Harrick update, and Sweet Sixteen, night 1, game thoughts...

• This may be moot, because this time next year Tony Bennett will probably be watching players remove those gawd awful striped warm-up jerseys while sending them into 45-44 thrillers in Bloomington, but Washington State is a good team, well-coached, with good fundamentals ... but until they get a dynamic point guard (which is close to impossible, because dynamic point guards don't want to play Iba ball in the Paluse) to create his own shot in games like last night's drubbing, they will always defeat the mid-range to good teams, but never quite make a run when they have to face a team with as many cylinders as UNC has.
  
• UCLA may very well win this tournament, but in the Buffet's opinion they aren't as good as the other top teams (i.e. Kansas or UNC). They can't score in stretches, they get disinterested a lot, and if Not Adam Keefe doesn't have the game of his life right now, we might all be wondering if Tyrone Brazelton is the real story of this tournament and not Stephen Curry.


• It is underrated the work Pitino has done in Louisville, also underrated is his recruiting. 2 years ago, Juan Palacios played 28 minutes per game and averaged double-digits on a team that was among the final 8 in the country. Two years later, the Cardinals are back among the 8 left standing, and Palacios is a starter, but he's a starter who plays only 18 minutes a game because Pitino has recruited over the top of himself. The Buffet likes that Louisville team, maybe not to beat UNC ... but is a fan of how they play.


• Not a fan of? Tennessee. Could a team have underwhelmed its way to the Sweet 16 anymore? No real point guard. No real inside game. A horrific shooting tournament from a gutty (he was definitely hobbling) Chris Lofton. The Buffet is a more of a fan of Bruce Pearl's antics than many ... he's done for Tennessee what Rick Barnes is working on in Austin, making a football school a viable basketball program ... but he needs to start expanding on his style, or Tennessee will always be a team who is only good for picking the over in their 2/15 or 3/14 match up against a high-scoring Big West team.
  

If only I recruited a point guard. Or a big man who can bang down low. Or a couple of guys who were interested in defense...

Joe. Joe. Joe. Joe. Joe. A phenomenal Big East & NCAA tournament. You were on your way to becoming a lottery pick. Then you stepped to the line with 14.2 seconds left, and a chance to put your team up one, and you clanked back iron. That my readers, is choking. Credit to Xavier and B.J. Raymond's ice water. Although, in all honesty, this thing ended as soon as Joey A, who was one of the Buffet's favorite tournament performers, fouled out in OT. One more reason to like Huggins at WVU, the Mountaineers shredded a first half 18 point deficit, and took the #3 seed to OT despite hitting a grand total of 1 three-point basket. ONE. Somewhere Jon Beilien is having a panic attack. Although, imagine if the collective shooting touch of Thuggins' shimmering gold 3-piece suit soldiers hadn't gone AWOL ... we'd be seeing Thug & Howl with a trip to the Final 4 on the line. Although, after last year's Greg Oden gorilla-press slam and Gus Johnson telling us how awesome Ron Lewis has been, good moment for the Musketeers.

Now... on to the Harrick. After game one of the Sweet 16 Round, the updated standings are...

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