New England

This past weekend, the wife and I headed up to the Northeast corner of our country.  You could say we were just looking to get each of our "states we've visited" count into the forties, but you would be mostly wrong (for the record we're both at 42, although not the same 42).  Instead, we were looking forward to exploring the geography, food, and spirits from a place neither of us had been.  As we both ended up enjoyed the trip thoroughly, I thought I would share all that we did, in the hopes that future travelers see some things they might like to do.  Much like the San Diego trip we took earlier in the summer, the focus was on the urban aspects, so this post will also focus on such pursuits.

VERMONT

Over the course of four days, we visited five different states.  Our main goal, however, was to visit the state with perhaps the highest ratio of awesome to population, Vermont.  We spent half of the trip wandering the Northern half of the state in search of beautiful nature, delicious food, and of course, beer.  Thanks to diligent research by yours truly, and a little bit of luck, we ended up enjoying everything we did, which is detailed below.

Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the nation.  Not coincidentally, it is also the cutest state capital in the nation.  Case in point: there were all of a dozen people protesting against the Keystone Pipeline one of the days we were there....I suppose a town of 8,000 can only spare so many people at once.  Anyway, the downtown area is home to many small businesses, my favorite of which is Three Penny Tap Room (link).  The wife and I both ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich, and we were both so taken by it that we came back the next day to eat the same thing.  It only helps that you can order a combination of fries and salad for your side (which reminds me of this).  It also helps that the bar has the widest selection of Hill Farmstead beers outside of the brewery itself available on tap.  The combination of beer, food, and actually having a TV (VT is not a sports place overall) probably make this my favorite hangout spot from our trip.

The place that would give Three Penny the biggest run for its money in my estimation would have to be Prohibition Pig (link) in Waterbury.  Waterbury is an even smaller and cuter down right in the middle of all things interesting in Northern Vermont.  There are a couple other good establishments within walking/stumbling distance (Blackback and Reservoir), but we focused on the one with the best sounding food.  I ordered the eponymous sandwich, which was a pork patty topped with pulled meat and bacon.  It was as good as it sounds.  Of course, Pro Pig also has a great beer selection with most of the same choices as Three Penny.

Our other meal came Saturday night at Misery Loves Company (link) in "downtown" Winooski, just north of Burlington.  While our other meals were along the lines of fancy pub food, this was much more of modern American fare.  There are entrees you can order, but we chose to go with a selection of small plates to get the best variety.  My favorite was the Halibut Crudo (mostly because Halibut is awesome), but you can't go wrong with other dishes like the cleverly conceived Young Onions and Old Bread.  If you want a meal that tends more towards the fancy side while you are in Vermont, you really can't go wrong with Misery Loves Company.  The tap list wasn't as impressive or deep as other places, but I'll just leave this picture here:

Many of the times we weren't eating, we were drinking, so we found some neat locations at which to do that.  If you find yourself in downtown Burlington, the most comprehensive tap list is found at Farmhouse Tap and Grill (link), which features all three of the big names in Vermont brewing (Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, and Lawson's), plus some other fun stuff.  There was a massive Allagash tap takeover one of the nights we were there, during which I learned Adrienne really doesn't like sours.  Additionally, their website says they are having a Labor Day Sour-Bration, so that would probably be fun, he said jealously knowing that one of his friends would be there at that time.  If you want dinner, they have that, although the internet has told me mixed things.  If you don't want dinner with your drinks, there is a massive beer garden that does the trick nicely.

There's a lot more to Vermont beer than just the famous ones.  One such example is Lost Nation Brewing (link) north of Stowe in Morrisville (pro tip: this is on the way to or from Hill Farmstead).  Like many other breweries, it's easy to miss as its located deep within what might be the only industrial area in Northern Vermont.  Once you arrive though, you're treated to a nice bar, ample outdoor seating, and some good smells from the grill.  Lost Nation's most available beer is the Gose, which is probably also their best.  Gose is a relatively rare German style of beer that approaches the fruitiness of a Radler but holds back a little bit from being outright juice.  Lost Nation's version of this was superb, and I'm kind of sad that I didn't spend more time on the trip drinking this.  Everything else on their tap list was similarly inventive, and most all of it was good.  Petit Ardennes is dominated by a smoke flavor, which is usually a minus for me, but somehow this one worked.  Lost Galaxy IPA is the latest entry in the "hoppy wheat" craze borne by Gumballhead and carried on by Fortunate Islands.  This wasn't as good as either of those, but it still worked well as a Citra bomb with a solid backbone.  The only real disappointments were their Rustic Ale which didn't come together very well, and their Pilsner, which was just boring.  On the whole though, Lost Nation is very much worth your time.

Probably the most up and coming brewery in Vermont is Fiddlehead Brewing (link), located just a few miles south of downtown Burlington.  When I say up and coming, I mean that they are so eager to give people beer, that they will give you all the free samples you want in their taproom.*  Their IPA is the most widely distributed in the region as of now, but I was a little disappointed as it was a little too malt-forward without being distinct enough to justify it.  Everything else though, was fantastic.  Their pale ale (the other beer they had on tap) was solid and refreshing with just the right balance of C's.  Their porter, Hodad, was disarmingly coconutty, but strangely enough it worked.  Finally, we got to try a beer that hadn't even been released yet, an amber ale with a great bread/toffee presence that was a fantastic example of how to do a malt-forward ale.

*Their brewery is right next to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, which is the best place to check in a beer on Untappd.

In spite of all the glowing words in the past couple paragraphs, I think my favorite under-the-radar brewery might have been Zero Gravity Brewing (link).  It is so under the radar that its taproom is actually inside of a separate restaurant, called American Flatbread.  Upon arrival, we headed to the bar, and ordered a lot of beer (duh).  A nice thing about Zero Gravity is that you're able to order anything in a six-ounce size, which allows for a nice combination of sampling and savoring.  Their most hyped beer is Conehead, another entry in the hoppy wheat category.  Much like Lost Nation's version, this beer was a Citra bomb with enough wheat presence to balance it out.  R Prime is their regular IPA, which brings a harmony of Citra and Simcoe right to the tip of your tongue in a succinct way.  As good as those were, the highlight of the visit (and perhaps the trip) was Sim City, an extra pale ale made with 100% Simcoe hops.  While I like pretty much every hop variety I've ever come into contact with, Simcoe is probably my favorite.  To me, no other hop runs the gamut quite as well, whether it be citrus notes, or pine notes, or that faint stinging taste that reverberates long after it starts.  Not all beers that feature Simcoe let all of that shine through, choosing to focus on one aspect or on other ingredients.  Sim City is not one of those beers.  If I ever need to make my case for Simcoe as the best hop, this is the beer I would put forward.

Lastly, when we visited a local beer store, we saw a locally-brewed cider from Citizen Cider (link).  Adrienne loves that kind of thing, so we looked it up and went to their headquarters, just south of downtown Burlington.  Their taproom is quite spacious, and features outdoor areas and daily specials (Their Thursday special of a hot dog and a can for $5 was my favorite).  Since Ad likes ginger more than she likes most people (and she likes most people), her favorite selection was the Dirty Mayor.  That said, we like all of what we had.  If for some reason you're looking for a break from beer, Citizen Cider is a nice alternative.

After all was said and done my favorite beers from our time in Vermont are*:

1. Sip of Sunshine - Lawson's
2. Sim City - Zero Gravity
3. What is Enlightenment - Hill Farmstead
4. Edward - Hill Farmstead
5. Gose - Lost Nation

*You might notice that Heady Topper isn't on the list.  Heady Topper is great, but it just didn't quite connect with me.  The nose comes together nicely, but there just wasn't enough else there to elevate it to the top of the list.  Interestingly enough, it seems to play off of its strengths by urging you to drink it out of the can, which would highlight the bright hops and not much else.

I didn't have Lawson's more famous Double Sunshine, but Sip of Sunshine was so good that I didn't really care.  This was pretty much the platonic ideal of a double IPA, with a good but not overpowering body, and an assault of hops that lingered on the tongue in perfect harmony for minutes after each sip.  It's almost certainly a top five beer for me.  The Hill Farmstead beers were also great, but not quite as superlative as the top two.  Edward is an amazingly solid APA, with a very floral nose that reminded me a lot of Pliny the Elder.  That said, I liked What is Enlightenment a touch better.  In the San Diego post, I talked about Modern Times' Blazing World, and how I wasn't sure how much I liked their combination of hops, but it was at the very least quite alluring.  This is how I feel about what Hill Farmstead did with this combination of Simcoe and Amarillo, except I know for a fact that I love the result.  The way everything came together in a soft, citrusy way is pretty much unlike anything else I've ever had.

In summation, he famous stuff is famous for a reason - it's all really good.  But don't let your pursuit of that stop you trying the more under the radar places.  All the big names are readily available on tap* so take your time to experience all of the variety Vermont has to offer.

*Buying bottles/cans/growlers is a different story.  Hill Farmstead is famously out of the way and crowded, while Heady Topper and Lawson's inspire giant lines at the few stores they are sold at.  If you must absolutely take some back with you, you're best bets are The Warren Store on Thursday mornings (Lawson's), Winooski Beverage at 10 and 6 on Thursdays (Heady Topper), and Hunger Mountain Co-op at 3 on Fridays (both).


BOSTON

We flew in and out of Logan, so we decided to spend the first day doing things in and around the city.  When I first suggested the idea of a New England trip to the wife, the first thing out of her mouth was "CAN WE GO TO WALDEN POND!?"  As she is a massive fan of Walden - enough of one to have written her thesis on it - this was the first thing we did after flying in.  The pond is just a short drive outside of the city in a state park.   It's a little different today than it used to be, with a crowded beach right next to the parking area.  However, once you start walking towards the original site of Thoreau's cabin, it becomes a much more isolated trek with just the lake, the forest, and the occasional beachgoer.  The loop around the lake is a little under two miles long, and is a good way to stretch out after a morning of flying.  If anyone who reads this does plan on going one day, be aware that the park closes from time to time due to capacity crowds, so keep alert to that.

After completing our hike and taking a brief sojourn to Rhode Island simply because we could, we want back into the city to spend the evening with a couple of college friends.  We took a couple of trains towards the MIT area for dinner and drinks.  The drinks portion of the evening happened at Meadhall (link), a bar with a massive central island of taps.  There wasn't a lot of interesting local stuff on tap (Boston doesn't seem to be the greatest microbrew town), but the pull of a city full of beer enthusiasts meant that they had a lot of stuff from across the nation that you can't get in Ohio (Firestone Walker and Allagash being the highlights).  Furthermore, every beer that we had came with it's own dedicated glass design, which is a really nice touch. 

For dinner, pizza sounded like a good plan, so we headed over to Area Four (link), a pizza place that does a good job on blending modern ideas with pizzas that actually taste like pizza.  I went a little more basic with the Not Pepperoni pizza, which used a similar-type sausage to evoke Pepperoni while staying a bit less greasy.  The wife went a little more exotic and got the special, which had a corn-based sauce.  So now you understand the range of what they have to offer.  When it comes to pizza, I generally prefer straightforward design and execution, but a fun place Area Four can fill the gap between standard fare and highbrow eats nicely.


MAINE

On the last day, we started heading back to Boston.  After stopping for a brief hike on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains, we continued on the way to Maine.  As you might be able to tell by now, I like beer a lot, so out first stop was at Maine Beer Company (link).  Situated 15 miles north of Portland in Freeport, the brewery resembles a house from the front, and thus looks a lot more like a mom-and-pop winery than one of the most revered breweries in the nation.  Of course, once you enter you'll see the window into the production facility and the giant cooler of beer for sale, so you know right where you are.

As the link from the last paragraph showed, Maine Beer Company doesn't really make bad beers.  They are known most famously for their IPAs, and those did not disappoint.  I was a couple of weeks late for Dinner (their double IPA), but Lunch was a fine alternative, with the piney nose reminding me of a more reserved Hop Juju.  Another One was...well...another IPA that played it close to the vest and came together nicely.  Their pale ale, MO, tasted a lot like something that I couldn't put my finger on.  And then of course, Adrienne got it in two seconds....this is basically New England's version of 3 Floyd's Pride and Joy.  I like that beer a lot, so I'll let you guess how I felt about MO.  Their amber ale, Zoe, was the strangest of the offerings, mixing some strong hops like Simcoe with a bold chocolate body, but everything worked well enough to make it another solid beer.  In all, my favorite beers of the weekend all came from the Vermont portion of the trip, but Maine Beer Company makes a lot of great beers, and was definitely worth the trip.

 
Our final stop of the trip was for dinner.  Since we were on the ocean, the hope was to find a good seafood dinner.  We had called Street and Company (link) before the trip, but their reservation list was booked until the late hours.  Fortunately, we showed up and got the last two seats in the bar area.  I say fortunately, because this is what we ate:

I am told pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will leave you with that.

San Diego

I recently had the pleasure of taking a trip with my lovely wife to lovely San Diego.  We spent a lot of time on the beach, which was as nice and relaxing as it always is.  In between all of that, we managed to drink and eat a lot.  Since the latter is probably a tad more interesting to you, dear reader, here are a bunch of awesome things that you yourself can do in San Diego.

WEDNESDAY

After a copious amount of sleep (we got in at what would be 4 AM Eastern), we had an extremely late breakfast at The Mission (link), which is, rightfully so, one of the most revered breakfast joints in San Diego.  Since we wanted to start off our trip by seeing the beach, we went to the location two blocks inland of Mission Beach, which was nicely nestled in between a bunch of rental properties and other small businesses.   The menu featured an equal amount of breakfast staples and Latino-themed dishes.  The first morning (yes, we went twice) I got the Breakfast Quesadilla (pictured below) while Adrienne got the Mission Chilaquiles.  Both were delicious and appropriately filling, which was good because we hadn't eaten in about 20 hours.  The second morning, we stuck to the basics and both got the French Toast.  Made with their homemade cinnamon bread, it was quite rich while still remaining light enough to not be overly filling, which is an amazing combination of traits for such a dish.

After we took a lengthy walk up and down the beach, it was already well into the afternoon.  Hence, we figured we should probably start drinking.  What would be our only significantly inland journey of the trip took us to the Alpine Beer Company (link) in the town of the same name.  While Alpine is famous for making one of the top rated beers in existence, they are both than just one beer.  That said, I had to start out with the famed Nelson, and it did not disappoint.  Surprisingly light in color (it's the half-drunk one in the front), the beer does a fantastic job blending a subtle rye touch with the right amount of Nelson hops.  Rye beers can often overwhelm with the bitterness of the rye combining with the hops, but this one goes the other direction to make a nice reserved beer that I could drink all day.

Next up in my sampler was Duet, a nice but not superlative blend of two of my favorite hops, Amarillo and Simcoe.  This was followed by Pure Hoppiness which, as you might guess, is a pretty straightforward hop bomb.  The final beer I had at Alpine was the Bad Boy, which was a lovely combination of the fantastic Maris Otter malt and, as the menu put it, "most of the C's.*"  If I had to choose a favorite of the day, it would be either Nelson or Bad Boy, for very different reasons.  Adrienne sampled most of their other non-hoppy beers, and wasn't as impressed by them as I was of mine.  Let that be a lesson to us all.

*For the uninitiated, that refers to the hops that pretty much started the concept of a West-Coast IPA.

Of course, there are a lot of other breweries in San Diego, so we kept plowing along.  Next up was Societe Brewing (link), which is located about ten miles north of downtown.  As with many west coast brewers, the focus there was also on the hop.  While Alpine was able to hit a bunch of different notes successfully, I wasn't as impressed by Societe.  There was a similar breadth of beers, but without as much depth and/or creativity.  That said, I still really liked The Dandy, which brought a little bit of everything together in a very focused manner.  Their highest-rated beer, The Pupil, was not as unified, and their English IPA (one of my favorite styles when done right) tasted bizarrely grassy.  All in all, it was a fine experience, which was enhanced by running into a group of people that we had just seen at Alpine.  This would not be the last time this happened this weekend, which shows that San Diego still has a hint of small-town feel about it, if you look in the right places.

For dinner, we headed to the nearby Hillcrest neighborhood (the area just north and west of the zoo) to visit Ortega's Bistro (link).  We both tended towards the seafood portion of the menu, with me ordering fish tacos and Adrienne ordering the shrimp tacos.  While I enjoyed the contents of my tacos, the best part of the dish was the fresh flour tortillas, which were as rich as any I've ever had.  Additionally, Adrienne's shrimp were about the best she's ever had.  If you're looking for a good Mexican dinner, you can't go wrong with Ortega's.


THURSDAY

Following another morning of eating at Mission and relaxing at the beach, we decided to try one of San Diego's entries in the FiveThirtyEight Burrito Bracket, Lucha Libre (link).  The main reason we chose this one was because it was six blocks from our hotel, which turned out to be quite fortuitous.  The food was great, but what made it truly unique was the atmosphere of the restaurant.  The walls were lined with pictures of Mexican wrestlers (hence the name), and there was even a Champion's Booth complete with all-gold regalia that you can reserve for up to four people.  This probably wasn't my favorite Mexican food of the weekend (the steak and shrimp were both a little dull), but there were enough nice touches (grilled cheese on the Queso Taco) to make it worth our time.

Infected with World Cup fever, we next decided to visit one of the most renowned soccer bars in San Deigo, O'Brien's Pub (link).  The beer list was a little picked over (probably because they were preparing for an Alesmith tap takeover later that night) but any place with Speedway Stout on tap can't be too bad.  There was a nice outdoor area, but we stayed inside to avoid the glare on the screens and stay close to the bar.  The game itself (a scoreless tie between Japan and Greece) wasn't exactly the pinnacle of soccer, but it was a lot of fun to watch with a heavily pro-Japan crowd that whipped into a frenzy at every major juncture.  (Here's a hint to that one fan on the patio - If management has to keep asking you to stop standing on your chair during the game, then you're probably a little too into the game.)

For dinner, we had our fanciest meal of the trip at Richard Blais' new restaurant, Juniper and Ivy (link).  The interior was open in a very modern way, with natural light coming from all directions, and the (Blais-less) kitchen in full view.  The menu was also quite modern - in lieu of the typical entrees section, there were many sections of smaller plates (one section was "Toast").  Since I had no real strategy for attacking such a menu, I deferred to the waitresses' selections, which were fantastic.  I started in the raw section with the Baja Yellowtail, which had the perfect blend of acid and sweetness.  Next, I had the Carne Cruda Asada.  It managed to work jalapenos into the dish in a non-grating way, which I consider quite the accomplishment.  Finally, I had the Black Sesame Churro.  This was a little out of my comfort zone (the sesame smells quite nutty), but couldn't go to a Blais restaurant and not have some weird flavored ice cream (tortilla, in this case).  For your dollar, most of the other places on this list are better, but it was a nice departure to enjoy some smartly conceived and unique dishes.

FRIDAY

Friday saw us enjoy another morning of breakfast and beaches.  Once the afternoon rolled around, we went to one of the many drinking establishments on 30th Street, Toronado (link).  This would turn out to be my favorite San Diego bar, for many reasons.  First of all, the beer selection was awesome.  I had my first ever taste of Russian River - in this case, the well-renowned and excellent Pliny the Elder (which would end up being at every other bar we visited).  Toronado also was the only place I saw beer from Almanac and Alpine (other than Alpine's brewery, of course).  I had a delicious blackberry sour from Almanac, and perhaps the best APA ever from Alpine.  Hoppy Birthday may be another name with an annoying pun on hops, but the beer was so focused and over the top with its hop profile (at only %5 ABV, too) that I didn't mind.  A nice bready malt balanced it out to make it more than just another hop bomb.  It just might have been my favorite of Alpine's beers. 

Toronado has a lot going for it besides just the beer.  The interior is straightforward and a little old-timey, which reminds me a lot of Krug Park in Omaha.  There is also a lovely beer garden out back with room for 50 or so people.  We spent the later part of the afternoon there, drinking beer and playing Trivial Pursuit with the limited cards they had.  The food is also good.  We split a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato) for the second time on the trip, and I would say Toronado's was a bit better than the one we had at Alpine.  It didn't hurt that it came with a huge salad, which is a nice alternative to the typical side of fries.  All in all, this was one of my favorite places in San Diego - make sure to stop there if you're ever in town.

Following our afternoon at Toronado, we headed downtown as we had tickets to the Padres-Dodgers game that night.  We were pretty hungry, so we ventured to Neighborhood (link) for an early dinner.  Neighborhood prides themselves on "combining quality beer, locally sourced food, and intelligent design" and they didn't fail to deliver on any of those components.  While I enjoyed everything, my favorite part would have to be the garlic aioli that came with the steak tacos.  There's a scene near the end of the movie Ratatouille where the critic (voiced by Peter O'Toole) tastes the title dish, and has a spontaneous flashback to his childhood as a result.  For me, the garlic sauce was my ratatouille, tasting exactly like garlic bread fresh out of the toaster oven from my childhood.

After dinner, we still had plenty of time before the game and just a little bit of room in our stomachs, so we headed to Heavenly Cupcake (link) for some dessert.  This was one of the few places from our honeymoon that we re-visited, so you could we liked it a lot.  The frosting on my strawberry cupcake had the perfect blend of sweetness and tartness, with a lightness about it without losing substance.  The cupcake craze can be overbearing at times, but places like this make it worth it.

Finally, we ended our day at Petco Park, watching the aforementioned Padres game.  We had tickets directly behind home plate in the 300 section, which gave us a lovely view of both the game and downtown San Diego.  Petco is one of the nicest parks I've been to, both for the open and unique feeling of the stadium, and for the wide selection of craft beer available all over the park. I had a lovely evening watching a close game and enjoying a freshly-tapped Sculpin.

SATURDAY

I haven't written much about the beaches we visited, largely because they're all roughly the same.  There is some variation in the terrain and surrounding communities, but pretty much anywhere you go on the coast of San Diego will be nice.  That said our final day at the beach was a bit different.  We headed just south of Torrey Pines, climbed down a steep trail to Black's Beach (link), and took a nice stroll up the beach and back.  Torrey is probably my favorite golf course, so I was excited to take a walk just beneath it.  The beach was quite lovely and secluded, as you can tell from the picture below.  That seclusion just happened to lead to the most interesting discovery of the day: Apparently, Black's Beach is a nude beach.  As we made our way back to the trailhead, we noticed one nude person, followed by another, and shortly by a bunch more.  Us clothed people were still in the majority.  Still, we could tell that as the temps continued to rise, so to would the amount of nudity.  Thus, we enjoyed the rest of our walk at a moderate-to-brisk pace, and climbed the cliff back to the civilized world.

For lunch, we went to In & Out Burger.  I don't feel like I need to write a full paragraph on this, because you probably all know how awesome it is.  If you don't know how awesome it is, just go there next time you're in California/Arizona/Texas. 

The highlight of the trip came next, as we wandered over to the nearby Modern Times Brewing (link).  Getting there was not the easiest, as it's located in between strip malls, strip clubs, and ugly looking industrial buildings, with thoroughly unnecessary one-way roads surrounding it all.  Once we were there though, it was perfect.  Just the unique wall art and bar made out of books alone were enough to make it an interesting place, but of course the beer is what makes it special.  Adrienne and I each got a sampler of their four main beers, and each was solidly above average at the least.  Most great breweries are known for their special high-gravity beers, but making a solid line of "normal" beers is perhaps even more indicative of the quality of a brewery.

The highlights of the afternoon were many.  Black House is a fantastic coffee stout, with a little more subtlety than you might expect from a brewery that roasts its own coffee.  Blazing World is a IPA/APA/beer that is either really good or one of the best things I've ever had.  I couldn't quite tell which it was, even though I stole most of Adrienne's sample (don't worry, I traded her my Black House).   I have had beers that are more Simcoe-forward; this beer instead opted to blend it with Nelson and Mosaic to make quite the alluring combination.  Finally, there was my favorite of the day, Fortunate Islands, a hoppy wheat that rivals Gumballhead in it's domination of the category.  It is basically the same beer, except with a Citra-Amarillo blend instead of straight Amarillo.  Like the can says, it tastes like wizards.*

*Modern Times might have my favorite beer packaging of all time.  Not only do the cans look nice, but they also have the ingredients (even the malts!), as well as fun descriptions:

Not ready to be done with our revelry, we headed to the third top-100 bar of the trip, Hamilton's Tavern (link) in central San Diego.  We were probably a touch burned out at this point, so we didn't enjoy this as much as our other stops.  That said, it was still a great place with a good selection of beer on tap.  And taps, lots of taps:

For our final meal in Southern California, we stopped at another participant in the Burrito Bracket, El Zarape (link).  Whereas Lucha Libre had been more representative of the "new wave" of eateries, El Zarape was a much more old-fashioned establishment, complete with a too-small kitchen tucked in behind the counter.  Adrienne ordered entirely too much food, while I ordered just a lot of food.  My chicken burrito came with few frills, but was as delicious as anything I ate on the trip.  You could say it was too juicy, but that would be a ridiculous thing to say.

And with that, our trip came to an end.  Almost everything we did was a highlight in some way, and I would recommend you do just about everything we did on your next visit to San Diego, if you have the time.  And if you don't have a next visit to San Diego planned, well, you should plan one.

College Gameday's Mystery Location

College football is just three months away.  In that span of time, I will write some fun posts about the exciting journey that the 2014 season is sure to be (I will also enjoy my summer, because I don't get paid for this and I'm not a psychopath).  For now though, let's talk about an relatively meaningless thing that arose from a tweet yesterday.

As you all know, College Gameday is far and away the best preview show for college football (and perhaps any sport).  Sure, it's far from a perfect show, but it does a great job representing the madness of the sport in a mostly lighthearted way.  As much fun as it is to watch crazy fans at different locations represent their school, it's just about as fun to try to guess where the show will go in coming weeks.  Luckily, one of the producers is often more than willing to encourage that anticipation.  Which brings me to the tweet from yesterday:

This year, @CollegeGameDay will broadcast from a location that we've never been to before. Always fun.
— Lee Fitting (@leefitting) May 28, 2014

Before I go any further, let me say how much I love the tone of this tweet.  He's privy to some information that thousands of fans would love to have, and shrugs it off with an "Always fun."  Never change, Lee Fitting.

As you might guess, the goal of this post is to figure out where this new location might be.  Before I make my top guesses, let me eliminate a majority of games with the help of the schedule, a list of previous Gameday sites, and my expansive knowledge of college football [citation needed].

It can only be a game from the first three weeks

If you take a look at the TV schedule I linked to, there is a pretty significant drop-off in planned TV games after week 2, and a drop-off to almost no planned games after week 3.  ESPN often waits until Sunday morning to determine the location for the next week's Gameday, for the same reason that TV matchups have only been determine a couple of weeks out:  They want to go to the best games possible.  Since a lot can happen in the first three weeks, I am guessing that Fitting's proclamation won't go beyond that.  Case in point: Gameday went to Fargo for week four last year.  This wouldn't have happened if a couple of the notable games lost their luster (ND-MSU, Wiscy-ASU), and if NDSU wouldn't have notched their big upset over Kansas State.

Gameday is going to prioritize major games

Yes, Gameday likes going to smaller games, but they generally only do so when there aren't any obvious bigger games (see my example from the last section).  The first three weeks give us:

Week 1:
Florida State vs. Oklahoma State in Arlington
LSU vs. Wisconsin in Houston
Clemson at Georgia

Week 2:
Michigan at Notre Dame
Michigan State at Oregon
Virginia Tech at Ohio State
USC at Stanford

Week 3:
Georgia at South Carolina
Texas vs. UCLA in Arlington

Week three doesn't give us too many marquee games, but the first two weeks are absolutely loaded.  It's going to take quite the special game to beat out those games with major playoff implications.

Gameday has already been to all of the locations for those marquee games

They've actually been to most of these sites multiple times, including a surprising six visits to South Carolina.  The site that is closest to being a non-visit is Reliant Stadium in Houston, but they did travel there in 2005 for a Katrina-relocated Bayou Classic.  Combining the early parts of the schedule and the list of previous Gameday sites just doesn't give us a classically obvious answer.

Given all of the above, here are my top guesses for the mystery Gameday location (sorry Baylor, your schedule is too awful to merit inclusion on this list):

#4: Oregon at Washington State (Week 4)

I know I said the game would have to be in the first three weeks, but Washington State is a favorite of the Gameday program because of its dedicated fans, so I'll give this a tiny, tiny chance of being the game Fitting speaks of.  Washington State is unlikely to be great (though they certainly may be good), so I doubt Gameday has this circled on their calendar.  Additionally, Oregon's week 2 battle with the Spartans gives them a decent chance of coming into this game with a loss, so I doubt Gameday would commit to this game so early.

#3: Louisiana at Ole Miss (Week 3)

Here is the first game that has a fighting chance of being the one.  The Grove is by far the most notable college football location that has yet to host Gameday, so I am sure they are looking for every excuse possible to make a visit (promoting the new SEC network wouldn't hurt either).  As I said earlier, week 3 is the most likely week in September for a less-hyped game, so this would make a lot of sense.

#2: Penn State vs. UCF in Dubin, Ireland (Week 1)

This game makes sense on a lot of levels.  There are so many big games on the first week, that choosing more of a novelty might be the best bet.  Taking Gameday to foreign soil would be quite the accomplishment for the program.  Plus, we would get to see how people from other nations react to Big and Rich. 

All that said, I still think this game is fairly unlikely for a couple of reasons.  One, while both Penn State and UCF are bound to be good teams (37th and 27th respectively in the preseason F/+ rankings), I don't necessarily think the allure of Ireland is enough to overcome the middling matchup.  Two, the game begins at 7:30 eastern time, so I'm not exactly sure when Gameday would air here.  I doubt they would actually start at 4:30 AM, and I severely doubt they would tape delay it.  Logistical reason may doom this game from the start.

#1: Sam Houston State at Eastern Washington (Week 0)

Sorry everyone, I tricked you earlier in the post.  When I said the game would have to be in the first three weeks, I am betting you didn't know there was a week zero.  My bad.  The two best FCS programs (non-NDSU division) square off a week before everyone else gets started.  Furthermore, the game is on ESPN, and it will be played on a red field.  Gameday generally has a season preview show the week before the season in a studio in Bristol.  I am betting that they take this show on the road this year.  This probably isn't the sexiest answer to Fitting's tweet, but I think it's pretty cool that Gameday appears to be rewarding a program that has achieved great success (they won the 2011 title) despite being in the middle of nowhere (and yet having to compete with several nearby FBS programs for recruits).  Time will tell if I am right.

Bracket Thoughts 2014

Another season of college basketball is nearing its end, which naturally means that we have a bracket.  A glorious, glorious bracket.  I want to spend some time sharing my thoughts on that, but I also want to share some thoughts on the sport at large.  I'll lead off with a bunch of mini-posts jammed together for your convenience, and then talk about the specific brackets on the back nine.  If you just came here for a quick summary, here it is:  BASKETBALL!!!  If that's not enough for you, keep reading.

Note: The majority of the numbers in this post come from kenpom.com.  Some sections were written before the data from Sunday games were uploaded, so the ratings may look slightly different now.  Everything should be close enough to support my points, at the very least.


My Rant at the Committee (In the Form of an Elegy for the Runnin' Utes)

If the committee said it's choosing the "best season achievement profiles" instead of just "best teams," I'd buy them each a donut.
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) March 16, 2014

Snap judgment: Seems like, if anything, the committee utilized new team metrics less this year than the past.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) March 16, 2014

I have a very odd tendency to start rooting for random college basketball teams for reasons even I can't always discern.  This year, one of those teams was Utah, who is a pretty fun team to watch.  Delon Wright is basically a better version of Rajon Rondo, and the rest of the team came together to be one of the most efficient units in the Pac-12.  By most advanced metrics, Utah is one of the best 37 at-large teams.  KenPom has them 37th, LMRC has them 46th, Sagarin has them 39th, and BPI has them 34th (remember than 10 or so of the teams ranked above them get automatic bids, so being in the thirties means you should be strongly considered).  A season ending blow-out against Arizona didn't help these numbers, but they had built up enough good will to be a team worthy of inclusion.

And yet, the Utes didn't make the tournament field* and weren't particularly close according to most pundits, largely because of their terrible RPI (notice which stat sticks out as the outlier for Utah on Massey's composite ratings page).  There are a lot of qualitative reasons they might be underrated: they were terrible the last couple of years, they're still perceived as a mid-major, and they play late at night on the East Coast.  In the end though, it all comes down to the bad RPI.

*The small consolation is that Utah gets to play at St. Mary's in the NIT.  St. Mary's tiny gym is one of my favorite venues in the sport, so that will be a fun little treat for a hoops nerd like me.

The two main reasons for their surprisingly low RPI are easily found on the front page of kenpom.com.  First, Utah ranked 294th in luck.  This shows that Utah lost a lot of close games (they went 0-3 in overtime, for example).  If a couple of bounces would have gone their way, they could have easily won 2 or 3 more games and their record would more closely match their true talent level.  Second, Utah ranked 350th in non-conference strength of schedule.  There are only 351 teams.  Whether they should or not, the committee (and thus, those that bracketologize) treats a bad non-conference schedule like the plague:  You had better be otherwise sparkling or they're not going to let you into the dance.*  I understand the desire to encourage good non-conference schedules, but in the end, this practice leads to the committee rewarding strong-scheduling ADs as opposed to strong-playing basketball teams.

*I know that the committee has shown a constant commitment to punishing teams with bad schedules, so missing the tournament should never come as a surprise to a coach/AD that schedules a poor slate.  That said, when the richest teams have a guy whose job it is to manipulate the RPI, that should be a sign that maybe the system is a bit broken.

The common refrain that I hear from committee members is that they want to select the 37 best at large teams.  While that sounds good on the surface, actions indicate that they don't actually mean it.  From this article comes this telling quote:  "It is just doing the best job that group possibly can to find the best teams based on the games they played, the games they won."  Once again, this sounds a lot like the deserver argument I've detailed in the past:  Because so and so teams won certain games, they deserve to be in the tournament regardless of whether or not they are actually one of the best at large teams.*  What's most disappointing about this is that we live in an era where we can do better than this, and yet we choose not to.

*Of course, an RPI/resume based approach will overlap with a more advanced approach most of the time, so it's not like the end result of the selection process is completely terrible.  But still, we can do better.  Louisville is not a 4-seed. 

Pro sports teams don't have this problem, because fans generally accept that the centralized scheduling and rules for qualifying for the playoffs are mostly fair.  Sure, an 8-8 division champion may make the NFL playoffs occasionally, but there is so much transparency to the process that it is generally accepted.  On the other hand, the non-centralized nature of college basketball permits us to select teams for the postseason based on them being the actual best teams.  Because of the advances in sports analytics and the availability of advanced metrics, this is now a quite reasonable and even easy exercise.  But rather than using that unique opportunity, the selection committee falls back towards evaluating profiles in a near-political manner, as though that's a rigorous and fair way to evaluate the best teams.  I hope that in the future the NCAA and it's committee will become more enlightened, but for now we'll just have to accept things for the way they are.  Luckily for us, the tournament is still pretty awesome as it is, even without Utah in it.


Some Specific Complaints About Non-Utah Teams

While I didn't have high hopes for Utah's inclusion in this year's tournament, there were some pretty disappointing picks at the back end of the tourney.  SMU and Louisiana Tech didn't come from the best conferences, nor did they have flashy offenses.  What they did have was two of the most punishing defenses in the land, which would have given them the ability to win multiple games with a favorable draw.  After Middle Tennessee made last year's bracket with a very similar background, I was pretty surprised that the Mustangs and Bulldogs were passed over for a very average NC State team.  The UAB and VCU picks from three years ago were a tad odd, but I think you have to go all the way back to Air Force in 2006 to find a more stupefying pick for the tournament.

I was also surprised that injuries appear to no longer have any bearing on tourney seeding.  Colorado reverted to a pretty average team after the loss of Spencer Dinwiddie (they went from 31st to 64th in the KenPom ratings, and they sit 58th in Sagarin), yet they'll be wearing white against a strong Pittsburgh team.  BYU was already a pretty marginal case before the loss of Kyle Collinsworth, so I am quite surprised they managed to avoid Dayton, let alone make the field.  I understand how it seems unfair to penalize a team for losing a star player, but the committee needs to make those tough decisions.  If a team isn't what they were when they were compiling their resume, then that should be reflected in the bracket.

*Speaking of NIT teams, I just watched the NIT selection show because I am a bracket junkie.  At the end, Andy Katz spoke with the NIT selection committee chairman, who looked and sounded like a long lost cousin of Joe Lieberman.  His reading off the list of teams that just missed out on the NIT in a quiet, sad voice was one of the most hilariously depressing things I've ever seen.


A Pretty Good Year for Mid-Majors

In a year in which prominent mid-majors like Creighton moved up to major conferences and the Mid-Majority readied to close its figurative doors, it might seem like the small conferences are in trouble.  While there were a few signs of decay (eg. the Valley not having anyone remotely near the bubble), the season was actually an overall success for small schools.  Of course, Wichita's amazing season got the majority of the limelight (deservedly), but a lot of other programs managed their best seasons in years.  Thankfully, the majority of those schools passed their conference tournament tests and will get their chance to pull an FGCU and captivate the nation for a weekend.

In the past couple of years, I've always made note to comment on who made it and who got tripped up in their tourney.  This year, I thought I would put everything in chart format to illustrate the good fortune we saw this year.  While I think the 3-5 seed lines are pretty strong this year, they'll still face some good challenges from many of the following teams:

 

Note: A conference was included in this list if at least one team was in the top 100 of the KenPom ratings, and that team (or teams) had a level of separation from the rest of the league.  That is why teams like Belmont and Toledo, for example, don't show up on this list.

For all of the complaints I had about the committee's work this year, they did a really good job of putting the mid-major teams in their proper order.  There isn't a super strong 15 or a weak 13 like we've seen in previous years.  As a result, a lot of the 4-13 and 5-12 matchups should be great.


Slow Tempo

Given that I watch a lot of basketball, it's only natural that I have developed a pet theory or two about how the game works.  One such line of thought that came about during last year's tournament concerns teams that play at a very slow pace.  As you might remember, last year's tournament was particularly memorable for a number of unlikely occurrences, the most notable being Florida Gulf Coast's run to the Sweet Sixteen and Wichita State's run to the Final Four.  What you might not have noticed is that those runs started with games against teams that like to play quite slowly.  To illustrate this, here are the five slowest teams that qualified for last year's tournament (for reference, the average tempo for the 2013 season was about 66 possessions per game):

If you are perceptive, then you will have already noticed that all of those teams landed seeds where they would be considered favorites in the first round.  If you have a good memory, then will you have already noticed that all of those teams also lost in the opening round last year (To follow up on earlier references, Georgetown lost to FGCU, while Wichita knocked off Pitt in an absolutely loaded 8-9 game). 

Of course, a five team sample is hardly conclusive.  If I would have increased the sample to six teams, then it would include Florida, who made it all the way to the Elite Eight before running into a Michigan team that damn near won the title.  That said, it's a little scary that the four teams atop that list are perhaps the four that are most associated with disappointing tournament results over the past decade.  My theory behind this is pretty simple: Good teams that purposefully play fewer possessions leave themselves more vulnerable to losses to inferior opponents.  If you have 5-10 fewer possessions to assert your dominance, then there is a greater chance that you could be upset.

I hope to do a little more digging into this in the offseason to see how real of a relationship this is.  In the meantime, the slowest major conference teams in this year's field are Virginia, Syracuse, Baylor Michigan, and Cincinnati.  Do with this information what you will.


One-sided teams

One aspect of basketball that I find preferable to football is that every player has to play both offense and defense.  Sure, there may be three point specialists and such that can only do one thing well, but there are still contributions those people can make on the other side (eg. defensive big men can set screens on offense).  Because of this, excellence in the sport requires supreme athleticism and versatility to a degree unparalleled in most other sports.

However, that line of thinking is being threatened a bit this season.  While there have always been unbalanced teams (think 2012 Missouri), I've never seen the top of the rankings littered with so many teams that only excel on one side of the ball.  Here are the top ten teams in efficiency for both offense and defense, and where they rank on the other side of the ball:

As you can see, many of the very best teams in the nation are surprisingly lopsided.  This phenomenon hasn't limited itself to the best teams either.  League doormats like Boston College (#30 offense, #298 defense) and Northwestern (#312 offense, #17 defense) tended to show an even stronger contrast.

I'm not exactly sure what the reasons behind this phenomenon might be, but I do know that the preponderance of one-sided teams means that there is a high chance that we'll have a champion that only excels on one side of the floor.  In the first eleven years of the efficiency era, every single champion has had a top 25 offense and defense.  Of course, those teams have six tournament wins baked into their final efficiency metrics, which probably skews those figures upwards.  Still, we have a chance to see a truly mediocre offense or defense win a title this year.  Be prepared.


One More Note About Creighton

I already spent some time talking about how awesome Creighton was this season, so let me try to keep this short.  As you already know from the above section, Creighton led the nation in offensive efficiency this season.  Their adjusted offensive rating was 125.7 (measured in points per 100 possessions, adjusted for opponent), which tops this year's Duke team and one of Chris Paul's Wake teams for the best offense of the last twelve years, according to KenPom.  The reason for this is that the Jays are probably the best shooting team ever.  And no, that is not an exaggeration.  Against the 9th toughest defensive schedule in the nation, the Jays shot 42.2% from three (#1 nationally) and 56.2% from two (#3 nationally).  There are a lot of reasons to be wary of picking the Jays for a deep run in the tournament, but their shooting will give them a very good chance of winning no matter who they play.


On Andrew Wiggins' Awesomeness

Coming into the season, there was a good deal of hype for the highest rated freshman class in years.  And of those freshmen, none was more hyped than Kansas' Andrew Wiggins.  As the season progressed, the hype died down a bit, and people began picking on supposed holes in his game.  The narrative seemed to become that Wiggins was a disappointment, because he wasn't the next Kevin Durant.  While I think holding a teenager to those kind of expectations is a little ridiculous, I also think he's not all that far behind where Durant was when he was a freshman.  Here is a comparison of Wiggins' season with Durant's 2007 at Texas:

Upon examining those numbers, you will probably conclude that Durant was better as a freshman.  I wouldn't argue with that, as Durant's combination of efficient shooting, high usage rate, and defensive skill is hard to match.  That said, Wiggins isn't far behind, especially when you consider the different contexts in which they played.  Wiggins has fewer rebounds and blocks in large part because he gets to play alongside Joel Embiid and Perry Ellis, who are both great post players.  This means Wiggins is more free to roam the perimeter looking for his shot and setting up fast breaks.  Durant, on the other hand, was often the tallest player on the floor for Texas, so he had to handle a lot of those duties for the Longhorns.  Additionally, Durant found himself on a team full of freshmen and sophomores, so he was free to put up those high usage rates you see above.  Wiggins joined a team with more talent in place and a better coach (Self>>>>Barnes), which means he didn't need to carry the same load as Durant.

In the end, Durant was better in 2007 than Wiggins in 2014, but it was closer than the narrative indicates, largely because Bill Self didn't need Wiggins to be Durant.  The injury to Embiid may change that, which makes Kansas' tournament fate all the more interesting.  If Wiggins can propel his team to a deep run, then his season at Kansas may just end up being the superior one.  For this reason, Kansas might just be the most interesting team to watch this postseason.

Now, onto the brackets:


EAST

The East is probably the least "sexy" bracket, but there's still a lot here to like.  Harvard is as good of a mid-major as you'll see, and they'll get their chance to win games in back to back tournaments against a potentially vulnerable Bearcat team.  Shabazz Napier has the chance to finish off a brilliant career with a Kemba-tastic type run to the Final Four.  Providence's Bryce Cotton was playing more than 40 minutes per game at one point of the season, so he will indubitably have a say in whether or not the Friars can upset the enigmatic Tar Heels.  And Virginia and Villanova represent a couple of teams that surprised this season with fantastic, unselfish play.  In a lot of ways, the East is the most wide open bracket, which could make for some fun times.

Best First Round Matchup:  Iowa State vs. NC Central

It's pretty tough to pass up the slugfest between Cincy and Harvard, or the point guard-off between Bryce Cotton and Marcus Paige.  Despite that, I'm sticking with my favorite mid-major champion in NC Central.*  Even thought the MEAC has produced several first round upsets (including Hampton over Iowa State), this might be the best team the conference has ever put forward.  In addition to liking the team, I also really like the matchup.  NC Central isn't particularly tall, as is true of many MEAC teams.  Luckily, Iowa State has even less effective height.  Melvin Ejim and Georges Niang are great players, but they're both only 6'6".  NC Central should have the option to try for points in the paint, should they so desire.  I still think Iowa State will survive and advance, but this will be a strong test for the defense-challenged Cyclones.

*Coach LeVelle Moton tearing up at the end of the game that sealed his alma mater's first ever tourney berth might have been my favorite moment of Championship Fortnight.

Best Possible Matchup:  Virginia vs. Michigan State

Virginia gets a reasonably easy draw in the East, which is odd considering they're probably the least deserving one seed.  That said, they're still a great final four capable team, and Michigan State could pose a major threat if the Spartans continue their recent roll.  Tony Bennett and Tom Izzo are two of the best coaches in the game, and they have teams that are versatile enough to create a back and forth of pure, unadulterated, coaching strategy.  The player to watch here is Malcolm Brogdon, who just might be the most underrated player in the country.  The sophomore doesn't have any one skill that sticks out; Rather, he plays solid defense, and acts as a bit of a second point guard for an offense that is sneakily one the best in the country.  Finally, Joe and Gary Harris will get to fight for the most valuable Harris award, which I just made up.

The Pick for JerryWorld:  Michigan State

The Spartans are a tricky team to get a handle on.  On one hand, they've looked impressive at the beginning and end of the season, which is not coincidentally the times that they had their full complement of players.  On the other hand, this team isn't as deep with talent as other Michigan State squads we've seen in the past.  The drop-off in skill from Payne and Dawson to the bench is noticeable (especially on defense), which means the Spartans will have to look out for refs with loose whistles.  Michigan State does give up more free throw attempts than it takes, so that's definitely my biggest worry about this team.  Other than that, I don't see a lot of problems.  The Spartan starting five has a blend of talent and experience that is unmatched in the bracket; As a result, I like them to conquer the region.


MIDWEST

Yes, Louisville being a four-seed is ridiculous.  What makes it even more ridiculous are the two teams directly below them in the Midwest: Saint Louis and UMass.  I love the Billikens and Chaz Williams is one of the most exciting players in the nation, but in no way do these teams deserve their seeds.  As Nate Silver pointed out, it's all because of the RPI.  For some reason, the American got pounded in the RPI this year, while the Atlantic-10 stood out (Both conferences had a collection of bad teams at the bottom, so we can't say that's the reason).  The committee can talk about looking deeply at the resumes and watching games and such, but when a bracket like this is as nakedly seeded according to RPI, then it's hard to take them seriously.

All that said, this is probably the strongest bracket in the tournament.  Wichita, Michigan, Duke, and Louisville make for a loaded top four that could go any which way, and Tennessee and Kentucky could make for a couple of fun spoilers.  Yes, it seems a little unfair that a 34-0 season gets you such a tough draw, but the Shockers don't seem to mind tough draws, and the committee assigns teams to regions for geography as much as anything else:

Best First Round Matchup:  Iowa vs. Tennessee

The 8/9 and 7/10 matchups are pretty underwhelming here, so I'm passing on those (I don't know of a way to quantify this, but Texas-Arizona State might be the game with the least impact on the outcome of the tournament).  Though I like the pointsplosion potential of Duke-Mercer, I'm going to go with the only matchup that is actually considered the "first round."  Tennessee may have lost a bunch of close games, and Iowa fell down hard at the end of the season, but these are still both top-30-or-so outfits that have legitimate Sweet Sixteen potential (I would complain about the committee again, but at least they got these teams in the tournament).  This game is worth watching if only for the matchup between Jordan McRae and Roy Devyn Marble.  Both are similar players, except McRae is a little more electric, while Marble is as smooth of a customer as you'll see on a basketball court.  If I only give you one commandment for filling out your bracket, it is to pick the winner of this game to beat UMass.  Just trust me.

Best Possible Matchup:  Wichita State vs. Louisville

This was an amazing game in last year's Final Four, and I see no reason for that to be different this year.  Louisville isn't quite as deep as last year's championship-winning behemoth, but Russ Smith is probably the best non-McDermott player in the land, and Chris Jones and Montrezl Harrell replaced Siva and Dieng nicely.  On Wichita's side, the interplay between guards Fred Van Vleet, Ron Baker, and Tekele Cotton is special, and Cleanthony Early is the kind of athlete that a mid-major needs to take their team to the next level (And a 115 O-rating with 26% usage isn't too bad either).  Duke-Michigan would give us the chance to see unprecedented offensive fireworks on the bottom half of this bracket, but when forced to choose, I'll take the slugfest every time.

Very close runner-up: Wichita vs. Kentucky.  I had hoped to get this matchup two years ago, when Wichita was almost as good as they are now.  I'm pretty excited to see Kentucky's dominance on the offensive glass go up against Wichita's defensive rebounding ability (#5 in the country).  Because the Shockers can get rebounds and limit fouls, I think they matchup well against the Wildcats, but it should still be a great game.

The Pick for JerryWorld:  Louisville

Michigan gets a reasonable draw on the bottom half of this bracket, but I'm not doubting the Cardinals after their performance over the past two seasons.  The road for Rick Pitino will be tough, but it was tough last year, and they don't have to play someone as good as 2013 Colorado State in the round of 32.  I really want to see the Shockers make a second straight run, but they have to clear a much tougher third-round hurdle in Kentucky, and they don't have any one player quite as good as Russ Smith.

SOUTH

The South is a very odd region.  Kansas, Syracuse, and Ohio State are a trio of teams that looked like potential champions earlier in the season before injuries (Embiid) and poor play (CJ Fair, Aaron Craft) greatly diminished their chances.  On the other hand, UCLA and VCU both snuck under the radar most of the season, but are fully deserving of their seeds.  Add in Pitt and New Mexico and you have yourself a bracket that could go any number of ways. 

Of course, I haven't mentioned that team at the top of the bracket that has a pretty good chance of making everything else in the South irrelevant.  The Gators do just about everything well - their somewhat high turnover rate (17.8%) and poor free throw shooting (Patric Young) are about the only holes I can poke in their title chances.  They don't have a free pass to the Final Four, but they have as a good of a chance as they could hope for at ending their three year streak of losing in the regional final.

Best First Round Matchup:  New Mexico vs. Stanford

There aren't a bevy of fantastic matchups early in this bracket, so let's take the one that features some really tall guys.  Led by Cam Bairstow and Alex Kirk, the Lobos check in at 7th in the nation in effective height (of tournament teams, only NM State and Kentucky are taller), while Stanford isn't far behind at 13th.  Neither team is great at rebounding, so the main focus of the battle in the paint will be for points.

Best Possible Matchup:  UCLA vs. VCU

It's an eternally fun exercise to imagine how well VCU's havoc defense will match up against potential opponents.  UCLA might be the most fun opponent to imagine, primarily because of the brilliance of 6'9" point forward Kyle Anderson.  While Anderson can't move particularly fast (his nickname is Slow-Mo after all), he is as smart with the ball as anyone in the country, and he should be able to simply pass over the top of most trapping defenders. 

The Pick for JerryWorld:  Florida

This was the easiest pick to make.  Florida draws potentially tough matchups with Pittsburgh and VCU in the top part of the bracket, but the bottom half features an Embiid-less Kansas and a reeling Syracuse.  There are still reasons to believe that any of the teams seeded two to seven could make a run if things go right.  But while those teams need a lot to break right, Florida just needs to keep doing what they do.  I trust that Billy Donavan knows how to make that happen.

WEST

The Midwest is the best bracket, but the West is probably the most fun bracket.  The top half features a couple of punishing defenses (Arizona, San Diego State) getting tested by a bunch of top 25 offenses (Oklahoma, ND State, Oklahoma State).  The bottom half however, is all about offense.  The only two teams that crack the top 50 in defensive efficiency are Nebraska (30th) and 15-seed American (46th).  So there's going to be some points.  And likely a major clash of styles in the regional final.  Awesome.

Note: Nowhere is the committee's goal of seeding to the region clear than in the West.  Only one team (American) hails from the Eastern time zone.

Best First Round Matchup:  Oklahoma vs. North Dakota State

Oklahoma State-Gonzaga is an awesome 8-9 tilt, and Baylor-Nebraska has the makings of a classic, but I'll take the offensive shootout between the Sooners and the Bison.  Both teams feature top-25 offenses, but they go about achieving those results in completely different manners.  Oklahoma likes to push the tempo (17th in the nation), and takes a reasonably high number of threes (led by Buddy Hield's 224 three point attempts).  North Dakota State, on the other hand, likes to take it slow and prefers two-pointers (they're good at making them, too - 56%, which is good for 4th in the nation).  In spite of shooting down low a lot, they never get blocked (5% - best in the nation), although in fairness, that's partially representative of the smaller athletes in Summit Conference.

Best Possible Matchup:  Wisconsin vs. Creighton

Michigan and Duke have a good chance of putting on an offensive clinic in the Sweet Sixteen in the Midwest bracket.  The potential matchup between Wisconsin and Creighton could be even better than that.  Both teams like to operate on the perimeter, but this game might be decided down low.  Creighton's interior defense leaves a lot to desire, but McDermott is more than capable of at least making things difficult for Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes.  At the same time, Doug is perfectly capable of driving to the hole, and smart passing from Austin Chatman and Grant Gibbs often leads to good looks near the basket.  I would tend to favor Wisconsin because they're not going to turn the ball over, and they're not going to let Creighton get to the line, but Creighton's capable of putting on a shooting display that can overwhelm just about anyone.

The Pick for JerryWorld:  Arizona

If Arizona is able to continue playing well enough without Brandon Ashley, they should roll.  Much like Michigan State though, I worry about foul issues.  Arizona only has six solid rotation players, so a foul-heavy game could take a special toll on them.  That said, they've been pretty good at avoiding fouls this season (57th in the nation), so it's only a minor worry.  In theory, they could get outscored by one of the teams on the bottom of the bracket, but I think they'll be able to find ways to score enough to win against whichever subpar defense they face.


FINAL FOUR

Last year, picking a champion was easy.  Florida was extremely underrated (they were #1 in KenPom) and had an easy draw (they were a 3-seed and Georgetown was the corresponding 2-seed).  While that didn't work out for me, I was still happy with my decision, as I was at least trying to zig while everyone else zagged.  This year, the main title contenders seem a bit more obvious.  Early returns show my Final Four teams all among the popular picks to win it all.  Much like last year, I like Louisville a lot.  However, they would have to come out of a tougher bracket, while Florida gets the easier half to navigate.  Thus, I will go with Florida, for now.  I might be changing this a few times over the next couple of days.

The fantasy portion of my Final Four picks is also difficult.  For the second straight year, all of my favorite teams (Creighton, SLU, Wisconsin, and Wichita State) got put on the same side of the bracket.  Thus, I can't dream of some awesome championship game matchup as I go to sleep tonight.  That said, I've taken quite the shine to NC Central over the past couple of weeks, so I'll be rooting for Creighton over NC Central in the title game.  Even though that matchup is the longest of longshots, there's a decent chance that we could see these Eagles at least make a little noise much like last year's Eagles.

Basketball in 2014: Three Teams

If you haven't noticed, the college basketball season is winding down.  Soon, the talk of bubble teams and one seeds will be over, and we'll have actual brackets and tournament games to fawn over.  I don't think this season quite lived up to the insane hype that preceded it, but it was still great nonetheless.  Most of the highly-touted freshman performed well, but we didn't exactly have 5 shiny new Kevin Durants dominating everything. 

As I am a huge fan of the sport, I was able to catch at least a little bit of most of the teams in consideration for the tournament.  That said, I still have my teams and those three teams dominated my attention, for better or worse.  These three teams supplied me with pretty much every emotion possible as they ran the gamut from the pinnacle of excellence to the essence of terribleness.  So I don't spend the whole of my bracket post talking about these teams, I thought I would give them their own space here.  This will allow me to not only talk about their seasons, but also to give a little consideration toward the future.

Notre Dame: Blerg

I wasn't a fan of the Irish before I went to Notre Dame, which makes it all the crazier to me that this is already my eleventh season as a fan.  Tournament greatness has escaped the Irish over that span, but at least there's always been a competitive squad in place.  Indeed, the Irish have always been a team that could conger up massive upsets, season-saving winning streaks, and give the hope of any given season finally being "the one."  That is, until this year.

This chart pretty much says the same thing as the above paragraph, but with numbers instead (all numbers from KenPom):

If there's one main compliment to be made about the Mike Brey era, it's that his teams rarely stink.  Besides this year's team, the only other team that isn't quite tournament quality would be the underwhelming 2005 squad, and they weren't that far off from being good.  Even the 2006 team (AKA. The Passion of Chris Quinn) that lost every single close game in new and inventive ways was a top-30 team.

The obvious question is what on earth happened this year?  The easy answer would be that Jerian Grant's suspension crippled the team.  Grant was the best player on the team, and honestly, one of the best I've ever seen play for Notre Dame.  During the telecast of the ND-UNC game last Monday, Jay Bilas theorized that ND would have been a top-25 team if Grant was around.  If that premise is true, then Grant's absence would explain everything.  While I agree that losing Grant was huge, I think this team was a little bit "doomed" from the start, for a couple reasons:

1. They weren't that good when Grant was playing - After the Ohio State game (Jerian's last game before the suspension), ND was 52nd in the KenPom ratings.  This is certainly better than the end product turned out, but it would still rank among one of the worst results of Brey's career.  These mediocre numbers weren't conjured out of thin air or anything; the team was 8-4 with home losses to Indiana State and North Dakota State (decent teams, but still).  The root of this mediocrity was the terrible defense.  Brey-coached team are rarely good on that side of the ball, but losing a decent defender in Grant isn't enough to explain away a defense that barely cracked the top 200.

2. Garrick Sherman - Garrick was the number one option in the offense but he just wasn't very good.  His O-rating was 99.0 (average is 100), with a usage rate of over 28% (just shy of top 100 in the nation), which means we spent a lot of time feeding a mediocre player the ball.  I still appreciate his overtime heroics from last year's Louisville game, and it's not necessarily his fault that Brey featured him so much, but he might just be my least favorite ND player ever.

The good news is that I think this will be a one year blip.  The returning core of Grant, Jackson, Vasturia, Connaughton, and Auguste should be formidable, and incoming talent should be as strong as ever.  I'm not under the impression that ND is necessarily going to start contending for ACC championships, but I think the program can get back to that comfortable level of winning that it's enjoyed for a while now.

Creighton: Making History

I am not often prone to hyperbole.  That said, this season of Creighton basketball is likely to go down as one of the most special seasons in this sports fan's life, for many reasons.  The most obvious reason would be the future Wooden Award winner, Doug McDermott.  There's been a number of great players on the teams I root for over the years, but I don't think there's ever been as dominant of a season as the one #3 is having.  Watching games while rooting for your favorite player is one thing; watching games rooting for someone like McDermott to pass the next hall of famer on the all-time NCAA scoring list is a whole different beast.  While I will always be a Creighton fan and have high hopes that they're going to be great next season, it still might be tough to adjust to just regular old basketball next season.

Of course, that "regular old basketball" is a completely different animal from what it was before.  Largely because of McDermott's success in his first three years (A Catholic orientation, huge arena, and dedicated fan base didn't hurt either), Creighton just wrapped up its first regular season in the Big East.  Not only did I get to enjoy Doug's march to 3,000, but I got to do so against a brand new set of tradition-laden opponents.  Many of the great matchups against teams with large trophies from their past endeavors suggested future rivalries that may become some of the best in the sport.  While I've always enjoyed rooting for the Jays, these last couple of years have been quite the ride.  I'll be sad to see it end, but thanks in large part to this extended run of good fortune, the Jays are set up to succeed for the long run.

Saint Louis: Saying Goodbye

The 2012 season was the campaign in which I started playing close attention to advanced metrics in college basketball.  While this opened up my eyes to a lot of new things, none was as great as my newfound love of Saint Louis basketball.  I came about the Billikens in a fairly innocuous manner:  I was perusing the KenPom team rankings and saw that Saint Louis, a team that hadn't made the tournament in years, was all the way up to #10 with very little national fanfare.  Since I knew nothing about them, I decided to find the next game of theirs that was on TV.  That game happened to be their penultimate conference affair of the season, a Tuesday night game against Xavier.  When they went on a massive run to start the second half, Chaifetz Arena was rocking and I was hooked.  Rick Majerus' brand of ferocious defense and smart yet aggressive offense was a perfect match for my sports-watching sensibilities.

If you follow basketball at all, you probably have a decent idea of what's happened since then.  In case you don't, here goes:  In the tourney, Saint Louis got stuck with a nine seed and an insanely tough draw in Memphis.  They made it past that and gave Michigan State a hell of a game before losing by four, in what would be Coach Majerus' last game.  He would leave the team during the summer for health reasons, and then died tragically on December 1st.  The interim coach Jim Crews performed admirably and helped to rally the team to win the A10 regular season and tournament championship.  The team bowed out in the third round again, this time to a plucky Oregon team that refused to miss threes.

That brings us to this season, which feature the last vestiges of Majerus' thumbprint in the starting lineup.  The five seniors have been strong, but the team has faltered a bit without the depth from previous years' teams*.  Luckily, the team is still the top seed in the A10 tourney, and will likely draw a decent seed in the NCAA tournament.  I don't have the same hopes of a final four run that I did last year, but there are reasons to believe that the Billikens could see the second weekend with a favorable enough draw.

*I love this picture and quote, but the funny thing is that Saint Louis was actually a better team the last couple years than this year.  It goes to show that getting a top ten ranking requires a lot of luck in addition to a lot of skill.

Of course, at some point later in March the Billikens will lose, and the senior starters will no longer be senior starters.  At that time, Saint Louis will barely resemble the outfit I fell for three years ago.  I haven't been terribly impressed with the efforts from the bench players, so I don't necessarily have a lot of hope for next season.  This leads me to conclude that this will likely be the end of my short-lived Billiken fandom.  It's been a great run, but I doubt that I'll DVR games next season to make sure I catch say, Tanner Lancona in action.  Luckily, the beauty of college basketball is that there are always other awesome teams out there that need a random guy from Ohio to root for them.  Since I seem drawn to teams coming out of nowhere to be good (Saint Louis and last year's Colorado State team), I have a couple of teams in mind.  In the meantime, I will enjoy what little time I have left with Dwayne Evans and Jordair Jett.  The resolve and unselfish nature of this team will be something I always remember.

Think For Yourself

When I come across something ridiculous, I often have the impulse to write about it.  Unfortunately, that impulse is rarely translated into action, mostly because of time constraints.  There are also times where I get close to finishing a post, but just don't feel good enough about it and let it go.  For example, there is an unfinished post about the Michigan fan who held up the Lizzy Seeberg sign on Gameday that's just begging to see the light of day, but never will.  I think the main issue for most of these failed posts is a lack of knowledge on my part:  I feel that I don't know enough about certain issues to speak with authority on them.  Thus, I generally stick to sports, TV, and the occasional autobiographical indulgence (like this paragraph!)

All that said, I came across a couple of tweets this week (on the same day) that reinforced perhaps my biggest worry about modern organized religion.  Since I think this point is important, and I think I can convey it efficiently and effectively, here we go.

First off, here is the first tweet:

Apparently any movie about overcoming adversity and not being afraid of stuff is secretly part of the gay agenda. http://t.co/5cSzTpfFdh
— Walter Hickey (@WaltHickey) February 18, 2014

And here is the second tweet:

Hadn't heard of Patrick Henry College before I read this. I won't be sending my daughter there. http://t.co/LPfEFjX7oS (HT @akmcquade)
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) February 18, 2014

For those who didn't click the links, let me provide a one sentence summary of each.  The first link is from a fellow Blogger user who sees anti-Christian messaging in the Disney movie Frozen.  To quote:

"The words to "Let it Go" are clearly not Christian-values friendly, by any stretch of the imagination, when understood and heard. This is not an innocent song, with a catchy tune. It is rebellious. It mocks moral absolutes. It is careless. It is unaccountable. It is anti-obedience. It is regardless. It is selfish."

The second link details the problems with Patrick Henry College, and how a focus on strict obedience to their version of Christian principles overtakes almost everything else, including the safety and well-being of its female students.

There is a lot of stuff going on in those two links, so I won't touch on it all (I could give the first link an FJM treatment if I really wanted to, but I won't).  The core issue that both of these posts touch on is that free thought and rebellion seem to be viewed as anti-Christian principles.  In the first article, the author point blank says that a couple of times.  In the second article, the uniformity and unrelenting nature of the school seem to pervade any hope of the subjects of the article becoming fully-functioning adults.  It seems clear that the desire for power and control of the administrators supersedes the ability to behave like an actual Christian towards the young adults trusted to their care.

In the end, this highlights what has always been my main concern of organized religion:  The human thirst for absolute power corrupts the underlying message, which is normally a good one of love and caring.  When we encourage young people to merely be obedient to the rules in place and not think for themselves, it makes waste of the gift of intelligence (which coincidentally, is something religious people generally believe comes from God). What is even worse is that this kind of upbringing can lead to situations like the one described in the second article, where young people who are trying to deal with repressed feelings make mistakes that they never intended to make.  There is much wisdom in the collective products of religion, whether it be the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the Bhagavad Gita, but like all products of humans, they are not perfect.  If we allow ourselves and our children to realize this and "rebel" against the status quo by thinking for ourselves/themselves, then we can live a life that is both Christian and fulfilling.