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The Suns could hardly have asked for anything more on the final (finally!!!) day of the regular season.
Oh, they could have hoped a combination of circumstances would give them the home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but that was the longest of long shots anyway.
And everything else fell nicely into place. They got to rest their starters the last three quarters and still beat Portland, and as for the playoff bracket, it couldn’t have turned out much better for the Suns if they had been allowed to draw it up themselves.
They get San Antonio and a chance to exorcise the post-season demons that have tormented them the last few seasons in the first round, and they don’t have to deal with the Lakers until the third round.
This hardly means the Suns have been given a free pass into the NBA Finals, of course. But given how top heavy the West is this year it’s really the least worst of the possible title paths they could have had to take.
The San Antonio-Phoenix series, which opens Saturday in Texas, offers the most compelling first-round story line in either Conference, what with the Spurs seeking their fourth title in the last eight years and the Suns and their aggrieved fans thirsting for the kind of truth and justice that can only come by beating the Spurs.
This is the kind of high drama you seldom get in a first round, especially in a 3-6 matchup.
The Spurs are looking old and vulnerable, but then they always seem look old and vulnerable going INTO the playoffs, and more often than not like champions coming OUT. So the Suns certainly are not about to fall for that Coach Pop’s con, even if it finally turns out to be true. He’s just cried wolf too many times.

suns.marqui.com

Bobcats play on in CBI
The Bobcats will get a chance to craft a happy ending after all.
The Ohio University men’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to play in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, head coach Tim O’Shea said.
The Bobcats (19-12) won’t have much time to prepare. Ohio will host Ivy League runner-up Brown (19-9) in the tournament’s first round on Tuesday night. An exact start time had not been determined by press time.
Finalized brackets were still being working on in the early morning hours today. A complete bracket was posted on line at about 2:30 a.m. this morning.
O’Shea spent most of Sunday in contact with tournament organizers and Ohio Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt to try to work out the details. The Bobcats were one of the early picks of the CBI, but filling out the rest of the 16-team field and determing host schools took the remainder of Sunday evening and went on into the early morning hours.
Ohio won’t be the only MAC team in the field. Arch-rival Miami (17-15) also accepting an invite and will travel to Tulsa (20-13) for a first round game on Wednesday.
Miami bounced Ohio from the MAC Tournament on Thursday.
MAC regular season and tournament champion Kent State was slotted a ninth seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.
Akron, which lost in the MAC Tournament championship game to Kent State Saturday night, accepted a spot from the NIT.
No other MAC teams made the postseason games.
It will be the second postseason game in O’Shea’s seven years with the Bobcats. Ohio lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Florida (67-62) in 2005.
The CBI is a product of the Gazelle Group, which also produces the early season 2K Sports College Hoops Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer event. The event is not associated with the NCAA.
The CBI features a 16-team field consisting of teams not selected for the 65-team NCAA Tournament. Criteria for entry, according to the CBI website, is based upon a team’s performance in the conference and non-conference schedule as well as how well the team is playing at the end of the regular season.
The tournament will be played at university sites. The CBI was asking a guarantee in the neighborhood of $60,000 from schools to host tournament games.
The CBI and NIT were left jockeying for several potential teams after the NCAA made its selections Sunday afternoon.

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Free printable NCAA bracket resources: With March Madness underway and the road to the finals closer, lots of people are scurrying to find free printable NCAA brackets for their work, school, and home pools. If you’re looking for these free printable NCAA bracket forms, then you are going to want to check out these sites.
Team Rankings - If you don’t mind a little advertising on your bracket form, then this is the best bet for you. This free printable NCAA bracket has everything that you will need to run a successful series of pool games, including the places where the upcoming games are taking place. In addition to free printable NCAA brackets, there are also some tips and tools that will help you pick the winners of each game. A little research never hurt anybody.
JS Online - This has a nice bracket layout as well, which is similar to the last one. This free printable bracket has the dates for the events as well, so you can prepared in advance (as if you weren’t already).
Sample Words - If you are looking for a plain and simple layout for your free printable NCAA bracket, then you might want to check out Sample Words. They have two options, one which has the first round already put in there for you, and another which allows you to write on your own free printable NCAA bracket sheet. It’s very simple, but it doesn’t have the advertising that the other free printable NCAA brackets have.
CBS Sports - If you’re looking to add a little bit of glitz and glamor to your free printable NCAA bracket sheets, then you might want to check out the bracket sheet put out by CBS Sports. Of course it has a few advertisements from corporate sponsors, but it is very small in comparison. This is probably one of the favorites among free printable NCAA bracket sheets.
Yahoo Sports! - If you are feeling a bit hungry, then this free printable NCAA bracket sheet is going to be the one for you. Again, it has a small bit of advertising, but this is the kind that I think I like. Print out the Bracket and bring it to any KFC and you can get one of KFC’s Toasted Wrap combos for only $2.99. That’s not too shabby for a free printable NCAA bracket now is it?

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He’s doesn’t always sit up straight or smile or look into the camera. He doesn’t need to opine on everything — he didn’t care enough about the Illinois-Minnesota game to make a pregame pick Saturday — and sticks to his trademark sweater. He’s usually worn sweaters in his “public life,” said Knight in a phone interview Sunday, “so why change?”
And, he’s stuck with his natural skin: “I haven’t had the first piece of (TV) makeup put on me in all my life.”
Knight, whose sideline histrionics produced some of TV’s most replayed footage, seems fully rational on air. But apparently, he’s not using this job as an audition for TV work next year. He has “no idea” if he’s retired from coaching or wants a TV job — “the only thing I know for sure is I’m going turkey hunting in a few weeks, then fishing.”
He won’t evaluate his on-air performances — “I don’t ever do that publicly” — and doesn’t have any qualms about not coaching: “I haven’t even bothered to think about that. I’ve just paid attention to what they expect me to do here. Not coaching hasn’t entered into it at all.”
Perhaps the Bob Knight who famously wrangled with reporters was abducted and replaced by a mild-mannered impostor. He’s “enormously surprised and impressed” by TV’s behind-the-scenes efforts and says he “put no parameters” on what he’d discuss on air.

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In Las Vegas, there will be lines on the games, but in every single office in America there will be brackets passed out for the most exciting office pool of the season. This is it, the NCAA bracket contests that take away so much production time for workers at so many companies.
The Kansas Jayhawks are in and they are a number one seed after their exciting conference tournament win on Sunday over the Texas Longhorns. The other three top seeds are also set and the UCLA Bruins snagged one as did the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Memphis Tigers who have only lost one game all season long.
Expect all kinds of weird terms to be tossed around, ESPN will have their Bracketology 101 at the ready. Their brackets are here . There will be so many upsets that just destroy so many brackets early but that is what makes it March Madness. I’m in Las Vegas so my wagers are legal but I have just as much fun with my brackets this time of year.There is nothing like it, March Madness kicks off on Tuesday, with the play in game of Coppin State vs. Mount St. Mary’s. The real tournament then starts on Thursday and Friday with the real first round. Don’t pick too many upsets early on in the tournament and good luck.

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The 2007 NCAA Tournament was seriously lacking in major surprises. The worst seed in the Elite Eight was No. 3 Oregon; in the Sweet 16, it was No. 7 UNLV. The first round featured only five upsets, and three of them were No. 9 seeds defeating No. 8 seeds.
However, those who like to go crazy with upset picks might be encouraged by the return of George Mason – the Colonial Athletic Association program that made the improbable run to the Final Four as a No. 11 seed in 2006.
All the No. 1 seeds – North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas – are obviously looking good right now.
But no Final Four has ever featured all of the top seeds. Many will pick No. 2 seed Texas to be the surprise, since the Longhorns would play in Houston during the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
Instead, I’m going with No. 4 seed Pittsburgh, which just battled through the Big East tournament to win the title at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers will bump free throw phobic Memphis and then Texas, if things play out according to my bracket plan, to join the three remaining top seeds in San Antonio. North Carolina, the top overall seed, takes UCLA in a classic title game.

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Last year, not knowing if they had done enough to make the NCAA Tournament, the Arkansas basketball Razorbacks loaded up on a plane to head back to Fayetteville from Atlanta.
They felt they had done enough, winning five straight before losing to Florida in the SEC Tournament championship earlier in the day, 77-56.
Still, a 7-9 finish in the SEC’s regular season was plaguing the Hogs.
While in the air that Sunday afternoon, the Razorbacks knew their NCAA Tournament chances were also floating somewhere in the clouds. Ten NCAA Selection Committee members held their postseason fate. The field was taking shape as the Hogs were traveling, and somehow Arkansas managed to squeak in as a 12 seed.
The Arkansas coaching staff made the announcement to the players as their plane landed at Drake Field.
“It was exciting,” senior Vincent Hunter recalled.
Later today, though, Arkansas won’t be in a plane when the NCAA Tournament field is announced at 5 p.m. on CBS. After playing in the SEC Championship game at 2: 30 p. m., the Hogs will stay grounded to see where they end up.
“Oh, we’re going to see it,” Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey said. “… That just means we’ll leave on a later flight.”

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2008 NCAA TournamentBetting Odds: March Madness Brackets Contests
The following is a breakdown of 2008 NCAA tournament betting odds andMarch Madness brackets contests offered by ourestablished Gambling911.com sponsors.
Most of the 2008 NCAA Tournament betting odds will be posted by Sunday afternoon (Selection Sunday) while the March Madness Brackets Contests open that evening as well and close first thing Thursday morning (the start of the March Madness season).
Keep in mind that 2008 March Madness betting odds will routinely be posted continuously from now right through the tourney.
BetUS.com is offering its $1 million NCAA Brackets Contest where a cool one million dollars is handed over to anyone who gets a perfect March Madness bracket.What are the odds?Not to good but that’s a lot of money and people have come mighty close in recent years. Opens 11:00 pm EST March 16.
Bookmaker.com will be offering its March Madness Brackets Contests starting Sunday night. Details of this contest are yet to be announced. This company has been in business since 1985 and is the oldest established online gambling site catering to the North American sports bettor. Bookmaker.com is currently taking applications throughout the day leading up to the 5:00 pm EST Selection Sunday process.Plasma TVs and cash will be awarded.Details of the contest are still forthcoming.

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