Final Four and the Blues' Last Stand

The most recent time that I had a team in the Final Four that  I really cared about,  I was a freshman in college. UCLA made it for the past three seasons before this year's collapse, and while I've cheered for the Bruins, I've never considered them one of my teams. The Duke Blue Devils are, however, one of my teams. I've cheered for them since they came to prominence in the early 90's alongside my father who enjoyed coach Krzyzewski's coaching style as well as his passion.

I would still cheer for my local teams like Mizzou and my personal favorite, SLU, over Duke, but that's about it. I've also found links between my local teams and Duke. My hatred of the Kansas Jayhawks transferred quite nicely to being a Duke fan when KU's coach, Roy Williams, left Kansas for North Carolina. My hatred for the Kentucky Wildcats for knocking out SLU in their last NCAA tournament appearance is also eased by a particular March Madness moment for which I will always have Duke to thank (see below).



And while I am very optimistic about both SLU and Mizzou's chances to become great in the next few years under Rick Majerus and Mike Anderson respectively, Duke is still and might always be, my best chance to see one of my teams win a national championship in college basketball. I'm ecstatic to have a real rooting interest in the Final Four again. I've also despised Bobby Huggins on the behalf of SLU when he was with Cincinnati and Mizzou during his one year with Kansas State, so now I can have a truly universal dislike for him between my top three teams. I'm hoping he gets a "T" just like he always did when he came in to play the Billikens. I took my little sister Natalie to see Cincy one year and told her prior to the game that their coach was going to get called for a technical foul. She was impressed when fewer than five minutes into the contest, coach Huggins gave a ref an earful causing him to turn and tap his hands together. Huggins has calmed down a bit since those years, but if a bad call goes against him, I still wouldn't put it past him. And as all you Duke haters know, we always get the calls (Rolls eyes).

As for the Butler and Michigan State game, I doubt anyone had two five-seeds meeting up in the Final Four. Both have great stories. MSU is really shorthanded after losing their best player, Kalin Lucas, in the second round of the NCAA tourney. But with great coaching from Tom Izzo, the Spartans persevered and managed to knock out a Cinderella in Northern Iowa and squeak by Tennessee. Izzo's coaching is what gives Sparty the best chance tonight. His six Final Fours since 1999 are the most among all NCAA coaches and it is difficult to argue that this can be a coincidence. Izzo is a great motivator for his players and can adjust game plans with the best of them as well.

As for Butler, a lot of people are calling this Hoosiers, the College Years. There's no way it can be as bad as another piece of Americana gone to college.  Butler's coach, Brad Stevens, doesn't have Izzo's experience going for him, but he's still no slouch with the clipboard. He's gone 86-14 in his first three years with the Bulldogs, which is one of the greatest starts in college history. He's also gone to the dance every year since being hired. The Bulldogs might be looked at as an underdog overall, but they're actually favored in this game by a point, and with good reason. Butler shouldn't have been a five-seed. They were ranked 8th in the coaches poll and 11th in the AP poll coming into the tournament. This means that they were deserving of at least a three-seed if you do the simple math. Four teams for each seed, so the top four teams should all get a one, the next four should get a two, and the next four should get a three. Butler wasn't even the bottom team of the 3-seed tier, but because of their conference, they got passed up for a team like Georgetown, who comes from the power conference known as the Big East. How'd that work out again? Butler's still playing and the Hoyas were knocked out before you could say Ohio Bobcats. Oh, and Georgetown was ranked 14th and 15th in the polls. Should the pollsters should get more of a look from the NCAA committee next year, perhaps?

The Bulldogs are playing six miles from their campus, which I'm sure you'll hear at least 11 times during tonight's broadcast on CBS and an extra seven times during the second game if Butler wins. This will get overplayed, but it really is a home game for them. Even if there are Indiana and Purdue fans there, who do you think they'll cheer for? Big Ten rival MSU or hometown Butler? Yeah, that's an easy choice.

My picks are going to be from the heart as well:
Duke 73 - Virgina 68
Butler 82 - MSU 74

The Blues are all but done now when it comes to the playoffs. They are six points behind Colorado for the last spot with five games remaining. Had they not blown yet another lead on Thursday in Nashville, they could be a much more realistic four points out. Even with missing the postseason again, it would still be nice to see a strong finish.

The team has a lot of potential for next year and a lot of money to spend this offseason, even though a fair amount should go towards locking up restricted free agents like Erik Johnson, David Perron, and Alex Steen. EJ's really come on since the Olympics and has more goals than any Blues defenseman since Chris Pronger scored 16 in the 2003-04 season. Perron still needs to be more consistent, but has shown off his magic hands this year and that he can be physical and all over the ice like Detroit's Pavol Datsyuk. As for Steen, I would crown him the Blues' MVP for the second half of the season. He's always playing hard and always scoring. He's finally starting to live up to that first-round potential that Toronto thought he had when they drafted him. Anyone still complaining about giving up Lee Stempniak for him, even with Stempniak's 27 goals? Steen will play in 68 games at most this year due to an injury back in the fall and still has one more point this year than Stempniak. I'll certainly take that. I'd also love to see us bring back Paul Kariya for a cheaper price with the way he's come on, but I'm not sure if he would sign for around the $2 million that I have in mind. Making a run at Ilya Kovalchuk would be nice to see as well since owner Dave Checketts has told the media that the Blues will have a very active offseason.

I still plan to be as obnoxious as ever at the game tonight, even with our playoff chances being bleak. There's a lot to cheer for as a Blues fan in the coming years, even if it's not this year. LET'S GO BLUES!

On another hockey related note, if you've noticed how inconsistent suspensions have been in the NHL over the past few years, believe it or not, they really do have a system to decide it. My buddy Mike sent me this from a blog called Down Goes Brown. It's certainly worth your time if you're a hockey fan.