The Golden Panthers baseball team has struggled away from home, at least in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the first of the three game series, FIU fought hard but lost in twelve innings to a score of 5 – 4. The second of the series was one dominated by the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, losing 19 – 5, a very lopsided affair. It seems as though UALR has the Golden Panthers number, but they are looking to fight and prove they’re no pushover. They’re going to need support from Jabari Henry, standout freshman, and Pablo Bermudez, who have been consistent signs of offense for the Golden Panthers. The two of them combined for 4-8 and 3 of the Golden Panthers’ 5 runs in the last game after going 1-11 in the first game of the series, sending them into 5-17 in the series, not the numbers FIU was hoping to get out of two of their main hitters.

In addition, the pitching and defense need to step up after the ridiculous amount of runs allowed in the last game. Allowing 19 runs and having your catcher make an appearance as a pitcher makes winning a bit tough. When your pitching gives up 17 earned runs and your defense commits 3 errors, it will be extremely difficult to salvage anything in a game. It puts more strain on the hitters to make sure they can keep up with the offensive machine that is the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Aaron Arboleya is the projected starter today and the FIU baseball team are going to rally behind him. For the Golden Panthers to take at least one game of the series, they’re going to need a quality start from Arboleya, at least 6 innings of, maximum, 2 run baseball, and quality defense with little or no errors. Henry, Bermudez, and Garret Wittels, another key batter in the FIU lineup, need to come through and make sure the offense is up and running like we’ve seen in the early stages of this season

Prediction: I call for an FIU win, along the lines of 4 – 2. I believe the team will rally behind a good pitching outing from Arboleya as well as the hot bat of freshman Jabari Henry.

March Madness is upon us. Well, already upon us and in more than just full swing. We’ve seen the number one OVERALL seed, Kansas, taken out by a team from the Missouri Valley Conference, Northern Iowa. Need I run that by again? NORTHERN IOWA defeated KANSAS, the number one team IN THE COUNTRY. So, BRACKET BUSTER ALERT! To those who do the tournament challenge and fill out brackets year after year and suffer through agony and pain, I’m sorry for I do feel your pain. My bracket had Kansas winning it all against Kentucky. But that just won’t happen now will it? A team consisted of two possible All Americans, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, lost to a team with not one player who can even be a thought in those who consider the All American team. Then again, it is a form of madness for a reason.

Not only was Kansas a bracket buster, but in comes Ohio, a team who wasn’t even the number one seed in their respective conference and only got into the tournament because they won the MAC conference tournament. They played a highly touted Georgetown team with former number one overall recruit Greg Munroe, a 6′ 10″ PF who dominated the paint, scoring and rebound wise. Who cares about top recruits? Apparently, Ohio does not. What Ohio had was a lot of determination and heart and as a result, Ohio beats Georgetown in the first round, 97-83. It wasn’t even a close game! BRACKET BUSTER! According to CBSSports.com, 98.5 % of their users predicted that Georgetown would win. 1.5% of CBSSports.com users apparently knew what was really going to happen. Thankfully, I was part of the 98.5%. Beautiful.Yet again, it is a form of madness for a reason.

And the misery just doesn’t like one or two teams. Oh no it doesn’t. In my case, seems as though misery came in with about ten teams. Villanova, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, and Marquette are just a four of the ten teams not present in the real day tournament but seem to be playing in my bracket. And I will mention again, BRACKET BUSTER! Villanova and Marquette hurt most since they were going to make it to the elite eight. Other teams like Notre Dame and Temple I should have seen happening. The one that hurt most was Kansas, as stated earlier. They were to be my champions. Oh delightful.

And now the tournament is clearing up. 16 teams are now separating themselves from the pack. We’ve got the ‘who are they?’ in Cornell, Northern Iowa, and St. Mary’s. We’ve got the favorites in Duke, Kentucky, and Syracuse. All of these teams are looking towards the title of ‘Best Men’s College Basketball Team’ to bring home to their respective schools. Each team has been practicing day in and day out for a shot at the title, beating conference foes and non-conference powerhouses. They’ve been looking over tapes of each game and figuring out what could they strategically do in order to beat them. It is quite the journey and quite the stressful path.

Then again, there is a reason why this tournament is so enticing and mind blowing. There is a reason why Cinderella stories are used on a frequent metaphorical basis. Its the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, or as most of us sports fans refer it to, March Madness.

Throughout it’s 34 games to date, no team has been able to distance itself by more than 10 points in a win over Syracuse.
The only two teams lucky enough to win by such a margin were Pittsburg and Louisville.
Georgetown knocked the Orange out of the Big East tournament by a margin of seven points, while Louisville, in defeating Syracuse for the first time, won by a mere six points.
However, in coming into the NCAA tournament, no team has been able to come within 20 points of the mighty Orange by the end of the game.
Vermont, Syracuse’s first opponent, trudged off the court after being trounced 79-56 by the Orange.
Wes Johnson and Scoop Jardin were the high scorers, with 18 and 14 points respectively.
No. 18 Gonzaga did not fare much better against Jim Boeheim and his team.
Wes Johnson, reminding everyone why he has the highest points-per-game average on the team (16.0, if you’re wondering), put up an astounding 31 points against the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga’s highest scorer of the game, Elias Harris, answered with only 24.
So here’s why I think that Syracuse could take the whole tournament, or at least be a formidable opponent in the Final Four.
Everyone’s obvious answer would be that Kansas and Villanova, who everyone I know had at least going to the Final Four if not the championship itself, are knocked out.
However, I have different reasons.
I don’t know too much about basketball, but I do know that generally, if several single digit-seeded teams go down to double digit-seeded teams in the first round of play, something is wrong. A bout of overconfidence, perhaps? I’m not sure, but whatever it is, Syracuse is currently immune to it.
Syracuse has shown that, unlike Temple, Clemson, and Villanova, to name a few, it can keep itself together against a double digit-seeded team and not get caught up in a superiority complex.
They have clearly shown that they are contenders for the tournament championship, and with Pitt now out thanks to a loss to Xavier, Syracuse’s road to the championship is now that much easier.
Butler, Syracuse’s next opponent, barely beat 13 seed Murray State 54-52 while they punished 12 seed UTEP 77-59. To me, that shows some inconsistencies in their play so far.
Syracuse has, in my opinion, a very good chance of advancing to the Final Four, if not the championship of the tournament.

With the collegiate baseball season in full swing, the Florida International Golden Panther baseball team is off to a hot start. Starting off the season 13 – 7 , the Men of FIU Baseball seem to have continued in the footsteps of last season’s flaming start. Last year, at the same time, the Golden Panthers were at 15-4, quite the record for a D1 school still in progress. However, the school has lost ace pitcher Tom Ebert, currently pitching in the Boston Red Sox organization. Tom was the foundation of the starting rotation, posting a 3.74 ERA in 77 innings pitched, which included an average of a strikeout an inning and just one walk every five innings. Yet, without a crucial part of their rotation, the returning Panthers have backup.

Sophomore Aaron Arboleya and Junior Daniel DeSimone have been the stronghold to this starting rotation. Both pitchers have posted a 1-1 record, also recording ERAs just below a 4.5 in 20 1/3 innings and 23 2/3 innings pitched, respectively speaking. In addition to a solid starting rotation, relief has been there as well, with Eric Berkowitz and Andre Vasquez providing constant support. Berkowitz, a senior from Miami,FL, has made 12 appearances, posting a 4.09 ERA with two saves converted. Vasquez, a sophomore out of Monsignor Pace H.S., has been the stingiest when it comes to runs, posting a 1.80 ERA in five innings of work, showing the importance of the relief aspect of baseball. Yes, there are times where the pitching skips up but then in steps the offense of the Golden Panthers, who have outscored opponents 157 – 130 this year.

Leading the Golden Panther offense is Sophomore Garret Wittels, who has posted a batting average of .441 converting 30 of his 68 attempts at the plate. He’s provided that runner on the base paths who can possibly be the go-ahead run or just for security. The main Panther who drives in batters like Wittels is Jabari Henry, freshman from Orlando, FL. Jabari was just named in the ‘National Lineup of the Week’ this past week and has six home runs and twenty seven RBIs, both are team highs. He also is one of the more disciplined batters at the plate, striking out only 7 times out of his  48 at bats, which averages out to just under a strike out per seven at bats. The Panthers have other big hitters such as Jeremy Patton, a red-shirt sophomore out of St. Louis, MO, and Pablo Bermudez, a sophomore as well out of Miami Shores. Both have 17 and 16 RBIs repsectively, providing great run support for the bullpen.

Currently, the Golden Panthers are 2 – 1 in Conference play within the Sun Belt Conference in the NCAA. They are going to enter a two game series against Jacksonville and then they head to Little Rock, AK for a 3 game series of Conference Play versus Arkansas State. Their record stands at 13 – 7, hoping to improve to their already competitive record. Seems as though the pitching needs to step up. For the Golden Panthers,offense is not a problem, scoring twelve runs in today’s loss to Troy. A team can’t scored 12 runs and lose.

I understand that the selection process for the NCAA is very tedious and intricate, but now I’m getting the feeling it’s a tad malicious. The Hokies of Virginia Tech may have had a weak schedule this past basketball season, but they certainly took care of business when they needed to.

Seth Greenberg’s squad thought coming into Selection Sunday that their name was going to be called as a nine-seed in the West bracket. Still not being invited to the Big Dance, it would be the seven-seed in the East that would leave the Hokies to prepare for a strong Missouri Tigers’ team. When that didn’t happen they were expecting their school’s name to be called as a weaker eight-seed in the East.

Nope.

It was a phone call from the National Invitational Tournament that painted the picture for the Hokies’ March. On Sunday night, a very disappointed Seth Greenberg spoke to Andy Katz of ESPN about his frustration of his team not making the tournament. In addition, he showed compassion for his young men that worked so hard all year.

Let’s take a look at why Virginia Tech didn’t make the tournament:

When it comes time to be compared to others, a team’s strength-of-schedule better be a little stronger than 339. And by a little, I mean a lot stronger. Such loses to the Boston College Golden Eagles, the Miami Hurricanes twice and the University of North Carolina don’t help your chances of making the elite field of 65 either. However, this was the perfect way to land a number-one seed and host a tier of the NIT.

Now after the following factors, try and venture a guess as to how the Hokies won’t be around this March:

If a team finishes the season 23-8 overall and third in the ACC, they should be in the tournament. With a 10-6 in-conference record, the Hokies were ahead of such bubble teams like the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles. It’s then strange to discover that all four of those teams I just mentioned are playing for a national championship this March and Virginia Tech is not. Let’s take a look at something other than records. Virginia Tech beat Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Clemson head-to-head and still were overlooked on Selection Sunday.

On a more positive note, the Hokies host their tier of the NIT and have a first round match-up against the Quinnipiac Bobcats this Wednesday, March 17th, at 7 p.m. at the Cassell Colosseum. Also In this group of eight teams are the Connecticut Huskies and the Rhode Island Rams. If Virginia Tech can get passed their opening round game, they will certainly have their hands full the rest of the way to become NIT champions.

I hate going back to it, but I have to ask again. How does a team finish third in the ACC, beat the fourth, fifth, and sixth placed teams in their conference, have a better overall record than those teams and still not make the tournament when these others teams did?

Like the amounts of licks to the center of a Tootsie-Pop, I guess the world may never know.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Butler Bulldogs have been creating quite the riff in the Horizon League this season winning their last 17 games improving to 25-4 overall.

This isn’t even the most impressive stat of their 2010 basketball season either.

Undefeated in their conference, the Bulldogs have won 17-straight giving them the nations longest win streak of the 2009-2010 NCAA season. Led by Gordon Hayward, who averages 15.9 ppg, The Butler Bulldogs have been outscoring their opponents by just under 10 points. Hayward also pulls down an impressive 8.4 rebounds per game making him the marquee player of the nation’s 13th ranked squad. Shelvin Mack, Matt Howard and Willie Veasley have been averaging double-digits in the scoring column as well making it four total Bulldogs.

An impressive 13-0 at home has to make Coach Brad Stevens a happy man in Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s their 11-1 road record that he is more proud of being that they have gone into such places as Cleveland State, Northwestern and Detroit and have returned home winners. However, they have a less than stellar 2-3 record when playing teams in neutral locations. Yes, those loses were to such power houses as Clemson and Georgetown, but come March every game will be a neutral site and this has to worry the Bulldogs of Butler a tad.

Something that Butler does not have to be worried about come March will be their poise. They have been on the big stage before qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons. Plus, they average a mere 12.3 turnovers per game which is 2.9 less than the #2 ranked Kentucky Wildcats. In addition their free-throw average is a superb 75.3% which means that close games will be going in the Bulldogs favor down the stretch. Lastly, Butler has been a fantastic 33.3% shooting team from beyond the arc meaning that their opponents won’t be able to play an effective zone defense.

I’m jumping on the Butler Bulldogs bandwagon and if you decide not to, then let me be the first person to tell you not to be surprised come March when they make some noise.