NCAA Basketball Tournament 1st/2nd Round Thread

[Hawk 34 0]

Hmm..

 

If Texas goes out today, I wonder what Durant will do

 

General Observation:

 

The quality of college cheerleaders has improved ten-fold, never seen so many nice looking cheerleaders before

 

Durant's calling for a agent in exactly 45 minutes. Oden still might stick around but that's a long shot. He has at least openly said he wasn't sure yet. He really could use another year.

[Mik 0]

I want Texas to win so UNC can destroy them. But in reality USC is probably a better matchup so ok. Go Trojans.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Hmm..

 

If Texas goes out today, I wonder what Durant will do

 

General Observation:

 

The quality of college cheerleaders has improved ten-fold, never seen so many nice looking cheerleaders before

 

Durant's calling for a agent in exactly 45 minutes. Oden still might stick around but that's a long shot. He has at least openly said he wasn't sure yet. He really could use another year.

 

That he could. I've never watched a post player someone people consider a dominant monster have so few post moves.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

UNLV is not a Cinderella. They had a great season, and at worst should have been a 5 seed.

[Mecca 0]

Well I hit on UNLV and USC today........still my final 4 is alive and I've lost 1 elite 8 team.

[Guest]

But in reality USC is probably a better matchup so ok. Go Trojans.

Boy, I sure hope that everyone feels that way.

 

Durant's 30 points may have been the most unimpressive 30 point game I've ever seen, and I watch Kobe do it on a nightly basis. SC will give Carolina the closest game they will get all tournament. If Carolina wins, they'll win it all. But they won't get a tougher game than the one we will give them. Our defense is sick, and everyone should take note of what happened to Augustin. Good luck on them trying to get their guards going.

[alfdogg 0]

Only lost 4 Sweet 16's, and only missing Wisconsin from my Elite 8. Still perfect in the South bracket.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

USC needs to work on their free throw shooting though. Should I feel avenged for the football national title loss to Texas? Probably not.

[Guest]

I feel like it's avenged. We don't have a National Championship in basketball, and plenty in football. I want this one way more, and we ended the college career of Durant. That's something the Horns will never get back. With Mayo next year, we will have a shot then as well.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

lost 5 sweet sixteens

 

one elite eight with Texas killing my bracket(had them in the championship game)

[Hawk 34 0]

All of my S16's are alive except Texas, WSU and LBST. I had Texas in the E8, though.

[CanadianChris 0]

11/16 in the Sweet 16. Only Texas is missing from my Elite 8, and I had them losing there.

[iggymcfly 0]

I'm in significantly worse shape than the rest of you. Lost one Final Four team (Virginia Tech) and two more Elite 8 teams besides (Georgia Tech and Louisville). In fact, only half of my Sweet 16 was right.

[nogoodnick 0]

I'm in significantly worse shape than the rest of you. Lost one Final Four team (Virginia Tech) and two more Elite 8 teams besides (Georgia Tech and Louisville). In fact, only half of my Sweet 16 was right.

Va Tech in in the final 4?

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah, I was trying to find someone that wasn't a 1 or 2 seed and they were the best I could come up with. Was already thinking before the game this morning that SIU might have been a better choice though.

[bob_barron 0]

Go Tigers!

 

Great win today

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

My favorite team in the NCAA Tournament, the Oregon Ducks, who I sent to the Elite 8, is still alive.

 

I have 13/16 still alive. The Vandy game was pure magic yesterday, drunk/high and the room split between teams. After a horrid first round, the 2nd round was awesome!

 

AJ Graves is a pretty kickass player.

 

I'm regretting sending Pitt to the Final 4, but we'll see.

 

OSU, UNC, FLA, PITT...just win!

 

One of my fraternity pledges was, at one point today, ranked #7 on *ALL* of Facebook for his bracket, over 2 million people.

 

He went 16 for 16 on THURSDAY, 15 for 16 on FRIDAY, 8 for 8 on SATURDAY, and I'm not sure what he did today but he was perfect around dinnertime.

 

The guy has won cars in poker tournaments and makes a living off of poker, complete with his last fucking name on his license plate. Still, he has PITTSBURGH winning the whole thing.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Well this where the scores start to really count. The first two rounds are essentially to build a cushion so if you get fucked over in the later rounds you can still win.

[cabbageboy 0]

I at least have 11 teams still left out of 16. I was foolish not to pick UNLV, since I had GT beating them and then they went on to beat down Wisconsin (had them out 2nd round either way). I mostly put Duke vs. UCLA as a Sweet 16 matchup to avoid the nightmare that will be Pitt vs. UCLA, but deep down I figured that would be what we'd get. Not picking SIU was pure foolishness on my part since I'd seen them plenty of times this year. The U of L pick was an obvious homer pick...ah well, at least we didn't lay down for A & M.

 

Texas however was a total disappointment. Had them in my Elite 8 taking out UNC next round. UNC vs. USC is a matchup with zero pizzazz in my opinion. There's little chance USC can actually win that game, it'll probably be kind of a middling 75-65 type game. At least with Texas vs. UNC there was possible insanity if Durant got crazy hot.

 

I think the reason I had Butler in my Sweet 16 and not SIU is that I had seen more of what Butler could do. I saw them against IU, ND, Purdue, Tennessee, Gonzaga....I knew they were legit. SIU I wasn't so sure about. They really didn't do anything special or beat much of anyone (though ironically they did beat Butler, but I think AJ Graves was sick and ineffective in that one). I saw SIU lose to Arkansas this year, also to IU on national TV. Then I saw them lose a few in conf. play to N. Iowa and so on as well as to Creighton in the MVC title game. I think they were somewhat fortunate to get a rematch with a team they had already beaten in VT.

 

In fact the Sweet 16 game I am most intrigued by is that SIU vs. Kansas game. Such a bizarre clash of styles.

[Guest]

I think the best Sweet 16 game is Oregon/UNLV, by a large margin. The only other games that I care about are the SC game (duh), Florida/Butler, and A&M/Memphis.

[cabbageboy 0]

I might be more interested in that Oregon/UNLV game if I wasn't convinced that the winner is just jobber fodder for Florida in the Elite 8. But yeah, it's a dead even matchup. I think UNLV can take them, even though I have FL vs. OR in my bracket.

 

Here are my thoughts on UK vs. KU today and UK's direction in particular:

 

Something occurred to me today. UK needs to make up its mind what they want to be, regardless of whether Tubby stays or goes or whatever. Does UK want to be a very up tempo team that scores 85 points a game, like UNC or Kansas? Or does UK want to start grinding people physically in the half court like a SIU or UCLA? UK as a team doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. One moment it's all "push the tempo!" and the next it is "slow it down!" It's like the team is torn in two directions: One of the fans and history, the demand that UK be a high scoring juggernaut...and the other is of a coach who would rather play slow and physical. In the end, they don't really do either all that well and thus they can't match the high octane UNCs, FLs, and KUs of the world, but really aren't a team that can shut people down defensively on a consistent basis.

[Guest]

Tubby should go anyway, because there's really no reason that a team like Kentucky should have problems having talent on the team. Because really, I see no talent, and haven't seen any NBA worthy talent since Magloire and Prince.

 

That's bad.

[iggymcfly 0]

I think the best Sweet 16 game is Oregon/UNLV, by a large margin. The only other games that I care about are the SC game (duh), Florida/Butler, and A&M/Memphis.

 

I think you'll change your tune when the Ducks are up 38-18 at halftime. Seriously, UNLV's the only team left except for maybe Butler that I feel has absolutely no shot to actually win the tournament. The games I think are really intriguing next round are SIU/Kansas to see what the MVC champs can do against a real top-caliber elite program and Ohio State/Tennessee because I think the Buckeyes are the best team in the country, but Tennessee, much like Xavier is a team that can get hot from the perimeter and sink anyone when they're shooting well.

[Guest]

You just don't like UNLV because they beat Georgia Tech. UNLV ain't that far off from Oregon. Outside of coaching (in favor of UNLV), they are carbon copy teams.

 

I don't know how you can say that the Rebs have no shot. Oregon played fucking Miami of Ohio close, Florida's played like shit all tourney, and that's not even to speak of the possible Final Four matchups. Everyone has a damn shot, and if you're in the Sweet 16, you're good enough to win it in the first place.

[iggymcfly 0]

I didn't say UNLV had no shot to beat Oregon. I said they were unlikely to beat Oregon (which I believe) and that they had no shot to win the tournament. As in, I could see Taylor and Porter getting hot and the Ducks taking down Florida or Ohio State. I can't see anyone doing that for UNLV.

 

Also, UNLV and Oregon may play similar styles, but Oregon just does everything better. They take the "3-point shooting team" thing to the extreme, taking significantly more attempts from long-range than UNLV, and they still make a higher percentage. Both Porter and Taylor are over 40% this year while taking an insane number of attempts while none of UNLV's starters shoot that well from distance.

 

Also, the Ducks have done that while facing elite defenses all season like UCLA and Washington State whereas UNLV has compiled a lot of their stats against the dregs of the Mountain west. I really think UNLV plays like an "Oregon Jr." much like Nevada was a "Memphis Jr." who got beaten solidly by the Tigers today.

[Guest]

I didn't say UNLV had no shot to beat Oregon. I said they were unlikely to beat Oregon (which I believe) and that they had no shot to win the tournament. As in, I could see Taylor and Porter getting hot and the Ducks taking down Florida or Ohio State. I can't see anyone doing that for UNLV.

Yeah, I kinda said that everyone has a shot in the tournament. I never said that you said UNLV had no shot at beating Oregon, otherwise I wouldn't have brought up Florida. Anyone can win the whole thing at this point, it's not like we've got small-talented, no bench double digit seed mid-majors around.

 

Also, UNLV and Oregon may play similar styles, but Oregon just does everything better. They take the "3-point shooting team" thing to the extreme, taking significantly more attempts from long-range than UNLV, and they still make a higher percentage. Both Porter and Taylor are over 40% this year while taking an insane number of attempts while none of UNLV's starters shoot that well from distance.

It's not a series, it's one game, lalala. In a series, Oregon would wreck UNLV. But it ain't a series and I have a hard time bringing statistics into the mix in a one shot deal. The local guys called the one guy that didn't site statistics when picking SC over Texas "crazy'. The statistics were way in favor of UConn against George Mason last year, but it's just one game. UNLV can get up and down the court with their athletes and make the game tough.

 

Also, the Ducks have done that while facing elite defenses all season like UCLA and Washington State whereas UNLV has compiled a lot of their stats against the dregs of the Mountain west. I really think UNLV plays like an "Oregon Jr." much like Nevada was a "Memphis Jr." who got beaten solidly by the Tigers today.

I didn't think Nevada played a "Memphis Jr." at all. I'd designate that for a team like Tennessee. I haven't been high on Wazoo from step one, but Oregon went .500 against USC, UCLA, and Wazoo. That ain't good enough to make an argument saying that they're better than any team with more wins that's still hanging around. Just sayin'. UNLV's OOC profile (wins, and close losses)is better than Oregon's too, so they can hang. I really don't think it'll be a very defensive game. 'Sides, UNLV passed the test against Wisconsin. That's good enough to tell me that they can win the whole thing.

 

Anything can happen.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

In order to be a "Memphis Jr.", Tennessee would have to be inferior to Memphis.

 

They obliterated the Tigers when they played this year.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Here's how I rank the Sweet 16 match ups on competitiveness:

 

1. Oregon vs. UNLV

2. UCLA vs. Pittsburgh (could be very boring, but very close)

3. Memphis vs. Texas A&M

4. Ohio St. vs. Tennessee

5. Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt

6. North Carolina vs. USC

7. Kansas vs. Southern Ill.

8. Florida vs. Butler

[iggymcfly 0]

I'd go with:

 

1. Memphis vs. Texas A&M

2. UCLA vs. Pitt

3. Ohio State vs. Tennessee

4. Kansas vs. Southern Illinois

5. North Carolina vs. USC

6. Oregon vs. UNLV

7. Florida vs. Butler

8. Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt

 

BTW, don't know how I left Vandy off my short list of teams with no shot to win the tournament. They're significantly worse than Butler or UNLV. Just got lucky to get what was IMO quite possibly the best draw in the whole tournament. Oh, and to be honest, I don't think SC can win it all either. I can see them getting lucky and knocking off a Carolina-type team once, but I don't see them beating 3 quality opponents to win a national title.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

8. UCLA vs. Pitt. Pitt could play '89 LMU and the game would still suck.

 

I'm most looking forward to KU/SIU. Even though I think Kansas kills the Salukis, I love massive style clashes like that. And I want SIU to go very, very far.