2010 NCAA Tournament (and NIT) Thread

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by whomario

does anybody get the HQ option on the online broadcast? Sends me straight to the SD version with no option/button to change anymore ...

They may have reached their HQ limit. I know I ran into a few games where I wasn't able to select the HQ option because the maximum limit was hit.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by TargetPractice6

Sorry TK, I know you weren't really expecting the Terps to win this one, but it always sucks when your team gets your hopes up only to let you down at the very end. As a Kentucky football fan I know this to be true.

LOL. They did well, all in all. Nobody, in preseason, had them even getting into the tourney, much less co-champs of the ACC regular season. A bummer of a loss, but not the embarrassment it could've been. I feel kind of bad for Vasquez.

/tk

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

I was in Vegas for a couple of days. Lots of basketball fans obviously, but not nearly as many as I thought there would be. Saw more USC fans than anything, but Vegas is practically LA-East.

Did see a Tribe shirt though Mizzou, Kansas, Washington, and Texas fans seemed to be the most noticeable there

Vegas is really cheap (on Southwest Airlines) from KC and Saint Louis if you're looking for a 3-4 day vacation to chill out a bit. This is actually the first year in 4 years that I haven't gone out there for a weekend during the NCAA tourney for some poker and sports betting. It's a lot of fun this time of year. This weekend is the best of the three weekends just because of the quantity of games to watch. Plus, you can roll out of bed after lunch and still catch all the games.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

LOL. They did well, all in all. Nobody, in preseason, had them even getting into the tourney, much less co-champs of the ACC regular season. A bummer of a loss, but not the embarrassment it could've been. I feel kind of bad for Vasquez.

/tk

So disappointing to have my two favorite teams be knocked out literally a few minutes apart and both of them really had the chance to win.

[Swaggs]

Really happy with the win and impressed with the stamina of our players versus that tough press. If I'm not mistaken, we only had 9 players get minutes and two of them were only in for a couple of minutes.

Huggins apparently makes the players each make 100 free throws at the end of each practice and I think that (well, and the play of Butler) was probably the difference: WVU's guys were in good enough condition to make their free throws at the end of the game and Missouri's were not. I'm glad to survive that type of unorthodox style of play.

Looking forward to the Washington game. I'm glad we'll have a few days to prepare for them, rather than having to play them on short rest.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Oh please, he's playing the ball, he's not tackling the man. That's a pussy call right there, in any league.

edit: There's not a player in the world who isn't taught if you're going to foul then foul them to the floor & that's all that happened.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

So disappointing to have my two favorite teams be knocked out literally a few minutes apart and both of them really had the chance to win.

Couldn't happen to a nicer fan.

[mauchow]

A&M getting away w a lot of moving/illegal screens.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Looking forward to the Washington game. I'm glad we'll have a few days to prepare for them, rather than having to play them on short rest.

Yeah, I think Washington would've been in a better position to knock off WVU if it had been on short rest. At first glance, I'm not sure we match up that well with the Mountaineers, but I'm not writing anything off considering how well this team has started clicking late in the season.

[lynchjm24]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Vegas is really cheap (on Southwest Airlines) from KC and Saint Louis if you're looking for a 3-4 day vacation to chill out a bit. This is actually the first year in 4 years that I haven't gone out there for a weekend during the NCAA tourney for some poker and sports betting. It's a lot of fun this time of year. This weekend is the best of the three weekends just because of the quantity of games to watch. Plus, you can roll out of bed after lunch and still catch all the games.

I could not disagree more. NCAA weekends in Vegas are terrible. It's a million guys, a complete lack of women and it's amateur hour in the sports books, people who bet the over flipping out about every basket in the first half when they have $25 on the game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Couldn't happen to a nicer fan.

Appreciate it. I accept your compliment with open arms.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Yeah, I think Washington would've been in a better position to knock off WVU if it had been on short rest. At first glance, I'm not sure we match up that well with the Mountaineers, but I'm not writing anything off considering how well this team has started clicking late in the season.

My early guess is that WVU will put Ebanks (who is probably as good of a m2m defender as I have ever seen on WVU) on Pondexter to try to neutralize him. Ebanks has had pretty good luck guarding guys from Evan Turner to Scottie Reynolds, but I'm not sure we have anyone that can match up, man to man, with Thomas. I could see him having a big game.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

My early guess is that WVU will put Ebanks (who is probably as good of a m2m defender as I have ever seen on WVU) on Pondexter to try to neutralize him. Ebanks has had pretty good luck guarding guys from Evan Turner to Scottie Reynolds, but I'm not sure we have anyone that can match up, man to man, with Thomas. I could see him having a big game.

It'll be interesting. I actually feel like Ebanks gets put on the best perimeter player, so I could see him guarding Thomas. (I say that under the impression that Pondexter is more of a post player, though I suppose he does a little of both.) Ebanks has quick enough feet to deny penetration and his 7'2" wingspan seems to really bother shooters. You could be right, though, that he gets put on the best player period, and it just so happens to mostly be guards.

[Chief Rum]

Was Lucas going to go pro?

It appears that he has a torn Achilles tendon, per Izzo. While no injury is a good thing, I would imagine this injury will likely keep Lucas in East Lansing for his senior year, and that can't hurt Michigan State.

[Chief Rum]

Of course, it probably shitcans this tourney for the Spartans, though...

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I hope there are more people like you out there who just assume WVU will be in the elite 8. Watching WVU today I'm not so sure.

Anyone else picturing the entire washington roster huddled around a computer reading FOFC? "ohhhhh shit noop thinks we can't beat WVU? We'd better show him"

[Radii]

So I'll join in the "WTF game switching" complaints. I know I'm about 20 minutes from Durham... but Duke leads by 18, while Xavier Pitt is in the final 30 seconds. CBS actually swithced away from Duke long enough to show Pitt hit a 3 with about 30 seconds to go... then switched BACK to Duke and never went back to Xavier/Pitt. I'm watching on mmod but would really like to see it on the big screen.

[SackAttack]

Why was Pitt backing off those free throw rebounds? I have to think they cost themselves at least a second off the clock reacting to that second brick.

[Radii]

CBS just switched away from Pitt/Xavier as the ref was handing the ball to the dude to inbounds it to show the last 45 seconds of purdue/A&M. I saw it on mmod but CBS has still not shown the final 0.4 inbounds play of pitt/xavier.

[timmynausea]

Wow. CBS just cut away from a 3 point Pitt-Xavier game with 0.4 seconds left, leaving Pitt having just enough for a catch and shoot to tie.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by timmynausea

Wow. CBS just cut away from a 3 point Pitt-Xavier game with 0.4 seconds left, leaving Pitt having just enough for a catch and shoot to tie.

I figured we'd have a lot more rioting in the thread about this. If ever there was a time for the split screen, it was there

SI

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I figured we'd have a lot more rioting in the thread about this. If ever there was a time for the split screen, it was there

SI

We have been beaten into submission and dulled by the repeated stupidity of it all.

[Swaggs]

Kind of an interesting quote from Missouri's coach:

“We just ran out of time,” coach Mike Anderson said. “I don’t think these guys lost. I think they just ran out of time.”

I guess you can say this about any game, but WVU held a pretty solid 5-9 point lead for most of the game, never trailed, Missouri's players seemed to be the more fatigued of the two squads, and every Missouri starter was in foul trouble.

[kingfc22]

And the wife's bracket is 331 on ESPN.

As for me, the best of my nine brackets is ranked 110,000. LOL!!

[SackAttack]

I wouldn't have believed it possible to pick 12 of 16 correctly for the Sweet Sixteen, and have two of the four teams I missed come from my Final Four, but there I am.

[Chubby]

Mizzou national title conteders!!!

oops...

[MJ4H]

?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Kind of an interesting quote from Missouri's coach:



I guess you can say this about any game, but WVU held a pretty solid 5-9 point lead for most of the game, never trailed, Missouri's players seemed to be the more fatigued of the two squads, and every Missouri starter was in foul trouble.

40 minutes* of hell


*possibly longer if we're losing and need more time

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by timmynausea

It'll be interesting. I actually feel like Ebanks gets put on the best perimeter player, so I could see him guarding Thomas. (I say that under the impression that Pondexter is more of a post player, though I suppose he does a little of both.) Ebanks has quick enough feet to deny penetration and his 7'2" wingspan seems to really bother shooters. You could be right, though, that he gets put on the best player period, and it just so happens to mostly be guards.

Pondexter is best described as a 3 that can post-up. He's not purely a perimeter guy, and he's not purely a post-up guy. He's got OK handles, good enough to dribble drive and create his own shot. His outside shot has improved - he'll hit open 3's if given the opportunity, but he's more apt to want to penetrate the lane. And while he can post-up guys and make buckets in the paint, he's more of a mid-range guy.

After a quick glance at WVU's roster, I'd guess Ebanks is more likely to be matched up with Pondexter than Thomas.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Pondexter is best described as a 3 that can post-up. He's not purely a perimeter guy, and he's not purely a post-up guy. He's got OK handles, good enough to dribble drive and create his own shot. His outside shot has improved - he'll hit open 3's if given the opportunity, but he's more apt to want to penetrate the lane. And while he can post-up guys and make buckets in the paint, he's more of a mid-range guy.

After a quick glance at WVU's roster, I'd guess Ebanks is more likely to be matched up with Pondexter than Thomas.

Like I said, it's totally possible. I thought of Pondexter as a post player with some slashing skills, but I have only watched bits and pieces of Washington's tournament games. If he's more slash/mid-range than a post up guy, then you and Swaggs are probably right. Ebanks, even though he's 6'9", has excelled guarding perimeter scorers like Scottie Reynolds (6'2") and etc.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Radii

So I'll join in the "WTF game switching" complaints. I know I'm about 20 minutes from Durham... but Duke leads by 18, while Xavier Pitt is in the final 30 seconds. CBS actually swithced away from Duke long enough to show Pitt hit a 3 with about 30 seconds to go... then switched BACK to Duke and never went back to Xavier/Pitt. I'm watching on mmod but would really like to see it on the big screen.

I was at my parents house and just switched to 1053 on TWC there to watch Xavier / Pitt. Nice finish to that one.

Maybe TWC's one saving grace is their microwave connection to WRAL that lets them get all 4 HD feeds and show them individually without the switching.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I was at my parents house and just switched to 1053 on TWC there to watch Xavier / Pitt. Nice finish to that one.

Maybe TWC's one saving grace is their microwave connection to WRAL that lets them get all 4 HD feeds and show them individually without the switching.

I did a doubletake there, couldn't figure out why the game was being shown on The Weather Channel (TWC is the network abbreviation used in media buying)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Kind of an interesting quote from Missouri's coach:

I guess you can say this about any game, but WVU held a pretty solid 5-9 point lead for most of the game, never trailed, Missouri's players seemed to be the more fatigued of the two squads, and every Missouri starter was in foul trouble.

I'm not sure why it's 'interesting'. Every coach has faith that their team could do something to change the outcome if they would have had one more opportunity at the end of a game.

Mizzou's problem was missing the layups and free throws earlier in the game. Those were the possessions you'd like to have back.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Old habits die hard. A little birdie might have told me that they talked with former Northern Iowa head coach Norm Stewart on Sunday morning and that he was 'tickled pink' over the Panthers' win on Saturday.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I'm not sure why it's 'interesting'. Every coach has faith that their team could do something to change the outcome if they would have had one more opportunity at the end of a game.

Mizzou's problem was missing the layups and free throws earlier in the game. Those were the possessions you'd like to have back.

I understand that his quote is fairly common "coach speak" following a pretty close game and it is often applicable when a team has a lot of momentum but falls just short at the end of the game (Yesterday's Maryland team comes to mind).

In the case of the game yesterday, he would have been better served using a quote like the one in your second paragraph (although I think WVU's defense could have been credited with, a bit, for the missed layups), as Missouri was in foul trouble, hadn't closed the gap, was consistently trailing (never lead), looked to be the more fatigued of the two teams yesterday, and didn't seem to have any momentum toward the end of the game.

The "ran out of time" comment seems wildly out of place for that particular game and I found it interesting that Anderson, if he took part in the same game that we all saw, fount it otherwise.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

In the case of the game yesterday, he would have been better served using a quote like the one in your second paragraph (although I think WVU's defense could have been credited with, a bit, for the missed layups), as Missouri was in foul trouble, hadn't closed the gap, was consistently trailing (never lead), looked to be the more fatigued of the two teams yesterday, and didn't seem to have any momentum toward the end of the game.

I'd disagree that the missed 3's and layups had anything to do with WVU defense. The 3's Mizzou was missing were wide open and the layups were conversions that Mizzou should have made with their eyes closed. Note that this is not an attempt to discredit WVU as much as to note the little things that Mizzou failed to do in the last 5-6 games of their season. But that's why we aren't moving on.

It sucks to lose a game, but perspective has to be used. Mizzou overachieved this year and I think most Mizzou fans would have been thrilled with a 23-11 season if you would have given them that option at the start of the year. We've got fantastic freshman and sophmores who carried a good portion of the load this year in addition to our incoming recruiting class that are going to be together for two years (Safford is the only senior next year). It's an exciting future.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Watching thei Mizzou-WVU game I'm not sure either of them can keep up with UDub when we are clicking.

Its tough with WVU. I am not sure they have looked good in any game this year. Somehow, they are 29-6. If its an ugly game, WVU will win. If its a watchable game, UW will win.

[timmynausea]

WVU is definitely a strange team. They shot something like 43% this year, and yet, largely due to offensive rebounds, have one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball in terms of points per possession. Historically, 2 seeds that shoot under .450 during the season don't meet tournament expectations (elite 8), so it'll be interesting to see if WVU can buck that trend.

[Swaggs]

A couple of thoughts --

I read that Huggins thinks that Washington is the team (of all the teams that we have or will play) that he thinks is most similar to WVU. I'm not real familiar with Washington and I'm not sure what that means, but I'll be interested to hear him elaborate during the week.

On WVU's shooting, I have repeatedly heard the WVU announcing team say that Huggins thinks that WVU can win games if they shoot 41%+ from the field. Seems low, but I guess teamed with the defense, it has lead to victories this season.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I think this picture summarizes Saturday night pretty well. I'm impresse the rug actually stayed on his head.........

[DataKing]

My take on this weekend's events (apologies if any of this is a repeat, I did not read this thread over the weekend):

Like most of the Jayhawk faithful, I was shocked and upset by the loss to Northern Iowa. The team definitely under-performed throughout the game. Collins and Aldrich were both disappointing in their performances, and I felt that Self made some errors as well. That being said, Northern Iowa played a fantastic game, (nearly) always under control and got the most out of the talent at their disposal. Hats off to them for a job well done, and I wish them luck against Sparty on Friday.

But unlike some, I refuse to call this season a failure. Was this a team with National Title hopes? With the talent to make a run at the title? Of course. But every year there's only one team that doesn't end with a bit of disappointment. This year's Jayhawks only lost 3 games all season, and won both a regular season Big 12 title (8 of the last 9) and another Big 12 tournament title (4 of the last 5). They swept Mizzou (no great accomplishment there, but still a rival is a rival) and a very talented K-State team. I refuse to call this season a failure. A disappointment, yes, but no failure. Hopefully the loss to Northern Iowa convinces Aldrich, X, and others (Taylor?) to give it another go next year.

As for the tournament as a whole, this year certainly hasn't disappointed. Four overtime games in the opening weekend (versus just two all of last year) shows just how much parity there is out there this year. And there were truly some WOW moments to be seen. Jordan Crawford has been an absolute joy to watch on the offensive end. And the ending to that Michigan State / Maryland game? It just doesn't get any better than that (with apologies to TK). And even though my personal bracket is pretty much shot to hell, I'm glad to see that I was at least right about Cornell. Go Big Red (but I think their run ends now).

Anyway, that's my take on things so far. Looking forward to the action picking up again on Thursday night.

[jbergey22]

Very well said.

I was reading an interesting article about even though Kansas were the big favorites to win it all this year. They were still only between 25-33% to win it all. Their are so many variables in a 1 loss tourny that it really does make it VERY difficult for the best team to actually win it.

[SportsDino]

Not what I was expecting, I'm just happy the Spartans survived.

Maryland put together a hell of a game and would have been a hell of a story if they got the victory. Got down but clawed back into the game and into the lead when it counts, if Izzo had called the timeout instead of running the ball up the court right away (with our jack of all trades power forward) I am 98% certain Maryland's press would have killed the game. As it is, it took one of the best nailbiter finishes of the tourney to get the win.

Lucas seems to be severely injured, which is very depressing (both for our chances this year and the fact if anyone deserves a chance at the NBA it is Lucas). A lot of Maryland's comeback from the deficit involves no Lucas combined with the press (which always causes MSU trouble) and our tiring backup point guard (who nevertheless hits the gamewinner, best game EVER for Lucious, hands down).

Should be an interesting game against Northern Iowa, weird thing bout the Lucas injury is that knowing we are a wounded animal going into the game the Spartans sometimes get ferocious. Less chance we'll take things for granted, so that may help to balance the loss of the most valuable player on the team (from a scoring, assist, defense standpoint).

[spleen1015]

It is destiny for my favorite team to win it all this year.

They had a contest here at work for Final Four tickets. My boss won and he's giving me 1 of the seats for performing well in 2009.

Destiny! Destiny! Destiny!

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Very well said.

I was reading an interesting article about even though Kansas were the big favorites to win it all this year. They were still only between 25-33% to win it all. Their are so many variables in a 1 loss tourny that it really does make it VERY difficult for the best team to actually win it.

I got a bunch of crap from the guys at work the past month or so any time we'd struggle: "You guys are crap. You aren't going to win the national title". My response was always "If I were forced to pick one team to bet everything on, it would be KU. But if you're going to give me the choice of KU or the field, I take the field every time."

Like you said, the best team doesn't always win if we define the best team as the team that would, say, win the most in a best of 7 series. Or if it was a 65 team round robin tournament. Or something else. But the team that wins the tourney sure as hell deserves the national championship because they did what no one else could do and it definitely beats the beauty pageant that is the BCS.

SI

[timmynausea]

Starting WVU PG Truck Bryant broke a bone in his foot in practice today and is done for the season. It's probably worth pointing out that he's really only technically a "starter" as Joe Mazzulla has played more minutes than him over the past 5 or 10 games, but it's still a significant loss.

[Dr. Sak]

My alma mater (Gannon University) is in the final four in the D2 girls bball tournament. And to make it better, they beat Seton Hill (ping PUMPY) along the way. Also with their win tonight they are 37-0 and broke the record for the most wins in a season for a D2 team. Go Lady Knights!

[DataKing]

OK so I just found this and I had to laugh. Hitler discovers that Kansas lost to Northern Iowa:

[Butter]

Dayton beats Cincy and Illinois on the road to make it to MSG for the NIT Final 4.

No one cares, yes, but the UD fanbase (me included) felt like the team had become disinterested towards the end of the season.

Here's a nice article from the city paper about why the team wanted to get to MSG so badly:

DaytonDailyNews: Dayton, Ohio, news and information

[Swaggs]

To me, Dayton looked like a Sweet 16 team for most of the game last night (until the last few minutes, really). I guess they must have had those consistency lapses throughout the season?