College Basketball 06/07

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Very possible. How Lofton shoots is how Tennessee goes.

 

A similar situation for just about every 5-12 to 8-9 game.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

This year belongs to the 1-6 seeds.

 

My two favorite teams in the tournament are Villanova and Oregon. I actually met some of the Ducks visiting a friend at Grad. School out there, at a party, and I've been a fan all season. Smoked with one of them there although I wouldn't say who. Plus, their absurd mascot DUCK, Seattle Sonic circa 1991 esque colors (my favorite NBA team of the 1990's), and under the radar team make me a big fan. I was happy to see them get through their mid-end of season bullshit and win the Pac 10.

 

GO DUCKS! Eh, to the Sweet 16.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

This year belongs to the 1-6 seeds.

 

My two favorite teams in the tournament are Villanova and Oregon. I actually met some of the Ducks visiting a friend at Grad. School out there, at a party, and I've been a fan all season. Smoked with one of them there although I wouldn't say who. Plus, their absurd mascot DUCK, Seattle Sonic circa 1991 esque colors (my favorite NBA team of the 1990's), and under the radar team make me a big fan. I was happy to see them get through their mid-end of season bullshit and win the Pac 10.

 

GO DUCKS! Eh, to the Sweet 16.

 

Fun fact: I believe that duck was designed by Walt Disney.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Bah. Tennessee isn't nearly as bad down low as you make them out to be. Yes Oden is a freshman, and has gotten better, but both of UT's post guys are freshmen that have improved exponentially over the course of the year.

 

And again, we practically beat OSU if not for a big-time aberration at the end of the game with Oden getting 24 and 15. He can't do much better than that. It's not like he's due for big numbers against the Vols, he HAD his big numbers and they still snuck by in their own place by nothing but luck.

 

I'm not saying we're the favorites, but Tennessee should be given more consideration than: "Their a Pearl-esque, guard oriented, can't defend down low jobber in the second/third round"

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Neither Texas A&M nor Tennessee will see the second round.

[Hawk 34 0]

I think Pitino will be massively cheered at Rupp. It's not like there's this huge UK group of fans that will be there....why the hell would they spend 150.00 when their team isn't in the region? Just to boo Pitino? Who cares? It's going to be 80% U of L fans, 15% OSU fans, maybe some from Xavier that came down from Cincy, and the others just token groups. Gotta feel sorry for Stanford in a way. Not only do they get U of L at Rupp Arena, but it'd also be at 9:40 AM Pacific Time!

 

Xavier travels really well, so they’ll make the very short trip down to Lexington. Expect a larger XU contingent then OSU.

 

Speaking of OSU/X, why is the media drooling over a chance at UCLA/Pitt when the idea of Matta against XU should be more interesting especially given the proximity

[Vern Gagne 0]

I don't trust teams like Texas A&M.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I'll be watching the Tennessee game mainly for Wayne Chism. He played for our school's HS basketball team for a couple of years before his family moved a couple of counties over and then carried that county's HS team to a state championship final. He's been West Tenn's big hope it seems, and I hope his future gets brighter over there in Knoxville.

 

For shits and giggles, I've got a Davidson vs. Winthrop for a 2nd round match-up.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Shouldn't there be a tournament thread?

 

I have Florida, Ohio St., UNC, and UCLA in the Final Four. With UNC beating Florida for the championship.

[iggymcfly 0]

Bah. Tennessee isn't nearly as bad down low as you make them out to be. Yes Oden is a freshman, and has gotten better, but both of UT's post guys are freshmen that have improved exponentially over the course of the year.

 

And again, we practically beat OSU if not for a big-time aberration at the end of the game with Oden getting 24 and 15. He can't do much better than that. It's not like he's due for big numbers against the Vols, he HAD his big numbers and they still snuck by in their own place by nothing but luck.

 

I'm not saying we're the favorites, but Tennessee should be given more consideration than: "Their a Pearl-esque, guard oriented, can't defend down low jobber in the second/third round"

 

 

The "luck" part that won't be repeated was Ohio State turning it over 20x to Tennessee's 8. It was a function of having three freshmen on the floor early in the year that hadn't learned the system properly and were making bad decisions with the ball, as well as Oden having trouble handling the ball with one hand. Oden's going to get 24 and 15 every time against a team with no real post presence. I don't care if UT's post players have improved, they're still small. You can't improve height, can you?

[cabbageboy 0]

Tennessee also scored way under their usual average in that OSU game. At some point OSU is going to have to bust it out and score, get consistent play from others besides Oden.

 

Hawk, I don't think much of anyone cares about the OSU/Xavier potential matchup because Xavier simply has zero shot of actually winning. At least with UCLA and Pitt both teams are notable and a serious threat, not to mention the car wreck horror of that particular game. About the only thing that could be worse than Pitt vs. UCLA would be the winner playing an Elite 8 game with Southern Illinois.

 

As far as A & M, I certainly trust them but I think they got kinda screwed by the committee. I think they should have put a tanking 3 seed like a Washington St. in the region to play U of L at Rupp. The one aspect of A & M that could be troubling is their schitzo lapses back into ultra slow, boring crap. I've seen some games with them that are up in the 80s, yet some games they can't even hit 60 points. This could keep a game closer than needed against a methodical Ivy League opponent like Penn.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

OSU turning the ball over twenty times is a byproduct of playing Tennessee. Many teams have turned the ball over in the twenties when playing Tennessee. It's called a full court press.

 

And pointing to OSU's freshmen is a shitty excuse when Tennessee has more Freshmen playing every game than OSU including the point and both Forwards.

[Gert T 0]

I do love this Tennessee team (their potential), but what worries me is their road-neutral site record. Plus Long Beach has the Big West POTY (Nixon?) who had a great game in the tournament final, so I am worried about him going off.

[Guest]

LBSU does not play weak offense. A press makes their life easier. This game will be in the 100's guys.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

LBSU does not play weak offense. A press makes their life easier. This game will be in the 100's guys.

 

Shades of UAB-Washington '04?

[snuffbox 0]

At some point OSU is going to have to bust it out and score, get consistent play from others besides Oden.

 

The only thing consistent with Oden all year has been the media's hype of him. There's been plenty of games where the rest of the team has stepped up big. one big recent example would be the 17 point domination of # 3 Wisco in the Big 10 finals where Oden did absolutely NOTHING in the first half & not a whole lot more in the second.

[Guest]

I'm positive it'll be a UAB-Washington type game.

 

Tennessee's press isn't going to do anything to a team that wants the tempo at a fast pace anyway. It's going to be a 3-point contest. This is just a bad matchup in so many ways for Tennessee, they would have been better off drawing a Stanford or Illinois. At the very least, the game will be very close, but it's hard for anyone that doesn't live in the LA area to know that, because there's no other way to watch LBSU on a consistent basis. Tennessee's best chance is to slow the game WAY down and not press at all.

[cabbageboy 0]

I suppose Long Beach could have a chance but I took a look at their record and wasn't amazed by it. Most of their opponents were the crappy Big West teams in the RPI range of 150-200. When they stepped up to play some Pac 10 teams like UCLA or USC they got their asses kicked with ease. They scored 100 points twice all year, once against a 5-23 UC Davis team.

 

From what I have personally seen over the years, the teams who wreck brackets are little known teams with an oddball style of play. Long Beach seems to try and play up tempo, which frankly will get them smacked when they play another team from a major conf. that also plays up tempo with better athletes.

[Guest]

Long Beach State jacks up shitloads of 3's. That's what they do.

 

The Big West is a defensive league (look up the percentages), so it's no surprise that they scored 100 points only twice. Only 2 teams play the balls to the wall style (incidentally, another state school. Who would have thought.). You have to see them live and in person to understand what I'm trying to get at. They have great athletes, that's not why they go to a small state school. They go to the small state school because they're stupid, and can't get into UCLA and USC. When I was in school, we always made fun of the basketball players telling them they'd wind up in state schools because they're idiots. That's why UC Irvine plays that slowass game with all those white dudes, and it goes the same for a lot of the teams in the league.

 

Pacific is my favorite Big West team, so I'm not some LBSU homer. I'm just well aware of how they play and know what they can do to a big conference team that doesn't slow them down and make them think. All the other 5 seeds would wipe the floor with em'.

 

If I get this one wrong, I won't make any guarantees for a while. Hell, I'll let someone pick my av and sig for a week (first person after the loss).

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I really can't wait for tomorrow. The first two days of the Dance are better than Christmas. LET'S GO WINTHROP!

[Guest Queen Leelee]

For shits and giggles, I've got a Davidson vs. Winthrop for a 2nd round match-up.

They can't play until the Elite 8.

[Fökai 0]

Shouldn't there be a tournament thread?

 

I have Florida, Ohio St., UNC, and UCLA in the Final Four. With UNC beating Florida for the championship.

 

I have Florida, OSU, UCLA and Georgetown. Elite 8 includes UNLV, Villanova, Texas and the Big XII A&M.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

I now have Georgetown winning.

 

Because they're awesome hosses. And how can I go against a team with Ewing's kid. Ah, where have my beloved cheating Knicks gone?

[cabbageboy 0]

Georgetown is a very good team and I have them in my FF, in fact I even have them in the title game. Have Florida taking them out. In the end, I don't totally trust G'Town since their guard play is just a tad iffy and I simply don't think they put enough points on the board to win the entire thing.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Grar, I don't think I'm getting into On Demand any time soon. Heh. Was the same way for opening Thursday last year, too...

 

I really want to see MD/Davidson, though...

[Guest]

I get Louisville/Stanford.

[Guest Sabu]

Your current position in line is:

50,437

 

dammit

[Guest Queen Leelee]

19,000 for me.

 

Stupid browser shut down on me and I had to start again. Grar.