment" either. I filled out so many brackets on so many websites that I don't remember the picks I made for this one. In a few I have Oregon beating Memphis in the 2nd round...Oregon is 5 games over .500. Five.

I should include one interesting piece of information. My Dad (The Bull), who coaches high school ball in somewhere in Ohio, ran into Diebler's father at the State Tournament last week. From the conversation with my old man I'm going to call it a Midwesternbias exclusive interview.

Bull: How did Jon handle the season this year?
Mr. Diebler: It was rough on him. He said he's not used to being so wide open on 3's from the corner.


There you have it fans...Jon couldn't make a shot to save his life because he was
TOO OPEN!

(Yes, I've now changed the font twice in one entry)
So next year, all we need is teams to provide better defense on Jon and he'll finally make a 3. I guess he needs the defender up in his face so he can yell "boo-ya" as the ball goes through.

Reader Wise has threatened not to fill out a bracket this year. Should he boycott this tradition I will fill the void with more FAIL pictures.

Oh this will be awesome

I can't seem to find the N.I.T. tournament challenge or even a damn pdf file to print it out. So I guess everyone will have to mail their brackets overnight headquarters. Just draw out the brackets in crayon. I know tonight's game starts at 7:00 and is on ESPN2 because ESPN is showing...sigh, a women's bracket preview and the men's play-in game.



OK, I've located the schedule for the first round games but still no brackets. I can only guess that should be actually start winning games we'll end up in the final against Florida.



Ahh, I've located it in a google search under an article called "Don't get excited..."



I'll fill my bracket out and post it up so you can get a feel of what us N.I.T. experts are predicting! You're welcome America..as you can see I stuck to my word and used crayon... (just click on the bracket for a clear view of how it will turn out)




As you can see I've got a lot of first round upsets including UMass going down in a "Stunner!" Hii-ooooooo!

Jack-Fu should have the real brackets up shortly. I'll be spending the next few hours thinking of my team's name.

Vote Now!

Well will make the tournament:



a. No matter what



b. If we beat Michigan State again



c. If we win 2 Big Ten Tournament Games



d. Next year

e. Just to show that The Dur's pessimistic ways won't get him anywhere

I swear, they dick around all winter and then somehow come up with these big wins. They remind me of how the Bears always start winning once they're out of the playoffs just to ruin their draft picks. My hopes are up though. Somehow I see Dicky V's annual bubble rant going like this...

"And with the Big Ten being so down I can't baylieve they let the Buckeye's in, Thad I love ya but c'mon, are you kidding me? Duke's red shirts could have beaten this squad!"

Don't forget to vote...

Butler Finally Has Shots, Balls Drop

Just a few notes about this one, and I'll try not to piss on our parade too badly. According to the CBS stats (ESPN refuses to update their box scores), Butler actually shot well, which is good because his assist to turnover ratio was 0:5. No assists? Stop passing to Diebler (another onefer... performance). They played pretty well down the stretch and made sure to get quality shots off, except for a certain someone who decided to fire up a three for no reason, I think we know who I mean. Only 7 players actually had real playing time in this one so our lack of depth will continue to hurt us as the season gets this late. (Hill and Lauderdale totaled 5 minutes)

The most entertaining part of the game was when Erin Andrews asked Thad what he thought about the game clock not working and he told her that they practice like that and did it on purpose...she of course believed him, because we all know hot women have no sense of sarcasm. It's nice to actually win a nationally televised game. I think that's the first one I've seen them win in 2008. Don't worry though, we're still a miracle away from making the NCAA.