Reasons I Stand by My Decision to Pick Seton Hall to Make the Final Four

Chris Song from McSweeney's has a great list:

Reasons I Stand byMy Decision to PickSeton Hall to Makethe Final Four of theNCAA Men's BasketballTournament DespiteTheir 20-Point Lossto Wichita State inthe First Round.

BY CHRIS SONG
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I must stay the course.

I made decisions based on poor intelligence.

I had to pick the Seton Hall team I had, not the Seton Hall team I wanted.

My bracket is a better place because I picked Seton Hall.

My exit strategy: GWU over Duke by 6.

UConn is an enemy of freedom.

David Stern played basketball where....?

SportsBizBlog has a post on the recent Basketball Summit, which was where the "leading minds" of basketball were going to get together to talk about the miserable state of youth basketball. Their goal is vague, but sort of has to do with the fact that hoops is populated by a bunch of ball-hogging egomaniacs, and these youngsters are not prepared to become solid college and pro prospects. Well, no shit...and it's really David Stern's fault.

The rule changes in the NBA over the past 20 years have discouraged team offense and helping defense...and coaches are, with few exceptions, essentially powerless self-centered players. And to prove what a jackass Stern is, he gets Sonny Vacaro, Myles Brand and Phil Knight (Nike) to help him figure out how to direct the future of youth basketball. Phil Knight knows shit about basketball - he is a guy who jogged in the 70's and then made shoes out of a waffle iron. Was Pete Newell invited to this summit? What about Bobby Knight? What about Paul Westhead or Avery Johnson or Gregg Popovich? No, once again, David Stern is just a guy who wants to increase his own personal status and wealth. He will never understand that what kids need more than anything is an influence who can teach them some fundamentals.

Perhaps Nike should go around the country and offer to teach youth coaches the REAL basics. Do kids understand things like balance? Does anyone ever put the ball into the triple-thread position? Will anyone ever execute a full-court press effectively, or is that just a defensive play?

As most things with the all-powerfull NBA, it's a sham.

Thank God - now we can move on with our lives

No new dance members: NCAA Tournament expansion not imminent

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - The bubble will still burst for teams sweating over their NCAA Tournament resumes as the Division I Men's Basketball Committee announced Thursday that expansion of the men's tournament is not in its immediate plans.

The field will remain at 65 institutions for one of sports greatest events, a single-elimination tournament built on the mantra of, "One Shining Moment." The 10-person committee spent considerable time examining the implications of expanding the tournament and also reviewed feedback from a variety of individuals both inside and outside of the membership.

"There is no enthusiasm on the part of the committee to expand the tournament at this time," said director of athletics at the University of Virginia and chair of the men's basketball committee Craig Littlepage. "In the interest of sustaining the quality of the tournament, the committee has decided to maintain the current structure."

The committee considered information pertaining to the current quality of competition, logistics, television ratings and the overall popularity of the event in determining that field will remain at 65 teams.

The idea of expansion gained considerable steam following mid-major George Mason's magical run to the Final Four last season. Several coaches, including Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, pointed to the Patriots' success as an indication of the parity in college basketball.

The women's committee also shut down the idea of expansion, as both groups wanted to keep the two tournaments on similar formats.

The men's committee made no announcement about whether or not expansion will be considered in the future.