March Madness and Wolves

Let's talk.

Lots of sports events are hyped. The Super Bowl. The NBA Finals. The World Series. All Star games, from all sports. The list goes on and on.....and how many live up to the hype? Rarely any. Only one event consistently lives up to the hype it produces....and that's the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The games have been phenomenal. I'm not even going to list all the great moments, because there have been so many. I will say this: I was at work on Saturday during the Ohio State-Xavier game. I put the game on in the lobby, and around the end of the game, a group of 10-15 people (mostly men) gathered around to watch. While Ron Lewis' 3 pointer that eventually sent the game into overtime was still in the air, I said "COUNT IT!". Then, of course, the place exploded when he hit it, mostly because everyone's brackets depended on Ohio State winning. I can't think of a prouder moment in my life, then when I said "COUNT IT".

But.....my brackets are pretty much done. I was doing pretty good after the first round, with Virginia Commonwealth, Creighton, and Winthrop all advancing....but they've all since been eliminated. Plus Texas got destroyed by an impressive USC team today. Oh well. It's always more fun to watch the games when there's something on the line for you (even if it's just pride), but I'll still watch as much as I can. This is the greatest spectacle in sports, bar none.

Onto Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball.

The Wolves, with another loss tonight at LA, inch closer and closer to a surefire top 10 pick in the draft. Right now they have the 9th worst record in the league, and as we all recall, this year's lottery pick goes to the Clippers, unless it's a top 10 pick. However, there's a logjam of teams hovering around the Wolves' 28-37.....L.A. Clippers and New York (30-36), New Orleans and Sacramento (29-37), and Orlando (31-37) are all in the "race" for a top 10 lottery pick. I could never root against the Wolves....they're my team.....but at this point, I also don't mind them losing either. If the Wolves lose, they'll get a draft pick this year. There's also a better chance of them trading KG this summer. So.....where are the Wolves probably going to end up this year? I made a count of the 17 remaining games, and put them into the categories of "Sure Fire Loss", "Probable Loss", "Push", and "Probable Win" (notice no "Sure Fire Win".....hmph). Let's break it down.

Sure Fire Losses: 3 - @ Phoenix 3/20, Dallas 4/11, San Antonio 4/13
Probable Losses: 5 - @ Utah 3/28 (this one could've easily have gone into the "Sure Fire Losses" category, by the way), Miami 3/30, Cleveland 4/3, @ Golden State 4/15, @ Denver 4/16
Push: 5 - @ Sacto 3/21, @ Orlando 4/1, @ New York 4/6, NOK 4/7, Toronto 4/9
Probable Wins: 4 - @ Seattle 3/23, Portland 3/25, Seattle 3/27, Memphis 3/18 (season finale)

Let's assume they lose all the 3 "Sure Fire Loss" games, win 1 of the 5 "Probable Losses", win 3 of the 5 "Push" games, and lose 1 of the 4 "Probable Wins". Through those 17 games, they would go 7-10, thus making their record a meager 35-47. Who knows if that would be "enough" to get them a top 10 pick....surely it wouldn't be enough to get them a playoff spot. Also, if the Wolves end up out of contention with 5 or 6 games left in the season, who knows if they'd play KG, Ricky, Blount, etc. nearly as much as now.

I'll be watching though. I hate that the Wolves are in a position where I'm indifferent as to if they win or lose.

If you read this sports blog, please comment on this entry. I'd like to know how many readers I get, besides that doofus Drew.

Ciao