First 2009 March Madness thread

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by herkhorse

How 'bout Johnny Flynn playing 67 of the 70 minutes.

he's a heck of a free throw shooter! And clutch also! I think this team will go far in March (crosses fingers). With Arizona out I'll have to pick some team to go for!

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

he's a heck of a free throw shooter! And clutch also! I think this team will go far in March (crosses fingers). With Arizona out I'll have to pick some team to go for!

I think all of the Big East goes far in the Tournament. They are just playing at a higher level right now than all the other leagues outside of the ACC.

The Big East could end up with:
3 #1's (Pitt, UConn, Louisville)
2 #3's (Syracuse, Villanova)
1 #4 (West Virginia)
1 #6 (Marquette)

That is STACKED.

[SniperSB23]

That was amazing last night. Thought I'd get to bed early to get rested for the St Pattys Day parade on Saturday so was watching it in bed. As regulation was ending I saw New Mexico-Wyoming tipping off on CBS College and thought jokingly to myself that I'd probably end up watching that game and mess up my getting to bed early plans. By the time the game ended there were under 4 minutes left in New Mexico-Wyoming so sure enough I did wind up watching NM choke away their at large chances.

Still five spots up for grabs although San Diego St has to be feeling pretty good right now with a road win last night.

Below them I think there are four spots for these five teams:
South Carolina
Florida
Temple
USC
Penn St

If all five win today it is going to be a very tough call.

Still hanging on:
UAB - If they beat Tulsa and lose close to Memphis they will push their RPI into the top 40. They scheduled non-conference exactly as the committee likes and have a road win at Arizona to hang their hat on.

VT - Need to beat NC and even then a 3rd loss to FSU might doom them. Win two more and they are in.

Auburn - If they were to beat Florida and then Tennessee to get to the SEC Championship game they'd be almost impossible to deny a bid.

Maryland - Need to beat Wake and then may even need to beat Duke or BC to feel safe.

Miss St/Kentucky - Both need to get to their conference championship to have a shot, even then they might need to get the auto bid.

Arizona, Creighton, St Marys, Davidson, New Mexico, UNLV, and Providence all have no more chances to impress the committee and have to hope for all the bubble teams with games remaining to blow up to get back in the field.

[jwkniska]

Originally Posted by philcski

I think all of the Big East goes far in the Tournament. They are just playing at a higher level right now than all the other leagues outside of the ACC.

The Big East could end up with:
3 #1's (Pitt, UConn, Louisville)
2 #3's (Syracuse, Villanova)
1 #4 (West Virginia)
1 #6 (Marquette)

That is STACKED.

Marquette should be the first one out. They could easily lose their first game since James is out. Wouldn't want to draw any of the others. They could easily have 5 of the sweet 16.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by jwkniska

Marquette should be the first one out. They could easily lose their first game since James is out. Wouldn't want to draw any of the others. They could easily have 5 of the sweet 16.

True. They are still very tough even without their best player though, just don't think they have enough for a deep run.

I think WVU will open a lot of people's eyes in the Tournament. I saw a GREAT team last night who are coached at an extremely high level. Good for Huggins who has taken a lot of sh1t in the past for stuff that is kind of across the board in college BB these days like mediocre graduation rates.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by philcski

True. They are still very tough even without their best player though, just don't think they have enough for a deep run.

I think WVU will open a lot of people's eyes in the Tournament. I saw a GREAT team last night who are coached at an extremely high level. Good for Huggins who has taken a lot of sh1t in the past for stuff that is kind of across the board in college BB these days like mediocre graduation rates.

F*ck Huggins. What he did in Cincinnati was unprecedented, 27 of his 85 players during his tenure graduated (most in the early years) including a six year span where not a single player graduated.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by philcski

True. They are still very tough even without their best player though, just don't think they have enough for a deep run.

I think WVU will open a lot of people's eyes in the Tournament. I saw a GREAT team last night who are coached at an extremely high level. Good for Huggins who has taken a lot of sh1t in the past for stuff that is kind of across the board in college BB these days like mediocre graduation rates.

Jerel McNeal is Marquette's best player, yesterday's brain fart on defense notwithstanding.

Agree with you re: West Virginia, I think they're vastly underrated. Ebanks has really come on towards the end of the season and they'll always be in games thanks to their defense.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

F*ck Huggins. What he did in Cincinnati was unprecedented, 27 of his 85 players during his tenure graduated (most in the early years) including a six year span where not a single player graduated.

that really isn't any different from any other basketball factory, where they just fabricate grades anyways.

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Jerel McNeal is Marquette's best player, yesterday's brain fart on defense notwithstanding.

Agree with you re: West Virginia, I think they're vastly underrated. Ebanks has really come on towards the end of the season and they'll always be in games thanks to their defense.

Fair enough- 2nd best player.
Ebanks is a stud.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by philcski

that really isn't any different from any other basketball factory, where they just fabricate grades anyways.

It was far worse. At least if you get a guy some useless degree he has a shot in life of landing a job somewhere other than McDonalds. They were just using the kids for basketball convincing them that classes weren't important since they'd all go to the NBA. Then very few of them actually went on to an NBA career.