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Monday, May 25, 2009

NCAA Baseball Committee Drops the Ball … Again

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff


For the second year in a row, Larry Templeton and the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee screws one of the Top 8 seeds in the Regional tournament.

Last year it was the top-seeded Miami Hurricanes. This year it’s No. 6 UC-Irvine. If the Anteaters show any anger toward the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee, so be it. It’s a legitimate beef.

Jim Morris expressed his disappointment in an interview on ESPN about his No. 1 Hurricanes receiving the teams in its regional. Who were they? Oh, you know, just Missouri, Ole Miss and Bethune Cookman & the toughest Regional in the entire tournament.

This year, UC-Irvine has to go through Virginia, San Diego State and Fresno State just to make it to the Super Regionals.

Fat chance.

Fresno State is the defending National Champions. They are a -- you guessed it -- four seed in the Irvine Regional. The Bulldogs were a four seed last year and won the College World Series. The other two teams in the regional are Virginia and San Diego State. Virginia won the ACC title, and San Diego State boasts the best pitcher in college baseball today, Stephen Strasburg (13-0, 1.24 ERA).

It doesn’t matter if Virginia is going to face Strasburg, the Cavaliers -- who I have winning this regional (more on that later in the week) -- boast the third best ERA in the nation at 3.33.

Yep. No cakewalk.

Thank you again, committee, for ruining what is supposed to be the greatest time of the year for your game. I just can’t take them seriously.

Rhode Island Screwed, Too
Another team screwed by the committee was the University of Rhode Island.

The Rams defeated Miami -- at Miami -- and split a mid-week series with Oklahoma State.

When discussing the process of picking teams, Templeton, who is the director of athletics at Mississippi State, said that the fact that URI didn’t win the Atlantic 10 Conference in either the regular season or postseason was a big factor.

Really? A 19-6 record in the conference and a trip to the conference tournament finals means nothing? Interesting.

I’d rather see URI in the tournament than either Georgia Southern or Gonzaga, two- and three-seeds, respectively, in the Fullerton Regional. Hell, they should be there over Utah, who is 26-29.

NCAA Division 1 Tournament Announced

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff


For me, this is the most wonderful time of the year. NCAA Regionals.

Nothing like it.

Larry Templeton and the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee officially announced the field of 64 at 12:30 p.m. for the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament.

No. 1 Texas (41-13-1)
No. 2 Cal. State Fullerton (42-14)
No. 3 LSU (46-14)
No. 4 North Carolina (42-16)
No. 5 Arizona State (44-12)
No. 6 UC Irvine (43-13)
No. 7 Oklahoma (41-18)
No. 8 Florida (39-20)

Sites and matchups (top 8 seeds in parentheses and bolded)

Austin Regional (Texas)
(1) Texas vs. Army (34-19); Boston College (33-24) vs. Texas State (41-15)

Fort Worth Regional (TCU)
TCU (36-16) vs. Wright State (33-28); Oregon State (35-17) vs. Texas A&M (36-22)

Atlanta Regional (Georgia Tech)
Georgia Tech (35-17-1) vs. Georgia State (39-20); Southern Mississippi (35-23) vs. Elon (40-16)

Gainesville Regional (Florida)
(8) Florida
vs. Bethune-Cookman (32-26); Jacksonville (36-20) vs. Miami (36-20)

Tempe Regional (Arizona State)
(5) Arizona State
vs. Kent State (42-15); Cal Poly (37-19 vs. Oral Roberts (31-13)

Clemson Regional (Clemson)
Clemson (40-19) vs. Tennessee Tech (30-22-1); Oklahoma State (32-22) vs. Alabama (37-19)

Greenville Regional (East Carolina)
East Carolina (42-17) vs. Binghamton (29-20); George Mason (42-12) vs. South Carolina (38-21)

Chapel Hill Regional (North Carolina)
(4) North Carolina
vs. Dartmouth (27-16); Kansas (37-22) vs. Coastal Carolina (46-14)

Fullerton Regional (Cal. State Fullerton)
(2) Cal. State Fullerton
vs. Utah (26-29); Gonzaga (35-16) vs. Ga. Southern (42-15)

Louisville Regional (Louisville)
Louisville (44-15) vs. Indiana (32-25); Vanderbilt (34-25) vs. Middle Tennessee (43-16)

Tallahassee Regional (Florida State)
Florida State (42-16) vs. Marist (31-26); Ohio State (40-17) vs. Georgia (37-22)

Norman Regional (Oklahoma)
(7) Oklahoma
vs. Wichita State (30-25); Washington State (31-23) vs. Arkansas (34-22)

Irvine Regional (UC Irvine)
(6) UC Irvine
vs. Fresno State (32-28); San Diego State (40-21) vs. Virginia (43-12-1)

Oxford Regional (Ole Miss)
Ole Miss (40-17) vs. Monmouth (32-23); Western Kentucky (39-18) vs. Missouri (34-25)

Houston Regional (Rice)
Rice (39-15) vs. Sam Houston State (36-22); Xavier (38-19) vs. Kansas State (41-16-1)

Baton Rouge Regional (LSU)
(3) LSU
vs. Southern (30-15); Baylor (29-24) vs. Minnesota (38-17)

OK, the way I listed them may look weird to you, but bare with me.

I put them in order of matchups come Super Regionals time. So, if you look at the beginning of the Regionals, the Austin and Fort Worth Regionals are listed first. Meaning, the winner of the Austin Regional will faceoff against the winner of the Fort Worth Regional and so on.

Red Sox Take Over First Place

By Erik Pesta
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Despite dropping two out of three games to the Mets over the weekend, Boston is the new leader of the American League East. Thanks are in order for the Atlanta Braves, who swept their three game series with the Blue Jays, putting Toronto a half-game back in the standings following their sixth consecutive loss. The New York Yankees are just one game back at 25-19, and Tampa finds themselves four games out to start the day. Baltimore brings up the rear, a distant eight games behind the division leading Red Sox, a place they will probably find themselves for the remainder of the year. Which ever team emerges as the division champ will certainly be battle tested and ready for post season play. The final four months of the season promise to be very tight, and every series has the potential to make or break any of the four teams in contention for the crown.

Tim Wakefield was just good enough to win yesterday, allowing five earned runs in six innings pitched, while walking four and striking out three. Boston put crooked numbers on the board in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, to break what had been a very close game wide open. The Sox got a pair of three-run homers, one each from Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis in the second and seventh innings, respectively. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled in the second inning, to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. David Ortiz was the only starter not to have a hit in the contest. Papi was 0-for-5, struck out twice and stranded eight runners. Rumors are starting to swirl that Red Sox brass is looking into trading for a bat, to help pick up the considerable slack being left by Ortiz in the middle of an otherwise potent lineup.

Today, the Sox are in Minnesota to take on the Twins and former American League MVP Justin Morneau, whose grand slam led to a sweep of the Brewers over the weekend. Brad Penny (4-1, 6.07 ERA) takes on former phenom Francisco Liriano (2-5, 6.04 ERA). The hard throwing lefty is tied for the league lead in losses, but certainly has the talent to spin a gem any time he takes the mound. First pitch is at 2:10 from the Metrodome.

Fantasy Baseball: Chin Music

By Chad Garner
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
You can crunch the numbers all you want, but for starting pitchers a real simple way to tell if a pitcher has the goods is to look at the win total. I know, sometimes pitchers get robbed of wins by shaky bullpens or are just plain unlucky and can't get the proper run support, but for the most part wins should let a fantasy owner know if a pitcher is getting the job done or that pitcher's offense is stepping up and putting runs on the board even when that pitcher might have an off night.
It's no surprise that a list of guys that headline the wins category are carrying fantasy teams right now, and a couple of surprises that weren't targeted on draft day that are still producing with wins.
Mr. I-Know-You're-Good-But-Never-Get-The-Proper-Respect ... ya, that's Toronto's Roy Halladay, has baffled hitters and teams all year and is at the top of the list with 8 wins.
Mr. Surprise, but one of my sleeper picks, Zack Greinke is right behind with 7. Imagine if your team had both these guys, I'd bet you'd be pretty good in the pitching department.
On the six-win list is Chad Billingsley, Johan Santana, Derek Lowe, Joe Saunders, Kevin Slowey, Jason Marquis, Bronson Arroyo and Mark Buehrle. I'd say the final three guys on the list are early-season surprises, although Arroyo's ERA is 5.79 and it's a slight problem.
This list will change, no doubt, over the course of the year, but bank on Halladay, Greinke, Santana and Billingsley staying in the top 10 all season long. They are winners.
HE'S KILLING YOU
Fausto Carmona (CLE): So much for Carmona being a sleeper pick because he's still sleeping on the mound (2 wins, 5.74 ERA).
Ricky Nolasco (FLA): You know it's bad when the Marlins ship you to the minors and you're suppose to be the ace of the staff, or No. 2 guy. Nolasco has a 9.07 ERA, yikes, and only 2 wins. How'd he get 2 wins? It's a miracle.
THANK YOU, SIR
Zach Duke (PIT): He may not be able to shatter glass with his fastball, but he knows how to get guys out, especially this year (5 wins, 2.77 ERA).
Rick Porcello (DET): This rookie just doesn't have an idea of how to pitch, he knows how to execute (5 wins, 3.55 ERA). Imagine what he'll be like in 2-3 years? Scary. Detroit fans should be worshiping his right arm right now.
Matt Cain (SF): Another one of my preseason sleeper picks, Cain has found a way to put his talents to use, finally. He's got five wins, 2.40 ERA and 1.32 WHIP.

What we learned: Cleveland is not Murderer's Row

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff


Go ahead, call me a caveman, an introvert, a hermit. But I haven’t watched SportsCenter in two days (my brain cells need to grow back), so I’ve missed the inevitable media freakout after LeBron’s game-winner in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

But if it was anything like tonight’s “for the 27th time, this is what happened two nights ago” in-game vignettes, I’m glad it passed me over.

There are a handful of organizations in sports that I like to call “Publicity Machines." They have such a top-notch PR staff, and delusional fan base, that when the team is playing well, they tend to get puffed up and their flaws get masked. In no particular order, these are the regulars: Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Jets, NY Giants, NY Rangers, Dodgers, Lakers, Pacers, Packers, Colts, Knicks, Maple Leafs, Cowboys, Notre Dame football, Indiana basketball, Kentucky basketball, Ohio State football, Duke basketball, USC baseball. For as long as LeBron is in Cleveland, let’s include the Cavs.

Now, don’t get it twisted. LeBron is the most dominant yet amoebic force to hit the NBA since Michael Jordan – notice I used the term “amoebic." He is charismatic, a quality teammate who makes the teammates around him play better, and is ultimately a great selling point for the game.

With that said, because he is such a polarizing force, the LeBron bandwagon tends to overheat. Two problems I see with the Cavs that get overlooked are their lack of perimeter defense and lack of interior toughness. Often times, head coach Mike Brown will pound the scorer’s table, or a player whose name ends with “Varejao” will get called for being out of position, throw his hands in the air and do his best Miguel Cairo impression (“you mean I’m out?”).

The Cavs are no doubt one of the most explosive offenses in the league. But they also know how to work the media, the refs, and the fans (by the way, who the heck still uses Quicken software these days? I thought online banking would make that company obsolete). They’ve earned their stripes, but they want their brownie points, too.

Which is why I’m glad things turned out in Game 3 the way they did, a 99-89 Magic win that was dominated by Dwight Howard. Winning 66 games in the regular season does not make you a juggernaut; winning physical battles in the playoffs does. Time to let a little air out of the ball.

Score one for the Magic in the intimidation factor, and let the blood bath continue. This one’s far from over.

-- My friends who cover the UMass basketball team at the Daily Collegian just got the press invitation kit for the “100 Years of UMass Basketball”, and one of the interesting points they make is that the Minutemen experienced “one of the most extreme turnarounds in history.”

When you think about it, they actually have a point. When you think about what a dormant program UMass was in the 80s before Calipari took over – 10th worst record in Division 1 for the 80s, period – and what they were able to do in the early to mid-90s, it really gets lost on this generation about how truly special that era was. It’s been taken for granted.

Anyways, it got me thinking about what teams rank as the five most improbable powerhouses. In no particular order, with coach in parentheses: Gonzaga (Dan Monson-Mark Few), UMass (John Calipari), Loyola Marymount (Paul Westhead), Long Beach State (Jerry Tarkanian).

Rick Pitino’s Providence teams miss they cut because it’s been argued many a time that his 1987 squad was the worst team to ever make a Final Four. Dana Kirk’s Memphis State teams don’t count either, because the dude thugged his way to a Final Four and subsequently got cold-cocked by the NCAA banhammer. Tark, for the record, sued the NCAA and won.

In turn, here are my five most underachieving programs of the last 25 years: DePaul, Houston, Rutgers, Maryland, Georgia.