Monday, April 02, 2007

Under Pressure

First of all, I'm a genius. Chris Richard, yasay!

This is the first time since my freshman year in college that I have a shot at winning a tourney pool - (I finished 3rd that time. Why I remember that is because I'm a self-aggrandizing prick, obviously...) Right now, I'm only scared of one thing:



Actually, I'm more scared of Al Horford and Corey Brewer, but as the newspapermen say, I got art.

Who the hell is going to guard Brewer? He's got 4+ inches on anyone OSU can possibly stick on him, unless they try Ivan Harris, who would get turned into a turnstile. Maybe a zone? Florida has a lot of shooters though, especially if Brewer is hitting agian.

To my mind, tonight's championship turns on two things - Oden's ability to stay on the floor, as OSU will get zero defensive rebounds if he is out, and how badly Mick Conley outplays Taurean Green. If Green plays like he did on Saturday, Florida might have problems. It wasn't that he played badly, though he did, it's that he played like an asshole. You know the guy at the gym who wants everyone to know he's really too good to be playing with the likes of you? That was Green. In the national semifinals. While basically crapping the bed (or shaving points? I don't know what the line was, so I can't comment, but if one were to shave, dribbling the ball off of one's foot 4 straight times in the closing stages of a blowout would be a decent start. Just saying.)

I still think Daequan Cook is due for a huge game, and they might need him.

Though my heart wants OSU (both because I have only picked Florida by default and for, erm, other reasons. 2nd prize is a set of steak knives), my head says that the game is Florida's to lose. Of course, looking at my record of past predictions, this makes me feel better about my chances, in a sort of self-imposed triple-whammy-hex fashion...

And as I eat my very leavened breakfast bagel, happy Passover, all...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If THE Ohio State had hit only a couple of meaningful threes, or is U Fla had only missed a few, it would have been a real barn burner. For once, your least favorite color guy, BP, was correct when noting that even though Ohio State was down, unlike UCLA, you never felt they were out of the game until the last minute or two. You, also, were most correct, in noting that Horford and Brewer would be the difference makers, though Humphrey must eat something illegal before the big tournament games--you just knew that every one of his open looks was going down. . . .So, about those steak knives, . . .

Mortie

Mark said...

Can anything top Noah's gangster speak at the end of the game....? Did he not grow up being the son of a very rich french tennis player. Must be some bad gangs on those red clay courts.

Anonymous said...

I thought Billy Packer was surprisingly humane. I wonder if he was on medication.

I agree with on the observation regarding Noah's gangsta rap at postgame. What was up with that?

And I'm very smug because I won my office pool. Two out of three years. Not bad. And of course, I remember winning Pooh's University of Minnesota Law School tourney a few years ago. Now that was sweet.

Icepick said...

Any chance you can be roused from your slumber to comment on Billy Donovan getting hired by the Orlando Magic?

(For the record, I think this is a bad idea for the Magic in every sense except the financial. Listening to the local radio stations down here it's clear he's going to put bodies in the stands for a season, maybe two.)

Icepick said...

Nevermind.