http://www.yardbarker.com/content/team/785 Recent articles about the Miami Hurricanes en-us Kevlar, anyone? The matchups for the ACC/Big Ten challenge were announced on Tax Day this past week. North Carolina will travel to Motown on December 3, 2008, to play the Michigan State Spartans. Ah, there's nothing quite like Detroit in December. The snow. The decorative lights. The hail of bullets… Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:58:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/244107 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/244107 There were several great games in the first round of this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament and each of the great games has had key players. But who had the best game of the first round and has earned the right to be deemed the "1st Round Workhorse" or most outstanding performance of the first round of the NCAA tournament? Our list of candidates... (see if you agree or have anyone to add) Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:21:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213747 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213747 Thursday's 1st round games were not as exciting as some people thought they would be. Only 2 lower seeds won (#9 Texas A&M and #11 Kansas State) and the two potential upsets (#14 Georgia over #3 Xavier and #15 Belmont over #2 Duke) were so close too happening, yet so far. So what will the 2nd day of the NCAA Tournament bring us? (10) Davidson vs. (7) Gonzaga In a great Mid-Major matchup, the Davidson Wildcats of the Southern Conference take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs of the West Coast Conference. The Zags have been here before with guys like Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt and David Pendergraft. Davidson may have the best overall player playing in this game with son of former NBA sharp-shooter Del Curry, Stephen Curry. The younger Curry averages 25 points per game on the season and can be deadly on the outside. If the Wildcats want to win, Stephen Curry has to be on target. If he is not, look for Gonzaga to buckle down and use the experience to advance to the 2nd round. SFB Prediction: Davidson wins 81-77 (10) Saint Mary's vs. (7) Miami (FL) Should this matchup really be happening? The Saint Mary's Gaels, who spent a good portion of the year in the Top 25 get a #10 seed and the Miami Hurricanes, who struggled towards the end of the season, get a #7 seed. Very questionable. But nonetheless, these teams square off for a very interesting matchup. For the Hurricanes, guard Jack McClinton leads the team with about 17 points per game. Saint Mary's is led by point guard Patrick Mills with 14.5 PPG and 3.4 assists per game. Something that is interesting about this game is that the Gaels are not your typical "shoot-the-three" Mid-Major squad. In addition to Mills, they have two solid big men inside with forward Diamon Sampson and center Omar Samhan. So unlike other Mid-Majors, Saint Mary's certainly has the ability to pound it inside. SFB Prediction: Saint Mary's wins 77-69 (12) Western Kentucky vs. (5) Drake The Drake Bulldogs of the Missouri Valley Conference have had a great season finishing the year 28-4 and nationally ranked. Led by point guard Adam Emmenecker, the Bulldogs play a very interesting style of play and have the ability to score the basketball. Josh Young leads the team in scoring and Klayon Korver is deadly from 3-point range. But don't forget about the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, who have a player by the name of Courtney Lee who averages over 20 points per game. The senior stands at 6'5" and will give Drake some matchup problems in this game. SFB Prediction: Drake wins 75-65 (10) South Alabama vs. (7) Butler Here is yet another solid Mid-Major matchup. And again, a question arises with placing the Butler Bulldogs as a #7 seed. But we do have a great matchup here with Butler battling the South Alabama Jaguars, who received an at-large bid out of the Sun Belt Conference. The Bulldogs are led by guards A.J. Graves and Mike Green but they also have a balanced attack with four players averaging over 11 points per game. The Jaguars also have a balance with 4 players averaging over 10 points per game, led by 20-point per game scorer Demetric Bennett. SFB Prediction: Butler wins 88-87 in overtime (11) Saint Joseph's vs. (6) Oklahoma This seems to be the trendy "upset" pick for many sports fans out there with the Saint Joseph's Hawks taking on the Oklahoma Sooners. The Hawks are led by three athletic big men with Pat Calathes, Ahmad Nevins and Rob Ferguson. All three of these players can score inside, outside and run the floor. This is something Oklahoma needs to prepare for if they want to hang with the Hawks. Of course St. Joe's will have to contend with Oklahoma's big men, 6'10" Blake Griffin and 6'11" Longar Longar. The key to this game for either team is to control the pace of the game. As fast-paced game is in the Hawks favor and a slower-paced game is Oklahoma's favor. This should be a great game. SFB Prediction: Saint Joe's wins 73-70 (13) Siena vs. (4) Vanderbilt As said in a previous Blog, this could be the upset of the tournament with the MAAC champion Siena Saints defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores. However, it certainly will not be easy. Vandy has SEC Player of the Year Shan Foster in their corner in addition to 6'11" Aussie B.J. Ogilvy. On the other side, the Saints have sharp-shooters named Kenny Hasbrouck, Tay Fisher and Edwin Ubiles along with forwards Alex Franklin and Josh Duell on the inside. Even if Siena doesn't pull off the upset, this will be a great game to watch. SFB Prediction: Siena wins 85-81 (9) Oregon vs. (8) Mississippi State Again, these #8 vs #9 games are always very competitive on paper. The Ducks have 4 players averaging in double figures in points led by 6'6" guard Malik Hairston. The Bulldogs also have four players scoring in double figures in points including leading scorer Jamont Gordon and sharp-shooting Ben Hansbrough, Tyler's little brother. Look for this game to be action-packed, high-scoring and very exciting. SFB Prediction: Mississippi State wins 79-74 (9) Arkansas vs. (8) Indiana Another "seeding" question comes to mind when we see the Indiana Hoosiers with a #8 seed. Perhaps the NCAA Tournament Committee is sending a message that the Hoosiers can't win without their former head coach Kelvin Sampson. Despite this fact, Indiana is still a great basketball team led by guard Eric Gordon and big man D.J. White. But Arkansas has the sights set on getting to the 2nd round as well. The Razorbacks are led by forward Sonny Weems, who averages over 14 points per game. SFB Prediction: Indiana wins 69-61 (12) Villanova at (5) Clemson The Clemson Tigers finished the season strong making it all the way to the ACC Championship game. Many sports fans believe Clemson to be a potential sleeper team that can take down a #1 seed in the Regional Semi-Final round. Well with a balanced, athletic attack led by 6'6" junior K.C. Rivers, it's not surprising why sports fans are picking this team to go far in the NCAA Tournament. But before the Tigers think about that, they must deal with Villanova Wildcats, who perhaps was the last team to be put into the Field of 65. Villanova is led by sophomore guard Scottie Reynolds, who averages just under 16 points per game. But to win this game, the Wildcats need big games from guys like Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark. SFB Prediction: Clemson wins 77-65 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:36:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213140 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213140 With Round 1 games set to begin this afternoon, we are all scrambling to fill out our brackets before office pool and online deadlines arrive. To give you a little more insight into the NCAA Tourney, FIO staff writer Dan Rossi clues you in on some sleeper teams to watch this year. In addition, find out which teams definitely got the shaft by the selection committee. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:41:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/211816 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/211816 Part 4 of 4+. This is the story of the hurricane. Welcome to Miami. Moi Benito a Miami. Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:32:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/209945 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/209945 Is it a coincidence the mid-major teams seeded eight or lower are playing other mid-major teams in the first round? View the match-ups: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:00:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/204706 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/204706 How did SportProjections.com do against ESPN.com and CBSSportsline.com in their NCAA College Basketball tournament picks? Should you continue reading Yardbarker and their contributors or are the top sport sites the best spot for sports? You'll be surprised to see how we did against the "Big Boys". Visit each team page to get the latest headlines from local newspapers and the best bloggers on the web. If you're a fan of a smaller school that doesn't have a group on our site please add your team and rss feeds for the team. Please send me a message at http://www.sportprojections.com/profile/ChrisFry if you have any question. Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:23:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/204048 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/204048 It's our last picks before the announcements tomorrow. Which team is missing? Which team is too low? Which team is ranked too high? Give us all your predictions for the upcoming tournament. Visit each team page to get the latest headlines from local newspapers and the best bloggers on the web. If you're a fan of a smaller school that doesn't have a group on our site please add your team and rss feeds for the team. Please send me a message at http://www.sportprojections.com/profile/ChrisFry if you have any question. Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:26:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/202642 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/202642 Folks have been saying the ACC is weak save for Duke and UNC, but the higher seeds and bubble teams survived round 1 of the ACC tourney. (Sorry, but the Terps were in line outside the Bubble Club. Now the line's closed.) Meanwhile, there were big upsets in New York and bad bubble karma out west...What's going on? Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:51:17 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/198603 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/198603 Today was the first full day of conference tournament play for all of the major conferences and it provided a number of important games. Here are some thoughts from the key games on a day in which bubble teams didn't help their case. Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:59:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/197028 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/197028 INRCP previews the upcoming ACC tournament and picks a champ that will emerge from the fiery remains of basketball's best conference. Hint: It's not Maryland... Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:57:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/193869 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/193869 If these teams could talk, well lets just say they wouldn't be happy. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:56:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190877 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190877 All-ACC First Team: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina (270) Tyrese Rice, Boston College (261) Sean Singletary, Virginia (257) DeMarcus Nelson, Duke (250) Jack McClinton, Miami (208) Second Team: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (199) James Gist, Maryland (186) Wayne Ellington, North Carolina (158) A.D. Vassallo, Virginia Tech (120) K.C. Rivers, Clemson (115) Third Team: Kyle Singler, Duke (107) Cliff Hammonds, Clemson (101) Toney Douglas, Florida State (98) James Johnson, Wake Forest (69) Greg Paulus, Duke (64) Honorable Mention: Ty Lawson, North Carolina (59) J.J. Hickson, North Carolina State (43) Deron Washington, Virginia Tech (28) Anthony Morrow, Georgia Tech (25) ACC All-Freshman Team: Kyle Singler, Duke (89) James Johnson, Wake Forest (89) J.J. Hickson, North Carolina State (89) Jeff Allen, Virginia Tech (82) Jeff Teague, Wake Forest (79) Honorable Mention: Terrence Oglesby, Clemson (15) ACC All-Defensive Team: DeMarcus Nelson, Duke (68) Toney Douglas, Florida State (66) Tyrelle Blair, Boston College (56) Marcus Ginyard, North Carolina (46) James Gist, Maryland (40) Honorable Mention: Cliff Hammonds, Clemson (31) D'Andre Bell, Georgia Tech (27) Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina (24) Jeff Allen, Virginia Tech (22) Deron Washington, Virginia Tech (16) James Mays, Clemson (15) Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:30:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190397 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190397 SportProjections.com has released their latest and greatest version how the March Madness tournament brackets will look. Which team is missing? Which team is too low? Which team is ranked too high? Give us all your predictions for the upcoming tournament. Visit each team page to get the latest headlines from local newspapers and the best bloggers on the web. If you're a fan of a smaller school that doesn't have a group on our site please add your team and rss feeds for the team. Please send me a message at http://www.sportprojections.com/profile/ChrisFry if you have any question. Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:22:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/185894 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/185894 ECB examines what the 5 ACC teams on the bubble have to do to get in with only a game or two remaining in the regular season schedule. Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:35:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/181597 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/181597