NCAA BASKETBALL

If you miss 52 of your shots, shoot 22 percent in the first half and about 16 percent in the second half, and can’t hit water from an ocean liner out on the Atlantic, you should lose.

That is exactly what the Cinderfellas of Butler did in last night chumpionship game.

It certainly had no appearance of being a CHAMPIONSHIP game by either team.

To put it mildly, they both sucked, but someone has to win and UConn came out the winner.

Butler was its own worst enemy. The Butler team as a whole shot bricks all night long anfd UConn was just a wee bit better, but they did not light up the score board either. Was it Butler’s lack of offense or UConn defense. You make the call.

Ten years is avery long time if you are the Fighting Irish.

That is how long it has been since they have won a championship. Well, the simply stunned UConn and are now in a position to win one.

Notre Dame sent Maya Moore and her 36 points packing and will face Texas A&M who upset Stanford with 3 seconds on the clock to move into the finals against Notre Dame. I think that 15 years of supremacy over Women’s Basketball by Tennessee and UConn is officially over.

We have a couple of new sheriffs in town. Stanford, even though they did not survive Texas A&M, will be a factor come next season, and Notre Dame has home grown Diggins for a few more years.

Get out your popcorn for Tuesday’s night battle. Texas A&M, lookout. Here comes the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame 68, Texas A&M, 60. I MAKE THE CALL.

Both Kentucky and UConn will be featuring their talented freshmen come Saturday night live.

It is truly amazing how Kentucky who lost 5 players to the NBA can get back to the final 4 so quickly. You can give the credit to Coach Calipari or the fine freshmen.

What ever the answer is, the Wildcats will be hard to beat on Saturday.  On the other hand, Uconn Huskies are no push over either when it comes down to their freshmen players. The Huskies have a few freshmen studs of their own. If the Huskies don’t take it to the paint, Walker their X Factor won’t be able to take them by himself to the promise land. Kentucky wins 73-69.

The two mid majors will be up against each other with Butler in the final 4 in back to back years. VCU is the only true Cinderella in this tournament, having come from no where defeating teams such as Georgetown and Kansas with their up tempo style of play.

Rodriquez will run Butler off the court with its style of play. Butler will not have enough juice to close. VCU wins 68-63. I MAKE THE CALL

The UConn Huskies with Walker and Lamb, took care of the Arizona Wildcats and waltzed them out of the final four and Butler just Lindy Hopped all over the Seminoles!

How many of you had Butler in the final four on your bracket? If you say yes, you are lying.  Butler made it back to back to the final four.

The most shocking game of the Elite 8 has to be VCU against Kansas. Those upstarts from Richmond, laid a heavy dose of three points on number one Kansas, but shot only 39 percent overall. VCU was just too fast for the Jayhawks. VCU overcame all odds and Shaka Smart’s team is in the final four. Who would have thunk it?

Certainly not me, but I am not one to think when it comes down to March Madness, I just react to the hot teams.

Well, VCU showed the world that Cinderellas can also dance on the big stage, whether it is a slow jam or a waltz.

Oh, and by the way, the other Wildcats, Kentucky, they too are going to the dance in Houston. The final four has been set, now all that is left is, who will be dancing with the stars on April 4th. YOU MAKE THE CALL.

Taking it to the hoop!

Derrick Williams showed up and showed off!

He literally embarrassed the Blue Devils by scoring 32 points, most of them in the first half.

The second half, he did most of the rebounding while the rest of the team handled the scoring.

Duke ended the first half ahead of Arizona, but something must have happened in the locker room at half time. Arizona came out smoking and just about shut down the Blue Devils.

They stopped the 3 point shots and stymied the pick and roll which is Duke’s bread and butter. For little over 4 minutes in the second half, Arizona was merciless with Duke.

The Wildcats took Duke on a 19 -2 run and just took the wind out of Duke’s sails.

In the end, Arizona came away with a 93-77 win, a 16 point margin over the number one seeded Blue Devils. In other words, the Wildcats gave Duke no respect. I MAKE THE CALL.

NCAA BASKETBALL

The Big East fielded 11 teams, the ACC 4.

Three of the ACC teams are still alive while only two from the Big East.

The ACC has always been the conference to beat regardless of how many its teams make the big dance.

This year is no different. If FSU can sustain an offense, they will be joining Duke and North Carolina at the Elite 8 Dance Hall. I MAKE THE CALL.

Did the selection committee get it wrong, or was the Big East overrated ? Obviously, those are the two questions requiring answers.

With 11 teams going to the dance, one would think that 5 or 6 of them would still be around.

Wrong answer.

As of Sunday night, there were only two, Connecticut and an unlikely Marquette.

What happened to the powerhouse teams?

Let me tell you what happened:

• Marquette mashed up Syracuse
• Butler stunned Pittsburgh
• FSU had their way with Notre Dame and
• only God can let you know what happened with Louisville.

All gone, none of them left.

No, the selection committee did not get it wrong. All 11 teams deserved bids.

How they played, was the difference in who survived. In March Madness, you win or you are done. It is a crap shoot with no second chance. Every game played is like the last game you will ever play.

So you win, or you go home. Marquette and Connecticut got it right, you play to win every game, or you go home. I MAKE THE CALL.

Trying to get ahead of the game, unfortunately, I made my elite 8 picks before the teams were actually seeded in their respective regions.

It is clear that a few of my picks can’t possibly make it to the Elite because of where they are playing, and for this, I apologize to my readers. In other words, my bad, I blew it prematurely.

Now, here are the real Elite 8 picks, followed by the final 4 and the two who will play for the championship. Elite 8 looks like this:

• Ohio State
• Connecticut
• Pittsburgh
• Kansas
• Georgetown
• St Johns
• Oakland and
• North Carolina.

My final 4:

• Ohio
• Oakland
• Kansas and
• Pittsburgh

For the championship game I pick Kansas and Ohio.

And, the winner is, KANSAS! I MAKE THE CALL.

NCAA BASKETBALL

I have no problems with Pitt seeded number one in the South East, or Ohio in the East and Kansas in the South West.

I do have very serious problems with Duke being seeded number one in the West.

The Big East deserves two, let me repeat it numerically and alphabetically, the Big East deserves 2 (two) number one seeds. Notre Dame should have been given a number one seeding and personally speaking, they were robbed.

Duke got its number one seed based on past performance and name recognition.

That is all good, but when it comes down to the facts, Notre Dame should have gotten the number one seed in the West. Like it or not. I MAKE THE CALL.

Jim Storr's Sports round-up

Let’s start with the mens’ basketball where Ohio State stomp Penn State to win back to back big 10 conference titles, while Kentucky was doing it to Florida again.

Meanwhile back in good old North Carolina, Duke was dancing all over the Tar Heels and Kansas was doing a hoe down on Texas.

Tiger finally had a top ten and showed shades of coming back at Doral when he played the back 9 in 4 under, making some pin point iron shots along the way.

The big dance was finally open and Ohio State got the overall number one seed and they will be defending the East Region while Pitt is setting up shop in the South East.

Duke finally gets to leave the comfort of home by going west with its young men and Kansas, who will take it all is seeded close to home in the Southwest.

My early prediction for the Elite 8 features:

• Ohio
• North Carolina
• Xavier
• Kansas
• Louisville
• U-Conn and my two surprises,
• Old Dominion and
• Oakland.

Basketball fans and haters alike, take it to the bank. It is a lock. I MAKE THE CALL.