March Madness

[Tazio]

Any of ya' 'awl boys interested?

[billiaml]

Yep. If I didn't have two monitors on my computer, I wouldn't get any work done today.

[chuck34]

Yep. If I didn't have two monitors on my computer, I wouldn't get any work done today.

Work??? I've got two monitors, but still nothing getting done. :D

[Tazio]

Good deal guys, my Alma mater SDSU play in about 3 hours I'm really geeked for it.
Trying to be objective, I think Pitt, is the best team, Kansas, Texas, Duke, Ohio State and "The Crying Irish" I'm probably leaving others out. Who else has preferences or insight?

[billiaml]

WVU & Clemson tied @ the half. Huggins has come a long way since he was an assistant @ Akron U -- when I was an undergrad.

[billiaml]

Work??? I've got two monitors, but still nothing getting done. :D

Watching 2 games, then?

[billiaml]

Looks like WVU remembered why they're a #5 seed.

[Tazio]

WVU & Clemson tied @ the half. Huggins has come a long way since he was an assistant @ Akron U -- when I was an undergrad.

Huggins has been around since the advent of electricity, or is this a descendant?

[chuck34]

Watching 2 games, then?

One screen here. One on ESPN. :D

[chuck34]

Huggins has been around since the advent of electricity, or is this a descendant?

Huggie-Bear was at Cincy when I was there. Was basically a used car salesman then too. Good to see nothing changes. :)

[Tazio]

Huggie-Bear was at Cincy when I was there. Was basically a used car salesman then too. Good to see nothing changes. :) :laugh:

[AndyRAC]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'll go for Duke......

[Tazio]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'll go for Duke......

Not a bad choice. That is a program that is used to winning.

None of us are experts that is the thing I really like about collegiate sports,

teams are evaluated by relative opinions. Unless you don’t have a life, it is too difficult to keep track of these things

[Tazio]

One thing look out for Wisconsin
They are a real sleeper

[Tazio]

What a finish to the Temple game

[veeten]

Suprise of the tourney, so far, Moorehead St. Followed closely by Richmond. Go Spiders!

[ICWS]

My bracket predictions have already been busted. Louisville, Michigan State, and St. John's lossed their games and thus their opponents (Morehead St., UCLA, and Gonzaga) busted up my bracket predictions. I'm happy, though, that I got my upset prediction correct (Richmond over Vanderbilt).

I predict that Pittsburgh will win the whole thing, and if they don't win, then I expect Ohio State, Kansas, or UConn to win. I predict those teams will make the Final Four because: A. I think UConn will overcome their opponents in the early rounds and beat Duke in the regional finals with their strong guard play from Kemba Walker, B. I think battle-tested Pittsburgh will handle their regional opponents easily and win a tough regional finals game against Florida, C. Ohio State and Kansas both have relatively easy paths to the Final Four, even though they will probably face Notre Dame/Purdue and North Carolina/Syracuse in their regional finals. Then for the championship game, I predict Pittsburgh will win a hard-fought game against Ohio State.

[Tazio]

My bracket predictions have already been busted. Louisville, Michigan State, and St. John's lossed their games and thus their opponents (Morehead St., UCLA, and Gonzaga) busted up my bracket predictions. I'm happy, though, that I got my upset prediction correct (Richmond over Vanderbilt).

I predict that Pittsburgh will win the whole thing, and if they don't win, then I expect Ohio State, Kansas, or UConn to win. I predict those teams will make the Final Four because: A. I think UConn will overcome their opponents in the early rounds and beat Duke in the regional finals with their strong guard play from Kemba Walker, B. I think battle-tested Pittsburgh will handle their regional opponents easily and win a tough regional finals game against Florida, C. Ohio State and Kansas both have relatively easy paths to the Final Four, even though they will probably face Notre Dame/Purdue and North Carolina/Syracuse in their regional finals. Then for the championship game, I predict Pittsburgh will win a hard-fought game against Ohio State.
IMO Your bracket may have gotten busted because you bought into the east coast bias that has been hammered into the networks and talking heads. 5 teams to look out for; Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Gonzaga, and SDSU are playing out of their minds. BYU is also a force to be reckoned with. The big East has been exposed. Florida is overvalued just as Vandy was today. I have already stated that I think Pitt
has the inside track, even though they have a brutal road to hoe. Much to my distress "The Crying Irish" are a very strong force to be dealt with, and could go all the way. MO!! This is going to get good.
Good luck the rest of the way
BTW don't count out The Badgers
They could be Pitt’s worst nightmare

[ICWS]

IMO Your bracket may have gotten busted because you bought into the east coast bias that has been hammered into the networks and talking heads. 5 teams to look out for; Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Gonzaga, and SDSU are playing out of their minds. BYU is also a force to be reckoned with. The big East has been exposed. Florida is overvalued just as Vandy was today. I have already stated that I think Pitt
has the inside track, even though they have a brutal road to hoe. Much to my distress "The Crying Irish" are a very strong force to be dealt with, and could go all the way. MO!! This is going to get good.
Good luck the rest of the way
BTW don't count out The Badgers
They could be Pitt’s worst nightmare

You may be right in how I bought into the east coast bias displayed on ESPN/CBS/Fox Sports, etc. However, I disagree with some of your points in your post...

1. I think BYU, despite their record and ranking, has overachieved this season. They are painful for me to watch considering their offense seems to revolve 90% of the time around one guy (Jimmer Fredette). I know that guy can shoot the lights out, but he struggles at dealing with being double-teamed and isn't that great at driving to the basket when the defense collapses on him. BYU kind of reminds me of Davidson's team when Stephen Curry was on that team: both teams basically let these two guys have the ball 90% of the time and get out of their way/stand around. That kind of offense isn't very productive in the long-run and can be easily exposed by a good team, especially if BYU advances and faces the likes of Florida (if BYU defeats Gonzaga first, which I think they will).

2. I can't see UCLA putting up much of a challenge to Florida. I will admit that I was suprised to see UCLA hold off Michigan State, but Florida is a different and more difficult beast to handle.

3. I did predict that Washington will defeat Georgia when they play tomorrow, but I think that's as far as they'll probably go. I can't see Washington beating North Carolina.

4. I agree with you that San Diego State is a great team and I predict they'll beat Temple, but I think they'll lose a tightly-contested game when they face UConn, which I think will be the most entertaining game of the tournament.

5. I agree Notre Dame will go far, but I think they'll be stopped in their tracks in the Elite Eight when they play Kansas.

6. Wisconsin will put up a good fight against Pitt, but Pitt should come out on top...

...I picked Pittsburgh to win the tournament mostly because they are battle-tested due to their regular season contests with teams in their conference (Big East) which was the deepest conference this year, and because they seem to play the best defense out of all the teams in the tournament (Defense Wins Championships). Pittsburgh is also a very good rebounding team, especially on offense. Lastly, every game they played this season was a blow-out victory for them or a tightly-contest coin flip of a game, oftentimes resulting in another victory. Even the five games they did lose were tightly-contested; their worse lost was only 7 points against Tennessee. So they know, for the most part, how to come out on top and pull through in clutch situations. That tenacity on defense/rebounding and ability to win in crucial situations is what I think will put them over the top of the other teams in the tournament.

[Tazio]

You may be right in how I bought into the east coast bias displayed on ESPN/CBS/Fox Sports, etc. However, I disagree with some of your points in your post...

1. I think BYU, despite their record and ranking, has overachieved this season. They are painful for me to watch considering their offense seems to revolve 90% of the time around one guy (Jimmer Fredette). I know that guy can shoot the lights out, but he struggles at dealing with being double-teamed and isn't that great at driving to the basket when the defense collapses on him. BYU kind of reminds me of Davidson's team when Stephen Curry was on that team: both teams basically give these two guys the ball and get out of their way/stand around. That kind of offense isn't very productive in the long-run and can be easily exposed by a good team, especially if BYU advances and faces the likes of Florida (if BYU defeats Gonzaga first, which I think they will).

2. I can't see UCLA putting up much of a challenge to Florida. I will admit that I was suprised to see UCLA hold off Michigan State, but Florida is a different and more difficult beast to handle.

3. I did predict that Washington will defeat Georgia when they play tomorrow, but I think that's as far as they'll probably go. I can't see Washington beating North Carolina.

4. I agree with you that San Diego State is a great team and I predict they'll beat Temple, but I think they'll lose a tightly-contested game when they face UConn, which I think will be the most entertaining game of the tournament.

5. I agree Notre Dame will go far, but I think they'll be stopped in their tracks in the Elite Eight when they play Kansas.

6. Wisconsin will put up a good fight against Pitt, but Pitt should come out on top...

...I picked Pittsburgh to win the tournament mostly because they are battle-tested due to their regular season contests with teams in their conference (Big East) which was the deepest conference this year, and because they seem to play the best defense out of all the teams in the tournament (Defense Wins Championships). Pittsburgh is also a very good rebounding team, especially on offense. Lastly, every game they played this season was a blow-out victory for them or a tightly-contest coin flip of a game, oftentimes resulting in another victory. Even the five games they did lose were tightly-contested; their worse lost was only 7 points against Tennessee. So they know, for the most part, how to come out on top and pull through in clutch situations. That tenacity on defense/rebounding and ability to win in crucial situations is what I think puts them over the top of the other teams in the tournament.

1) BYU is a lot better than I think you are giving them credit for, and I'll tell you why They play dirty, and they are as tough as just about anyone under the boards.
They maul people in the paint, and they have an excellent coach. I think that you have an appreciation of what the media has portrayed Fredette It is really a team that has great discipline and great rebounding, I can't stand Fredette , he's a punk and a crybaby. Half of his open looks he gets for three's are kick out passes that his front court give him off the offensive boards He also knows how to draw fouls.
2) I can't mount a defense for UCLA, and to be honest I have not payed that close attention of the SEC this season.
3) I have to withhold judgment because they have to get passed Georgia and they are a very streaky team, and I would not be all that surprised if they give NC a beat down.
4) SDSU has a very basic style, they play their toughest ball on defense and on the offensive boards they are peeking at the right time but then again they are quite capable of losing to anybody. I also think the only team in the tourney that is better is Pitt however I am a little bias. If you give State a double digit lead in the second half it is game over. Instead of trying to run with great transition teams, they run the full clock in the half court and save their energy for their ungodly defense.
5) Agreed another Jeckyle and Hyde team. But when they smell blood they are the type of team that can impose their will and play very well from behind
6) A very astute observation but not a give me, and like I said they play almost the same style as S.D. but probably a little better.
I think those games they lost (and I have only limited actually observation of them.) enough though to extrapolate the part of the game that separates them is that Pitt can penetrate from outside better than the Aztecs backcourt off the dribble.
7) Arizona is” the real deal don steel”. The best of the teams out west with 2 or 3 exceptions, and I will be very surprised if they get stopped before they play Duke but Texas may give them a thorough a beat down.

[billiaml]

Morehead State or Richmond? It'll be interesting to see which one is the "Cinderella" going into the Sweet 16.

[Tazio]

Morehead State or Richmond? It'll be interesting to see which one is the "Cinderella" going into the Sweet 16.

Judging by strength of schedule Richmond should win this one going away. I did not watch either of their games, but Richmond has a much more impressive body of work, and the notion of Morehead st. beating Louisville, is mind boggleling considering how weak their schedule was. Rick pitino might have forgotten to tell his boyz not to read their press clippings before the game :uhoh: :s mokin:

[billiaml]

Judging by strength of schedule Richmond should win this one going away. I did not watch either of their games, but Richmond has a much more impressive body of work, and the notion of Morehead st. beating Louisville, is mind boggleling considering how weak their schedule was. Rick pitino might have forgotten to tell his boyz not to read their press clippings before the game :uhoh: :s mokin:

Yeah, I have to agree with you on both counts. I didn't see either game either.
I've been a Pitino fan since he was with Kentucky. Of course, that's why the game is played on the court -- and not on paper. And it's what makes this tournament so interesting -- and addictive.

[ICWS]

Well, I got another one of my predictions wrong again: Tennessee lost to Michigan... BADLY! (75-45).

[Tazio]

Well, I got another one of my predictions wrong again: Tennessee lost to Michigan... BADLY! (75-45).

BU has Kansas down early :s mokin:

[veeten]

ah, the "Mason Nation" is alive and kickin'. Just ask Villanova...

and the whole Tourney field got a big knot in their stomach, with Duke not only layin' the smackdown on Hampton, but finding out that Kyrie Irving is back and in fighting form.

[ICWS]

BU has Kansas down early :s mokin:

Kansas beat BU 72-53 :s mokin:

[ICWS]

Xavier let me down, losing to Marquette 66-55.

That's 5 predictions I got wrong already, (soon to be 6 since Illinois is crushing UNLV right now).

[Tazio]

Kansas beat BU 72-53 :s mokin:

Just walked in the door let me see what's shakin and I'll get back to you.

[Tazio]

sounds like I missed a good game by Az. Gmason lovin it.
X-men got punked
things look bad for UNLV,
later dude!

[Tazio]

:s ailor: Bitch-Slaped 'em

[ICWS]

Out of respect to Mr. Alcatraz, I'm banning myself from this particular thread due to Pittsburgh's defeat at the hands of Butler.

It was fun while it lasted, but I must go now. Good luck with all of you guys' predictions and I'll see you on other threads in this forum. God Bless all of you, and God Bless America :p :!

Thanks You...

[Tazio]

Submitted in profound, and humble recognition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar5btDrZ9I4

[Tazio]

Out of respect to Mr. Alcatraz, I'm banning myself from this particular thread due to Pittsburgh's defeat at the hands of Butler.

It was fun while it lasted, but I must go now. Good luck with all of you guys' predictions and I'll see you on other threads in this forum. God Bless all of you, and God Bless America :p :!

Thanks You...Respect???? Me?????
FWIW I think I know what you actually mean.
I don't believe any organized Basketball game has ever played out the last 9 seconds as that one did
The coach of Butler seemed apologetic and said it was,,,,,,,, I don’t remember what he said, and
I only now realize now that you are a Pitt enthusiast. This too shall pass. I am scrambling desperately to find a tivo of the
SDSU/Temple game, because I was too nervous to watch more than about 5 minutes of it. SDSU has already surpassed every record
in the 90 year history of the program, and do not expect them to advance any further, so I can live with the result.
Although if it happens like what happened to Pitt, I would connect a hose from my exhaust pipe and seal it in the cabin
and calmly leave this dimension with a 64 oz Big Gulp of Kool-aide and wash down about 400 Mg of Valium and then bite the glass capsule
of Sodium cyanide. I don't endorse this kind of behavior, and if I could be restrained for about 24 hours I would probably reconsider.
What's up with Butler anyway? If it is the Butler in Western Penn, not only is it a cross-town rivalry, but my ex-wife came from that community,
and believe me if I had any idea where she lives I would torch her house..... :love: :angryfire :beer: :s nore:

[Tazio]

U of A surprises (to some) Texas,
VCU punks Purdue
Marquette surprises The Orangmen

This is madness :crazy:

[Tazio]

U of A surprises (to some) Texas,
VCU punks Purdue
Marquette topples The Orangemen
And The Crying/Lying Irish get Bitch-slapped by Florida State! :)

This is madness :crazy:

On a more personal note
I want to give a special sportsmans award to the
Morehead State cheerleaders as they divided ranks along the baseline while they
alternated cheering

More-head More-head More-head ..... :talk: .... :facelick: ... :)

[Tazio]

Here is the bracket I am most interested in:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/regions/west
Aztecs Fight!!!

The Anaheim Arena is only 90 niles from my house. I'm working on scaming spme tickets :idea:

View all regions:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/brackets

[chuck34]

My brackets are totally shot now. I don't understand how I can get all 8 first round games correct in the SouthEast bracket and then get every second round game wrong. Started off so good on Thursday, but now I'm totally f'ed. :(

[Tazio]

My brackets are totally shot now. I don't understand how I can get all 8 first round games correct in the SouthEast bracket and then get every second round game wrong. Started off so good on Thursday, but now I'm totally f'ed. :( Sounds like ypu have a terminal case of "Random Walk" Where do your synpathies lie now? :)

[Tazio]

I'm starting to get a little geeked about this one.
Aztecs need to put a serious beat/down on the pretenders.
In the immortal words of Billy White:- "I'm hungry baby. I'm hungry."-
Got my Tigerblood, and a little Adonis DNA,-------- Winning

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/14842051/big-east-only-the-most-homely-at-uninspired-dance

Ratso Rizzo could come up with a better excuse for a coference getting Bitch-slapped
Eh Cowboy I don't think I can walk no more!

[Tazio]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'll go for Duke......
Andy looks like your boyz may be in a smack/down for the ages, and of epic proportions!
If it comes down to that right now I'm kind of on the fence :confused:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/14844552/dukeunc-potential-in-final-four-just-too-juicy-to-ignore

[ICWS]

Respect???? Me?????
FWIW I think I know what you actually mean.
I don't believe any organized Basketball game has ever played out the last 9 seconds as that one did
The coach of Butler seemed apologetic and said it was,,,,,,,, I don’t remember what he said, and
I only now realize now that you are a Pitt enthusiast. This too shall pass. I am scrambling desperately to find a tivo of the
SDSU/Temple game, because I was too nervous to watch more than about 5 minutes of it. SDSU has already surpassed every record
in the 90 year history of the program, and do not expect them to advance any further, so I can live with the result.
Although if it happens like what happened to Pitt, I would connect a hose from my exhaust pipe and seal it in the cabin
and calmly leave this dimension with a 64 oz Big Gulp of Kool-aide and wash down about 400 Mg of Valium and then bite the glass capsule
of Sodium cyanide. I don't endorse this kind of behavior, and if I could be restrained for about 24 hours I would probably reconsider.
What's up with Butler anyway? If it is the Butler in Western Penn, not only is it a cross-town rivalry, but my ex-wife came from that community,
and believe me if I had any idea where she lives I would torch her house..... :love: :angryfire :beer: :s nore:

I just wanted to temporarily lift my self-imposed ban on this thread to let you something about myself...

I'm not a Pitt enthusiast, I just picked them to win the national championship. I'm from southern California like you are and would've liked to have seen UCLA win the championship, as a fan. But I knew that the chance of them winning it wasn't as likely as other teams like Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, UConn, etc. So I didn't pick UCLA to go any further than the 2nd round (although they played a tough game against Florida until the last couple of minutes).

My self-imposed ban was due in part to Pitt being eliminated in the 2nd round, thus ruining any credible knowledge of NCAA men's basketball that I claimed to have. Actually, since I got a lot of my predictions wrong in the 1st and 2nd rounds anyway, my claims of knowing what I was talking about in regards to the tournament were already suspect before Pitt was eliminated. To be honest, I don't follow college basketball nearly as much as I do with other sports (auto racing, NBA, tennis, college football, NFL, soccer, golf, boxing, martial arts, etc.), and a lot of my tournament predictions were based on analysis from, you guessed it, east coast-biased sports channels like ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, etc.

Now, when it comes to NBA basketball, I'm much more confident in what I predict will happen in that league's playoffs. Perhaps when the NBA playoffs are starting, we can create a thread about predicting the outcome of that tournament and who will be the 2010-2011 NBA champion :) .

[Tazio]

I just wanted to temporarily lift my self-imposed ban on this thread to let you something about myself...

I'm not a Pitt enthusiast, I just picked them to win the national championship. I'm from southern California like you are and would've liked to have seen UCLA win the championship, as a fan. But I knew that the chance of them winning it wasn't as likely as other teams like Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, UConn, etc. So I didn't pick UCLA to go any further than the 2nd round (although they played a tough game against Florida until the last couple of minutes).

My self-imposed ban was due in part to Pitt being eliminated in the 2nd round, thus ruining any credible knowledge of NCAA men's basketball that I claimed to have. Actually, since I got a lot of my predictions wrong in the 1st and 2nd rounds anyway, my claims of knowing what I was talking about in regards to the tournament were already suspect before Pitt was eliminated. To be honest, I don't follow college basketball nearly as much as I do with other sports (auto racing, NBA, tennis, college football, NFL, soccer, golf, boxing, martial arts, etc.), and a lot of my tournament predictions were based on analysis from, you guessed it, east coast-biased sports channels like ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, etc.

Now, when it comes to NBA basketball, I'm much more confident in what I predict will happen in that league's playoffs. Perhaps when the NBA playoffs are starting, we can create a thread about predicting the outcome of that tournament and who will be the 2010-2011 NBA champion :) .

This is the first year I've followed college Round ball in ages. To be honest I excelled at most sports and have the post traumatic Arthritis to prove it. lol
This is just insanity what SDSU are doing. Everything I know about sports beside Tennis, Golf, and F1 I’ve been trying to forget. My mind is a virtual storehouse of useless information. I used to be a huge San Diego Rockets fan. You do know that the Rockets started in S.D. Stu Lantz, and Calvin Murphy were the starting guards and Pat Riley got a lot of minutes in the back court, a pretty good country play making guard. But Elvin Hays made them legit, and before they took off for Houston they had drafted Rudy Tomjanovich. I tried to support the Clippers, but Donald Sterling had no intentions of fielding a competitive team. I've been with the Padres since they were in the Pacific Coast League and the Chargers since they played in Balboa Stadium. Really I'm burnt out on The Big Three, and have been for well over a decade. I really don't know very much about College Basketball, But with my Alma mater having a season for the ages I have paid attention and feel like I have a pretty good handle on this year’s contenders, To be honest it is mostly based on statistics. Huge game today SDSU vs U conn, it’s right up in Anaheim. The last time I checked tickets were going for $400.00. I’m going to hang with some of my bros and just hope the Aztecs can put a beat-down on the Huskys. I really enjoyed your input but I understand that not having a vested interest, you don’t have the level of interest that I do. I have enjoyed your input however. :)
Peace