College Hoops: NCAA Tournament Rounds 1 and 2

[SilverPhoenix 0]

The Invites have been handed out, the Seedings have been announced, and The Bracket is officially set. Thus, beginning one of the greatest sporting events in the country begins this Thursday. March Madness has begun. With all of the criticism that has been laid on the committee for these things (A lot of it justified) there's nothing anyone can do about it now, except wait and see how all of this will unfold. With that said, we have less than 3 Days left until the first tip off at 12 PM.

 

Here's to a Great Tournament.

[Guest]

In 4/13 games, do you guys have all the 4's winning? I've got Northwestern St. beating Iowa. Iowa, Cuse and a few others look prime for the upset.

[cabbageboy 0]

I have Cuse going down to A and M. I also have Iona over LSU, and I have Bradley over Kansas as kind of a joke.

[Damaramu 0]

Must resist picking OU because everyone is picking against them........better judgement says they will lose.......must pick UWM........

[SilverPhoenix 0]

Dude, someone convince me to not take the Winthrop over Tenneesee upset....Cause it looks better every single minute.

[2GOLD 0]

Dude, someone convince me to not take the Winthrop over Tenneesee upset....Cause it looks better every single minute.

 

Because everyone is picking it which probably means Winthrop will get rolled over. Pearl is a damn good coach and I'll give him the nod in round one and maybe two.

 

I just want all the mid-majors to win just to shut up Nantz and Packer. Can you imagine what they'll be like if ALL the mid-majors go down opening weekend by big margins? Dear sweet merciful god.

[Hawk 34 0]

Dude, someone convince me to not take the Winthrop over Tenneesee upset....Cause it looks better every single minute.

 

I like the possibility and I weighed it in my head for a moment but ultimately deciding that Tennessee would just fall out the second round instead to Wichita.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The only thing I can say to possibly convince you is that these things never play out like you normally would expect. Tennessee has been slumping; Tennessee is one of the weakest 2-seeds ever. For that very reason, they'll get to the sweet 16.

 

I've got all the 4s advancing as of now. Last year I picked way too many upsets; I got about half right, but I'm cutting back this year. I'm taking NC State over Cal, SDSU over Indiana...I'd say I have most of my upsets set up for the second round, though really, I have a feeling most people will be taking Wichita over Tennessee. I'm also very, very tempted to take South Alabama to the Sweet 16, because I know that UF and OU both have to choke miserably, and that'd take care of that.

[2GOLD 0]

Alright, real quick. Picking my upsets for each bracket. They probably will all be wrong but I don't care, I like the chances.

 

Atlanta:

Iona over LSU

Southern Ill over West VA

NC St over Cal (minor upset)

Penn over Texas (no, I'm not drunk or high. Just being really stupid)

 

Oakland:

Kent St over Pittsburgh

Xavier over Zags

Belmont over UCLA (I know, I know)

SDST over Indiana

 

DC:

None

 

Minne:

South Alabama over Florida

 

 

Ok, that about covers it. Yes, I've got tons of upsets.

[Hawk 34 0]

Alright, real quick. Picking my upsets for each bracket. They probably will all be wrong but I don't care, I like the chances.

 

Atlanta:

Iona over LSU

Southern Ill over West VA

NC St over Cal (minor upset)

Penn over Texas (no, I'm not drunk or high. Just being really stupid)

 

Oakland:

Kent St over Pittsburgh

Xavier over Zags

Belmont over UCLA (I know, I know)

SDST over Indiana

 

DC:

None

 

Minne:

South Alabama over Florida

 

 

Ok, that about covers it. Yes, I've got tons of upsets.

 

Enjoy the stay at the basement.

 

 

I will say you will get 4 of those upsets right, people try to hard to get the OMG UPSET!'s and forget about playing smart and winning the whole thing. Bragging that you correctly called that #13 beating that #4, doesn't mean shit in the long run.

[2GOLD 0]

Alright, real quick. Picking my upsets for each bracket. They probably will all be wrong but I don't care, I like the chances.

 

Atlanta:

Iona over LSU

Southern Ill over West VA

NC St over Cal (minor upset)

Penn over Texas (no, I'm not drunk or high. Just being really stupid)

 

Oakland:

Kent St over Pittsburgh

Xavier over Zags

Belmont over UCLA (I know, I know)

SDST over Indiana

 

DC:

None

 

Minne:

South Alabama over Florida

 

 

Ok, that about covers it. Yes, I've got tons of upsets.

 

Enjoy the stay at the basement.

 

 

I will say you will get 4 of those upsets right, people try to hard to get the OMG UPSET!'s and forget about playing smart and winning the whole thing. Bragging that you correctly called that #13 beating that #4, doesn't mean shit in the long run.

 

 

I'm not playing anything. And I didn't call them just for the sake of calling upsets. I like the chances of all of those teams if they play how they are capable of playing. Texas and UCLA do not impress me, they may impress others but nothing about them impresses me at all. The thing with this tournament is, none of these games are cut and dry. Not even the 1/16 games are cut and dry.

[Guest Princess Leena]

In one of my office pools, points awarded for every game are based on your seeding. 16 wins a game, get 16 points... 1 wins, get 1 point, etc... not sure how to pick with that format yet...

 

Regular upset chances I'm picking (11 seed or higher):

 

12 A&M over 5 Syracuse

11 Wis-Milwaukee over 6 Oklahoma

 

That's all.

[Damaramu 0]

If everyone picks UWM over OU then it's not an upset. They were even saying it wasn't an upset on ESPN Radio last night.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I don't count that. Then, I guess saying I think Wichita beats Seton Hall is also an upset. No.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Found video of Allan Ray going his eye poked out

 

You have been worn

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCP--ZGcYXY...&page=1&t=t&f=b

[SilverPhoenix 0]

Okay, smarter heads prevailed in the Winthrop case....I had Tenn beating them.

 

I do have them losing in the 2nd Round.

[Damaramu 0]

I don't count that. Then, I guess saying I think Wichita beats Seton Hall is also an upset. No.

 

How is it an upset if everyone is picking it?

[Guest Princess Leena]

Although the committee always screws up the lower seeds... how the hell is Montana a 12, Pacific a 13 and Winthrop a 15? Winthrop beat Marquette, and most of their losses were at SEC teams and Memphis.

 

The more I look at this bracket, I'm thinking the committee was told to give western teams a ton of respect, for whatever reason.

[CanadianChris 0]

The Sports Guy summed up my feelings on last night's selection show quite nicely (in my sig).

[iggymcfly 0]

Must resist picking OU because everyone is picking against them........better judgement says they will lose.......must pick UWM........

 

You're the least loyal fan ever. You're picking a 6/11 upset against your own team!?! I don't even go to Montana, but just because I'm living in the same town right now, I'm picking them for the 5/12 upset over Nevada. The most disloyal thing I ever did was pick Texas over WSU in my bowl pool when I was going there. The result? It completely ruined the game, and I ended up losing anyway when the Cougs stomped the Longhorns.

 

For the record, I was shocked that Montana even got a 12 seed. I don't know if it's "western bias" as Leena said, but no one around here expected them to get better than a 14, with a 15 being considered a distinct possibility.

 

As for my other 1st round upsets, I've got:

 

Xavier over Gonzaga

Iona over LSU

UWM over Oklahoma

 

7/10 games don't count as upsets, so I'm not going to bother to mention them.

[Hawk 34 0]

No, Dama isn't being disloyal. If he is playing in a pool, he has to pick with his brain and not his heart.

 

For instance, if you are from a #16 seed school, and you are doing a pool, you know common sense is that your school won't win. Is that being dis-loyal? No, it's doing what it takes to make money.

 

 

It's a conflict people ALWAYS have to take unless you are from/for a school with a legitimate shot. At some point, you have to give up the hope that your school/team will win out.

[Damaramu 0]

Must resist picking OU because everyone is picking against them........better judgement says they will lose.......must pick UWM........

 

You're the least loyal fan ever. You're picking a 6/11 upset against your own team!?! I don't even go to Montana, but just because I'm living in the same town right now, I'm picking them for the 5/12 upset over Nevada. The most disloyal thing I ever did was pick Texas over WSU in my bowl pool when I was going there. The result? It completely ruined the game, and I ended up losing anyway when the Cougs stomped the Longhorns.

 

For the record, I was shocked that Montana even got a 12 seed. I don't know if it's "western bias" as Leena said, but no one around here expected them to get better than a 14, with a 15 being considered a distinct possibility.

 

As for my other 1st round upsets, I've got:

 

Xavier over Gonzaga

Iona over LSU

UWM over Oklahoma

 

7/10 games don't count as upsets, so I'm not going to bother to mention them.

 

Plus I'm the second beat writer on the team which means I have to be unbiased. It has nothing to do with loyalty just business. If I write a column against OU or sit there at the media table stone faced(which i do b/c you can't cheer) then how is that disloyal? It's called doing my job.

I don't care how loyal you are to a school if you know they're going to lose then you call it.

If you go to Rice you don't pick them to beat Texas in football when they play every year.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Don't call any OU players overrated.

[Damaramu 0]

Don't call any OU players overrated.

 

I called the whole team lucky in a column I wrote(before the Texas game but after the four straight one point games) and I said it'd all catch up with them(wow what a shock it did) and their sports information director emailed me and ripped me apart for *shock* daring to speak ill of OU in the student paper!

[Guest Princess Leena]

Uh oh... Sampson is gonna get pissed at you. They wouldn't have won 10 fucking games if they weren't overrated. But, it's a fine way to get ESPN to hire you. You can work next to Sean Salisbury. Can't miss TV there.

[Damaramu 0]

Uh oh... Sampson is gonna get pissed at you. They wouldn't have won 10 fucking games if they weren't overrated. But, it's a fine way to get ESPN to hire you. You can work next to Sean Salisbury. Can't miss TV there.

 

Sampson pisses me off. All he does is make dumbass excuses. You should've seen him after the WVU game. He acted like they had ambushed him and come out of nowhere. According to my other writer(i couldn't make it to the big 12 tourney b/c of softball) he acted the same way after they lost to nebraska. Like the other team had just snuck up out of nowhere!

I can just see Sampson now "Who were those bums? I didn't even know they had b-ball in Nebraska! Hey how about giving the Sooners a little credit!?"

He seriously says that all the fucking time. Anytime someone says anything that he perceives as a slight against his team he automatically gets defensive and goes on about how great the other team is and then he demands we give him credit.

[cabbageboy 0]

Dude, my brother is actually taking Oral Roberts over Memphis. I tried talking him out of it, but he seriously picked it. You know what's insane? He's not alone! Today on Cold Pizza, Skip Bayless also predicted Oral Roberts over Memphis in the first 1/16 upset.

 

Just wondering but how is NC St. over Cal any sort of upset? Throughout the year NC St. was ranked much higher than Cal. 7/10 games aren't really upsets anyway.

[bob_barron 0]

As someone who has lived through years of Memphis heartbreak, that wouldn't surprise me....even though I'm picking Memphis to make the finals, because of my bias.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Oral Roberts is the best 16 seed, probably ever. It's certainly the best chance for a 1-16 upset since Purdue-Western Carolina around 10 years ago. Memphis will win, but I really doubt it's going to be the usual 20+ point type of win those matchups usually are.

[cabbageboy 0]

Memphis is a curious team really. We know they can put some beatings on jobbers. We know they can hang with the big boys like Duke, Zaga, Tennessee (if they're a big boy). But there are some bizarre efforts from them this year, like that Marshall game where they trailed before rallying in the 2nd half. Or beating Rice by 5.

 

What's funny is my brother's reasoning is also that Oral Roberts is way too good to be a 16 seed. Oral Roberts seems to me more of a 13-15 type team.

 

For there to be a 1/16 upset there will have to be a truly lame duck 1 seed and I don't really see that this year. It'd have to be a total joke 1 like Purdue in 1996.