Anonymous,

Yep I've seen the lift out. Anything in it you are looking for in particular?

Hi Folks,

Not an official 'Coach Flynn' blog as I havent been to any more games since I last wrote but I though I would give some quick facts for those who are filling in their sick leave forms for four weeks of 'sick leave' on the couch watching ESPN this month.

- The tourney starts tonight with the 'Play in' game between Oakland and Alabama A & M. This game came about when one conference broke into two and the NCAA tournament committee didnt think it was fair to give the automatic seed to one over the other (so now the tourney had 65 teams instead of 64). The lucky winner of the game gets the 16th seed in the Syracuse region and the honour of recieving a hiding from the Tar Heels in the first round in Charlotte.

- College Basketball is THE biggest sporting ticket in the USA in March...ESPN and ESPN 2 have 'Bracketology' talk 24/7 and you cant walk two minutes in any direction without someone asking who your 'All Rolls Royce' Team is.

- NCAA Div 1 teams play around 28 games in the regular season both within their conference and against non conference teams. The colleges themselves set their own non-conference schedule, so they can choose who they play and where they play. It pays to have a good mix of difficult opponents and 'cupcakes' as the teams that have more difficult schedules are more faourably looked upon by the NCAA tounament committee come selection time.

- There are 65 teams that play in the tourney: 30 Automatic seeds taken from the winners of all the Div 1 conferences across the country plus 35 'at large' bids (including the two teams that compete in the 'play in' game). The teams recieving 'at large' bids are selected by the NCAA tournament committee depending upon their overall record and strength of schedule.

- This year the mosts bids by conference are: Big East, Big 12 (6), ACC, Big Ten, SEC (5), Conference USA, PAc 10 (4), Missouri Valley (3)

- The Aussies who will play a major part in the tourney and their run to the Final Four are:
Andrew Bogut (UTAH): Much has been said about Bogut, however, he is going to have to play huge for the Utes to get to the Final FOur as Duke, Kentucky and Oklahoma are all in their bracket. Ranked third in the nation in field goal % and rebs per game.
Luke Schenscher (Geogia Tech): GT have to get past Wake Forest and Washington. The Yellow Jackets have much the same team as they did in last year's NCAA Final where they were runner up to UCONN and maybe a 'sleeper' for the tourney after finding form in the ACC finals. Luke averaged 10.5ppg and 7.5rebs this season.
Alex Laughton (Old Dominion): Dick Vitale wrote in USA today that he believes Laughton is one of five players who everybody will learn about very quickly once the tourney begins. ESPN have tipped OD to upset Michigan State in the first round in a classic 12 - 5 upset (they happen every year). Alex averaged 13 & 8 this season.
Daniel Kickert (St Marys): A 6ft 10" forward from Nunawading averaging 17 pts at 47% this season. Will have to get through Illinios if they hope to get the final four.

HAve fun filling in your brackets. I'll give you an update of Bogut from Tuscon.

Liam

Liam just texted me an update on Bogut and asked me to post it. At half time of the Utah v UTEP game (round 1 of the tourney), Bogut has 17 and 5.

Hang on! The game is live on ESPN! We don't need our worldly blogger for this one.

Utah up 30-25 at the half.

Utah wins 60-54. Bogut has 24 and 11 (9 of 13 from the field, 2 of 3 threes, but 4 of 10 FT).