After the Madness

It's all downhill from here.

Nah, it's gonna be ok with a little softball to be played and a little Razorback baseball to help us keep our sanity. Every year the Blitz crew spends several months after the NCAA tournament waiting on Hog football to get going.

Yes, there are MLB and NBA games(including the playoffs), but March Madness marks the end of the excitement for us most of the time. It's a sad day watching the title game, especially when Duke wins it, because it means we are down to baseball and the latest football gossip.

Another trip to Omaha for the Hogs is a real possibility, but my opinion of baseball has been well documented (I'm not a big fan). So I will suffer through this with the hope and expectation that the football season will be one for the ages.

I can't wait to get a review together and talk about the outlook for the season and the stars on both sides of the ball up on the Hill. Like my excellent tourney picks (insert sarcasm) I will be laying down the analysis sometime in the summer for the football season, and hopefully I will be able to predict with accuracy a banner year.

After all, I had West Virginia!

Hog Talk Episode 5

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If this one don't work we are going to beat somebody up at podbean hahah

The Decade's Best: 10-6

Ok, let me preface this entire list with a few bits of information.

First, each of these teams are national champions, so we all know each of them were very good. I had to differentiate between them in some way, so I came up with a simple formula. Everyone starts out even, then can receive bonus points or deductions.

+5 for the "Bullseye" factor- Meaning the team came in to the season highly regarded and expected to win, and were able to win it all with the added pressure.

+3 for current NBA stars- The most subjective of the bonuses, I see Carmelo Anthony as the biggest star of all the players on these teams, and while Steve Blake, Mike Dunleavy, and Maurice Peterson are all serviceable NBA players, they are not in the league of Anthony, Carlos Boozer, or Ben Gordon.

+2 for conference strength- The Big East is king these days, but it wasn't long ago the ACC was the dominant conference. These two conferences will receive bonuses.

-2 Overall record- The more consistent a team can be throughout the year, the more impressive their winning looks. So the conference strength and record should balance out the tough conference schedules of several of these teams. Any more than 4 losses and the team loses 2 points.

So teams 10-6 are as follows, feel free to disagree!

10.) 2000 Michigan State 26-7 (-2): No NBA bonus and a -2 for losing 7 games take a very good team to a -2 on the scale.

9.) 2003 Syracuse 30-5 (+1): Carmelo single handedly won the championship and gives the team 3 bonus points to offset the -2 for losing 5 games.

8.) 2002 Maryland 30-4 (+2): Juan Dixon and Steve Blake carried a very good team through a rugged ACC, splitting with defending national champ Duke and gets the +2 for conference strength.

7.) 2008 Kansas 37-3 (+3): Six of the players from this team are headed to or already in the NBA, however Mario Chalmers is the only one of note today. His +3 bonus puts them at number 7.

6.) 2006 Florida 33-6 (+4): The team before the team, these Gators got hot at the right time and receive bonuses for the next year's NBA haul of Al Horford and Joakim Noah, and lose two points for the 6 losses.

There are many surprises to come and I am absolutely sure there will be disagreements about teams we will put 1-5. Let us know what you think, because the subjectivity of this list will lend to plenty of debate!

The Decade's Best (2000-2009)

Photo Courtesy glengarvin.com

We found that many of our readers enjoyed the list of best Arkansas Razorback basketball teams ever, so we have an idea to get a little interaction with you all again.

In honor of March Madness and the NCAA tournament starting this Thursday, we want to know; who is the best NCAA Tournament Champion of the past 10 years?

Give us some information supporting your pick, and please take the time to sign in with a Google account and post comments on this blog or on Facebook so we can have some feedback.

A little teaser: Brad said his team of the decade was 2001 Duke, with Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Chris Duhon, and Mike Dunleavy...

So let the debate begin. Do your research and give us your pick!

Here are the champs:

2000-Michigan State
2001-Duke

2002-Maryland

2003-Syracuse

2004-Connecticut

2005-North Carolina

2006-Florida

2007-Florida

2008-Kansas

2009-North Carolina

Let the Madness Begin

Tuesday March 16th the Madness is back! A little more than a week from now little known teams will take down giants, I'll surely pick a couple 12s over 5s, and the chicks who pick the Huskies over the Tigers because they like their colors more will most likely ruin the pools...

I can't wait...

Before anyone can dispute my saying I picked so and so over someone else, I felt I should get some stuff out there. First, without seeing a bracket, I won't pick an absolute champ, but I do have favorites. The three #1 seeds that are locked up, Kansas, Syracuse, and Kentucky, are obviously going to make some noise. I've heard many people say a low seed will make a run this year.

Murray State, Siena, Cornell and Georgia Tech are my four low seeds to watch, but I have one more team I have liked all along, but they are now slated by Joe Lunardi to be a two-seed.

West Virginia (24-6, 13-5).

They play in the Big East, the toughest conference in America, they have big wins over top competition, and they have no "bad" losses. Bob Huggins's style of hard-nosed defense and smart basketball is tournament friendly as well.

So you heard it here first.

Pick your favorites and make sure to get them out there before it's too late, because once Cinderella gets to the ball, nobody will believe you picked them from the beginning!