Nitty Griddy Time

Tonight Duke represents the ACC against a Big East. Five teams still alive the Big East still could put four teams in the final four which no league has ever done. The Big East had three teams once but no one has ever had four.

I am a N C State fan but whenever any ACC team is playing I pull for the ACC. I especially pull when ever Carolina or Duke plays and I will be pulling hard for both tonight and tomorrow.

I'm in a catch 22 in regards to my NCAA Brackets. I picked Vilanova in the brackets last week and in order for me to finish high in any pool I need this game. Heck with the brackets GO DUKE.

I don't know whether he will get any votes for coach of the year but Larry Brown is doing a great job with the Bobcats. They have ten games to play and find themselves 2.5 games out of the last playoff spot. One thing that this Bobcat team is doing is losing close. Last night they lost by two. That's a far cry from the team that averaged losing by twenty last year.

Remember Larry Brown was Allen Iverson's coach when he made his famous "but this is Practice" statement. Brown plain and simply is a good teacher of basketball and I think next year the Bobcats will make the playoffs for the first time in their brief history.

The Hurricanes have six games to play and are pushing Philadelphia for fourth spot. One problem the Canes have is everyone who trails them have seven or eight games to play so if any team behind them get hot they can get more points that what the Canes can.

I heard on ESPN that Torry Holt will be paying a visit to the Carolina Panthers in the next few days as he tries to find an NFL team to latch on to since he was released by St. Louis. Wouldn't he be a great offensive weapon for the Panthers.

I can close my eyes and see Holt returning that punt his Senior year at N C State which lead to NC State beating Florida State for the first time.

If the weather holds off Gryphon Baseball finishes their non-conference tuneups Saturday against Hunt high school at 1.00pm. If the non-conference games played by everybody so far can be used as a barometer. The top two teams in the NEW-6 will be squaring off against each other at Northern Nash.

Career doubles Leader.

Going into tonight's baseball game at Tarboro Brian Goodwin was tied for the Rocky Mount career doubles all time lead. He needed one to take over the top spot.

To make sure just in case the record book was off Brian went 4-4 with four doubles to claim the top spot in the careers doubles at Rocky Mount High school. The four doubles is a record for any Gryphon in any Rocky Mount game.

So why not set two records in one night.

Parker Helms aided the Gryphon offense hitting his first varsity home run as the Gryphons top Tarboro 7-1 tonight in an Endowment game.

Not to be outdone by the offense Gryphon starting pitcher Hobbs Johnson struck out the first six Vikings he faced and 14 in the game as he pitches six and 1/3 innings allowing three hits and an earned run.

Nick Hahula came in in the 7th to record the last two outs of the game.

Rocky Mount has now won four straight and stand at 6-1 overall with a Saturday afternoon non-conference game slated for 1pm at Gryphon stadium against Hunt.

Congratulations to NC Wesleyan coach Charlie Long as over the weekend he won his career 300th game as coach at NCW.

How in the world does a #1 seeded Duke womens team play a #9 seed on the #9 seeds home court? It happened to Duke's women last night as they lost at Michigan State.

The ACC women are taking a beating in the NCAA tournament just like the guys. Maryland is the only ACC team to make it to the sweet 16.

The Carolina Hurricanes won their 9th home game in a row tonight and are now just a couple of points out of 4th place with six games to go.

If the season ended tonight they would start the playoffs in Philadelphia. The Canes are acting like the Stanley Cup champion team of 06.

Ever since Eric Cole was traded back to Raleigh everything has fallen into place for the canes and they are red hot.

Get ready for late night basketball as Duke play at 10pm Thursday and Carolina at 10pm Friday. Hopefully Duke will play Saturday and Carolina Sunday in the Elite eight.

Who Wins From Here?

Despite what your brackets might say, who is going to win this weekend in the Sweet 16?

The Midwest: Arizona vs. Louisville - I think Arizona is one of those teams that won a good opening game and the luck of a second round playing a team higher seeded than they were. You can't blame 'Zona for that. However, this is a low seed this weekend, The 'VILLE moves on.

The Sweet 16 is always where the matchups begin. Kansas and Michigan State is a good one. State has quietly been steady all year. They last to play one more day. Spartans advance.

The West: Purdue vs. Connecticut. Purdue moves up to the big boys. The Huskies take down the Boilermakers

If there is one game this weekend that will be a dud this is it. Memphis will handle Missouri with ease, at least by double digits.

The South: Oklahoma vs. Syracuse - This is another intriguing game. I hate the Orangemen and their zone defense and just because of that, I am taking the Sooners. North Carolina vs. Gonzaga - After seeing Lawson play the way he played in the second half Saturday, Carolina gives me every reason to feel like they will play for the title. If that is the case, the Zags go down.

The East: Pittsburgh vs. Xavier. When I watch Pittsburgh play, they look to me to be the biggest team in the country. N.C. State's next coach Sean Miller is going to pull the upset of the tournament. I like Xavier. Villanova vs. Duke - This is the game of the Sweet 16. I think you could take all the players in this game and let someone picks sides and they would still be equal. In my bracket, I picked 'Nova, but I like Coach K to win one more.

There is good news and bad news at N.C. State. Trevor Ferguson and Brandon Costner will graduate this spring and summer, respectively. The bad news is they still have eligibility left. After J.J.Hickson came in last year, Costner pretty much quit then anyway. There is a hot rumor floating that Lagand is going to transfer. If that happens, that would be seven players off this year's team not coming back.

Gryphon baseball is at Tarboro Wednesday at 7 p.m. (weather permitting) and then home Saturday at 1 p.m. Then next Tuesday, Tyler Joyner and Northern awaits.

Last Week Before The Storm.

This week Rocky Mount High school travels to Tarboro on Wednesday to play in an endowment game. First pitch is set for 7p.m.

Then Saturday, Wilson Hunt travels to Gryphon Stadium for a non-conference game. This was supposed to be the third Saturday of six in a row for the Gryphons. March 14 was a rainout with Riverside High School. This past Saturday was much the same as Hunt had to make up a conference game.

The Gryphons will try again on Saturday to play a Saturday game with Hunt . Game time is 1 p.m.

Boys tennis is home Tuesday to Southern Nash and at SW Edgecombe on Thursday. Girls softball is at SouthWest on Tuesday and at Tarboro on Wednesday. Both games start at 4.30 p.m.

Girls soccer is at SouthWest Wednesday at 5 p.m and they play in The Brittany in Wilson on Saturday at 5.30. Track has a meet at Northern Nash Wednesday and Saturday the teams will participate in an invitational meet at Southeast Guilford starting at 10 a.m.

Baseball begins conference play next Tuesday at 7 at Northern Nash. Mark your calendars for that one.

Lady Tar Heels fall in the women's NCAA tournament tonight.

Do you have any idea which NCAA men's game over the weekend was the most watched. Duke and Texas. Now you know why Duke always seems to play the 10 p.m. games. Duke in basketball is like Notre Dame is in football. You either love'em or hate'em, but regardless. you watch'em.

It time to start paying attention to college baseball. Just like football and basketball, the baseball race is coo-coo.

In the Atlantic division, BC with a 4-3 record is on top followed by Clemson at 5-4. They are the only teams in conference play above 500. Florida State is at 3-4, N.C. State and Maryland 3-6 and Wake is 1-8.

In the coastal division, Georgia Tech is 8-1, Miami is 7-2 followed by Virginia at 5-2. Carolina, which has lost only four games all year, is only 5-3 in conference play. UNC is followed by Duke 5-4 and Virginia Tech is 2-6.

If there was ever any questions about Billy Godwin as ECU's baseball coach, he has put that to bed this year. Beginning his fourth year at ECU, the Pirates are off to a 15-4 start. If they keep scoring the way they are now, it will be hard not for them to host a regional come June.

Does anyone remember Billy was one of Mike Fox's assistant coaches on N.C. Wesleyan's 1989 national championship team?

Big East Dominating

We are down to 16 teams left with a chance to win the NCAA men's basketball championship. So far the Big East has lost only two games and those two games they had a chance to win.

Completely opposite of that the ACC has only two teams left and except for Florida State. the other four ACC losers were never in their games they lost. BC was close at the half only to lose by more than 20. Wake Forest gave up three three points in the first two minutes of their game and pretty much quit after that. Clemson played the Clemson role as they do every year. Quick start slow finish.

Maryland did make it to the second round where they said out loud what I think everyone thinks that Memphis plays in a poor league. Yes they do play in a poor league but Memphis would be in the top four of any league. Memphis shut Maryland up rather easily.

On to the sweet 16 where you had better get your sleep early in the week as Duke plays the 10.00pm game on Thursday and Carolina plays at 10.00 on Friday.

Duke will be in Boston and Carolina in Memphis. Duke plays Villanova. Back last week when filling out my brackets I picked Duke to lose this game. I am not so sure now. That game might be a nail biter to the finish.

All Carolina fans can finally breathe now that Ty Lawson played and looked like Ty Lawson on Saturday. We are to the point now where there will be no blow outs but I think Gonzaga is a good matchup for Carolina.

My brackets are not bad. I still have 11 of the top 16 alive and my final four is in tacked in one bracket. My other three brackets I have three final four teams alive. My gamble to put Florida State in the final four turns out to be my down fall.

I should start moving up in the brackets if things go my way but the biggest problem is catching up when other players have the same picks.

I have not watch five innings of the World Baseball Classic. USA was knocked out last night by Japan. Japan plays South Korea tonight for the championship.

I have in the past been a big Nascar fan. I have even hosted a Nascar show on WHIG-TV for the past three years. I am having a devil of a time getting into racing this year. The auto makers about the fold Nascar is going to have to get off their high horse and reduce ticket prices. Even Bristol yesterday the best race on the Nascar tour had empty seats.

I haven't been to a Nascar race since the last one at Rockingham in 2003 because of the high ticket prices.

Bound For The Sweet 16

Thank goodness that Ty Lawson played today for the Tarheels. It looked in the first half as if he was only going at 80%, but he picked it up in the second scored 21 point in the second stanza for the Heels as they head to Memphis to take on Gonzaga.

Duke survives a team that drove to the basket almost at will at times in the second half in Texas. Duke just can't stop anybody in the middle and yet they head to Boston to play into another weekend.

Everyone knows that I picked Carolina to win it all and after their second half today with Lawson playing like Lawson I like their chances still. Duke I had picked in the brackets to lose next week to Villanova but the more I see this new line up, they are not going down easy to anybody.

The ACC so far is 5-5 in games played. I think almost all ACC fans are disappointed in BC and Wake Forest. They both embarrassed the league in their performances. (not showing up).

Lets see if we can put a spin on the ACC so far. They started out with seven teams out of sixty four. That approximately 11% of the teams in the tournament. Next week at the sweet 16 there will be two ACC teams or 12.5%. It may not be what we wanted from the league but it's not suicide time.

Tonight's games I am now 30 and 10 in my brackets with ESPN and WRAL. In the two local pots I'm in I am 29 and 11 on one and 27-13 on one.

The bracket where I am 29-11 I still have all four of my final four alive and 13-16 in the sweet 16 alive. All of the other three brackets I have 13 of 16 in the sweet 16 and three of four still alive in the final four.

The first two days of the tournament were rather dull if you went to bed before midnight. The best two games Thursday and the best two Friday all ended between midnight and 1.00am. They were worth staying up for.

I don't know how many people pay attention to college baseball but today Virginia loss. In many years in the past you would say so what, but today Miami beat Virginia for their first loss of the season. They are 19-1 as they are the last division 1 baseball team to lose this year. Whatever happen to those last place Wahoos.

The Carolina Hurricanes won again at home. They are now tied for 6th in the playoffs. Their play right now gives me hope that they can make a deep run when Lord Stanley time comes.

Those Charlotte Bobcat have won six of their last ten and remain one game out of the playoffs with ten games to play.

Gryphons Washed Out of Game on Saturday

As you were leaving the Thurday Gryphon baseball game you heard Wes Bradshaw tell you on the PA that Saturday's game with Hunt at Hunt was changed to 2.00pm.

Well, it has been changed again. Hunt had a conference game with C B Aycock washed out this week and they are going to make it up Saturday. Since conference games a take priority over non-conference games this one is off again.

North Carolina and the Toe Gate saga continues. Coach Roy Williams say it will be a game time decision whether Lawson plays or sits. My guess is Lawson had better give the Heels all he can give Saturday because LSU strong point is the back court. I don't think the Heels can hope to hold Ty out until next week because they might not make it other wise.

Even if he does play ten minutes is all you might get.

The ACC is doing ok up through Friday afternoon. Including the teams in the NIT the league is 5-1 so far. Wake, Florida State and Boston College carry the banner tonight.

I am in four tournament brackets. After Friday afternoons games in the ESPN bracket I am 20-4. That is good for 510,000th place out of all most five million. 90 percentile.

WRAL.com's million dollar game I am also 20-4. The leader in that bracket have got all 24 right.

I am in a local pot where I am playing two different sets of brackets. In one I am 19-5 and in the other brackets I switched up the so called tossup games and am 17-7.

To this point all of my Sweet 16 teams are still alive. If you are a player in any bracket buster game during the NCAA tournament you know that a single upset is ok as long as the team upset is not a team you had pegged for the final eight. If you lose a biggy the first weekend then you are almosted cooked.

My Final Four in three of my four brackets is Carolina, Louisville, Memphis and Florida State. I'm taking a big chance with Florida State but if they make it to the final four I would be in really good shape because all most every one else also has Carolina, Louisville and Memphis.

I heard this morning on the way to work as of last nights game of the five million people who were playing the ESPN brackets 25,000 people were perfect 16-16. There were also four people who were a perfect 0-16.

I don't even think if I tried to miss all of them I could.

North Carolina plays somewhere near 5.30pm Saturday afternoon and Duke will follow near 8.00pm.

I will blog after the Duke games Saturday.