Give the college teams a chance
With the weekend off from the NFL, some sports fans are at a loss for what to do. It would be time for Blazer-fever to set in, but aside from Tuesday’s win in Sacramento, the team has been dismal.
Well, it’s almost March and if you’re not a college basketball fan, this is the perfect time to join the madness.
March is all about the NCAA road to the Final Four. When the top 64 teams play a single elimination tournament, anything can and does happen. Now is a perfect time to start studying so when the brackets come out you can pick the upsets. Then, when that 12 seed makes it to the Elite Eight, you can tell the boys in the office you knew it all along. There are a lot of good teams out there right now, so start looking for who’s getting hot.
The Duke Blue Devils are currently the country’s top team, lead by sharp shooter J.J. Redick and freshman sensation Luol Deng. If you want to see basketball at its finest you can tune into CBS at 11 a.m. Saturday to watch Duke play Georgetown. Georgetown may be at home, but they are going to have a tough time stopping the Dukies.
For some better action, watch ninth ranked Pittsburgh travel to NYC on Saturday to take on last year’s champion seventeenth ranked Syracuse at 5 p.m. on ESPN 2. The Orangemen don’t have Carmelo Anthony anymore but they still play some mean ball. My money is on Syracuse to defend the home court, upsetting the Panthers in a close one.
The Game of the weekend will be played on Sunday, when the unranked Michigan State Spartans travel to Purdue. The Boilermakers, ranked twenty-third, have played strong this year; they are the only team to beat Duke and are coming off two big wins against ranked teams. The Spartans have played one of the toughest schedules thus far. Six of their seven losses have come against ranked opponents.
In another upset, Michigan State will beat Purdue on the road, knocking the Boilermakers out of the top 25.
If you want to witness some more top 25 action, fifteenth-ranked Gonzaga will be playing at the University of Portland tonight at 7:30. It’ll be a chance to see Eugene’s own Blake Stepp trounce another team. Stepp’s ‘Zags are making yet another run at the Final Four in his final year. He’s only been averaging about 14 points per game but I’ll be there to watch him go for 25.
And don’t forget, there is always time to cheer on the home team. So if you have some time on your hands Saturday night, dust off those I.D. cards and watch the Vikings take on Eastern Washington.
Come out and support our Big Sky Co-MVP of the week, Seamus Boxley. Tip-off is at 7:05 p.m. and you should be back to partying by 9:30 p.m. What better way to pre-funk that with another Viking win?
