The Sports Info Business

Tonight, bragging rights are decided for the next year in college basketball.  The North Carolina Tar Heels will take on Michigan State to determine the National Champion in Division I college basketball.  Here are a few notes and comparisons ahead of tip-off:

 Michigan State and North Carolina have squared off 11 times, with the Tar Heels leading the overall series, 8-3, including a 35 point win on December 3, 2008 (98-63).

Four of the 11 career meetings have taken place during the NCAA Tournament, with UNC prevailing in each time.  The first came in 1957, when the Tar Heels downed MSU in a triple-overtime affair, 70-64; it is the longest NCAA Tournament game in MSU’s history.  In each of the other three NCAA meetings, UNC has been a No. 1 seed:  The Tar Heels

defeated MSU in the regional semifinals in 1998 (73-58), in the national semifinals in 2005 (87-71), and in the second round in 2007 (81-67). UNC is currently riding a

three-game winning streak over MSU. Michigan State is 31-6 overall.  The team has won five consecutive games and 11 of the last 12 heading into tonight’s finale.

• The Spartans did not lose more than one game in any one month this season except February (5-2)

Michigan State                                                            North Carolina

            31-6                         Overall Record                   33-4

            5                             Current Win Streak                5

            5-11                         Smallest Player                  5-11

            7-0                          Tallest Player                      7-0

            4                             Seniors on Roster                  8

            3                             Juniors                                   4

            5                             Sophomores                           1

            4                             Freshmen                              4

            5                            Highest Ranking in Polls          1           

            7                            Final 4 Appearances              18

            6^th (.695, 48-21)    Rank AT Tourney Win PCT  4^th (.721, 101-39)

                                          Entering the Final Four

          71.8                         Scoring offense                    90.0                       

            62.7                         Scoring Defense                 72.1

            +9.0                         Scoring Margin                +18.0

            .453                         Field Goal PCT                  .483

            13.9                         Turnovers PG                    12.6

 Here is recap of the earlier meeting this year between the two teams

If college hoops is not your thing, but baseball is, I’m sure you are going to enjoy opening day in Major League Baseball with an almost full slate of games being played.

Defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves got things rolling last night.  However, new Brave starter Derek Lowe shut down Philadelphia for eight innings and 97 pitches.

Eight innings in his first start?  Not bad

ESPN and ESPN 2 are scheduled to carry five games today including the New York Mets  at Cincinnati Reds at 1 pm EST (10 am Pacific Time), Tampa Bay at Boston, New York Yankees at Baltimore and Chicago Cubs and Houston.

A coincidence that at least one big market team in each televised game today?  I don’t think so.

The Oakland A’s vs. the LA Angeles home opener will go head to head with the NCAA Tournament championship game starting at 6:00 p.m Pacific Time