Western who? The Sweet Sixteen to be sour for some 10+ seeds

What to look for in the third round, the “Sweet Sixteen:”

There are no Cinderellas: Well technically there are, but the saying from the new Jumpman commercial resonates especially with this next round of play. Two twelve seeds will be playing two number one seeds, Villanova vs. Kansas and Western Kentucky vs. UCLA.

Villanova had some special guard play during the last two rounds, courtesy of Scottie Reynolds. I highly doubt that he can keep it up against the suffocating defense that is the Kansas Jayhawks, who limited UNLV to just under 27% shooting.

Western Kentucky should provide an interesting test for UCLA: Kansas loves to run up and down the court, something UCLA has gotten accustom to in the Pac-10. Western Kentucky is led by three senior guards including Courtney Lee, the Sun Belt Conference player of the year. Some say experience is overrated, including myself, but one of these “experienced” teams, among them UCLA which has been in Final Four the last two years, will lose this round.

Everyone will also be keeping close tabs to the match-up of No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 10 Davidson. I’m looking for Stephen Curry to go bonkers and score a Kobe-like 81. It won’t happen, I know, but a fan can wish. For all Wisconsin has done though, I also want to see them dominate Davidson so they receive the “mad respect” they deserve. Michael Flowers, show the nation you are one of the top defenders in the country. I’m hoping Dell’s son will do his thing and the point guard from Barrington, Illinois, Jason Richards, will represent the Chi and get the win for the Wildcats. Don’t quote me.

Favorite hungry East region ready for some classic battles: It’s quite a rare thing to see the top four seeds in one region advance to the Sweet Sixteen. That very unlikely scenario has indeed unfolded in the East where No. 1 North Carolina is set to take on No. 4 Washington State alongside No. 2 Tennessee playing No. 3 Louisville. I know people like the small school Cinderella programs versus the powerhouse programs, but I’ll take these “traditional” match-ups any day of the week. UNC has had a very easy road so far, winning easily over their first two opponents by a 70 point margin. While other top seeded teams in the tourney have had their backs against the wall, the Tar Heels have been on cruise control. Expect the game to slow down quite a bit against the Cougars. UNC will look to run up and down the court and WSU will look to squeeze out every second on the clock. It’s easier to slow a game down than speed it up but the depth and talent of UNC will be too much for Tony Bennett and his crew to handle. Who will guard Ty Lawson? Get the resume ready Tony, Indiana, will be calling you shortly.

On the other hand, the Volunteers and Cards are ready to throw 100 points each on the scoreboards. The Cards, just like the Tar Heels, haven’t really been tested yet in this tourney. Bruce Pearl and his men from Knoxville were sweating it out last week against the Butler Bulldogs, a game I thought Butler should have inched out. That said, it’s a new round and a new week. Many teams in recent tournament history take close games one round and use that as motivation the next round for a better performance. While Louisville is the sexy pick in the moment, I’ll stick with my bracket pick and pick the snake that is Bruce Pearl to win the game. Scott Padgett of Louisville will impact this game for both teams. As he goes, the Cards go. I think the Cards will do everything right, but in the end the Vols will edge them out to reach the East finals against UNC.

Getting in the “Izzone”: Friday nights don’t get much better than this. This will be the best game of the round and I’m pulling hard for the Big 10 in this one, probably because I had Pittsburgh beating Michigan State and Memphis in my bracket. Regardless, I do think Memphis is ripe for an upset and the Spartans have the tools to create it. MSU is playing their best ball of the season and any fan of that team will tell you to ease the shock factor because this is expected of Tom Izzo and his crew.

While Izzo is known for his great offensive teams, he is also known for great defense and that has shown in the tournament so far. MSU will punch you in the face and that’s what you need to do to beat Memphis. We saw it last week with Jarvis Varnado and Mississippi State, who came one shot short of pulling a possible upset. The Spartans have the leadership, the poise, and most importantly, the talent, to take down the top seeded Tigers. Drew Neitzel will need to bring his best game but I don’t doubt that of the former Mr. Basketball of Michigan. MSU can play, and that will show against the Tigers, who will want to push the ball behind Derrick Rose. And with John Calipari’s club struggling at the line , this is the game that will come back to bite them. People might consider Memphis an elite program right now, but people will soon forget the flavor of the week and remember a truly elite program in Michigan State Friday night. Spartans, Spartans!

Possible upsets: Stanford over Texas, Michigan State over Memphis, and Davidson over Wisconsin.

NCAA Round 2 Recap: Conference struggles = Tourney success

What we learned from the second round:

Conference struggles for pre-season elite might equal success in tourney: This easily applies to two teams who many picked to lose in their first round games: Michigan State and Texas A&M. The Spartans took down Final Four favorite Pittsburgh and the Aggies nearly knocked off the powerhouse that is the UCLA Bruins, losing in the final seconds to a special freshman named Kevin Love. Both these teams were picked to do special things in their respective conferences this season but failed to live up to expectations.

In MSU’s case, they still have a coach in Tom Izzo who has been one of the most successful coaches in the country. Let’s not forget that Izzo has reached the Final Four in four of the past nine seasons, more than any other team during that time. MSU went through an up and down Big 10 conference schedule which included two bad road losses at Iowa and Penn State. A&M started out 16-1 but upon entering the heart of Big 12 play was handed two blowout losses on the road against Texas Tech and Kansas State. It’s hard to discredit what goes on in conference play but there is something about the tournament that allows teams to play significantly better. Unlike conference play where every team knows every other inside-out, the tournament, at least in the early rounds, puts together teams with different styles and contrasting strategies. It is here where upsets are made.

Several tops seeds get their first real tests: The top four seeds in each region were a combined 14-2 in the first round, with the two losses by Vanderbilt to Siena and Connecticut to San Diego. Things got interesting for the remaining top four seeds in the second round, where several experienced heart breaking losses and others had extremely close calls. Duke was ripe for a loss after their first round struggles against Belmont and West Virginia exploited Duke for everything they were worth, which wasn’t much. Memo to Coach-K: YOU NEED A BIG MAN. Speaking of a big man, what looked like it was going to be a tough game for Wisconsin turned out to be nothing really special as the Badgers rolled over Kansas State and Michael Beasley. Michael, we will see you in the pros next year.

Stanford is loving the Lopez twins after both came up huge in their overtime win against Marquette. Tennessee survived a real scare by Butler, who didn’t even play their top game but still managed to get the game into overtime where Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism of the Volunteers took over down low. With that said, I haven’t even gotten to the biggest upset of the second round…

One special guard can ALWAYS make a difference come March: Cue up the Mike Patrick “are you kidding me?” soundbyte. Stephen Curry, welcome to the Big Dance. After scoring 40 points in the first round for Davidson, you scored 30 more against number two seeded Georgetown, 25 of which came after the break, leading to an improbable upset. The son of former NBA player Dell Curry is the definition of a gamer, a guy who doesn’t sulk after a rough stretch where his shots aren’t falling. This sophomore has ice in his veins and hasn’t found a spot on the court he doesn’t like taking a shot from. And while he had a performance that will be remembered for a long time by Davidson fans, people must realize that his team only shot 39% from the field while giving up nearly 64% to the Hoyas!

Roy Hibbert proved to be as clutch as Shawn Bradley for the Mavericks. Six points with only three field goal attempts? Hibbert, we will see you in the pros too. The Princeton offense which usually gives fits to teams in the tournament who aren’t used to the constant motion did not seem to faze the Wildcats at all. They just kept on chomping away and truly believed they could do it.

This is what March Madness is all about baby.

NCAA Tourney Round 1 Recap: Orange juice and upsets in Tampa

What we learned from the first round:

Tampa was the place to be for underdogs: One site, four games, four upsets, two overtimes, two buzzer beaters. You can’t get much better than that. No. 12 Villanova beat No. 5 Clemson, No. 12 Western Kentucky stunned No. 5 Drake in OT at the buzzer, No. 13 San Diego held off No. 4 Connecticut’s surge, and finally, No. 13 Siena dismantled No. 4 Vanderbilt. While the first day didn’t prove much for the underdogs, the second day was full of excitement and was showcasing teams that could do damage later in the tournament.

Duke ain’t that good: Duke should not have won their game. No Duke apologists need to come and start defending their team. It’s not worth it. Who knows, maybe Coach K. was looking forward to coaching real athletes in the summer for Team USA in the Olympics. The fact is Belmont played Duke as tough as anyone could have and they didn’t even have a true big man. They were hitting their jump shots and that’s how upsets are usually made. Once Duke runs into a big boy down low though, it’ll be a swift exit for the Blue Devils of Durham.

Individual performances or the lack thereof can only take you so far: Some stars truly didn’t step up for their teams and it showed in the loss column. Others did but their supporting casts did nothing to complement them. Take O.J. Mayo of USC for example. 20 points on 6-16 shooting. Only two other players were in double figures for his team, most with horrible shooting percentages. On the other hand, Eric Gordon from Indiana, another star freshman, scored only 8 points on 3-15. He’s a guy who has scored 20+ points most games this season for the Hoosiers, so losing that scoring load against an athletic team like Arkansas can be trouble. Elsewhere, Joe Crawford of Kentucky scored 35 in a loss, almost taking the entire team on his back. The teams with better talent overall usually win. One player can’t do it all. In the case of IU, they had other factors affecting them because they were clearly the more talented team as a whole.

What to look for in the second round:

Potential bracket busters: There will be two 12/13 seeds advancing to likely play number ones in Kansas and UCLA. My guess is it’s Siena in the Midwest and Western Kentucky in the West. It’ll be interesting to see if WKU can continue keeping the pace they want, which is the video game run-and-gun style, against San Diego. Siena shot lights out from the field against Vanderbilt, including almost 50% from beyond the arc. Can Villanova stop them? I doubt it.

Good guard play versus good big man play: Marquette and Stanford will feature this in their game. Marquette has extremely athletic guards in Dominic James and Jerel McNeal. Stanford has the twin towers in the Lopez brothers. Which combo will do more damage? I think Stanford’s more disciplined play will help them move on, but it should be a very fun one for basketball fans to watch though.

Better athletes sometimes translates into wins: This goes for Xavier and Kansas State, who I think will outclass Purdue and Wisconsin respectively. The Big 10 grind it out style can go only go so far and Wisconsin won’t have seen two athletes like Bill Walker or Michael Beasley in a long time. One of these two games could get ugly. Xavier’s stingy defense will finally affect Purdue’s simple offense. Credit Purdue for loading their team up but they are going to have to ask a lot of their freshmen to get a win in the second round.

Potential upsets: Siena over Villanova, Kansas State over Wisconsin, Notre Dame over Washington State, and West Virginia over Duke.

Tips from an expert: How to make your NCAA Tourney picks

With everyone printing brackets, erasing picks, and talking college basketball, The Core Junction thought it’d be helpful to offer some tips:

Big man success: The tournament is well known as a time when guards step out their play. More recently though, big men have dominated and taken their teams on their backs. Think Sean May, Emeka Okafor, Greg Oden, Glen Davis, Al Horford, and Joakim Noah. This year’s crop? Michael Beasley of Kansas State, Kevin Love of UCLA, Roy Hibbert of Georgetown (a Final Four participant last year), Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Darrell Arthur of Kansas, and DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh. Having strong front court play that can take over is something most Final Four teams have in common. A team cannot fake this for an entire tournament run. George Mason tried to and then ran into that great Florida front court. A team either has it or doesn’t, plain and simple. Don’t over-think this point but don’t under value it either.

Teams building new chemistry: This doesn’t just mean teams that have rattled off a nice streak going into the tournament. If that’s the case, go check out Davidson and their nice 22-game winning streak, which is currently the longest in the nation. I’m talking teams that have had key players finally return back from injuries or other problems late in the season. Look no further than Ty Lawson of North Carolina, Levance Fields of Pittsburgh, Scott Padgett of Louisville, and Jerome Dyson of Connecticut. Teams that are peaking come tournament time usually can carry that unique momentum to the Final Four. That momentum cannot be replicated. If a team’s best basketball is behind them, then a special run is unlikely.

Ability to win ugly: You can’t expect a team to come out and play four straight perfect games in the tournament. It rarely happens. Teams that have proven they can win in different situations and with different styles are the ones that show the real poise in March. Think Ohio State of last year, with two close weeks in a row against Xavier and Tennessee. Illinois three years back against Arizona. Oklahoma State against St. Jospeh’s the year before. This year’s participants? Two heavyweights in UCLA and North Carolina have both proven they can win tight games even when their stars are struggling. Two Big Ten teams in Michigan State and Wisconsin also share the same idea. The Spartans can win games even when they have a high turnover rate while the Badgers will depend on foul shots to squeak out close games in the tournament.

Location, location, LOCATION: The tournament is set up so that higher seeded teams have a strong chance to play in a neutral site that is actually close to their home court. When Syracuse won the title in 2003, they played the regional final in New York. Illinois played the regional final three years ago in Rosemont, Illinois. Last year, both Georgetown and UCLA enjoyed short trips to their regional finals. Two teams this year that envision playing regional final games in their home state are North Carolina, which would play in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Texas, which would play in Houston, Texas. UCLA will also be playing their first two games in Anaheim, California while Memphis will be playing in Little Rock, Arkansas, two hours away from their home.

Coaching excellence: March Madness is when coaches’ legacies are etched into history. Many unknown coaches have elevated their status within college basketball and their programs with a nice run in the tournament. Other coaches are already proven and continue their success every year tournament time. Thad Matta rose up at Xavier, then continued at Ohio State. Roy Williams almost got to the top with Kansas, finally doing so with North Carolina. Rick Pitino, the only coach to take three separate schools to the Final Four, lives for the madness. Who are some of the upcoming/unknown great coaches? Sean Miller of Xavier, Brad Stevens of Butler, Mike Brey of Notre Dame, Tony Bennet of Washington State, and Trent Johnson of Stanford.

And the most important tip….

No one is wrong until Thursday afternoon: No reason to bash other people’s picks because for all you know, they could have the perfect bracket. Your mom likes Belmont to upset Duke? Ok. Your boss is really favoring Gonzaga for the Final Four? Go with it. You sister thinks UNC will lose their first game? Well, that might be a stretch. That said though, some extremely strange things have happened once this time of the year rolls around. Sure things go down easily (Connecticut against George Mason two years ago?), unknowns rise up (Joakim Noah and the Florida Gators), brackets get destroyed in the first round, relationships end. That is the beauty of this tournament. Make your picks and be confident but don’t rip on your girlfriend’s picks. You might be eating your words come April and also looking for some new loving.

Here’s a printable bracket (CBS Sportsline)

Watch YOUR TV anywhere!

Gone are the days where fans had to schedule things around their favorite shows. With the rise of DVRs, TV has become more attached to people’s lives than ever before. Now, a person is just several button pushes away from having that season finale of “Lost” or the rubber-match of the Cubs-Sox series recorded for later watching.

As a passionate Chicago sports fan, my first year away from home at college proved to be a trying task. Going to school deep in The Hoosier State, I was stuck without the option of watching my beloved hometown Cubs, Bulls, and most importantly, the Bears. I also missed having my DVR at school to record my favorite shows. I didn’t have the luxury of scheduling that study session for a psychology test around an episode of “Survivor.”

Enter Slingbox, the next home theater accessory everyone must have. Simply put, the Slingbox is a device that lets you watch your TV anywhere with an internet connection. Whether you have a DVR at home or just a straight cable connection, Slingbox allows you access to that content. The device takes the normal TV feed, digitalizes it, passes it through your home network, and makes it available to internet-connected computers anywhere else.

The setup of the device is quite easy. In my case, I took the cables that normally plugged into my TV from my satellite box and plugged them to the Slingbox instead. Slingbox comes with cables you can then plug into the device that go to the TV, passing the same signal to the TV like originally. A network cable then needs to be connected. There is no wireless option that comes with the device but other accessories can be purchased to supplement the need for no wires. An added step of installation applies to people who have a satellite or cable box. Infrared sensors can be set up for remote control use over the internet.

Software than must be installed on a computer currently on the home network to ensure the Slingbox is working properly. This takes a matter of minutes in most cases. A password and device ID is than assigned for you to use whenever you want to access the box elsewhere.

The playback software is included and you can install it on whatever platform you want to access the device from. It is also available on their website in case you need to download it to another computer. In my case, I installed it on my laptop I had for school. The software, called SlingPlayer, accesses your device at home using the password and device ID assigned during the initial software installation. The program either then displays a generic remote to use to control the feed or in the case of satellite/cable box users, uses a picture the exact remote of your box to emulate the use of the real remote.

The user can then freely change channels, record shows if a DVR is used, access recorded shows, etc. Essentially, anything you would normally be able to do with your TV if you were in front of it can be done via the SlingPlayer.

The one main downside that is realized quickly after initial use is that Slingbox uses up the signal/box that it is connected to. So if it is connected to the family room satellite box and you are on a business trip in another country, whatever you are accessing or watching over the internet will be watched on the other side by your family. Both sides can control the feed although only one program can be watched at a time. Ideally, you have an extra box or jack to devote to the Slingbox.

Also, only one person can be “connected” to each Slingbox at a time. For obvious copyright purposes, that means you can’t be watching the Cubs game while you are at school in Indiana and also have your friend who is out in California watching at the same time using the same box. One box means one person.

The quality depends on the upload and download speeds of your home network. One can also fork out a little more money to buy the Slingbox PRO which enables HD use. I actually bought this one and while the quality is watchable over the internet, it still is nowhere near normal HD quality. Think of it as a video you would watch over You Tube, a little above average quality.

There is software that enables the user to access their Slingbox via certain cell phones and select Pocket PCs with specific system requirements. However, all software needed for these viewing methods costs extra.

There are many online sites and other devices priced similarly that do the same thing that Slingbox does however, none do it with even close to the quality or ease of Slingbox. For the price that you pay only once, it allows you to access your TV anywhere in the world via a stable broadband connection. The software is easy to use and makes you feel right at home. In my case away from school, I was able to watch Cubs and Bulls games live and also record my favorite shows to watch when I had free time. Slingbox’s value applies even more to people who are constantly traveling and want to have some consistency of what they watch on television. One will even be able to tune into the late local news from Chicago if they are in Beijing for business.

Pros: Access your TV from any computer with a broadband connection; great, intuitive software; no fees besides initial cost of product; great gift for any college student or world traveler that misses their local programming.

Cons: Depending on your connection speed, quality could suffer; the software for cell phone/PDA viewing costs extra; no wireless option built in (sold separately); uses up attached device during viewing.

There are three versions:
HD version, multiple inputs (Slingbox Pro, $180)
HD version, single input (Slingbox Solo, $140)
Standard definition, single input (Slingbox AV, $107)