Betting March Madness: Early Cinderella WatchMarch 7, 2008By Jason Brough Bodog Nation Contributing Writer A couple more potential bracket busters, Cornell and South Alabama, are profiled Two weeks ago, we looked at the Drake Bulldogs and Saint Mary's Gaels. Last week, it was the Kent State Golden Flashes and Davidson Wildcats. In this third edition of Early Cinderella Watch, we investigate one team with a bunch of smart kids and another that's aiming for its first NCAA tournament win since 1989. Big Red Roll to Automatic Bid The Penn Quakers' reign of terror is over. The three-time defending Ivy League basketball champions will not be heading to the NCAA tournament in 2008. Instead, that honor belongs to the Cornell Big Red (20-5, 12-0). On Saturday, the Ithaca school clinched just its second Ivy League title ever with an 86-53 win over Harvard. The last time Cornell went to the Big Dance was 1988. Since then, only Penn or Princeton has represented the conference in the national tourney. "It's hard to put into words," senior Jason Hartford said after the Big Red beat the Crimson and earned the nation's first automatic NCAA tournament berth. "No words can express the feeling to that one sound of the horn. All we could do is run as fast as we could to the middle of the court and jump as high as we could to be able to share it with the people that were there with you the whole way." Wow, sounds... lame. Which happens to be a word that's used fairly often to describe the eight-team conference that's known more for academics than athletics. The last time an Ivy League team won a tourney game was in 1996 when Princeton shocked UCLA. Have you been studying up on your March Madness team and player statistics? Sign up to SBG Global and start winning today! 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The 6-foot-6-inch native of Eden Prairie, Minn., averages 15.3 points per game and is a very impressive 47 percent 3-point shooter. He probably knows a thing or two about the game as well, seeing as he's the son of Minnesota Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman. Cornell coach Steve Donahue wants Ivy League perfection. (AP Images)The Big Red travel to Penn (11-17) on Friday and Princeton on Saturday and, make no mistake about it, coach Steve Donahue wants to win both and go undefeated in conference play. "It's another way to put your stamp on it, to leave your legacy," Donahue said. "It also helps with the [NCAA] tournament seedings." Now that the Madness has arrived, check out the 2008 March Madness predictions and start filling out your NCAA March Madness Bracket! And Now for Something Completely Different The University of South Alabama is a long way from the elitist schools of the Northeast, but the Jaguars (25-5, 16-2) are just as hopeful of making some noise in the NCAA tournament. On Sunday, the No. 1 seed Jags take on the New Orleans Privateers (19-12) in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament. According to ESPN.com's Andy Glockner, an appearance in the finals might be good enough to earn them an at-large bid, but a school like South Alabama - one that doesn't exactly have the most exclusive brand name - probably doesn't want to leave their hopes in the subjective hands of the selection committee. The Jags have not played an overly strenuous schedule but did manage to keep it close in their toughest matchups. On Nov. 13, they lost by three at Mississippi (20-9). Sixteen days later, they dropped another three-point decision at No. 16 Vanderbilt (25-5). Their most impressive win came on Dec. 15, a 71-67 triumph over Mississippi State (20-8). Demetric Bennett is the cream of the Sun Belt . (AP Images)South Alabama's efforts earned coach Ronnie Arrow his third Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year award, his first since 1991. Meanwhile, four Jags were named to the all-conference teams: senior Demetric Bennett made the first team, senior Daon Merritt made the second and juniors Brandon Davis and Domonic Tilford made the third. "Everybody knew that we had two all-conference guards in Demetric and Daon, but they didn't know how hard Brandon worked in the summer to become the player he is," Arrow told The Press-Register. "We were able to add Domonic in recruiting and he's blended into the team. "There is no doubt that all four deserved to be all-conference. It is a reflection of the season we've had and all the hard work they put in." --- by Bodog at 1800-sports.com on March 18, 2008
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