It was a quite pleasant February evening in Michigan and @mrsbozz and I were settling into the couch to watch what was probably going to be our nieces last basketball game of the season. With an overall record of 11-12, the Lady Shamrocks were the definite underdog against a Westerville Central team that was 17-5 and the #1 team in their division of the Ohio Capital Conference.
Then something magical happened. This team that has a lot of potential but has driven me crazy at times this season stepped up and did what I always knew they could do beating Central 63 to 56, keeping their hopes alive in the playoffs.
Tomorrow night they face a Bishop Watterson team that is currently on a 4 game winning streak and has a 17-6 overall record. That doesn't mean much given the performance we saw last week, but it is going to be a hard game for the ladies for sure.
I just noticed that BW is in the "Central Catholic" conference which leads me to one of my rants. I don't think that private schools should be allowed to play in the same league as public schools. Public schools get the talent they get and they have to work with it. Catholic schools are able to give scholarships and recruit the top players to be on their rosters. It's basically like a high school team playing a college team.
It's an unfair advantage and it always has been. There have been countless arguments against the practice and yet they continue to allow it to happen.
Now, if my Rocks lose fair and square, I will be the first to admit it, but when you are starting with a stacked deck, it's not that cool. Not at all.
Meanwhile, on the NCAA side of things, we had just a few games this weekend. Clearly I am joking, there were a ton of games this weekend. I could barely keep up with all of them.
First off, we had #11 Baylor take #2 Houston into overtime, but they lost 82 to 76. Kansas State took down #25 BYU 84 to 74, and Wake Forest won me a little bit of money by upsetting #8 Duke 83 to 79.
UCF put up 75 points against #23 Texas Tech's 61 for the win and #17 Kentucky put a thumping on #13 Alabama 117 to 95.
Arizona State has had a rough season this year, but they were able to beat #21 Washington State 73 to 61.
Finally on Saturday, UNLV upset #22 Colorado State 66 to 60. That's another tough loss for a Colorado State team that was looking really good this season. I'm not sure where they are going to land come tournament time.
Speaking of not sure where someone is going to land come tournament time, Michigan State had another huge loss that should have been a win Sunday when they faced Ohio State at MSU. The Spartans were leading most of the game, but had a massive meltdown at the end of the game which allowed Ohio State to steal the win.
No offense, but OSU isn't that good of a team. This win had nothing to do with their skill and was an absolute collapse by Michigan State. All the commentators seem to think they are still going to make it to the tournament, but I don't see how if they keep losing like this.
They are going to be lucky to squeak into a play in game.
Meanwhile on Sunday we saw South Florida upset SMU, and St. John's take down #15 Creighton.
There were two top 25 games on Monday, but neither of them were an upset.
It's going to be a wild ride to the conference and national tournaments. I can't believe they are just a couple weeks away already. As for now, I am just focusing on tomorrow night and my nieces team. As much as I want them to win, I am sure she is just ready to have basketball behind her and get out on the softball field!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
