Post by JSS on Mar 19, 2009 8:10:37 GMT -5
Louisville (1)
Best Case: National champions. Terrence Williams throws triple-doubles at opponents, Earl Clark gets his 6-foot-10 self inside and dominates, the Cardinals' guard quartet hits shots and their defense suffocates all comers. Louisville wins tournament games fast, scoring in the 90s, and Louisville wins tournament games slow, scoring in the 60s. Cardinals shoot 80 percent from the line and ice the championship win over North Carolina with two free throws by Williams. Rick Pitino, already the first coach to take three schools to the Final Four, becomes the first coach to win national titles at two different locales -- and also the first to do it wearing a white suit. Then he ignores overtures from Arizona and coaches Louisville in its new arena in 2010-11. Meanwhile, Kentucky fans watch Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson turn pro.
Worst Case: Two and out. In a semi-road game against Ohio State in Dayton, mercurial guard Edgar Sosa and Clark combine to make 2 of 17 shots and commit 10 turnovers. Louisville hoists too many errant 3s and not enough 2s, but still leads until contracting Memphis disease and bricking a barrage of free throws late. Cardinals are expunged in the second round. Pitino leaves for Arizona. Billy Donovan has a 2-year-old change of heart and comes to Kentucky, convincing Meeks and Patterson to stay.
Morehead State (16)
Best Case: Coach's daughter continues to charm America. Kenneth Faried's ponytail is the most impressive in the tournament. And a few people learn that Morehead is a town in rural Kentucky before the Eagles are swept aside in the second half against Louisville, which starts slowly due to overconfidence after beating Morehead by 38 in November.
Worst Case: Louisville is not overconfident. Faried's ponytail gets messy while being shoved around inside by Louisville's rotation of big men. Nobody bothers to find out where Morehead is after the Eagles are buried in a 20-4 start by the Cardinals. But the coach's daughter is still cute.
Ohio State (8)
Best Case: Final Four. With a wink-wink, nudge-nudge site assignment in Dayton for athletic director/selection committee member Gene Smith, the eighth-seeded Buckeyes slow down Siena and shock Louisville in the second round as Evan Turner out-everythings Terrence Williams. In the Sweet 16, B.J. Mullens comes to play against fellow hyped freshman Al-Farouq Aminu, and Ohio State is into the regional final, where it upsets Michigan State in Indianapolis for the second time in two weeks. Detroit, here they come -- and Michigan fans have to suck it up and take it.
Worst Case: First-round loss. Shocked by the push-the-ball tempo of Siena, the Buckeyes of the s-l-o-w Big Ten are beaten in transition all game. Shaky point-guard play is exposed. Fatigued from the up-and-down pace, Mullens does not rebound or defend. Ohio State is eliminated from the tournament Friday night. Mullens and Turner go pro. And the SEC's best still can beat the daylights out of Ohio State in football.
Siena (9)
Best Case: The 16th-fastest team in the country (according to Ken Pomeroy's figures) shoves the ball down Ohio State's throat in an upset. Then the team that won 16 of its last 18 shocks Louisville with hot shooting by Kenny Hasbrouck and steady ballhandling by Ronald Moore against the Cardinals' pressure. Saints are greeted by Arizona in a bracket-collapse Sweet 16 game. After winning that, the joyride ends with a regional final loss to Kansas. Casual fans take the time to find out where Siena is.
Worst Case: One and done. Siena's matador defense is a welcome change from the Big Ten for the Buckeyes, resulting in easy layups. Team that beat nobody better than 49th in the final RPI is overmatched against Ohio State and loses by 15. Nobody gets around to learning where Siena is.
Utah (5)
Best Case: Sweet 16. After a motivational speech by Sugar Bowl-winning football coach Kyle Whittingham, Utah roars out of Rocky Mountain obscurity and into the Sweet 16. Luke Nevill, the 7-foot Aussie from Perth, outplays Arizona center Jordan Hill in the opening round and Wake Forest's Al-Farouq Aminu in the second. Nation's No. 9 RPI team, owning victories over Gonzaga and LSU (by 30), showcases its depth. Jim Boylen's coaching stock skyrockets, but he only wants to stay in Salt Lake City. BYU and Utah State lose early.
Worst Case: First-round defeat. Sugar shocker does not translate from football to basketball. Utah team that won zero significant true road games finds itself at an athletic disadvantage against Arizona and is shot out of Miami by Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise. BYU and Utah State both advance farther.
Arizona (12)
Best Case: Sweet 16. After squeezing in by the hairs on Chase Budinger's chin, Wildcats make the most of 25th consecutive bid by upsetting Utah and Wake Forest. Wildcats lose in Sweet 16 to Louisville, but AD Jim Livengood uses the occasion to convince Rick Pitino to take his open job after the season. Jordan Hill is so excited he comes back for his senior year. Lute Olson fades into the desert scenery and stays there. Arizona State is bounced in the first round.
Worst Case: First-round knockout. With Wildcats down 10 at the first TV timeout against Utah, Olson comes out of the stands and pushes interim coach Russ Pennell out of the huddle to take over coaching. Team that went 2-9 in true road games reacts accordingly and is hopelessly beaten by halftime. Arizona State embarks upon Final Four run, and every big-name coach turns down Livengood's offer. He decides to keep Pennell -- and you know how those interim-coach promotions turn out. Hill turns pro.
Wake Forest (4)
Best Case: Final Four. Team that beat Duke and North Carolina runs, jumps and flexes its way past Cleveland State and Utah. Then comes the upset of Louisville in Indy: Al-Farouq Aminu plays like a lottery pick, Jeff Teague hits shots, James Johnson continues his scoring spree, Ish Smith stirs it up. Dino Gaudio demands great defense and gets it. After that Demon Deacons handle Kansas to win region and go where Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, Rodney Rogers and others never went: to the last weekend of the season. Skip Prosser's family arrives as invited guests.
Worst Case: Gone in 40 minutes. Young, inconsistent team that lost to Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech plays down to the level of its opponent and is stunned by Cleveland State. Rookie tournament head coach Gaudio is outflanked by Gary Waters. Sketchy 3-point shooting dooms Deacons -- though perhaps also spares the school from a third NCAA blowout at the hands of a Rick Pitino-coached team (see: 34-point loss to Kentucky in 1993; 20-point loss to Kentucky in '96). Three underclassmen turn pro.
Cleveland State (13)
Best Case: Sweet 16. Twenty-three years after the Vikings' greatest athletic moment, J'Nathan Bullock channels Mouse McFadden and Gary Waters channels Kevin Mackey (minus the drug issues). Cleveland State pulls two shockers -- beating Wake Forest and Utah -- just as it did in 1986. No need for banked-in game winners from beyond half court like at Syracuse; the Vikings win twice straight up before falling to No. 1 Louisville. If you don't think it can happen again, consider this: The Vikings have a better seed this time (13) than they did that time (14).
Worst Case: One and done. Team that counts losses to Youngstown State (No. 239 RPI), Wichita State (No. 158) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (No. 134) among its 10 defeats watches Wake drop repeated dunks on its head. Game is way too fast for Cleveland State, and the result is inevitable way too quickly as well. It's over by halftime.
West Virginia (6)
Best Case: Final Four. Mountaineers overcome hideous Bob Huggins wardrobe to become the surprise team of March, charging to Detroit behind blossoming freshman forward Devin Ebanks. Team toughened by 11 games against the RPI top 50 dispatches Dayton with ease, upsets Kansas in the second round, does the same to Michigan State in the Sweet 16 and then finally gets over on Louisville after two competitive losses during the regular season. Meanwhile, Pitt loses early and Rich Rodriguez comes down with the flu in Ann Arbor.
Worst Case: Traumatized by the sight of Huggins in a yellow jumpsuit and dark blue beret, Mountaineers revert to flighty offensive days past and struggle to score against the Flyers. They lose in the first round, Huggins gets run for two technical fouls and the Mountaineer is arrested for discharging his firearm in the arena in Minneapolis. Ebanks turns pro after the loss. Meanwhile, Pitt makes the Final Four, and Rodriguez has a great spring practice in Ann Arbor.
Dayton (11)
Best Case: Team that went 12-1 in games decided by six points or less finds a way to win two more white-knucklers, upsetting West Virginia and dethroning Kansas on last-second shots by Chris Wright. Brian Gregory takes mentor Tom Izzo and former employer Michigan State to the wire before losing in Sweet 16. People in Dayton finally quit pining for the glory days of Don Donoher. Xavier is upset early.
Worst Case: The Flyers, who finished the season 5-5, clang free throws and fail to handle West Virginia on the glass in the opening round and are quickly ushered out. Team that lost five games by double digits makes it a sixth. Dayton fans go back to reliving the glory days of Don Donoher and wondering why it can't be like that anymore. Xavier makes Final Four, says it is too good for the rest of the A-10.
Kansas (3)
Best Case: Winning begets winning, and the Jayhawks don't need no Mario to repeat as champions. Cole Aldrich dominates inside to defeat Michigan State and Louisville and reach the Final Four. Once there, Sherron Collins hits buzzer-beating 3 to tie Memphis after the Tigers miss free throws, fail to call a timeout and fail to foul Collins before the shot. After dispatching Memphis, Kansas draws North Carolina in the title game. Ol' Roy is still puckered from last year, and the Jayhawks win it all again. School bumps Phog Allen's name off the Fieldhouse and calls it the Self Center. Missouri loses early, and Mike Anderson leaves for Alabama.
Worst Case: Bison Bummer II. Jayhawks sleepwalk into early tip-off and are stunned in the first round by North Dakota State on a hook shot by whichever player most closely resembles Chris McNaughton, the kid from the other Bison (Bucknell) who eliminated Kansas in 2005. Understanding Kansas fans shove Bill Self back onto the hot seat a year removed from winning it all. Missouri makes the Final Four and signs Anderson to 10-year contract. Aldrich and Collins turn pro.
North Dakota State (14)
Best Case: After hordes (well, some) Bison fans pour across the Red River and descend upon Minneapolis for a semi-home game, they're treated to an epic upset of Kansas on a 25-foot 3-pointer by Ben Woodside. Gov. John Hoeven hails this as the greatest sporting moment in state history, non-ice hockey division. With a 1-0 all-time NCAA tournament record, team doesn't even bother with second-round game against West Virginia. Goes shopping at Mall of America instead.
Worst Case: Kansas shows the Bison exactly how vast the difference is between the Big 12 and the Summit, rolling to a 20-4 lead. NDSU squad that went 0-3 against teams in the field of 65 turns the ball over repeatedly, gets in foul trouble, cannot get open looks for Woodside and loses by 30. Meanwhile, North Dakota goes on a run to win national hockey championship.
Boston College (7)
Best Case: Tyrese Rice goes Chris Paul on USC, scoring 30 points and dishing out 11 assists, while Joe Trapani does the inside damage. Then the ACC-toughened Eagles take down Michigan State in the second round before losing to Kansas in the Sweet 16. Hoops world wonders once again why it never gives Al Skinner enough respect as a coach. AD Gene DeFilippo decides to hire Skinner as football offensive coordinator as well.
Worst Case: Eagles, whose only two wins away from home in the past 50 days were against lowly Virginia, don't acclimate well to Minneapolis. Tyrese Rice goes RuPaul on USC, enduring his seventh straight sub-50 percent shooting game. Trapani is outplayed by Taj Gibson. Skinner remains just another coach with a losing career NCAA tournament record (7-8).
USC (10)
Best Case: Trojans continue their startling Pac-10 tournament roll behind freshman DeMar DeRozan. They throw some Tim Floyd defensive mojo at Boston College, which cannot handle it. Then the Trojans shock Michigan State and scare Kansas in the Sweet 16 before submitting and allowing their fans to return to worrying about who replaces Mark Sanchez at quarterback. DeRozan decides to play a second year of college ball. UCLA is roasted by VCU.
Worst Case: Bickering USC team that lost six of seven in February reappears at just the wrong time. Daniel Hackett and his dad, assistant strength coach Rudy, have another argument in Italian -- this during an in-game huddle. DeRozan shoots 2-for-11. Nobody else steps up. Trojans are bum-rushed by BC in the first round. UCLA goes to the Final Four again.
Michigan State (2)
Best Case: Augmenting the Tom Izzo staples of rebounding and defense with a faster pace, the Spartans handle all comers in the Midwest Regional. Then, in front of a euphoric home crowd at Ford Field, Sparty parties after beating Memphis and North Carolina to win the championship. Inspired auto industry commences robust turnaround. Detroit economy perks up. Blight takes the rest of April off. Lions even catch the spirit, pledge not to blow the draft. Izzo bypasses interest from Arizona, signs lifetime contract.
Worst Case: Spartans team that has never reached its potential in a season plagued by injury and illness is upset in Round 2 by athletic USC. Raymar Morgan continues to struggle back from health issues, Kalin Lucas misses shots, and the bench cannot make the usual contribution. Auto industry stays in the tank. Detroit sags, and boards up a few more windows. Lions select another receiver. Izzo trades in his snow boots for flip-flops, takes Arizona job.
Robert Morris (15)
Best Case: Team that has gone 18-3 in '09 plays smart, fearless, deliberate basketball against bigger-stronger-faster Michigan State. Colonials stay in it all the way … past halftime. Last 16 minutes are another matter.
Worst Case: Colonials go 5 minutes and 38 seconds without scoring and trail 14-0. It never gets any closer, as the Northeast Conference champion loses in the first round (as opposed to the play-in game) for the 25th year in a row. Adding insult to injury, broadcast team repeatedly calls school Philip Morris.
Best Case: National champions. Terrence Williams throws triple-doubles at opponents, Earl Clark gets his 6-foot-10 self inside and dominates, the Cardinals' guard quartet hits shots and their defense suffocates all comers. Louisville wins tournament games fast, scoring in the 90s, and Louisville wins tournament games slow, scoring in the 60s. Cardinals shoot 80 percent from the line and ice the championship win over North Carolina with two free throws by Williams. Rick Pitino, already the first coach to take three schools to the Final Four, becomes the first coach to win national titles at two different locales -- and also the first to do it wearing a white suit. Then he ignores overtures from Arizona and coaches Louisville in its new arena in 2010-11. Meanwhile, Kentucky fans watch Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson turn pro.
Worst Case: Two and out. In a semi-road game against Ohio State in Dayton, mercurial guard Edgar Sosa and Clark combine to make 2 of 17 shots and commit 10 turnovers. Louisville hoists too many errant 3s and not enough 2s, but still leads until contracting Memphis disease and bricking a barrage of free throws late. Cardinals are expunged in the second round. Pitino leaves for Arizona. Billy Donovan has a 2-year-old change of heart and comes to Kentucky, convincing Meeks and Patterson to stay.
Morehead State (16)
Best Case: Coach's daughter continues to charm America. Kenneth Faried's ponytail is the most impressive in the tournament. And a few people learn that Morehead is a town in rural Kentucky before the Eagles are swept aside in the second half against Louisville, which starts slowly due to overconfidence after beating Morehead by 38 in November.
Worst Case: Louisville is not overconfident. Faried's ponytail gets messy while being shoved around inside by Louisville's rotation of big men. Nobody bothers to find out where Morehead is after the Eagles are buried in a 20-4 start by the Cardinals. But the coach's daughter is still cute.
Ohio State (8)
Best Case: Final Four. With a wink-wink, nudge-nudge site assignment in Dayton for athletic director/selection committee member Gene Smith, the eighth-seeded Buckeyes slow down Siena and shock Louisville in the second round as Evan Turner out-everythings Terrence Williams. In the Sweet 16, B.J. Mullens comes to play against fellow hyped freshman Al-Farouq Aminu, and Ohio State is into the regional final, where it upsets Michigan State in Indianapolis for the second time in two weeks. Detroit, here they come -- and Michigan fans have to suck it up and take it.
Worst Case: First-round loss. Shocked by the push-the-ball tempo of Siena, the Buckeyes of the s-l-o-w Big Ten are beaten in transition all game. Shaky point-guard play is exposed. Fatigued from the up-and-down pace, Mullens does not rebound or defend. Ohio State is eliminated from the tournament Friday night. Mullens and Turner go pro. And the SEC's best still can beat the daylights out of Ohio State in football.
Siena (9)
Best Case: The 16th-fastest team in the country (according to Ken Pomeroy's figures) shoves the ball down Ohio State's throat in an upset. Then the team that won 16 of its last 18 shocks Louisville with hot shooting by Kenny Hasbrouck and steady ballhandling by Ronald Moore against the Cardinals' pressure. Saints are greeted by Arizona in a bracket-collapse Sweet 16 game. After winning that, the joyride ends with a regional final loss to Kansas. Casual fans take the time to find out where Siena is.
Worst Case: One and done. Siena's matador defense is a welcome change from the Big Ten for the Buckeyes, resulting in easy layups. Team that beat nobody better than 49th in the final RPI is overmatched against Ohio State and loses by 15. Nobody gets around to learning where Siena is.
Utah (5)
Best Case: Sweet 16. After a motivational speech by Sugar Bowl-winning football coach Kyle Whittingham, Utah roars out of Rocky Mountain obscurity and into the Sweet 16. Luke Nevill, the 7-foot Aussie from Perth, outplays Arizona center Jordan Hill in the opening round and Wake Forest's Al-Farouq Aminu in the second. Nation's No. 9 RPI team, owning victories over Gonzaga and LSU (by 30), showcases its depth. Jim Boylen's coaching stock skyrockets, but he only wants to stay in Salt Lake City. BYU and Utah State lose early.
Worst Case: First-round defeat. Sugar shocker does not translate from football to basketball. Utah team that won zero significant true road games finds itself at an athletic disadvantage against Arizona and is shot out of Miami by Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise. BYU and Utah State both advance farther.
Arizona (12)
Best Case: Sweet 16. After squeezing in by the hairs on Chase Budinger's chin, Wildcats make the most of 25th consecutive bid by upsetting Utah and Wake Forest. Wildcats lose in Sweet 16 to Louisville, but AD Jim Livengood uses the occasion to convince Rick Pitino to take his open job after the season. Jordan Hill is so excited he comes back for his senior year. Lute Olson fades into the desert scenery and stays there. Arizona State is bounced in the first round.
Worst Case: First-round knockout. With Wildcats down 10 at the first TV timeout against Utah, Olson comes out of the stands and pushes interim coach Russ Pennell out of the huddle to take over coaching. Team that went 2-9 in true road games reacts accordingly and is hopelessly beaten by halftime. Arizona State embarks upon Final Four run, and every big-name coach turns down Livengood's offer. He decides to keep Pennell -- and you know how those interim-coach promotions turn out. Hill turns pro.
Wake Forest (4)
Best Case: Final Four. Team that beat Duke and North Carolina runs, jumps and flexes its way past Cleveland State and Utah. Then comes the upset of Louisville in Indy: Al-Farouq Aminu plays like a lottery pick, Jeff Teague hits shots, James Johnson continues his scoring spree, Ish Smith stirs it up. Dino Gaudio demands great defense and gets it. After that Demon Deacons handle Kansas to win region and go where Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, Rodney Rogers and others never went: to the last weekend of the season. Skip Prosser's family arrives as invited guests.
Worst Case: Gone in 40 minutes. Young, inconsistent team that lost to Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech plays down to the level of its opponent and is stunned by Cleveland State. Rookie tournament head coach Gaudio is outflanked by Gary Waters. Sketchy 3-point shooting dooms Deacons -- though perhaps also spares the school from a third NCAA blowout at the hands of a Rick Pitino-coached team (see: 34-point loss to Kentucky in 1993; 20-point loss to Kentucky in '96). Three underclassmen turn pro.
Cleveland State (13)
Best Case: Sweet 16. Twenty-three years after the Vikings' greatest athletic moment, J'Nathan Bullock channels Mouse McFadden and Gary Waters channels Kevin Mackey (minus the drug issues). Cleveland State pulls two shockers -- beating Wake Forest and Utah -- just as it did in 1986. No need for banked-in game winners from beyond half court like at Syracuse; the Vikings win twice straight up before falling to No. 1 Louisville. If you don't think it can happen again, consider this: The Vikings have a better seed this time (13) than they did that time (14).
Worst Case: One and done. Team that counts losses to Youngstown State (No. 239 RPI), Wichita State (No. 158) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (No. 134) among its 10 defeats watches Wake drop repeated dunks on its head. Game is way too fast for Cleveland State, and the result is inevitable way too quickly as well. It's over by halftime.
West Virginia (6)
Best Case: Final Four. Mountaineers overcome hideous Bob Huggins wardrobe to become the surprise team of March, charging to Detroit behind blossoming freshman forward Devin Ebanks. Team toughened by 11 games against the RPI top 50 dispatches Dayton with ease, upsets Kansas in the second round, does the same to Michigan State in the Sweet 16 and then finally gets over on Louisville after two competitive losses during the regular season. Meanwhile, Pitt loses early and Rich Rodriguez comes down with the flu in Ann Arbor.
Worst Case: Traumatized by the sight of Huggins in a yellow jumpsuit and dark blue beret, Mountaineers revert to flighty offensive days past and struggle to score against the Flyers. They lose in the first round, Huggins gets run for two technical fouls and the Mountaineer is arrested for discharging his firearm in the arena in Minneapolis. Ebanks turns pro after the loss. Meanwhile, Pitt makes the Final Four, and Rodriguez has a great spring practice in Ann Arbor.
Dayton (11)
Best Case: Team that went 12-1 in games decided by six points or less finds a way to win two more white-knucklers, upsetting West Virginia and dethroning Kansas on last-second shots by Chris Wright. Brian Gregory takes mentor Tom Izzo and former employer Michigan State to the wire before losing in Sweet 16. People in Dayton finally quit pining for the glory days of Don Donoher. Xavier is upset early.
Worst Case: The Flyers, who finished the season 5-5, clang free throws and fail to handle West Virginia on the glass in the opening round and are quickly ushered out. Team that lost five games by double digits makes it a sixth. Dayton fans go back to reliving the glory days of Don Donoher and wondering why it can't be like that anymore. Xavier makes Final Four, says it is too good for the rest of the A-10.
Kansas (3)
Best Case: Winning begets winning, and the Jayhawks don't need no Mario to repeat as champions. Cole Aldrich dominates inside to defeat Michigan State and Louisville and reach the Final Four. Once there, Sherron Collins hits buzzer-beating 3 to tie Memphis after the Tigers miss free throws, fail to call a timeout and fail to foul Collins before the shot. After dispatching Memphis, Kansas draws North Carolina in the title game. Ol' Roy is still puckered from last year, and the Jayhawks win it all again. School bumps Phog Allen's name off the Fieldhouse and calls it the Self Center. Missouri loses early, and Mike Anderson leaves for Alabama.
Worst Case: Bison Bummer II. Jayhawks sleepwalk into early tip-off and are stunned in the first round by North Dakota State on a hook shot by whichever player most closely resembles Chris McNaughton, the kid from the other Bison (Bucknell) who eliminated Kansas in 2005. Understanding Kansas fans shove Bill Self back onto the hot seat a year removed from winning it all. Missouri makes the Final Four and signs Anderson to 10-year contract. Aldrich and Collins turn pro.
North Dakota State (14)
Best Case: After hordes (well, some) Bison fans pour across the Red River and descend upon Minneapolis for a semi-home game, they're treated to an epic upset of Kansas on a 25-foot 3-pointer by Ben Woodside. Gov. John Hoeven hails this as the greatest sporting moment in state history, non-ice hockey division. With a 1-0 all-time NCAA tournament record, team doesn't even bother with second-round game against West Virginia. Goes shopping at Mall of America instead.
Worst Case: Kansas shows the Bison exactly how vast the difference is between the Big 12 and the Summit, rolling to a 20-4 lead. NDSU squad that went 0-3 against teams in the field of 65 turns the ball over repeatedly, gets in foul trouble, cannot get open looks for Woodside and loses by 30. Meanwhile, North Dakota goes on a run to win national hockey championship.
Boston College (7)
Best Case: Tyrese Rice goes Chris Paul on USC, scoring 30 points and dishing out 11 assists, while Joe Trapani does the inside damage. Then the ACC-toughened Eagles take down Michigan State in the second round before losing to Kansas in the Sweet 16. Hoops world wonders once again why it never gives Al Skinner enough respect as a coach. AD Gene DeFilippo decides to hire Skinner as football offensive coordinator as well.
Worst Case: Eagles, whose only two wins away from home in the past 50 days were against lowly Virginia, don't acclimate well to Minneapolis. Tyrese Rice goes RuPaul on USC, enduring his seventh straight sub-50 percent shooting game. Trapani is outplayed by Taj Gibson. Skinner remains just another coach with a losing career NCAA tournament record (7-8).
USC (10)
Best Case: Trojans continue their startling Pac-10 tournament roll behind freshman DeMar DeRozan. They throw some Tim Floyd defensive mojo at Boston College, which cannot handle it. Then the Trojans shock Michigan State and scare Kansas in the Sweet 16 before submitting and allowing their fans to return to worrying about who replaces Mark Sanchez at quarterback. DeRozan decides to play a second year of college ball. UCLA is roasted by VCU.
Worst Case: Bickering USC team that lost six of seven in February reappears at just the wrong time. Daniel Hackett and his dad, assistant strength coach Rudy, have another argument in Italian -- this during an in-game huddle. DeRozan shoots 2-for-11. Nobody else steps up. Trojans are bum-rushed by BC in the first round. UCLA goes to the Final Four again.
Michigan State (2)
Best Case: Augmenting the Tom Izzo staples of rebounding and defense with a faster pace, the Spartans handle all comers in the Midwest Regional. Then, in front of a euphoric home crowd at Ford Field, Sparty parties after beating Memphis and North Carolina to win the championship. Inspired auto industry commences robust turnaround. Detroit economy perks up. Blight takes the rest of April off. Lions even catch the spirit, pledge not to blow the draft. Izzo bypasses interest from Arizona, signs lifetime contract.
Worst Case: Spartans team that has never reached its potential in a season plagued by injury and illness is upset in Round 2 by athletic USC. Raymar Morgan continues to struggle back from health issues, Kalin Lucas misses shots, and the bench cannot make the usual contribution. Auto industry stays in the tank. Detroit sags, and boards up a few more windows. Lions select another receiver. Izzo trades in his snow boots for flip-flops, takes Arizona job.
Robert Morris (15)
Best Case: Team that has gone 18-3 in '09 plays smart, fearless, deliberate basketball against bigger-stronger-faster Michigan State. Colonials stay in it all the way … past halftime. Last 16 minutes are another matter.
Worst Case: Colonials go 5 minutes and 38 seconds without scoring and trail 14-0. It never gets any closer, as the Northeast Conference champion loses in the first round (as opposed to the play-in game) for the 25th year in a row. Adding insult to injury, broadcast team repeatedly calls school Philip Morris.