MARCH MADNESS THREAD

[bigspenda73]

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOP

GIG'EM

Come on people! Get in the spirit!

Memphis played a tough game for the first time in a month and it looks like Calhoun won't be coaching UConn for 1 or 2 games.

[bikes]

I really didn;t think texas A&M was going to win after that last meltdown I witnessed. Sigh

[GatorJH]

Memphis damn near became the first bracket buster of the tourney but finally pulled away at the end. LSU game was a good one.

[bigspenda73]

I really didn;t think texas A&M was going to win after that last meltdown I witnessed. Sigh

we've led by 18+ at one point in time our last 3 games, we're very streaky, and that's 4 straight 1st-round wins baby. Bring on Thabeet!

[bikes]

5/7
Stupid LSU x.x

[Ragnar4]

6/7 What Bbickes said about LSU +1

[a500lbgorilla]

7/7 same as above, except without all the fail.

[bode]

6/7 What Bbickes said about LSU +1

[bikes]

Holla Holla Michigan!

also GO HOME BINGHAMTON

START THE BUS

YOURE GONNA GET WHOOPED

[bikes]

Gah 13/16

[dranger7070]

Didnt do a bracket becuz I fail at life, but Purdue FTW imo. 11 straight first round wins. Obviously who the poop cares about 1st round wins?

[lolzzz_321]

kansas dont choke in the first round!

[kmind]

asdifasdf fuck me 5.5 hr trip there and back it's 6 am dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmittttttttttttttttttttttttttttt tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ucla sucks villanova has the gayest fans

[bigspenda73]

Big 12 6-0???

[UG]

Big 12 6-0???

Cornell is giving Missouri trouble atm, but yeah it should happen

[lolzzz_321]

mizzou pulling away, what commerical is more tilting the buff wild wings send it to overtime or the cisco human network?

[bikes]

mizzou pulling away, what commerical is more tilting the buff wild wings send it to overtime or the cisco human network?

cisco, but only because my love of Bdubs holds me back from complete hatred.

[GatorJH]

tourney is boring so far imo. Not enough close games

[BigPapi]

Pitt is having trouble with Tennessee... the Kansas game was good to watch too, battle between the pg's.

[lolzzz_321]

tourney is boring so far imo. Not enough close games

[bigspenda73]

ONE TIME A&M PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE

[ensign_lee]

Last night's final games were SIIIICK! Wisconsin with the game winning ridiculous shot with 2 seconds left. WOW! And Siena with the double-OT game woooh!

Duke - you bitches are going down!!!!! AJ all up in your face!!

Go Big 12!

[bikes]

DUKE!!!!!!!!!!!

WTF WAKE?!?!?!? Sheep shagging tossers.

Edit: censor? really?

[lolzzz_321]

A and M gonna get nom nom nom inside

[bigspenda73]

well I got what I asked for, wanted either a close win by the Ags or a blowout by the Huskies, I couldn't stand another close loss in the tourney.

They just shot the ball ridiculously well, if they fill it up like that I don't see how they can lose a game the rest of the way.

[Lukie]

cleveland state over wake!!!

i used to date a one of the girls on the dance team at cleveland state

[ensign_lee]

Blake Griffin is freaking ridiculous. More than half his shots came in on double-triple teams in the post and he still made them. And his ability to complete alley-oops is crazy.

His brother is a nice complement as well; the griffin brothers...ftw? Wow.

[bigspenda73]

I love how he seems to go out of his way to dunk on people, he's a beast fo sho.

[bikes]

HOLD!

[ensign_lee]

I hate you Duke. I fucking hate you.

#(I&^*%#&$@^#@^% $@*&^%@ *&@^% @

Booooh

[bigspenda73]

Man when I find myself saying "texas got screwed by the refs" you know it has to be true. This game was so tough for me to watch b/c these are my two least favorite teams and one was going to win. I found myself rooting for TU, bleh.

[Illfavor]

Boomer Sooner!

Too bad basketball is the second sport in a one sport state.

[bigspenda73]

Boomer Sooner!

Too bad basketball is the second sport in a one sport state.

first sport is losing BCS games?

[Illfavor]

Boomer Sooner!

Too bad basketball is the second sport in a one sport state.

first sport is losing BCS games?

It appears so. But if I remember correctly, Texas schools have just as many football championships this decade as Oklahoma schools, and far fewer conference championships. Hm...

[lolzzz_321]

sigh obv the feed doesn't work for me

[bigspenda73]

well that's a lot of close games with no upsets...

[DaddyDeez]

Mizzou bitches!!!

[UG]

Kansas is rolling at the right time. It's freaking incredible what they've been able to do after losing their entire starting five from their National Championship team from a year ago. I doubt they have the horses to make another run all the way to the title, but this has been awesome to watch.

Blake Griffin is the fucking man. I'm hoping Oklahoma vs. UNC happens because that'd be badass.

I really don't like Mizzou (I won't use the word hate although it's close), but I hope they keep chugging along as well. At this point of the year I'm all about Kansas kicking ass and the rest of the Big 12 making a good showing too. I hope Digger Phelps is right and Mizzou makes it to the Final Four...


I fucking LOVE this time of year. March Madness, MLB right around the corner (WBC going on this year too), and my high school team has been practicing for three weeks with our first game this Thursday. Hell yeah.

[bigspenda73]

Mizzou's style means that cannot get through 6 games, they are too streaky and that will catch up with them eventually because you cannot afford to play a bad half of basketball against the more elite teams.

Kinda cool Dominic James got to play a few minutes today, good to see people who stay 4 years play their final game. I feel like this 1-and-out rule sucks (1yr. of college before NBA) because what I see from some of the Freshman is just uninspired play. Yes, they get their team to this spot through the regular season (i.e. DeRozan of USC) but they just don't seem to care as much as people who have been with the University for 3-4 years. Those are the guys playing their hearts out, crying as the go off the court for the last time.

That's the spirit of amateur athletics, not some kids who are being strong-armed into making the NCAA money for some reason. I still don't get why you cannot make the leap from HS to the NBA, it's not like it hasn't worked out in the past (Kemp, Bryant, Tmac, KG, Howard, Lebron etc...) and it's not like the sport is as physically imposing as football. You still see the best NBA prospects only playing one year of College Ball with a few exceptions like Blake Griffin who is only going to play two.

bleh ramblage

[bikes]

Gah really thought USC was going to win that one. I'm really surprised Syracuse is still alive. Wow they look really good.

Hopefully Villanova falls asleep against Duke or Duke needs to run like a Kenyan from beyond the Arc.

Spenda makes such a good point about amateur athletics. Everytime I see Paulus on the court giving his everything makes me so damn pumped. He knows hes nowhere near as good as the other guards and has no future in the NBA but damn watching that man play is inspiring.

[UG]

Mizzou: we are bitches!!!

couldn't help myself




I agree that their style doesn't give them a great shot at the title, but there's that outside chance that it could work. We're talking about four games, if stuff goes right for just four games.......who knows? A long-shot definitely but we'll see.

As for amateur athletics...I wish they could go pro (everyone should have the right to make a living however they can), too, but it's sooooooo much better if they play a year of college ball. You bring up Kemp, Bryant, Tmac, KG, Howard, Lebron, etc, but what about the other kids that tried to make the jump but couldn't make it? It's happened a bunch but you don't hear about it.

[bigspenda73]

yea, but all of those kids still made like $5M+

[UG]

yea, but all of those kids still made like $5M+

and the undrafted kids made zilch too

happened to a kid from Wichita, he either got drafted in the 2nd round (non-guaranteed money) or wasn't drafted at all and was fucked when he didn't make it. like I said, you don't hear about it, but it's happened quite a few times over.

until the NBA comes up with a minor-league system like MLB this is a moot point. (football doesn't even come into the discussion because of the size of players)

[mcatdog]

yea, but all of those kids still made like $5M+

and the undrafted kids made zilch too

happened to a kid from Wichita, he either got drafted in the 2nd round (non-guaranteed money) or wasn't drafted at all and was fucked when he didn't make it. like I said, you don't hear about it, but it's happened quite a few times over.

Even so, the historical success rate of prep-to-pros is much much higher than the success rate of virtually any other group of players. It's unrealistic to expect all of them to make it, but on the whole, HS kids were doing a very good job of deciding whether they were ready for the NBA, before that option was taken away from them.

Of the people who didn't get drafted at all, some of them weren't even All-Americans or well-known names on the HS circuit. For all we know they declared for the draft just for the hell of it. Doesn't seem to make much sense to use them as an argument either way.

[bigspenda73]

If you can use an anecdote so can I!

DeAndre Jordan came to Texas A&M as a top-5 recruit and would have been a lottery-pick had he been able to declare after HS. However, he went to A&M and unfortunately didn't click with the staff/team. He didn't play much and got a bad rep. Instead of transferring or sticking it out he went to the draft and was taken in the 2nd round, that's a huge difference in money from the lottery.

Tyler Hansbrough also cost himself a ton of money staying two more years than he should have (strike while the iron is hot IMO). There are two sides to every argument, I'm sure there were a ton of kids who should have gone to college, by why just ONE year? That's what doesn't make any sense to me. However, you cannot argue with the list of Superstars/All-Stars that have skipped college:

1. Moses Malone
2. KG
3. Kobe
4. Lebron
5. Dwight Howard
6. Al Jefferson
7. Amare
8. Jermaine O'neal
9. Tracy McGrady

On top of that you could find at least 10 more starting or 6th/7th man players in the NBA who didn't go to college like Rashard Lewis, JR Smith, Josh Smith, Kendrick Perkins, Tyson Chandler, Al Harrington, Motna Ellis etc....

I looked at a list of all HS players who declared that had a "serious" shot as Mike alluded to. It seems more have made it than have not, much more.

[bikes]

START THE BUS VILLANOVA.

YOU'RE GONNA WHOOPED

[bigspenda73]

I don't get why they can't start the 4 games right now and go one at a time instead of playing 2 at the same time.

[lolzzz_321]

I don't get why they can't start the 4 games right now and go one at a time instead of playing 2 at the same time.

this, lets go slaversssssss

[UG]

wow, Mizzou looks damn good


p.s. Spenda you and mcat win the h.s. players to the pros argument, you both made great points.

[bikes]

Every team I wanted to win lost.

[coozhound]

anybody like how syracuse matches up with ok ? and whats the spread?

[UG]

Every team I wanted to win lost.

Please root for Michigan State and Syracuse tonight, I win anywhere from $150-$250 if those teams both win!

[bigspenda73]

someone with DVR find a way to show the blonde sitting behind Griffin's parents

OMG

[bigspenda73]

also wtf, he just hit his head on the backboard

dude is a beast

[bikes]

.... I really wanted Syracuse to win over Griffen. Meh. LETS GO KANSAS!

[bigspenda73]

in all seriousness, that chick was HAWT

[bigspenda73]

watching this game makes me wonder if the NCAA should rethink their time-out policy. I know they won't, because hell, they haven't fixed the 35 second shot clock yet. However, it's ridiculous that every time down the court a team gets to call a timeout late in the game and draw up a play. Don't you work on this stuff in practice? Probably b/c every team is full of fresh/sophmores that have tutors taking their classes for them so they can pass and then go to the nba next year.

[UG]

poop, Kansas is done

Elite Eight is still going to be awesome.

[bigspenda73]

poop, Kansas is done

Elite Eight is still going to be awesome.

hope so because the first 3 rounds have been pretty bleh

[UG]

Not sure why the tournament has been "bleh" so far for you. I guess there's no Cinderella, no break-out player like Stephon Curry of last year, etc.....but it's been good basketball. Elite Eight was great today, I look forward to the same tomorrow, setting up an awesome Final Four (even if there are three Big East teams.....at least it's not the sucky Big Ten).




Ok, what I really, really need is for Oklahoma to win tomorrow against UNC. I've done an NCAA player draft-thing with friends the last two years. $50 a pop, we get about 10-12 people. Last year I won it. I'm in first place again, but I need OU to win tomorrow in order to guarantee most points for my team, and win most points for an individual over an entire tournament (I have Griffin).

Tomorrow's game means about $250 to me, go Sooners woot.

[bigspenda73]

there had been like two close games in ~60 games before last nights heroics, a TON of blow-outs in the round of 32 and Sweet 16 which makes for a pretty meh viewing experience.

[bigspenda73]

I'm proud of the kid for staying for 4 years but Tyler Hansbrough cost himself so much money and this game is another example why. He has no middle game and he looks awful against other big men that have a clue.

[bikes]

....... Thank you UNC for getting me 1 team of my 4 into the FF. F you nova, state and uconn. F you UNC cause I hate you. HGDKALSHGDAKSLHGADKLGHAS HANSBITCH DIAGF

[bigspenda73]

I have to say this really is the most boring NCAA tourney of the past 10 years (that's as far back as I can remember)

I like MSU over UNC in the championship because it looks like Nova, who is undersized compared to UNC, is dominating on the offensive glass, which is one of the things the Spartans excel at.

[BigPapi]

hmm, final was over before it began

[WildBobAA]

I agree with Spenda. Terrible tourney overall.

[a500lbgorilla]

wooo ACC suck it Big East! You suck, we rule! No argument Its not even close etc etc!

also, I didnt watch any games all season and won my bracket pool by a mile.