The Upstate Life

Monday, March 13, 2006

I've Got Nothing to Say

Utah State. George Mason. Air Force??? You know what? I'm fully aware of the fact that Maryland's bubble immediately burst after getting blown out by what is now shaping to be a Final Four-capable Boston College team, but there were some schools out there that received a much harder shaft up the anus than the Terps, especially Cincinnati. Hell, even Florida State got snubbed by one of these mid-major teams, and they had a winning record in the ACC! Evidently, 9-7 in what was thought to be one of the most dominant conferences in the NCAA just isn't a good enough resume for the tournament these days. Kind of funny how one of the selling points of the ACC expansion was to allow more teams to enter the tournament, yet, here we are, with only 4 of the 12 colleges making the cut on Selection Sunday.

What hurts this Terrapin fan the most was the incredible coaching job Gary Williams performed that will ultimately be left unacknowledged. After losing our best player mid-season, Gary was able to turn this team around and still reach 9-9 in the conference. That's something we didn't even accomplish last season despite the team being comprised of a more talented roster (Gilchrist, McCray). TUL especially feels for Nik Caner-Medley. Admit it, as much as people have hated on him over the past several years, the dude really stepped up after McCray was academically dismissed from the team. It honestly sucks that NCM will have to end his career at the Comcast Center in the team's now second consecutive NIT appearance. But hey, at least they received a #1 seed this year! Yay.

Finally, The Upstate Life would like to congratulate SUNY Albany, current campus of TUL's broham, for making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance after clinching the American East Conference title against Vermont last Saturday. The Great Danes received the #16 seed, pitting them against #1 UConn in the first round. Could we possibly see a Vermont over Syracuse upset a la last year? Probably not, but at least the Albany paper puts a positive spin on the inevitable.

Posted by Brett at 3:36 PM |