Tracker400

I have three. I was really surprised to get the call. I learned that the team/home base hotel is the Hilton on S. Michigan Avenue.

I figured something out that may help: the last of the At-Large teams have to do a "Play In" game. So there are two 12 vs. 12 games and two 16 v 16 games. So Akron would need to be one of the worst 4 to have to do a play in. Frankly, I would rather get a 16 seed and play our first game in Chicago than get a 15 seed and play our first game in Tucson.

Wow, I think I died and came back to life those last few moments of regulation. As the ball was swept away, I was envisioning the lay up and the Ravenna crowd storming the floor. Fate sometimes plays a part. There's an awesome photo in the Plain Dealer (all credit to them) of Steve and Brett McClanahan hugging each other and the Flush guy on the floor in agony.

Pinnacle Sports has Can't by 1.5. I think we are fairing pretty well on that considering this is a #6 seed v. #1 seed. However, I wonder if the line is always going to be closer with mid major schools when not as much is known about them. I listened to WNIR on way home from game last night, and they were actually talking about Can't like they were an NBA team. And then this classic question from their second announcer: "Would you rather have Chris Singletary or Michael Porrini walk down a dark alley with you?" Nice stuff, there.

I think tonight's game because it's on ESPN the refs will know there are time constraints. ESPN doesn't want tonight's game can't last 2 1/2 hours in regulation. So they are going to let them play tonight.

Ohio just blew it big time. Let's give the Zips a break on blowing that lead. They still held it together and WON. You can't say the same for Ohio. Their collapse was in some ways much worse.

I don't worry so much about his emotions as I do his pivot foot.

ONE OF THE MAC MYTHS:Axiom #3: It's tough to beat a team the third time. This one is heard everywhere and seems to be uttered by everyone. On the surface, why would it be any harder to beat a team the third time than the first two? If anything; it's easier. Teams that won the first two meetings against an opponent took the third game an overwhelming 87% of the time (20 of 23). Some of the three-game sweeps are at the expense of bottom-feeders that were beaten by top seeds. What is telling, however, is that two finals have been played in which one team swept the regular season series against the other (Ohio/Buffalo in 2005, Akron/Can't in 2008). In both cases, the team that won the first two games won the third as well. This trend holds among the top-seeded teams that run into each other in the latter stages of the tournament. As the week progresses, tournament talk is sure to fire up around downtown Cleveland. Just remember: Barroom wisdom might just be the opposite of the truth.