Galen and Lee are back, talking Stanley Cup playoffs. The Los Angeles – Phoenix series has turned rather quickly, so we talk a bit about where this Kings team came from and what’s going on with the Coyotes. We also talk a lot about the Rangers-Devils, and how New Jersey may have trouble filling its building with the right fans. We also talk CBA cancellation and possible labor strife, and the possibilities of our respective alma maters getting big-time college hockey teams.

Stanley Cup Pod - May 16 2012 [ 52:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (14)

Round Two gets underway tonight, and what better way to get things started than with a new episode of SCP. Galen and Lee take the reins this time around, and talk about the following:

• Tim Thomas’ future with Boston, and some potential trade destinations (including Chicago, maybe? Please?)
• The Rangers finding a way to push through to the second round
• The defensive/goalie armageddon that this St. Louis vs Los Angeles series promises to be
• Excitement at potentially the first-ever I-24 series
• The chances that the Devils can somehow sneak by the Flyers due to bad goaltending
• Washington’s possible matchup advantages over New York
• The NHL award nominees and where we stand on some of the bigger ones, including the different ways that the Norris could go

All that and more, on this episode of SCP!

Stanley Cup Pod - April 27 2012 [ 1:08:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (136)

The playoffs are in full swing, so it must be time for another edition of the Stanley Cup Pod. Galen, Lee, and Wes take a long sail through the dangerous waters of the NHL playoffs, talking about a huge variety of issues. Corey Crawford’s overwhelming awfulness, Vancouver’s amazing lack of heart (and laughable impending contract armageddon), Phoenix’s blahness, the discipline issue and the Shanahan controversies, the old goalie parade happening in Florida-Jersey, the bad goalie parade happening in Pittsburgh-Philly, the amazement that is Holtby, and the neuroses of Lee’s New York Rangers fandom. Plus we also talk about NBC’s coverage of things, and give our current picks for the SCF.

Warning: Some of the language used on this podcast contains “swear words”, which are used by “adults”. You’ve been warned! I promise none of it was sexual in nature! All punctuation! Although we did make a few Brodeur jokes.

Stanley Cup Pod - April 20 2012 [ 1:27:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (649)

We haven’t podcasted in two weeks, so we decided to let things fly with a 2+ hour college basketball show. And yes, we hit on almost everything, including the tripartite nature of the Kentucky fan base, Louisville’s chances against the Cats, the sorry state of NCAA officiating, being impressed beyond belief with Bill Self’s coaching job this year, how we think Ohio State will fare against Kansas, the current job search situation for Illinois, and the update of the NIT/CBI/CIT tournaments. If you can make it through to the end…email me and I’ll send you a t-shirt. Enjoy!

BracketPod 03-26-12 [ 2:12:36 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (191)

Indiana Basketball has found the Sweet 16, and CrimsonCast Live teamed up with the Hoosier Hotline for one amazing show. Galen, Matt, Tony, and Jimmy talk about the VCU game, the key elements that have led this IU team to where it’s at, and the improvements on defense over the last month. Jerod from the Assembly Call and MSF joins us about 25 minutes in, and we talk about the historical and emotional context of this IU team.

Then a veritable torrent of callers joins us for the second part of the show, including Samantha Dewig from Peegs.com, Sean, David, and our own Mike Petry. We give our keys to the game, and register our score predictions in anticipation of Friday’s contest. We only went an hour, but we probably could’ve gone two. Enjoy!

CrimsonCast Live 03-21-12 [ 1:00:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (168)

Join Galen and a bunch of other people as we talk about the NCAA tournament all day!

On this edition of the Bracketology Show, we break down the bracket and talk about the selection process. We weren’t happy with some of the committee decisions, including the bizarre decision to include Iona over Drexel (or Oral Roberts), the equally inscrutable decision to take BYU instead of Northwestern, and the seeding issues at various parts of the S-curve. We spend an hour talking about the overall process, then dive into our tournament projections, including upset specials (Belmont! Harvard!), sleeper mid-seed teams, and Final Four picks.

BracketPod 03-12-12 [ 1:59:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (215)

The final bracket projection is upon us. Here’s what we’ve got:

1 seed rationale: It’s always dangerous to read too much into any single set of comments, but I thought that the remarks by Committee Chairman Jeff Hathaway this morning about the committee still having several contingency plans for the top seeds said volumes about where the committee’s mind was for the top line. After parsing things, I believe that the Big Ten teams were in much better shape coming in to today than we originally surmised. As a result, I think Michigan State and Ohio State BOTH get 1 seeds with their victories today, combined with UNC’s loss to Florida State. I believe the committee had created contingency brackets for that outcome. Kansas ends up getting just left out of the 1 seed line.

Louisville, Vanderbilt and FSU: I think that Florida State’s road/neutral wins over Duke and UNC are going to weigh heavily on the committee’s mind, placing them on the 3 line in Nashville. I think that Vanderbilt was too far out of the discussion to make much more of a jump than the first five seed spot. It’d be a shame if Vanderbilt moved ahead of Marquette, Indiana, Louisville, or Georgetown. I also think that Louisville, while the Big East champs, don’t have enough on their overall resume (and didn’t beat enough high-quality teams in the Big East Tournament) to move higher than a four seed. (continue reading…)

The updated bracket, with the assumption that New Mexico State will win this WAC title game.

I will have analysis with the final bracket. But here are some things to consider for tomorrow:

- If Xavier loses, that’d be a bad loss for them and could take them out

- Last Four In for this field are Miami, Seton Hall, California, and Northwestern. St. Louis is the fifth team in and got dropped into a PIG due to Big Ten/Big East placement messes

- North Carolina gets both a 1 seed and the Atlanta Regional, mostly to mitigate NCAA travel. Ohio State gets shipped west