March Madness

[Triforcer]

I picked my brackets in five minutes with literally no knowledge of anything whatsoever from this season except the seeds (and knowing basic truisms like not picking 16 seeds), and am currently in the 96th percentile on the ESPN challenge and first in my office pool, having picked the EKU, Arizona, and Dayton upsets and getting 26 of the first 32 games  Nobody can win these things consistently, its just dumb luck.

[Raging Turtle]

ON WISCONSIN!  I love waking up to go news in the morning. 

... I didn't even fill out a bracket.   

[EWSpider]

I'm pretty hosed with FSU and W. Virginia losing last night.  QQ

[Paelos]

This tournament is setting records again. This is the first time ever that every 1-3 seed has advanced to the Sweet 16 in every bracket. The highest seed, oddly enough, is Arizona. Yeah, that team that quite a few of us, including myself, questioned even being in the tournament at all.

Go figure. 

[chargerrich]

Can someone post the F13 bracket standings? I cannot get to them at work 

[Nebu]

This tournament is setting records again. This is the first time ever that every 1-3 seed has advanced to the Sweet 16 in every bracket. The highest seed, oddly enough, is Arizona. Yeah, that team that quite a few of us, including myself, questioned even being in the tournament at all.

Go figure. 

Yeah... I screwed up.  I may have picked the loser of every close game this year.  Seems the way to win was picking the highest seed in nearly every matchup.

I hope the next round will change that. 

Here are the standings.
1 Fuck Duke   40 of 48
2 Chargerrich1   39 of 48 
3 Zar Ball   38 of 48 
4 The Biggest Dance   38 of 48 
4 The Ol' PeaCH Basket  l 37 of 48
6 Hoax   36 of 48
6 Kilt Wavers   36 of 48
8 Paelos Bracket  36 of 48 
8 [ ]  bunktavious 36 of 48
10 Joe Lunardi sucks.  35 of 48
10 Nebu 35 of 48

[Mr_PeaCH]

Rank   Bracket                                    Correct     Pts     Possible Pts
1    Fuck Duke             itinker88    40 of 48    55    183
2    Chargerrich1         chargerrich    39 of 48    53    177
3    Zar Ball                 barrister090    38 of 48    52    180
4    Biggest Dance      jayprankin    38 of 48    50    178
4    PeaCH Basket       pchartwell    37 of 48    50    174
6    Hoax                   hoaxmarik    36 of 48    49    177
6    Kilt Wavers           Gary Ballard    36 of 48    49    165
8    Paelos Bracket *    Ben            36 of 48    48    176
8    [ ]                       bunktavious    36 of 48    48    172
10    Joe Lunardi sucks.  rasix2176    35 of 48    46    174

Fuck Duke is looking very strong with 15 of 16 still in place.  (And a shout-out to Rasix for having Arizona in his 16.)

[Paelos]

My fate rides on UNC winning it all. Should that happen, I think I'm gonna win the whole damn show.

Otherwise, not a chance in hell.

[Nebu]

My fate rides on UNC winning it all. Should that happen, I think I'm gonna win the whole damn show.

Only if Louisville goes to the final as well.  They didn't look so great this weekend.

[chargerrich]

Rank   Bracket                                    Correct     Pts     Possible Pts
1    Fuck Duke             itinker88    40 of 48    55    183
2    Chargerrich1         chargerrich    39 of 48    53    177
3    Zar Ball                 barrister090    38 of 48    52    180
4    Biggest Dance      jayprankin    38 of 48    50    178
4    PeaCH Basket       pchartwell    37 of 48    50    174
6    Hoax                   hoaxmarik    36 of 48    49    177
6    Kilt Wavers           Gary Ballard    36 of 48    49    165
8    Paelos Bracket *    Ben            36 of 48    48    176
8    [ ]                       bunktavious    36 of 48    48    172
10    Joe Lunardi sucks.  rasix2176    35 of 48    46    174

Sweet I am still in it...whats the prize again? 

[Paelos]

My fate rides on UNC winning it all. Should that happen, I think I'm gonna win the whole damn show.

Only if Louisville goes to the final as well.  They didn't look so great this weekend.

A few top seeds had some issues besides Louisville. Michigan State, Missou, Pitt, and Oklahoma all played in pretty close games. I also think Syracuse didn't look impressive in their win over Arizona State.

[Zar]

Missou

I see this all the time in various forums and sometimes in the national press, and it drives me nuts.  The University of Missouri basketball team may be referred to as Missouri or Mizzou, but not Missou.  Thank you for your understanding.

In other news, Go Mizzou!  I am most likely screwed if they don't defeat Memphis, but I have to stick up for my homeboys.

[Paelos]

Missou

I see this all the time in various forums and sometimes in the national press, and it drives me nuts.  The University of Missouri basketball team may be referred to as Missouri or Mizzou, but not Missou.  Thank you for your understanding.

In other news, Go Mizzou!  I am most likely screwed if they don't defeat Memphis, but I have to stick up for my homeboys.

You can easily see where the error would get made, given that there are actually no Z's in there. However, I'll cut you some slack anyway because we spell our mascot Bulldawgs.

[Nebu]

A few top seeds had some issues besides Louisville. Michigan State, Missou, Pitt, and Oklahoma all played in pretty close games. I also think Syracuse didn't look impressive in their win over Arizona State.

Of those you have listed, I think Pitt and Louisville have the best shot at the championship.  Then again... I'm not sure that I've shown that I know what I'm talking about.  Funny thing, this year the experts are doing terrible in their brackets.  It's historic how many top seeds are following their path.  I should probably take this opportunity to cheer for Arizona, right?

[chargerrich]

I have Memphis and Pitt going to the championship with the Tigers winning. However, after watching the games, I would have to say UConn has looked the strongest and Pitt has looked, meh.

Pitt also lost to UConn twice this year, but I thought they might have their number in the dance, not sure now, Thabeet is a beast!

[Paelos]

Missouri is MURDERING Memphis right now. 57-38 with 18 minutes left. Good lord, it doesn't even look like Memphis has a chance right now.

[Zar]

M-I-Z!

Z-O-U!

[Zar]

Although my bracket will not fare particularly well tonight as I have Duke going to the Final Four.

[Paelos]

Both late games today were embarrassing. Duke got absolutely stomped, which was hilarious to watch. Memphis just never showed up, which was less entertaining.

[Rasix]

Fuck Duke.  Always a highlight of the tournament to see them exit.

[Nebu]

Both late games today were embarrassing. Duke got absolutely stomped, which was hilarious to watch. Memphis just never showed up, which was less entertaining.

I called one correctly... not so great on the other. 

Put a fork in me.  I'm done.

[EWSpider]

Same for me.  I called the Mizzou "upset" only to watch Duke get curb stomped.  Bugger.

[Paelos]

I basically have to be right on Kansas beating Michigan State, 3 #1 seeds making it to the final four, and UNC winning it all.

Then, I win. 

[HaemishM]

Yep, I'm fucked. Memphis shit the bed. Well, not exactly, the first 10-15 minutes was a good game. And that Tyreke Evans kid is a goddamn ball handling monster. Way too many drives right down the middle where I was sure he'd just fumbled the ball but he'd just switched hands and BLAM in the net. The rest of Memphis, however, looked like they couldn't play their way out of a paper bag. How many fucking free throws could you miss? If they'd have hit half of those missed free throws, it's a tie game or a win. Their perimeter shooting was awful. I don't think I've ever seen a gameplan like Mizzou brought out, but it worked a treat. You could tell they were getting tired after all the chasing in the second half, but their defense was just stifling.

Now, Duke... they never showed up.

Pittsburgh looked like shit. Matter of fact, both Pitt and Xavier looked like shit, Pitt just got lucky at the end. That was some terrible stinky shooting in that game.

[Rasix]

Memphis would do a lot better if Calapari recruited some actual basketball players and not just pogo sticks.  Their lack of solid fundamentals hurts them badly every year and cost them a championship last year.  Athleticism doesn't hit free throws. 

Might help them to play in a real conference.  Playing a higher level of competition during the year could provide better prep that steamrolling Tulsa.

[Rasix]

Their recent slide could have kept them out, but the injury bug didn't help.  Still, there's a lot of quality wins and those tend to hold water throughout the season.  And we'll lift the curse and beat Utah.  If we manage to make it to Louisville, they'll beat us by 30.

 

[Paelos]

Both of the early games were pitiful. Oklahoma just basically said, "Big East? What's that again?" to Syracuse. Louisville bitchslapped Arizona in a laugher as we all expected. I'm hoping upon hope that the same high seed over low seed logic applies to the UNC game. I'd love that one to be a stomping of the Zags.

[WayAbvPar]

0/4 Final Four. Can someone remove the giant fork stuck in my back? TIA

[Paelos]

I had UNC, which is all that matters! 

[Zar]

 

I await my honorary honors.

Also, this just goes to prove that picking these things is a complete crapshoot.  I didn't follow college basketball whatsoever this year until near the end when I learned Missouri was doing pretty well.  My selection process consisted of picking the higher seed in all but a few randomly chosen games, and picking Missouri to go one round rather than expected by the pundits, just because Missouri and the Big 12 in general got no love this year from the national press.

[Nebu]

Congrats sir.  I get to be the bridesmaid this year. 

[Mandrel]

Wow, my picks sucked.  I honestly can't think of a year that I cared less about college basketball though.  I filled out my bracket in about 2 minutes, just to get something in.  I don't know when I really stopped giving a real crap about the tourney.  Might relate to the year I spent in Raleigh, and all those crazy hoop heads down there.

[Paelos]

It's hard to give a crap about the tournament recently when there are so few teams that actually have a chance. Where were the big upsets this year? Arizona? I don't think you can call Michigan State upsetting people from a #2 seed. Also, at no point did I think that UNC was going to ever lose. Nobody even got close to them.