The NCAA Basketball thread

moneyp · March-21st-2003, 01:03 AM

Resume NCAA discussion here.

Go Cal!

moneyp · March-21st-2003, 01:10 AM

Colorado State only down by two, under two minutes to go. Coach K upset at the refs.

Tanager · March-21st-2003, 10:39 AM

Yah, Coach K shoulda been pissed, but mostly at the team. We didn't look too great. Next up, CMU, 8 PM ET on Saturday.

moneyp · March-21st-2003, 03:57 PM

Auburn upends St. Joe's. Not too much of a surprise. Boy, I guess the A-10 just sucks, huh? ;-)

Kentucky looked great. No overlooking #16 seeds for them. They played hard from the opening tip.

Go Penn!

moneyp · March-21st-2003, 06:18 PM

Too many fuckin' timeouts in college ball...

Oregon/Utah very entertaining. Utah, missing their best player and with four players fouled out are playing three end-of-the-bench freshmen for the last five minutes of the game, but they managed to hang on for a two-point victory.

Craptastic game from the Pac-10 player of the year Luke Ridenour.

East Tennessee State hangin' tough with Wake Forest.

Al in NYC · March-21st-2003, 10:56 PM

My Michigan State Spartans cruise over Colorado. Next up... Florida?

Captain Hate · March-21st-2003, 11:02 PM

Al, that's as good as I've seen the Spartans look recently. After they mailed it in against Ohio State in the tourney I wasn't so sure they could beat anybody. You saw how well OSU did in the NIT.

Of course located here in Ohio, I don't get to see my Terps until halftime of the Alabama/Indiana game, which is surprisingly good with the Hoosiers cranking up the 3's. Has anybody heard that Coach Davis is rumored to be going to Georgia?

Jason Bivins · March-22nd-2003, 01:22 AM

And whoa! what an end to the UMD/UNCW game. I must admit I was a bit torn, since the Seahawks are so scrappy - but Drew Nicholas, y'all. Wow.

Oh yeah, the new site seems rad. Thanks, Lois!

Captain Hate · March-22nd-2003, 01:28 AM

Drew Nicholas indeed, Jason. Things were looking very bleak (I hope they don't go into another 7+ minute field goal drought against Xavier) but it was refuse to lose time. That game had it all; Blake nails a 3 from the corner, a 40% free throw shooter hits nothing but net twice, and Drew hits the miracle. Fear the Turtle, baby!! And props to the valiant Seahawks; 8 for 8 from three range, incredible.

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 01:35 AM

Incredible game.

I think I only picked one 10th-seed or lower upset in Butler. Oy!

walto · March-22nd-2003, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mone peterson
Incredible game.

I think I only picked one 10th-seed or lower upset in Butler. Oy!

Emma got that one too. Plus, she "had a feeling" about Butler before she went to bed last night. Lovely child.

Hey who was Gary Williams screaming at at the end of the Terps game? I figured it was some assistant who followed his team off the floor (instead of waiting and shaking hands with the Seahawks), but nobody ever said.

Captain Hate · March-22nd-2003, 10:28 AM

Over on the Terrapin Station bbs they said Gary was screaming at assistant Matt Kovarik to get the players back on the court to shake hands with the Seahawks.

Tanager · March-22nd-2003, 11:50 AM

Man...I actually had UNCW taking out yer Terps, Captain. I'll note that I am currently last in our little Yahoo! pool, .

The surprise for me was the smackdown Purdue laid on LSU - I had picked LSU, but either way, I in no way expected that kind of rout.

I was glad to see Butler win a round - after getting the shaft last year, they're making the most of the invite - I'm damned happy for 'em.

Some really good matchups for today: Mizzou-Marquette (I'm in three pools, I think I have Marquette winning in to, Mizzou in one, but who the hell knows).

Tulsa-Wisconsin - why not?

UConn-Stanford - maybe the best matchup of the day.

My Blue Devils better bring a little more offense to the table against CMU, which will be no pushover.

I would, for the record, LOVE to see ASU send Roy Williams home early...again.

I'm going to predict that Illinois brings ND's season to an end.

Captain Hate · March-22nd-2003, 12:19 PM

Go figure on Purdue; career underachievers in the big dance and they totally whack LSU. Props to all the Big Ten also-rans, whom I said didn't belong; shows you what I know. I thought Alabama's game against Indiana was their season in 40 minutes; play great early and fade badly in the end (was I the only person that thought the Tide got really jobbed by the refs at the beginning of the second half? I was a neutral observer since I like both teams).

Anybody notice that the head coach of Wagner is Dematha grad and starting guard for NC State's championship team, Dereck Whittenberg?

I hope HL Jones is able to find his way here now; the Golden Eagles/Mizzou game should be very good.

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tanager
Man...I actually had UNCW taking out yer Terps, Captain. I'll note that I am currently last in our little Yahoo! pool

Yeah, but you're way ahead of me in possible points, 176 to 165, and I think we're close enough in our remaining picks that I won't make up the difference. Remember, kids, first round upsets matter very little!

An exciting first round as far as the games were concerned, but very few surprises in the results. The most stunning outcome was LSU-Purdue.

Definitely aboard for watching all the remaining Pac-10 teams in action today. I think all four of 'em will be good games.

My guess is all higher seeds advance today, but I'll be pulling for ASU, Tulsa and my beloved Golden Bears.

Go, Cal!

Go Pac-10!

walto · March-22nd-2003, 04:02 PM

Oh my God did the Illini stink out the gym today. Third time I've seen them this year--wouldn't have known it was the same team. That loss stuck a knife right in the heart of my pool chances.

But wait till next year!

Tanager · March-22nd-2003, 07:22 PM

I say but DAMN was that Mizzou-Marquette game a corker. I will note for the record that, if I coached Mizzou, I would take Ricky Clemons and smack the daylights out of him for every quick 3-pointer. The epitome of selfish and stupid shot selection.

I also enjoyed the hell out of the UConn-Stanford game - a really good one, as I expected. I thought UConn showed a lot by digging in and forcing the game into a more comfortable tempo in the second half, and they *really* showed a lot by controlling the game and extending their lead with Okafor out. I hadn't seen a lot of Okafor this season, but wow, is he a stud. Ben Gordon was also outstanding and showed a lot of maturity.

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 07:29 PM

This Cal game is torture.

Zags puttin' up a heck of a fight.

Captain Hate · March-22nd-2003, 07:44 PM

Tulsa up by 2 with 21 seconds to go.

Go Zags; serve Lute up a whopper slice of humble pie. I don't care if it screws up my bracket; I really dislike these goofs.

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 08:17 PM

Arizona playing some crappy defense. Zags are playing well, but it shouldn't be anywhere near this close.

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 08:28 PM

Good game. The ref who overruled the final possession and gave it to Gonzaga really screwed up, though. There was no foul on that play? Please.

Tanager · March-22nd-2003, 08:58 PM

Well, you're right - he got fouled. By the same token, I think Zona clearly had possession (two hands and a pair of dribbles) on the proceeding play, and the Zags should have had a full shot clock. So it evens out.

I don't think Zona played that badly at all - I think the Zags just put in a gritty performance. EASILY the game of the tournament thus far, IMHO.

Captain, I'm with you - I'd sell my own family to see Zona lose.

Unfortunately, it looks like Kansas has come out in a nasty mood - they're laying a smackdown all over ASU tonight.

Back to the TV, my Blue Devils tipping off in two minutes...

moneyp · March-22nd-2003, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tanager
I don't think Zona played that badly at all - I think the Zags just put in a gritty performance. EASILY the game of the tournament thus far, IMHO.

They played great on the offensive end, and it's to Gonzaga's credit that they were able to stay with them. But they allowed far too many easy passes under the basket and backdoor cuts.

But yer right, damned good game.

Now why do you all hate Lute? For a major college coach, he's a pretty good guy (comparatively speaking)

Tanager · March-22nd-2003, 09:58 PM

I guess my personal dislike hinges on two factors:

1) I can't COUNT the number of times Zona has screwed up pool brackets with early exits. Now I just pick against them and cheer for those early exits.

2) After Duke beat Zona in the 2001 championship, Lute groused to reporters about how Jason (Jay) Williams should have fouled out - I thought it was uncharacteristically ungracious, and it sorta soured me on him.

Duke up 47-33, shooting the ball pretty well. Inside game doing exactly squat thus far, though.

Dr Dave · March-22nd-2003, 11:27 PM

One more late comment on the Terps and UNC Wilmington: DAMN! (It was funny how Maryland ran for the locker room. They were clearly afraid the clock hadn't gone their way.)

Tanager · March-23rd-2003, 06:50 AM

Well, Duke shot the ball *very* well...but CMU played (IMHO) pretty poorly. They just didn't seem together at all as a team, and I think the announcers were largely right that they didn't make enough use of Chris Kaman, who seemed to have the clear advantage when he was able to get the ball in his hands. Maybe Duke was that much better, maybe not, but I certainly expected a much tougher fight.

Kareem may turn out to be a good announcer (he got in a couple of good points last night), but he's still awfully unsure of himself, like he doesn't know if he should be speaking at this or that juncture or not. I hope he sticks around, though, b/c ya gotta dig Kareem.

walto · March-23rd-2003, 09:14 AM

Having only seen Ariz. St. in their first round blowout of Memphis, I was a little surprised how easily Kansas handled them yesterday. Always a step behind. Completely uncompetitive. Another example is ND's crappy opening round win compared with their other-worldly performance yesterday. It's not just matchups, it's sunspots.

Those yin-yang performances indicate to me that I wouldn't do any better in pools that started at the Sweet Sixteen, even after having seen at least something of all the teams at that point. I think I'd do just as well using a random number generator.

Captain Hate · March-23rd-2003, 11:19 AM

I used to cheer for Arizona back when they had Steve Kerr, Sean Elliott, Brian "Bison Dele" Williams (after he transferred from Maryland) and they would find a way to lose. Then when they went all the way with the Mike Bibby team, I started to see the "win at all costs" look in Lute's eyes. And I started reading stuff like Tanager posted where he'd grouse about ref's and opposing players. Then it culminated for me when Lute went ballistic in Kansas earlier this season whining about the timekeepers when replays showed that they did their job correctly. WHAT ABOUT THE TIMEKEEPERS YESTERDAY, LUTE!?!? Plus I can't bring myself to cheer for any team that has that goof Bill Walton's kid.

Tanager, I agree with your take on the Duke game; I could see Kaman getting very frustrated in not getting his hands on the rock. But a lot of that was Chefsky's boys working hard to not let that happen. I like Kareem's announcing although he does sound a bit awkward at times; they ought to let Matt Goukas and Kareem do the game by themselves and let that fossil Enberg do those "human interest" snorers that he clutters the Olympic coverage with (so I've been told; I gave up the Olympics a LONG time ago).

Tanager · March-23rd-2003, 04:54 PM

GO BUTLER!

Tanager · March-23rd-2003, 04:57 PM

Did I mention I actually picked Butler over Louisville in most of my pools?