College Hoops: The Regionals

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

http://www.thiswebsitestinks.com/ncaa_brac...asp?expertid=13

 

Every year on the Tony Kornheiser show he has Phil's mom (Phil was his producer for a few years when he was on ESPN radio) pick brackets because her picks are always hilarious and horribly wrong. Everyone laughed this year when she picked George Mason to win it all. She's probably the only one in the country that has them in the final 4. (of course the rest of her picks are awful and she wouldn't have won any pools anyway). Go Phil's mom!

Not a single one of Kornheiser's guests had more than one of the Final Four, and probably half of them didn't have any...

 

I've got to listen to Kornheiser's show tomorrow.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I got one team left in my Final 4! Too bad they played horrible in their last game, and relied on a mid-major to choke in the game before that!

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm wondering if anyone picked George Mason to make the Final Four because they believed they could make it. Compared to being a student, or a graduate, or picking them just for the hell of it?

[cabbageboy 0]

I had George Mason out the 1st round to Michigan St. actually. The justification was the Skinn suspension deal...I thought without him they had no shot of going anywhere.

 

To be honest I never really got behind GMU much until today's game. I thought they pulled the amusing Bradley Sweet 16 type run and I was actually torn between them or Wichita St. in that game.

 

My FF flat out sucks ass. I only had UCLA, and that was mainly due to hating Memphis too much to pick them. I had FL out in the Sweet 16 due to their various chokes over the years (though deep down I thought they were the most complete team in that region...I need to trust myself). I had LSU out the first round in my 4/13 upset special to Iona, but that was more of a joke pick than anything. I thought LSU was Georgetown level good...just a solid, tough out. But someone who would be out.

 

The interest in the FF lies solely in the GMU/Florida game. I could wipe my ass with that UCLA/LSU game since it has no intrigue and frankly from what I saw yesterday the game itself won't be worth a shit. Just a plodding, boring brickfest along the lines of that Michigan St./Wisc. debacle from 2000. I'll take LSU in that game mainly because I don't think UCLA has any hope of stopping Glen Davis, and frankly LSU at least won a couple of games vs. Duke and Texas in legit fashion. UCLA needed a huge choke from Zaga and then a disasterous Memphis performance to be this far.

 

If I had to take a team I'd say Florida though. They just look stellar right now.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I had Michigan St. winning too because of the Skinn suspension and the fact that when it comes to the tournament, Michigan St. just lights on fire no matter what their seed is. Well... that was totally the opposite this year.

 

So is anyone giving George Mason a chance against Florida?

[Vern Gagne 0]

Here's at least a realistic scenario for George Mason.

 

Michigan St. underachieved all year. So picking them to lose early not that big of a stretch. Also, they where knocked out in the first round two years ago.

 

North Carolina-A very inexperienced team. Not out of the question to think George could pull the upset.

 

Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Biggest factor here is GM essentially having home court. You could of had Wichita St pull the upset against Tenn. A 7 vs 11, with the 11 suddenly isn't that big of an upset. Maybe you had UCONN losing or lost think their underachieving ways are going to catch up to them.

[Just John 0]

I'd say more people will now after they beat UConn. Mason doesn't have the size to compete with Horford and Noah down low... BUT... I'm sure there's been "I don't think Mason has the ______ to compete with _______" for every game they've played so far.

 

GMU is fast, can shoot the 3, and most importantly, they believe in themselves. I'm sticking with Florida, but I don't expect Mason to roll over and die, and I won't be surprised if they win.

[Guest]

George Mason is severely outmatched by Florida as far as size and athletes. That said, GM is going to play another close game, but I don't see any way they can guard Noah and Horford.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Four people had this Final Four on ESPN's bracket buster contest.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Four people had this Final Four on ESPN's bracket buster contest.

 

Only one had it in the Yahoo pool and none had it in the SI one.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I couldn't believe that four people correctly predicted the Final Four.

[iggymcfly 0]

Well, to be fair, everyone gets five tries on the ESPN contest.

[teke184 0]

Teke, since you're Mr. SEC here, how would you feel about an all SEC final

 

Good on one hand, as it helps to dispel the "Kentucky and the 11 Dwarfs" mindset that most people have about the SEC.

 

 

Bad on the other hand, as Florida has, so far, proven to be the only team capable of beating LSU by a somewhat comfortable margin.

 

 

I'd think that an LSU-George Mason matchup would probably be the best, but I'm not going to sneeze at LSU-Florida.

 

 

 

UCLA should lose just because their program is THE blue-blood program of college basketball... like the fuckin' Yankees.

[Guest]

Part of me wants UCLA to play George Mason, the other part of me wants LSU to play George Mason. However, if Florida wins their game on Saturday, they're winning it all.

 

I'd like to make someone an avatar and member title bet based on Florida winning it all. For a month, hopefully.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

I'm wondering if anyone picked George Mason to make the Final Four because they believed they could make it. Compared to being a student, or a graduate, or picking them just for the hell of it?

 

I had them in the elite eight, because of their matchups. I did not think they could beat UConn

[Slayer 0]

Well, to be fair, everyone gets five tries on the ESPN contest.

Well, when you put it that way it makes more sense... people can submit wacky out-there brackets along side their safe-choice brackets (ex: Duke, UConn, Nova and Zaga)

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, every year I always do my goofy upsets bracket and even in that one I had George Mason losing to Murray St.

 

This has to be the single weirdest and out of nowhere tourney run ever. I mean George Mason? I took a look at their results and they lost to a crappy Wake team this year, Miss St. (an SEC jobber), and Creighton (decent but didn't make the tourney). Suffice to say there wasn't much in that resume that screamed out "We're beating MSU, UNC, and UConn!"

[Guest Princess Leena]

If they would have had Skinn, I would have picked GM as a 1st round upset in some of my pools. Other than that, no.

 

General consensus was that they were the 3rd best team in the freaking Colonial before the tourney.

[cabbageboy 0]

The ultimate irony in this is that George Mason did what everyone thought Gonzaga would do. That is namely to smash the glass ceiling against the mid majors and get to the FF.

 

I will also second the UCLA feelings. I hope they lose the next game. This is not a vintage championship UCLA team, it's a team that is supremely fortunate. I keep hearing about UCLA's amazing defense, but let's be honest about that. Most of their great D is due to being a rarity in the Pac 10...a team that actually plays serious defense. The so called great D against Memphis was more or less Memphis just bricking everything in sight, missing layups, and generally choking. Compare it to the LSU/Texas game, which was also low scoring but really DID have a lot of intense, physical defense, blocked shots, etc.

[iggymcfly 0]

Florida better not win, because if they do, it's going to be a terribly boring final either way. LSU/Florida would be the worst as no one wants to see an all SEC final, although UCLA/Florida would probably be even more boring for me, as I at least enjoy watching LSU as opposed to UCLA who's like watching paint dry.

 

I think that George Mason has to get in for it to be an interesting final. Either them against the only other team to ever make the Final Four as an 11 seed (LSU), or the best basketball program in the country historically (UCLA) would be a good story.

[cabbageboy 0]

I think a reseeding of this bracket is in order. Let's do GMU and UCLA in the FF as well as LSU/FL. Then we can have GMU and FL in the final.

 

I think as it is the most interested final would be George Mason vs. LSU. Although I actually have applied for UCLA's grad school I can't say I'm thrilled about the prospects of them winning the 12th title. Not with THIS bunch.

 

And yes, I know UCLA has the most titles all time but I don't know how many people really consider them the BEST program ever. They had the one insane run of titles but all time aren't even in the top 5 in wins.

[Hawk 34 0]

I think a reseeding of this bracket is in order. Let's do GMU and UCLA in the FF as well as LSU/FL. Then we can have GMU and FL in the final.

 

I think as it is the most interested final would be George Mason vs. LSU. Although I actually have applied for UCLA's grad school I can't say I'm thrilled about the prospects of them winning the 12th title. Not with THIS bunch.

 

And yes, I know UCLA has the most titles all time but I don't know how many people really consider them the BEST program ever. They had the one insane run of titles but all time aren't even in the top 5 in wins.

 

Behind Kentucky and UNC, I would imagine people slide UCLA right at the top of best NCAA basketball programs in history.

[Slayer 0]

I need an LSU-GMU final to win my pool, so... yeah, let's go low seeds

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Worst I can do in my local pool is a tie for 1st. If UCLA gets to the championship game, I win outright. Otherwise, I split it with one other guy, in a pool of 18.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Most hyped championship would have to be George Mason vs UCLA. Just based on UCLA's past history. I don't want to see it, since UCLA is so dull.

[Urban Warfare 0]

It will be a close game, but Mason won't be able to defend Noah and/or Horford. Also, Florida is great at defending the three pointer. Gators by 8.

[cabbageboy 0]

I think ranking programs all time includes more than "Who has the most national titles?" If I had to rank programs I'd go:

 

1. Kentucky

2. North Carolina

3. Duke

4. Indiana

5. UCLA

 

It sounds bizarre but I'll explain. UCLA was ultra dominant for a specific era in time, but since 1975 they've had just 1 national title and nowhere near the level of importance of any of those other 4.

 

I put UK at #1 for a variety of reasons. Obviously they have the most wins in history, most tourney wins as well, 2nd most titles. Also, and this cannot be understated, UK's fanbase is WAY more into it than UCLA. It's pretty much a way of life, whereas in Los Angeles UCLA is just...whatever. In fact the level of fan interest is one factor that would put UCLA below the other 4.

 

I thought hard about the order of the others. UNC has to go above Duke for now due to more all time wins and the 1 extra national title. IU has more national titles than either UNC or Duke but I can't in good conscience put them above either. IU has had some very down times in the program, namely the 60s before Knight arrived and pretty much any year since 1994 (aside from 2002).

[Guest]

You're wrong about UCLA. Living in Kentucky, you're probably sheltered from it, but people go batshit for UCLA basketball. It's Kentucky, UNC, UCLA, Indiana, Duke. That post above is east coast bias at its finest.

[therealworldschampion 0]

That's a pretty good analysis cabbageboy, perhaps I can try something like that for the Philadelphia Big 5 soon and who would be the best program out of them.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

That's a pretty good analysis cabbageboy, perhaps I can try something like that for the Philadelphia Big 5 soon and who would be the best program out of them.

 

Why do you have an avi of Reno Mahe?