Easy Road for Pitt?

Everyone is filling out their brackets today, and there are a lot of difficult games.  Pitt of course is a one seed, and playing in Dayton Ohio.  In the top half of their bracket they have to worry about either Oklahoma St. or Tennessee in the second round. To make the sweet sixteen, they got Xavier or Florida. If they play Xavier, they might be able to give Pitt a decent game. In the lower half, the two and three seeds are Duke and Villanova.  Pitt has already beat Villanova this year, and I think they match-up well against Duke. With some key injuries at Connecticut, and North Carolina, Pitt has to be the overall favorite to win the Championship period.

Pitt looks like NCAA Favorites

Pitt defeated #1 Connecticut 70-60 on Saturday for the second time this season. This win all but guarantees the Panthers a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. If they win this week’s Big East tournament they’re for sure the overall top seed. Things are shaping up really nicely for Pitt, and another good thing is they seem to be healthy going into the tournament. If you look at this year’s contending teams, I don’t see a team Pitt shouldn’t be able to defeat. I also don’t see as many good teams from lower conferences. Pitt also has enough veterans on the team, that they shouldn’t beat themselves. It’s going to be a real interesting tournament locally as Penn State should be in, and Robert Morris is one win away from an automatic bid.

Plenty of Local Options for College Basketball Fans.

While Pitt’s big win over West Virginia grab most of the headlines, there are some other local teams making news. If you can’t make it to a sold out Pitt game, Robert Morris leads their conference, and Duquesne is a respectable 12-6. In Division II women’s IUP and Cal our both top ten teams heading into their big showdown Wednesday night. In men’s D2, I saw a nationally ranked Gannon team defeat a 14-2 IUP squad Saturday night. I think every local high school basketball player should make it point to get to a few IUP games each year. Division II offers a much more team oriented game, and in a smaller gym you can get feel for the quickness and movement of the game. Tickets are cheap, and if you basketball you should try making it to a local college game.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk - Kansas #1 in College Sports

Lawrence Kansas is the center of the college sports world this year.

College football and basketball are the two most populars men's sports, and there was nobody better this year than the Jayhawks.

The Jayhawks officially were crowned champions of NCAA basketball, and since there is no championship in football the Jayhawks can claim the top spot in that sport as well. You might have forgot about the Orange Bowl, and it's up for debate, but Jayhawks were the only football team from a major conference to finish with only 1 lost. We named the Jayhawks as part of our 6 team football co-champions. Just like Florida last year, the University of Kansas is on top of the college sports world.

Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk

Duquesne Basketball 2007-08 NCAA Preview

Recently I had Duquesne Dukes play-by-play man Ray Goss on RSW. Here is a little of what he had to say



By all accounts the Dukes should be on the rise this year. They will be led by Shawn James, a transfer, who is on pace to break the NCAA career blocks record. James' has so much talent he might leave for the NBA at the end of this season.

One of the hallmarks of last year's team was their 5 on 5 off subsisitions which led to a fast paced game. Look for more that same approch this season or at least until January. The Dukes should have good balance at a lot of positions and junior gaurd Arron Jackson has worked hard to improve, and 5 year man Keiron Achara, could be near a double double every night.

Season ticket sells are way up at the Palumbo Center, and the A10 could be anyone's league.

Duquesne Dukes 2007 - 2008 Men's Basketball Schedule