Friday, January 2, 2009

Chef's Bracketology 1/2/09


Chefology




1/2/2009
















FIRST ROUND


FIRST ROUND

MARCH 19-20


MARCH 19-20







1 North Carolina

Connecticut 1
16 MtStMry/Hampton
Prarie View A&M 16

(play in, mar 17)











8 West Virginia

Arizona 8
9 Baylor
Kentucky 9












5 Miami

Wake Forest 5
12 Illinois St.
Minnesota 12












4 Georgetown

Kansas 4
13 Kent St.
George Mason 13












6 Xavier

Arizona St. 6
11 St. Mary's
Dayton 11












3 Notre Dame

Gonzaga 3
14 Cornell
Pacific 14












7 Wisconsin
Villanova 7
10 Arkansas
Illinois 10












2 UCLA

Texas 2
15 Belmont
Portland St. 15


























1 Duke

Pittsburgh 1
16 Jacksonville St.
Texas-Arlington 16












8 Ohio St.

Clemson 8
9 Butler
LSU 9












5 Marquette
Davidson 5
12 UAB
Texas A&M 12












4 Tennessee

Memphis 4
13 Virginia Military
Oral Roberts 13












6 Florida

Syracuse 6
11 W. Kentucky
Maryland 11












3 Purdue
Michigan St. 3
14 Boise St.
Siena 14












7 UNLV

USC 7
10 Stanford
BYU 10












2 Louisville

Oklahoma 2
15 Vermont
Lehigh 15






New Arrivals:


Dropped:

Illinois St.


Drake

Illinois


Michigan

Stanford


Virginia Tech

Vermont


UMBC

Hampton


Coppin St.








Conf:





BigEast - 9





ACC - 6





Big10 - 6





Big12 - 5





SEC - 5





PAC 10 - 5




Beasts of the East

Chef's log: 1/2/09

Jim Morrison once said, "The west is the best." He must have been talking about the infamous Summer of '67. In the Spring of '09, the east will be the best. No matter which way you stir the pot, no matter which week you examine the polls, the overwhelming majority of top squads hail from the east. With all due respect to teams like UCLA, Gonzaga & Arizona St, the odds are stacked heavily in the east's favor.

Let's start with the creme de la creme, the Beluga in the caviar world, North Carolina. We won't delve too deep into a notion that has already received its deserved press, but UNC is by far the team to beat. If I were filling out my final four now, the only team I have supreme confidence in is UNC. They have a team of returning champions, a national player of the year debate within their own team (Hansbrough v Lawson), and a hall of fame coach in Roy Williams. They have depth, leadership, experience, explosive scoring, and intensity. They're blowing out ranked teams by 30 points.

Then you have the ACC. This coming Monday, if Wake Forest goes to BYU and pulls off a victory over the very competent Mountain West team, the ACC will have 3 teams in the top 4. (#1 UNC, #3 Duke, #4 Wake, thanks to losses by UCONN & Oklahoma) Other ACC teams like Clemson, Miami, Maryland, Virginia Tech, BC & FSU have talent as well. Sure, the latter share of these teams would have some difficulty against teams like Texas, UNLV & Oklahoma, but there is some growing depth here in the Atlantic.

Now to the Big East. The conference is and will be living up to the pre-season hype like a new Bobby Flay restaurant opening in NYC. With all the press and exposure the conference had and still has, this Monday the Big East should have 9 big east teams in the top 25. Sure Louisville has squandered a few games. Sure UCONN squeaked by Gonzaga. But underrated teams like Marquette, West Virginia & Georgetown are starting to make cases for themselves. And let us not neglect the resilient Orangemen who have a buzzerbeater loss to Cleveland St. as their only blemish. Notre Dame, Nova & obviously #2 ranked Pitt round out this group. They say the proof is in the pudding, and these teams taste good.

While the Big 12 and Big 10 are conferences on the rise, conferences with improved depth, come March the Final Four should contain at least 3, if not 4 teams from the east coast. Teams like UCLA, Oklahoma, perhaps USC (if they acquire quarterback Mark Sanchez) Gonzaga, Michigan St., & Texas will have something to say about that. Even darkhorse fan favorites like UNLV, ASU, & BYU will throw their best weapons at the boys from the coast. But in the end, they'll serve as accompanied side potatoes to the east's Kobe Beef Porterhouse.

Naked Chef

(Tonight's game to watch: ASU 11-1 @ Stanford 10-0.)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Should Auld Aquaintance Be Forgot

Chef's Log: 1/1/09

With a big day in college hoops yesterday, we welcome in the new year with an important mantra. As in the famed chorus of a song we all heard very early this morning, "Should auld aquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind". Like a home-made beef chili gone wrong, one can't dwell on the past and thus must get back to the cutting board, back to the saucepan, and back to the stove. While previous experience plays a role in college hoops, it is "the now" that we should focus on. Just because teams like Kentucky & Indiana have decades of proven worth, does not mean that they are necessarily worthy this year. Likewise, simply because teams like Baylor & ASU are newer to the world of bball fan-dom, does not mean that they can not simmer to smooth perfection like a rustic bolognese sauce.

Minnesota entered conference play yesterday with their best start in over 60 years. Fans got amped. Yesterday, they were muted. Only this time, these were not the sylistic sounds of Miles Davis' muted trumpet off "Kind of Blue". The Golden Gophers chugged down a serious bottle of yesterday's holiday 'bubbly' we'll call... reality. Yesterday marked the gradual descent of Minnesota, a team that will be fortunate to grab a below average seed this March, with their home loss to seasoned winner Michigan St. In the same crockpot we'll call the Big Ten, Wisconsin rolled into #24 ranked Michigan and reminded the Wolverines that "Bo knows bball", Bo Ryan that is. Coach Ryan proved defense can still win games. Come Monday's updated polls, look for Michigan to say good by to a top 25 ranking for the remainder of the season. They'll be pushing simply for a tourny bid come Selection Sunday in March.

Out of the Big Ten and into scalding hot fryer we'll call the Big East, which took a bit of a hit yesterday, we'll talk about a few big names that fell or came dangerously close. Louisville is one of those teams that if solely looked on past performance, is a near lock to win most games. But they ran into a vocal UNLV team as hungry to state their case as a carnivore walking into Peter Luger's Steakhouse. Rick Pitino's team squandered their 3rd loss of the season to an underrated UNLV team, in Louisville. When all is said and done, look for UNLV to grab a middle seed between #7-#10. In continuing with a strange day in Big East conference play, #3 ranked Pitt was pushed to the brink by... Rutgers? A team as overlooked as a raw egg in a an authentic Caesar dressing, the Scarlet Knights kept Pitt fans on the edge of their seats until the final minutes where the Panthers held on and avoided joining a slew of upsets. Pitt is sure to jump to #2 overall with UCONN's loss to Georgetown this past Monday.

The Zags of Gonzaga fell for a third straight time, this time to ESPN's bball analyst Joe Lunardi's favorite, Utah. Are the Utes for real? It's been some time. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Don't get your hopes up. Gonzaga in, Utah out, come March that'll be the story. Should auld aquaintance be forgot? In the words of one Garth Algar, "Live in the Now".

Yesterday proved just that, and if there's one thing to keep in mind, everyday is a new day. Anything can happen from this point on. Anything will happen from this point on. Tie on your aprons. Sharpen your knives. It's going to be a smokin' '09 in the March Madness Kitchen.

Naked Chef
Happy New Year