March Madness Day 1, Part 4

Iowa State 77 - Connecticut 64 Every time I looked up, UConn was getting killed on the boards. Few second shot opportunities and too many such opportunities for ISU. UConn also gave everything they had to make the game somewhat close (they were down by 22 at one point), and sometimes you simply don't have enough left to get over the hump in that situation.

Indiana 79 - New Mexico State 66 Ohio State 78 - Loyola MD 59 Colorado 68 - UNLV 64 I'm going to let Miles give the commentary for this section of games: *startles* Huh? Where am I...what's going on? I wonder if anyone is still awake. *cries* Oh hi Daddy, I don't know why I'm awake right now either, and it's kind of getting me down. How about you pick me up and...HEY! Don't try to leave, pick me up! Okay good. Yeah, I like cuddling........Wait, if you're here, how about we play some? Wait. What are you doing. Don't leave me here! I'm up, I want to be entertained! Come back!! I'm NOT going to sleep! You'll be back! (Which we were)

Poor little guy woke up about 11:30 and was discombobulated for about an hour, but on the plus side, he slept "in" until 7 AM this morning!

March Madness Day 1, Part 3

Kentucky 81 - Western Kentucky 66 Apparently all of Kentucky is better than just the Western part of Kentucky. Who knew?

VCU 62 - Wichita State 59 The one upset so far, and it came down to execution at the end. I can't give Shaka Smart (VCU coach) too much credit for VCU's final play that resulted in a basket, as it was "Set a pick for then everyone get out of the way of our penetrating guard". But Wichita State's game tying play was a total mess. They waited too long, were sloppy, and had poor spacing. VCU made the plays, looking to become the new Butler (non-power conference team that goes on 2 consecutive deep runs in the tournament).

Gonzaga 77 West Virginia 54 Much was made of Gonzaga being at a disadvantage in this game, despite being the higher seed. They had to travel across the country from Spokane, WA to Pittsburgh to play West Virginia in a pseudo home game for WVU. I guess it didn't matter. I wonder which bitter beer face is worse, the one Bob Huggins must have had after (and throughout) this game, or the one Mario Williams will have when he realizes he's sentenced himself to many years in Buffalo with his extravagant deal he signed today. I know they threw a ton of cash at you Mario, but it's still Buffalo.

Baylor 68 - South Dakota State 60 Disappointing showing from Baylor as they simply couldn't put the lesser team away.

And not to jinx things, but there are quite a few pool participants who are sitting along in the dugout right now, and no one is talking to them. (If you don't get the baseball metaphor, there are some 12/12's so far for today)

March Madness Day 1, Part 2

Marquette 88 - BYU 68 Last year's VCU amazing run excepted, there's a reason teams that play in the First Four are stuck in the First Four.

Syracuse 72 - UNC Asheville 65 Syracuse thought they'd cruise through this game, that's the only explanation here. Greg Anthony was absolutely right at halftime. Charles and Kenny Smith were talking about how Syracuse should have abandonned their zone and played man-to-man defense to take advanatage of their superior athleticism. But Syracuse ALWAYS plays zone, and like Anthony said, if you're the 1 seed in this game you don't make adjustments, you make them adjust to you.
In the end, as my grandfather used to say, UNCA simply didn't have the horses to take down Syracuse. It didn't hurt that they got a couple of shady calls (a phantom lane violation and a terrible directional call). UNCA didn't make enough plays to win and cannot point to the calls as the difference, but the game would have been much more interesting had the refs not inserted themselves like they did.

New Mexico 75 - Long Beach State 68 I didn't see enough of this one, instead I was chasing Miles around the house and pretending to eat his books (which he loved). This isn't the first year I've gone through March Madness with a baby, but a 13 month old is harder to keep entertained than a 1 month old. The 1 month old may cry, but he'll also sleep and just sit there. It's easier to keep an eye on the game when the baby is also stationary. Now when I catch 30 seconds of the game, I look back down and Miles is across the house finding something new to grab/throw/eat.

Vanderbilt 79 - Harvard 70 Anyone who calls this the brain bowl didn't watch the last 4 minutes of the game. Vanderbilt put on a clinic of how not to hold a safe lead during that time. Not coming back to the ball after Harvard made baskets and pressed them, leaving their point guard to bring it up alone against the press, taking quick, wild shots, and fouling Harvard needlessly. Check. Check. Check. Check. For a prestigious academic university, kind of disappointing. Harvard fought valiantly to come back, but they were down by so much that they had to be practically perfect, and they fell a little short of that mark.

March Madness, Day 1, Part 1

Murray State 58 - Colorado State 41 Colorado State was able to eke (I always thought this word was spelled 'eeke', thanks Words with Friends!) their way to a slight halftime lead by hitting some threes and by watching Pierce Hornung grab 11 boards. This papered over the fact that CSU was turning the ball over too much and not getting any easy looks thanks to Murray State's defense. In the second half though, Murray State started rebounding, and Colorado State didn't curb their turnover habit.
Kansas State 70 - Southern Mississippi 64 This started out as the worst offensive basketball I've seen since Wisconsin last year (since they lost a game 36-33 last regular season). Southern Miss looked awful, and Kansas State did not take advantage, instead letting Southern Miss hang around. Then, at the end, the difference was dribble penetration. KSU did, Southern Miss could not. Down the stretch, their only baskets came off of steals and breakaways.
Louisville 69 - Davidson 62 I was surprised this game ended up this close, but Davidson never really threatened in the last quarter of this game. They were down enough that they needed to go for threes much earlier than they did.
Wisconsin 73 - Montana 49 Yeah, this one wasn't interesting, which made it okay when I couldn't really watch any of it.

The Peyton Manning Derby

What has been assumed for months now has become official: The Indianapolis Colts have cut Peyton Manning. It’s not a surprise, because a few events came together to create the perfect storm of a situation where the Colts not only accepted this course of action, but really could not have chosen any other way:

1. Manning has 4 neck surgeries since the end of the 2010 season, missing the entire 2011 season – This brought a Colts future without Manning into focus. If Manning doesn’t have to miss the 2011 season, the Colts likely win their division again, or at least make the playoffs. Bill Polian and his son keep their jobs, and the thought of drafting Manning’s successor remains the fantasy it had always been throughout Polian’s tenure.
2. Andrew Luck decides to come out, and Indianapolis completely collapses without Manning, securing the #1 pick in the draft – This is what convinced the Colts to move on from Manning this year. Andrew Luck is seen as a surefire NFL QB, fairly or not. A team that would pass on Luck is a team that risks seeing Luck go on to have a Peyton Manning-like career. This isn’t Sam Bradford or Matthew Stafford, simply the top prospect at the most important position in the NFL. This is a quarterback who teams have been salivating over since the 2010 season. When Indy’s collapse put them in position to grab Luck, they had to decide between maybe 3-4 more years of Manning, or potentiall another 14-15 years of great quarterback play in Andrew Luck.
3. Manning’s extension includes a $28 Million roster bonus to be paid by Thursday March 8 (tomorrow)if Manning is on the roster on that day – This is why Manning is being cut and not traded. If Manning is on the Colts’ roster tomorrow, he receives a $28 Million bonus on top of his $7.4 Million salary for 2012. His cap hit would have been $17 Million. Tough to swallow, but it could be done. However, if traded, all of Manning’s guaranteed money comes due for cap purposes, and his cap figure to not play for the Colts balloons. Since Indy couldn’t trade him until after the roster bonus due date, there was no way for Indy to get value for Manning without crippling their cap.

Now there are only two pieces of the story left: Will Manning play again, and if yes, where? We’re a couple of days into the Manning chase, and Peyton has said he wants to make a decision this week. Let’s assume that Manning will play again. To answer the question of where he may take his talents, let’s first eliminate the teams who are not in the market for a quarterback either because they are happy with their quarterback’s play, or are too tied to him to contemplate making a switch.

• Colts (soon to be Andrew Luck)
• Patriots (Tom Brady)
• Chargers (Philip Rivers)
• Raiders (Carson Palmer)
• Steelers (Ben Roethlisberger)
• Bengals (Andy Dalton)
• Texans (Matt Schaub)
• Titans (Jake Locker)
• Cowboys (Tony Romo)
• Giants (Eli Manning)
• Eagles (too invested in Vick)
• Rams (Sam Bradford)
• Bears (Jay Cutler)
• Lions (Matthew Stafford)
• Packers (Aaron Rodgers)
• Falcons (Matt Ryan)
• Panthers (Cam Newton)
• Saints (Drew Brees)
• Buccaneers (Josh Freeman)
• Redskins (Robert Griffin III thanks to their soon-to-be official trade with the Rams)

That leaves 12 teams:

• Jaguars - Not happening. As they showed in ruining Blaine Gabbert’s rookie season, this team needs a TON of help.
• Vikings - Not happening. This team is simply too far away for Manning to spend the last few years of his career futilely chasing after the rest of the NFC North. The Vikings need to rebuild, and they know it.
• Browns - Not happening. Cleveland is cursed. Manning’s not going to a cursed franchise that has to play the Steeler and Raven defenses four times a year.
• Bills - Not happening. Manning is apparently taking even the weather of his new home team into account, and that eliminates Buffalo/Toronto from consideration. Manning doesn’t want to spend half of his season throwing in the winds and snow of upstate New York (or worse, Canada).
• Jets - Manning apparently told them no, probably because he doesn’t want to share a city with his brother (especially now that Eli wins the rings tiebreaker to every argument), doesn’t want to subject himself to New York City, and probably doesn’t want anywhere near the Jets freak show of a locker room. Unfortunately for Jets fans, Manning’s “Thanks but no thanks” caused GM Mike Tannenbaum to go on a bender during which time he drunk-dailed the agent for his current quarterback Mark Sanchez, and agreed to a 3-year extension that makes Sanchez one of the 6 or 7 highest paid quarterbacks in the league. Lay off the peach schnapps next time, Mike.
• Ravens - I just don’t see it. The Ravens could certainly use a QB upgrade over just good enough to get you beat when it counts Joe Flacco, but Baltimore barely has the cap room to keep their own guys they want to hold onto, and I don’t see Baltimore willing to remake its identity for Peyton.
• Chiefs - They make sense, but I don't see Scott Pioli making a big splashy move for a 35-year-old quarterback.
• 49ers - If Manning wants the chance to compete for Super Bowls, this is where he should go. But San Francisco isn’t going to remake themselves for Peyton (Harbaugh is way too proud to let Peyton run his offense), and don’t forget, Harbaugh is the quarterback Indianapolis kicked to the curb so they could draft Peyton. Does that mean Harbaugh wouldn’t entertain the possibility? I doubt it, but I also don’t see him rolling out the red carpet either.
• Seahawks - Seattle has done a great job rebuilding everywhere except the quarterback position. Tarvaris Jackson isn’t ever going to be close to a top-flight quarterback, and he will hold Seattle back as they try to take the next step from mediocre to true contender. The upgrade to Peyton would be sizeable, and Seattle (according to reports) is doing everything they can to get a meeting with Manning, but it hasn’t happened or been scheduled yet. Manning may be looking at the weather as a factor here, or he may be looking at Seattle’s very young OLine and last year’s sack numbers and shaking his head. That isn’t entirely fair as Tarvaris Jackson greatly enhanced those sack numbers because he has zero pocket awareness, but Seattle’s line is still young and learning. I’m going to say Seattle’s out because if Manning hasn’t set up a meeting by now, I don’t think he’s interested (even if he should be).
• Broncos - This is John Elway’s get out of Tebownation free card, if he wants one. Elway has never seemed enamored of Tim Tebow, even as the team made the final 8 in the playoffs. However, Elway would face a fan revolt if he benched Tebow going into next season unless the replacement was a bonafide guarantee. Someone who could not only produce, but who the fans could look at and say, “Okay, I love me some Tim Tebow, but this guy is a first ballot hall of famer, I’ll get behind him.” Peyton Manning is that guy, and he’s the only one of those guys who will be any sort of available. Peyton’s first meeting was with Denver so they have to be taken seriously. But they are lacking so many pieces on offense that I don’t see it. They need a running back, multiple receivers, maybe even a line piece or two.
• Cardinals - Good team (finished 8-8 with Kevin Kolb and John Skelton under center). Great weather (indoors on natural grass). Terrific receiver (Fitzgerald makes okay QBs look good, and remember what Kurt Warner did with him). Yeah their division has San Francisco in it, but no team can claim to be a true powerhouse yet, and it’s been a joke for a long time, so the path to the playoffs isn’t necessarily too difficult. The one downside is it’s in the NFC, so he could end up competing with little brother for playoff or Super Bowl berths.
• Dolphins - I say this is where Peyton ends up. The Dolphins certainly have some negatives: they’re in a division with Tom Brady, they were only 6-10 last year, they will play some December road games in terrible weather. But they are well equipped to run his offense (Reggie Bush isn’t a pound it 25 times a game back, but is a terrific receiver, Brandon Marshall is a legit #1 and he’s got good other options including tight end Anthony Fasano). The line is pretty decent-to-good, and the defense kept them in a lot of games last season. The weather is terrific, and it’s near his family (Manning has a house near Miami already). But the #1 reason I believe Manning will go to Miami?
  They. Are. Desperate. The Dolphins are begging for some good news. Owner Stephen Ross went after Jim Harbaugh and got rebuffed last season. He tried for Jeff Fisher this year and Fisher chose St. Louis. Ross needs something to sell to the fans so they won’t all think, “Another season middling along and staring up at Tom Brady and the Patriots. Bottom line, Manning may prefer Denver or Arizona, but if he takes a meeting with Miami, they will not let him get back on the plane. They will do whatever it takes to override whatever doubts he has (sign Reggie Wayne? Sure! Dallas Clark? Sure! Jeff Saturday? No problem!), and I believe Peyton Manning will be wearing a Miami uniform on opening weekend in September.