I blame it on his time in Athens. That area is contagious.

Sigh.

I know where the 3 part came from, I had the 3 free throws they hit in my mind when I was typing. Where the 48 part came in would be anybody's guess.

Cal just got eaten alive by Maryland in the final 8 minutes. For all the good Jerome Randle can do, he makes terrible decisions at times that cancel out the positive. Maryland is a well-coached ballclub with a bigtime talent in Vasquez. I don't see them beating Memphis, but they aren't a bad team.

Mike Montgomery got out coached. That was one of the worst games ive seen a coach coach in. Hey Mike, Maryland isnt that good, you might want to make a half time adjustment and throw out any kind of zone offense to your club so that arent just stick with Randle throwing the ball away due to everyone else just standing around.

I mean I know its a shock to have a team play a zone againt the best 3 point shooting team in the nation, but Mike chose to sit down on the bench the entire game with his thumb stuck up his ass. Im simply amazed at that game.

I'm unfortunately stuck with Michigan - Clemson where both teams are shooting 20% from the field midway through the half.

I'm getting Nova - American where 14 3s have been taken in the first 9 minutes - 8 were good.

I like the MMOD. Even more silly is that I have one game on tv and another on my laptop :)

SI

Washington came to play, great game.

Clean up the fouls a little and they will give Purdue all they can handle

If they keep letting Michigan mug Clemson and play "Big 10 style" basketball, the Tigers have no shot.

Ok, this American-Villanova game is fun :D

SI

Manny Harris is legit. He says he's coming back, le'ts hope so because he probably isn't a first rounder, and he'd be a front runner for B10 POTY next year.

Nova is playing very sloppy basketball right now.

We really need a pass-first point guard (sorry Scotty Reynolds/Corey Fisher)

What has the general attitude been towards Oliver Purnell at Clemson? Anybody here familiar with Clemson basketball? I used to watch him when I was younger at Dayton and he loved there. I remember a lot of general sadness when he left.

Ok, so I watched a couple of minutes of the Michigan/Clemson game to close out the half and that's pretty much all I'll be watching of that game. Ugly as sin

SI

This block of games is an emabarassment of riches, they probably should have put one the 7/10 games in the late group to guarantee something competitive there. I could see that group coming up ugly....

I do the same thing, plus my cable provider is giving us 2 different feeds, so I can cover 3 games, the wife has Yoga tonight, all is good

American!

I went to Dayton, and my wife went to Clemson. I was sad when he left UD, but felt he would get Clemson back to respectability, and he has done that. If he loses in the NCAA's this year, it will be 2 back-to-back 1st round NCAA exits so there will be a bit of grumbling, but all in all, football is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at Clemson, so he has a bit more leeway than a coach at a more even-keeled school would have. Just getting Clemson ranked on a regular basis is probably good enough for most at the school. He has a long term contract at Clemson, the fans seem to like him, and he seems to like the fans, so I think he will probably close out his career there.

Bad News: I have Nova going to the final 4.

Good News: If American pulls this off and VCU wins like I think they well, VCU gets a much better matchup.

Raise your hand if you just nervously checked your brackets to see how far you have Villanova going

Too bad VCU won't pull it off because I have UCLA going to the Sweet 16, tyvm.

So, I know I am getting ahead of myself... but does anyone see Jeff Jones getting another shot at big-time coaching? He has done really nice things at American U., and I know he had some success at Virginia before being let go (not sure of the circumstances on that one)... but if they beat Villanova, he will look awfully attractive as a new hire to some school out there.

I'm so odd on this. As long as there's no money involved, I don't really mind if my bracket gets screwed...because I imagine everyone else in my pool is getting screwed too.

And I had 'Nove in the Elite 8, so yeah, thankfully there's no money involved. :D

Final Four, here.

But fuck it. I would love to see them get beat.

I'm ok with my bracket getting screwed. I have a whole $5 on the entire tourney in one pool so I'd rather just have a more entertaining tourney. We've had far too few upsets the last 2 years with all 1's making it last year and only 3 or 4 upsets total the year before. Dust up that chalk!

SI

Zags need to wake up. Playing very lethargic.

The VCU and Purdue love from everyone baffles me. It sounds like Wade is at least a VCU fan, but the amount of respect UCLA gets for 3 straight final fours is baffling. I think they win comfortably.

I've stated a few times across threads I totaly agree with you.

I think it's because on ESPN, they absolutely loved VCU as the upset special. I went back and forth a little, but ultimately my final bracket had UCLA.

SI

Purdue, I think it's because no one is really comfy with Washington. Frankly, I'm a lot less enamored with Purdue so I had Washington beating them.

SI

that UW- UCONN Nike commercial cracks me up every time

Purdue is my pick to beat Washington and ultimately the team that beats Memphis as well... I just have a good feeling about them especially getting back one of their top players.

I like the guy speeding through Illinois better. It's a great series though.

I like it. The Illinois/Carolina one is a little weaker. I keep getting nervous that there is going to be a Mizzou/UCLA one but I think the commercial is based on losing a lot later in the tournament than Mizzou ever gets to. :)

Gonzaga, you better step your game up, otherwise I'll...be very sad.

And Uconn? Good luck with that one.

If Michigan holds on and Minnesota somehow bounces back to beat Texas, this will be a good day for the Big 10. Illinois sucks, if WKU doesn't beat them I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Ogilvy ejected for throwing an elbow in the clemson/michigan game. Wasn't necessarily vicious, but 100% intentional.

I've got Nova losing next round anyway, so I'd love to see them get knocked off.

It feels like the Zags are starting to wake up

SI

My mistake I meant I had Purdue beating UConn. I don't have Memphis going very far at all.

Anyhow, thanks for correcting me on that. And yes, UConn loses to Purdue in my pool. :)

This is fun.

If Brockman can get Thabeet into foul trouble it could happen

I did a total of two brackets. They don't have much different between them other than in one of them I have Michigan in the Sweet 16 and one of them I have Missouri in the Final Four rather than Purdue.

I love MM!

The Villanova/American feed must be getting pounded on Yahoo Sports. It's rebuffering every few seconds compared to the Zags/Akron feed.

St. Louis likes to think of itself as both a Big 12 and Big 10 city. So we get an awful lot of awful big 10 basketball. (PSU/ILL was one of the worst games I have ever seen in my life) They do seem to be doing allright in the first round. But it will be interesting to see them go up against the ACC and Big East schools.

not surprisingly, I like that one quite a bit as well :D

The circumstances were that he was boinking a coed while married to his UVA sweetheart. I think he's married to the coed now, at least I heard that once. They used two poor recruiting classes as the reason, but being a social embarrassment in C-ville was the deal breaker.

It seems like Clemson always peaks a couple of months too early, limps into the tournament and then absolutely implodes once they get there. Michigan is shooting so well, though, it may not have mattered what Clemson did.

I think it comes down to three things:

1. Eric Maynor. ESPN et al saw him control the game in the tourney against Duke two years ago and hit a game winning shot.

2. Anthony Grant. Coach Grant had the Florida job (where he was a long-time assistant to Donovan) when Donovan was headed to the NBA. He's a very good coach who will be at a BCS program within the next few years (a lot of us CAA fans think next year). He has already turned down BCS schools.

3. Larry Sanders. Sophomore Center with arms like Michael Phelps. He is very active under the basket blocking shots and could give a lot of teams trouble. Larry Sanders and Eric Maynor are both considered NBA prospects - you don't see that on a mid-major very often.


For me personally - I'm a big CAA fan (I have season tickets to William and Mary, a perennial bottom dweller in the CAA). I watch VCU play at least 2-3 games live each year and a few more on TV. When they are good, they are VERY good. This year's team can be streaky, but Eric Maynor is like the mid-major equivalent of Kobe Bryant late in games. (do not take that the wrong way, I'm just saying he takes the game over and puts it on his shoulders - not saying he is as good as Kobe) I have watched Maynor for four years and in about 20 games. He's a very good college bball player (I question his NBA prospects compared to what others think, but that's another story altogether). So - I think they have a very legit chance to win. I don't know UCLA well enough to say how much of a chance, but with their full-court press a blowout seems unlikely.

I'm on the UCLA bandwagon, at least for a couple rounds. Way too many people loved VCU.

Anybody else having a hell of a time with the buffering for the Nova-American game on MMOD, or is it just me?

EDIT: Nm, probably should have refreshed before posting :p

I just turned on the Nova game... three good defensive sets in a row for Nova. American looks somewhat overmatched, but we'll see.

AJ Abrahms just went on a sick run

Well, at least Clemson has a good class coming in next year. They are done, they have shown no heart this year in games when they've been behind.

*raises hand* Elite Eight.... Here is to hoping American chokes

They just switched us over to the America-Villanova game. I really hate giving teams home court advantage in the tournament.

That white guy on the bench for Nova needs to calm down after each bucket.

With all thats going on no one has mentioned Gonzaga down by 3 at the half

yeah but it's hard to not given the economy and all. They also want to make it eaiser for people to travel so they don't have empty arenas

One of my math classes I teach is doing a project on the bracket. They had to do research on each team and then make an educated decision on which team would win each game by use of statistics. Of course my males filled out their bracket before doing any research, and they all have Memphis losing to Maryland/California in the second round.

Being married to GoldenEagle has converted me to a hardcore Memphis fan, so I have them winning it all in one bracket and losing to Louisville in my other. So today in class I turned on the TV and we watched the games all day. My students were giving me such hell when Memphis was struggling.

Even though I have no money riding on any of these games, I will face massive embarrassment in class next week if my students have a better bracket than me, and even more humiliation if Memphis loses before the Final Four!

Oh and BTW I am 5 for 8 right now so I really am sucking it up

Even though I have Nova winning this game(who didn't?) I have UCLA making a nice run in my bracket, so a loss here wouldn't be a bracketbuster. So either way it will be a nice outcome to watch, good game so far.

See next comment


I think you actually under sell his affinity. Most here are ready to Saint him, he pretty much has the proverbial free pass at this point. Even as the team has struggled down the stretch and spending large parts of each day listening to Clemson sports talk radio I have yet to hear a single call bashin OP...



I think there is some truth here and explainably so, but it is important to remember that last year wwas the first time in a decade Clemson had been to the NCAA...so to say they always implode is a bit of a stretch. Before last year their last tourney run was a Sweet sixteen appearance with Rick Barnes as the coach.

That said we press 35+ minutes a game, and only have a handful of talented players. We wear ourselves out. That is changing though, as more and more talent is brought in by Purnell the future is bright.

In the history of recruiting rankings, Clemson has never had a 5 star player but have 2 coming in next year. So the talent level is improving and having more capable bodies will allow more rest per game and prevent the late season fatigue.

+++++

Edit this is absolutely horse shit.
If we had known this crap we could have brought CJ Spiller and De'Quan Bowers...had no idea it was a football game.
You toss a player for throwing an elbow when his opponent has two handsful of his jersey and his pulling him down, yet two players of ours get busted open and neither draws a foul.

Does that commercial where the guy smacks the guy next to him with a cake knife in the calf bother anyone else? I have to change it when I see it, that noise of it hitting the bone makes me cringe everytime.

Gonzaga is just not playing defense at all. Surprised with so many seniors they have come out so lax.

Um.. My CBS didn't really just go from a four point possible 14 seed upset to a 10 point 7-10 matchup did they?

Nm. They must have realized their mistake :p

I don't think I could ever watch the tournament on TV again - the online feeds don't cut away to different games.

It's remarkable what Michigan has done this year with two walk on's as our PG's, and two kids no one really recruited (Douglass and Novak) playing significant minutes.

Next year with top 75 PG Darius Morris coming in, plus top 150 shooter Matt Vogrich, who Sporting News named their best pure shooter for 2009 and two 3* bigs, plus apparently Manny and Sims coming back, things are gonna be looking up.

I really enjoy the online feed.

Play poker in 2 windows, the game in one and the game on TV.

ADD heaven

Dola, should Michigan pull this out, they better sure up their defense in the paint. Clemson has missed way too many easy shots down there, and Blake Griffin won't.

But it's only a 9 point game with plenty of time left so anything can happen.

You sure about that? I have the directv package and I think it does go to close endings in previous years. There just haven't been any all day. Maybe it doesn't anymore but I am not certain of this.

The shots American was pulling out of their ass early just aren't going down any more.

And it doesn't help that that one dick referee is hopping around like a jackrabbit on every turnover call. Incite the crowd much?

There is why Manny Harris needs to come back. Still very careless with the ball. I like Clemson's chances with not much time left. Michigan is very young and inexperienced and has been stymied at times by the press.

Clemson is doing a good job of getting turnovers but they need some baskets

Was a nice game for them though and they made it interesting. I had money on Villanova -15 so I wasn't too happy with how Nova played. On a neutral court I bet America hangs on to that lead and pulls off an upset.

Wow. Novak with a tough luck miss there.

We dont deserve to win this game...but Ill celebrate all the same if we do.

Michigan giving it away it looks like.

Michigan needs the Heimlich maneuver.

Big play by Manny Fresh.

Once he gets that deep, if Harris is gonna shoot, just let him. There's a ton of time left, no reason to give him three. If he scores two there it's a one possesion game.

Manny Harris with a huge shot only 15 seconds into the shot clock with a 1 pt lead. LOL He's lucky that paid off nicely.

A couple of good games tonight. This is what the tourney should be.

terrible last possesion

The Michigan -Clemson has been a close game, I wouldn't call it a good one though. That is some of the worst basketball I've seen in the tournament in years.

It's weird to hear the Michigan fight song in March

I wish one of these games had been in the opening set

SI

clusterf*** of a last possession for Clemson

Nova out safely and the Zags starting to pull away a little

Those are two teams I really need in my brackets as they are "backstops" for other teams falling (as I think Duke will lose and I'd like to see UNC lose- Gonzaga is the big "gamble" in my bracket which, frankly, I think of more as a gamble against Lawson's foot as much as for Gonzaga).

SI

Are there really that many good games in the first round or do we just have good memories of a couple of games? I think the #1's, 2's, and 3's almost always win big.

I love American continuing to foul. 15 point cover is possible!!!

time for Binghampton to pull of the upset!


Errr.....


Big 10 2-1 so far. Illinois and Western Kentucky should be a decent game to watch along with VCU and UCLA.. I could give a rats ass about the other two.

Clemson didn't need a 3 there, and Michigan was overplaying the 3 the entire final minute, so take the 2 and hope for a missed FT with 7 seconds or so left. Bad coaching if that was the plan, for Rivers to take a highly contested 3. Everyone knew he was going to take the shot, and he completely missed it. That'll haunt him forever which is too bad, he was a really good player in his CU career.

If they run down the floor and miss another three I doubt they foul. be funny if they did.

I cannot believe Michigan won. I have to pinch myself. Prior to this the last time I saw them play in March was when I was 13 so this is all even better for me because of the appreciation I have for it. I think OU will smoke us if we can't hit shots and slow up Griffin but I'm going to enjoy it.

They were out of time outs....it takes 5 seconds to travel the floor.
If you dont fould in 2 seconds you lose....if they even get the ball in bounds...

yeah a 3 was a must

I think they will foul here. I love it. Never understood why you would give up. Of course I also want a cover!

Akron and American really had shots to win, if they weren't playing FUCKING ROAD GAMES.

I think that's cutting it juuuust a bit too close. I mean, they couldn't get any shot off until just a few seconds before the buzzer. Plus, with no TO's, that would probably force it to be a Laettner miracle.

How about Siena tomorrow? Have a great year, end up in an 8-9 game and then have to play a road game against Ohio State.

The system is a fuckin joke. Just give the teams you want to move on byes for christ sake.