Gearing up for the Madness

So my Dawgs are back in the NCAA tournament. There for a stretch in January it really seemed like Butler would not make the tournament. This team seemed to be in disarray for a better part of the Horizon League portion of the schedule. Then about the middle of February something again clicked and the Butler team everyone remembered from last year began playing like we knew it could. The tough defense - collapsing down on the post and making things tough for the opposing guards to get the ball into the scorer's hands. Now the key to the tournament will not only be the seed (looking anywhere right from a nine to a 12 if you ask me) and finding a little bit more consistency on the offensive end.

Is this Butler team as dangerous as the one last year which made that remarkable dream run back home to the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium? To answer that question I think this team learned a lot about itself during this season and I believe will be a tough "out" for any team it faces. Like Butler coach Brad Stevens said an Indianapolis Star article last week - "It's March. It's time to put this all together."

As far as the officiating snafu at Madison Square Garden yesterday in the St. John's-Rutgers game - nice to see the officials "man up" and admit wrong and withdraw from the rest of the tournament. Still though one of the three should have had the responsibility of seeing the travel or out of bounds and another noticing the clock and time still on it. As a now former official I have also had to take the lump and admit wrong, but with the experience those three officials had at that level of a game, they should have been aware of what was going the court and not assuming the game was over.

Looking forward to following the Big 1(1)0 Conference tournament tomorrow. Ohio State-Northwestern should be interesting for about 10 minutes. Purdue-Michigan State will also be good especially with the Spartans, who seem to make a run every March to the final destination of the Final Four, needing the win to possibly even be selected Sunday night.

Big East tournament I still believe began around Christmas. Kemba Walker - WOW! The UCONN-Syracuse sets up to be another classic. Louisville-Notre Dame in the other semifinal tomorrow night that should be a very interesting matchup especially with how surprising both teams have been this season. And NO I was not surprised to what Louisville did to Butler in the opening game of the new YUM Center in Louisville on my birthday earlier this season.

The Big 12 in its final go around together looks to be a good tournament, but pretty sure the safe bet is Kansas to win its own invitational once again.

The SEC Florida-Kentucky per usual in the final since they seem to be the only two schools which play basketball in the SEC anymore. Although Tennessee and Bruce Pearl could make things interesting.

Of course the grand-daddy of all conference tournaments - ACC will likely come down to North Carolina and Duke. For the third time this season - will depend on which one has the tougher game on Saturday as to who wins it Sunday.

As for one seeds - Kansas, Ohio State are locks - I can't convince myself of anything else until after the ACC and Big East tournaments have been completed.