College Hoops

[Guest Eraser2K2]

I dont know about Tubby Smith.  You are right about when he won the championship, that had Pitino written all over it.  But I say at least give him a chance in the tournament this year, and if Prince and Bogans come back, maybe a chance next year.  He seems like a good coach (I dont watch a lot of SEC basketball), but a firing wouldn't be unfair either.

[Guest CanadianChris]

Well, the brackets are out.  Some top-of-mind thoughts while filling them out:

 

1.  Gonzaga got jobbed.  A SIX seed??  You've gotta be kidding.  I don't think I've seen a top fifteen team get seeded this low, let alone #7 in the country.  Whether or not they're deserving of that ranking will get put to the test against Arizona in round 2 (and I think they are, and will win that game).

 

2.  Duke got a free ride.  There is no one in the East capable of playing with them.  Alabama will make it to the Elite 8, by virtue of the bottom half of the East getting blown up in round 1 (more on this later), and will lose by 30.  Then, they will get a lesser team in the Final Four, while Maryland and Kansas beat each other up in the other semifinal.

 

3.  Cincinnati will not make it to the Elite 8.  Even if they get by the UCLA/Mississippi winner (either one capable of an upset), they should get spanked by Ohio State.

 

4.  Georgia a 3 seed?  About as ridiculous as Gonzaga...in fact, if you flipped Georgia and Gonzaga, you'd be a lot closer to reality.

 

5.  The South has the most upset potential.  Kent State and Penn are more than capable of pulling off upsets against Oklahoma State and Cal, respectively, and an inexperienced and banged-up Pitt drew a VERY interesting opponent in Central Connecticut State (longest win streak in the nation).  If Brandin Knight isn't healthy, look out.

 

6.  Lower seeds capable of going a long way:  Michigan State (NC State has no tourney experience, rest of their half beatable, assuming they make it that far), Pepperdine (weak draw in Midwest bottom half), Southern Illinois (same arguments as Michigan State).

 

7.  Oklahoma was hurt by the late finish of the Big XII title game.  They, not Cincinnati, deserved the 1 seed in the West.

 

8.  Western Kentucky got a VERY unlucky draw.  While I think they should beat Stanford handily, they don't have much of a chance against Kansas.  That's a shame.

 

My Elite Eight picks:  Maryland vs. Michigan State, Duke vs. Alabama, Kansas vs. Mississippi State, Ohio State vs. Gonzaga (flame away!)

[Guest cabbageboy]

I am hearing the stuff about Gonzaga getting the shaft but I think Western got fucked even worse.  A 9 seed with a 28-3 record and a #18 ranking?  That is bullshit.  Gonzaga can feasibly win some games but I think Oklahoma will whip them badly.  I have said all year Oklahoma is the best team I have seen, so I wasn't shocked they manhandled Kansas.

 

I dunno why the committee has such faith in Georgia.  I recall in 1997 they got a ludicrous #3 seed because they beat S. Carolina a few times when they were good.  Bear in mind, Georgia didn't win ANYTHING in the SEC that year and UK kicked the shit out of them 3 times by like 25 points.  Yet they got a 3 seed.  And they jobbed to Chattanooga.  This year they can easily job to Murray St. as well.  How fucked up is this bracket when MURRAY is the KY team with the best chance of advancing?  

 

UK/Valpo has upset written all over it.  And Western is flat out fucked, if they can even get by Stanford (which is a big if) then they have Kansas.  Shit.  It is just like 1995...Western has a 28-3 record, and gets a shit seed like 8 or 9, gets a tough first round opponent and then Kansas the second round.  

 

By the way, Cincinnati still sucks and they won't come out of the west alive.  Duke could play with themselves and win their region...it is that pathetic.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

A few things I wanted to say here...

 

1. There is one fucking team in the South that can beat Duke, but that will require Duke to have a really shitty game. USC can hang with them, and if Duke goes cold in the second half against USC, they could go down. But even then, I'd give them odds of winning. That fucking region is worthless. Alabama is not that good; they will likely get smacked around by Oklahoma St. in the second round.

 

2. Kansas cannot beat good teams when they "need" to. I have no clue what it is about Roy Williams' program there, but they can't do a goddamn thing in March. People can call Maryland choke artists all they want...look at fucking Kansas. They could very well find themselves a victim of the Hilltoppers. Illinois is the best bet to come from that region, although Florida and Oregon are possibilities as well.

 

3. Gonzaga as a 6th seed is surprising, but I feel the bigger outrage is Oklahoma getting shunned out of consideration for a #1 seed before the fucking Big 12 title game even started. That is insane. They believed that the outcome of that one game was "insignificant" to the selections. That is one of the most shortsighted and flat out idiotic things I have ever heard.

 

4. Butler should have gotten in instead of fucking Charlotte. Period.

 

5. My beloved UK will very likely lose to Marquette in the second round...talk about deja fucking vu. Of course, Tulsa could definitely get past Marquette and give UK trouble. Of course, if UK plays like they did against South Carolina, they'd lose to Siena. Tubby will not get fired unless something truly disastrous happens between now and the final buzzer of their last game, whenever that is.

 

6. Seeing where I am from, a second round game between SIU and Murray St. would be infinitely amusing. No one else probably thinks so, though.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Duke got the easiest path to the Final Four because the committee had them ranked #1 overall.Being Duke doesn't hurt things either.

 

With all the stupid things the committee did. They where smart in putting Duke and Kansas in opposite brackets so they can't meet until the Championship game.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

Heh, Kansas in the championship game.

 

Heh.

[Guest Choken One]

I guess you can say NCAA Screwed Butler...Why B.C over Butler? Anyways...Good Regions save for Duke region (South)...Too easy...WEST is SICK and I'm afraid.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Heh, Kansas in the championship game.

 

Heh.

With all of Roy Williams's Final Four appearnaces how could you say something that absorb.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Heh, Kansas in the championship game.

 

Heh.

With all of Roy Williams's Final Four appearnaces how could you say something that absorb.

[Guest RevEvil]

So much for Gonzaga and W. Kentucky.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Well, Western was awful.  I have no excuse for their shitty effort especially now that Stanford jobbed big time to Kansas.  With Gonzaga I think they were beat before they played, they were pissy about the seeds and didn't focus.  

 

Hey, at least my jobbers UK have won so far.  It finally appears that Keith Bogans has remembered that he can play basketball.  And Prince is bad ass, scoring 41 tonight.  Who in the FUCK seeded Tulsa 12?  Those guys are awesome!  They have to easily be one of the 10 best teams in the country.

 

I did call the Kent St. ass kicking of Bama today, but I fucked up saying Stanford would beat Kansas (I based it mostly on Hinrich being hurt, but he seemed fine).  Kent St. could easily whoop Pitt/CA as well before jobbing to whoever.  

 

Has anyone noticed that Duke has to win TWO games at Rupp Arena to get to the final 4?  Do you honestly think they can do that?  Do you honestly think the Lexington rednecks will let them LIVE if they do?  ####, everyone there will be big time for Indiana.  Duke wins at Rupp when #### freezes over.

 

In regards to next week, man an AZ/OK game would rock as would MD/KY.  I don't really want upsets tomorrow, those are money games.

[Guest Kingpk]

Man, one and a half rounds in and my brackets are shot to ####, a new record for me.  Serves me right for putting Gonzaga in the Final Four.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

Well, i had Gonzaga jobbing second round to 'Zona, so I didn't get hurt by them dropping out early.

 

However, I had Marquette and USC in the Sweet 16...that sucks.

 

And I must say that SIU played 40 minutes of pure basketball better than I expected. I live 25 minutes from campus, and I hadn't seen them play until the MVC title game against Creighton, where they acted like UK (well, UK in the regular season), jobbing and just not seeming to care. But they shut me up. Curious to see what they do with Georgia.

 

UK may be my favourite team in all of sports (along with the Canadiens), but I had them dropping second round...I don't care, though, because I'd rather see them play well than drop out. Tulsa is an excellent team, and they will have 4 starters back next season. Yikes.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Your bracket is ruined?  Ha.  I had USC in the Final 4!  

 

Let's see how I do for today with these predictions:

 

Pittsburgh over California, the game is in PITT.

 

UCLA over Cincy, mostly because I hate Cincy and they always choke anyway.

 

Oklahoma over Xavier, setting up a bad ass OK/AZ game that will decide who goes to the final 4 in the West.

 

Maryland over Wisconsin, though I'd prefer WIS.  UK would drag Wisconsin, but Maryland will be tough.  

 

S. Illinois over Georgia....GA is vastly overseeded and they get their asses kicked a la Bama today.

 

UConn over NC State, I have no real thought on it either way so the higher seed wins.

 

Illinois over Creighton, only one fluke miracle per tourney, thank you.  Now just job and give us a GOOD game with Kansas/IL.

 

Texas over Mississippi State, it is played in Dallas and Miss. St. is highly overrated.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

Kansas/UI a good game? Kansas will be overwhelmed at playing a, you know, good team (see Big 12 championship game), and will choke as per usual. They aren't physical enough for UI, and UI is almost as fast as Kansas. Unless UI is cold, they'll smack Kansas around.

 

I had UCLA picked too, but I didn't think it would be close...I figured they'd just annihilate the terribly overrated Bearcats. Cincinnati is almost Kansasesque in their ability to die when playing against good teams.

[Guest RevEvil]

Let's see how I do for today with these predictions:

Pittsburgh over California,

UCLA over Cincy,

Oklahoma over Xavier

Maryland over Wisconsin 

S. Illinois over Georgia

UConn over NC State

Illinois over Creighton

Texas over Mississippi State

Good job.

[Guest cabbageboy]

I got them all right baby!  Now if only I hadn't had Florida and USC in the final 4.  Fuck.  

 

Sweet 16 predictions now:

 

UK over Maryland, the mark in me just has to go with UK.  Maryland usually chokes in these situations anyway.

 

UConn over S. Illinois but not by much, those dudes can throw down.

 

Kansas over Illinois....Kansas will choke but not quite yet.

 

Oregon over Texas because TX just ain't that great, though a potential KS/TX rematch is cool...the one OT game was awesome.

 

UCLA/Missouri:  tough one, I will say UCLA due to the San Jose setting.

 

Arizona/OK:  best game of the 16 round, and really the regional final.  Oklahoma wins by just 2 or 3 in a great one.

 

Pitt and Kent State:  Kent all the way here homeys.  Pitt is lucky to be there since they had two essentially home games.  Kent will have supporters at Rupp I think.

 

Duke/Indiana...I am torn here.  The mark in me says Indiana pulls a big upset.  I think Duke will be upset at Rupp but not sure which round.  Duke will be getting Rocky type negative heat at Rupp (as in past two WMs).  Duke wins here but Kent St. pulls it off next game in a huge shocker.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

I am as big a UK fan as you'll find, but I don't see them beating Maryland. Unless Prince continues his form from Saturday, that is.

 

I could have told you SIU could play...they gave UI all they could handle on a neutral floor, and beat IU by double digits. I am not really a fan of SIU, but I *do* live 25 minutes from campus, so...

 

I don't see Kansas beating UI, unless UI just has a terrible game (as has happened a few times this season). Both teams have looked excellent and mediocre at times in the tourney so far, so who knows?

 

Oregon/Texas...eh, I dunno. Haven't really seen either team play much at all. I'll go with Oregon on a hunch.

 

If Missouri continues to play like they have in the first 2 rounds, UCLA doesn't have a prayer.

 

'Zona/Oklahoma should be a great game. I hate 'Zona, but they're on their way to the Final Four, and Oklahoma won't stop them.

 

Kent St. in the Elite Eight? Believe it.

 

Duke/IU...well, I don't care for Indiana, but my hatred for Duke runs *very* deep. I think Duke might be a bit taken aback at the hostility they will likely find waiting for them in Lexington, and it could cause them to have a bad half of basketball, which could be all it takes.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

12 out of 16 sweet sixteen teams correct. My west bracket is messed up.

 

Here's a question do you like upsets or not. Seeing Wilmington beat USC might be exiting at first, but than Wilmington has to play. I would much rather see Duke, Maryland, and Kansas make the Final Four. Whether or not you like those schools their clearly the best 3 teams in the country and would make for a great Final Four.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

Don't let their record this year fool you, Vern...Kansas is a very up and down team, even though they win a lot. Winning a lot in the Big 12 isn't that hard, really. They do it every year, and when tourney time comes, and they have to play against more than 1 good team, they roll over and die.

 

Duke and Maryland I will agree with...Kansas? Never.

[Guest Will Scarlet]

I like the upsets, personally, because it is nice to see some little team like Wilmington knock off some team who gets pumped up as a great team a lot.  Besides, with college basketball as it is, it is a tough to say what is an upset and what is not nowadays.  Take Kent, for instance, they beat Alabama, a two seed, 71-58. That does not seem like an upset to me. By a lot of accounts I have seen, Kent deserve to be ranked higher.  By contrast, you have a team like Georgia who seem to be a favourite of the selection commitee, as this year they gain a 3 seed and last year, they gained either an 8th or 9th seed, despite a 16-14 record.  Both times, it seems as if people questioned why they were ranked so high.  Personally, I was glad to see them beaten by Southern Illinois, who impressed me greatly in their game against Texas Tech.  

Personally, I would not mind at all if Kent beat Duke.  As a matter of fact, I would love it.  It does not matter much to me how great a Final Four it could be with Duke in it because I cannot stand Duke.  I would love it if a "mid major" ended up in the Final Four and had to beat the mighty Duke to do it.  Maybe then, mid majors will get a bit more respect next year, and I get to see Duke lose, which I always enjoy.  Either way, this year, I am cheering for Maryland, Kent, and Southern Illinois, if only because I enjoy those teams.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Well, Kansas isn't as good as their record indicates.  They had a close scrape with Nebraska, also a tough one with Texas on the road, Valpo played them tough (UK just killed them), Mizzou took them to the last shot.  So while they are something like 31-3 it is a bogus record.

 

I said that Oklahoma is the best team I have seen this year for a few reasons.  They don't seem to have a bizarre defeat this year.  Kansas had a bizarre defeat to Ball St. this year, Duke lost to Virginia and FL St.  OK beat Maryland easy this year too.  OK has lost to Kansas, Texas Tech, OK St., and Michigan St. all on the road.  4 losses to tourney teams on the road is pretty good.  

 

In regards to Duke, if there are Lexington locals in the crowd they will be HATED.  If it comes to "lose or be lynched," I think Duke would gladly do the job.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Oklahoma doesn't have the offensive firepower that Duke, Maryland, and Kansas do.

 

One thing to remember about Duke is the played poorly against Notre Dame and still won. Dunleavey and Williams struggled and Boozer was in foul trouble. Know the chances of those 3 playing bad again isn't that great. That's why I think Duke will have no problem with Indiana.

 

Another thing about Duke. Except against Kentucky, they've destroyed everyone they've beaten. My guess it's close to 20 ppg, but with the Maryland loss the exception, they've lost all their games by close margins. It could play a role in the tourament or Duke could get hot and blow everyone out of the water.

[Guest cabbageboy]

It doesn't matter if Dunleavy and Boozer have bad games.  It matter what Williams does for Duke.  He hit his free throws so they won the other day.  I'm telling you, at Rupp Arena they will be like Rocky at the Astrodome or Skydome...villified~!  You know what is weird?  There are people in KY that actually like Duke, because of them beating UK in 1992.  I don't mean that they are big U of L fans either....they like UK, but like Duke better now.  Those people are the biggest sellouts I can possibly imagine.

[Guest Choken One]

As much as I love a good underdog upsetting the proverbial powerhouse, Kent St. and S. Illinois don't play the role of Underdogs/Cinderella very well since they outright beat their opponets by a good amount of points, There's nothing to love about Salukis and Kent St shocked No one, I had them in my Elite 8 and so did 5 other people at my work, nobody was shocked. If they make it past Duke, it won't be like Villanova back in 85(?) where it shocked alot of people, It will be expected all most, the best storyline with Kent St. is the BIG DOG CONFERENCE MONSTER Vs Mid-Major shunned Baby.

 

 Another Problem with "Underdogs", false sense of hope, we always see a Hampton or Southern Montana or whatever beat a mid-card 2-5 seed like Michigan or Florida and we start buzzing about "Biggest Upset ever" ...It almost never happens, they normally fall in R32 or S16, very few make it to the E8 ('Zaga being most known and recent case), but if memory serves me correct, in it's 17 years only 3 8 seeds or higher have made it to F4.

 

 I like Underdogs but  another important thing about the playoffs is the aspect of "BEST TEAMS IN AMERICA" going to the final four "Arizona,  Duke, Maryland, Kansas" is the best Final four possible and deserves to be the Final Four and let's face it, in 10 years people will look at 2002 and if they see "Kent St., Oklahoma, Uconn, S. Illinois" it will be a bad reflection of what was a good season.

 

So, As much as this guy right here, who once lived a scant 20 miles from Kent St. Campus, I hope for the good of it all, KentSt does not go to the Title game but I would like a Close loss in the E8.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

It's good to see you are still on crack, Choken.

 

I like Underdogs but  another important thing about the playoffs is the aspect of "BEST TEAMS IN AMERICA" going to the final four "Arizona,  Duke, Maryland, Kansas" is the best Final four possible and deserves to be the Final Four and let's face it, in 10 years people will look at 2002 and if they see "Kent St., Oklahoma, Uconn, S. Illinois" it will be a bad reflection of what was a good season.

 

Get this through your head: Kansas is NOT one of the top 4 teams in the nation. They have a lot of wins because they play in the Big 12, which, while having 1/4 of the teams still playing in the tourney, is a weak big time conference. The only way Kansas can lay any claim to being a true top team is by winning the championship game...but they won't. They can't do it. This is the third best Kansas team of the past decade, and the two better teams didn't win the title either. I will be amazed if Kansas beats UI, especially with how well UI has been playing (aside from a couple of stretches in the game vs. Creighton).

 

As for those 4 teams not being a good representation of what was a good season...sure thing. It would mean that there was too much hype about the #1 seeds (which there always is)...it would mean that there is *gasp* PARITY in college basketball. Parity might be a bad word to you, but to me, it is one of the things I absolutely LOVE about college basketball. By your rationale, any team that wins the national title and wasn't a #1 seed isn't a good representative of a good college basketball season. Brilliant.

 

Personally, I think that would be an excellent Final Four...if it were possible. But since SIU plays UConn on Friday, that's mildly difficult. I understand your point, but I think you're missing the real point. The tourney is about who can be the hottest team and win 6 games in a row. Nothing more. If it was just the "best" teams getting to the Final Four every year (all 4 #1 seeds), it would be about as interesting as MLB. Parity is a wonderful thing.

[Guest cabbageboy]

The idea that the Big 12 is a shit conference is goofy.  I mean, when you have two legit Final 4 contenders (OK, KS), Mizzou is doing well, etc.  

 

I think the SEC is actually the crap major conference despite how regarded it was.  I mean, I spent weeks on here telling people how lame Alabama really was, but all I got in return was "OOOOH, you suck!  They won the SEC so they have to rule!"  Uh no.  I have seen them and they did absolutely nothing that made me think they could do much in the tourney.  Georgia had a couple of decent games against a slacker UK team and a choker FL team, so big deal.  Mississippi St. was an SEC JTTS that got hot and somehow got a 3 seed.

 

Think about it:  Big Ten sucked this year, SEC teams choked in the tourney, ACC is a 2 team conference.  So really who is better than the Big 12?

 

Now after all that pimping...Kansas is still jobbing to someone.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

Missouri is a more legit Final Four contender than Kansas, IMO, but that's beside the point.

 

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on the Big 12. A 12 team conference that goes *maybe* 5 teams deep isn't very good, IMO. But it's all good.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Frankly, there is no conference this year that has a huge amount of good teams.  The Pac 10 is the closest thing to it, with AZ, OR, and UCLA all in it.  Along with the Big 12 that is the best conference.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The SEC is balanced. No one is really that good, but they don't have any really bad teams either.