The Final Four: not sponsored by Pontiac

We guess it is a good thing they will not be using our bailout money for this. When the NCAA first announced the location of the Final Four in Detroit the Big 3 automakers were planning major parties for themselves and their clients. Luxury boxes, champagne, lobster and caviar. Wow, how things have changed.

When the NCAA men's basketball tournament comes to Detroit for the Final Four in early April, don't expect to see General Motors executives, dealers or clients in the suites that they've purchased.

General Motors is in the process of trying to sell the suites, according to Larry Peck, promotions manager for the Buick and Pontiac brands.

Trying to sell them in a down economy? No wonder why these guys are in trouble. Still, a small part of us is smiling.

Naturally

Woman who purposely impregnated herself with eight babies (and now has 14 total) has been offered $1 million to do one porn movie.

And she is considering it...

According to TV Guide, Vivid Video co-chairman Steven Hirsch has offered 33-year-old octo-mom Nadya Suleman up to $1 million to act in a pornographic movie. Nadya Suleman can certainly use the money.

In this ravaged economy she is single, unemployed, living at home with her parents, and receiving over $400 a month in food stamps.

America, fuck yeah!

Pennell gets scalped beard-wise

Arizona coach Russ Pennell said he would not shave unless the Wildcats lost.

Arizona State responded "You better shave that shit, homie."

It looks like Arizona interim basketball coach Russ Pennell will get rid of his facial hair, which has been a goatee for the past two weeks after he had a short-cut beard the first week.

Pennell had decided to grow facial hair and some of his players followed along, deciding not to get a shave until UA lost.

Sunday was that day as Arizona fell 70-68 at Arizona State.

Much better, coach

Your Wednesday Moment of Zen

March To Madness presents... He'd hit that

Technically NSFW

Providence did what?!

Pittsburgh couldn't even last two days. This is fucking ridiculous. Why even rank a team number one? Seriously, to all BlogPollers, this is how we should do the next poll...

#1 (space for rent, only serious offers need apply)
#2 Team A
#3 Team B

And so on and so forth. Jiminy Cricket.

March Madness blog rankings

So sometimes we get accused of being Judases, as we are fans and alumnus of San Diego State, but we trash talk them so much. We guess those are the side effects of being in an abusive relationship with the school. So we want to show what other people are saying about our beloved Aztecs just as a counter point to our gloominess. Maybe it will help keep perspective on things.

Here is week three. This should be good...

The Bracket Board: Has SDSU out
College Hoops Journal: Not Updated
March Madness All Season: Has SDSU out
Joe Lunardi: Has SDSU out

It's a virtual sweep!



Love college hoops? Then check out BetUS - No.1 for March Madness betting. Get college basketball odds all year at the internet's top online betting website.

Don't ask

At work we were asked if we ever watched the NBA.

We said we couldn't. It crushes our soul.

BlogPoll Week 3

We are back with a vengeance. Look out CBS! And remember, this is not a power poll.

Rank	Team
1	Pittsburgh
2	Connecticut
3	Memphis
4	Oklahoma
5	Missouri
6	Villanova
7	Louisville
8	Michigan
9	Duke
10	Marquette
11	North Carolina
12	Wake Forest
13	Kansas
14	Clemson
15	Arizona St.
16	Xavier
17	Illinois
18	Purdue
19	Butler
20	Washington
21	Gonzaga
22	Texas
23	St. Mary's
24	Louisiana St.
25	UCLA

Comments - This was an absolute clusterfuck. Everyone who we thought was deserving of a high ranking lost and everyone who we think suck kept on winning. What pained us the most was ranking an SEC team, but shit... Who else would we put in that #24 slot? We also got raked over the coals for not ranking Michigan State the last time we did this. Purely our mistake as they most certainly deserve ranking. And Pittsburgh at #1? Why not? The never ending rotation of musical chairs lands with them now. We guarantee that they will not be there next week.

The secret

How do you win against Oklahoma? You concuss their best player.



Oklahoma falls, Blake Griffin concussed.

Oh, This Is Sparta btw...

You said it

Why write about it when someone else has done it for you:



Currently watching the Texas / Oklahoma fight. We might have been correct about this.

Food Porn

Served during the Davidson / Butler clash:

Hot wings with cheesy garlic bread sticks and beer


Too bad Davidson got served as well.

You can't eject Superfan!

Superfan means no harm. Superfan just wants to cheer his beloved New Mexico State Aggies. If that means making fun of the opponent, so be it. Superfan is up to that.

Unfortunately the police were not.

When the Aggies squared off against the Techsters of Louisiana Tech, Superfan began his usual routine of calling out to the officials, making fun of the other team in support of Aggie Basketball. When fans in the student section began cheering his name, a Louisiana Tech player took it upon himself to thank the audience.

"I told him to sit down and shut up," Superfan (James Kilgore) said. "They were cheering for me."

Then, Officer James Merrell of the New Mexico State Police Department stepped in and proceeded to tell Superfan to shut up and sit down. When Superfan protested his actions, he was promptly met with a jab from Merrell's taser. Although Merrell did not discharge his taser, the fans had already seen enough.

Superfan was eventually ejected from the game, but not without a few more taser stabs.

Now this has led to horrible outrage by the Aggie students. They love Superfan and will be protesting this injustice. We can certainly feel their pain.

Happy Friday.

Basketball BlogPoll Round Table: Week 2

So there is a discussion going on with all the BlogPoll participants on a few important questions (hosted by A Sea of Blue). We are going to do our best to respond with senility servility, logic and candor...

1. Who really looks like the best team in college basketball this season?

To us it is really hard right now to pick the "best" as there are a bunch of teams who are equal (Pitt, UConn, UNC). If we must, then we would pick Oklahoma. To us on any given day the Sooners have the potential to beat any other team in the top 10, and we cannot say the same for the others. Believe it or not we think Oklahoma would have a problem with Duke solely because of their perimeter play. Besides that, Oklahoma is OK.

2. Is Blake Griffin the Player of the Year already, or can somebody catch him?

Short answer is yes, Griffin is signed, sealed and delivered for POY with the almost non-existent play of Tyler Hansbrough. However, we are going to go outside the box here and say that someone else is more deserving of this title but will not get it for two reasons; a weak conference and a mid-major team:

Ahmad Nivins with Saint Joseph's. He is in the top 5 for field goals and in the top 40 for points per game. Plus he is getting double doubles like candy. If Blake Griffin was injured Oklahoma would muddle through and win games. If Nivins was out, St. Joe's would lose ALL their games.

3. What currently ranked team is the biggest disappointment so far this year?

Holy Hanna it has to be Gonzaga. A team that was thought of so highly and was supposed to go very deep in March could fall so hard so fast even stunned us. Well, at least they have this music video.

4. Predict the next team to beat Oklahoma.

Honestly, no one on their remaining schedule can. But if we must, Texas has the highest probability to take them down. Longhorn guard A.J. Abrams will go nukular in that game.

Look out, here they come

Now they'll all want to join in. Congrats Houston Baptist University for forcing the NCAA to shorten the petition time for Division II schools to become Division I schools from 8 to 5 years.

A St. Louis law firm, on behalf of Houston Baptist University, has reached a settlement with the NCAA that could have billions of dollars in implications for universities nationwide that want to play Division I men’s basketball.

James Bryant, a partner with The Stolar Partnership in St. Louis, said his law firm was able to get the NCAA to agree in a court settlement to let the university play Division I by shortening a probationary period by three years.

We don't really look at this as a good thing. The reason why the waiting period was so long was you needed to prove viability and be able to compete with the other 1-A schools. Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, anyone?

"We're too soft," SIUE coach Lennox Forrester said.

And they WAITED eight years. Imagine if they came out early?

Everyone's always looking for shortcuts. No one is willing to do the hard work to build a foundation.

Fab Five Freddy

University of Michigan's Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson will be appearing together for the first time since college as the Fab Five.

DETROIT (AP) -- Michigan's Fab Five will appear together as part of NCAA men's basketball Final Four festivities in Detroit.

No snark, we just thought that was cool. And it is for a good cause.

This one's optimistic

For all you guys who feel like you are on the outside looking in, this one's for you. Buffalo, Morgan State, North Dakota State, VMI and Jacksonville, this could be your year to dance:

March is coming, and these five schools are either leading their conferences, or close to it. They have had their noses pressed to the NCAA tournament window for decades. Maybe this year is different.

The only one we really believe in is Virginia Military Institute which has the record and the upset wins to show (Kentucky). We would even put some money down on that if pressed.

Speaking of which...

It's college hoops March Madness time again. Get college basketball odds at BetUS - America 's best Sports Betting site.

Your Wednesday Moment of Zen

March To Madness presents... A weird wet t-shirt contest

Technically NSFW...

March Madness blog rankings

So sometimes we get accused of being Judases, as we are fans and alumnus of San Diego State, but we trash talk them so much. We guess those are the side effects of being in an abusive relationship with the school. So we want to show what other people are saying about our beloved Aztecs just as a counter point to our gloominess. Maybe it will help keep perspective on things.

Here is week two -

The Bracket Board: Has SDSU out
College Hoops Journal: Has SDSU in
March Madness All Season: Has SDSU in
Joe Lunardi: Has SDSU in

So the loss to Utah in their house wasn't enough top persuade folks to give up on the Aztecs' chances. However the most influential blog in our opinion (Bracket Board) has them out which worries us. Also it was universally mentioned that that they need to win the remainder of their games to keep hope alive.

Doctor Hannibal Lecter

(HT: NCAA Basketball FanHouse)

Hello?

[BALLOT MISSING]


Yup, we are off taking Mrs. March To Madness on a well deserved getaway (damn you Valentine's Day coinciding on a weekend!). We'll be back tomorrow, but for now enjoy our Reporters' Notebooks column over at Sports Illustrated.

Our ballot will be up next week.

We thought so too, sweetie

Do you want to see the soul almost get sucked out of the Carrier Dome? Syracuse was leading Georgetown for most of the game, but an Orange mental breakdown allowed the Hoyas to storm back and tie the game forcing overtime. This led to one Syracuse student who openly just gave up.


It's over? Maybe not

The Orange did manage to pull it out in overtime but wow. They really put their fans through the ringer on that one.

We believe in miracles

Remember when Notre Dame was a pre-season top 10 team? How about the beginning of the season when they were in the top 10? How about All American Luke Harangody who was suppose to destroy everyone in the Big East?

We do. But now? Stick a fork in them. No, that's not us saying that. That's the Fighting Irish's own students.

They belong in the Mountain West along with the rest of the Big East losers (ouch). Once again, Notre Dame's own fan base.

But they won against #5 Louisville! How did that happen?

Prayer, Mister Saavik. Lots and lots of prayer. We're serious. They prayed for that win.

Proof there is a God if we have ever seen it.

If it's on the internets it must be true

Yes, we are kinda excited about the hype of the Mountain West having 3 bids and San Diego State possibly getting in to the dance.

But this article is ridiculous:

After sending just two teams to the NCAA tournament every year since 2004, the league is poised this season to send... maybe as many as five teams to the Big Dance.

In the Mountain West, the five teams with at-large aspirations are still fighting for the league championship.

Ummmm, yeah. Right.

Owned

College Hoops Journal is money. And we were wrong.

Washington State just wants to go home

March Madness nor the Pac-10 Conference Tournament is on the mind of WSU coach Tony Bennett. Hell, getting to 3rd or 4th place in the conference isn't even a goal at this point.

It seems that Bennett and the Cougars would rather sneak out and have blueberry almond martinis than focus on post conference play. When pressed on if he was going to even compete for the rest of the season, Bennett talks about WSU's resume thus far:

"If it's good enough to get consideration for postseason play, so be it. If not, I still want the quality of play to be there."

If not, oh well. That is the sound of a man defeated. They are only 12-11, 4-7 Pac-10. Yes, we admit that is pretty dire. But still, don't freakin' give up!

Sheez...

Don't. Touch. My. Car.

Don't fuck with Utah's Luke Nevill. Especially after practice. Especially when he wants to go home. ESPECIALLY when he is trying to hop into his car.

Luke Nevill, the Ute's 7'2" center from Australia reportedly tried to drive away as parking officers were attempting to impound his car.

Police say Nevill hit a parking enforcement vehicle as he left the scene.

I know we have all felt like doing that, but never attempted. Then again at 7 foot 2 maybe we would have.

Your Wednesday Moment of Zen

March To Madness presents... Hef's gal

NSFW... Nice dress!

Bettors corner - The Big One

(Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series focusing on the betting side of NCAA basketball. We never said that we were pure souls and we love to venture to Vegas during March. But our lawya wants us to say "for entertainment purposes only". There, we said it. Happy?)

Hey kids, remember when CBS Sports had that countdown to this game like THREE MONTHS early?

Well, this game is finally upon us. In case you really need the particulars...

North Carolina vs. Duke
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
6:00 PM PST, February 11, 2009

What Vegas is saying: Prelim line has UNC -3

What M2M is saying:

Duke's got this.

Why: Word has it that both Paulus and Henderson will be on the court together for a spell in some type of hybrid guard role. If that is true, this alone would negate any affect Hansbrough could have on the game. But if not, don't expect Ty Lawson to step it up. It is pretty well known he has trouble with ball screen switches and Duke has been ramping those up as of late. Which leaves Wayne Ellington and Ed Davis for the Tar Heels against Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer for the Blue Devils. Yikes. This can only lead to one thing...



Good night and happy hunting.

Get March Madness odds and lines at BetUS - America's best Sports Betting and college basketball betting web site with NCAA March Madness odds and lines.

Oh no they didn't

In case you were talking to some chick at a bar instead of watching college hoops like your momma told you, Missouri's Zaire Taylor made a last second shot to beat Kansas who was previously undefeated in the Big 12. There are plenty of videos out there but we here at M2M love the fan perspective over that glossy ESPN footage:


Very Blair Witch like...

In other news, Cincinnati prepares to honor former drunk and coach Bob Huggins when West Virginia visits the Bearcats this week.

the University of Cincinnati basketball program might provide an opportunity for its fans to finally reach some closure over the departure of former head basketball coach Bob Huggins.

UC officials have plans to honor Huggins when he returns on Feb. 26 as the head coach at West Virginia.

UC officials would not reveal Monday how they plan to honor Huggins.

Maybe with some PBR?

Unnnnnnncomfortable...

AAUGH....

San Diego State is playing Utah on Wednesday. At stake is sole possession of first place and an inside track for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.

So let's make sure our two best players can't play.

Lorrenzo Wade, the team's second-leading scorer at 13.9 points per game, has been battling flu-like symptoms for nearly two weeks. Though he was present for yesterday's practice, Wade's participation was minimal. He began receiving intravenous fluids Sunday night after missing Saturday's game against Air Force. Fisher said Wade, who has been in bed for a week, has lost nearly 15 pounds.

Tim Shelton continues to experience soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, although he practiced yesterday for the first time since aggravating the problem Jan. 31 at Colorado State.

Figures... That's all we have to say.

March Madness blog rankings

So sometimes we get accused of being Judases, as we are fans and alumnus of San Diego State, but we trash talk them so much. We guess those are the side effects of being in an abusive relationship with the school. So we want to show what other people are saying about our beloved Aztecs just as a counter point to our gloominess. Maybe it will help keep perspective on things.

Starting this week we will be doing a recurring feature called March Madness blog rankings where we survey the blogosphere and find out what others are saying about SDSU's chances of getting into the big dance this year. Here is week one -

The Bracket Board: Has SDSU in
College Hoops Journal: Has SDSU in
March Madness All Season: Has SDSU in
Joe Lunardi: Has SDSU in

More blogs will be added as more blogs start doing bracket predictions. So we seem to be in the minority here and that needs to be taken into consideration. With SDSU tied for first place and playing Utah on Wednesday, this could be the momentum shift we need.

But why do we have the sinking feeling something bad is about to happen.

Wachu talkin' about, Willis?

In case you were wondering where Oklahoma freshman guard Ray Willis was at on Saturday when they played against Colorado, looks like booze and a steering wheel was involved.

Ray Willis was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence.

According to the Tulsa World, Norman police Lt. Blake Green said Willis was taken into custody at 3:16 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Asp and Lindsey on campus. He was taken to the Cleveland County Detention Center, and later released after bond was posted.

Maybe Willis was trying to relax before the game. Colorado (1 - 7 conference, 9 - 13 overall) is a formidable opponent you know...

The good life

Scene: We're all outside in Gabby's backyard enjoying some Cohiba 25 year anniversary cigars and some Sauza Commemorativo tequila (courtesy of Mrs. March to Madness who totally uses her Mexican/US citizenship travel privileges) watching the final score for the Washington/Stanford game. Mrs. March to Madness rocks and you all need to get a woman like her. Rain is gone. Booze is flowing. And now it is time to pick our top 25 March to Madness ballot for the CBS Sports poll. In the words of so many others, this is not a power poll.

Rank	Team
1	Connecticut
2	North Carolina
3	Oklahoma
4	Louisville
5	Duke
6	Pittsburgh
7	Wake Forest
8	Marquette
9	Butler
10	Illinois
11	Xavier
12	Memphis
13	Clemson
14	UCLA
15	Villanova
16	Kansas
17	Purdue
18	Texas
19	Washington
20	Gonzaga
21	Arizona St.
22	Utah St.
23	Utah
24	Davidson
25	Minnesota

Comments - Purdue and Texas needed to be punished. Wow, come on... To get beat like that to Nebraska (Texas) and to make Illinois look that much better (Purdue) is a shame. Win the games you need to win. The others just fell into place with some new editions (Davidson). Davidson we still believe will make a dangerous run in the madness. Comments are welcome as we can change this before the final is released.

Everybody loves Mike

Congrats on the rebound win Mr. Krzyzewski. They are texting everywhere.

(Pic HT: Dr. Saturday)

Syracuse played against Nova?

Cue the Mariah Carey redux:



Villanova says "It's like that" to Syracuse, pasting them 102 to 85. We would have much rather watched Mariah shake her boobs around than that fiasco. Wrong game to do a liveblog. But the nudity was ok.

Meanwhile, fans in Orange Nation are beyond pissed. We would be too if we got bitch slapped like that. It's like that.

Liveblog: Syracuse vs. Villanova

Exactly what we were thinking

Busy busy busy today with real life distractions. Enjoy the above and our Reporters' Notebook article over at Sports Illustrated. We'll see you tomorrow with the liveblog.

And happy Friday.

Liveblogging, baby

Because somebody has to do it. Seriously, we just decided "what the fuck, let's do this!" So bring your drinks, snarkiness and love of female nudity mixed with college hoops. The gang will all be here.

For prosperity

Have we mentioned we love to cook? Yes, sir. And last night while making fixins for the Clemson/Duke "This Is Sparta" game we created a doozy of a snack!

1) Seasoned 3 chicken thighs with salt and pepper and lightly dusted them with flour
2) Rough chopped a half an onion (ONIONS!)
3) Seared chicken thighs in a large pan on high heat with olive oil until golden brown on both sides
4) Took thighs out and tossed onions in, seasoned with salt, pepper, italian seasonings, crushed red pepper
5) Poured in a half a cup of good white wine, put chicken thighs on top
6) Placed in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes
7) Made broccoli and cheddar rice from a box
8) Plated a bed of the broccoli/cheddar rice, then scooped out the thighs with the onions and placed on top of the rice with a parsley garnish
9) Grubbed like motherfuckers

Basketball and cooking, good times.

Marijuana cowboy

Terrance Joyner of New Mexico State has gotten busted for trying to transport cannabis across state lines.

EL PASO, Texas -- NMSU freshman basketball player Terrance Joyner was arrested at the El Paso International Airport Wednesday for possession of under 2 ounces of marijuana.

Isn't he Federally fucked now?

Of course the most amazing part is that he had the drugs with him while traveling with his TEAM to a game. Maybe he just needed to relax before the contest.

Or maybe he was just an idiot.

Basketball is his second love

Colorado guard Andrew Zehnder was certainly putting his engineering major to good use by trying to break into the Coors Events Center and steal swag.

Zehnder was booked into Boulder County Jail on possible charges of third-degree burglary and criminal mischief. He was free on bond Wednesday, jail officials said.

CU police Cmdr. Tim McGraw said an employee at the events center reported seeing a man at about 8 p.m. Saturday break the lock off of a plastic bin containing collectible athletic jerseys and other CU merchandise sold at the center's stands.

Police worked with the employee and other staffers at the center for several days before identifying Zehnder as a suspect, McGraw said.

Of course we have an idea of what he was going to do with all that Buffs stuff...

Clemson thinks they're tough

The Clemson Tigers ass rapes Duke by 27 points.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski spent most of the second half in his seat, hands over his mouth. Three times he subbed his entire squad to find a spark, but the Blue Devils never got closer than 20 points over the last 9 minutes.

And speaking of ass love, this is Sparta!!!!!!!! Congrats Tigers, you get and deserve this award.

Postmortem - SDSU at UNLV

Aztecs secure 68-66 victory in overtime.

We're not going to go into the fact that SDSU led most of the game before letting the Runnin' Rebels nearly come back. Or that they needed overtime to win by 2 points off of a desperation 3.

We WILL get into the fact that as of 8:30 this morning 6:30 pm we sit alone on top of the in a two way tie for first place with Utah in the conference (damn you, Christians!!!). And that will remain until Saturday.

It's the little things. Go Aztecs.

San Diego State ranked #1

...in cheerleading.



Hey, it's something. Go Aztecs!

He had time for that

Usually the man above doesn't have time for this shit. But since it is the off season for his football squad he made an exception. After Alabama's basketball team got slapped by Arkansas, Nick Saban stopped by and gave them a pep talk:

Fulfill your role and play with pride.

Well, list the Jedi Mind Trick as an additional Saban skill because the next day they go out and beat Georgia.

"For the head football coach to come talk to us, that's just motivation," freshman forward JaMychal Green said. "He's a good speaker."

Yeah. Real good. He should sell that.

Your Wednesday Moment of Zen

March To Madness presents... Stanford!


(HT: Rush the Court)

So it goes

Had a conversation with an Aztec fan here at work. He kept on talking about 20 wins and how we look to be poised to get 20 wins and if we get 20 wins we'll get into the NCAA Tournament blah blah blah...

First, we don't necessarily subscribe to the 20 wins philosophy. There has been many teams left out with 20 or more wins. Second, who cares when you can't play consistent good ball? There is a part of us that almost doesn't want SDSU to be in March Madness just because they'll get beat up. Look, here is San Diego State in a nutshell: Can't win games against talented teams outside our conference (Arizona, Arizona State, St. Mary's), we lose the games we have no business losing (Wyoming). We can totally beat up on top talent within our conference (BYU, Utah, UNLV) but that is not good enough, damnit.

As long as those issues remain, we will forever be NIT bound.

(HT: MGoBlog for the pic)

Trust Rick Pitino

Is UConn really the best team in America? Well, lets ask the guy who just got his ass kicked by them.

"They're very truly the No. 1 team in the country," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. "We weren't in their league tonight."

Thanks, Rick. We'll keep that in mind when the new blogpoll starts up next week.

Let's go to the tape

We last talked about Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy when he got his ass arrested for attacking a poor migrant cabbie. Now we have tape of the incident. Kennedy can be heard begging the cops not to take him to jail. Stay classy, Andy (HT: FanHouse).

Next up, our favorite category: FnDC!

The leading scorer on the University of Charleston men's basketball team is facing a misdemeanor battery charge following an incident with a West Virginia State player outside a Charleston nightclub.

In a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Charleston police said UC senior Anthony Anderson punched West Virginia State senior Wade Pidock in the face during an argument around 2 a.m. on Jan. 4 outside the Boom Boom Room, a bar on Capitol Street.

How appropriate is the name of the bar and what happened outside? We love unintentional comedy. And we wonder if West Virginia State and University of Charleston are bitter rivals. If they weren't, they are now.

Following in daddy's footsteps

Introducing Profiles in Coaching with Texas Tech's Pat Knight -

Papa Knight would be proud.

We got a winnar!

Super Bowl is now over and this is the best commercial we saw...

Yup, that's us on Mondays...