You forget Findlay/Cal somebody at 1:00 EDT

Go Oilers!! :p

My alma mater (Gannon University), who use to be in the GLIAC with Findlay...lost (in the elite 8) to the team that Findlay beat in the Final Four

I guess people just need to have thicker skin is all... :D

They were up by 11 at halftime vs Marquette, 24 vs Memphis.. I mean seriously... great teams will make their runs and come back. It's not like Mizzou let Savannah St. come back after leading big time at halftime.

They are playing QUALITY TOP TIER PROGRAMS.

Umm ... I'm not sure I'd sell that quite so hard. Pretty good teams compared to the rest of this year's field, okay.

{or were you being saracastic and it went over my head}

Somehow I don't understand your definition of outplayed. Leading a team for 37+ minutes of the game is outplayed? Okay? Trailing the game and making a mistake costs you the game, not the fact that you are trailing? Okay? At least you show that you watched the 2 minutes of the game that CBS probably switched to in your part of the country.

Duke played well in the 4 minutes I saw in their game last night also. Guess Nova got lucky!

MBBF is why I was so terrified last night of the game I couldn't watch the first half. I was just sure we were going to get spanked as some sort of karmic retribution for the mouth-running.

I'm thrilled to see Missouri get to the Elite Eight - I felt like they were good enough to get this far - but I don't expect them to get much further. I would dance for joy at a Final Four appearance, especially if it was Mizzou/Kansas for a trip to the championship, but if we lose to UConn it'll be hard to be disappointed with the season...unless we just totally shit the bed.

Ya outplayed. You play what 10 guys full court non stop??? Marquette plays what 6, 7 guys and that was with James that game so feel free to subtract one player.....

You made 8 more baskets got out rebounded by 10 total, gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and had 23 fouls, and won by 4, and even that was controversial.

I loved Carrol fouling a three point shooter at the end of the game. Intelligent play there.......

Wow, you are either a Marquette fan or an idiot. (If you are a Marquette fan, I understand you are grapsing at straws) No reason to even continue a rational discussion though.

Davidson has 1 player, UNC has what 10? UNC should only play 1 against Davidson.

Marqutte shot more 3-pointers, hence less shots. That never happens. We got called for a shitload of fouls. Again, our fault for winning right? It's not even logic. Just dumb.

As much as I love Mizzou check out these futures bets to win the tournament on BoDog. You can't go wrong with UConn or UNC can you? I don't think these even remotely close to Vegas right now... (Mizzou is very strangely really low)

Arizona
65/1

Connecticut
24/5

Gonzaga
25/1

Kansas
20/1

Louisville
5/1

Michigan State
20/1

Missouri
12/1

North Carolina
19/5

Oklahoma
14/1

Pittsburgh
13/2

Syracuse
18/1

Villanova
10/1

Compare that to Vegas before they even played last night!!!

North Carolina 2/1
Connecticut 13/5
Louisville 7/2
Pittsburgh 4/1
Memphis 8/1
Duke 8/1
Kansas 15/1
Michigan State 15/1
Syracuse 15/1
Villanova 15/1
Oklahoma 15/1
Missouri 25/1
Gonzaga 25/1
Arizona 50/1

Your right, Im an idiot for bringing stats to explain stuff.

You got outworked on the boards, fouled too much, shot more, made more... and still almost lost.....

From a coaching perspective, you got outworked, especially since you play more guys and should have had that advantage..... But your right no reason to continue.

From I have read today, it is time for the UK boosters to open up the wallets. It may take making Billy Donovan the highest paid coach in the country to get him to come to Kentucky. Evidently, Rupp Arena has not be kept up and will look even worse when Louisville opens their new arena next year.

Now ESPN is reporting that Donovan will not be a candidate. I think that is best. Go get Travis Ford and let him grow with the program.

I'm still curious how if Marquette was able to inbound the ball properly against Mizzou they were going to be awarded 3 points. Must be some rule that I'm not aware of, where if you are down by 2 in the final seconds and you can inbound the ball you get awarded 3 points. Pretty neat rule if you ask me.

From ESPN article

Your right cause they didnt have enough time to get off a 2 with 5.5 seconds left........ Why dont you add something to the debate like panerd has instead of just being a dick.

The radio station I was listening to on the way home reported that a tv station down in Florida is already reporting that Donovan has accepted the UK job. They went on to spend the next hour talking about it like it was reality.

So, I'm thinking damn, that was quick only to come home and there's nothing about it nationally.

Idiots.

You specifically said:

I'm just asking how you are so sure they would've won if he would've inbound the ball. Even if they raced down the floor and tied it, they still could've lost in OT. Its not like the game was tied and that mistake allowed Mizzou to take the lead. The odds of Marquette winning that game after a successful inbound pass is probably 5-10%.

Aren't these all cause and effect from the 40 minutes of hell system? Arkansas would've been .500 the year they won the National Championship by this theory.

Mizzou doesn't crash the boards, they want to get out and run. Its a well known fact that a full court press leads to more fouls, etc.

Your right. Im not sure... Mizzu would have had every opportunity to win the game in OT if it went that far. I should have said opportunity and I didnt.

Good question. im not real familiar with that system as you need a whole lot of athletes to run it and thats something ive never had.

I do disagree with getting out to run though. You have to have the ball in order to even do that. 10 out of the 15 offensive boards that marquette got where from the forwards Hayward and Burke they had 5 each......

It's hard to be slanderous towards a team that's in the elite 8, but by God muns is trying.

lol na, i just like to debate and tallk hoops. Its fun and im bored as hell at work. Dont mean to be an ass or anything. If I was I appologize,

I can attest to the fact that Arkansas got clobbered on the boards routinely year after year. It is indeed a side-effect of that system.

So I discovered AllBrackets and just spent the last 45 minutes or so looking at every bracket from 1951 (the first year the field was larger than 8 teams) to now, and this is just Missouri's fourth trip to the Elite Eight. 1976, 1994, 2002 and now 2009.

Interesting note - in 1976 and 1994, Arizona also reached the Elite Eight, although the Wildcats lost to OU in the 2002 Sweet Sixteen.

I've never had the athletes to run it, but I know that how it works.

Memphis beat them on the boards 38-32.

Oklahoma State beat them on the boards 41-33.

Oklahoma beat them on the boards 49-30, including 21 offensive.

All wins. Plus naturally you would have more offensive rebounds when you are shooting around 35%.

Its a risk-reward system, they'll give up 2nd chance points for a chance to run. The 1, 2, and 3 are going to leak out first and not help out your bigs on the weakside boards. Rebounding is an after thought.

Let's go Wildcats!

You're right.. we did have an easier path to the B12 Championship and I guess only Marquette and Memphis could be considered top teams.. but Mizzou has played their asses off and they are on quite hot streak right now.

Oh... and muns.. a W is a W. I don't care if it's by 4 or 11. :D

How does Griffin stack up as an NBA prospect?

Why does Devendorf get on my freaking nerves? What has he done to me???

Im with you there. I like Pitt, and all they have done is squeek by so far. If Fields didnt hit that shot, they more than likely would have lost their last game

Via Chad Ford (and my ESPN Insider account)

Yikes, this is getting ugly. Louisville is just on a different level than Arizona and it's painful watching this game.

I'm not really good at projecting guys I've found over the past few years. But he's likely to go #1 in the draft (depending on lotto winning team's need, of course). He's being thought of as one of if not the only impact player in a really weak draft.

SI

Looks like Rautins and Devendorf decided to use up all of their 3s in the BE tourney. :)

I still figure this will be a close game until the end, as I don't think Syracuse can shoot this poorly for 40 minutes.

Louisville and Mizzou, if they can both make it, could be a really fun game.

I wonder if Louisville could win this game without scoring again.

My oh my. Arizona just got it's doors blasted off. If Louisville can shoot it like they have so far tonight, they're going to be difficult to beat.

Of course, I get two dud games before I have to go to work. I'm going to try to time one of my breaks with the end of UNC/Gonzaga if it's close.

A couple of snoozers going now. I wish the later two games had been mixed up- they're the two better games of the night. I think we could get beaten silly by Michigan State but we could also win. The Gonzaga-North Carolina game isn't nearly as forgone a conclusion as everyone thinks it is. I think it's a 60/40 type game at worst.

SI

Ugh- I'm sure I'm going to have to watch KU on MMOD since the North Carolina game will be on here. So I'll be about a minute behind everyone else :(

SI

For all that is good and holy Kansas needs to get the win.

I really am looking forward to the Zags game, it's been a long while since they've legitimately entered big game as a big underdog, which is a role they played well for quite some time. I think they have a shot at making this a fun game.

Hopefully the late games, at least the UNC/Gonzaga game, will be just as boring as the last two. I really have no clue what to expect though.

Virginia Commonwealth's Grant takes job at Alabama - ESPN

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant has been hired at Alabama.

Grant confirmed to ESPN he has accepted the job on Friday. A formal agreement is expected to be signed later in the night.

The 42-year-old Grant, a former Florida assistant, led VCU to two NCAA tournaments in three seasons. Moore said Grant had already informed his team and VCU officials of his decision.

The hiring was first reported by The Birmingham News and Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Moore and executive athletic director Dave Hart interviewed Grant in Richmond last weekend. He spent Wednesday touring Alabama's campus and meeting with other university officials.

They were scrolling that news across the bottom of the screen the whole second half of the OU-Syracuse game.

SI

Young and stupid start for us on offense but I like the way we're matching up with MSU so far.

SI

I picked Syracuse to go to the final four :lol::lol::lol:

The Aldrich chap is freaking tall. He killed Missouri in that second game.

Just got back from the bar - that was a good 'ole fashion Oklahoma beat-down....Though I was impressed that 'Cuse somehow made up 20 points towards the end.

Maybe this will encourage Flynn/Defendorf/Harris to come back. I don't think any of them are particularly good NBA prospects, but rumors are they'll go/stay as a trio.

Mike Anderson just lost about $500,000 on his upcoming contract with that news.