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Karlifornia 03-22-2009 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoopsguy (Post 1975166)
I don't see the fatigue thing coming into play - what has it been, 9 days since the double-OT game?


Agreed. One day off, and college kids should be good to go.

Karlifornia 03-22-2009 12:25 PM

Sendek gambled unsuccessfully, and now Pendergraph has to sit for a while with 4 fouls.

Get to know Eric Boateng, a Duke transfer who will probably always seem raw.

Karlifornia 03-22-2009 12:38 PM

ASU is in the bonus already, so they need to.....


go to the basket. Everytime.

adubroff 03-22-2009 12:49 PM

ASU can't get a couple stops in a row in this game to give them a chance, I wonder about pressing them even though Flynn handles it well, they can't stop them in half court enough.

adubroff 03-22-2009 01:20 PM

So much for ASU making that fun....I think Cuse has one more in them too, I think OK is vulnerable.

timmynausea 03-22-2009 01:22 PM

That game basically showed why Syracuse should've been better than they played most of the year. They have a lot of strength down low, one guard that can drive on anyone and another that isn't too far behind along with 2-3 guys that can consistently hit 3s. Plus their 2-3 zone is solid (though Paul Harris made a bunch of mistakes to keep leaving ASU's big guy open for 3s. Harris lead the Big East in dumb mistakes this year.) Looking at those pieces on paper, they should be a tough matchup for pretty much anyone, but they lose focus too often, and their depth is decent but not great.

Swaggs 03-22-2009 01:25 PM

Syracuse is as talented as anyone in the country when they want to play defense. Flynn is a top-notch all around PG, they have two excellent shooters (Rautins and Devedorf), three guys that are capable of slashing well, and enough big bodies to rotate in underneath. I think they are actually more well-rounded and better equipped, to make a long run, than most of the BE teams.

Swaggs 03-22-2009 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timmynausea (Post 1975190)
That game basically showed why Syracuse should've been better than they played most of the year. They have a lot of strength down low, one guard that can drive on anyone and another that isn't too far behind along with 2-3 guys that can consistently hit 3s. Plus their 2-3 zone is solid (though Paul Harris made a bunch of mistakes to keep leaving ASU's big guy open for 3s. Harris lead the Big East in dumb mistakes this year.) Looking at those pieces on paper, they should be a tough matchup for pretty much anyone, but they lose focus too often, and their depth is decent but not great.


Damn... you stole my thunder. ;)

I think Syracuse is really the most well-rounded Big East team offensively and they are capable of being one of the best defensively (when they choose to play it).

spleen1015 03-22-2009 01:32 PM

5 minutes in, Wisconsin 5, Xavier 2.

I remember all those years ago when Wisconsin made the Final Four. They won all of their games 44-40. It was fun to watch then. It is fun to watch now.

/wrists

Swaggs 03-22-2009 02:04 PM

ESPN is reporting that Dominic James will play for Marquette against Mizzou today. He had been out since late February with a broken foot. I'm sure he is probably not in great condition, but he has been a great player for them, so it is nice that he'll get to end his career playing, rather than injured and de-activated.

RedKingGold 03-22-2009 02:18 PM

I'll admit that I had Arizona State over Syracuse for reasons stated above. The Orange have just not played consistently this season.

Although my bracket is pretty much on life-support, at least I still have conference pride with at least five Big East teams probable to make the Sweet 16.

adubroff 03-22-2009 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swaggs (Post 1975215)
ESPN is reporting that Dominic James will play for Marquette against Mizzou today. He had been out since late February with a broken foot. I'm sure he is probably not in great condition, but he has been a great player for them, so it is nice that he'll get to end his career playing, rather than injured and de-activated.


I'm not sure how much he can play but if he's a solid contributor, they are a very live team today....

JonInMiddleGA 03-22-2009 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015 (Post 1975202)
5 minutes in, Wisconsin 5, Xavier 2.

I remember all those years ago when Wisconsin made the Final Four. They won all of their games 44-40.


You mean 2000?

I think it just seemed like they were scoring in the 40's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki2000_NCA...all_Tournament
R1 - Won 66-56 over Fresno State
R2 - Won 66-59 over Arizona
S16 - Won 61-48 over LSU
E8 - won 64-60 over Purdue
F4 - lost 53-41 to Michigan State

sterlingice 03-22-2009 03:14 PM

To be fair, I remember all of those being about 44-40 in my mind, too. Their games were just painful to watch ;)

SI

sterlingice 03-22-2009 03:20 PM

Damn! Cole Aldrich with a triple double with points, boards, and blocks

SI

mauchow 03-22-2009 03:20 PM

Well, Xavier capitalizing on a very uncharacteristic Badger team. Nobody is guarding their guys in transition thus leaving someone wide open for threes. It isn't looking good at this point being down by 8 without the ball. Going to take a small miracle.... 2 of 12 in threes today doesn't help but they've been contested so, that point goes to Xavier who has played pretty well today. Highly doubt the Badgers come back in this one, but I hope they do.

3:20 left, down by 8.

mauchow 03-22-2009 03:20 PM

Freakin' Hughes trying to do too much now.. lazy turnovers from him a lot today.

INDalltheway 03-22-2009 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauboy1 (Post 1975264)
Freakin' Hughes trying to do too much now.. lazy turnovers from him a lot today.

Hughes has been "LOL" terrible today. There goes my surprise sweet 16 team.

mauchow 03-22-2009 03:33 PM

Well, good game Xavier. Hopefully you guys can beat out Pitt so I can feel better about losing to someone who goes further in the tourney. :)

Good players on this team.

I am very sad to see Krabbenhoft have his last game as a senior end when he fouls out. He had a great four years as a Badger and we will likely never have another guy like him. Landry will be missed as well although I think he will be more easily replaceable than Krabby. We'll have some good talent coming in over the next few years.

And why aren't the Badgers fouling more to TRY to get back into it? That's not like Bo, really.

mauchow 03-22-2009 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by INDalltheway (Post 1975267)
Hughes has been "LOL" terrible today. There goes my surprise sweet 16 team.


He had an underrated first half as he was drawing fouls left and right... then the second half I don't know where he went. Fuckin' A.

INDalltheway 03-22-2009 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauboy1 (Post 1975269)
He had an underrated first half as he was drawing fouls left and right... then the second half I don't know where he went. Fuckin' A.

I agree he had a solid first half but he was just forcing way too much. Not the type of play I want out of my PG. I can't believe how he played after things stopped going his way.

Solecismic 03-22-2009 04:20 PM

I've stopped watching again. I hadn't seen the tournament in about 10-15 years, and I had forgotten why I stopped.

Now it's all coming back: CBS sucks. I had been watching a lot of basketball as the conference tournaments came into focus.

It's impossible to get into a CBS basketball telecast. Too many commercials. What's really galling is the full commercial time outs whenever there's a time out on the floor in the closing minutes of a game. You can't follow the game through that.

I also think it plays on the stamina of the players. Since every coaching time out and every four minutes of game time generates a four-minute break, players don't have to be in the same shape they were 20-30 years ago.

Today's players are bigger, stronger, and probably better outside shooters. But they wear down easily. It's a different game, and not in a good way.

Scoobz0202 03-22-2009 05:40 PM

If everything goes like it is going I will have 15 of my 16 Sweet Sixteen teams right. And the one I missed was Wake and I have them getting beat in the Sweet Sixteen anyways. Not too shabby.

fantom1979 03-22-2009 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solecismic (Post 1975287)
I've stopped watching again. I hadn't seen the tournament in about 10-15 years, and I had forgotten why I stopped.

Now it's all coming back: CBS sucks. I had been watching a lot of basketball as the conference tournaments came into focus.

It's impossible to get into a CBS basketball telecast. Too many commercials. What's really galling is the full commercial time outs whenever there's a time out on the floor in the closing minutes of a game. You can't follow the game through that.

I also think it plays on the stamina of the players. Since every coaching time out and every four minutes of game time generates a four-minute break, players don't have to be in the same shape they were 20-30 years ago.

Today's players are bigger, stronger, and probably better outside shooters. But they wear down easily. It's a different game, and not in a good way.


As a casual basketball fan, I have enjoyed CBS coverage. I don't know enough about basketball to know about how the coverage affects the players.

I thought that CBS is doing (and has done in the past) an excellent job of bouncing between games, and the scoreboard on the top of the screen is very informative, while not being in the way. I give major credit to CBS for allowing the games to be broadcast online.

mauchow 03-22-2009 06:00 PM

Basketball games are affected WAY too much by media. So much so that some of the breaks from the Badgers game in the first round were almost five minutes long. FIVE minutes. The reason? I don't know but I'd venture to guess CBS said, "HOLD ON, Siena and Ohio State are nearly over." The coverage for ME as a Badger fan was awful and I commented on it many times elsewhere. There is less than two minutes to go in a game and there are breaks reaching nearly five minutes.....that isn't basketball, I'm sorry. I enjoy college basketball so much and that's what pisses me off the most. I lose any enjoyment that I had going into the time out.

mauchow 03-22-2009 06:09 PM

Looks like we're in for a treat tonight with the final three games.

mauchow 03-22-2009 06:10 PM

I'm rooting for MSU, Siena, Marquette(even though as a Badger fan I never do..).

My bracket took a major shit today. Went from 97% on ESPN down to the 60's.... yuck

JonInMiddleGA 03-22-2009 06:25 PM

Oh wow, inbounds violation.

hoopsguy 03-22-2009 06:46 PM

It was a correct call, but that has to be a tough one to swallow for Marquette.

mauchow 03-22-2009 06:50 PM

Damn. No buzzer beaters in what could have been three great finishes.

kcchief19 03-22-2009 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoopsguy (Post 1975347)
It was a correct call, but that has to be a tough one to swallow for Marquette.

Don't know why CBS twice called it controversial other than for drama. It was a clear call. I'd be more upset that Demarre Carrol appeared draped all over the shooter at the end. That made me very nervous.

The Boise Demon's have been exorcised for the Tigers. Please stop showing the Tyus Edney shot.

Thomkal 03-22-2009 06:54 PM

whew was watching my bracket go up in smoke when Siena, Marquette took the lead back and USC was close.

Butter 03-22-2009 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterlingice (Post 1975262)
Damn! Cole Aldrich with a triple double with points, boards, and blocks

SI


Could've been a quadruple double, if they had called all those fouls he actually committed.

Thomkal 03-22-2009 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202 (Post 1975313)
If everything goes like it is going I will have 15 of my 16 Sweet Sixteen teams right. And the one I missed was Wake and I have them getting beat in the Sweet Sixteen anyways. Not too shabby.


Same with me-hey you copied my bracket! :)

Scoobz0202 03-22-2009 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomkal (Post 1975359)
Same with me-hey you copied my bracket! :)


Hehe.. What's your Final Four?

I got UConn beating Louisville, with North Carolina beating Nova. Uconn then taking it all.

kcchief19 03-22-2009 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solecismic (Post 1975287)
I've stopped watching again. I hadn't seen the tournament in about 10-15 years, and I had forgotten why I stopped.

Now it's all coming back: CBS sucks. I had been watching a lot of basketball as the conference tournaments came into focus.

It's impossible to get into a CBS basketball telecast. Too many commercials. What's really galling is the full commercial time outs whenever there's a time out on the floor in the closing minutes of a game. You can't follow the game through that.

I also think it plays on the stamina of the players. Since every coaching time out and every four minutes of game time generates a four-minute break, players don't have to be in the same shape they were 20-30 years ago.

Today's players are bigger, stronger, and probably better outside shooters. But they wear down easily. It's a different game, and not in a good way.

CBS has improved 50% from last year with the subtraction of Bill Packer.

I haven't noticed the breaks being more frequent. They do seem to take :30 or :60 second breaks during timeouts which are usually optional during regular season broadcasts. The final four-minute commercial break during the MU-MU game was four minutes though. Yikes.

A lot of the problems are the NCAA's fault. They are homogenizing and sanitizing the games within an inch of their lives. Next year, all the sites will even have the same courts because the NCAA is buying courts for all the sites. That's just way too controlling.

The players are stronger but I don't see a lot of differences in stamina -- guys still seem to play the same number of minutes and most teams still use the same depth of rotations. Most teams might go one man deeper and shave a few minutes off here, but compared to the dropoff in stamina of say baseball pitchers, college basketball players are like Cal Ripken.

My complaint with college basketball is too much reliance on the three-point shot. Watching teams that actually run offense and try to work the ball inside is a joy. But it seems like the college game is turning more and more into the NBA. If I wanted to watch the NBA, I would.

MizzouRah 03-22-2009 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcchief19 (Post 1975350)
Don't know why CBS twice called it controversial other than for drama. It was a clear call. I'd be more upset that Demarre Carrol appeared draped all over the shooter at the end. That made me very nervous.

The Boise Demon's have been exorcised for the Tigers. Please stop showing the Tyus Edney shot.


Those announcers were excruciating to listen too. Just call the f'n game...

After the first half, I was riding high.. but damn did Marquette make it an interesting game.. whew... very stressful.

We'll have our hands full with Memphis, but I'm happy to be here!

Groundhog 03-22-2009 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcchief19 (Post 1975365)
My complaint with college basketball is too much reliance on the three-point shot. Watching teams that actually run offense and try to work the ball inside is a joy. But it seems like the college game is turning more and more into the NBA. If I wanted to watch the NBA, I would.


It's easy to fall in to that trap, especially if you have a few guys who are really good shooters. I think come tourney time especially you see teams start to fall in to this trap. The mid-majors and below often don't have the size to work the ball inside against the higher-seeded teams, so they often have to hope they are hot from beyond the arc.

SirFozzie 03-22-2009 07:33 PM

The good thing about chalk advancing in the tourney is that I had 14 of 16 sweet 16 teams, and all 8 of my elite eight teams still in

panerd 03-22-2009 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah (Post 1975369)
Those announcers were excruciating to listen too. Just call the f'n game...

After the first half, I was riding high.. but damn did Marquette make it an interesting game.. whew... very stressful.

We'll have our hands full with Memphis, but I'm happy to be here!


Yeah there were a couple of times that you would have thought we were down like 20+ by how much they were praising Marquette and that was when we were still leading by 7! Wish I could listen to the radio and watch the game but it is furthar along than CBS. Even when they are praising Mizzou it is the same stories I have heard 1,000,000 times including inaccurate ones like Miguel Paul being related to Chris Paul.

Let's go Tigers!!!! That turnaround at the end changed the next 4 days at work from grueling to somewhat bearable. :)

Thomkal 03-22-2009 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202 (Post 1975361)
Hehe.. What's your Final Four?

I got UConn beating Louisville, with North Carolina beating Nova. Uconn then taking it all.


I have Louisville over UConn and Oklahoma over Duke. I have Gonzaga beating Carolina in the next round which will likely begin the unraveling of my bracket. Louisville winning it all

MJ4H 03-22-2009 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcchief19 (Post 1975365)
CBS has improved 50% from last year with the subtraction of Bill Packer.




miami_fan 03-22-2009 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcchief19 (Post 1975365)
My complaint with college basketball is too much reliance on the three-point shot. Watching teams that actually run offense and try to work the ball inside is a joy. But it seems like the college game is turning more and more into the NBA. If I wanted to watch the NBA, I would.


On the other hand, inside play can lead to a certain amount of physicality that has been looked down upon at all levels of basketball.

Karlifornia 03-22-2009 09:08 PM

I cannot wait for Gonzaga/UNC. That's like the championship game for me. At the beginning of the season, I stated in the college basketball thread that I thought Gonzaga was better than they have been. I picked them to win it all in my bracket. If they lose to UNC, then I'm just another wingnut, but if they win, then I'll be feeling vindicated and validated.

sterlingice 03-22-2009 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlifornia (Post 1975424)
I cannot wait for Gonzaga/UNC. That's like the championship game for me. At the beginning of the season, I stated in the college basketball thread that I thought Gonzaga was better than they have been. I picked them to win it all in my bracket. If they lose to UNC, then I'm just another wingnut, but if they win, then I'll be feeling vindicated and validated.


That's my "crazy" pick in my bracket, too. It was mainly based on the assumption that Lawson wouldn't be healthy but it's the tourney and those teams are a lot closer matched up than people want to believe.

SI

JonInMiddleGA 03-22-2009 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah (Post 1975369)
Those announcers were excruciating to listen too.


You think anybody on CBS this weekend has been bad? You should hear what ESPN has used during the women's tournament.

The guy doing the Tennessee-Ball State game keeps going on at length about this upset (Ball State leads by 10 with 4 minutes left, would be a 12 over a soft 5) sounds like somebody is about to beat one of the Wooden era UCLA teams.

It's pretty obvious that he hasn't watched this edition of the Lady Vols, they're quite capable of losing to anybody on any given night and were just 7-7 in their last 14. If it were this year's UConn team, okay, have a cow man. Heck, if UTSA manages to pull off the first ever 15-2 upset against Baylor, go crazy. But this? Ain't much of a shock to me or anybody who's been watching all year, even less than WKU over Illinois.

Wolfpack 03-22-2009 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirFozzie (Post 1975379)
The good thing about chalk advancing in the tourney is that I had 14 of 16 sweet 16 teams, and all 8 of my elite eight teams still in


Heh. I actually put in an entry on ESPN that was a straight chalk setup. Sadly, it's tied with one other bracket I've got for the lead amongst those I did submit. Most all my other brackets are lying in ruins at this point.

Groundhog 03-22-2009 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miami_fan (Post 1975410)
On the other hand, inside play can lead to a certain amount of physicality that has been looked down upon at all levels of basketball.


Yeah, that's what makes basketball such a tough sport to referee. As soon as teams start banging around inside the refs could pretty much call a foul every trip down the court. It really then comes down to the refs just calling the obvious fouls, or else every team's frontcourt would foul out in 5 minutes.

Nearly every slow motion replay I saw of guys scoring or rebounding inside the paint in today's games there was a foul of some kind from one of the teams. It really seems to me that pushing the player boxing out in the back isn't getting called as much as it should be, in particular.

spleen1015 03-22-2009 10:12 PM

First time in the history of the tournament that all of the 1-3 seeds have made it to the Sweet 16.

My brackets are shit. Only thing left is to root for Duke and against UNC.

Groundhog 03-22-2009 10:19 PM

My only complaint about some of the games I've caught is Bill Raftery. He annoys me in CH 2K8, and he annoys me when he does the colour commentary for real games even more. Does he just open up a thesaurus during random parts of the game and start reading out the entries under "strength" and "willpower" everytime any player does anything?

Groundhog 03-22-2009 10:20 PM

I have a 1, 2, 3 and 4 seed in my Final Four, so I'm all good. So far. Not very confident though.

spleen1015 03-22-2009 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA (Post 1975480)
You think anybody on CBS this weekend has been bad? You should hear what ESPN has used during the women's tournament.

The guy doing the Tennessee-Ball State game keeps going on at length about this upset (Ball State leads by 10 with 4 minutes left, would be a 12 over a soft 5) sounds like somebody is about to beat one of the Wooden era UCLA teams.

It's pretty obvious that he hasn't watched this edition of the Lady Vols, they're quite capable of losing to anybody on any given night and were just 7-7 in their last 14. If it were this year's UConn team, okay, have a cow man. Heck, if UTSA manages to pull off the first ever 15-2 upset against Baylor, go crazy. But this? Ain't much of a shock to me or anybody who's been watching all year, even less than WKU over Illinois.


First time Tennessee has lost in the 1st round.

Fire Pat Summit!!

JonInMiddleGA 03-22-2009 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015 (Post 1975496)
Fire Pat Summit!!


After this season they may not have to, any sane person in her situation would give serious consideration to retirement.

Only thing I can really put on Pat this year is some recruiting that didn't turn out as expected. The injury problems made a very tough situation even harder but I'd be shocked if all 7 of this year's freshmen were still in Knoxville next season, would be surprised if more than 4 of them were still around actually.

Tonight would have been closer if UT's only big, Kelley Cain, hadn't gone down with a knee injury in the first half after scoring 10 points early but I really don't know if having her would have made up the difference. Ball State wanted to play and win, something sorely lacking far too often in the orange jerseys this year. This crop of players seemed to think having the name across the front of the jersey was a substitute for effort and several of them seemed to never really get past that notion even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

MizzouRah 03-22-2009 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by panerd (Post 1975382)
Yeah there were a couple of times that you would have thought we were down like 20+ by how much they were praising Marquette and that was when we were still leading by 7! Wish I could listen to the radio and watch the game but it is furthar along than CBS. Even when they are praising Mizzou it is the same stories I have heard 1,000,000 times including inaccurate ones like Miguel Paul being related to Chris Paul.

Let's go Tigers!!!! That turnaround at the end changed the next 4 days at work from grueling to somewhat bearable. :)


It seemed very Marquette biased.. I'm like you though.. watching in HD, everything else is ahead of the game. I can't talk to my dad because his feed is behind mine and he yells before I know what has happened.

RainMaker 03-22-2009 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groundhog (Post 1975490)
My only complaint about some of the games I've caught is Bill Raftery. He annoys me in CH 2K8, and he annoys me when he does the colour commentary for real games even more. Does he just open up a thesaurus during random parts of the game and start reading out the entries under "strength" and "willpower" everytime any player does anything?


Thank you. I'm glad someone else dislikes this guy. I literally muted the game when he was announcing the other day. He is so worried about his catchphrases that he takes over the telecast.

The best announcers are the ones that you really don't know are there.

Young Drachma 03-22-2009 11:55 PM

In other women's tournament news, South Dakota State made the tourney for the first time and put a beating on TCU in the 1st round. (TCU vs. South Dakota State - Recap - March 22, 2009 - ESPN)

If the Mountain West was smart, it'd invite South Dakota State and North Dakota State to the conference as basketball-only members, coupled with an invitation for Boise State to join outright. Call their bluff, knowing good and well that they won't turn the invite down, because of what it'd do for all of the other sports in their program.

In any case...this program is well developed and plays like a well-oiled machine. If Baylor plays them like they did their first round game which they barely escaped against UT-San Antonio, they're going to be heading home much like Tennessee did today.

Now whether SD State will be able to go on a George Mason-like run is anyone's guess..but I'm telling you now not to be surprised if they go on a run, because their well-coached, are effective shooters and execute better than most of the teams in the country.

Thomkal 03-23-2009 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015 (Post 1975496)
First time Tennessee has lost in the 1st round.

Fire Pat Summit!!


woohoo Ball State! went to grad school there so I was cheering for them and actually picked them to win in the woman's bracket I did. Not really expecting them to win, but hey it's a 5/12 matchup against the weakest Tennessee team ever probably, so what the heck. Still pretty stunned they won.

Thomkal 03-23-2009 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA (Post 1975480)
You think anybody on CBS this weekend has been bad? You should hear what ESPN has used during the women's tournament.

The guy doing the Tennessee-Ball State game keeps going on at length about this upset (Ball State leads by 10 with 4 minutes left, would be a 12 over a soft 5) sounds like somebody is about to beat one of the Wooden era UCLA teams.

It's pretty obvious that he hasn't watched this edition of the Lady Vols, they're quite capable of losing to anybody on any given night and were just 7-7 in their last 14. If it were this year's UConn team, okay, have a cow man. Heck, if UTSA manages to pull off the first ever 15-2 upset against Baylor, go crazy. But this? Ain't much of a shock to me or anybody who's been watching all year, even less than WKU over Illinois.


Well yeah Tennessee has been struggling this season, but a struggling Tennessee is still a pretty good team. I can understand the announcers going on at length about it. First time Ball State is in the tourney, Tennessee has never lost in the first two rounds, won what like 7 national championships? Most would still expect Tennessee to win in a game like this.

larrymcg421 03-23-2009 06:55 AM

One of the more interesting NIT matchups in a while with St. Mary's facing Davidson.

Young Drachma 03-23-2009 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larrymcg421 (Post 1975596)
One of the more interesting NIT matchups in a while with St. Mary's facing Davidson.


Yep, out of plain view..just as the NCAA wanted.

;)

Young Drachma 03-23-2009 07:22 AM

Here's a piece on Eric Devendorf on being a dad and a student-athlete.


Young Drachma 03-23-2009 07:32 AM

CBI Quarter-finals
Charleston v. Richmond
Stanford v. Wichita State
Northeastern v. UTEP
Vermont v. Oregon State

CollegeInsider.com Tournament Quarter-Finals (CIT)
=========
James Madison (20-14) @ Liberty (22-11)
Belmont (20-12) @ Old Dominion (22-10)

Oakland (23-12) @ Bradley (19-14)
Idaho (17-15) @ Pacific (20-11)

Unlike the CBI tournament, teams in this tournament get their road expenses paid and the home teams get their take above $2850.

And in this tournament, they barred losing teams unlike the CBI.

No TV deal for this tournament until the championship game.

collegeinsider.com does a mid-major Top 25 poll during the year. So...they just fashioned this tournament to be like a mid-major NIT, whereas the CBI was losing records and teams with "names" playing.

JonInMiddleGA 03-23-2009 08:24 AM

First batch of preliminary TV ratings for the tournament are in, up 9% over last season nationally
The first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament may have been light on upsets, with virtually all the high seeds prevailing easily, but it was heavy on viewers.

Thursday’s opening-round coverage on CBS was up 9 percent compared to last year, according to Nielsen overnights, from an average 4.3 household rating and 10 share to a 4.7/10.

All but one of the day’s four windows of games saw improvement versus 2008, with the second afternoon telecast up 0.4, to a 3.7, the second-highest rating in the past four years, and the two primetime windows both up 0.5.

That wasn’t the only area where CBS saw year-to-year improvements. Its March Madness on Demand online platform recorded its best-ever opening-day traffic as well.

The site’s video player drew 2.7 million unique visitors, up 56 percent versus last year. Those visitors watched 2.8 million hours of live video and audio streaming, 65 percent better than last year.

Media Life Magazine - Solid early bounce for March Madness

I was curious to see those because just a little while ago I got the weekend numbers in detail for Atlanta which were very different, down game to game across the board in 25-54, significantly by Sunday (game 2 Sunday down 3.8 to 2.4, last game down from 4.2 to 3.5).

Curious thing I noticed too, all of the CBS lineup from 60 Minutes through Cold Case up in Atlanta by more than double vs last year, with 60 Minutes posting a 5.5 vs a 3.5 for the game while last year the game had a 4.2 that dropped to a 2.6. Downright peculiar looking stuff, even for a market that frequently runs contrary to the national numbers.

I imagine the games themselves probably account for the drop here, last year on Sunday you had Tennessee in the middle game, UNC in the finale while this year was Pittsburgh followed by Louisville.

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 08:50 AM

Just saw Dick Vitale say that the best matchup of the weekend was Duke-Villanova. Seriously? Good God.

Chubby 03-23-2009 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975647)
Just saw Dick Vitale say that the best matchup of the weekend was Duke-Villanova. Seriously? Good God.


Duke vs anybody would be his best matchup of the weekend

sterlingice 03-23-2009 09:02 AM

JIMGA- How's tv viewership in general this year? I thought cheap (or free) entertainment always got a boost in viewers/participants from a bad economy.

SI

JonInMiddleGA 03-23-2009 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterlingice (Post 1975655)
JIMGA- How's tv viewership in general this year? I thought cheap (or free) entertainment always got a boost in viewers/participants from a bad economy.


The latest study was released in late February, shows viewing up to 151 hours per month for the average viewer which is an all-time high.

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/...4q08_final.pdf

Several interesting tidbits in that study btw, including
31 percent of Internet activity occurs when consumers are also watching television.

At 7 hours, 11 minutes per month, “timeshifted TV” is watched at double the pace as video online. But young viewers (18-24) watch video on the Internet and on a DVR at the same rate: about 5 hours per month.

Men continue to watch video on mobile phones more than women, and women continue to watch video on the Internet and television more than men.

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 11:04 AM

Noticed an article in the Memphis newspaper where the writers and Memphis players were drawing the conclusion that their performance yesterday against the Maryland press in the second half will somehow equate to them breaking the Mizzou press. The fans on the fan boards seem to be following that lead.

This just in.......there's a big difference between a press run by a 10th seeded Williams-coached team and a press run by the 3rd seeded Anderson-coached team. No guarantees that Mizzou will win, but there's a huge difference between those two presses.

I'm concerned about the prep time that Calipari has in this matchup. It's a lot easier to get ready for Mizzou with 5 days of preparation than it is to do it in 24 hours, which is what the next team will have if Mizzou wins. Anderson's going to need to throw some wrinkles into the system just to keep Calipari guessing.

CleBrownsfan 03-23-2009 12:03 PM

anybody know where I can find out what game is going to be televised in my area on Thur/Fri.?

wade moore 03-23-2009 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA (Post 1975716)
The latest study was released in late February, shows viewing up to 151 hours per month for the average viewer which is an all-time high.

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/...4q08_final.pdf

Several interesting tidbits in that study btw, including
31 percent of Internet activity occurs when consumers are also watching television.

At 7 hours, 11 minutes per month, “timeshifted TV” is watched at double the pace as video online. But young viewers (18-24) watch video on the Internet and on a DVR at the same rate: about 5 hours per month.

Men continue to watch video on mobile phones more than women, and women continue to watch video on the Internet and television more than men.


The timeshifting numbers have to be a bit weird to really get value from. Is an all-out "average" really telling us that much? Because an average for someone that owns a DVR is clearly different from someone that doesn't own one. If you're in advertising, wouldn't you rather just know how many of them have a DVR and how often they use it?

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 12:28 PM

Interesting stat to chew on. These are the records of the Sweet 16 teams against the other Sweet 16 participants.........

North Carolina: 3-0
Arizona: 2-0
Louisville: 5-1
Xavier: 2-1
Pittsburgh: 3-2
Connecticut: 4-3
Villanova: 3-3
Duke: 2-2
Michigan State: 2-2
Missouri: 2-2
Syracuse: 3-6
Kansas: 2-4
Memphis: 1-2
Oklahoma: 1-2
Purdue: 1-3
Gonzaga: 0-3

GoldenEagle 03-23-2009 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975772)
Noticed an article in the Memphis newspaper where the writers and Memphis players were drawing the conclusion that their performance yesterday against the Maryland press in the second half will somehow equate to them breaking the Mizzou press. The fans on the fan boards seem to be following that lead.

This just in.......there's a big difference between a press run by a 10th seeded Williams-coached team and a press run by the 3rd seeded Anderson-coached team. No guarantees that Mizzou will win, but there's a huge difference between those two presses.

I'm concerned about the prep time that Calipari has in this matchup. It's a lot easier to get ready for Mizzou with 5 days of preparation than it is to do it in 24 hours, which is what the next team will have if Mizzou wins. Anderson's going to need to throw some wrinkles into the system just to keep Calipari guessing.


He was not comparing the two presses. He was simply stating Mike Anderson might want to think twice about pressing after Memphis literally shredded the Maryland press.

Memphis has the athletes and length that will tear almost any press apart. Very few people are successful at running with Memphis and winning. Memphis is something like 93-2 the past three years when scoring at least 75 points.

Ksyrup 03-23-2009 12:42 PM

I don't watch much basketball, but of course I enjoy March Madness - at least the first 4 days, anyway - but I have to say that at this point, I'm desperately pleading for 2 phrases to go away or a moratorium be placed on their usage for the next 3 weeks - "chalk" and "long."

/rant on

It seems like since last year's tournament, where all 4 #1 seeds made the Final Four, the term "chalk" has been increasingly thrown around, And right now, it's being overused so much I want to fucking kill somebody. ESPN.com has a headline "Sweet Chalkers." Every moment I turn on a game or sports radio, I hear someone telling me the tournament is chalk right now. Fuck you and your chalk. I hope the Trite Expressions guy is taking notes right now.

And same goes for long. For some reason, I associate this one with Jay Bilas, although I have no clue who started it. What was wrong with "dude is tall"? Why are basketball players "long"? If you're over 6 feet, chances are you're tall and have a long wingspan - that pretty much goes without saying. Why is a special term needed to describe that? It fucking annoys me to no end.

OK, I'm done for now.

/rant off

gstelmack 03-23-2009 12:46 PM

I had never heard the term "chalk" applied in this manner until this post and reading articles today. And I still have no clue what the heck it's supposed to mean. I think I'm better off for that.

Ksyrup 03-23-2009 12:51 PM

Have you not been watching the tournament? It's like every third word out of their mouths. As I understand it, it refers to all the games going the way of Vegas' favored betting lines - "taking the chalk" means picking the favorite to win. Perhaps the bettors here can vouch for that. But that's what I take it to mean. ESPN.com's Sweet Chalkers article is about how no Cinderella's have made the Sweet Sixteen. it's beyond fucking annoying to me for some reason. Maybe it's because EVERYBODY and their mother is using the term all of a sudden.

JonInMiddleGA 03-23-2009 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksyrup (Post 1975856)
What was wrong with "dude is tall"? Why are basketball players "long"? If you're over 6 feet, chances are you're tall and have a long wingspan - that pretty much goes without saying. Why is a special term needed to describe that? It fucking annoys me to no end.


I tend to think of "long" as different than someone who plays "wide" (which you rarely, if ever, hear) although the two players are the same height. Their reach or wingspan is part of the equation but I think it often gets applied with consideration to physical style as well. Big men who block your shot when you come to them aren't generally long. Bigs who get blocks and/or rebounds that require them coming to you/the ball are the ones I think of as "long".

From the tournament, just going with examples I'm familiar with, Tennessee's Wayne Chism at 6'9 242 sometimes plays long. UT's Brian Williams at 6'10" 267 (generously) does not. 6'7's Tyler Smith & J.P. Prince also appear "long" at times while 6'8 Renaldo Woolridge definitely doesn't.

JonInMiddleGA 03-23-2009 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksyrup (Post 1975863)
Have you not been watching the tournament? It's like every third word out of their mouths. As I understand it, it refers to all the games going the way of Vegas' favored betting lines - "taking the chalk" means picking the favorite to win.


I thought it simply meant the higher seed consistently advancing, nothing to do with the betting lines. As in the "chalk" lines of the bracket.

MJ4H 03-23-2009 01:03 PM

I cringe every time a player is on the bench "getting a blow."

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksyrup (Post 1975863)
As I understand it, it refers to all the games going the way of Vegas' favored betting lines - "taking the chalk" means picking the favorite to win. Perhaps the bettors here can vouch for that.


In the old days of sports betting in Vegas, the favorite in each matchup would be written on the board in chalk. So if you took the favorite, you were 'betting the chalk'.

I have no clue why its use is suddenly so prevelant given that it's a relatively old term.

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle (Post 1975851)
He was not comparing the two presses. He was simply stating Mike Anderson might want to think twice about pressing after Memphis literally shredded the Maryland press.

Memphis has the athletes and length that will tear almost any press apart. Very few people are successful at running with Memphis and winning. Memphis is something like 93-2 the past three years when scoring at least 75 points.


Here's what happened the last time that Memphis faced a Mike Anderson-led team.......

Tigers Fall On The Road To UAB - MEMPHIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

As far as stats go, it's hard to take them seriously when we're talking about Conference USA. Any one of the top 4 seeds in this tournament would have had little trouble putting up huge numbers if they were in Conference USA instead of Memphis. Memphis struggled against the 15 seed and beat a 10 seed. They really still haven't faced anyone in this tournament.

JonInMiddleGA 03-23-2009 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975874)
In the old days of sports betting in Vegas, the favorite in each matchup would be written on the board in chalk. So if you took the favorite, you were 'betting the chalk'.

I have no clue why its use is suddenly so prevelant given that it's a relatively old term.


A similar discussion elsewhere on the interwebs narrows it down to horse racing.
Might be right, might be wrong, but makes a certain amount of sense.
http://boards.ign.com/college_basket.../161289032/p1/

edit to add: Same conclusion tentatively offered here as well, narrowing it even further to British horse racing
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1251

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA (Post 1975881)
A similar discussion elsewhere on the interwebs narrows it down to horse racing.
Might be right, might be wrong, but makes a certain amount of sense.
http://boards.ign.com/college_basket.../161289032/p1/


That's correct. It's the same concept. Just betting on horses instead of teams. Chalkboards were used for all of that stuff because the odds were being changed pretty often.

Dr. Sak 03-23-2009 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ4H (Post 1975872)
I cringe every time a player is on the bench "getting a blow."


I giggle

Logan 03-23-2009 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ4H (Post 1975872)
I cringe every time a player is on the bench "getting a blow."


During the Pitt-Ok State game, Bill Raftery must have said "he took a bang from the rear" about a dozen times.

gstelmack 03-23-2009 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksyrup (Post 1975863)
Have you not been watching the tournament? It's like every third word out of their mouths.


I've been in-and-out watching the games, but with my parents in town I didn't get to watch many of the Saturday / Sunday games, so didn't watch much as the trend built. I've certainly been reading the term enough today though. I'm with you.

GoldenEagle 03-23-2009 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975880)
Here's what happened the last time that Memphis faced a Mike Anderson-led team.......

Tigers Fall On The Road To UAB - MEMPHIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

As far as stats go, it's hard to take them seriously when we're talking about Conference USA. Any one of the top 4 seeds in this tournament would have had little trouble putting up huge numbers if they were in Conference USA instead of Memphis. Memphis struggled against the 15 seed and beat a 10 seed. They really still haven't faced anyone in this tournament.


That is incorrect. The last time Memphis played a Mike Anderson coached team, they won 57-46 in the CUSA tournament.

You really should do a little more fact checking before posting, but can we ever expect that out of you?

Your argument of them not facing anyone in this tournament applies to almost every team in the sweet 16. That is one of the benefits of getting a high seed, you know?

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-23-2009 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle (Post 1975913)
That is incorrect. The last time Memphis played a Mike Anderson coached team, they won 57-46 in the CUSA tournament.

Your argument of them not facing anyone in this tournament applies to almost every team in the sweet 16. That is one of the benefits of getting a high seed, you know?


Obviously, I checked the regular season, hence the reason for the oversight.

Actually 11 of the Sweet 16 teams have beat a single digit seed at this point. So most of the survivors have already played a tough team at this point. The teams that have not faced anyone better than a 10 seed are.......

Kansas
Michigan State
Memphis
Xavier
Oklahoma

Xavier and Memphis are the obvious teams that have something to prove at this point because they were in much weaker conferences than the other teams and haven't faced much competition in the first two rounds. We'll see how they fare in the next two games.

JPhillips 03-23-2009 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ4H (Post 1975872)
I cringe every time a player is on the bench "getting a blow."


Duke had a lot of problems with their ball squirting out.

sterlingice 03-23-2009 02:25 PM

Let's go revisit some of what I posted early in the thread as predictions:

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterlingice (Post 1969372)
I have 23 "gut" picks so far that I'm pretty happy with, tho in pencil so far and subject to change. The rest I'll need to read up some more and once I have the whole previous part of the bracket filled out, then I can do the last 7 games (I always seem to do my bracket as "sub-regions").

Midwest
Louisville and Michigan State seem to be on a collision course. I have Wake and Kansas winning their first games but that's all I have so far in this bracket. I really worry about Kansas's second game against WVU so I just can't do that one at all yet. Also, I have to look at Utah/Arizona.

Guess I didn't have to worry about WVU. Whoops on Wake- still, no one really had that one. I actually had Cleveland State in my upset bracket. But I also had Arizona State and Washington in the Elite 8 there so take that for what it's worth.

West
I have the top 4 all winning their first game and Memphis winning their second. That's it. I could see Mizzou making some real noise here but I don't know much about Marquette. I also don't see UConn making the Final Four- they have to lose somewhere in the bracket because they aren't the same without Dyson.

UConn is looking strong, but last I checked, you don't get to carry over your margin of victory to the next game so what you've done so far means nothing for the next game.

East
I have Pitt winning 2 but I worry about a potential match with Florida St. Duke and Nova winning their first games are easy, too. But, like Radii said- the bottom half of this one is pretty tough. I don't think we can just write in VCU as a perfect token upset like everyone on ESPN liked. And I really think Nova has a pretty easy first two with home games in Philly but I want to look at Nova vs VCU/UCLA before "inking it", so to speak. Similarly, Duke has a lot of warts so I need to see how this goes before advancing them too far.

Didn't have the hard matches done at this point so everything was correct so far.

South
The top half is easy. Carolina wins twice, tho their second game is interesting. I like Western Kentucky over Illinois but the Zags will beat either of them after beating the Zips. As I said above, the only thing I can figure out in the second half of that bracket is OU winning their first game.

Correct on all counts here. Wasn't very deep, tho.

So, there's my preliminary bracket- maybe 1/3rd done...

SI


This was a basic skeleton and pretty much was right except for the Midwest. Still, with a rough sketch, everything should be pretty much correct since I was only writing in things I was "sure" about.

The other post I had won't have much clarification until after the next pair of rounds so I'll check that out this time next week.

SI

DataKing 03-23-2009 02:39 PM

A few observations of mine from this past weekend (apologies if any of this has already been discussed, but I don't have time to read the whole thread up to this point):

1. I do have to toot my own horn just a little bit. For the first time in my life, I went 16-for-16 after the first weekend (and that's on just 1 bracket...I'm not one of those people who fills out 374 brackets and then claims genius when one of them turns out good).
2. Is it just me, or is Gus Johnson less annoying than in years past? Has Captain Overreaction toned things down a bit this year? Perhaps Len Elmore (one of my favorite broadcasters) is having a good influence.
3. I was pretty impressed with the video quality of MMOD.
4. I found it funny that for 3-days straight, drama seemed to build over the course of the day, so the last games of the day were the closest and most exciting. On Friday night, at one point, two different games were in OT at the same time. At one point Sunday night, the three games going on simultaneously had a combined point differential of five.
5. Overall, a very good opening weekend to the tournament. I enjoyed it (as always).
6. This was probably pointed out yesterday, but I do have to point out the monster performance by Cole Aldrich against Dayton. Granted, Dayton doesn't have a legit low-post player, but still: 13 points, 20 boards, 10 BLOCKS!!! :eek: Cole is the first guy since Shaq to have a blocks triple-double in the tournament.

Butter 03-23-2009 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DataKing (Post 1975971)
6. This was probably pointed out yesterday, but I do have to point out the monster performance by Cole Aldrich against Dayton. Granted, Dayton doesn't have a legit low-post player, but still: 13 points, 20 boards, 10 BLOCKS!!! :eek: Cole is the first guy since Shaq to have a blocks triple-double in the tournament.


This was also pointed out yesterday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69 (Post 1975354)
Could've been a quadruple double, if they had called all those fouls he actually committed.


GoldenEagle 03-23-2009 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975942)
Obviously, I checked the regular season, hence the reason for the oversight.

Actually 11 of the Sweet 16 teams have beat a single digit seed at this point. So most of the survivors have already played a tough team at this point. The teams that have not faced anyone better than a 10 seed are.......

Kansas
Michigan State
Memphis
Xavier
Oklahoma

Xavier and Memphis are the obvious teams that have something to prove at this point because they were in much weaker conferences than the other teams and haven't faced much competition in the first two rounds. We'll see how they fare in the next two games.


You are really grasping for straws here. Memphis demolished a team from the ACC. Your argument is that North Carolina and Duke really have not played anyone in the first two rounds, but because they played in the ACC they are battle tested.

:confused:

DataKing 03-23-2009 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69 (Post 1975976)
This was also pointed out yesterday.


Funny.

Radii 03-23-2009 02:56 PM

I'd like to propose that no one but Mizzou B-Ball fan and GoldenEagle be allowed to post in this thread between now and Thursday, unless it is to incite/egg on one of the two of them.

Its possible that the next 3 days between these two in this thread could be the best thing to ever happen on a messageboard ever.

gstelmack 03-23-2009 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii (Post 1975983)
I'd like to propose that no one but Mizzou B-Ball fan and GoldenEagle be allowed to post in this thread between now and Thursday, unless it is to incite/egg on one of the two of them.

Its possible that the next 3 days between these two in this thread could be the best thing to ever happen on a messageboard ever.


I dunno, the Flasch BF/GF/1R thread that introduced flere diagrams and the Maximum Football threads are pretty high bars to attain, but I'm willing to go along for the ride to see where this one goes...

LoneStarGirl 03-23-2009 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii (Post 1975983)
I'd like to propose that no one but Mizzou B-Ball fan and GoldenEagle be allowed to post in this thread between now and Thursday, unless it is to incite/egg on one of the two of them.

Its possible that the next 3 days between these two in this thread could be the best thing to ever happen on a messageboard ever.


lol :popcorn:

sterlingice 03-23-2009 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii (Post 1975983)
I'd like to propose that no one but Mizzou B-Ball fan and GoldenEagle be allowed to post in this thread between now and Thursday, unless it is to incite/egg on one of the two of them.

Its possible that the next 3 days between these two in this thread could be the best thing to ever happen on a messageboard ever.


:D

SI

Warhammer 03-23-2009 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975772)
Noticed an article in the Memphis newspaper where the writers and Memphis players were drawing the conclusion that their performance yesterday against the Maryland press in the second half will somehow equate to them breaking the Mizzou press. The fans on the fan boards seem to be following that lead.

This just in.......there's a big difference between a press run by a 10th seeded Williams-coached team and a press run by the 3rd seeded Anderson-coached team. No guarantees that Mizzou will win, but there's a huge difference between those two presses.

I'm concerned about the prep time that Calipari has in this matchup. It's a lot easier to get ready for Mizzou with 5 days of preparation than it is to do it in 24 hours, which is what the next team will have if Mizzou wins. Anderson's going to need to throw some wrinkles into the system just to keep Calipari guessing.


Don't forget Calipari had what, 2 games a year for 4/5 years against Anderson at UAB? Its not so much that Maryland success = Mizzou success as it is that they know Anderson's system. If they could adapt to Maryland's press on the fly, they should be able to beat the Mizzou press if they know it is coming and have time to prep for it.

That said, the team in CUSA that has given Memphis the most trouble over the last 10 years were those Anderson coached UAB teams.

Warhammer 03-23-2009 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan (Post 1975942)
Obviously, I checked the regular season, hence the reason for the oversight.

Actually 11 of the Sweet 16 teams have beat a single digit seed at this point. So most of the survivors have already played a tough team at this point. The teams that have not faced anyone better than a 10 seed are.......

Kansas
Michigan State
Memphis
Xavier
Oklahoma

Xavier and Memphis are the obvious teams that have something to prove at this point because they were in much weaker conferences than the other teams and haven't faced much competition in the first two rounds. We'll see how they fare in the next two games.


Uh... This means what? Maryland beat Cal which was a #7 seed. So if they played a team that lost they would have proven something? Memphis came out of the gate poorly this year. They went 6-3, losing to Xavier (neutral site), Syracuse (home), and a Georgetown (road) team that fell apart a month after they played Memphis. After those three losses, Calipari changed the lineup and Evans moved to PG. Since then, they have won every game, including going on the road and demolishing Gonzaga.

Have they had an easier road than other teams in their conference? Sure. But they have won those games. They won every single one of them. How many times do top teams stumble at some point in the season? They have not, that counts for something. Is this team the best Memphis team in the last 4 years? No, they are probably the third best, but unlike previous seasons, there are probably 10 teams that could win this thing, and Memphis is one of them.

Mizzou B-ball fan 03-24-2009 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warhammer (Post 1976216)
Uh... This means what? Maryland beat Cal which was a #7 seed. So if they played a team that lost they would have proven something? Memphis came out of the gate poorly this year. They went 6-3, losing to Xavier (neutral site), Syracuse (home), and a Georgetown (road) team that fell apart a month after they played Memphis. After those three losses, Calipari changed the lineup and Evans moved to PG. Since then, they have won every game, including going on the road and demolishing Gonzaga.


The Cal loss was an unfortunate one. With their outside shooting, they definitely had a much better opportunity to beat Memphis as I mentioned before that game when I said Memphis should root for Maryland to win.

Memphis is a good team and Calipari has been playing the 'no one respects us' card in the meetings and pep talks. It almost resulted in a first round loss, but hopefully for Memphis, they've learned from that situation. The key will obviously be Mizzou's defense by Tiller and Taylor. If they rattle Evans early, Memphis is in big trouble. If Evans only gives up 1-2 turnovers, it's good for Memphis.

For Mizzou, if Lawrence or English gets hot, it's going to be a rough night for Memphis.


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