Selection Sunday Surprises & Snubs (and a shifting side note)

Surprise—My Gators are in!! To be honest, I had written off the chance of that happening (short of winning the SEC title) after, well, losing the Georgia game. Totally didn’t see this coming. Especially after Mississippi State beat us, then made an impressive run through the SEC Tournament. Which brings me to…

Snub #1- Mississippi State. Yeah, they weren’t that good all season, but neither were we, really. They looked good at the end, and though it could have just been a good streak from a determined team, I guess the committee looked at quality of wins more or something. Thank you Noles and Michigan State for getting us in :)

Snubs #2 & 3- Virginia Tech and Illinois. VT looked convincingly better than Wake Forest, if you ask me. Hell, they beat Wake this season, which should count for something. Or at least one would think. Greenburg seems to be handling the whole thing really well with the media, but the potential changes for him are concerning for VT. Illinois was right there with my Gators through the whole bubble drama, but didn’t make it. I’m not as familiar with their season, but from what I saw, they looked fine.

I’m not a believer in conference champions getting an automatic bid. It probably spills over from football, but there are some conferences full of tough teams, and some I’ve never heard of and for good reason. I don’t agree with it and think the system needs revamped, cause there were definitely some quality teams that didn’t make it and should have.

PATs:

-LT has gone to the Jets. Delhomme is now a Brown (interesting…). Brady Quinn got shifted to the Broncos. This should be an interesting season. Can’t wait to see what happens in the draft!

-Alex Ovechkin shoved—literally—Brian Campbell into the boards, breaking his clavicle and ribs. Dude’s gonna miss the rest of the season most likely, and Alex got a game misconduct, but is awaiting further punishment (from what I hear) since this wasn’t the first time. From the released statements I’ve heard, Alex seems completely fine with what he did, saying “It was not a hard hit. I just wanted to push him.” Yeah, push him into the boards, shoulder-first.

I know Ruutu hits hard and even got suspended earlier this season for a check on Darcy Tucker that resulted in a concussion, but at least Ruutu apologized to him and you could tell he didn’t mean to hurt him. Tucker had his head down when he shouldn’t have and just got hit the wrong way at the wrong time. Alex is just being cocky and thinks he’s invincible. Not a fan (in case you couldn’t tell). I hope my boy gets him in a totally legit check on the 25^th.

-Not talking about the Canes v Coyotes game, but looking forward to being at the RBC Center for the Canes v Bruins tomorrow night, face tats & all!

-The Magic ended their 9 game streak losing to the Bobcats :( Meh, it was a good run and we’re still fine. Can’t complain.