Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Got Your Picks In Yet?

By Dan Shanoff
Today’s Calls: Shanoff vs. “Experts,” Rockets vs. Celtics, KG vs. Glen Taylor, Mount St. Mary’s vs. UNC, Terrelle Pryor vs. Jim Tressel, Jason Kidd vs. Andrew Bynum, Isiah Thomas vs. Donnie Walsh, DeAngelo Hall vs. Matt Ryan, Barry Bonds vs. MLB Owners, and more!
The Opening Pitch: Don’t forget to complete your brackets today! That is my public service for the month: Nothing is worse than figuring out (and fiddling with) your bracket, only to realize at lunchtime on Thursday that you didn’t submit your picks to your various pools.
With that out of the way, let’s get down to MY picks. You’ve seen Mike DeCourcy, Ryan Fagan, Jerry Palm and Tim Brando. Here’s the way I went:

Why UCLA as champ? The Bruins have the core of the squad that went to back-to-back Final Fours, added the best post player in the country (Kevin Love) and have the best Tournament coach in the field (Ben Howland).
Why NOT UNC? Tyler Hansbrough’s history. In ‘06, a humiliation against George Mason; in ‘07, an OT choke with the Final Four on the line.
Why NOT Kansas? Because Bill Self is the anti-Ben Howland -- Self does less with more in the Tournament than any coach in the country.
Why NOT Memphis? Love the tough non-conference schedule, but the pressure to finally crack the Final Four will get to them.
Rockets 22-game win streak snapped by Celtics: Yesterday’s conventional wisdom: What a story! Today’s conventional wisdom: No chance in playoffs.
Here’s the thing: No matter how Houston finishes the playoffs (and no one expects them to win the West, let alone an NBA title), they will always have the second-longest win streak in NBA history to fall back on. Not a bad consolation prize at all.
(Meanwhile, just in time for “Tanking Season” among the NBA’s dregs, T-wolves owner Glen Taylor says KG “tanked it” when he sat out the end of last season. Yikes: Taylor ain’t gonna win that battle.)
Play-In Game: Mount St. Mania! Well, I’m already 0-for-1, and games that “count” haven’t even started yet. Does the Mount St. Mary’s win over Coppin State portend that I’m in for a rough ride -- or that I have gotten my mistake out of the way?
What did MSM win? A matchup with UNC and a quick Tournament exit. But, hey: They won an NCAA Tournament game; by the weekend, there are 31 other teams in the field that won’t be able to claim that prize.
Uber-recruit Terrelle Pryor will announce his college choice at noon today. Smart move, given that college hoops eclipses everything else starting tomorrow morning.
Anyway, the bet seems to be that Pryor will choose... Ohio State.
I hope he enjoys sitting his freshman year; there’s no way that conservative Jim Tressel benches incumbent starting QB Todd Boeckman, a rising senior who led Ohio State to a national-title game last year. (Meanwhile, Pryor can ask Troy Smith how well Tressel’s system prepared him for the NFL.)
In my opinion, Pryor should have picked Memphis, where he could have started immediately -- as a QB and on John Calipari’s Top 5 hoops team.
More NBA Last Night: The Mavs haven’t beat a good team since Jason Kidd came to Dallas, and the streak continued last night in a loss to the Lakers (Kobe: 29)... One game after scoring 168, the Nuggets allowed the Pistons to humiliate them with 136, including 73 in the first half... Don’t look now, but the Suns have won 5 straight, the latest a win over the Blazers (Shaq: 16/14)...
Speaking of the Lakers, reports are they expect Andrew Bynum back for the playoffs, but not before; it might be tough to have Bynum and Gasol get to know how to play with each other on the fly, but it’s better than NOT having Bynum back.
Great news for Knicks fans: Owner James Dolan reportedly talked with Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh about taking over the running of the team. Of course, given the state of the Pacers right now, I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Still, anyone -- and I mean anyone -- is better than Isiah.
NFL: Looks like CB DeAngelo Hall is headed to the Raiders, where he will fit right in with the team’s historic image as a safe haven for nut-jobs and malcontents. (Did I say “nut-jobs and malcontents?” I meant “strong personalities.”)
Draft Watch: BC QB Matt Ryan held a popular “Pro Day” workout at BC. It was a controlled environment, to be sure, but he seemed confident he made all the throws he needed to to remain at the top of the draft. The only question is whether it is the VERY top.
Barry Bonds Watch: Are owners colluding against signing Bonds? Or, not entirely unthinkable, each team is making the independent judgment that Bonds’ baggage isn’t worth his potential contributions.
I just can’t believe that a team with nothing to lose with a fan base that is among the few who might embrace Bonds as a favorite son wouldn’t sign him. I’m looking at you, Pirates.
More MLB Spring: Sounds like the Yankees’ trip to Virginia Tech was every bit as emotional and meaningful as George Steinbrenner had hoped when he first made the commitment to support the school.
The Last Word: So, did you end up in an NIT pool? If so, you hope you picked UMass, Ohio State, Syracuse, Akron, Southern Illinois, Maryland, Creighton and Arizona State in first-day, first-round action. Two freshmen were the top scoring stars of the night: Syracuse’s Donte Green (27 points) and Arizona State’s James Harden (25).
Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.
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