Moni's 2014 NCAA Men's B-Ball Bracket

I love March Madness like 'errbody' else, except when they keep showing replays of the last painful seconds of a certain 1983 NCAA tournament final game in Albuquerque.

One of the things that I've done on TransGriot is to put my men's NCAA tournament bracket up for the whole world to see, and I've done so every year since 2007.    You can also see my brackets for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 here.

Since it's Women's History Month, I also do a bracket for the NCAA women's tournament,  and that goes up tomorrow.

As for last year's NCAA men's tournament, for the second straight year I picked the eventual NCAA champion correctly (Louisville), but not without some of my regional brackets being totally trashed.

And yeah, it irritated Cat Nation to no end that the Cards won the title in a year they didn't even make the tournament and that NCAA championship trophy moved to the Louisville end of I-64.   Speaking of irritated, the defending champs are pissed off about their seeding.

Will the NCAA title stay in the state of Kentucky?   I'm saying yes.  

Later today the Journey to the Jerrydome begins for 68 teams with the First Four games tonight and tomorrow night.   For the first time since 2003 the Texas Southern University Tigers are in the Big Dance after winning the SWAC tournament championship at Toyota Center in H-town last weekend .   You'll also recognize TSU Tiger coach.Mike Davis.   If that name sounds familiar, he's the same Mike Davis that took Indiana to the national championship game in 2002.  

Wichita State became the first team since the 1991 UNLV squad to enter the tournament unbeaten but fell to Duke in the title game.    Can the Shockers shock the NCAA b-ball world and become the first champion with a perfect record since Indiana ran the table in 1976? 

Nope, they won't..

But as to who I think will be cutting down the nets at AT&T Stadium, as you can see, I'm picking a repeat champ.  I'm 4-3 so far in picking men's NCAA champs, and we'll see if I'm correct for the third year in a row on April 7.    

So enough jibber-jabber and let's get busy with this year's edition of my NCAA Men's tournament bracket.

  
First Four Games
Albany, NC State, Texas Southern, Iowa

South Regional

Second Round
Florida, Pittsburgh, VCU, UCLA, Ohio State, Syracuse, New Mexico, Kansas

Third Round
Florida, VCU, Syracuse, Kansas

Elite Eight
Florida, Kansas

South Regional Champion
Florida


West Regional

Second Round
Arizona, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Baylor, Creighton, Oregon, Wisconsin

Third Round
Arizona, San Diego State, Baylor, Oregon

Elite Eight
Arizona, Baylor

West Regional Champion
Arizona

Midwest Regional

Second Round
Wichita State, Kentucky, St. Louis, Louisville, Iowa, Duke, Texas, Michigan

Third Round
Wichita State, Louisville, Duke, Michigan

Elite Eight
Louisville, Duke

Midwest Regional Champ
Louisville

East Regional

Second Round
Virginia, Memphis, Cincinnati, Michigan State, North Carolina, Iowa State, Connecticut, Villanova


Third Round
Virginia, Michigan State, North Carolina, Connecticut

Elite Eight
Michigan State, North Carolina

East Regional Champion
Michigan State

Final Four Teams
Florida, Michigan State, Arizona, Louisville,

Championship Game
Florida, Louisville

2014 NCAA Champ
Louisville

 



 

Told Y'all Some UT Fans Hated The Charlie Strong Hire

If you thought I was kidding about the less than warm welcome that greeted the news of Longhorn Elementary The University of Texas hiring Charlie Strong from some elements of their vanillacentric privileged, entitled and spoiled burnt orange wearing fanbase, well, you shouldn't be surprised.

UT megabooster Red McCombs, who has donated $100 million to UT, did his best Al Campanis impression when commenting of the hiring of the first African-American head coach for ANY UT men's sport.   

“I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said during a  interview on ESPN 1250 in San Antonio. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.  

“But I don’t believe (he belongs at) what should be one of three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.”

McCombs was lobbying for former NFL coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden to get the UT job. 

So tell me, how is the hiring of a coach who never had a losing record in his four years at Louisville, won a BCS bowl game, currently has a 37-15 record, won two Big East/AAC conference titles and has recruited and coached the possible number one overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in Teddy Bridgewater a 'kick in the teeth' hire? 

Says more about Red McCombs.   And naw white peeps, don't even attempt to defend what McCombs said by using Dennis Green as a shield.   Dennis Green was hired in 1992 and was already in his sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings when McCombs bought the team in 1998, and as soon as Green had his first losing season in a decade as the Vikings coach in 2001 a year after narrowly missing a trip to the Super Bowl fired him. 

McCombs did apologize and walk back his comments, but McCombs is symptomatic of the arrogance I talk about in the UT fan base.  It's why I get gleeful enjoyment when their burnt orange wearing football team of four and five star recruits gets their butt kicked in Big 12 play or in bowl games..  

As I said in the earlier post, Charlie, good luck brother, you're going to need it.  Going to be interesting to see if they Ty Willingham you if you have one bad season there in Austin. 

UT Fans Welcome Their New Coach To Austin

As I've stated in other UT related blog posts, I'm not a Texas Longhorns fan because I've had negative run-ins with elements of their arrogant and racist fanbase while I was a student at UH during the SWC days. 

In fact, it makes my day when I see their precious $140 million dollar football team of five star recruits get its collective butt kicked by teams that have less cashflow and had to work harder to get their players 

But did have to comment on Charlie Strong becoming the first African-American head coach of their football program.  Word is that Strong has accepted their offer and is about to sign a contract that pays him $5 million a year over the next five years to break the UT coaching color line.  

Congratulations and good luck, brother, you're gonna need it. 

LSUFreek put up at his blog this awesome GIF of the reaction that Strong's hiring as the Longhorn head coach has generated with elements of UT's demanding fanbase. 

.

And yeah, also not happy about the problematic reporting coming out of the Dallas-Ft Worth area about it too. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Going Bowling

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights. This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
--TransGriot November 1, 2013

Damn, did I call it or not UH Cougar fans?  

My fave college football team was riding high at one point of this 2013 NCAA college football season   The freshman and sophomore dominated Cougar squad was 7-1, unbeaten in AAC conference play at 4-0 and hitting the most critical two weeks of their season with road games against UCF and Louisville.

If they win them both, they would be in the driver's seat for the inaugural AAC title and have the inside track for UH's first ever BCS bowl game.  

We're going bowling, but it won't be a BCS one.

In their November 9 nationally televised AAC showdown with Number 21 ranked UCF, UH came 30 seconds, two dropped end zone passes and seven agonizing yards short of walking out of Orlando with a win after coming back from a 19-7 deficit with 4:04 left in the game.

But the 19-14 defeat gave them their second loss of the season, their first in AAC play and dropped them into a second place tie with Louisville.

The Cougars took their 7-2 (4-1 AAC) record on November 16 to 'The Pizzeria' for their first trip to Louisville since 2003 and both were members of C-USA.   Sadly once again 13th ranked Louisville is bouncing for another conference (the ACC this time) just as we join them in the Conference Formerly Known As The Big East.

With a BCS bid still in reach for either team if they won, this first UH-Louisville tilt since 2004 was a far more competitive game than the one I had to hear about for several weeks as a Texan in Exile up there after they lost big in 2003 and 2004.  

But I did talk much trash after the 2002 upset win over the Cards in Houston.

At halftime it was looking good for my UH boys.  Despite losing all world wideout Deontay Greenberry to a head injury in the first quarter, the Cougars were up 13-10 at halftime and had Teddy Bridgewater under control.   The Cards made their halftime adjustments and shifted to a runcentric attack behind junior Dominique Brown.  He rushed for a career high 137 yards on 27 carries as the Cards ate up 12:24 of the third quarter, got the go ahead TD and added a John Wallace field goal late in the third quarter to eventually send the Cougars to another frustrating 20-13 loss in the last game we'll play against the Cards until 2015.  

With the Cougars at 7-3 for the season (4-2 in AAC play) and their slim hopes for a BCS bowl gone, they focused their attention on trying to end their losing skid against Cincinnati on November 23 in a soggy and cold BBVA Compass Stadium.

The temp was 40 degrees at kickoff with intermittent rain and the UH offense was as sloppy as the playing surface. 

The offense once again sputtered, scoring only one touchdown and O'Korn coughing the ball up deep in Bearcat territory on UH's opening drive.  The Cougars fell behind 24-7 before starting their second half comeback.  It was jumpstarted by safety Trevon Stewart's 15 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to narrow the UH deficit to 21-14.

The Bearcats also gave John O'Korn and the Cougars one last chance to snatch victory from the jaws of  defeat after they missed a short field goal with 1:24 left and no timeouts. But the Coogs ran out of time at the Cincinnati 32 yard line to lose 24-17 and drop their third straight game in AAC play by a TD or less and go 7-4 (4-3 AAC) on the season.

On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving the Cougars and the 'Third Ward D' feasted on our AAC instate rivals SMU and rolled them 34-0 at Reliant Stadium. 

While the offense was breaking out of its malaise with a 67 yard bomb to Daniel Spencer from O'Korn on the opening play of the game, the defense was making life miserable for SMU redshirt freshman QB Neal Burcham. 

They sacked Burcham five times, forced four turnovers and allowed only one Mustang trip inside the 20 yard line to post the first UH shutout since they were members of the SWC.

On December 2, 1989 the Cougars beat Rice 64-0 in their last game of the season to cap a 9-2 SWC campaign in which they finished second in the league, were ranked #14 during a probation marred season and saw Andre Ware run-and-shoot his way to the Heisman Trophy.   

Speaking of quarterbacks, John O'Korn did finish the regular season setting a UH freshman QB record with 26 touchdowns

The Cougars finished their first season in the AAC with an 8-4 record and 5-3 in conference play to finish fourth.  Not bad considering they were picked to finish sixth and did this with a freshman and sophomore dominated line up. 

While it's not the BCS bowl they had designs on when they started the year, on January 4 the Coogs will travel to Birmingham, AL to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl against their SEC opponent, the 8-4 Vanderbilt Commodores at Legion Field in what should be a fun game. 
   
While this inaugural AAC season turned out to be much better for the Coogs and their fans than we anticipated, the future looks so bright for the UH Cougars they need shades. 

In addition to those freshman and sophomores getting valuable playing time in their maiden AAC campaign, they will be playing in the new on campus football stadium scheduled to open on August 30, 2014.

And hopfully you'll be able to ride the METRORail Purple line to the stadium when the new Cougar football home opens with a game against the UTSA Roadrunners.  

Now all we need is a few four and five star recruits to sign and come play in it. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Halloween Treat For The Coogs

My fave collegiate football team had a short week because this Halloween night American Athletic Conference game against the University of South Florida Bulls was being nationally televised on ESPN.  

It also had all the earmarks of being a potential trick instead of a treat for unbeaten in conference play UH but didn't start that way.

The Cougars took just three plays to score on their opening drive and sprinted out to a 21-10 halftime lead before the script flipped in the second half.

UH came into this game as the nation's leading team in turnover ratio at +20 but coughed the ball up in the end zone on the opening third quarter drive that would have given them a 28-10 lead.  The Cougars started shooting themselves in the foot on offense with mistakes, mental breakdowns and a personal foul penalty by Kenneth Farrow that stalled another drive as the Bulls mustered enough offense after going a month with scoring touchdowns to narrow their deficit to 28-23.

But the Bulls (2-6, 2-2 AAC) committed 19 penalties for 170 yards, with the most backbreaking one happening with UH clinging to a five point lead deep into in the fourth quarter.  USF's true freshman QB Mike White tossed a pass along the right sideline to Bulls receiver Andre Davis that had him stepping out of bounds just short of the goal line but was flagged for offensive pass interference for pushing off on UH cornerback William Jackson. 

The penalty wiped out a 27 yard gain and pushed the Bulls back to the UH 42 yard line.  On the very next play Cougar defensive end Tyus Bowser sacked White and forced a fumble that was recovered by Jeremiah Farley for their first and most critical turnover of the game.  

UH then put the game away with a drive capped off by a determined Kenneth Farrow 5 yard TD run and a late interception to help the Coogs close out the 35-23 win and go to a spotless 4-0 in AAC play.

It was also the 16th straight game that the Cougars have had 2+ turnovers. 

Next week the 7-1 Cougars travel to Orlando to take on their first ranked opponent of the season in the 6-1 University of Central Florida Knights.   The Knights are no slouches with their lone loss being a narrow 28-25 non conference one to South Carolina.  UCF is also unbeaten in AAC play and walked into the Pizzeria October 18 and knocked off then number 8 ranked Louisville 38-35. 

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights.    This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
  

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Routing Rutgers

Before the season started the media covering the American Athletic Conference picked the Cougars to finish sixth in the inaugural AAC season poll. 

That dissing didn't sit too well with the UH football players, and as they started their season 5-0 the Cougar players continued to be incensed by the lack of media love and perceived disrespect.

"I was watching the Louisville (Central Florida) game and the ESPN commentators were talking about they were going to run the conference and do this and do that," said Cougar safety Adrian McDonald.  "They didn't even say anything about us. Coach talked about it. This is motivation. We're coming from the bottom and we're just going to work our way up."

If the media wasn't paying attention to UH.and ignoring them when it comes to ranking them, they most certainly are now. 

McDonald had two of the NCAA leading Cougar defense's five interceptions that turned a tight game into a 49-14 rout over Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ. 


True freshman quarterback John O'Korn led a high octane Cougar offense that amassed 611 yards of total offense.  O'Korn was 24 of 30 for 364 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Cougars rebounded from last week's narrow loss to BYU in a major way.    

The Cougar offense scored two second quarter touchdowns in the span of 58 seconds, one being a 83 yard strike from O'Korn to Deontay Greenberry that broke open the game and gave UH a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Cougar defense came into this game having forced 24 turnovers and a +14 turnover margin and added to it with the six turnovers they forced in this conference matchup.

With the win the Cougars are now 6-1 on the season (3-0 in AAC play) and bowl eligible but have bigger goals in mind.

The AAC champ is eligible for a BCS bowl, and after narrowly mission out on one in that near BCS busting season in 2011, definitely have their eyes on that prize in addition to the inaugural AAC title.

Next up is another AAC game in Reliant Stadium against the 2-5 (2-1) South Florida Bulls on Halloween night that will be televised on ESPN.

Hopefully the Cougars after that game will be one step closer to a BCS bowl and an AAC title that no one thought this freshman and sophomore laden squad would be able to win.   

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Tough Loss To Those Utah Based Cougars

The collegiate football pundits had my fave undefeated collegiate football team penciled in as a ten point underdog at Reliant Stadium to that other Cougar team from Utah.

The UH Cougars didn't pay attention to the oddsmakers and got into an entertaining four hour marathon offensive shootout with BYU.

The UH Cougars scored on big plays like a 95 yard kickoff return, their first safety since 1992, a pick six interception return and touchdown receptions of 41 and 69 yards as both Cougar teams combined for 1,164 yards of total offense and BYU tied an FBS record by running 115 plays in the game. 

But it was the plays that UH didn't make like the two missed Richie Leone field goals from 40 and 45 yards, the missed extra point, the failed two point conversion, the three O'Korn interceptions and 10 penalties that kept critical drives alive for BYU and led to a narrow 47-46 loss.

Instead of the expected punishing BYU ground attack they expected going into the game BYU quarterback Taysom Hill flipped the football script and came out throwing the ball for a career high 417 yards and four TD's with three interceptions.  UH quarterback John O'Korn nearly matched him with 363 yards passing and three touchdowns in a first half that was a track meet in which the longest drive for either team was three minutes. 

The 38-34 halftime score favoring UH gave way to a third quarter defensive battle in which linebacker Derrick Matthews, who had three sacks along with the 29 yard pick six recorded the only point with that safety.

But it was Hill's 11 yard pass to Skyler Ridley with 1:08 remaining followed by O'Korn's killer third INT of the game by BYU's Alani Fua with 1:05 left that sealed the win for the now 5-2 Utah based Cougars and sent the UH Cougars to a frustrating first loss of the season.  

The Cougars don't have time to dwell on the loss because from now on their remaining scheduled games are all AAC conference games.    Next up for my freshman and sophomore dominated squad is a Saturday trip to Piscataway, NJ to play Rutgers before they join the Big Ten next season. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-5-0!

The good news is that H-town has one unbeaten football team playing inside Loop 610, and nope it ain't the guys who get paid to play in Reliant Stadium.

The Cougars once again played some serious defense, forcing 4 turnovers to add to their NCAA leading +14 turnover ratio and limited the Memphis offense to five field goals.

UH needed the defensive bailout, because the Air Raid offense took awhile to get going with Memphis' number 15 FBS ranked defense holding the usually high octane Cougar offense to a season low 247 total yards. 

UH got the scoring party started at BBVA Compass Stadium early with a 17 yard O'Korn to Daniel Spencer touchdown strike on their opening drive after Memphis turned the ball over.

But after that initial UH touchdown drive, the Coogs couldn't muster any sustained offense.  The Tigers narrowed the gap to 7-6 before a Leone second quarter field goal pushed the lead to 10-6 and Memphis got another one from Jake Elliott to narrow it to 10-9 at the half. 

The Cougar offensive struggles continued into the second half and Memphis eventually took a 15-10 lead in the third quarter before a 33 yard goal line catch by Xavier Maxwell seat up the first of Kenneth Farrow's two scoring touchdowns. 

Welcome back, Kenneth! Boy have they missed you in red zone situations.  The subsequent successful two point conversion gave them a three point lead before UH put the game away in the fourth quarter for the 25-15 win. 

With the victory UH not only matched their disappointing win total for last season, but go to 5-0 to start a season for only the fourth time in school history.  They also joined Louisville and South Florida at 2-0 for the AAC lead.

“There’s nobody in our program satisfied winning five games,” UH coach Tony Levine said in a Houston Chronicle interview. “There is nobody in that locker room — players, coaches and staff — that is driving home saying one more win and we’re going to a bowl game. That’s not our focus.”

Especially since the Coogs are now in an AQ conference and the winner of the AAC title, at least for this season automatically qualifies for a BCS bowl. 

The undefeated Cougars get tested next week when those other Cougars from BYU come to Reliant Stadium followed by a AAC road trip to New Jersey to play Rutgers.

Barack-etology 2013

Well, you've seen my NCAA brackets for the 2013 men's and women's tournaments which have already taken a hit on the men's side with New Mexico being upset by Harvard (score one for Eli Blake) and Georgetown's shocking loss.  

But my Final Four teams on my men's and women's brackets are still alive for now.

Here's what President Obama had to say about the 2013 NCAA men's and women's tournaments.

The NCAA women's tournament

 

The NCAA men's tournament

Moni's 2013 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

In honor of Women's History Month, in 2008 I started doing an NCAA women's tournament bracket similar to what I was doing for the men. 

My readers who are women's basketball fans like me loved the idea so much I've continued what has become an anticipated TransGriot tradition in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Unlike the menz, The Lone Star State is well represented in this edition of the NCAA women's tournament, and one of the teams involved just happens to be the defending champs.  Baylor compiled an unprecedented  40-0 unbeaten record enroute to knocking off Skylar Diggins led Notre Dame for the 2012 NCAA women's basketball title and keep that trophy in Texas.   The other Lone Star State schools besides 32-1 Baylor participating in this 64 team tourney are SEC tournament champ Texas A&M, SWAC tourney champ Prairie View A&M and Texas Tech. 

Prairie View has the misfortune of once again facing the overall number one seeded Lady Bears and Brittney Griner in the opening round of the tournament.

Speaking of the Lady Bears, can they send my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner out in her senior year a winner as a repeat NCAA champion?  Will she dunk in the title game or sometime during the tournament? 

Will Chiney Ogwumike and her Stanford teammates spoil the title coronation and hang another loss on the Lady Bears?  

Will Skylar Diggins and Notre Dame in her senior year finally get the NCAA title she and the Fighting Irish have come so close to winning twice? 

Does UConn have a long NCAA title run in them?  Or will some new contender to the women's basketball throne spring some upsets that send them all the way to New Orleans?

The road to the 2013 NCAA Women's Final Four in New Orleans starts on March 23 with the title game happening April 7-9 

Oklahoma City Region

Ist Round
Baylor, Florida State, Louisville, Purdue, Oklahoma, UCLA, Syracuse, Tennessee

 Sweet 16
Baylor, Louisville, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Baylor, Tennessee

Oklahoma City Region Champion 
Baylor

Spokane Region

1st Round
Stanford, Villanova, Iowa State, Georgia, LSU, Penn State, Texas Tech, California 

Sweet 16
Stanford, Iowa State, LSU, California

Elite Eight
Stanford, LSU

Spokane Region Champion
Stanford


Norfolk Region

1st Round
Notre Dame, Miami, Colorado, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas A&M , Oklahoma State, Duke

Sweet 16
Notre Dame, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Duke

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Texas A&M

Norfolk Region Champion
Notre Dame

Bridgeport Region

1st Round
Connecticut, Vanderbilt, Michigan St., Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Dayton, Kentucky  

Sweet 16
Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Bridgeport Region Champion
Connecticut

Final Four Teams
Baylor, Stanford, Notre Dame,Connecticut

Championship Game
Baylor, Notre Dame

2013 NCAA Champion
Baylor


     

Moni's 2013 NCAA Men's B-Ball Bracket

March Madness is upon us once again and for the 75th year the NCAA men's basketball tournament is being contested.   68 teams begin playing for that trip to the ATL April 6-8 and for the opportunity to be the last ballers standing on the floor of the Georgia Dome.

They have the dream they want to make a reality of  cutting down the nets and holding up the NCAA championship trophy. 

For the first time since 1977, none of those 68 teams including my beloved UH Cougars will be from Texas.   Kentucky, who won it all last year won't be in the tournament either and they have to deal with the fact that the hated Louisville Cardinals travel that 70 miles on I-64 east to open their 2013 NCAA tournament run at Rupp Arena .  

All that one and done recruiting finally caught up with the Cats this year (snicker, snicker)   

For the ones that did make it, it's time for me to try to pick in a wild year on the collegiate men's basketball side who will be the champion.   Last year I picked the eventual NCAA men's champion in Kentucky, but even the Geico caveman could see that coming.   

Here's my March Madness Men's B-Ball picks if you want to see how well I did (or didn't do) in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011

So let's get busy with this year's edition of Moni's NCAA men's brackets.

First Four Games
St Mary's, North Carolina A&T, Boise State, James Madison 

Midwest Regional

Second Round
Louisville, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Saint Louis, Memphis, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Duke

Third Round
Louisville, Saint Louis, Michigan State, Duke

Elite Eight
Louisville, Duke

Midwest Regional Champion
Louisville

South Regional

Second Round
Kansas, North Carolina, VCU, Michigan, UCLA, Florida, San Diego State, Georgetown 

Third Round
North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, Georgetown

Elite Eight
North Carolina, Georgetown

South Regional Champion
North Carolina


East Regional

Second Round
Indiana, NC State, UNLV, Syracuse, Butler, Marquette, Illinois, Miami 

Third Round
Indiana, Syracuse, Marquette, Miami

Elite Eight
Indiana, Miami

East Regional Champion
Indiana

West Regional

Second Round
Gonzaga, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Kansas State, Arizona, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Ohio State

Third Round
Gonzaga, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Notre Dame

Elite Eight
Gonzaga, Notre Dame

West Regional Champion
Notre Dame

Final Four Teams
Louisville, North Carolina, Indiana, Notre Dame

Championship Game
Louisville, Indiana

2013 NCAA Champ
Louisville

2012 Cougar Watch-Final C-USA Football Game A Victorious One

It's been a roller coaster season for my fave college football squad    They started with a shocking opening day loss to Texas State, stumbled to an 0-3 start, began climbing out of that hole with a Bayou Bucket retaining win against Rice only to go on another three game losing streak as the injuries mounted to key players such as running back Charles Sims and quarterback David Piland.

The Cougars also had the life and death drama of senior cornerback DJ Hayden nearly dying on the practice field.  He tore his inferior vena cava vein during a collision and had to be helicoptered to Memorial Hermann Hospital for immediate emergency surgery.   That vein carries blood from the lower body to the heart and tears like that are 95% fatal.  That type of injury is usually seen in auto accidents but rarely reported on a football field. 

The final game at Robertson Stadium versus the Tulane Green Wave was memorable for many reasons. It was Senior Day and every member of the team wore DJ Hayden's name on their jerseys in tribute to him as he arrived on a cart.   It was the last game at Robertson Stadium, which is being torn down so the new stadium can be built at its site.

It was also the last football game the Cougars would play as a C-USA member.  UH is moving to the Big East in 2013, so they wanted to win this game for all those reasons since as a result of the twin three game losing streaks they weren't bowl eligible.

This game was also a microcosm of their season.  The Cougars got off to a fast 14-0 start, lost freshman RB Kenneth Farrow to a season ending injury in the second quarter but had freshman RB Ryan Jackson step up to rush for 129 yards and two TD's with one of them being a 72 yarder in the third quarter that pushed the Cougar lead to 27-10.   Tulane fought to close within 10 points twice before the Cougars put the game away. 

Fifth year senior QB Crawford Jones threw for 368 yards and two more TD's as UH beat the Green Wave 40-17 to finish the season 5-7 and 4-4 in C-USA West Division play

They also closed out their run at Robertson Stadium with a 72-44-1 record and when they play their home games in their first Big East season next year it will be at a different to be determined stadium before they open up their new on campus digs in September 2014.. 


 

2012 UH Cougar Watch-Great Time For First Win

My fave college football team got their 2012 college football season off to a rocky start with a 30-13 upset loss to Texas State at Robertson Stadium.  

It got worse for UH on September 8 in a 56-49 shootout loss to Louisiana Tech to drop them to 0-2.

They were also battling the injury bug as they traveled to Pasadena,.CA to get spanked 37-7 by UCLA on September 15 to drop their record to 0-3 .

But the good news was they hadn't started conference play yet.   In addition to going through their bye week and getting healthy they would start and would start C-USA play against our crosstown rivals at Rice. 

Our campuses are separated by seven miles and this is the Coogs last season in C-USA before they move to the Big East next year.   This would be the last conference football game that we would play against the Owls and the Bayou Bucket and Houston bragging rights were also on the line at Reliant Stadium. 

Good thing since its been raining intermittently all day. 

The Coogs rolled to a 35-14 win versus the Owls thanks to Charles Sims rolling up 158 years on 24 carries and scoring three touchdowns to help keep the Bayou Bucket where it belongs on Cullen Blvd. for the second straight year.   It also gave us our first win of the season and most importantly made the Cougars 1-0 in C-USA West Division play

The Cougars get North Texas on Saturday at Robertson Stadium in their last non conference game of the season before they tackle the rest of their C-USA schedule.


Eat 'em up!   .You finally got that first win of the season. 

2012 UH Cougar Watch-Kicking Off Season Against Texas State

My fave collegiate football team kicks off their season in moments against the Texas State Bobcats at 'the 'Rob'.  It'll be the last season they play at Robertson Stadium before it is demolished and the new football stadium begins to be constructed on that site and completed by September 2014 .  

It's also the last season we'll play as a member of Conference USA before we move on to the challenge of playing football and other sports in the Big East in 2013.

After coming off a 13-1 campaign and a Ticket City Bowl win against Penn State,  the Coogs have a chip on their shoulders as usual because Case Keenum, Tyron Carrier, and Patrick Edwards have graduated and it's David Piland's chance to operate the potent UH Air Raid offensive attack and they are getting no media love once again.   

Well, they'll get their opportunity to prove everyone wrong tonight against Texas State 

Texas Stare is in its first season in the WAC and the FBS, but has a long history of competitive football at the FBS/Division I-AA level in the Southland Conference.  It won two NCAA Division II national championships in 1980-81 and made it to the FBS semfinals in 2005  before falling to eventual national runner up Northern Iowa. 

Translation: UH can't sleep on them especially since Texas State is anxious to prove they can play at this level and are playing this game in one of the top areas for high school football talent in Texas.

Should be fun to watch.  .  Eat 'em up!

Baylor Lady Bears Visit The White House

Y'all know how much I love my Houston hoopster homegirl Brittney Griner and her Baylor Lady Bear teammates who completed an unbeaten 40-0 run to a NCAA women's basketball title and made me look like a hoops genius in terms of picking my NCAA women's March Madness bracket..

They got to visit the White House and President Obama yesterday and present the POTUS with a Baylor jersey and autographed basketball. 



“I could not be prouder of this team,” President Obama said during this event. ”As the father of two daughters who are tall and beautiful just like them, it is great to have role models who can show that women can be strong and athletic and competitive, but also play as a team.”

And this Lady Bear team had a dominating and record setting season on the way to beating the Skylar Diggins led Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the championship.   They also kept the NCAA women's championship trophy in the Lone Star State for the second consecutive season.

Can they repeat?   We'll see starting in November.

UH's Last Season In C-USA And Robertson Stadium

One year from now the University of Houston will join the Big East Conference in all sports, but until then we'll be spending the 2012 season as a member of Conference USA for the final time.

The University of Houston has been a charter member of C-USA since the league was founded in 1995 but with the changing college conference landscape and UH campus leadership under president and chancellor Renu Khator pushing UH to be a Tier One institution in academics and its athletic programs, (and the Big 12 being 'scurred' to invite UH to join the conference) the move is being made the join the Big East in 2013.

Something else this will be is the final football season for Robertson Stadium.  The stadium was built in 1941 as an HISD high school football venue named Jeppesen Stadium and has a lot of history attached to it.   It hosted the Yates-Wheatley Thanksgiving Day game when both schools were in the old PVIL, Houston Oilers games in the early 60's, some Texas Southern University and HISD gridiron clashes and served as the home of the Houston Dynamo when thy moved here from San Jose until their new downtown stadium opened in May. 

It was bought by the University of Houston in the late 70's and renamed Robertson Stadium to provide an on campus facility for UH football games and was expanded in the 1990's to its current 32,000 seat capacity.

Once the final UH football game is concluded in December, demolition of Robertson will begin in order to clear room for the brand new 40,000 seat football stadium expandable to 50,000 to be erected on that spot of the campus and completed by September 2014. 

One cool thing is that the METRORail Southeast light rail line is currently being constructed on the Scott Street side of the new stadium and will be completed in late 2013-early 2014 which will make it easier to get there on Cougar game days if you don't feel like driving.  

But while I'm happy my alma mater is finally getting to work on that long talked about new on campus stadium and also renovating the Hofheinz Pavilion basketball arena across the street in the process, the one thing I'm sad about is that Robertson Stadium and the history attached to is going to be lost to the wrecking ball

But I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens in this final season of C-USA competition and how we fare in the Big East in 2013.


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The Lady Bears Are The Unbeaten 2012 NCAA Womens Champs

Told y'all the Lady Bears would win it all!  

Last night in Denver the NCAA women's basketball title stayed in Texas and moved up the Brazos River to Waco after the dominating 80-61 win of the Baylor Lady Bears over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to cap an undefeated and unprecedented 40-0 season    

It was Baylor's first title since 2005 and no NCAA team mens or women's have ever gone 40-0.  Baylor is the seventh team to go through their season unbeaten..

Was fun watching Brittney dominate in the paint after being held to only nine points in the first half.  Only wish she'd gotten a dunk in the title game.

Oh well, maybe she'll get one in Olympic women's basketball play later this summer in London, (hint, hint to Geno Auriemma and USA Basketball)

And bad news for you NCAA women's b-ball teams.   Brittney's coming back for her senior year.

Kentucky Basketball Hatefest Squared

Well, well, well.   This Final Four in New Orleans will have a lot of folks from Kentucky in town for it since half the teams playing are from the Bluegrass State.

It'll be Kentucky and Louisville playing each other in one of the national semifinals, and boy would I love to be in Da Ville this week observing the jousting between Wildcat and Cardinal fans.   Then again I spent eight years being recruited by Cards and Cats fans trying the swell the ranks of their fanbases by one.

So yep the house Divided will be even more intense this week, and as the tipoff to the battle in the Superdome gets closer, the hate will flow on the Net, in workplaces, and even amongst friends and family.

Should be a fun game to watch.    As for who I'm rooting for?   I'm neutral on this one.

Moni's 2012 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

Since 2008 in honor of Women's History Month I do a women's NCAA Tournament bracket in addition to the one I do for 'the menz' and had so much fun doing so I repeated it in 2009 and 2010  


I've actually done a better job picking the women's NCAA tournament champion than I have for the men.   Then again, UConn was on The Streak' 

Last year I expected my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears to make it to the Final Four but had another set of Houston homegirls in the Ogwumike sisters and Stanford winning the title. 

The NCAA title did come back to Texas and along the Brazos River, but it's residing in College Station instead of Waco. 

After being beaten by the Lady Bears three times in the 2011 season, the Aggies upset Baylor in the Dallas Regional final to punch their ticket to their first ever Final Four.  Once they arrived in Indianapolis, the Aggies knocked off Stanford and 'home team' and Indiana home girl Skylar Diggins Notre Dame squad, who beat Tennessee and their nemesis UConn to get to the title game for the championship.. 

Baylor hasn't forgotten that loss and it's fueled them to an unbeaten record so far, the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and the number one overall seed.   And yep, Brittney and company are determined to bring that trophy back to Waco for the first time since 2005.  But can the Lady Bears take that last step and be the team cutting down the nets at the Pepsi Center in Denver?  

I think so, but that's why you play the games..

Des Moines Regional

1st Round
Baylor, Ohio State, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Delaware, DePaul, Tennessee 

2nd Round
Baylor, Georgetown, Nebraska, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Baylor, Tennessee


Des Moines Regional Champion
Baylor

Fresno Regional
1st Round
Stanford, West Virginia, South Carolina, Purdue, Oklahoma, St John's, Vanderbilt, Duke

2nd Round
Stanford, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Duke

Elite Eight
Stanford, Oklahoma

Fresno Region Champs
Stanford

Raleigh Regional
1st Round
Notre Dame, California, St Bonaventure, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Louisville, Maryland

2nd Round
Notre Dame, Georgia, Arkansas, Maryland

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Maryland

Raleigh Regional Champs
Notre Dame

Kingston Regional
1st Round
Connecticut, Kansas State, LSU, Penn State, Rutgers, Miami (FL), Iowa State, Kentucky

2nd Round
Connecticut, LSU, Miami (FL), Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Kingston Regional Champs
Connecticut

Final Four Teams
Baylor, Stanford, Notre Dame, Connecticut 

Championship Game
Baylor, Notre Dame

2012 NCAA Champion
Baylor