f13.net

Usually someone around here does a March Madness thing. Anyone want to set one up?

I will see if I can get my ass moving on it after the selection show this weekend.

Bracket Contest (http://f13.mayhem.cbssports.com/e)

Password is f13bc. Come one, come all! 3 brackets allowed per person. Scoring system- Seed number is added to the win total (ie add 12 points if a 12 seed wins). That should make for lots of upset picks and some topsyturvy leaderboards.

In fo' this. Go Rebs! 2nd round will be  :ye_gods:

Yeehaw, another year of me guessing my picks based off of cool school names, and names I remember Bill Knight mentioning on my way to work listening to Mike & Mike.

Wonder what the bracket will look like when it goes to 96 teams. That said, I can't stand college basketball anymore and really wonder why kids even play considering a leap from HS to PRO nets you major money without the silly educational requirement.

Because there are 15 players on an NBA roster, and 30 teams. That's a whopping 450 players. There are something like ~350 division I basketball teams, if you figure 12ish players per team then I would hope the math becomes obvious as to why everyone doesn't just go pro right off the bat.

Also you say it like you're assuming most college athletes don't want the education and that's just not true.

Right now? Because they have to for at least a year.  Some have chosen to instead play in Europe, which has worked out for some and not for others.  For a guy like Jennings (stiffed UofA /grumble), he still got drafted and is doing quite well.  There's some other cases, where high school players have gone to Europe, made some decent cash and have been branded as immature shitbags and thus are pissing away their chance at a lucrative NBA contract.  Someone may still take a chance on them, but I think going to college and beating up on the lesser talent probably gives you a better chance of a higher draft pick.

Personally, I wish they'd just get rid of the requirement to be out of HS for a year.  I don't care about the NBA as is, and all of the one-and-dones have really hosed the Pac 10.

As for another reason why you wouldn't?  A lot of 18 year old kids aren't done developing.  Sure, someone like Lebron came into the league with an NBA ready body, but a lot of high schoolers aren't going to be prepared physically for the jump.  Also, you better be sure you're a first rounder (and a high one at that).  Expectations, salaries, playing time, and potential are limited if you're not selected high.  It's just the way it seems to work out in the NBA as they've gotten pretty good at assessing American talent (Euros they're still having problems with).

Christ, my beloved Bucs are up against KENTUCKY first round. 

That comment was off the hip so take it with a grain of salt. I think pro-sports should require a degree, especially those on scholarships - but that's for another time. I pick the Spiders to win it all!

I'm in. My picks will probably change over the next few days, but then the games don't start til Thursday, right?

As for college basketball vs. pro, I really think they need to require 2 years of college ball before being drafted IF they go to school at all. This one and done shit is idiotic. Either draft them out of high school when they are really too young, or make them do two years in a college program (or a pro league in Europe).

Of course, my views on college athletics are colored by the fact that it's a hypocritical system built to enrich a minority of big schools by exploiting these kids who can't even legally get paid for the money they are pouring into college coffers. But what do I know?

I blame the Big 10.

Because it sucks and is boring at everything it does.  :grin:

Ah.  Having multiple brackets filled out is the only way to go.  Top my #2 bracket... 583 max points and a Pac10 v. Mountain West final.  GO AZTECS!

(http://files.myopera.com/gialioy/albums/620072/An%20Angry%20Badger.jpg)

Hmm, filled out my brackets and saved yesterday. Then went back to tweak today and they don't pull up.

EDIT: NM, had a script off.

Great- the fucking Irish already fucked my brackets.

Poor RMU.

Yeah...I knew Villanova would choke, but didn't think it would be in the first round. No way they get past 16 though.

Go Murray State!  Compelled to pick them for obvious reasons.

Wooo, perfect through 7 games.  I'm sure the suckage will start momentarily.

Damn, that hurt me.

Had Murray State too. Yay! So glad the games as a whole are a lot closer this year. Last year the whole tourney was a chalky snoozer. Just quit BC2 so I can start pacing around the house for the UW game. LOVE MM.

Thanks for laying a huge 2nd half egg UTEP. I was starting to get a big head.

WTF Georgetown?

Ha I was just coming to post this word for word.

Some fantastic games today. Glad I took the day off as a holy day.

At least they got the madness part correct this year.  :awesome_for_real:

edit: Fuck you St. Mary's for crushing my dream.

Georgetown, Vandy and Marquette may have skullfucked my bracket.

Georgetown just ruined all of mine. I had them in the Elite 8 in every single bracket I filled out, and I think I had them in the Final 4 in one. On a more cheerful note, I am in first place after the first day. This is easily the latest I have ever held that distinction  :awesome_for_real:

I can probably take solace in that if Duke somehow manages to win the whole thing, I will win as no one else in either this contest or the pool I have at work has picked them to win.

Anyone else finding it immpossible to get the HD player from cbs today?

WTF Villanova?

Holy crap is the Big East laying a gigantic egg this year.

I am now cheering for UNI in hopes that they knock off Kansas. 

Holy Shit, Kansas. I think that killed the brackets of about half the folks here.

I'm completely done, but I don't care.  Watching Kansas lose to UNI was well worth it.

Tournament has been absolutely glorious so far.

Amen. Totally worth it.

This.

I had Pitt going way too far too. I think I can win my bracket if OSU and Baylor make it to Final Four, and Kentucky wins it all.

I think for the 3 guys left who haven't picked a team that's already knocked out in the bracket, if their team doesn't win it, it's wide open again. If Duke, Syracuse or West Virginia win, whoever picked them wins. If all of those teams are knocked out, it's up in the air again.

I think that this year looks like a perfect opportunity for Duke to win.  Kentucky is really the only team that I see giving them fits. 

Re: Duke, against a team that can actually match their size I think they will lose if Scheyer is as cold as he was against my Bears (1 for 11.)

Still another 87 minutes of work before I head home to watch the games and I am already getting a little nauseous and want to pace around the office.

Well, fuck. Not unexpected, but disappointing nontheless. Still decent season. I think Butler is my new fav team.

I scored a ticket to the Elite 8 game so was hoping Syracuse v. K State, but at least it wasn't Butler v. Xavier.

Damn Ohio State couldn't make a shot to save their ass all night.  Set up the fucking play already, dammit.

Wow, Tennessee is playing great defense.  First time in the Elite Eight!

Ugh, fuck Duke.

Spartans have an underrated coach and solid team, even without Lucas. They seem to know how to pull out W's.

Should be a fun final four.

Bleh. If that half-court heave goes in at the end one of the greatest stories in basketball history. Now, pfft.

Duke, bitches.  :awesome_for_real:

I'm mostly happy because I win $45 in my work pool.

Duke winning solidifies this as a random and forgettable tournament. In two years, we've gone from all #1's making the final four to complete grabassery. Was it a decent national championship? Sure, Butler stayed in the game...because Duke let them. There was no time on the court where I went, "Wow! This Butler team is better!"

Like I said...

I enjoyed the tourney.  Seeing two 5 seeds make it to the final 4 was a nice twist. 

Butler had every chance to win that game. They were doing a decent job rebounding and keeping Duke off-balance. Duke just happened to be the better team, a more talented team. Had Duke played against Butler like they played against West Virginia, it wouldn't have been close.

It's the same as in college football. The big, traditionally successful schools all too often beat the shit out of the lesser known schools. But at least Butler got there - I don't see a school that size making a BCS National Championship.

It's a lot easier to field a team of 7-10 players than 40+.  Football is a whole different animal for the small schools. 

The score is misleading. Butler played poorly. They only shot 35% from the field and had two starters go 0/8 from 3-point range. I keep thinking of a 4-on-2 fast break towards and end where one of the Butler players decided to pull back and shoot a three, which he bricked. As much as I wanted them to win, Butler's game was defined by poor decision making.

So long.. entire Kentucky roster.   (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/ncaa/04/07/wall.kentucky.NBA.ap/index.html?eref=sihp)  I wonder how long the Kentucky fans are going to put up with this.  Of course, he's going to get a John Wall/Derrick Rose/Tyreke Evans caliber player every year, which will make them just good enough to not win it all.

I don't see what's wrong with this.  The kids see their value peaking and want to turn it into a financial career.  When you attract highly skilled, scholarship athletes this is one of the potential pitfalls.  The fans should see this as a value-added feature of their program.  Good ball players will go to Kentucky even more now as they see it as a pipeline to enter the NBA.

Well, my problem with it is that before, the kids like Wall would go straight to the NBA out of high school (a la Lebron) but most would go for at least 2-3 years in the college game. As it is, you have Kallipari recruiting entire teams worth of one and done players. They are the best players in the country, but it turns the program on its ear every year. It's turned the NCAA tourney from a showcase of future stars to a whole bunch of mediocre teams competing with future NBA bench warmers.

Nothing wrong (how are you going to tell college student it's in his best interest to pass up millions?), it's just the system.  One and done rule is a waste now for the college game.  I imagine David Stern loves it, but the college basketball fan would probably rather see these kids just go straight to the NBA.  What Calipari is doing is similar to what we had at Arizona, but just on a larger (and more immediate) scale. 

Kentucky wants national championships. The superstar player gets you close, just not there.  I wonder if they're going to regret hiring Cal in the long run, but at least he isn't Billy Gillespie. 

This oddly makes me hate Duke less.  :ye_gods:

My solution is to create an NBA farm system.  Players of the highest caliber should be earning a living at the game rather than pretending to not be taking money while simultaneously pretending to be college students.  

This is my biggest issue. Agree.

I agree as well. I actually like the Euro footbally system that lets teenagers sign professional contracts and get paid for playing football. The NCAA is such a bunch of hypocritical fuckheads - kids can be paid for playing sports without damaging their status as student athletes.

Presumably the NBA's D league should function as a farm system.  However, the NBA wouldn't want to do this.  One-and-doners are free marketing for the NBA.  They get an entire college season to build up the next NBA superstar and hype the draft.

The NBA players collectively bargained for one-and-done because the mass influx of young talent out of highschool would shut out the older and higher paid players. The year in college inevitably exposes a few players who can't get the same cred and same money they would normally have gotten coming straight into the league. All this is good for the established player and his money.

The owners don't mind one-and-done either because it's a better evaluation point of a guy's potential talent. They get a free look at a guy without having to pay for a year on their team at high dollar amounts.

The NCAA doesn't mind one-and-done because they get massive hype in the actual tournament, where they make 90% of all their television revenues every year.

The players don't mind one-and-done because they don't need to win games for their team; they just have to look good doing it. There's no reason for them to rely on anyone else for their success.

The problem is that this attitude of following the quick money isn't working. CBS is losing their ass on the TV deal, because they totally overbid for it, and they want more revenue for their payment. Instead of letting CBS go, the NCAA wants to keep their cash cow by putting 96 teams into the tournament for more games. It's just a band-aid for the real issue that the NCAA is spending entirely too much for these programs, with most of the NCAA basketball teams in the non-football powerhouses essentially supporting the rest of their entire athletic program.

The idea of a 96 team bracket is  :uhrr: :ye_gods: to the extreme. I can only imagine the travesties of seeding and the slapdash nature of those first round games with that many more teams.

Imagine how awesome the NIT will be!   :why_so_serious:

I can't wait to see all those 4 - 25 teams battling on the hardwood.

They could always go with the college bowl logic and send almost half their teams to the tournament. Why stop at 96? Why not add the entire extra round for everyone and go 128? Better yet, let's play some #1's against the best high school teams from each state first.

Fuck all that. At the end of the season, all the conf champions meet up and play a game of HORSE to see who plays in the final game.