March Madness 2004

[SC]

I'm shocked that this thread hasn't started yet. With all this hockey talk, let's get the NC's chatter going. Who are we pulling for ?

WTF happened to Stanford last week?

[BlazeArmy]

Is there going to be a pool this year?

St Joe's to win it all.

[bertrum]

Originally Posted by SC

WTF happened to Stanford last week?

They got worked by the Dogs. Love it! Couple more wins and the Huskies will be pushing for a birth in "the Tourny."

[Walks]

I'm waiting for Sensei's analysis on the Madness before I even think of looking at my bracket

March 14th - The seedings are announced.
March 18th - First Round begins ....

[Captain Shamrock]

Well the brackets are done and there are a couple of VERY difficult brackets. I know things are normally difficult at this time of year BUT check out this bracket.......

Duke, Miss. St., Texas, Cincy, Illinois, North Carolina, Xavier, Seton Hall, Arizona, Louisville, Air Force, Murray St., ETennSt., Princeton,.......Wow, this is nasty.....Kentucky has a nice draw and watching them dismantle Florida today , I would certainly give them a great chance to get out of their bracket. St. Joseph's has to like its' draw but I don't see them coming out. The 20 point humping they were given by Xavier can't bode well for them going into the tournament. They might go out in the second round.....

Early final four picks for the Captain.....Kentucky, Duke, Oklahoma State, UConn..........

[sensei_hanson]

The possibilty of a Duke-Arizona second rounder is music to my ears. What a matchup. Also, having Duke and Carolina in the same bracket is magic as well....an elite 8 matchup looms large.

Three Washington state schools in the tourney - E-dubb, the Huskies and the Zags are all in, but the Eagles of Eastern Washington are in extremely tough with a red-hot Okie State team in the opening round. Zaga are playing in Seattle so you know home court advantage will be a key.

A team I'd want to stay away from would be Maryland, who were amazing down the stretch and into the ACC tourney. Williams has one a tourney before (2001), but I'd consider them more of a sleeper for an elite 8 team than an actual champion. Stanford will not be looking forward to a possible Terrapin collision in the sweet 16.

I'll go one step further than the Captain and claim that this could be the first year a #1 seed loses to a #16 - St. Joes goes down to Liberty, who come in winning 15 of their last 19. Go Flames!

[ParkHead]

I don't know about St Joe's losing to a 16th seed but I am quite confident they will be the first #1 seed to fall. The Duke vs Arizona matchup in the second round could be one game you wouldn't want to miss. Wouldn't be overly shocked if Arizona pulls an upset there. The winner of that one should face the HEELS who will beat Texas to go to the Final four. Maryland and Wisconsin would be the two teams I wouldn't want to face. Wisconsin also is playing in their own backyard in Milwaukee. I thought the NCAA tried to avoid this!

Will there be a pool?


Parkhead

[sensei_hanson]

I'll just say right now the St. Joe's upset in round one is very wishful thinking on my part. Liberty has gotten ass-whupped against every semi-big non-conference team they've come up against this year.

The problem with the Hawks is that they've been sitting on their hands ever since the loss to Xavier. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the reaction of the players. The problem lies with this being the first time St. Joe's will have had to recoup after losing a game. It's a major wildcard.

Maryland won that title in 2002 btw, not 2001. My bad.

[Captain Shamrock]

St. Joe's should win the first round against Liberty and expect a lot of three pointers to be thrown by both teams. They live and die by them. I think St. Joe's weak conference schedule will hurt them in the second round against T.Tech, assuming they get by Charlotte, who will be no pushover. Tech gets to play against solid teams all season(OK.St, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma) and this will help them against St. Joe's.

Here are the Captain's first round upset picks.....

Louisville over Xavier(10 over 7)

Murray State over Illinois

BYU over Syracuse

Dayton over DePaul

and the big one.......UL-Lafayette over NC State


A 9 seed beating an 8 seed isn't much of an upset, so I won't include those....


Everything else should go according to form.....

[sensei_hanson]

Nothing worse that being stuck at school doing "research" and trying to follow the games on cnnsi.com.

Looks like the Jaspers of Manhattan could be making a cause for the first upset special - 12 over 5 - as they're hanging tough with Florida early in the second half.

St. Joes-Liberty on later today. And UNC-Air Force.

Just read that Duhon will not play versus A-State due to his rib injury.

[Sandman]

Sensei,

According to Kelogg and Gumble, Duhon is going to play. The Dookies are 33 point favorites............I might have to bet against them. 33 is tough to cover.

Sandman

[sensei_hanson]

I don't know why Coach K would risk him in what is basically a guaranteed W for Duke. That was a nasty spill he took in the ACC final.

Florida could be fcuked. Flores is pouring 'em in for the Jaspers.

[knvb]

Sandman, I was thinking the same when it was -34. That's a hell of a cover, but Duke is usually hungry like a wolf and notorious and for coming out and humping teams in round one, but 33 I don't know.

Manhattan is up 13 with 12:08 left



~Duran Duran

Holyflashback

[sensei_hanson]

Matt Walsh shoulda stayed in bed this morning.

[Captain Shamrock]

You've gotta love the Jaspers. They are TTP out of an exceptionally average Florida team. It is currently a 15 point lead with under 3 minutes to play. Fcuking brilliant...


TTech should be able to hang on to a 7 point lead with 2:00 to go.......

[sensei_hanson]

BYU needs to get a few of these heffers on the Atkins diet or something.

The one dude with the headband looks like he ate the student manager at halftime.

Mind you, they're only down 2 to the defending national champs. And McNamara is close to 40 points already.

[sensei_hanson]

...and they thought St. Joes would be the first #1 seed to fall.

Getting rolled by Alabama (who went like 4-18 from 3pt land) is embarassing for such a "dynamic" team. Josh Childress is officially the most overrated player in the country. Thanks for nothing.

Special thanks to the zebras in the Zaga-Nevada game for ruining what had the makings of a decent matchup. Fcuking morons. Diabolical.

Thank gawd the UNC-Duke elite 8 matchup is still alive. For now.
-Sensei.

[ParkHead]

Another year passes by without a great run from the Heels.
The upsets just keep coming now. Nevada looked good in dismanteling the Zags.

I still like Wisconsin to upset Pitt tomorrow.


Parkhead

[SC]

Some money ball today. The G-Tech vs Kansas battle was true March Madness. I figured out how to enjoy the sunshine and the b-ball at the same time today: rolled the TV stand out to the south face patio. MAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCCC!

BTW, G-tech's money man has the best last name, ever!

+SC

[SC]

That March Madness (technically April frills) final game was as anti-climatic as Gilligan's foreplay. Not that I would know anything about Gilligan...

I guess the boys were tired, being day-light savings Monday and all

+theverydisappointedCS