A list of things I’ll be watching during the tournament.

1. Dejuan Blair. When Blair is on the court it’s like seeing a bear playing with a bunch of people. He is so overpowering and dominating, it’s just fun to watch. When he Bruce Lee flipped Hasheem Thabeet he won me over for life. This is a guy who will send a message and do it without drawing a flagrant or tech, the anti-David West I suppose. If there is a God, Blair will meet Blake Griffin in the Final Four and they will put on a show. After that the Milwaukee Bucks will pass on both of them to take a foreign player who doesn’t want to be here. Oh, that’s right Larry Harris is gone, scratch that then.

2. John Calipari. He is a truth spitter. I can’t wait for the Tigers to get to the final four, just so I can hear Cap let everyone know how no one believed in them again. Rallying the troops has never been a problem for Calipari. He may be paying his guys, he may hire their fathers and friends as assistants, and he may even just be a douche bag, but if there is one thing John Calipari can do it’s coach college basketball. (Notice I say college, ask the New Jersey Nets about that.)

3. The Semi-Annual Bill Self Implosion. Used to the the annual, but it was averted last year. Kansas may have won the title last year, but make no mistake, Bill Self is not a good coach. He’s a terrific recruiter and a helluva salesman, but time and time again his teams fail to perform come March. As a bonus this year they are playing against one of my favorite sleepers in North Dakota State. The Bisons have plenty of veterans that have actually won meaningful games before. They boast victories over Wisconsin, Marquette and UWM in the past few years with this crew. The ghosts of Bucknell could be revisited. Shout out to my friend Chris for his perpetuating the Bill Self sucks idea.

4. No More Texas. Hopefully Texas will bow out in round one, because I just can’t take watching them on television any more. Is there some sort of national agreement that we must put Texas on ESPN once a week throughout college basketball season? What an awful team to watch. I realize that A.J. Abrams can shoot, but that’s all they have. Maybe Damian James and Earl Clark got together before the year and made a bet about who could hurt their draft stock more by having a worse year. I usually don’t like to see Big 10 teams winning games, but I’m all for Minnesota putting us out of our misery in the opening round.

5. Mike Anderson’s Missouri Tigers. I’ll be completely honest about this…I’ve watched about 10 minutes of Missouri basketball this year, but I’m convinced they will make the Elite 8. I was sure of that long before the brackets even came out. Not only can Missouri run and press and that good stuff, but I watched them blow apart a Baylor zone the other day with quick decisive passes. Beautiful basketball.

6. Tyrese Rice and Willie Warren. Possibly my two favorite guards in college basketball. Neither of them have any regard for situations or who is on the court or what else is going on when they have the ball. Their only objective is to find a way to put the ball through the hoop by any means necessary. Does that always lead to smart productive basketball? No. But it does lead to 34 points in a half.

7. Arizona One and Done. For all the reasons Arizona should have qualified for the NCAA tournament I have one reason they shouldn’t have. And it is a pretty significant example of a terrible teamWatch the first 15 seconds and then watch at the 3:45 mark. If that happens once, I may blame the players. But when something like that happens twice, it falls squarely on the coach. That was so ridiculous that it should have disqualified them right then and there. I was watching that game with my friends and did the run around the room screaming are you serious routine afterward.

8. Gonzaga. No one ever sees Gonzaga play since they are on the coast, but we all assume their probably good because we know who they are. From what I have seen I’m really feeling the Zags this year. If Jeremy Pargo has half the stones his brother showed when he tried to take over in the final game against the Spurs for the Hornets last year then the Zags are in good hands in crunch time. Everyone on Gonzaga can shoot it and they have Acid Trip Heytvelt holding it down underneath. Combine that with the potential that Austin Daye will remember he was talked about as a lottery pick before the year and I am excited to see them play some important basketball.

9. Chris Wright. His name rhymes with flight, which is appropriate. Youtube again does an admirable job of showing just why I’m excited to see this guy around again. I long for the days of James White when I see this young man. If only I lived in a city that had the D-League. As long as I’m mentioning Wright I would be remiss to leave out Stanley Robinson, Paul Harris, Wayne Chism and Al-Farouq Aminu.

10. Speaking of Chism…Tennessee Basketball. I just love to watch Tennessee. Run and gun basketball at it’s almost finest. If you’re a fan of jump passes and three point shots make sure you tune in to every one of their games because they are not shy about either. No matter what they will be in a fun game to watch though, and that is all you can really ask for.

11. Jarvis Varnardo. A shout out to those who block shots because it’s what keeps them on the floor. If Thabeet were had the pure shot blocking ability of Varnardo no one would even be able to get a shot to the rim against Uconn. Thabeet is pretty good though, I’m not trying to hate, just trying to get the point across that Varnardo is SERIOUS about blocking shots.

12. Greivis. His last name is Vasquez, but a friend of my always refers to him as just Greivis, like their old friends or something. I guess I’m starting to do it myself. Vasquez seems like he’s been around forever and no player in college basketball spills more of his emotion out on to the court, so maybe it’s appropriate that we refer to him like we would an old friend.

13. Purdue. They make white people happy.

14. Commercials. One in particular I’m looking forward to seeing throughout the tournament. The other day when I was on Dimemag.com I four commercials where KG, Josh Smith, TMac and Dwight Howard all rocked college jerseys with teams they presumably would not have minded playing for. My favorite part was seeing Tracy McGrady look like Oprah Winfrey in his Louisville jersey. The thing was about to burst at the seems. At least walk on a treadmill or something dude.

15. My Final Four. Memphis, Loserville (Marquette fandom bleeding through), Pittsburgh, and the Sooners. Look for Pitt to take home the crown this year. I’m pretty good at predicting these types of things, I advanced to the finals of my pool four years ago only to lose to a girl who had never watched anyone other than Wisconsin…so yeah…you should probably be listening to me.

This may be the first time all year that I’ve seen mention of a Milwaukee Buck or the franchise on the front page of ESPN.

Naturally it has nothing to do with basketball.

The fact that Charlie V. was “tweeting” in the locker room doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me. Does anyone remember when Gilbert Arenas walked into and subsequently out of a shower with his uniform on, only to play in it minutes later? Or when Arenas said he played online poker at halftime to get focused?

This seems no more out of the ordinary than either of those things.

I’m sending text messages and emails from my phone all day at work, so I can hardly toss any blame at Charlie V.

Best of all is that he came out and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Bucks to a crucial W against a great team. Where is the downside to any of this twitter in the locker room business?

I say let Charlie V. do whatever Charlie V. needs to do to get himself ready to play. The man is a professional and as long as he is showing up and giving the effort he has been for the last few months why does it matter.

Too bad the Bucks went the “we have to be professional” route.

I say this with the obvious understanding that I have spent exactly zero minutes in the actual immediate presence of the Milwaukee Bucks this year. I can only decipher their moods and manners based on what I see on the 94 x 50 foot platform I see on Fourth and State.

But from what I see…

Damon Jones is the best teammate in the world.

He is like Mark Madsen crossed with Chris Rock. A comedian who can wave a towel with the pros. Jones sprints off the bench during timeouts to cheer on and congratulate his guys. He never complains about his role (which is non-existent). He works the officials before, after and during games, all so his guys get the benefits of a call or two. Most importantly, Jones is hilarious. Next time you attend a Bucks game keep an eye on him from the moment he steps foot on the floor.

He knows he’s the coolest and funniest guy out there. He doesn’t wonder if someone he’s approaching wants to talk to them, he knows they want to talk to him. Whether they do or not. Maybe that’s just the kind of thing that happens when you’ve been on every team in the league. Regardless I’m just glad he is here now.

Jones is like the guy at the Y who everyone else calls Unc. He’s old, he can’t guard anyone on the court, and he shoots all the time, but you love him for all those things. He seems like he has all kinds of little drops of knowledge that he is constantly passing down to the younger guys. If he gained 50 lbs and showed up at the Y tomorrow and starting knocking down threes from the top and talking trash I wouldn’t bat an eyelash.

This is exactly the type of guy you need on the end of the bench. Someone to keep the guys loose and involved in the game. When Richard Jefferson caught the jump ball and made a beeline to the hoop against the Hornets, only to be rejected by the rim, I saw Jones in the background looking like he had to hold back the Bucks bench before he led them in an explosion. Not one person in the arena was as excited as Damon about the possibility of that lay-up going in.

What’s even better about Jones is that he has played on the same team as 95% of the players in the league. He’s always jabbering to guys on the court and not just Bucks. He knows exactly what to say to guys to get them riled or off their game. Isn’t that the kind of guy all of us like to have on our side?

I haven’t even mentioned the outfits. Oh my the bow ties. Between Jones and Andrew Bogut the Bucks have two individuals with unique styles. But those are the kinds of things that bring a team together. With the margin of error being as slim as it is for the Bucks even the smallest of things are crucial to their playoff hopes. If the Bucks had an Isaiah Rider (I could have said Marbury but everyone has beaten up on him so much this year, let’s bring back the original O.G.) type guy on the end of the bench stirring up trouble would they have any shot? Probably not.

Time and time again chemistry has proven critical to a team’s success. Important as it may be, it’s often overlooked. Perhaps that is why the Bucks and Jones took so long to come together this year. Jones had previously been seen by some as a prima-donna. His reputation took a hit a few years back when he refused to enter a game in garbage time. If I had to guess I’d say the Bucks wanted to take some time to make sure he was in the right frame of mind and understood what his role would be. The Bucks probably originally saw him as merely a salary cap throw in to be left at home, a Jamal Tinsley in Indiana only without the mutual hatred.

Now Jones sprints to the scorers table and hoists threes to his heart’s content when he enters. Whether they go in or not doesn’t really matter. Jones already made his contributions for the day, and that was long before he ever left the bench.

Today I was at work during the Bucks Celtics game. I was thinking I wouldn’t be missing much given the way things have been going lately. Around four I looked at my phone to see who played well in the loss and I actually made my shocked noise. The noise is like this:

GOOOOOOOOO.

That’s a long extended goo. Not go. Goo.

So I was pretty excited.

I’d say that I have a hard time believing that this really happened since I didn’t watch the game, but I need look back only to November to see that the Bucks key it up a notch against the Celtics–the champs will always get everyone’s best effort. Couple that with injuries to so many Celtics and the fouling out of Leon Powe and it’s believable (barely) that the Bucks could pull it out.

The question now is: What do we make of the Bucks big Sunday win?

Anytime you can win a game where you shoot 32 percent you must be doing something right on the defensive end. They will certainly need to continue that type of defense. The Magic are a team of long range bombers, a facet of opponents offenses that the Bucks have struggled with at times this year. The Celtics, Blazers and Magic present as big of a challenge as the Bucks have had in one week this year.

On the plus side Ramon Sessions is due for a big game or two the rest of this week after struggling against uber-athletic point guard Rajon Rondo and the point god Chris Paul. Charlie V. bounced back in the fourth against the Celtics to lead the Bucks to the W, so hopefully he’ll keep that up.

They passed the first test on Sunday so we’ll see if they have taken some of the luck of the Irish from the Celtics this St. Patrick’s Day week.

March 18th vs. Orlando (49-17)
Bad news for the Bucks is that Orlando shoots threes like they’re the Knicks. Except they are much better at it. Orlando has built their team with much attention to detail. They’ve essentially put a team of small forwards and shooting guards around Dwight Howard. Howard is a good enough defender to make up for many of their flaws–specifically when playing against the Milwaukees of the world. Problem for Orlando is that they currently have one-half of a power forward on their roster and his name is Marcin Gortat. I say one-half because I don’t know if he is from America, Sweden, Poland or Mars (I think it’s Poland).

March 21st vs. Portland (41-25)
For as much as we heard about the Bucks and Blazers making a deal deadline day I feel like I know everyone on Portland. Ask me Travis Outlaw’s strengths and weakness and I’ll tell you he has a mean mid range game and athletic ability, but can be inconsistent. Thank you Jason Quick. The most intriguing Blazer to me remains Jerryd Bayless. He looked like a super prospect to me earlier this year when Blake went down but has battled inconsistency like most rookies. I was pulling for the Bucks to take him last June so I feel like I have a personal stake in him. It’s always fun to have a guy like that and see how it turns out. The last guy I had like that was Marquis Daniels. That hasn’t turned out so well.

I did a recap on this evening’s game over at Brewhoop.

Crappy game to rehash so go only at your own risk.