MARCH MADNESS IS MADNESS!!!

Well March Madness has been just that, MADNESS. The first two rounds this season has been some of the most surprising and exciting college basketball that I have ever watched from the comfort of my ArmChair. We are down to the Sweet 16 and we still have four teams with a seed of 9 or higher left in the tournament. We have already lost one of the NO. 1 seeds in Kansas, who lost to NO. 9 seed Northern Iowa in the 2nd round. We have already lost one of the NO. 2 seeds in Villanova, who lost to NO. 10 seed St. Mary's College in the 2nd round. We have had overtime games, double overtime games and buzzer beaters all over the first two rounds of the Madness so far. We have also had some injuries, with Michigan State and West Virginia losing key players for the remainder of the tournament. Even with all of the close games we have still had some dominating performances, as Kentucky comes to mind with their two blowouts of East Tennessee State and Wake Forest. We still have three NO. 1 seeds left in the Madness and we still have three NO. 2 seeds left as well. I know I have my super glue ready to glue myself to my ArmChair for the games starting with Thursday evenings games. Let take a look at the match-ups.

MARCH MADNESS SWEET 16 MATCH-UPS

Northern Iowa (No. 9 Seed) vs Michigan State (No. 5 Seed) in the Midwest Regional..... I think the Cinderella Northern Iowa gets to the Elite 8.

Tennessee (NO. 6 Seed) vs Ohio State (NO. 2 Seed) in the Midwest Regional..... I see Ohio State sending the Volunteers back to Rocky Top.

Butler (NO. 5 Seed) vs Syracuse (NO. 1 Seed) in the West Regional..... I see Butler seeing Orange all the way back home, as Syracuse makes Elite 8.

Xavier (NO. 6 Seed) vs Kansas State (NO. 2 Seed) in the West Regional..... Xavier has already beaten a Gopher and a Panther in the Madness so far. They will add a Wildcat to their trophy case as Xavier goes to the Elite 8.

Cornell (NO. 12 Seed) vs Kentucky (NO. 1 Seed) in the East Regional..... The Big Red will be the Big Dead as Kentucky rolls to the Elite 8.

Washington (NO. 11 Seed) vs West Virginia (NO. 2 Seed) in the East Regional..... I see the Washington Huskies taking advantage of West Virginia being without starting point guard. Washington in an upset to the Elite 8.

Purdue (NO. 4 Seed) vs Duke (NO. 1 Seed) in the South Regional..... So far the Duke Blue Devils haven't had much competition in the Madness. Duke rolls to the Elite 8.

St. Mary's (NO. 10 Seed) vs Baylor (NO. 3 Seed) in the South Regional..... So far Baylor hasn't played anybody good in the Madness. It will show as St. Mary's continues their march to the Elite 8.

Well I am going to be glued to my ArmChair with my phone to order food delivery, have my ice chest full of my favorite beverage and my remote in hand. The only time I will be getting up is to go to the bathroom during commercials. Because it is MARCH MADNESS AND IT IS MADNESS!!!

ACC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

Well it is that time of the year again, ITS MARCH MADNESS TIME! College basketball teams all over the country are jockeying for positions for the big dance or trying to get off the bubble. There are several teams that have already qualified for the Big Dance and there are more conference tournaments this week. The conference tournament that I want to focus on today, is the best of all of the conference tournaments, THE ACC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. Lets look at this years match-ups and possible match-ups.

ACC TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND ON THURSDAY

Boston College vs Virginia at noon..... The winner of this game will play Duke on Friday at noon.

Wake Forest vs Miami at 2:30 PM..... The winner of this game will play Virginia Tech on Friday at 2:30 PM.

Georgia Tech vs North Carolina at 7:00 PM..... The winner of this game will play Maryland on Friday at 7:00 PM.

Clemson vs North Carolina State at 9:30 PM..... The winner of this game will play Florida State on Friday at 9:30 PM.

TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL PREDICTIONS

I am looking for a few surprises in the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament and I see these possible Semi-Final match-ups on Saturday.

Duke vs Wake Forest at 1:30 PM..... With the Winner being Duke.

Maryland vs Clemson at 4:00 PM..... With the Winner being Clemson in an upset.

TOURNAMENT FINALS PREDICTION

I am looking for Duke to hold serve and make it to the ACC Finals and I have a hunch that Clemson is going to pull an upset against Maryland and make the ACC Finals for the second time in three seasons.

Duke vs Clemson at 1:00 PM on Sunday..... I see Clemson giving Duke a good game in the Finals but coming up a little short..... Winner Duke

NCAA TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK FOR THE ACC

I see the ACC getting six teams into the NCAA Tournament Field of 65, possibly seven if one of the bottom half teams should win the ACC Tournament Championship.

DID YOU KNOW? The Clemson Tigers have never won the ACC Tournament Championship.

Until Next Time.

BOYS SOUTH CAROLINA BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME MATCH-UPS

Well The ArmChair Coach did pretty good in predicting the Upper and Lowerstate Championship Games last week as I picked 6 out of the 8 winners. The only misses were Southside losing to Keenan and Darlington losing to Lake City. In all probability Southside would have probably won their game against Keenan had they not been without three of their major players, who were suspended by the High School League for their part in the brawl with Abbeville after their third round victory. They are some very interesting match-ups this Friday and Saturday at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. Lets look at the games.

BOYS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME MATCH-UPS

4A State Championship Game..... Lexington (25-4) vs Gaffney (25-2)..... This has the makings of a great High School basketball game. You have two teams playing their best basketball of the season. You have All-State players on both teams, with Shaq Roland for Lexington and Josh Corry for Gaffney. I see this game coming down to Gaffney's experience of being here and losing in the finals last year giving them the edge..... Winner Gaffney

3A State Championship Game..... Lake City (21-2) vs Daniel (22-3)..... This is another very interesting match-up. Lake City surprised me with their win over Darlington and they should give Daniel all they want. I see Daniel as the better team..... Winner Daniel

2A State Championship Game..... Burke (26-2) vs Keenan (21-7)..... I see Keenan as getting a break in the Upperstate Championship Game against Southside, as the Tigers were without three key players. Keenan will have home town advantage being from Columbia. In my opinion Burke has the better basketball team..... Winner Burke

1A State Championship Game..... Hemingway (23-2) vs Great Falls (25-1)..... This should be another great match-up between two dominate 1A programs. I just have a hunch that Great Falls will get it done..... Winner Great Falls

The ArmChair Coach is going down to Columbia on Friday night to watch the 4A Boys Championship Game between Gaffney and Lexington. I am expecting a great game and a very large crowd. I know that Gaffney will bring a lot of fans to Columbia and I believe Lexington will as well, being from the Columbia area. High School State Championship Games are always exciting and this weekends games will be no exception. Great teams, great players, great coaches and great fans is what High School sports are all about.

Until Next Time.