College Football is Back!

I won't have a chance to post my full season preview until Friday night I think but I wanted to at least put my picks down on the blog before the Oregon State - Utah game comes on. So here it goes:

1. USC 12-0 (9-0) BCS Champ game
2. UCLA 10-2 (7-2) Possible at large in Rose or Holiday
3. Cal 10-2 (7-2) Sun or Holiday if UCLA moves up
4. UO 7-5 (5-4) Emerald Bowl5. ASU 7-5 (4-5) Vegas Bowl
6. WSU 6-6 (4-5) Armed Forces Bowl
7. OSU 6-6 (3-6)
8. UA 5-7 (3-6)
9. UW 3-10 (2-7)
10. LSJU 2-10 (1-8)

March Madness

Well it has been a bit of time since I last posted here. Home life has been great and Evie is really starting to grow and become aware. You can see the changes daily, she is quite mature for only being 10 weeks old. The job has gotten quite a bit busy with some folks moving on some I am trying to survive and thrive in that the best I can. When I last posted Ernie Kent and the Ducks were in a free fall. Nice to see what a home sweep of the Northwest schools can do for a team but even then I think that prior to the Pac 10 tournament Oregon looked liked a likely 7 or 8 seed. Fast forward three games and the Ducks and their hot shooting find themselves a 3 seed in the easiest bracket in the country and have a great line to get to the Elite 8. Oregon’s domination of the rest of the Pac 10 in the tournament was unprecedented though they sure lucked out without having to face UCLA. The Ducks have regained their sea legs and swagger and with a Friday game in Spokane should be quite well rested before they play Miami and then the winner of Notre Dame/Winthrop. I don’t think the Ducks could have asked for a better position than they got. I don’t foresee an issue with Miami and I’d actually rather face Notre Dame than Winthrop who has the better front court. Wisconsin is a vulnerable 2 seed though a better team than Memphis in my opinion. If someone like an Arizona or Maryland can knock off Florida (who I think the Ducks would just not match up to very well) you can’t discount Oregon actually making a Final Four. Had Oregon lost to WSU at home and then to Arizona in the tourney you have to think they would have been sweating out Selection Sunday just like Stanford did. Kudos to the Committee for rewarding dominant play in the tournament, both from Oregon but also for schools like UNC, Kansas and Florida. There is no doubt that UCLA losing to Cal played themselves out of the #1 spot in the West. Thankfully for the Bruins they didn’t get shipped out of California and I still like their chances to get back to the Final Four. I’d be surprised to see any other Pac 10 teams outside of UCLA and Oregon in the Elite 8 and I think that WSU is particularly vulnerable to being the first 3 seed knocked out.

Things to do in Pullman when you are dead . . .

Well there isn't much to do in Pullman outside of getting blasted at Shakers or The Coug. For those who watched it Oregon - WSU ended up being one of the most exciting games of the year in the Pac 10. It was a pretty remarkable comeback win for Oregon and to acheive it they needed to come back from 8 down quite late in the contest. Aaron Brooks banking in of a three after the Ducks had missed two shot and gotten the o-board both times dropped the defecit from 5 to 2. Oregon then got another stop on defense and ran a pretty ugly set before Maarty Leunen got hacked with all but no time left. Clutch free-throws by Maarty tied and then the Ducks should have run away with in OT but the heroicvs of Derrick Low made it close. The Coogs had three shots to tie it up and take it to a second OT but they didn't fall. Can't wait fot the rematch down in Eugene. This week Oregon gets a chance to put a headlock on the conference championship if they can beat UCLA in Pauley Pavilion. I think UCLA beats the Ducks but the Ducks beat USC keeping Oregon in second. Stanford is clearly improving greatly, after watching them play Oregon tough at Mac Court I had a feeling that Stanford would put up a nice second half of the season run and play thmeselves in to the NCAA's. The sweep of the LA schools puts that as a great possibility and put some pressure on USC to stay in the field. I'd officially drop Cal from the NCAA talk, they will join UW in the NIT.