My tourney pool has turned into a flaming pile of dog crap

posted by BH

Going into the Sweet Sixteen, I still had all four of my Final Four teams alive and kicking. Now, only two remain after Duke failed to show up against LSU and Gonzaga shit all over themselves in the final minutes of their matchup with UCLA. Villanova and UConn, my other two teams, are still alive, barely. Both of those teams gave me a scare though, and I was looking at an Elite Eight without any of my teams still in the tourney. Alas, The Huskies and Wildcats gave me a stay of execution, so I live to watch from my couch another day.

I'm convinced Billy Packer doesn't know what's going on on a basketball court anymore. When listening to him, I get the feeling he doesn't actually do any research into any teams other than the ones actually playing the game he's broadcasting. When brackets were announced two weekends ago, despite admitting the he hadn't seen any MVC games and didn't know anything about those teams, he proclaimed that they did not deserve as many teams as they got being in the tournament. That sounds like a guy who either a) takes for granted his position as CBS's #1 color guy, and/or b) believes he has been around long enough that what he says should stand on his merits alone and be taken as gospel. Last night during the 'Nova/BC game, I had to turn the sound down because I got sick of hearing the verbal ball washing he was giving Wildcat guard Kyle Lowry. At two seperate points, Packer sang Lowry's praises following Lowry committing dirty acts. One involved him trying to trip another player who had screened him, and another involved Lowry lowering his shoulder and plowing into a BC player long after the whistle had been blown. Packer's on the sideline cleaning up the mess he just made because he thinks Lowry's a tough player. No, he's a dirty player.

I don't know what's going on with the officiating in this tournament. It seriously looks more like it's being called by NBA officials than college guys. It feels as though teams are committing fouls in waves. Or at least that they're being called that way. From what I've been able to see, consistency is more of a suggestion than an standard. It's crazy how a guy can lower his shoulder, plow into a guy, and not get called, while on the other side of the court, a touch of the elbow earns a player a whistle.