What the Hell Was I Thinking?
Minnesota? Really? I thought that Minnesota was going to win a game in the NCAA tournament? Even if it was against a Texas team that I thought was coming into the tournament slightly overrated. I had the “pleasure” of watching Minnesota get rolled in the Big Ten Tournament, and somehow, I still decided to click on their name instead of Texas.
I mean, sure Texas was overrated, but Minnesota… ugh. I watched them do the same thing against Michigan State less than a week ago: Be competitive for a while, and then just get totally steamrolled. I wonder if Tubby Smith just decides to zone out fo ra while, and the team isn’t really individual players, but a collective group sharing Tubby’s mind. Maybe he got run out of Kentucky not because of repeated failure at the highest levels of competition, but because someone found out the horrible, horrible secret.
Nah, that’s not it. At the Big Ten Tournment, I figured it was Michigan State. Now, all my picks involving the Izzos are in doubt. If it was Minnesota that did the failure on their own, all the picks I made based on the supposed prowess of the Izzos could be nothing more than more failure lurking in the wings. Great. You didn’t just ruin tonight, Rodents.
What was even stupider, though, was my pick of Clemson. I gave them credit for not getting crushed in the heavyweight battle that is the ACC regular season. My line of thinking was that they would be a more phyiscal, more quick, and more competitive than a Michigan squad that, quite frankly, got in with a big dose of Big Ten help. Like Minnesota, I watched them get rolled in the Big Ten Tournament to a team that was more talented and fundamental than them.
I forgot one thing: Clemson’s players and coaches are complete morons. They were fine in the game, until Michigan went to this strange thing called a “zone defense.” Watching Clemson flounder against a simple zone defense like an Exxon oil tanker against a rock shoal was painful, if only because I had Clemson not only taking care of business against Michigan, but against an Oklahoma team that consists of a single dimension by the name of “Peter Griffon.”
Good work, Clemson. The only thing you can really take pride in (other than the fact that last year you were like 344-0 before you lost to everyone and missed the NCAA tournament, a fun trivia fact for the ages) is that you’re probably still more competent than your football team. Of course, anyone who as watched the horror that plagues the field of Clemson football — oh, sorry, “Death Valley” — knows that the only thing that’s died lately is a lot of brain cells in the crowd and a lot of respect from the nation. So, Clemson basketball team, you’ve at least got a minimum bar to clear: Be less of a total embarassment to your school than your football team.