College Hoops '13-'14

Well that didn't take long. There are no more perfect brackets after just 1 round of the tournament. The last 3 fell when Memphis beat GW.

Happy as always to see Duke lose in the first round. :banana-dance: And even happier to see SFA come from behind and knock off VCU. In fairness, VCU choked it away, but I'll take it. :banana-rock:

 

Certainly was an interesting first round, eh? And, miraculously, both the previous two defending champs are still alive. What will the second round bring? I'm predicting a return to chalk. The higher seeds/favorites will rule.

 

That would be an error in judgment on his part if his success continues.

 

Silly boy. Even I had those two!

 

No one in their right mind would have a Dayton v Stanford Sweet 16 (most rational people had a Syracuse v Kansas heavyweight tilt), but here it is. Absolutely great tournament so far. The Kentucky/Wichita State, Oregon/Wisconsin games was as high level as it gets. Random thoughts;

• Iowa State loses All-Big 12 player Niang, but has the guts to still get past North Carolina.

• Sec, Big 10, Pac 12 all w/3 teams left, only Virginia remains from the vaunted ACC.

• Steve Alford had tourney issues at New Mexico, but has UCLA peeking at the right time. The Florida/UCLA is going to be a knockdown drag out affair.

• Arizona thrashed Gonzaga and now progress to Anaheim. :banana-dance:

 

:text-+1:

 

:banana-guitar: Arizona survives a tough, and well coached San Diego State team in which each possession was 2 great defensive teams making things difficult for the opponent. Huge respect for Steve fisher and what he has done down south. When Fisher went to SDSU they drew about 500 people to games in a rickety old gym. They are now regulars in the tourney and he has turned the Aztecs into a basketball school. They sellout 13K every night in their beautiful on-campus arena. As for my team, the kids were very resilient and made this Wildcat proud.

• Wisconsin just tore apart Baylor. This is Bo Ryan's best Badger squad and the Arizona-Baylor game should be intense. Baylor's zone was turned into mincemeat by a team that can shoot it lights out.

• Florida took Ucla's best shot, and answered back. Very rarely in today's college game a big time program like Florida has a bunch of seniors, but they start 4 and they look like the best team to me.

• Dayton just beat Stanford to eery loose ball. The bench for the Flyers outscored Stanford's 34-2.. :shock:

Tonight's game

-Iowa State v UConn. This should be up and down the court stuff. Will take the Cyclones..barely
-Virginia v Michigan State. I'll take Sparty, but Virginia as the #1 seed must have a chip on their shoulder since there isn't one 'expert' picking the Cavaliers to win. WIll not be surprised if Virginia makes a statement and advances.

-Michigan v Tennessee. The Vols will look to do work in the paint, and have been a trendy pick to upset the Wolverines, but will go with Michigan and their excellent coach having 5 days to prepare to figure out Tennessee's defense.
-Kentucky v Louisville. The Game of the Night. Is there any work being done in the Bluegrass State today???? Have Louisville in my bracket and will stick with that, but the freshmen at Kentucky have figured it out and have peeked at the right time.

 

Just checked the FulhamUSA brackets and I think Joe, Heather, and Matt have been conspiring against the rest of us. They are the top three brackets and all have the exact same final four. :confusion-scratchheadyellow:

I filled out two brackets. My FulhamUSA bracket is bombing, but I'm leading in the other. I guess that's what total randomness gets you.

 

Yes, friends, there was indeed some semblance of productivity in the Commonwealth today, at least in Louisville. The traffic headed north is predictably outrageous, as we're on the glide path from Lexington and things are a bit tight at the junction due to a new bridge being built adjacent to the existing I-65 crossing. But with the late tip, I'm reasonalby certain everybody who wants to be there, will be there, and in plenty of time.
The game? That's a different story.
As much as I would prefer the Cards to win, I don't think they will. Kentucky poses tremendous matchup problems for them and, though they've improved greatly since the loss at Rupp, I don't think they can overcome the deficiencies. That and the fact that Louisville just hasn't played very well in the tournament to this point. Not saying that couldn't change, but the mojo's just not there so far. And they're gonna need it against these Cats. UK will rule the paint tonight, and there's not a heck of lot Rick can do about it. U of L's gonna need they're shooting clothes, because I don't see them getting much, if anything, inside. Cal's got more than enough horses to negate Montrezl Harrell, and frankly, the Cards don't much else to challenge Kentucky's bigs down low. The Wildcats should own the boards comfortably, but the Ville will fight like hell and make it close. In the end, it won't be enough. UK will advance. And this game will be all that matters around here until Sunday.

 

Disagree Jump. Louisville needs to put them under pressure, beat them in transition and try to keep it out of the half court game when they can. Kentucky is young and I think if the Ville play to their strength, they can unnerve the Cats and beat them. Will need a good shooting night, but I think they'll win.

Can't believe I'm leading the bracket challenge. If I'm not mistaken, Heather and Joe can't beat me so basically it'll come down to whether or not Florida gets to the final.

 

Louisville was in good shape with 5 minutes left. Then the house goes a rocking from a 5.1 earthquake, the power goes out, and doesn't come back on until 15 seconds were left and Kentucky up by 2...NOW that was March Madness.

 

I saw that. Wow. Some of my Cali friends said it was 5.3 in their area. Hope everybody's OK.
As for the game, I went to bed with 15 minutes and change left. Don't know what happened, but I know that when your best player, an 80% free throw shooter, goes 4 for 10 from the line, short arming many of the misses like a middle schooler, you're probably gonna lose a close game to your arch rival.

 

The epicenter was in La Habra which is ten minutes from our house, this was not like riding a wave as some quakes are, but a real two shoulder grab and shake. Very scary, picture frames down, chimney screen down, my wife grabbed one dog as the power went off and we are dog sitting another took off into the pitch black somewhere in the house. Luckily when I opened the front door she came running out.

Back to the games. I would expect Florida to eventually put away a gritty Dayton team, but not without a battle. Wisconsin is on a roll, but like I'm going to pick against my boys? :naughty: Arizona needs to finally get over and when a regional final in Anaheim. The Cats are 3-0 in Sweet 16, but 0-3 in Elite 8 games. As UofA people like to say BEARDOWN ARIZONA!!!!

 

UNDOUBTEDLY there's some illegal fracking going on somewhere in SoCal... snort- guffaw..
\sarc

This Dayton season sneaked up on me. I'm really proud and pleased.. it is not a fluke.
I was a UD fan as a kid, maybe cause they were local and had a great coach {Tom Blackburn] and a few nationally noted players. And the only games regularly televised. Their highlight of course was when Wooden's UCLA beat them in the 67 finals. That was disappointing then but looking back.. that's no disgrace is it. Wow... the region was basketball mecca back in the early to late sixties. Ohio State, Cincinnati, Miami OH, Dayton, Xavier, UK, Lou'ville.

From what I read Archie Miller is UD's best coach since Blackburn. Donoher wasnt bad but he wasnt great either. He certainly wouldnt have used his whole bench and we KNEW he never would. The best part of Miller's playing strategy is the opponent knows it but has to figure out how to deal with it. Can they keep winning? I aint betting.

 

Went back and read what I wrote before this thing started. Right so far about Florida, the big U of L/UK soiree' and 'Zona's looking like gold as well, although Wisconsin's not gonna go away easily. Wrong about Texas, although, at this point, Cinderella's dead this year. One of my fb friends actually said UK will get to Dallas "in a surprise." That's like a cop going to the Indy 500 for the first time and saying, "I ought to cite some of these drivers." Still like 'Zona and Florida, even though as I write this, they're only approaching halftime against the Badgers with a six point lead. We'll see if a bluegrass squad makes it to the Final Four for the 3rd consecutive year and 4th in the last 5 tomorrow evening. I like their chances against the Wolverines, although I don't really know why.

 

Props to Wisconsin. They came up big against Sean Miller's team, which I thought might win the whole thing. Gotta like their chances in Dallas. I'll be rooting for the "other" Wildcats to bring home #9. Who'd of thunk that a month ago. If they beat Michigan, I REALLY like their chances even more. Would love to see them get a fourth crack at the Gators. Gotta believe they'd get over the hump given one more opportunity against them. But they're clear favorites at this point. Don't see either UConn or the Izzonites getting to the championship game, but they both deserve to be there.