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Conference championship week is here: my favourite week of college bb thanks to lots of important action and also figuring out who will make it, who won't and the seedings.
Michigan kicks off the day with a huge must-win over Indiana, hitting the winning shot with less than a second left on the clock. I had Michigan as a Bubble-Out team beforehand; this might move them into one of the final at-large spots.
"Epic" is the only word to describe this Cincinnati-UConn game.
rastajenk
03-13-2016, 02:34 PM
I wonder if March Madness has peaked. Using myself as a small sample size :p , this used to be one of the most anticipated weekends of the year, but this year I didn't watch 30 minutes total of Championship Week (but I did catch the last two OT's of UC-UConn), and not because I was too busy. I realize a big part of that is age and changing priorities. But what's everyone else's excuse? Few views and no follow-ups in this thread. Seems strange to me for some reason.
Maybe next Thursday/Friday will turn it around. Doing some brackets and having a rooting interest might have a restorative effect. I hope so.
horses4courses
03-13-2016, 02:41 PM
I've never been much of a hoops fan, pro or college.
However, the NCAA tournament is one of the best
times to be in a Nevada sports book.
Electric atmosphere :ThmbUp:
Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.
barahona44
03-13-2016, 06:41 PM
Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.
Didn't it used to be only a half hour?Like everything else that becomes popular, it gets expanded and elongated to the point of negative returns.
Tall One
03-13-2016, 07:39 PM
Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.
Which is why the last two brackets got leaked.
UK gets screwed...nothing to see here, but, I like my team. :ThmbUp:
UNC-Wilmington gave it a good try against overrated Duke. Got no favours from the officials.
azeri98
03-17-2016, 03:54 PM
There is a great trend in betting March Madness, just take the teams with tourney pedigree against teams without it. Already UCONN beats Colorado and Butler beats Texas Tech, they both covered by the way.
Tall One
03-17-2016, 08:38 PM
UNC-Wilmington gave it a good try against overrated Duke. Got no favours from the officials.
Duke shot 43 free throws... :D
Azeri, while Purdue's NCAA success is limited, their tourney experience is not. Little Rock had better athletes than they did, and it showed. Baylor is a stupid bunch, and deserved to lose to the nerds.
That said, UK was -15 last I bothered checking earlier. I'm nervous as all get out, but I believe they'll cover that.
Valuist
03-18-2016, 12:46 AM
The worst seeding of all was Wichita State at 11. The were 12th in the Kenpom.com rankings before the Vandy game, and are ranked #1 in defensive efficiency. I think Miami is in trouble.
I've followed the selection/seeding process quite closely in the past six years and my opinion watching it all unfold last Sunday was that this year's committee did the poorest job in that time span. In particular the Pac-12 was almost completely overseeded IMO. Here's the seed lines where I had those teams belonging on merit, and where they actually got seeded (in parentheses):
Oregon 2 (1)
Utah 5 (3)
Cal 6 (4)
Arizona 6 (6)
Colorado 10 (8)
USC 10 (8)
Oregon St 11 play-in (7)
Arizona was the only Pac-12 team that I had on the same seed line-- and they still got bounced in uncompetitive fashion by play-in team Wichita St which Valuist noted was a terribly underseeded squad. Oregon St as a #7 is one of the most bizarre seeds ever, regardless of what happens today against VCU.
It seemed like the committee only valued the play of eight conferences and ignored everyone else.
And in particular, I think two teams got truly jobbed by not getting selected: St. Mary's and Valparaiso. The former was a popular pick in brackets, the other wasn't at all (but I really feel that they deserved a spot).
And I wouldn't have had either in a play-in game; they deserved full inclusion in my view.
azeri98
03-18-2016, 08:34 PM
I've followed the selection/seeding process quite closely in the past six years and my opinion watching it all unfold last Sunday was that this year's committee did the poorest job in that time span. In particular the Pac-12 was almost completely overseeded IMO. Here's the seed lines where I had those teams belonging on merit, and where they actually got seeded (in parentheses):
Oregon 2 (1)
Utah 5 (3)
Cal 6 (4)
Arizona 6 (6)
Colorado 10 (8)
USC 10 (8)
Oregon St 11 play-in (7)
Arizona was the only Pac-12 team that I had on the same seed line-- and they still got bounced in uncompetitive fashion by play-in team Wichita St which Valuist noted was a terribly underseeded squad. Oregon St as a #7 is one of the most bizarre seeds ever, regardless of what happens today against VCU.
It seemed like the committee only valued the play of eight conferences and ignored everyone else.
The Pac 12 bent over like a new guy in prison, they all lost except for Utah and probably Oregon
Goodbye Michigan St, goodbye West Virginia.
Inner Dirt
03-19-2016, 10:04 AM
Goodbye Michigan St, goodbye West Virginia.
I read the money line on Michigan State was -7,000 and wonder if anyone had a higher money line and lost in the tournament, since a 16 has never beat a 1, that loss at -7,000 loss could be close to a record.
Miraculous comeback for Texas A&M against Northern Iowa.
Valuist
03-21-2016, 12:24 AM
12 points in 31 seconds...unreal. I did see one call that really benefitted A & M in the final 30 seconds. An A & M player drove to the hoop and appeared to be guilty of a charge. He tossed ball up, it goes in. Not only no charge was called, they of course call the Northern Iowa player for a block. So that should've been a turnover, but turned into a 3 point play.
The rest really stems from NI's inability to inbounds the ball late in the game. Thank God they still covered. That could've been a horrific beat.
ReplayRandall
03-21-2016, 12:28 AM
12 points in 31 seconds...unreal. I did see one call that really benefitted A & M in the final 30 seconds. An A & M player drove to the hoop and appeared to be guilty of a charge. He tossed ball up, it goes in. Not only no charge was called, they of course call the Northern Iowa player for a block. So that should've been a turnover, but turned into a 3 point play.
The rest really stems from NI's inability to inbounds the ball late in the game. Thank God they still covered. That could've been a horrific beat.
Glad they made you work up a sweat... :faint:
Valuist
03-21-2016, 01:01 AM
Glad they made you work up a sweat... :faint:
That could've been the worst beat I've ever seen/had. A 7 point dog LEADING by 12 with 31 seconds to play. That's covering by 19....and they could've blown the cover in OT.
rastajenk
03-21-2016, 07:03 AM
This business of the refs stopping the action to check replays at the end has got to stop somehow. It's affecting outcomes way too often. And why does it take so long to reach a ref consensus that the announcers usually get to right away?
Tall One
03-21-2016, 08:39 AM
F'ing NCAA can't get out of their own way. They "focus" the rules to get more offense and freedom of movement. Come into the NCAA Tourney and these stupid zebras are calling charges all the damn time. This is what Cbb has become; if you cannot guard someone, theatrically toss your body into him and fall back screaming. What a joke.
-Oregon and Duke tip off Thursday at 11pm. WTF? Who could possibly think that's a good idea? West Region should always be a Fri/Sun bracket.
Get your coffee ready, Grits.
Too many stoppages late in the games, for sure. Timeouts, reviews, a foul on every possession if a team is behind by several points in the last minute.
UNI lost their inbounder Bohannon due to injury just before all of the trouble started; that made a real difference. Then the clock operator screwed up twice, giving A&M a couple of chances to set up plays while the officials took two minutes to reset the clock. Then a ridiculous blocking call that was nothing, a complete non-event but the ref basically handed A&M a vital point. And some poor decisions by the guys who caught the inbounds passes, too. Everything just snowballed together.
Too many stoppages late in the games, for sure. Timeouts, reviews, a foul on every possession if a team is behind by several points in the last minute.
UNI lost their inbounder Bohannon due to injury just before all of the trouble started; that made a real difference. Then the clock operator screwed up twice, giving A&M a couple of chances to set up plays while the officials took two minutes to reset the clock. Then a ridiculous blocking call that was nothing, a complete non-event but the ref basically handed A&M a vital point. And some poor decisions by the guys who caught the inbounds passes, too. Everything just snowballed together.
The last turnover all the guy had to do was loft the ball with some height down the court. If he does that, game over. Hell, he could have just fired it down the court out of bounds and it was game over. Basically anything except what he did and they win the game.
cj's dad
03-22-2016, 01:33 AM
Maryland's overhyped season will end this Thursday vs Kansas. Melo Trimble is terribly overrated. The coach is way out of his pay grade.
Valuist
03-22-2016, 11:44 PM
Maryland's overhyped season will end this Thursday vs Kansas. Melo Trimble is terribly overrated. The coach is way out of his pay grade.
Agree 100% on the coach. Not 100% sure on Trimble. I do know the Terps have the best name in NCAA: Diamond Stone. The guy is a stud. Can't believe the Badgers didn't land him. He was Mr. Basketball in Wisky last year.
Valuist
03-22-2016, 11:47 PM
Too many stoppages late in the games, for sure. Timeouts, reviews, a foul on every possession if a team is behind by several points in the last minute.
UNI lost their inbounder Bohannon due to injury just before all of the trouble started; that made a real difference. Then the clock operator screwed up twice, giving A&M a couple of chances to set up plays while the officials took two minutes to reset the clock. Then a ridiculous blocking call that was nothing, a complete non-event but the ref basically handed A&M a vital point. And some poor decisions by the guys who caught the inbounds passes, too. Everything just snowballed together.
Are you playing the NIT at all? I think Valparaiso will handle BYU. Creighton missed a bunch of open looks inside and probably should've been able to beat BYU, who looked really bad defensively. I also think schools like BYU really benefit from the altitude against a team like Creighton, who doesn't play any games in altitude. Valpo defends very well. They really should've been in the NCAA, but I guess we just couldn't live without Tulsa or Temple in the field.
Are you playing the NIT at all? I think Valparaiso will handle BYU. Creighton missed a bunch of open looks inside and probably should've been able to beat BYU, who looked really bad defensively. I also think schools like BYU really benefit from the altitude against a team like Creighton, who doesn't play any games in altitude. Valpo defends very well. They really should've been in the NCAA, but I guess we just couldn't live without Tulsa or Temple in the field.
I'm not much of a bettor but I'm following the NIT. Valpo deserves to be favoured over BYU. After the NCAA selection show a lot of media types were moaning about Monmouth not getting selected, and Monmouth was in a lot of people's brackets while Valpo wasn't. But in my opinion Valpo was clearly better and deserved a full bid (i.e., not a play-in team) while Monmouth didn't warrant inclusion at all. Valpo is now in the NIT Final Four after thumping a solid St. Mary's squad whereas Monmouth got crushed at home in the second round by George Washington.
Watch out for Monmouth next year, however. They only lose one senior from this year's squad.
cj's dad
03-25-2016, 11:08 PM
Agree 100% on the coach. Not 100% sure on Trimble. I do know the Terps have the best name in NCAA: Diamond Stone. The guy is a stud. Can't believe the Badgers didn't land him. He was Mr. Basketball in Wisky last year.
Trimbl is a freshman that is clearly IMO not ready; Stone is 50/50
Trimbl is a freshman that is clearly IMO not ready; Stone is 50/50
Trimble will be a junior next year if he comes back Pop.
MutuelClerk
03-26-2016, 12:39 AM
I've completely lost my passion for basketball. The game has changed so much. You can't play defense. Players can't shoot. Fundamentals are lacking. They leave after one season. Then they get to the NBA and don't exert a ton of sweat or energy during the regular season. As great as Steph Curry is in a sad way he's ruining the game. All these players try to emulate him now and shoot 30-35ft threes. Newsflash these players aren't Steph Curry.
Enjoy the games..... :)
cj's dad
03-26-2016, 07:19 AM
Trimble will be a junior next year if he comes back Pop.
Someone on CBS Thursday night said he was a freshman. I haven't been following UMd sports since they went Big 10. He is still not ready IMO.
I've completely lost my passion for basketball. The game has changed so much. You can't play defense. Players can't shoot. Fundamentals are lacking. They leave after one season. Then they get to the NBA and don't exert a ton of sweat or energy during the regular season. As great as Steph Curry is in a sad way he's ruining the game. All these players try to emulate him now and shoot 30-35ft threes. Newsflash these players aren't Steph Curry.
Enjoy the games..... :)
I think the reputation of NBA players not exerting much energy during the regular season is a thing of the past.
Valuist
03-26-2016, 12:43 PM
Trimbl is a freshman that is clearly IMO not ready; Stone is 50/50
Yeah, Trimble didn't really step up like many hoped. Stone is good but needs another year at Maryland.
Yeah, Trimble didn't really step up like many hoped. Stone is good but needs another year at Maryland.
No doubt Stone isn't NBA ready, but with his size and potential he would probably still be drafted high. I hope he comes back if he is going to be a lottery pick he should go.
Valuist
03-28-2016, 01:10 AM
I will be on the Under in all the Final Four games. Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL Texans, is a brutal shooting background, and figures to cause problems for all of these teams, who rely heavily on the 3 point shot.
Tall One
03-28-2016, 09:27 AM
-In the last eight years, the Jayhawks have been a No. 1, No. 2, No. 2, No. 1, No. 2, No. 1, No. 1 and No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. And they turned those great regular season résumés into only one Final Four run.
-Kansas' loss to Villanova was Bill Self's ninth NCAA tournament loss as the better seed, tied with Mike Krzyzewski for the most since 2004, Self's first season at Kansas.
AlsoEligible
04-01-2016, 09:42 PM
I will be on the Under in all the Final Four games. Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL Texans, is a brutal shooting background, and figures to cause problems for all of these teams, who rely heavily on the 3 point shot.
I think the arena will hurt Oklahoma more than anyone else - they're the team that's really reliant on threes. Although at this point I don't think anything can stop Buddy.
UNC definitely doesn't rely on the 3 point shot - over the season they were something like 300th in the nation in 3 point %. They've had a couple of hot shooters this tournament (like Paige), and when they're on, it'll turn a close game into a blowout. But their bread and butter is owning the paint and the boards.
I think UNC beats Syracuse, although it'll be closer than most think. OU/Nova is a toss-up, but UNC should take care of either one on Monday night. They're the best team left right now, and once you're down to the last four, the cream usually rises to the top.
cj's dad
04-03-2016, 07:45 AM
The OU/Nova game was the biggest blowout in final 4 history. I saw the score at one point was 'Nova 46 to 37. From that point forward Nova outscored OU 49 to 14. What a choke job by OU !!
forced89
04-03-2016, 08:55 AM
Oklahoma should look for a new coach. No decent coach lets his team get slaughtered like that. Losing happens,but not like that.
Oklahoma should look for a new coach. No decent coach lets his team get slaughtered like that. Losing happens,but not like that.
The guy has totally turned around the program. It wasn't long ago they were in the NIT, now under Lon they make the Final Four and were #1 for a time this year. But yeah, fire the coach for one loss. That makes sense.
The OU/Nova game was the biggest blowout in final 4 history. I saw the score at one point was 'Nova 46 to 37. From that point forward Nova outscored OU 49 to 14. What a choke job by OU !!
I think you actually have to be in the game to choke! They were just beaten by a much better team yesterday that couldn't miss. They started to press and take bad shots and it snowballed quickly.
Tall One
04-03-2016, 03:54 PM
Definitely Kruger's fault 'Nova missed 5 shots in the 2nd half.
Rooting for the other Wildcats again Monday night.
forced89
04-03-2016, 08:04 PM
Kruger allowed his team to quit in the 2nd half. A good coach would have had them playing their asses off for self respect.
Tall One
04-04-2016, 12:48 PM
Final Four TV viewership down 40% from last year. GREAT JOB NCAA GREAT EFFORT!!!
How TF does Emmert still have a job?
HalvOnHorseracing
04-04-2016, 10:06 PM
I'm far more impressed with North Carolina in this game. They seem to have 'Nova out of sync on offense, and they are shooting lights out. The officiating is pretty good - they are letting them play, and I've only seen two what I would call game interrupter calls..
Grits
04-04-2016, 11:37 PM
Well, that puts a damper on our local newscast coming up and on the big street party celebration in Chapel Hill.
Congrats Villanova!!!
This is from a Duke fan. ;)
Karma, UNC should be on probation anyway.
cj's dad
04-05-2016, 12:08 AM
Final Four TV viewership down 40% from last year. GREAT JOB NCAA GREAT EFFORT!!!
How TF does Emmert still have a job?
Amazing how CBS was involved in earlier round games but not the finals.
TNT, TBS, and TRU TV are not, as I am sure you know, legit networks. Much of America still does not have access to cable or satellite for a variety of reasons. Talk about shooting one's self in the foot.
Great game ! Congrats to Villanova ! :jump: :ThmbUp:
Z
Grits
04-05-2016, 12:20 AM
Karma, UNC should be on probation anyway.
You're exactly right!!! And don't believe I've forgotten all that. No way. This local newscast team coverage has been LONG. Marcus has held it together better than Coach Williams. It's embarrassing. Suck it up, Roy! Lord. 12:15 a.m. and the sportscasters are still lamenting Roy's love for these guys...of all he's coached over the years.
"Ten points down and I told them if they listened to me, we had a chance to win it."
While the anchors are woeful over Duke winning it last year and Carolina being denied tonight.
...... This, too, shall pass.
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