March Madness 2012

[SoCalJoe]

Thanks to Colorado (even though I had the rebels) for salvaging what shred of dignity the Pac-12 has left. Scratch that, still an embarrassing season.

Biggest surprise yesterday (since I've haven't seen them play at all) was Iowa State. Not that winning the 8-9 matchup is a shock, but that they looked a lot bigger and more athletic than I expected. Had no idea that 'The Mayor' Fred Hoiberg was coaching them.

I didn't realize that Long Beach State's 2nd leading scoring (Larry Anderson) was hurt or would have changed that pick. The kid gave it a go, but clearly was no where near 100%. He only had 5 point and 1 rebound while trying to play w/a tweaked knee.

Biggest disappointment was West Virginia. I picked Gonzaga to beat them in a close one, but WVA rolled over, and Bob Huggins' teams never do that.

No shocking upsets yet, but South Dakota State, UNC Ashville, and Harvard played tough and had their chances

[DCHeather]

The Texas v Cincinnati game is exciting. Not sure who to pull for though.

[jumpkutz]

For some reason, Vandy has a poor history in the big dance, including first round flameouts (which is why I picked The Crimsons to beat them). It's a phenomonon that defies logic, especially given this year's battle tested sr laden squad. At any rate, chalk rules (at least so far). Perhaps tonight will be a bit more exciting. There are no more true cinderellas, I'm afraid. I don't count 'Nova in '85. Texas Western in '66 might have been the last, unless...GO RACERS!

[DCHeather]

All you need to know about the UNLV game is that they took 23 more shots than Colorado and lost. That's pretty remarkable.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more upsets. I lost 1 elite 8 and 3 sweet 16's today, so it'll take some upsets to derail Joe and Heather.

Well, you got your upsets Matt. But I think that you as much as it hurt me.

[jumpkutz]

See ya' dookies. And yeah, I still hate LAETTNER!

[MisterF]

Brackets busting across the nation right now. Wow. The Missouri loss really hurts me.

I wasnt a Duke believer but never expected them to go down like this. Also, GREAT to see Ohio beat Michigan. My BG Falcons beat Ohio so I'm going to assume we're better than Michigan too.

[AggieMatt]

Yeah Heather, my bracket might as well line the catbox for all it's worth at this point. Mizzou was the one upset I didn't need. But I don't mind at this moment. Growing up a Terps fan, there is no measure to how much I hate Duke. So watching them go down to a 15, in Greensboro no less, has made my tournament. A buddy of mine and I are ordering Lehigh sweatshirts b/c of this.

I called Jump's bracket insane, and yet here we are tied with both the same # of points and potential max points. As we say in San Antonio, dios mio! At this point, I just hope I don't finish last.

[DCHeather]

Brackets busting across the nation right now. Wow. The Missouri loss really hurts me.

I wasnt a Duke believer but never expected them to go down like this. Also, GREAT to see Ohio beat Michigan. My BG Falcons beat Ohio so I'm going to assume we're better than Michigan too.

Yeah, don't think anybody could possibly have a perfect bracket.

I should get a German octopus to fill mine out for next year. Better yet a monkey.

[jumpkutz]

When they announced the Duke-Lehigh score at tonight's quarterfinal of the boy's state championship basketball tourney at Rupp Arena, the crowd cheered wildly for a good 30-45 seconds. UK hoops fans NEVER forget!

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[SoCalJoe]

Norfolk State? Lehigh??? March Madness is the shizzle my wizzles.

The 'chalk' will be there in the end, but the first weekend is for dreams realized and hopes dashed.

[VegasJustin]

My East Region is still good. All these upsets suck. The worst part is I knew the upsets would come and I still picked the better team. Should have known teams like San Diego State and Michigan would lose.

[jumpkutz]

Picking the first round upsets has always been the hardest part of this little exercise. You know they're gonna happen, it's just trying to figure out TO WHOM! Duke and Mizzou...see ya.'

[Clevelandmo]

Lovin' that the blue team got beat

[SoCalJoe]

Sorry Jump, have to be proud of the effort those kids gave. Two evenly matched teams, but Marquette got the run at the wrong time for Murray State.

The Big East conference has coaching legends (Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino, Huggins) and highly regarded others (Thompson III, Wright, Dixon, Brey), but Marquette's coach Buzz WIlliams is a fantastic coach, and maybe the most underrated one in the entire country.

Ohio State and Gonzaga in a terrific game earlier, with the Buckeyes gutting it out.

[jumpkutz]

I was afraid we didn't match up well with Marquette, and, unfortunately, I was right. Buzz is a good coach, and his game plan against us worked to a "T"...shut off the threes and make 'em beat you inside, which we could not do. Really thought we had a chance to make a deeper run this year. Slowly but surely, we're getting there. Glad Indiana won, Kentucky is starting to pull away from the Cyclones, and Louisville's got New Mexico. If the "good" Cards show up, they should be able to handle the Lobos. If not, well, Binghamton could beat them. Sounds like our favorite football team, eh? It's called madness for a reason.