Sports InsideOut

The tournament has lived up so far.  The Uconn and Kentucky runs are nice, but those teams have been there before, and although they are 7 and 8 seeds, respectively, they are two of the best programs in NCAA tournament history.  The best part of this tournament has been Mercer, who took down Jabari Parker and Duke, Harvard, who upset Cincinnati and then gave Michigan St a run for its money,  and North Dakota St, who took down Oklahoma with a game tying three with just seconds to go.  Teams like Stephen F. Austin, who down four with 5 seconds left, completed a 4 point play (3 and a foul) to beat favorite VCU, and Tennessee, who as a 11 seed beat Iowa in the First Four and then suddenly became one of the best teams in the country, crushing Mercer and UMass before barely falling to 2 seed Michigan in a game that could have gone either way.  The definition of the madness is lowly 11 seed Dayton, lucky to make the tournament, as many thought they would be out.  ...

Here are my picks for the conference championship games, winners and MVPs for the 7 major conference tournaments. BIG 10 Final: Michigan St vs. Nebraska Winner: Michigan St MVP: Gary Harris Michigan St is beginning to get fully healthy, which means we are just beginning to see what they can do.  Recently, they have not played very well, and are nearly out of the rankings, down to 22.  But the injuries they have had are just unbelievable.  Each of their top 4 players has missed significant time (and by significant, I don't mean one or two).  Gary Harris missed the least, at just a couple weeks, but Payne missed even more time, and Keith Appling missed time, and was hindered in many of the recent games he has played.  Brandon Dawson, arguably their best rebounder, missed the most time, sitting for about a month for (wait for it) breaking his hand after slamming on the table in the film room.  With all of these guys back, I think they can make a run and ...