Congratulations to the 2008 Member Mayhem winner: Badgerdiver, the representative for Wisconsin.
We would also like to thank all the users, including our runner-up, DaPillCaper, who participated in the tournament. There were many, many great writers, and the amount of interest in this event insures that we will have similar competitions in the future.Finally, thanks to everyone who voted, or was actively involved in the essay debates!
Check out the final Bracket.
Grading for the finals is below.
Championship Grading
Badgerdiver (Wisconsin)
Big Ten Rising
The Big Ten receives the stiff end of many conference vs. conference battles. Big Ten football has been beaten up in bowl games as of late, accumulating a 14-22 (.389) record over the last five seasons. The SEC is faster, the Big 12 has more talent, the list goes on, and even Big Ten fans will admit it; the conference is down. No other single event captured this notion as well as Ohio State's embarrassing 27 point loss in the national championship game last season. The Big Ten ACC basketball challenge has been dominated by the ACC in the last decade by a staggering 9-0 record. The Big Ten only received four bids to the NCAA tournament this year, seemingly a gift, thanks to the efforts of Matt Painter at Purdue. Fans were glum in Big Ten country this post season.
That is all about to change.
With the hiring of Tom Crean at Indiana, the Big Ten now has the premier coaching of all of the conferences in the Nation.
Tom Crean, Indiana (.664) - Crean has five NCAA tournament appearances in nine seasons as a head coach, including a Final Four appearance with Dwayne Wade in 2003. Crean's recruiting combined with the program prestige of Indiana will bring Indiana back to the glory days.
Tom Izzo, Michigan State (.702) - Izzo is regarded as one of the best tournament coaches in the nation. In his thirteen NCAA tournament appearances, Izzo has brought five to the Elite Eight, and seven to the Sweet Sixteen. You know a program has reached the top tier when a loss in the Sweet Sixteen is unacceptable. Nobody overlooks the Spartans, especially in the post season.
Tubby Smith, Minnesota (.719) - Tubby got bored...of winning. Well not exactly, but to go back to his last sub-20 win season, you would find him coaching the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in '92-'93 (15-14), a team he took to the Sweet Sixteen the two subsequent years. Tubby came into the Minnesota program with less than talented players, and improved their record from 8-22 in 2006-07 to 20-13 in 2007-08. Look for him to bring this program into the spotlight, he certainly knows how.
Matt Painter, Purdue (.643) - Painter is new to this whole coaching thing, but don't overlook his inexperience. In his first four seasons, he has produced three tournament teams, making it to the second round twice. Painter took his team from the worst in the conference to the to the vice president position in only three seasons. He has already produced on the recruiting end, with a top 5 class for 2007. Watch out for his Boiler Babies in the next couple of seasons.
Bo Ryan, Wisconsin (.773) - Ryan is a system man, and that is why he has year after year of success. It seems his only weakness is recruiting, but that does not stop him from winning. Ryan's last nine seasons at the Division III level produced four national championships. Bo has achieved an NCAA berth in all of his seven seasons at Wisconsin. Don't plan on him going away anytime soon.
Thad Matta, Ohio State (.755) - Matta has only been a head coach for eight seasons, producing six tournament berths, an Elite Eight showing, and the opportunity to play for the National Championship in 2007. Matta knows how to bring a team deep into the tournament. Recruiting never dies down at the Ohio State University, so don't wipe them of the national stage after that embarrassing NIT appearance in 2008 just yet.
John Beilein, Michigan (.607) - Beilein has not been able to produce at all the schools on his way to Michigan, but he did produce at West Virginia, with a Sweet Sixteen, and an Elite Eight under his belt. His last season at West Virginia was three wins short of 30, and crowned with the title of NIT Champion. Beilein's first season at Michigan was less than stellar, in fact, almost reminiscent of his first season at West Virginia, when the Mountaineers went 14-15. Beilein has the know how and recruiting power to bring Michigan back to where is was in the late 80s, early 90s.
Bruce Weber, Illinois (.696) - Last season was rough on Fighting Illini fans, but Weber has proved before he has the coaching prowess to bring Illinois out of the Big Ten dump. Last season was the first season he did not take the Illini to the tournament in his five seasons there. Weber knows how to play in the post season, bringing his team to the title game in 2005. the Fightin Illini are not going anywhere soon.
The Big Ten is down on it's luck right now; no teams in the Final Four, two in the Sweet Sixteen, and only four competing in the tournament this year, but things are looking up thanks to the elite coaching that now runs deep.
These coaches all know how to not only bring their team to the post season, but how to play effectively in the post season. Some programs are having recent lows, but don't be naive enough to look at where they are, and not where they are going. Coaches like Painter, Smith, and Beilein will bring middle of the road programs in the Big Ten up to the level of competition that the perennial conference elite teams Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Indiana are known for around the nation. Deep conference competition will only increase the strength of the conference, and prepare Big Ten teams for deep NCAA Tournament runs. The Big Ten might not win their challenge against the ACC next year, but its looking like, after ten years of domination by the ACC, they will be poised to ride north with a victory.
The sun is rising again on Big Ten country.
Grading:
Words: 977
Passion: 17
Creativity: 17
Clarity: 17
Knowledge: 19
Penalty: 0
Total: 70
DaPillCaper (Maryland)
The power of 1
The 2007-2008 college basketball season was quite interesting. There were many upsets including, but not limited to, Tennessee over Memphis, Kansas State over Kansas in Manhattan (The First time Kansas State has beaten them there in more than 20 years) and my personal favoite Maryland defeating North Carolina (For the second year in a row I might add). One would expect this trend to continue. These upsets did not exactly flow into the NCAA tournament however.
This year in the NCAA tournament history was made. All four number one seeds made it to the San Antonio for the Final Four. Memphis was able to overcome having the worst free throw shooting in the NCAA to make it there. North Carolina proved they truely were deserving of there number one seed by defeating all of their foes handily. UCLA was able to come back against Texas A&M and then beat their next opponents with ease. And of course, Kansas, with their immense talent, won a thriller against Davidson.
That's not to say there were no upsets, aforementioned 10 seed Davidson was able to get to the elite 8 and almost the final four. Also all four first round games where I live (Tampa) were upsets. Never has that happened before. But in the end the selection commitee appears to have made the right choices in their seeding (For once, that is).
I feel the dominance can be attributed to many things, though, not just the 1 seeds being that much better than the two seeds. I believe some teams underachieved in the early rounds (See; Duke/Clemson) and many teams with lesser tournament experience were left in the later rounds for the more experienced 1 seeds to beat them. Also, some teams seemed to be scared when they had to match up against star players, if they had just played their usual game that got them to the field of 64 then they may have won, but everyone seemed so obsessed with taking away Tyler Hansborough, Kevin Love and the other superstars to the point where they didn't pay much attention to any other players.
Yes sir, this years Final Four was all set to be incredibly close, or so I thought. I sat down on my couch waiting for the matchups to start, first was Memphis vs. UCLA. "This is guaranteed to be a good match" I thought to myself. And don't get me wrong it was still an ok matchup, but it wasn't what I expected. I wanted a buzzer beater I guess, but I didn't get one. In the end what I got was a 78-63 victory. Good, but not great. "The next matchup will be much better though," I told my friend Alan "no way it will be that lopsided." Again, though, I was wrong. Kansas jumped out to a huge 40-12 lead and North Carolina seemed dead, but Tyler Hansborough and company led back a charge and they were able to get back to within 5 at about the 10 minute mark in the second half. The come back was not meant to be though as the Jayhawks were able to dominate the final 10 minutes and come away with a 84-66 win. Both of these matches were exciting at times as I mentioned before but overall did not live up to the hype of 1 vs. 1.
My NCAA brackets were destined to fail though under this number one dominance. I mocked all of my friends and coworkers who picked all four number one seeds in the finals. I called them fools, but who's the fool now? I am. I picked UNC, Clemson (CLEMSON!?!?What was I thinking?), Pittsburgh and UCLA. 2/4 ain't bad I guess, but the two I had correct were hardly reaches, they were the favorites. Long story short, I lost my bracket. If any good comes of this it will be the fact that from now on no one will hesitate to pick all one seeds and next year you, the "expert" can coast all the way to a win in your office pool. Yep, there's a silver lining to every dark cloud.
Grading:
Words: 694
Passion: 17
Creativity: 15
Clarity: 15
Knowledge: 18
Penalty: 0
Total: 65
