March Madness by the Numbers: How Many Games Has VCU Won?

Let's jump in the pool, so we can watch some games ourselves; here are nine numerical facts about the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, or (SPOILER ALERT) in the case of the Ohio State Buckeyes who just lost to the Dayton Flyers 60-59, March Sadness. For more numerical facts, go to our sister blog http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/

1) 21: Number of points scored by T.J. Warren of North Carolina State in ACC semi-final loss to Duke in the ACC semi-finals in Greensboro, NC.

2) 224: Miles between Charlottesville, Va., and Raleigh, NC, where the top-seed UVA Cavaliers face 16- seed Coastal Carolina, the Big South Tournament champs. Akil Mitchell of UVA is pictured top.

3) 20: Number of games the Wofford Terriers (Spartanburg, SC) have won; the 15-seed faces 2-seed Michigan in the big dance.

4) 4: Numbers of years Ed Cooley has coached the Providence Friars; the teams face the UNC Tar Heels in San Antonio, Tex., tomorrow.

5) 35- Number worn by Anthony Cole of Memphis, the eight-seed face George Washington Univ. (Washington, DC) in the tournament.

6) 74: Number of points scored by Iowa State in their Big 12 title game versus Baylor.

7) 27: Number of years, it has been since UCLA coach Steve Alford, who played for the Indiana Hoosiers, lead his team to an NCAA title in 1987.

8) 26: Number of games won by VCU, the team's coach Shaka Smart is pictured on the bottom.

9) 6: Number of games lost by the Cincinnati Bearcats who are playing Harvard right now.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://vcuathletics.com/sports/mbkb/index

Early March Madness Tweets: Will UMass Get to the Next Round

There are 16 basketball games being played today in the NCAA Tournament, and there is much excitement about it here in the USA. So, let's get to some tweets that were posted between 11:00 p.m.-midnight last night. We have the comic strip "Dilbert" in the center because today is likely going to be the least productive day in offices from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Here are the tweets:

1) Reed Avers: This Tennessee-Iowa game is everything MarchMadness is supposed to be (Tennessee won the game in overtime; they will next face U-Mass)

2) Travis O'Dell: "My mom thinks I'm sleeping, but she's crazy, it's March Madness"

3) Robbie Litchfield: "My top four teams are Florida, Mich St, Arizona and Louisville."

4) Hailey Morgan: Finally got all my brackets filled out.

5) Cam Marnouch: This game means nothing, both teams will beat UMass in the next round. BUT I AM SO STRESSED ABOUT IT.

6) Chris Bowie: Hey! Tomorrow is Irish People Go Back to Work Day! (Well, Notre Dame is not in the NCAA Tournament)

7) News-Observer (Raleigh, NC, newspaper): See 88 images from the practice by NC State in Orlando.

8) Carolina Basketball: The Tar Heels have landed in San Antonio.

9) VCU Ram Nation: Vegas odds for title....VCU No. 21

NOTE: The top image is of Florida Gators coach Billy Donovan; the team is the top-seed in the tournament.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament

http://www.dilbert.com

College Gymnastics Lists (4 of 4): Big 10 Gymnasts

1) Sunny Kato, Illinis. Junior (pict. top)

2) Sachi Sugiyama. Michigan. Junior (pict. center)

3) Jessie DeZiel. Nebraska. Junior (pict. bottom)

4) Alex DeLuca. Ohio St. Senior.

5) Mollie Derth. Iowa. Fresh.

6) Lisa Burt, Michigan State, Soph.

7) Nicole Medvitz. Penn St. Fresh.

8) Jamie Schleppenbach. Nebraska. Senior (yes, she may have the longest last name in the sport)

9) Cierra Tomson, Minnesota. Junior.

10) Sarah Fielder. Illinois. Senior

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics List (3 or 4): EAGL and Big 12 Gymnasts Combined

If one thinks college basketball is confusing with conference realignments, then one should consider some of the things happening with college gymnastics.

For starters, the Big 12 Conference has only ten teams in most sports, and one of those teams is West Virginia University which is quite far away from conference rival Texas Tech. But, WVU has a women's gymnastics teams and Texas Tech doesn't. In fact, there are only three schools in the Big 12 with women's gymnastics programs, Oklahoma, which is a contender for a national championship, and Iowa State.

Then, there is the EAGL Conference which included some ACC schools, some Big East schools, and some Atlantic-10 schools, but next year, EAGL members Rutgers and Maryland are joining the Big 10. West Virginia was also an EAGL member; in fact, the Mountaineers have still won more conference titles than the other schools, before they moved to the Big 12.

So, in this entry, we are combining the two conferences, and if you are reading this entry in 2015, keep these changes in mind.

Without further confusion (we can imagine that blog-readers in Hong Kong are scratching their heads), here is the list:

1) Haley Watts, University of North Carolina. Junior (pictured top)

2) Henrietta Green, Iowa State*. Senior (pictured center)

3) Stephanie Giameo. Maryland^. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Diahanna Ham. North Carolina State. Senior.

5) Nicolette Swoboda. West Virginia* Freshman.

6) Taylor Spears. Oklahoma*. Senior.

7) Nicole Pearson. Pittsburgh. Sophomore.

8) Alyssa Straub, Rutgers^. Senior

9) Meghan Pflieger. Univ. of New Hampshire. Freshman.

10) Lauren Ross, Towson, Junior.

George Washington University (GWU) is also an EAGL member.

*-Denotes Big 12 schools

^-Denotes schools moving to the Big Ten next year

College Gymnasts List (2 of 4): The All-Stars

March Madness is actually not just going on in college basketball, but women's college gymnastics as well. We imagine if Dick Vitale of ESPN were announcing gymnastics meets, he would call these collegiate athletes PTP'ers (Prime Time Players):

1) Rheagan Courville. LSU. Junior (pictured top)

2) Lindsay Mable. Minnesota. Sophomore (pictured middle)

3) Katerhine Grable. Arkansas. Senior (pictured bottom)

4) Kassidy Stauder. Penn State. Senior.

5) Stephanie Ouellette. North Carolina State. Senior.

6) Tory Wilson. Utah. Junior.

7) Kim Jacob. Alabama. Senior (She is originally from Raleigh, NC)

8) Kytra Hunter. Florida. Junior.

9) Danusia Francis. UCLA. Sophomore (Francis recorded a perfect 10 over the weekend)

10) Hope Sloanhoffer. West Virginia. Senior.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics Lists 1 of 4 (The Freshman)

Here is the first entry on this blog dedicated to college gymnasts; we begin with a list of 10 talented freshman. Alas, finding images of freshman gymnasts on the web proved to be daunting, so we offer some of their school mascots instead:


1) Kelly Burak, Pitt (Ron the Panther, pictured top)

2) Sasha Sander, Missouri (Truman the Tiger, pictured center)

3) Amanda Jetter, Alabama (Big Al, pictured bottom)

4) Meggie Lim, Auburn

5) Erin Buchanan, Illionois

6) Alex DeMoura, George Washington U

7) Rachel Daum, Stanford

8) Tenille Funches, Ohio State

9) Kendall Adams, Brigham Young U

10) Leah Lomonte, Denver

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Our Favorite Comic Strips from The Roanoke Times: Another Comic Strip Hero Appears in Pearls Before Swine

Greetings to those of you in France, India and Ireland (Happy St. Patrick's Day as well to you).

Here is a synopsis and survey of our ten favorite comic strips from "The Roanoke Times" (Sunday, March 16th edition):


"Pearls Before Swine:" Stephan Pastis, who is in the middle of a national book store tour that will include stops at Fountain Books in Richmond, Va. (on March 27th) and Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC (on March 28th), did a hilarious take on the delicate art of being a police sketch artist. In the process, Charlie Brown of "Peanuts," makes a cameo in the seventh panel.

"Agnes:" Tony Cochran's strip is usually difficult to explain and this week's Sunday strip is no exception, but it does not involve the late actress Agnes Moorehead (pictured center) of TV's "Bewitched" fame. Rather, it depicts Agnes, the neurotic little girl, trying to show her friend a homemade plush doll with a very strange face. Vincent Price would have been proud!

"Speed Bump:" We'll just say it's the funniest comic strip with a dog that we think might be a Yorkshire terrier (pictured bottom) that we've seen all year!

Here is the survey:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Agnes

3) Speed Bump

4) Dilbert

5) Doonesbury

6) Funky Winkerbean

7) Garfield

8) Get Fuzzy

9) Zits

10) Blondie

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.UyZ_EulOWUk

http://www.fountainbookstore.com/

http://www.parkroadbooks.com/