just took a reaming with WVU, had them in the Sweet 16 in most pools and elite 8 in one

Had them in the elite 8 in my biggest pool:banghead:

I think it would take a perfect storm. Like a 16 seed who lost their best player for the year and got him back just in time for the conference tournament and a 1 seed who has a dominate Blake Griffen type player who loses their best player in the final of their conference tournament.

Even so, the 16 seed would have to play a perfect game.

Yep. I'm toast.

Not if you're the champion of the Atlantic Sun or something. Though I get your point.

That's why I was scared of Dayton. Ruoff and Butler really let WVU down today. They pressed the entire final month or so of the season and made tons of mental mistakes, while the freshmen stepped up (just like today with Truck and Ebanks) to keep us in games.

WVU will be a better team next year, though, especially if Ebanks stays.

My idea is that they need horses and a deeper bench. These other teams lose because the #1 seeds struggle, but the #16 just hangs around. My #16 seed would be a team that had some conference loses due to coach tinkering with the system on purpose to figure out what his guys were made of.

Use the regular season as a sandbox, then use the last 10-12 games to perfect the system. If you figure that you recruit with that mindset, setup a pipeline or have a well to draw from and mix your squad up with the right mix of players -- young horses and JuCO vets who wanna win -- I think you could surprise some people.

But the perfect storm wouldn't even be on the court. It'd be having the right school to allow you to make it happen and the right team to recruit the right guys.

WVU screws up a few brackets. I admit, I had them in the S16. But I want some chaos tonight. Cleveland State or Portland State- it's time to win some crazy games. And Utah-Arizona and USC-BC games that ends with a buzzer beater. That's what I want!

SI

The reach I have is Arizona who I have in the Sweet 16 other then that my Bracket has taken minor hits.

I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime. Especially with the pod system that has most of these guys playing home games. Pittsburgh was the best shot for a loss. Ohio State has to be licking their chops after seeing that game.

Oklahoma State?

Watch out for Portland St tonight. Xavier has laid some eggs this season

went perfect on my afternoon slate of games, sweet :)

Wicked. I had Dayton beating WVU.

But I also had Clemson in the S16 :/

True. And soon, it won't be 1 v. 16 seeds, it'll be 1 v. 32 seeds. ;)

5-2-1 so far in this tournament. Have the following this evening:

Louisville -21.5
Boston College +2

Tempted to pull the trigger on Portland State +10.5

I originally had Dayton and then switched to WVU and WVY winning up to 3 games in one bracket, booo.

This is ridiculous. I live in California, and I'm getting Louisville/Morehead State instead of Arizona/Utah

that is pretty silly, we are getting the Arizona game here

They probably gave you the national game till the USC one starts.

We get USC/BC

Chris Wright with 27 points for the Flyers. I was hoping the Flyers' athleticism would surprise WVU a little. More likely was just UD was beneficiaries of bad fouls by Ruoff. I was afraid all game that WVU would start hitting 3's, but UD's defense kept them off balance all game. Great win for UD, first tourney win in 19 years... just what this town needed. Something to get excited about!

You were exactly right.

They are letting them play in the USC-BC game. Hopefully they continue that way.

Portland State is just bombs away against Xavier. 75% of their shots are 3's.

Luke Nevill's 2 early fouls for Utah seals my fate in the Top Gun game. Utah is going down.

Utah seems a little confused by Arizona's press. Very tentative.

How is Morehead State within 2 at the half?

All four of these games on right now are pretty close games. I have Louisville going to the final four but I would love to see them lose to Morehead!


**I know its not going to happen, but a girl can dream!

Because Louisville defense is sucking it up. Everytime I switch over to the game they are giving up a dunk or a perimeter shot

And I have seen USC miss about 4 dunks because of BC's great defense. I dont like the University of Spoiled Children, GO Boston College!

Definitely. One Morehead basket was a guy dribbling slowly from the right side to down below the basket, then backing his man out from the baseline and laying it up and in. The kind of play that my first grader could stop. Louisville's help defense is non-existent.

Sometimes I don't get why teams like Louisville continue to press. They are way more talented than Morehead and I highly doubt that Morehead can keep up with them in a half court game. So why not pull back the press since Morehead is beating it consistently?

I am finding it amusing (and sorry if i am sounding too much like GoldenEagle) amusing that when Memphis struggled with a low seeded team, everybody was shouting that they were exposed and didn't deserve a number 2 seed.

But when Pitt and now Louisville are strugglin with 16 seeds I am hearing the announcers say they are hanging tough and playing hard!

Anyone worried about a seed who "struggles" just misses the whole point of the tournament. The cliche "survive and advance" is right. It's one thing if you show some fundamental flaws in your game that are exploited, but odds are unless you had a recent injury- there's a "book" out on your team from the first 35 games of the season- and, to paraphrase DG, they are what we thought they were.

American couldn't miss until about 10 minutes left in the game and that's why they were leading Nova. Pitt and Memphis just kindof sleep walked through their games- anyone think that's their A game or that they aren't capable of being better?

To the highest seeds, all the first weekend is about is hoping some of your harder roadblocks get knocked out by an upstart team since they don't have the huge talent advantage you have over your opponents. Oh, and don't stumble in that second game, looking ahead to next week. You're better than the teams facing you but at least one of you (1/2 seed) loses in that second game and you don't want it to be you.

SI

I think Louisville gives away the advantage that they have if they don't press. The Cardinals are a better team when they are pressing. If the Cardinals cant execute the press correctly against Morehead State, they deserve to lose.

Looks like its a moot point now... Louisville is pulling away. I really want to watch the Arizona/Utah game but Little Rock has to watch USC vs BC

While I love college hoops and the tournament, this has to be one of the poorest played tournaments I've ever seen. Just a lot of bad teams in it. Not necessarily players, but teams. So many teams shooting under 40%, laying bricks left and right. Lack of ball movement in almost every case.

Teams like Louisville and Memphis have a lot of great athletes, and probably future NBA players, but they play nothing like a team. Just a lot of bad basketball by the supposed elite teams in the country.

+1

More reason that mid-majors with better RPIs and records, should've been allowed in. Would've made this a lot more interesting than it's been otherwise.

fuck - BC's not gonna get it done. Our guys are just too small, particularly the guards. suckass

Good God...I am sucking it up in my bracket tonight. Utah and BC just could not get it done

:( :rant::banghead:

Go PAC-10, baby! 5-1 so far.

If you just look at the seed numbers, there are quite a few upsets.

I cannot believe how poorly Ruoff and Butler played today. It is kind of depressing to see how much better the three freshmen have gotten over the course of the season, while Ruoff and Butler seem to have actually regressed -- making stupid fouls (Ruoff reaching in 35-feet from the basket w/ 3 fouls on him already and Butler pushing a guy, without contesting the shot in any manner, while he is dunking), terrible turnovers, and missing important free throws. I really believe that, if Ruoff makes those two free throws, we would have won the game.

I appreciate what Ruoff has done for the team and how far he has come, as a relatively unheralded recruit. Ditto Butler, although he was a little more highly regarded coming out of HS. But, those two guys should realistically be more of 3rd and 4th scoring options on a very good team. Hopefully, Butler can return to a less demanding role next season, as he is really more of a put-back and catch-and-jump shooter, rather than the all-around scorer that he was trying to be during the last half of the year. I hope (and think) Ebanks, Jones, Bryant, and hopefully the incoming Juco guard will develop to be more reliable offensive players next season.

Is Mouse Davis playing for Cleveland St. tonight?

So much parity in college hoops these days. Literally in the 5-12, 6-11, 7-10, and 8-9 games, hardly anything can be considered a major upset these days.

Bill Raftery is unbearable. Every other word is some dramatic catchphrase of his. I used to like him but he's trying way too hard.

Dayton's defense was really tough -- I was definitely impressed. Ruoff was really shutdown and barely had any good looks from the outside. You guys also rebounded as well as any team we have played this season.

I said it before, but I really think Dayton got seeded poorly -- they should have been more like a 7 or 8 w/ their resume. Of all the 11s we could have played, Dayton was the worst possible matchup for us. We essentially have the same style of play, but you guys have a more veteran team and a much deeper bench. It would not surprise me to see Dayton knock off Kansas on Sunday.

A couple of postscript notes from today's UT loss and why I said it seemed so familiar.
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/...s/?partner=RSS

The Vols ranked last of the 65-team tournament field on 3-point shooting percentage – and yet 33 of their 56 attempts against Oklahoma State were behind the arc. They made 11.

Their inability to defend penetrating guards rose up to bite them one last time. Oklahoma State shot 56.6 percent from the field. Eaton, the Cowboys’ hero, was 70 percent (7-of-10).

Maybe this game was lost when the Vols were downgraded to a No. 9 seed on Selection Sunday. The 8-9 game is, by definition, supposed to be a nail-biter.

Nail-biters have been another of UT’s issues. Since Maze’s game-winner at Arkansas on Feb. 4, the Vols are 0-4 in games decided by three or fewer points.

I know Pearl has had success wherever he's gone, but it just seems like with that talent, Tennessee should be much better. His system doesn't seem to benefit good players. I think he's better off at either a mid-major or lower tier power conference school that can't land blue chippers.

Wake clawing back into their game with Cleveland State- they ended the half on a 9-2 run but are still down 39-30.

SI

I need Wake to win and Florida State to apply the throttle in the second half.

Oh, and with that little look-in on Wisconsin, I'm reminded how ugly mediocre Big 10 basketball can be. Good Big 10 basketball is fine but that's just ugly- 19 points at the half.

SI

He probably only has 2, possibly three, legit blue chip sort of players right now. Tyler Smith is a quality player at this level, Chism can be (minus his shot selection & taking the occasional trip off), and Cameron Tatum appears on his way to turning into one.

Beyond that, Tabb is a role player, Maze too often looks like a joke as a power conference PG, Prince is an Idunnowhat but whiny bitch with zero court sense and a sense of entitlement comes to mind, Hopson there's still some hope for but I'm neither entirely sold on him nor ready to give up on him. The rest are role players at best.

What most had in common were good press clippings coming in but there's not much evidence that there as good as advertised. There's a good bit of general athleticism but the almost complete lack of court sense is downright disturbing, it'd be hard to recruit a group that appears to have a lower basketball IQ if you tried. And I believe there's still some character issues on the roster, if not in terms of criminal behavior at least in terms of work ethic.

What has me concerned is whether Pearl actually has the ability to coach players up to the next level, or to coax them into performing in spite of whatever flaws they have. If he doesn't then he needs to recruit players without so many of those flaws but I'm not sure his ego will allow for that, although if it doesn't then his fate is already sealed short of finding assistants who can cover those shortcomings. He's been awfully good for the UT basketball program, something I don't think there's any denying but the question that's becoming pretty obvious is whether there's any more growth forthcoming or if he's essentially already reached the peak of what he'll accomplish there and is actually already starting down the other side of the slope.

Maybe there is hope. The team you described above sounds exactly like the Florida Gators teams from 2001 til they won back to back titles.

well after going perfect in the afternoon slate of games, the evening games are looking pretty ugly for my picks. :(

While I agree with your assesment on those players, I still think it's weird he keeps missing with guys who everyone praises.

Hopson and Negedu were both blue chippers I believe. I know Hopson was a McDonalds' All-American and probably the best SF coming out of high school. I know they are both young and raw, but they just don't seem to have improved. I just wonder if Hopson had ended up with a real good coach if we'd be talking about him being one of the best freshman in the country.

And I don't follow them enough, but it seems like every year there is talk about the talent he has acquired. it just never seems like that talent develops into a great college basketball player.

I think Pearl will always be a guy who can get you to the tournament and win a game here and there. But I just don't think he'll ever be the kind of coach to get to a Final Four. I guess that's a decision Tennessee will have to make some day. Are they content with being a consistently good team, or do they have aspirations to take a risk at being great?

Wake Forest is looking so sloppy. I count 5 turnovers in the 2nd half already. Cleveland State has a 17-0 edge in points off turnovers. Just terrible. Teague looks completely out of control

8-0 run for the Badgers to start the 2nd half. Thank goodness.

Hell yeah. 13-0 run to start the half.

Hopson's shooting is inconsistent, in part because his shot selection is questionable. Only 1 game in double figures in their final seven, but 6 of the 8 prior to that. I think he was overrated coming in but there's still room for hope.

Negedu is a different matter, with a number of people wondering why he didn't see more time, didn't reach double digit minutes in a game after the first week of February and only 3 times in the new year. Whether he was in the doghouse for some reason or if there was something else going on I really don't know. He seems like a good energy guy off the bench & one that could get better as opposed to Brian Williams who, bless his heart, is a good story for the massive weight loss but just isn't much of an athlete beyond taking up space.


I'd say that's pretty on target. I don't question the desire to being great but there's definitely starting to be questions raised about whether Pearl is capable of getting a program to that level. It takes more than getting the fan base interested or being a very good p.r. guy for the program (and himself) and it remains to be seen whether he's got that capability.

That was nice of Wisconsin to show up for the second half of their game.

I have that one on the computer while Wake-Cleveland St is on tv.

It's a nice pair of games to close out the evening

SI

Oh wow. And I hadn't seen but Siena made a run and that's now a 2 point game

SI

jesus christ Cleveland State... amazing.

Time out, Wake! Cleveland State on an 11-2 run and now up 15 with barely 7 to go

SI

Damn, they took me to Ohio State-Siena. So the computer is now having Wake-Cleveland State. Bye, Florida State-Wisconsin.

SI

So Arizona might be gift wrapped the Sweet 16, wonderful

Wake's almost to that "you have to play almost perfect from the 4 minute mark on and hope for a little luck to get back in" point

SI

Siena has life!

(Wake, not so much- down 15, don't have the ball, and the 4 minute tv timeout just hit)

SI

Sienna refuses to go quietly.

I could go for some overtime. I'm not tired yet and I have to be up and moving some servers tomorrow at midnight so, yeah, OT would work.

SI

Collison still has the lingering affect of a bruised tailbone. As for the the interior, we have probably one of the most physical post players in Aboya, he's just not very skilled. Can hit a jump shot to keep defenses honest, but somewhat limited offensively. Great defensive presence though. Our PF spot is meh. Keefe can rebound and shoot the three, but just too slow. Drago is a great outside shooter and is underrated downlow, but probably the worst defender out of the main 8 in the rotation IMO

That being said, I cant imagine UCLA will hang for the whole game. Just too much inconsistency

Go Siena, salvage one of my picks at least!

What it really means is that Louisville is being gifted a trip to the Elite 8

SI

Anyone see the usher just yank the John 3:16 sign out of some guy's hand behind the Siena bench at the end of regulation? Looked a little harsh.


Good game though, sloppy, but good game. I'd like to see the Big Ten do well, but I'm hoping Wisconsin comes back so I can take OSU losing! :)

Oooh looks like Wisconsin has come back against Florida State-another of my picks might be saved

Kudos to Siena and Cleveland State for keeping the night interesting, finally.

Wake will be my first Sweet Sixteen team out. Oh well. Saw some guy on the ESPN brackets has been perfect so far, but has Wake in the Final Four....that would suck.

Anybody noticing Wisconsin just down 1 with 1:29 left?

Maybe it's time to put that game on my computer. Cleveland State is up comfortably with only 2 to go.

SI

I've watched it. Seems like FSU gets a little lead and I think it's over and Wisconsin just keeps coming back. Good for them.

Make that Wisconsin by 2 under a minute

Holy crap, Wisconsin!

SI

The mmod delay is about 15 seconds behind. I turned it on just in time to see a guy hit a 25 foot shot with 1 left on the shot clock to take the lead for Wisconsin.

That's the highlight shot of the tourney so far

SI

Okay, what just happened in the Wisconsin game? Can't be cbssports to come up!!!

nevermind...thanks si

You'd think these coaches of these damn plucky underdogs would watch tape of teams in previous years.

That said, Siena is not doing the "OMG, we're down, shoot a 3 way too early" model so far...so...good on them for sticking to the gameplan.

that 3 for wisconsin to go ahead was a heartbreaker after 35 seconds of great half court defense.

Dear CBS, don't be so transparent. We know you love the big schools, but relax. It'll be okay. They'll win in the end.

Two overtimes!

SI

Hey, who said Big Ten basketball was bad. Finally getting to see two good games. Hope they win at least one.

What ever happened to the split screen? CBS used to do that about 10 years ago, especially with situations like these

SI

great end to the first round, this is awesome!

I didn't say it was bad- but I did say how much I hated ugly Big 10 basketball like what we saw from Wisconsin in the first half.

SI

Wake is out- our first big upset of the tourney!

I watched that game most of the night and Cleveland State was just in control all the way. Arizona shouldn't expect a pushover game or they're going to see the same fate as Wake.

SI

Jesus christ... Whoever hits the button to switch games needs to calm the fuck down.

I was missing that earlier myself, but split screen doesn't sell ads the way MMOD does.

Nevermind! Shot of the night!

SI

True. Went to the IU-Wisconsin game. Wisconsin played one great half, and one damn ugly half.

Still, love to see them pull this off. Give the Big Ten some love, and give the ACC a 3-4 record in the tourney.

Hmm ... maybe they'll put up six OT's between 'em.