Odds And Ends And Elbows

To borrow a line from Tupac (sort of): FUCK DUKE AS A STAFF, A BASKETBALL TEAM, AND AS A MUTHA FUCKIN' CREW. And if you want to be down with Duke, then fuck you too. The more I hear about the Henderson/Hansbrough incident, and the more times I see the replay and see how blatant that was, the more angry I get. As if enough people didn't hate Duke already. And anyone who plays that card, "Everyone is only saying it's intentional because they hate Duke" can go fist themself. There isn't a person on the planet (Coach Gay included) that honestly thinks that. I think Simmons made an excellent point when he stated what he thinks would happen if the roles were reversed. Coach Gay would have had Hansbrough banned from all of college fucking basketball. Plus, this whole shebangabang reminded me of when Christian Laettner stomped on the Kentucky player in '92. Fucking A. Duke is a bunch of queers. How could anyone cheer for those faggots? OK I'm done. For now.

Simmons also has said he thinks KU is going to win the title, which in no way makes me feel good. I know that he has recently made his foray into college basketball, but watching a bunch of Texas games and TIVOing whatever other major game is on ESPN or CBS does not mean that you know anything about college hoops. As much as I love Simmons, I would rather he not be on board the KU bandwagon. Who punched his ticket to get on, anyway?

With that said, here is a mini-breakdown of some of the top 10:

SCARE THE HELL OUT OF ME:

North Carolina: An already very good team just had their toughness factor bumped into the red. The one knock I had on them was their play in crunch time. Hansbrough, who I have thought looks soft at times, is going to absolutely fuck people up now. He's fucking pissed.

Florida: Anyone who thinks they are done because they lost a couple of games in one of the toughest conferences in America (Simmons) can eat shit. This team was built in the Contending For National Titles Factory.

Texas A&M: Probably the mentally toughest team in America, which goes a long way in the tourney.

DOESN'T SCARE ME AS MUCH AS THEY PROBABLY SHOULD:

Ohio St.: Simply for the fact that teams that live and die by the 3 usually don't make it in the tourney. But if they get hot for 6 games, they will roll to the title.

UCLA: I don't exactly know why. Maybe it's the Midwest bias. They're deep, but it never seems like everyone shows up at once. If their entire rotation all came to play for one game, they would be even more amazing.

Georgetown: I have no idea what to do with this team. A couple of weeks ago I had them pegged as my sleeper Final 4 team. Watching a little more of them lately, now I kinda think that they just stink of early-round upset. Gotta love college hoops.

CAN THEY BE A 2 SEED IN KU'S BRACKET, PLEASE?:

Memphis: Here are six words to remember when filling out your bracket: Memphis sucks. Memphis sucks. Memphis sucks. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I already knew that they hadn't played anyone, but I decided to double check to avoid sounding like an asshole, and what I found astounded me. Look at their list of wins: Jackson St., Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas St., Manhattan, Marshall, Ole Miss, Austin Peay, M. Tenn. St., Lamar, Cincinnati, Houston, So. Miss, UAB, E. Carolina, Tulsa, So. Miss, Central Florida, SMU, UAB, Tulane, Tulsa, Gonzaga (by 1), Rice, Houston, UTEP, SMU. Possibly the worst #5 team in the history of the top 25.

Wisconsin: Wildly overrated all year long. Plus I'd rather watch a middle school girls' game than one of theirs.

Nevada: Also hasn't played much of anyone, and I think Fazekas will get killed by a smaller, more athletic forward.

Some other teams that have me mildly nervous thinking about playing them in the Sweet 16: Louisville, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, and Indiana. Texas was in this category, but now after what they did in the first half at a rowdy Phog Allen Fieldhouse, they have been moved into the category of "Give Me A Couple Valium Before Tip-off."

In a completely unrelated story, Sausage Egg McMuffins have replaced Breakfast Burritos as my go-to choice for hangover food.

*I apologize for the amount of profanity. Duke makes me angry, and it is reflected throughout today's post.