March Madness

The NCAA tournament does not need fixing, the idea to expand it to 90+ teams is terrible, but since hoops and football (apart from the rare exceptions i.e Iowa wrestling, Oregon Track) pay the athletic department bills, surely greed will win out.

NCAA basketball does need fixing. Once the NBA mandated players not being able to be eligible for the draft until one year after high school, the college game suffered. The "one and done" players have ruined the continuity of programs. Not just for the teams, but also for the fans. Common Sense solution; adopt what college baseball does which is if kids choose to go pro let them, but if they choose to go to college they must be there for at least 3 years (2 would be more reasonable hoops).

To the Big Dance itself; for the first time in 26 years my Arizona Wildcats are not there, combined with the fact that the Pac-10 had it's worst year ever, and more importantly UCLA and the usual hype in LA is non-existent.

West: A Syracuse v Kansas State regional final would be a great game. I'll take the Orange to win it.

Midwest: This region is loaded and whoever wins will have earned it. A second round matchup of Michigan State v Maryland (with the winner to take on Kansas) would be a battle. I'll take Kansas..barely

South: The weakest region w/Puke er' Duke being the weakest #1. Purdue would've been dangerous, but the injury to star Robbie Hummel puts none other the Texas A&M (Ag would have to agree) as the team that has a good chance at knocking out the Blue Devils. Can't believe it, but I'll pick Baylor to advance out of here.

East: Kentucky seems like they are too young, but they are better talent-wise than everyone else. West Virginia is well coached and could give UK a great game if they meet in the Elite 8. However, I still will stay with Kentucky.

 

I'm thinking BYU vs. 'Cuse in the West.

 

can someone explain to me the point of the play-in game?

it seems like it's some always crappy college versus whoever wins the SWAC conference.

 

It's a reward to UD for building a first class arena many, many years ago.
Apparently UD got a sweetheart deal with Tourney Officials that they would host a first round for 'n' years. Later that wasnt such a good idea so UD was bought out out with the 'Play-In' site.. which I believe SOMETIMES allows a really good team in a playoff conference to get in.

Ironic: UD Arena isnt even the best one in Dayton and hasnt been for twenty years.
Seriously.. never thought it would continue in perpetuity but whatever.
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That's about the extent of my enthusiasm at the mo'; wake me when it's Sweet 16 time and I might...
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Yesterday someone not a BBall fan asked me: "How about them Buckeyes!"

I said "What?"
They said: "They won the Big Ten Tournament"
I said: "Oh.. they did?"

Dont blame me.. blame Greg Oden.

 

Watch out for the Mountain West teams. San Diego State isn't really a threat to their region, but the other 3 teams can beat any team in their region. Even though I can't stand them, BYU is the biggest threat because Fredette can put up 30+ points at any time.

 

Thanks for the nod Joe, but I don't see us getting past Duke, even in Houston. They just have too many legitimate scoring options for us to shut down and we're a tad light on depth and talent (this was something of a reload year for the Ags).

We did give them hell the last time we met though, so it's possible. But the Ags have had a problem closing out games against the better teams. We have a bad habit of going ice cold from the floor in the waning minutes. We blew leads in both meetings with Kansas b/c we went o-fer from the field for 5+ minutes down the stretch.

Agree on expansion being a disaster and I question how much more money is in it. Watering down the product like that will, imo, diminish interest and reduce the significance of the cinderella upset. Middle of the pack majors will fall to better mid-majors and small schools in greater number until it's not even noteworthy.

 

The problem is there really aren't any cinderellas because all the decent mid-major teams will play another this weekend:

http://deadspin.com/5493930/why-does-th ... mid+majors

 

I got kind of a Midwest (Big 12) bias in my picks. I didn’t do it intentionally, but that's how it turned out. I'm taking Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, and Kentucky to the final four. Kansas vs. Kentucky in the Final. Kansas as the winner.

I got tickets to the Midwest region regional this year, so that should be fun.

 

I'll be in San Jo this afternoon to watch a couple of games, I am looking forward to it.

And watching the Juve match via DVR on tape delay...

 

Brad and Misfit, very jealous, been a couple times and it's a great day at the arena. Be sure to give us the "game report"

 

There was some excellent basketball games and some considerable upsets yesterday. A few highlights (or low ones depending on your bracket)

The Big LEast. Like everyone else I drank the kool-aid being poured out of Bristol, CT (home of that certain 4 letter sports network) about how invincible the Big East teams were. They went 1-3 yesterday and the one they got (Villanova) was down all game, but managed to sneak out a win over Robert Morris in OT. Georgetown got worked by Ohio (not Ohio State, but OHIO).

Well the Pac-10 at least got one victory, my folks alma mater UDub (Washington) beat Marquette.

St. Mary's proved that Gonzaga isn't the only good team from that conference.

24 called it. Jimmer (no, that isn't a misspell) Fredette of BYU went for 37 against Florida. A mixture of scoop shots and ankle breaking 3 point step backs (ala Steve Nash). It will be interesting to see what Kansas State does to slow him down.

Early Friday results; West Virginia gets some conference pride back. Cornell is not your normal Ivy League team. They don't want to milk the clock and win 54-50. They play fast, can go inside/outside, and are a legit threat to go deep in the tourney. The Ivys haven't gone to the Final 4 since 1979 when Penn went (some guys named Larry and Magic stole the headlines that year). The Big Red absolutely pummeled a good Temple team today.

 

Don't remember the specifics but -- There were 64 teams in the tournament until a conference split and both halves wanted an automatic bid. That made for 65 teams and the big conferences didn't want to give up an at-large slot and none of the smaller conferences would give up their automatic bid. So 65 it is, with the play-in game between the 2 lowest-seeded teams. I think this happened in the early 90s.

Greetings all, been reading for awhile. I'm up to 25 views of Dempsey's goal.

 

Way to go NoCal for keeping the reputation of the Golden State in decent shape.

St. Mary's gets a well deserved victory over 2nd seeded Villanova.

Cal puts a whoopin' on Louisville (leaving Pitino with more time to cruise for waitresses, the scumbag).

 

Kansas just lost to Northern Iowa. This has been a great tournament so far with some huge upsets.


It also looks like New Mexico is going out as Washington is crushing them right now. I didn't think the PAC-10 was any good all year, but both teams have done well so far. I guess both teams are finally playing the kind of basketball both were expected to play all year.

 

Big ups to Cornell and Northern Iowa. That's 2 teams (Temple and Wisconsin) now Cornell has taken behind the woodshed and dominated. They play big, bad, but young Kentucky next. Nobody will give them a chance, and that's the way they like it.

Northern Iowa has been a good program for years now, but still this was a total shocker.

Sorry to our resident Terp. Maryland and their great player Vasquez made a terrific comeback and looked to get over the hump only to be beaten at the buzzer by Michigan State.

 

Big ups also to Omar and the Aussies (St. Mary's), California's last team in the tournament. They've been building up to this for a while, and finally managed to get past Gonzaga in their conference. Imagine what they'd be like if Patrick Mills had decided to stay for one more year instead of leaving for the NBA.

 

Dunno if anyone else noticed but you could'a made a mint betting the second round games based on season W/L records.
Except N Iowa/ Kansas and Murray St /Butler ..
and Xavier/ Pitt {records same}

 

This was the first year I didn't fill out a bracket in so long I can't remember. Just as well as it would've been busted anyway. I'd have taken Kansas over Kentucky.

My two rooting interests (A&M & Maryland) were dispatched in close contests on Sunday. However, it's been a very entertaining tournament to follow so far. Of course it could be getting a positive rub-off effect as I was sitting in the pub watching Fulham dismantle the better barcodes while it was starting. Probably not, but I just like referencing Fulham annihilating Juventus whenever I can.

 

Some good games tonight, generally it's at the Sweet 16 were the cream rises to the top and Cinderella's ride turns back into a pumpkin:

Cornell v Kentucky: CBS is turning this into David vs Goliath, but Cornell is a senior oriented team that can flat out play. Key for them is their 7 footer needs to stay out of foul trouble. Big Red is an hour from campus, Kentucky fans travel, but there will be 15-20k rooting for Cornell. Kentucky in a close one

Washington v West Virginia: WVA lost their point guard with an injury Monday, but will still have enough to get by the Huskies (Go Dawgs!!)

Xavier v Kansas State; Contrasting styles, whoever dictates tempo should win.

Syracuse v Butler; The Cuse will have their hands full. Butler is a lot like Gonzaga and Xavier in that they have been good for so long that they aren't a "mid-major" anymore. Only problem is Syracuse crushed Gonzaga last round and will find a way to win tonight.