f13.net

Hey all-
I created a March Madness bracket group on Yahoo. Group ID # is 117373, password is catass2victory. Click here (http://fantasysports.yahoo.com/), then click 'Sign Up'. Next, choose to join a private group, and then enter the Group ID # and the password. Create a team name, and then get on to your picks!

Any and all are invited. To make it fun, I am pledging a $20 Amazon gift certificate to the winner (which will not be me!).

I know fuckall about college basketball and don't really watch it, but what the hell. I'm in.

I always try to use my head on these and fail miserably. So I'm going to go with my heart instead. Can't be worse.

My ex wife won 2 large bracket pools by choosing the place she'd rather live for each game.  I'd say that's as good a method as any.

In.

Runnin' Rebs ftw will probably be out in the 2nd round, just like my Rebs in real life   :x

I'm in.  No laughing!

Ah, what the hell. . .

I'm in
 
I feel for the people who get the Southern Illinois/Holy Cross game. Double defensive basketball FTL.

Keys I remember.

Guard Play - you need to have enough to take out one of those lower seeds that will have it in spades.

 "The Big Ten chokes in March" is as much a law of nature as Newton's contributions. 

Go GT! Those fuckers go to school in LAS VEGAS, for Christ's sake. They have enough fun in their lives without winning tourney games. Plus, the sooner they are out, the sooner the casinos can take action  :-D

About 23 hours left to get in. You don't need to know anything about basketballl- just randomly pick winners. The more, the merrier!

In, I dont watch basketball pre-tourny though so I dunno wtf I'm picking.  I'm rooting for the Oden show, I'd really take a Ohio State over Florida Championship if that could be arranged...   Fucking pissant gator fuckers.  I hate tha Joaquim Noah kid so goddamn much too...

I'm in.

I base my picks on science.  Pure science.

Bwahaha! I have entered and made a mockery of your annoying tournament that plagues my TV every spring! I know so little about college hoops... I did things like pick Oral Roberts to win a round because naming a college after Oral Roberts is funny to me.

AND....we're off! Davidson is giving Maryland a game, BC and Texas Tech are trading the lead, and apparently Stanford forgot to set their alarms, since Louisville is eating their lunch.

If you count the Louisville game as over, I have 2 out of a possible 3 points so far. Ignorance 4tw!

I must have been on some kind of meds when I made my picks.  Wow... baaaaaaaaaad.  I may finish dead last.

Allthough, there is one great thing about all of this.. DUKE LOST AND I CALLED IT.  :thumbs_up: :rock: :rock_hard: :hulk_rock: Such a wonderful day.

Today is starting off crazy, Wisconsin looks like they are going down (which means the Illini need to win, Purdue also kthx) and it appears ND is falling as well.

And of course I am sucking wind, including my one big dark horse (Winthrop) currently choking up a 20 point lead.

Goddammit

I made two changes at the eleventh hour, because I wussed out.

I had UTCC over wisconsin and VCU over Duke.

Duke because I felt they had to win one game before they died. I was wrong.

Wisconsin because I lost faith in Ronnie Arrow. He was the coach of my South Alabama back when they bet Bama in the tournament. I remember that day as a senior in high school. Class stopped while we watched it in Mr Portenga's AP History class. It was a beautiful moment. He's got a good team lot of shooters. They were independent until this year, and had a 2 to 1 away, home schedule, or something close to that. better than their 15, but came from a crap conference, because a crap conference is better than none at all.

If they win, it would have been something to really crow about

Dammit. such a puss.

You bitches got me to watch basketball. Fuckers.

Also, fucking Notre Dame. Way to choke up after coming so far back.

I can't believe Wisconsin is losing. If they go down I am done.

Yeah, me too. I have Wisconsin losing in the Regional Finals. If they lose, I'm likely cooked.

Wisconsin is vastly overrated IMHO. There is a good chance they won't get out of the S16 (if they manage to get there!). I called Winthrop over ND which makes me happy; A) It was an upset, and B) I fucking loathe ND and it makes me happy when they lose.

I have Wisconsin going deep, not so much because they are great, but that entire region is lousy if you ask me. I'm not a believer in Florida this year.

Gah, can't believe Illinois choked away that lead.

Don't worry guys.  As long as you have me around, the rest of you have no chance of finishing last.

I really really hate Florida.

There were a number of good chokes yesterday. I've obviously not given Butler enough credit either, because they've fucked me twice. Fucking Marlyand.

Friggin Wisconsin is laying another egg. Serves me right for picking based on the draw rather than team quality.


EDIT: Aaaaaaaaand, I'm done.

Yeah they sucked. It's a wonder they actually made it to the UNLV game, really.

Motherfucking Wisconsin. I should have known better than to give those cheeseheads so much props.

But Gonzaga is such a funny name!

I'm rooting for SEC teams as usual this year, but I like Vanderbilt for the underdog factor. Go Commadores!

Texas losing just blew like 80% of my brackets out of the water. Rick Barnes is a donkey.

You suck and nobody likes you.

 :cry:

Texas and Wisconsin losing, as much as they hurt me, might end up being a blessing in disguise for me, as a lot of you guys seemed to have picked one of those two teams to go deep.

Lucky for Vandy that Taylor Rochestie was playing. He pretty much handed them the game with 2 utterly retarded plays in OT (one in each).

Teams that don't have any real super athletes (read: the Badgers) need to play smart to win.  They completely forgot that rule and threw up so many ill-advised 3's at the end of that game...

I'm feeling pretty happy about how things have played out though, lots of schools I like still in it.  People saying omg big10 sux are idiots, Purdue and MSU both hung very tough against the best teams in the country, hell I think Purdue should have won if they just had a bit more firepower..

Some interesting matchups in this next round, looking forward to it.  The huge question is, how deep can Oregon go?  At any time they might go cold and blow it, also I can't wait for Gtown to be exposed, I think Hibbert is a fucking terrible big man.

Ok, you suck too. You also smell funny.

Anyone else picture Abagadro swigging out of a bottle of Jack Daniels as he curses at these games?

Or is that just me?  :heartbreak:  :-D

He is probably extra-irritable because that bottle of Jack cost him double what it would cost if he didn't live in the Beehive State.

I'm old and "respectable" now, so I drink Blanton's Bourbon now instead of Jack (which actually was my drink of choice, straight from the bottle with coke chaser, back in the G-town days).

Pure hooch is actually pretty reasonable here. It's the good beer that is outrageously expensive and requires trips to Nevada.

Georgetown advances on a completely horseshit play. The refs totally blew that call on a travel.

No ref is ever going to make that call with 7 seconds left and the guy is double teamed.  Heck, they won't even call a bump or hack unless it is egregious. You probably didn't even see it until the CBS guys started talking about it.

It evened out the multiple charges called under the basket (which I hadn't seen called all tourney) and Hibbert's BS 4th foul on a ticky-tack screen that completely altered the trajectory of the last 4 minutes.

You'd lose that bet. I never expected that shot to get off without a whistle for the travel, and if not the travel at the very least contact on the shooter which was also there. I'm not going to blame the game on it because that's armchair crap, but I've fucking had it with people ignoring the rules because time is elapsing. A foul is still a foul with a minute left in the game. I was not impressed at all with the officiating that entire game, including Hibbert's foul.

EDIT: Hell I'll go further than that. I've been pretty pissed at most of the officiating the tournament so far. I honestly wonder if they could recognize a travel or a real charge if they saw one.

North Carolina almost choked big time there. It took them almost the whole game to realize they were never going to hit anything farther out than about 10-15 feet. They were chucking it up there, though, tossing brick after brick up until they finally just took it to the hoop. Their shooting was total shit, but they won anyway. I was impressed with USC until they got exhausted. Then it was over, as they choked big time.

Ohio State would be watching the game at home if the officiating had been any bit consistent this entire tournament (that was an intentional foul, damnit).  Taking 1.1 seconds off a deflection that took maybe .2 seconds in the A&M game after looking at the replay for what seemed like 15 minutes (thanks too Acie Law for blowing that layup)? 

On that traveling non-call, only the pundits in the studio were crying about it.  People calling the action just didn't see it. People calling later games didn't see it.  I didn't see it until they slowed it down, zoomed in on his feet, and rewind-replayed like it was the Zapruder film.

Ya, the later commentators said no on that and it looked to me that his pivot foot was actually kicked by the defensive player.

The 1.1 second thing was accurate though. If you watch the reply it deflected off the dude's hand, bounced in bounds and then bounced about 4 feet into the stands before it actually hit out of bounds. I agree on the Oden foul though.

I'm hoping for a solidly officiated game tonight with Ohio State and Memphis. Ohio State is a team on life-support barely pulling through at the last second. I believe Memphis will beat them unless something odd happens.

EDIT: Well so much for that plan. It appears any team I actually root for well be sacrificed to the basketball gods.

Kansas choked big time tonight. They couldn't hit anything, and that Afalo kid was fucking amazing. I did not expect the Bruins to be that good.

Ohio State just took over once Oden came in and the Memphis big men started having to foul him. Oden is way too graceful with his shots to be that big a man. Memphis kept hitting 3's but couldn't get inside.

Georgetown just took over in the last 5 minutes, and North Carolina probably did one of the worst choke jobs I've ever seen. After spending most of the game gobbling up offensive rebounds, it was like they didn't even want to try to work the boards anymore, like they could sit back and defend and it'd all be ok.

And WTF is with all the Hibbert love? He seemed to be in foul trouble most of the night, and when he did do anything, it didn't seem all the spectacular to me.

He gets in foul trouble, because he seems to play with a certain immaturity.  He reaches in a LOT and on really odd plays.  He was doing this with 4 fouls, which was driving myself and the announcers nuts. 

Other than that.. the guy had like 7 blocks and at least 3 of them were when he had 4 fouls.  He can rebound, he can defend, he's got decent footwork, and good touch for a guy his size.  He keeps getting better every year too.  Small improvements that are turning him into someone that might actually make it in the NBA. 

The baffling thing about him is that t-shirt he wears under the uni?  Is he allergic to the uniform's fabric? Does he have a bizarre sweating disorder? Flabby arms? Obscene tattoos? Burned by acid?

I didn't think the Hoyas were going to win this one coming in after watching both teams play.  Luckily NC once again forgot how to run their offense and decided that shot selection is at best a "nice to have".  My friend the NC fanboi is probably seething at the moment.  I'm afraid to call him.

Edit: Hibbert's stat line - 13 pts, 11reb, 6blks, 4assts and a steal. Not shabby.

That's not a bad stat line. But for a big guy, I thought Florida's Horford, NC's Hanbrough (in the Hoya game, not the USC game), Oden and Florida's Noah all had better skills. Hell, his own teamate, Green, had a better game, IMO.

And did anyone watch the Florida/UCLA game? Was Lee Humphrey just shooting the lights out or what?

I'll make some more predictions, so go ahead and bet the other way of whatever I pick. You'll probably win money.

Florida ends up beating UCLA because nobody beats Florida in the last 5 minutes. The game will be close as usual until 5 minutes left, and then Florida pulls away.
Ohio St. really showed up finally against Memphis and blew them apart. Georgetown is coming off a big OT win where they skunked UNC. I have to give the edge to Georgetown because I feel they want it more, but it's a close close call.

Florida v. Georgetown in the championship. Although, Florida v. Ohio State would make the ESPN analysts cream all over themselves with the football/basketball comparisons. One can only hope it doesn't come to that.

I blame this on the fact that there is so much misinformation about transgendered people like Noah. No one understands it, so no one wants to guard him too closely.

You sir, win this thread.  Bravo.

I think people are big on Hibbert because of teh Baby Huey factor. He plays ragged because he hasn't developed all the way yet but still does pretty darn well. The "upside" is potentially huge. He's also 7' 2" yet pretty athletic which doesn't come around much.

On the T-shirt thing, Patrick Ewing did the same thing. If my memory serves, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo did too. I think it is sort of a GU tradition for big men.

I'll second the call for solid officiating.  Having watched the Oregon/Florida game Noah got lots of call love.  Especially towards the end of the game. 

Of course if Lee hadn't been shooting the lights out (again, good god) and Porter had done more than just draw iron; it would have been a win the other direction.

I'm a big fan of the t-shirts.  Who wants armpit closeups on every free throw?  Good to see Pitt choke in the round of 16 again, some things really do never change.  Especially when you have a 7 footer up against a short but very physical defense who can't even get to the freethrow line.  Go Hoyas.

I'm thinking I may execute a "be happy either way" manuever with tomorrow's game because of the line. It appears to have settled with Ohio State +1. So if I take OSU there really isn't any way I can come away unhappy with the game that I can see. I just need to balance how happy I will be if GU wins to determine how much to bet.

That sounds like a formula for misery. I would go with your heart and then drink heavily if the Hoyas gag.

No, it executes quite well in the right circumstances. I use it all the time when BYU plays as I hate them. If GU wins, yay! If GU loses, money! If GU wins by 1, yay and only lose the vig!

If I've got this figured right, only Nebu and Runnin' Rebs can possibly beat me. Complete ignorance 4TW!

Hibbert looked better in that game, but Green being a non-factor is what killed the Hoyas.

Yay OSU! I want me some Florida revengeance. 

Green completely failed to show up. Oh well. Bad thing is I got so into my poker game last night that the sportsbook closed before I couldn't get my money in. Sadness. 

Will be fun watching Florida kick the crap out of OSU again for a title.

Welp, this pool is down to me vs. Nebu. If OSU wins, I win, if Florida wins, it's all Nebu. It's been a good tournament.

Well Florida is going to be favored this time. That might lead to OSU's victory since they were so overrated in the last game.

My money would be on Florida though.

I really would have rather seen a tournament where like a 7 or 9 seed won it all... still, it should be a good game.

The more I look at the matchup and all the knobslobbing, "Basketball AND Football powerhouses" talk, and then the announcers comparing them to teams of the past, I'm just saying screw it at this point. I couldn't care less about this game and I HATE Florida.

I won't be watching one minute of this game.

Winner pls to PM with their email address so I can send a gift certificate, kthx.

Someone link me to the league standings?

Here (http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men/group/117373) ya go.

I'm going to say this preemptively, Florida and by association the SEC, go fuck yourselves you worthless bunch of bitch-ass fuckwad motherfuckers.   Good thing the ref's were with you the whole way cunt ass cock smoking whores.



In all seriousness though, they shot the lights out and OSU was cold as ice, but w/e anyone who likes Florida the state can fuck off not to mention Noah proved what fucking garbage he is, that chump will get run in the NBA.


Fuck you Florida, fuck you.

Ohio State couldn't hit the jumpshot, which would be fine if Florida had been cold from outside too. But no, Florida shot the goddamn lights out, while Oden just stood in the middle waiting for someone, anyone to come down the paint. Which they rarely did. The guards on the outside couldn't shut down the 3's, and they couldn't hit the 3's on their own.

Still, second place for a guy who knows fuckall about college Bball ain't bad.

I boycotted the game completely. Florida winning doesn't shock me.

And let's not go all apeshit on the SEC. We're a great conference with a lot of regional dislike from the network media on the coasts. CBS is the only one I like because they went out of their way to highlight a great football conference's game of the week.

That's the most retarded comment ever, at least when it comes to West Coast, the only games I can catch are SEC or Pac-10, so I dunno wtf you are smoking.  SEC is constantly heralded by the mouth breathing fuckwads at ESPN as the greatest conference EVAR...


\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Paelos, you are fucking wrong, I dunno what else to say.  Be less wrong, go ask Jesus about how much ESPN jocks the SEC or something...

Uh, what? ESPN gameday and the analysts suck the Pac-10's cock weekly. Not to mention the Notre Dame love and the crazy amounts of Big Twelve/Ten shit.

For god's sakes Mark May practically bends over for USC every season.

EDIT: Which is totally beside the point that Florida won a basketball game, and there's no real reason to shit on a thread about with with the SEC v. Pac-10 debate that's rampant already. We can take that elsewhere.

Billy Packer is an assclown.

Agreed.

Congrats to Nebu, and thanks to everyone for playing. I would like to give special thanks to Hoax; without him, I would have come in dead last for the 2nd year in a row  :-D

Grats Nebu

Hooray, I can get to the interstate in a reasonable time again.

EDIT: Oops, armed gunman at CCN Center.  Dammit.

Thanks guys. 

I'm probably the biggest basketball fan here (I'll bet ya!), but I think College Ball sucks. I didn't give a shit who won.

..

Just wanted to say that.


Though I did think that maybe, just maybe, seeing that both teams had decent big guys, there'd be a difference between last night's game and previous showdowns between run 'n' gun, 3 point heavies like Duke.

But no, same old shit.

None of these guys are really getting groomed for the pro leagues (while college footballers and hockey players are), where post play and half court games are key. And every draft for the past 5 years or so has pretty much sucked because of this. Less talented big men, and worthless 3 shooters who learned on a shorter arc (with heavy zone defense at that). The NBA is getting better talent off the streets or overseas. It really isn't good in the longrun.

I hope that remains the case.  Universities should not be farm clubs for the pros.  If the NBA and NFL would pony up the cash for a minor league system then maybe we'd start seeing true student athletes again.  As it is, the big money wrapped up in college athletics is doing everyone that ever went to college a disservice. 

Tragic situation, but your post made me laugh nonetheless.

Nebu has graciously foregone his rightful winnings and asked that I donate the $20 to charity. I have done so (Northwest Harvest (http://www.northwestharvest.org/)). Thanks, Nebu!