Someday a game I want to see is going to be on ESPN 360. Until then, I only despise ESPN U. You know the channel that has about 5 games a year I want to see, and I’m too cheap to buy it since I’m already purchasing ESPN Full Court. Who gets this channel?
And in an ESPN U moment, the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament does not appear to be available in my area. That’s right, I’ve got women’s MAAC tournament action on Full Court, but not the tournament for the 7th best conference in America.
Oh well, this gives me more time to watch the SoCon semis. Let me tell you about Appalachian State. They beat the ACC leader Virginia and the SEC 2nd place team Vanderbilt. They beat CAA leader VCU. They beat Southern Conference Regular Season Champ Davidson. They beat Wichita State in the Bracket Busters. None of those wins came at home. But as of right now, Appalachian State’s season is likely over. Two words: Bobby Cremins. His College of Charleston team beat Appalachian State in overtime. Appalachian State actually had a chance to win it in regulation, but missed a free throw with 2.2 seconds remaining.
Appalachian State may have the 4th hardest non-conference slate in the country, but do not expect a big bonus for that. They also played 3 non-conference games against non-division 1 teams. This “inflates” their RPI and strength of schedule, and the committee will ding them for this. Yeah, that’s right, they’ll get dinged for wanting to play a few home games in November and December. The committee is evil this way. The committee also will not be able to overlook the five losses outside the top 100, including the home loss to RPI 297 Elon. Sorry Appalachian State, it was a nice run.
But hey, who knew Bobby Cremins could jump so high? That man was seriously happy about the victory.
Tomorrow, I’ll be at the MCI center to see if Georgetown can clinch a share of the Big East title, then back home to check the tape and see if Iowa burst Illinois’ bubble.