EZ The Blog

When a washed-up sports radio host has only one outlet left.

I’ve always wanted to go to the Big East Tournament.  I’ve never been to Madison Square Garden and I thought this year may be the year where I could pull it off.

So I got tickets, for the whole shebang… and I can’t go.

So I sold my two tickets in the lower level (Row F) for all 15 games of the tournament for $1,500.  I was under the gun, and I let the buyer (a Villanova fan) off with a good deal ($750 per ticket–or $50 per game–compared to what they’ve sold for on StubHub, is a STEAL).

So I decided to check out the average prices for similar tickets at all of the big conference tournaments FOR ALL SESSIONS, to see which ticket was really the most valuable.  Here’s what I came up with.

Big East: $1,695 ($113/game) – Probably could’ve sold mine for a lot closer to this price per ticket if I would’ve moved a little quicker.

SEC: $956 ($87/game)

ACC: $626 ($57/game)

Big 12: $589 ($54/game)

Big Ten: $419 ($42/game)

Pac 10: $340 ($38/game)

So, there you go.  If I’m going for value, I’m heading to Conseco Fieldhouse for the Big Ten Tournament.  I was surprised by the price of the ticket for the SEC Tournament.  Well done, Kentucky (I refuse to give any other team credit for the price of that ticket, not even my man Bruce Pearl).

I’ve been so bad about posting, but I’m a busy guy. The daily radio show (and all that surrounds it), is a full time job. My apologies (as if you care)!

Howie Lindsey, with CardinalSports.com, send local media a list of games each week for us to pick winners on. I’ve been near the top (at least last I checked), but NOT QUITE THERE.

With it being championship week, instead of picking winners of individual games, it’s time for us to pick conference champions.

Here are my picks:
BIG EAST – WVU
BIG 12 – KANSAS
ACC – DUKE
PAC-10 – WASHINGTON
BIG TEN – MICH ST
MOUNTAIN WEST – BYU
ATLANTIC-10 – RHODE ISLAND
CONFERENCE USA – UAB
SUN BELT – NORTH TEXAS
SEC – KENTUCKY

Where have I gone wrong? Let me know.

Just when I got done singing the praises of Rick Pitino’s team on the road this season, they go and lay an absolute egg up in Newark against Seton Hall.

And, yes, I know Louisville may have been screwed royally on this play late in the game:

And even though the team is a very mediocre 3-3 in the Big East Conference (and just seven wins away from the NCAAs according to Pitino), the Cardinals are fourth in the Big East when it comes to point-per-possession offense and defense.

This from the smart folks at BasketballProspectus.com:

                      Pace    PPP   Opp. PPP    EM
1.  West Virginia     64.4    1.13    0.99    +0.14
2.  Pitt              65.2    1.11    0.99    +0.12
3.  Villanova         71.7    1.18    1.06    +0.12
4.  Louisville        68.7    1.14    1.03    +0.11
5.  Syracuse          71.6    1.10    0.99    +0.11
6.  Marquette         62.9    1.16    1.07    +0.09
7.  Georgetown        64.4    1.10    1.02    +0.08
8.  Connecticut       69.8    1.00    0.98    +0.02
9.  Cincinnati        66.6    0.98    0.99    -0.01
10. St. John's        65.4    0.93    0.95    -0.02
11. Notre Dame        66.5    1.09    1.12    -0.03
12. Providence        72.5    1.05    1.10    -0.05
13. Seton Hall        71.1    1.03    1.10    -0.07
14. S. Florida        68.0    0.92    1.06    -0.14
15. Rutgers           71.0    0.90    1.12    -0.22
16. DePaul            65.8    0.86    1.15    -0.29

So, what are we to make of this?

Maybe those stats are padded by the big wins over South Florida and Providence.  Or, maybe Cards fans (well, most some) are getting too frustrated too fast.

Either way, things better start changing… and soon.

(h/t @EamonnBrennan)

While Lady EZ steals my laptop to troll on Facebook, I will officially blog from my phone for the first time.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare myself a Cincinnati Bearcats football fan the rest of this season.

There are many reasons.

First off, no one wants to see a Big East team in the BCS National Championship game and, for me, anything that causes “BCS controversy” is AWESOME! Anything that could possibly change this wretched system is a win!

But also, it’s because they’re more than just a sick offensive team. They’re good everywhere. ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett does a good job of illustrating this in one of his recent blog posts.

And finally, I’m tired of all this ridiculous and undeserved love of the SEC. The conference is not as good as it’s made out to be. Again, it’s the tradition of college football getting in the way of a true national champion.

Go Bearcats.

——————————
- Posted using BlogPress from iPhone

While dates are still being worked out, we do know which teams will play which in the 18-game Big East men’s basketball conference season.

LOUISVILLE
Home – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
Away – Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia

CINCINNATI
Home – Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
Away – Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, West Virginia

CONNECTICUT
Home – Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Seton Hall, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, Villanova

DEPAUL
Home – Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova

GEORGETOWN
Home – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
Away – DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia

MARQUETTE
Home – DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, USF, Villanova
Away – Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia

NOTRE DAME
Home – Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Villanova

PITTSBURGH
Home – DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Marquette, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia

PROVIDENCE
Home – Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse, Villanova

RUTGERS
Home – Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova
Away – DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, USF, West Virginia

ST. JOHN’S
Home – Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia
Away – Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse

SETON HALL
Home – Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away – Connecticut, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Villanova, West Virginia

USF
Home – Cincinnati, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova

SYRACUSE
Home – Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, USF, Villanova
Away – Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, West Virginia

VILLANOVA
Home – Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, USF, West Virginia
Away – Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Syracuse, West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA
Home – Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova
Away – Connecticut, DePaul, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Villanova

Howie Lindsey at the Louisville Sports Report and CardinalSports.com does something with a bunch of the sports media members in Louisville where we pick winners of 10 of the biggest games each week.

Back on March 4th, he had us do it with conference tournaments, picking the winner. Thought I’d share, with some more recent thoughts on my picks.

BIG EAST

With the final week of the regular season upon us, let’s take a look at how the local conference tournament brackets would look if they started today.

** EDITORS NOTE: If you have trouble seeing the brackets, just click on them to get a better look.

Big East

I LOVE this time of year.  This part of the season, I think, is a little underrated.  The last couple of weeks of the regular season are almost just as entertaining as the Big Dance itself (keyword: almost).

That being said, here are the games I’ll be keeping an eye on today:

# 18 LSU @ Kentucky
ESPN’s Rece Davis just told me a great stat.  The Bayou Bengals haven’t won at Rupp since 1989.  Whoa.  Is this year the year?  Marcus Thornton may very well be the most underrated player in SEC.  Kentucky’s two-man team must be 100% there today to win, and I think they will be.  In fact, they almost have to be if they want to stay in the tournament.

# 7 Duke @ Virginia Tech
I just don’t buy into Duke this year.  They get a ton of respect from the voters week in and week out, and those voters are more knowledgable than myself.  But I think it’s overblown, and while I think Duke is the better team, I’ll take Malcom Delaney, A.D. Vassallo, and the rest of the Hokies at home in a game that would seal the Hokies at-large dance berth.

Michigan @ Wisconsin
Michigan revived it’s tournament hopes with a win at home against Purdue, but the Wolverines only have two wins away from home all year.  This would be a nice one to put on the resume for John Beilein and company.  I’ll stop short of saying it’s an absolute must-win for Wisconsin to get into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large, but it’s very close.  The margin of error is slim and will only get slimmer for the Badgers if they lose at home today.

Notre Dame @ # 2 Connecticut
It’s a big game for UConn as they are going for the 1-seed in the Big East Tournament.  Louisville fans will have an eye on this one, as a Notre Dame upset win will mean Louisville controls their own fate for a Big East regular season title and the assumption of a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament that would go along with that (right?).

Another fantastic Saturday!

I keep on staring at the top of the Big East standings trying to make sense of it.

Whose got the edge? Where does Louisville fit in?

What happens in case of a tie?

That last question is the one I attempted to tangle with last night after Jim Calhoun’s 800th win as UConn beat Marquette.

So I was starting to do some scenarios, and actually, there is ONE scenario where all four teams can tie for first place at 14-4. Obviously, that would mean that UConn (14-2 in conference) would have to lose both of it’s last two games (fat chance), Louisville loses at home to Marquette and at West Virginia, and Pitt LOSES at Seton Hall (fatter chance) before coming back to win at home against Marquette and UConn.

But, forget about that.

Here’s what we got at the moment:

Current Big East Standings
Connecticut – 14-2
Louisville – 13-2
Marquette – 12-3 (I feel bad for Dominic James. As a fellow Hoosier, I’ve respected his game)
Pittsburgh – 12-3

Now, let’s assume that all favored teams (according to Vegas) win out from this point forward (and we all know what assuming does). Here would be the final standings of the conference with outcomes of all the remaining games for the top four teams.

Predicted Big East Standings
Connecticut – 15-3 (W vs. ND, L @ Pitt)
Louisville – 15-3 (W vs. Marq, W vs. S. Hall, L @ WVU) I predict WVU will be slightly favored
Pittsburgh – 15-3 (W @ S. Hall, W vs. Marq, W vs. UConn)
Marquette – 13-5 (L @ UofL, L @ Pitt, W vs. Syr)

So given the above secnario, that puts UConn, Louisville, and Pitt in a three-way tie for first.

According to the Big East Conference Tournament tiebreaking procedure, the seeds for the Big East Tournament would go as follows:
1. Pittsburgh (who will have gone 2-1 against the other two teams in the tiebreaker)
2. Louisville (1-1)
3. Connecticut (1-2)

There will be a quiz.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m obsessed with college basketball bracketology. What seed will UK be? Will they even be in? Can Louisville get a 1-seed? Is Davidson an at-large bid contender? Whatever.

But how often do we look at how the conference tournament brackets would set up?

Well, let me help you.

I really think this is interesting to see… especially for Kentucky and Indiana. These are your roads to the dance. Now, obviously, Kentucky can get in without winning the entire SEC Tournament, but one win wouldn’t hurt, which makes this interesting.

So, without further ado, here’s how each of the conference tournament’s involving local teams would look like as of today, February 25th:

Big East

SEC

Big Ten