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OFFICIAL March Madness Thread
LaZoris
Member Posts: 1,628
Does anyone give a fuck? Outside of trying to win money by filling out a tourney bracket pool or betting on the vegas odds. Vegas has Kentucky around a 1-1 favorite to win it all. Pretty much a coin flip to take them or take the field. '
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Racist crap?
I am watching most of the selection show for the first time in years but cbb sucks ass overall..
"Megan"
"Stacey"
"Stacey"
"Stacey"
"Megan"
"Megan"
"Stacey"
Such great radio.
Hope this helps.
And if you are assuming that, then you clearly haven't paid attention while I've completely ripped a number of different aspect in today's game.
That being said, I still love the tournament and even championship week. Everything that is bad about basketball right now (and there's plenty that I could go off on on a TL, DR type post of 8,119 words) is offset by all that is right about win and advance vs lose and go home.
HTH
1) #1 seeds were really protected this year. I don't really look at any of them getting draws where I'm busy thinking that they have bad matchups for them. Duke has a waltz into the Regional Final IMO. Putting UNC as a 4 in Wisconsin's bracket is the worst type of matchup for UNC and one that Wisconsin should be able to combat. Put UNC in Villanova's bracket and you may have a matchup that creates problems. Put UNC in Kentucky's bracket and you make Kentucky at least go through a team that might be able to match up with them physically/athletically. Louisville and Georgetown are 2 of the softest 4 seeds I've ever seen.
2) UCLA getting into the dance (and not even being in the first four games) is a fucking joke and all about the $$$. Same with Indiana and to a lesser extent Texas who is probably the best team of the group but has had plenty of chances to prove whether or not they were a contender or not.
3) The Missouri Valley Conference continuously gets underappreciated by the Committee. What has the WCC done lately? Yet Gonzaga gets a 2 seed. When you look at their resume, it was Charmin soft by their standards this year. Instead, the MVC Tournament champs get a 5 seed for being nothing more than a 30-3 team. The MVC regular season champs get a 7 seed for being 28-4. The MVC has been to a Final Four in the last 2 years; was a #1 seed last year (and the Kentucky team that beat them by 2 not only lost in the Final, but probably played their best game of the tournament in that game), and one of the teams that has branched out from that conference (Creighton) has not been overmatched in their transition into the Big East. The seeding for these teams is just a flat out miss by the Committee.
4) Let's be honest, the most fun during the Tournament is the first weekend and the upsets. I expect the following teams to make a bit of noise the first weekend: Buffalo, Wichita St (will beat Kansas), Wofford, Belmont (Virginia's lack of scoring combined with Belmont's ability to shoot will make this a close game), Stephen F Austin, Eastern Washington, and Davidson (offensive efficiency could create significant problems for Gonzaga).
5) Kentucky's path to the title isn't a forgone conclusion IMO. To beat Kentucky, you have to be able to do a couple of things well: control tempo, avoid turnovers, and find some way to neutralize Kentucky's height. Since only a handful of teams can matchup with their height, the more likely way to beat Kentucky will be to have versatile bigs that have the ability to step out, space the court, and force Kentucky to either come out and guard with their bigs or go small themselves as their guards are the weaker part of their team. Notre Dame's offensive efficiency could create challenges for Kentucky with potentially only a day to prepare. Wisconsin is probably the 2nd best team in the country and if they don't make it to the Final Four, then Arizona would be the next logical choice in the West and they have the required size, strength, speed to be able to slug out a game with Kentucky. Then, in the National Title game, you have the potential of a team like Duke (perhaps greater top end talent than Kentucky), Villanova (strong guard play), and my sleeper team in Iowa State (similar to Notre Dame in offensive efficiency).
I get it's capitalism but maybe we can stop calling Coca Cola and ATT "corporate champions" because they sponsor a collegiate basketball tournament?
The MVC sucked this year. Northern Iowa only ranked opponent was Wichita State. Those two teams were the only good teams in that conference. They are good teams, but it's tough to say they should be seeded higher based on the conference's past results in the tourney.
Of course Gonzaga is overrated. Welcome to 2004.
What is wrong with Louisville as a 4 seed? They were ranked in the top 15 in the last poll and just beat Virginia a few days ago.