How Sweet It Is! Sixteen Teams Left

If you're like me, your NCAA Men's Tournament bracket got busted by eighth-seeded Butler's stunning 71-70 win over the top-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers. Things were complicated much further when three double-digit seeds decided to dance their way into the Sweet 16 in the Southwest Region. I'll admit I did have Richmond making it this far, but that stroke of genius was quickly quelled by the losses of Syracuse, Texas, and Notre Dame. That, however, is what makes the NCAA Tournament as popular as ever. It's the Cinderella's like VCU who had to battle in the Play-In Game (NCAA First Round is an overstatement, it's a play-in game people). It's the last-second victories that sent Morehead State, Butler, Temple and Kentucky into the next round. It's people taking off work for what amounts to a national holiday when the games start Thursday and Friday at noon and run until midnight or so. And now we're down to the Sweet 16. Let's take a look:

East Region - Newark, NJ: Friday and Sunday Night

#11 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. #2 North Carolina Tar Heels

Marquette took the last spot from the Big East conference and parlayed that into bid to take on the ACC regular season champion Tar Heels of North Carolina. The Golden Eagles scored wins over Xavier and Syracuse, whereas the Tar Heels defeated Long Island University and Washington. UNC's Harrison Barnes is the best player on the court and he will have a big say in what happens.

Prediction: North Carolina Tar Heels

#4 Kentucky Wildcats vs. #1 Ohio State Buckeyes

The champions of the SEC and the Big Ten do battle in this highly-anticipated matchup. Head Coach John Calipari and guard Brandon Knight take on Coach Thad Matta, Center Jared Sullinger and a stable of sharpshooters from beyond the arc. Ohio State has steamrolled into this round, while Kentucky got a scare from #13 Princeton and took out #5 West Virginia. Ohio State has yet to lose to a non-conference foe and I expect that to continue.

Prediction: Ohio State Buckeyes

Regional Champion: Ohio State Buckeyes over North Carolina Tar Heels

West Region - Anaheim, CA: Thursday and Saturday Night

#5 Arizona Wildcats vs. #1 Duke Blue Devils

Pac-10 regular season champion Arizona and PG Derrick Williams are on a collision course with the ACC Tournament Champions in the Duke Blue Devils. PG Kyrie Irving is back after a four-month hiatus, adding to one of the deeper teams in the tournament with Player of the Year candidate Nolan Smith. Arizona took out Memphis in an exciting opening game and defeated the Texas Longhorns. Duke smoked Hampton and held on for dear life against Michigan. Duke is the defending National Champions and their ride won't get derailed here.

Prediction: Duke Blue Devils

#3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #2 San Diego State

The Aztecs have lost to only one team this season and they are on the other side of the bracket. The Mountain West tournament champs are looking to defeat the Big East tournament champs from UConn. PG Kemba Walker is a Player of the Year candidate and with good reason thanks to his heroics in the Big East Tournament. SDSU exorcised the demons of BYU in winning the Mountain West. I'm going out on a limb by going with the more athletic Aztecs.

Prediction: San Diego State Aztecs

Regional Champion: Duke Blue Devils over San Diego State Aztecs.

Southeast Region - New Orleans, LA: Thursday and Saturday Night

#8 Butler Bulldogs vs. #4 Wisconsin Badgers

Butler has rekindled their magic from their national runner-up run last season. They slipped by Old Dominion and held strong against top-seeded Pitt. Matt Howard is 2-for-2 in buzzer-beating shots. The Horizon League champs will get all they can handle from perennial power Wisconsin. Bo Ryan leads his team with difference-maker Jordan Taylor and the rest of the tall Badgers. Wisconsin is one of two teams to defeat Ohio State this seaon. This will be a tremendous game and I'm going with the upset.

Prediction: Butler Bulldogs.

#3 Bringham Young Cougars vs. #2 Florida Gators

We all know the marquee player in this matchup. PG Jimmer Ferdette lit up the Gators in last year's tournament and is primed for a repeat. BYU won the Mountain West regular season, despite losing F Brandon Davies. Billy Donovan's Florida Gators are no strangers to this time of the year, defeating UC-Santa Barbara and UCLA. They are seeking revenge for their first-round exit to the Cougars. Another limb to climb here, but I like Jimmer's chances.

Prediction: BYU Cougars over Florida Gators

Regional Champions: BYU Cougars

Southwest Region - San Antonio, TX Friday and Sunday Night

#12 Richmond Spiders vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks

The Big 12 Champions and 2009 National Champions are looking for redemption from their second-round exit last season against Northern Iowa. The Jayhawks, lef by Bill Self, have been steady all season. Representing the Atlantic 10 is the Richmond Spiders. The Spiders are the only team to win games as an 12, 13, 14, or 15th seed. Richmond went through Vanderbilt and Morehead State, whereas the Jayhawks have beaten Boston University and Illinois. Kansas is the only single-seeded team left and it stays that way.

Prediction: Kansas Jayhawks

#11 Virginia Commonwealth Rams vs. #10 Florida State Seminoles

VCU has come out from the depths of the opening-round game to make it to the Sweet 16. The Rams of the Colonial Athletic Association have defeated USC, Georgetown, and Purdue. Coach Shaka Smart's team takes on one of the best defensive teams in the nation in the Seminoles. Florida State has defeated Texas A&M and Notre Dame en route to their spot in New Orleans. VCU has been riding a hot 3-point streak, but will be hard-pressed to continue their success against a long and atheltic Florida State team that locked down Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough.

Prediction: Florida State Seminoles

Regional Champion: Kansas Jayhawks

There you have it. We'll revisit this next week and look at the Final Four after it's been set. Post your thoughts about the tournament here or send us an email at primetimesportstv@gmail.com.

Mark another win down for Brunswick

Article by: Brent Bartchak

MIDVIEW, OH- - After beating Cloverleaf 59-40 in their opening round game, the Brunswick Blue Devils advanced to play North Ridgeville (13-9) on Friday night. Brunswick could not pull away for a large lead in this game, but ended up staying on top for a 46-36 victory over the Rangers.

The first half was a close battle until the Blue Devils started to knock down 3-pointers halfway through the second quarter. Ryan Badowski, Alex Hartill, and Matt Dunning all hit shots from beyond the arc to go into halftime with a 28-18 lead. The Rangers started the second half with a 5-0 run, but Brunswick picked up their pace to lead 37-31 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The fans started to go crazy as they anticipated an exciting 4th quarter.

North Ridgeville could not cut their deficit to fewer than 5 and time was running out on their season. Then with 4:35 remaining in the game, the Blue Devils star player Pat Forsythe went down to the ground with an apparent foot injury. He was in pain and his likelihood of returning looked doubtful. He went to the bench and got tapped up and returned to the game with 2:45 left to play. While Forsythe was out, Ray J Brown filled his spot on the court and played good defense to keep the Blue Devils ahead. Brunswick went up 44-36 with 58.1 seconds to go and it was all over from there.

Brunswick now improves their record to 15-7 and most importantly advances in the tournament to play Berea (14-8) Wednesday night at 7pm. The game will be played at Midview high school.

Stats:
Ryan Badowski 3-1-10, Matt Dunning 3-0-7, Pat Forsythe 9-6-24, Alex Hartill 2-0-5

*How Berea (9-seed) advanced:
Berea beat Olmstead Falls 64-60 in their opening game and upset the number one seed Avon Lake Friday 67-58.

Universal Unrest - Collective Bargaining

Sports fans, we're going to go a little off the board here. One big topic that is spanning all areas of interest is collective bargaining. For those who aren't familiar with collective bargaining, it's the practice of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees so as to determine the conditions of employment. This tool has long been a powerful weapon in the repertoire of labor unions. Collective bargaining can determine wage scales, pay increases, working hours, off days, etc.

In recent years, most have only heard of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the world of sports. Leagues have a Players Union that bargain with the owners of their sport's teams. The CBAs are in place for a set amount of years, which can be renewed, renegotiated or terminated. The big one out of those three is terminated, and that's what the world is seeing in different areas.

Let's start with sports, namely pro football. The NFL is currently locking horns with its players association, the NFLPA. The owners of the league believe they are not getting enough of the multi-billion dollar pie that they share with the players. As a result, unless something gets done in the 11 hours before the CBA expires, the owners will lock out the players. This means players are not permitted on team grounds and are not to be in contact with team personnel like front office personnel and coaches. A few details the owners are wanting include more money from the pie and an 18-game schedule. The NFLPA is vehemently against these changes for many reasons most of which includes the safety of the players. Lockouts are not uncommon. The NBA had one in 1999, reducing the schedule to 50 games. The NHL had an entire season and playoff canceled in 2004-2005, and is still recovering. The losers in these lockouts aren't the players or the owners. It's the fans who support their team and their sport.

Too often, sports are overlooked as one big business. To the normal fans, we still think of sports as our childhood pasttime, our distraction from life, even a way of life. We always say that we play for the love of the game. And we want our favorite players to do the same. Unfortunately, this is not a reality. Sports is no different than any business or government entity. Which leads to the other half of this article. Labor unions that the normal person is involved in.

Several states, most notably Wisconsin and Ohio are having an internal battle with their workers. The state is trying to pass what is called in Ohio Senate Bill 5, or SB5. The goal of this legislation is to overhaul its CBA and restrict labor union rights for state employees, such as the right to strike. Also included are restrictions on bargaining for health care, sick days, and pension benefits. It basically means that the state will determine what their workers can and cannot negotiate. The state becomes the undisputed law in labor relations.

Firefighters, police, teachers, and other state employees are facing a huge battle. They are being stripped of their liberties without so much as a say in the proceedings. All they can and are doing is peacefully protesting in statehouses across the country. The big fear of the unions is that this can lead to the expulsion of CBAs. And if they can break the public sector, it's only a matter of time before it reaches the private sector.

Collective bargaining is spanning cultures. It's a big deal in the public and private sectors where most of us work. It's a big deal to the athletes who put their bodies on the line for us. Besides the amount of money being astonomically far different, they are fighting for the same thing. They want to keep their rights, their conditions and most importantly, their money.

We're in an interesting time in our world's affairs. Local economies are being affected by overseas upheaval. The dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to. The people we elected to office may not be doing what it is we elected them for. And areas of life that most people use as an outlet is close to locking out its most popular and richest sport. Collective bargaining has a hand in all of this. That's what links us to the athletes we watch and follow.

One win down

Article by: Brent Bartchak

MIDVIEW, OH- - Brunswick started off the postseason right as they beat Cloverleaf (4-17) at the Grafton Semifinals 59-40. The Colts kept up with the Blue Devils for most of the first half until Brunswick (14-7) started to pull away about halfway through the 2nd quarter and was up 30-18 at halftime. Brunswick came out strong after the intermission and was led by senior Matt Dunning who finished the game with 22 points. Pat Forsythe, who was coming off an illness, scored 15 points and in the third quarter broke the school record for points in a season. It was great to see Dunning have an outstanding performance because if the Blue Devils can have multiple threats, there is no doubt they will make it far in the tournament.

The Blue Devils will now face North Ridgeville (13-8) Friday at Midview high school, tipoff is at 6pm.

STATS:
Ryan Badowski 3-0-9, Ray J Brown 1-0-2, Matt Dunning 9-0-22, Pat Forsythe 6-3-15, Zach Gresh 1-0-3, Alex Hartill 1-0-3, Kyle Wheeler 2-0-5

*How North Ridgeville advanced:
They beat Westlake 47-44 on a buzzer beater three pointer.