Purdue no longer has Robbie Hummel. Illinois is still riding the bubble. Wisconsin lacks star power. Michigan State is rising at the right time; this is how Tom Izzo teams roll.

But if there’s one that has the potential for a deep tourney run this March, bet on Ohio State.

For starters, there’s Evan Turner, the likely Player of the Year and No. 2 pick behind John Wall in this summer’s NBA Draft. As we’ve seen countless times throughout history, a star player can put you on their back in the tourney and prime you for a deep run. And Turner doesn’t just score; he’s a threat for a triple-double every time he steps onto the court.

But there’s plenty of other reasons why Ohio State has a chance of being a great team in the tourney when we judge them against their Big Ten peers. First off, this team takes high-percentage shots. Outside of Jon Diebler — who’s a terrific three-point shooter; his true-shooting percentage of 63.1 ranks him 48th in the country — all their guards can slash to the hole for an easy two at the rim.

The Buckeyes have the third-highest eFG percentage in the country at 56.1 percent, and their offensive efficiency ranks 10th. And their length and athleticism helps them on the defensive end, as their defensive efficiency ranks 20th in the country.

This team also takes care of the ball, as their turnover percentage is 17.4 percent — good for 30th among all DI teams.

If there’s one way exploit this team, it’s to get into their bench. They only go six-seven deep on most nights, so if the opponent can get them into some foul trouble, it could work to their advantage.

Am I saying this team is going to make the National Championship game? No. Am I saying they’re going to make the Final Four? Eh, maybe. Elite Eight? They’ve got a good shot. Sweet Sixteen? Anything less would be a disappointment.

For now, this team will enter the tournament as a very deadly 2, 3 or 4 seed, one that has the best chance of any team in the Big Ten to strike some fear into its opponents.

All stats courtesy of KenPom.

I have no idea how to play craps. I know it involves some dice, and there are a bunch of markings all over the table, but yup: no idea. One time I watched people playing it for 45 minutes at Slots-A-Fun in Vegas and I think I came away more confused. Though, that could have been because a drunk bum was playing the entire time I was watching.

Anyway, North Carolina guard Ty Lawson knows what he’s doing at a craps table. Because he was winning big in Detroit on Wednesday night.

… Lawson said he won about $250 playing craps after the team arrived Wednesday night.

Coach Roy Williams gave the team a 1:30 a.m. curfew Thursday morning, and Lawson cashed in. He doesn’t have any more plans to gamble while he’s in Detroit.

“It’s probably the last time I’ll go there before the games start,” Lawson said during Thursday’s media interview session.

Man, a 1:30 curfew? I think Tom Izzo usually has his kids tucked in by nine.

HT: 850 The Buzz

You are a Michigan State fan. (Actually, maybe you are not. But for the purpose of this post, let’s pretend. Think of me as Mr. Rogers or something.)  You live in Detroit. (Man, this hypothetical situation really sucks so far.) You have the opportunity to go see your team in the Final Four by purchasing the tickets the NCAA allocates to Michigan State. You’ll be seeing them play at Ford Field, like 15 minutes from where you live, which is pretty sweet. (See, it got better towards the end.)

Except, there is a slight problem. You won’t only be paying for just a ticket. You’ll be asked to pay for a hotel room, too, because that’s how it works for the Final Four: Universities get tickets and hotels for fans and it’s sort of a packaged deal.

From Matt Moore at FanHouse:

… they’ll be saddled with $175 hotel rooms for four days — which could possibly be farther away from the game than their actual residence. If you don’t want the hotel room, you’ll be paying a $50 surcharge per ticket. I guess it would have been too much work for the NCAA to judge each school on an individual basis or let the schools decide on their own. It’s not like the Final Four is going to be hurting for patrons.

To be clear about this, Michigan State could just eat the money and allow fans to buy tickets from them without the hotel rooms. They could also offer the hotel room package to those who might want to stick around or alumni who live farther away. In this sense, you could argue the university shoulders some of the blame. In doing so, however, you’d be ignoring that this public institution has been saddled with $300,000 worth of hotel rooms by the NCAA — in a state with a 12 percent unemployment rate, which is the highest in the nation.

Keep reading →

Tom Izzo has his Spartans in the Final Four. Again. This is the fifth time in 11 years he’s accomplished such a feat. No other coach in the country can claim such an accolade. He’s also now a ridiculously good 30-10 in the Big Dance.

In a league that continues to get dogged year in and year out, it’s clear Izzo’s Spartans have risen above the criticism the Big Ten gets.

The second half against Louisville yesterday was college basketball at its best. It was the Spartans absolutely picking apart Louisville’s 2-3 zone and dropping shots all over the place. It was the Spartans playing with a swagger, (popping their collars as Gus Johnson said) while the Cardinals — the overall No. 1 seed — looked stunned and disinterested. They took a team that dropped 103 on Arizona on Friday and completely disrupted their offensive flow. Flat out, Tom Izzo outcoached Rick Pitino.

Keep reading →

With each passing year, March Madness On Demand gets even more boss. This year, with the ability to toggle video quality, (at its best, the picture is really quite fantastic) there being no virtual lines to wait in to watch a game and little buffer time or bugs, you have quite the terrific streaming video service. Other places should take note.

CBS just sent out a PR e-mail about MMOD through Sunday and the traffic numbers are pretty impressive: 5.6 million unique visitors have arrived at the video player, up 60 percent from a year ago. The total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed is 6.5 million, which is up 71 percent from last year. These are numbers your portfolio would kill for right now.

But, on the tube, the growth isn’t there. From Michael Hiestand at USA Today:

CBS lucked out in primetime Saturday, when marquee teams Duke and Gonzaga won close games to produce a game rating up 20% from the comparable time slot last year.

But in total overnight NCAA game ratings through Saturday, CBS is up only 4% from comparable coverage last year. Its games have averaged 5.1% of TV households in the 56 urban TV markets measured in overnights.

That’s not saying much. National ratings for last year’s tournament averaged 5.6% of U.S. households, the only time that NCAA tournament average has dipped below 6% except for 2003, when basketball coverage was interrupted for reports on the Iraq War. The long-term trend: CBS’ tournament game average last topped 8% in 1994 and last topped 7% in 1998.

But, setting that aside: TV is still king. Hiestand later notes that in totality last year, CBS’ TV coverage attracted 132.2 million viewers, which obviously blows the online player out of the water.

Keep reading →

All the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16; they’ve combined to go 24-0 in the first two rounds.

Purdue has made the Sweet 16 as a No. 5 seed. Arizona is the only high seed still in it at a 12. But, they won a first-round game they were favored to win, and they beat a 13 seed this weekend to advance. So save for the games featuring the Wildcats and Boilermakers, every other Sweet 16 matchup is either a 1 vs. 4 or 2 vs. 3. That’s not Cinderella; it’s the Belle of the Ball.

Last year, we saw all four No. 1 seeds make the Final Four for the first time ever. So, is there a trend here? Is Cinderella no longer invited to the later rounds of the tournament? MJD poses that question today over at the Dagger. And he’s made this graph for us:

As you can see here, the last two years have given us lower seeds in the Final Four than any of the previous six. But, I’m hesitant to call Cinderella dead. Maybe she’s unconscious somewhere in the trunk of a Buick, but she ain’t dead. This is just too small a sample size to be able to say the higher seeds no longer have a real chance of making a run late in the tourney.

Keep reading →

RCA is holding a promotional YouTube contest called “Hoops Beyond Reality.” The four most impressive dunk/trick shot/whatever else videos will be put to a vote, and the winner will receive $7,000, a 52″ LCD television and four tickets to next year’s Final Four. You can enter if you really want to — the contest is open until March 25 — but you should probably keep in mind that you have already lost to this fellow.

Physically, it might actually be easier to get a full-court shot within reasonable proximity of the net if you shoot backwards. And I’m sure that was attempt No. 581 or something. But still. I think this guy wins.