Brien's Bracket

(click to enlarge)

Feel free to mock.  I put a lot of weight on the Big East this year.  It seemed to be by far the toughest conference to me, despite what Sagarin says about the Big 12.

Experts Pick Maryland to Win It All!

Ok, so not exactly.  Drew Magary and Spencer Hall picked Maryland in their Haters' Bracket as the least annoying team in the tournament.  I'm just as surprised as anyone.

Listen to the whole podcast, it's very funny and they give some love to Maryland fans as unabashed assholes.

Spencer has the best line of the podcast when he says that even if Arkansas-Pine Bluff offered a degree in child pornography, they still wouldn't be as annoying as Duke.

Quick Hits

This post sponsored by Sportsbetting.com, the best sportsbook online.

OK, so there are a bunch of sports events I want to comment on, but none of them deserve their own post, and I don’t want to flood Twitter, so here goes.

College Basketball

• I’m surprised and happy that the Terps ended up with a 4 seed, everything I had read made me think a 6 was more likely. 
• I’m not so happy that we would have to play MSU if we get by Houston.  Everything I had read made me think MSU deserved a higher seed.
• Doesn’t it seem like we play Michigan State all the time?  We’ve faced the Spartans 3 times since the 2003 season, going 2-1 (the only loss was in the 2003 tournament).
• I’m not nearly as concerned as others about the overall strength of the Midwest.  For the Terps, a Sweet 16 is the goal, and everything after that is gravy.  Beating the overall #1 would be awesome, but I’ll be very happy with the season if we just make it to that game.
• I can’t imagine being a Mississippi State fan today.  They had Kentucky beat in the SEC Championship, and lost on the rare make-the-first-miss-the-second play.  They probably thought they had done enough to get an at-large, but got left out.  That’s a tough day.
• I know non-conference results matter a lot, but I’m shocked that Georgia Tech got in at 7-9 in a bad year for the ACC, and Virginia Tech got left out at 10-6. 
• I’m never sure how to handle teams like Kentucky and Ohio State in my brackets.  They’ve looked vulnerable in a bunch of games lately, but they manage to pull out wins (sort of like the Terps). 
• Duke’s record in the ACC tournament is ridiculous.  It helps that they play all the games in the Durham suburbs, but it’s unbelievable that they’ve won 9 of the last 12 titles.  I’m just glad they’ve started choking in the NCAA tournament lately.
• The Big East really knows how to do a conference tournament right.  Madison Square Garden on Saturday night looked like an NBA All-Star game instead of a conference tourney final.  They’ve found a way to differentiate themselves from the rest of the conferences without simply pushing their final later and later (I’m looking at you, Big 10).

Hockey

• I was flipping channels back and forth, and managed to miss all 4 of their goals, but the Caps had an amazing third period comeback against the Blackhawks in Chicago.  Down 0-3 with Ovechkin out due to a game misconduct, the Caps forced overtime and won on a great unassisted goal by Nick Backstrom.

Formula 1

• The F1 season started yesterday.  There are 3 new teams and it seems like every driver moved to a new team.  It always takes me a few races to figure out who’s driving for what team.
• Unfortunately, the USF1 team didn’t get their car completed and folded.  I was all set to cheer for Peter Windsor’s entry, but it looks like he got a bit too ambitious with building his own car.
• The championship battle looks to be between Fernando Alonso (now at Ferrari) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).  Two good drivers and two very fast cars should make for a great season.  The two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button could also be in the mix.
• I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was shocked that Michael Schumacher wasn’t all that great in his return.  I didn’t expect a win, but I certainly thought he would be faster than Nico Rosberg