Linking Up The Final Four

With the Final Four tipping off later today, Shaver Sports is rooting for a couple of things specifically. I would specifically like to see Northeast Ohio's own Delvon Roe and Raymar Morgan lead the Izzone into the Finals. Beyond that, I would specifically like to see James Calhoun lose. As for the other match-up, call me indifferent. I like 'Nova, and also think that Carolina has like 8-NBAers on the roster, and would be okay with either of those teams moving on. As long as it not against Miles...errr...Thabeet and the Huskies.

Final Four Links of Note:

Midwest Sports Fans: UConn-MSU Preview

Cleveland Frowns: NCAA Final Four

The Big Lead: Let's Get Those Final Four Picks In

Fanhouse: How MSU Can Upset UConn

Xavier Rolls Over Portland State: 77-59

Call it karma for the Musketeers; Coach Sean Miller's interview with Jim Rome in the Jungle this week paying dividends. Or, more appropriately, maybe just call it 'Xavier is way better than than Portland State.' Regardless of how you want to phrase it, Xavier moves on with the 77-59 win, and will get ready for the winner of Wisconsin - Florida State in the 2nd round. The State of Ohio moves its tourney record to 2-1, with (2) big ones tonight. Lets go Bucks, lets go Vikings. War, Ohio going 4-1 in the first round. Out.

This Might Be a Foul: 1st Round Action

While Joey Crawford might miss this one, the visual evidence does seem to indicate that Xavier's C.J. Anderson may have fouled Portland State's Jamie Jones here on this possession.

Zags Oust Zips: 77-64

With about (15) minutes left in the second half, Akron was leading 4th seeded Gonzaga 52-51. From there, during a (13) minute stretch, Gonzaga went on a 23-3 run to push the score out to 74-55. Akron's (3) points during that period came on (3) free throws. They did not hit a shot from the field until Roberts connected on (3) for the Zips with 2:06 to go in the game, to cut the margin to 74-58, in favor of Mark Few's Zags. Even though I can't stand the guy, and wish he would have been busted with all those drugs this year, instead of last year, Josh Heytfelt proved to be too much inside, and Akron had no answer for him - even though Chris McNight did all he could to mix it up with him inside. The Zips represented well though, and came out with a lot of energy in the first half. Linhart was tough, had (13) of his (15) in the period, and did all he could for the 330, but it was not enough. Hats off to Dambrot and company on a solid year.

Bring On the Demon Deacons

Wake Forest is going down. Cleveland State earned a (13) seed, as projected earlier last week, and will square off against the Demon Deacons when the tournament begins.

The reality of it is, Wake is a solid squad. Real solid, and they went 24-6, on the year, without really a bad loss on the season. However, I will say this. The best player on the Vikings roster, will match-up with, and naturally guard, the best player on the Deacons squad. Meaning, the best perimeter defender, and playmaker, for the Vikings, Cedric Jackson, will naturally match-up with Jeff Teague, who is the best player on the Deacons roster. Teague is a 6'2" guard, and Jackson, who is the Defensive Player of the Year in the Horizon League, should match-up admirably against the All American, and make him work on the offensive end as well.

An additional edge the Vikings may have is inside, where an experienced front line of J'Nathan Bullock, Chris Moore, and George Tandy, will match-up with a young front line of 6'9" freshmen and sophomores for Wake. This game will be interesting.

Previous CSU Posts:

Get Your Dancing Shoes on Cleveland

Gary Waters Pre-Game Speech

CSU v. Butler Preview

CSU Looses Regular Season Finale to Bulter

Cedric Jackson at the Buzzer...Good

Ohio Is Basketball Capital of World

Forget about New York, Indiana, or wherever. Ohio is the basketball capital of the world. Why? Couple reasons. Obviously we have LeBron. Buy beyond that, we have all kinds of dance cards punched around here. Ohio State, Akron, Cleveland State, Dayton, and Xavier are all in the NCAA Tournament. This is the first time in history that all five schools have gone to the dance in the same year. Should be exciting. Especially when Ohio State and Cleveland State collide in the Sweet Sixteen. You heard it here first.

CSU: Projected a 13 Seed

I saw Gary Waters at the MAC tourney last night. As he was walking by I yelled out, 'good luck coach', but I don't think he heard me. Nevertheless, his team is currently projected as a 13 seed by Joe Lunardi. How about their signature win, Syracuse, hows that looking? The Cuse took UCONN to (6) OT's last night?? Look out for the Vikings, I'm serious. They can beat anybody.

For more on CSU, check out the latest JD Shaver Post on MWSF:

CSU Goes To NCAA Tournament for first time in 23 years.

Even if you don't want to read it there is a sweet picture of the '86 squad cutting down the nets.

Gary Waters Pregame Speech

While rocking a button down green shirt that had no need to be tucked in during his pregame speech, shown live on ESPN, Gary Waters had the following to say to his crew as they took the floor:

"...We had them twice, they got away from us. This time they can not get away from us."

He got me fired up with it. Let's get 'em fellas.

Cleveland State - Butler: Tonight at 9pm

If you are the Cleveland State Vikings, this is all you have to do to get into the NCAA tournament: Beat the 17th ranked college basketball program in America, on that team's home-court, to decide their league's championship. That's fair, right?

If you loose to that team - Butler - tonight at (9pm), no chance. No one cares that you lost to Butler twice by a total of (3) points in the regular season. No one cares that you won over (20) games for the second season in a row. And they don't care either that you beat Syracuse at the Carrier Dome this season. One game tonight for all the chalupas, thats what it all got you. Forget about Lunardi's Brackets, I don't think Joe even knows that Cleveland has a D-I college basketball team. The win on Saturday in the semis was great, but forget about that too. All that did was give you tonight. One chance to dance. One chance to dream.

With all that said, if your Butler, its gotta be tough to beat a team (3) times in one season. I think Gary Waters is gonna have his club playing loose, and ready to go. I think the Vikings come out on something magical, and they get their ticket punched tonight. You heard it hear first. Get ready to dance Cleveland.

Vikings Represent Cleveland Well

I appreciate what Gary Waters has done with the CSU Vikings. I was (5) when Mackey led Mouse McFadden and company into the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen, and I have been waiting my whole life to see if CSU could be a competive college team worth following again. Whether they make the NCAA tournament this year or not, THEY ARE a club worth following NOW. No doubt. The Vikes will win more than 20 games this year, included amongst them was the win over Syracuse, and enough Horizon wins to finish (3rd) in an under-rated mid-major conference. The losses include a couple of near misses against Top-25 ranked Butler, who clinched the regular season title yesterday. They (CSU) lost at home by (1) at the buzzer, and lost yesterday by (2) at Butler. A close call on a (3) point attempt goes CSU's way at the end... who knows? But what I do know is that coming into the Horizon tourney with a (3) seed, gives them shot to go the distance, and earn the first NCAA bid in (23) years. Whether CSU won Saturday or not, really doesn't matter if you are talking NCAA's anyways. There is only one at large team in the league (Butler) and it is not CSU. But look for CSU to sneak into the dance by playing their way in come tournament time. It is going to be tough for Butler to beat them (3) times. Once in, anything can happen. Maybe they beat Indiana again. Wait, I don't think the Hooisers will make it this year. Nevertheless, Waters club is a solid one, competitive group that plays hard, represents the city well, and as a Cleveland basketball fan, I appreciate that.

Buckeye Hoopsters Miss Lighty

Yesterday, ESPN's Doug Gottlieb said, "OSU hasn't been the same since David Lighty went down," and Shaver Sports couldn't agree more.

With Lighty in the line-up, OSU got out early, recording wins over #22 Miami in Miami, and #7 Notre Dame in Indianapolis en route to a 7-0 start. When Lighty went down in the final minutes of the Jacksonville game, he had just finished recording a career high in points that night with 21. At the time of his injury, the Cleveland Hoopster was averaging 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, playing 33 minutes per game.

His void has not been filled as of yet. Since he went to the IR, the Buckeyes lost by (30) to an unranked West Virginia team, squeaked out a (3) point win against an unranked Iowa team, and lost yesterday to #21 Minnesota by (9) 68-59. Expect the Buckeyes, currently ranked #23, to fall out of the top 25 with the loss.

With (4) other Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top 25, someone wearing scarlet and gray is going to have to step up in a hurry if the Buckeyes hope to be dancing come March. It is hard to say for sure if the Big Ten is going to be a (5) or (6) bid league, and if the conference only ends up sending (4), OSU is going to have to finish ahead of a Michigan State (#15), Purdue (#11), Michigan (#24), or Minnesota (#21) for their dance card to be punched.