March Madness thread

[DJnVa]

Anyone watching these games?

Valpo down 2, with 2.5 seconds left, underneath their own basket, catches Green Bay asleep and connects on a pass the length of the court, and it's laid in--onto OT.

Iona upsets Monmouth to go dancing.

CAA into OT between UNC-W and Hofstra.

 

[shawnrbu]

It has been a great start to Championship Week with UNI winning Arch Madness with a Buzzer Beater and Florida Gulf Coast vs. Stetson was a real good game that went to OT.

The bubble has gotten tighter with Northern Iowa and Iona probably "stealing" two bids.

 

[DJnVa]

Monmouth (whom Iona beat to get the bid) is sitting around 47 in RPI...it's going to be tight. They need lots and lots of chalk the rest of the way.

 

[DJnVa]

UNCW Seahawks beat Hofstra in OT to advance.

 

[wibi]

It has been a great start to Championship Week with UNI winning Arch Madness with a Buzzer Beater and Florida Gulf Coast vs. Stetson was a real good game that went to OT.

The bubble has gotten tighter with Northern Iowa and Iona probably "stealing" two bids.

My Zags are going to have to win the WCC tournament to make it this year if the bubble gets any tighter

 

[canderson]

SFA went 18-0 in the Southland but must win two its tourney games to make the dance. They should.

Rooting for Stony Brook to finally get over the hump.

 

[Greg29fan]

Six conference tournaments have been completed so far

#1 seeds are 0-6

 

[Grimace-HS]

Monmouth (whom Iona beat to get the bid) is sitting around 47 in RPI...it's going to be tight. They need lots and lots of chalk the rest of the way.

I've seen quite a few of their games this year...very fun team overall to watch, and they play some good basketball. They had some great road / neutral site wins this year (UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Georgetown)...Hopefully they get in with an at-large bid.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

I've seen quite a few of their games this year...very fun team overall to watch, and they play some good basketball. They had some great road / neutral site wins this year (UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Georgetown)...Hopefully they get in with an at-large bid.

They lost a one possession game at Dayton as well.

 

[cannonball 1729]

No. 1 seed Chattanooga survives ETSU to punch its auto bid in the Socon.

Interesting tourney in the Southern Conference. Going into the tournament, the teams were about as balanced as I can remember - it was the first time in recent memory where there was no clear favorite (last year the favorite was Wofford, and the three years prior it was Davidson). None of the teams had a particularly dominating regular season, and six of the ten teams in the Socon went 10-8 or better in conference play. (Last year, there were three such teams.)

Anyway, Chattanooga survived the first round against No. 8 Samford thanks to a flurry of turnovers in the final minute (the game was tied with two minutes left). The next day, they squeaked by Western Carolina (who themselves had won a double-OT game against Wofford the day before). Tonight, they outlasted a pretty impressive comeback by ETSU, helped by an ETSU meltdown that caused two technical foul calls. All told, Chattanooga won their three games by a combined 15 points. Seems fitting for a year where there was so much parity in the conference.

 

[wibi]

Gonzaga and St. Mary's going toe to toe in the first half of the WCC championship game on ESPN. This one is going to be a nail biter right until the end

 

[wibi]

Gonzaga and St. Mary's going toe to toe in the first half of the WCC championship game on ESPN. This one is going to be a nail biter right until the end

68 - 65 Zags with just under 6 to play. Both teams are shooting hot tonight. Going to come down to a couple of key misses as to which team loses

 

[shawnrbu]

The Zags earn their 18th consecutive trip to the Dance. We could be seeing three conferences that looked like one bid leagues a week ago get two bids (MVC, MAAC and WCC).

 

[wibi]

Gonzaga survives and advances to the NCAA tournament with the automatic bid from the WCC tournament win. They have made the tournament every year since 1999 (18 straight years) and might have not made it this year if they hadnt wont the WCC. I'm expecting they will get a 9 or 10 seed in the tournament this year. SMC deserves a shot but right now they are on the outside of the bubble looking in

 

[Grimace-HS]

Joe Lunardi now has:
"Last 4 In" = Syracuse, St. Bonaventure, Monmouth, and Saint Mary's
"First 4 Out" = Connecticut, Oregon State, Tulsa, and Valparaiso

Should get more interesting with tomorrow's games...crazy year for this tournament.

 

[mandro ramtinez]

Rooting for St. Mary's to get an at large. If BC can't act like a D-1 hoops team, I'm glad that Gonzaga will gamely represent the Jesuits in the dance.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Tho I'm said to say my Hoyas won't be in the dance this year, pretty sure Xavier is carrying the Jesuit banner this year.

 

[jablo1312]

Cuse with a borderline must win against Pitt kicks off today's action at the Verizon Center in DC. Pitt is probably in already (every bracket updated in the last 48 hours at bracketmatrix.com has them in) but a win today would help solidify/finalize their spot in the tournament.

 

[mandro ramtinez]

Tho I'm said to say my Hoyas won't be in the dance this year, pretty sure Xavier is carrying the Jesuit banner this year.

Totally, bad oversight on my part. Saint Ignatius is shaking his head from on high. Go Musketeers too.

 

[tims4wins]

Cuse with a borderline must win against Pitt kicks off today's action at the Verizon Center in DC. Pitt is probably in already (every bracket updated in the last 48 hours at bracketmatrix.com has them in) but a win today would help solidify/finalize their spot in the tournament.

Pitt up 2 at the half

Edit: now 12. Cuse in trouble

 

[DukeSox]

wow. cuse. awful awful final play. got screwed by clocks not working above basket.

 

[Greg29fan]

wow. cuse. awful awful final play. got screwed by clocks not working above basket.

They didn't work the entire game; that's not much of an excuse.

 

[Drocca]

Syracuse lost the game, in my opinion, with two minutes left. They built their entire comeback on a press and then, once they tied it, they went back to their zone. They had Pitt totally out of sorts and then let them run their offense again.

UNC/PITT tomorrow at Noon.

 

[DukeSox]

you don't play the entire game racing down court with 6 (but unknown time left as you're looking at the basket) seconds left to score a basket.

 

[tims4wins]

UNC obliterated Pitt last time they played in the Dean Dome, don't see any reason why that shouldn't happen again tomorrow

Now Duke will try to survive State for the 3rd time this year

 

[DukeSox]

prior 2 games ended 88-80 and 88-78, ha.

 

[Drocca]

Yeah, I would be surprised if this game is interesting following the second t.v. timeout.

 

[tims4wins]

Gonna be another shootout

 

[Greg29fan]

UNC obliterated Pitt last time they played in the Dean Dome, don't see any reason why that shouldn't happen again tomorrow

UNC shot an anomalous 59% in that game; I can't see them doing that again.

Pitt also outrebounded them on the offensive glass like 19 to 1 or something but couldn't do anything with that advantage.

 

[Drocca]

Neither of these teams seems particularly interested in playing defense.

 

[tims4wins]

Ingram decided to show up.

Duke is correct to not play D, don't want foul trouble, just try to outscore them

edit: if Duke wins it will be the same tomorrow vs. ND

 

[Drocca]

There's not really much point in playing hard D against NC State. This half is the absolute best offense NC State can muster and it won't last.

 

[tims4wins]

State still shooting the lights out. Both teams over 60%

 

[Drocca]

Fun, fun game.

I would pick Ben Simmons over Brandon Ingram if I had the top pick, but if I landed the second pick in the lottery I would be doing fucking cartwheels.

 

[tims4wins]

What a flop

 

[Drocca]

T4W: Did you have floppy curly hair when you were an undergrad, about 6 feet tall and super skinny? Because that's how I imagine every Duke alum.

 

[tims4wins]

Ha. No. I'm 5'8 130 with short hair

 

[Drocca]

I'm disappointed.

 

[tims4wins]

I'm a nerd in that I like Excel and spend too much time on SoSH, but pretty much otherwise a regular dude who watches too much sports, drinks a lot of beer, and tries to survive each day as a father of 3

edit: this is all very relevant to the ACC tournament

 

[Drocca]

I'm a nerd in that I like Excel and spend too much time on SoSH, but pretty much otherwise a regular dude who watches too much sports, drinks a lot of beer, and tries to survive each day as a father of 3

edit: this is all very relevant to the ACC tournament

It's extremely relevant.

Why does Chase Jeter not get more run? I haven't seem him enough to know what the flaws are but it seems like Duke would be in much better shape if they had him notching 15 minutes/game.

 

[tims4wins]

Agree. I mean he is extremely raw and I know K has his reasons and was just trying to win games but you can't argue they would be in better shape and he would be a better player today if he was consistently getting 15 minutes a game from the day after Jefferson went down

My only real guess is that they thought Jefferson was coming back up until a week or two ago and didn't want him on the court too much as a liability, but that failed

 

[Drocca]

I didn't even consider that possibility (that they thought Jefferson would return). I like Jeter and think he would be a big contributor if he was allowed to just take his lumps early on. It may have cost a win (maybe, that's hard to quantify) but I can't pick this Duke team to make it out of the first weekend with the lack of rebounding and over-reliance on the three. That's a really scary recipe against these first and second round teams that will play the game of their life. Just a simple 10-15% drop in average 3PFG% and it's over.

 

[Drocca]

I do not think Mark Gotfried would be fun to play for. Even odds he fucks your girlfriend.

 

[Greg29fan]

I think this one is over

 

[tims4wins]

I didn't even consider that possibility (that they thought Jefferson would return). I like Jeter and think he would be a big contributor if he was allowed to just take his lumps early on. It may have cost a win (maybe, that's hard to quantify) but I can't pick this Duke team to make it out of the first weekend with the lack of rebounding and over-reliance on the three. That's a really scary recipe against these first and second round teams that will play the game of their life. Just a simple 10-15% drop in average 3PFG% and it's over.

Totally agree with all of this. Probably would have cost them a win or two but whatever. And if this is what their thinking was it was dumb. You have to let freshmen develop.

Eventually Jeter will be better than Casey Sanders, but you have to give him the chance.

NC has cooled off big time this half - as you predicted.

 

[Drocca]

I would follow Marshall Plumlee basically anywhere and I can't stand Duke.

 

[tims4wins]

Kind of amazing he came this far this year. My favorite of the 3 Plumlees

 

[Drocca]

For all the post-game analysis of the first UNC/Duke game, the most impressive performance was Plumlee not getting his fifth foul --- just a smart, smart player.

 

[tims4wins]

Flagrant is ridiculous there, but Allen earned it with past shenanigans

 

[Greg29fan]

Ingram has vanished again