March Madness

[Vrede too]

... I slightly want Michigan to beat Loyola-Chicago ...

That's what I wanted to want - state u. vs. Catholics - but I found myself rooting for Loyola-Chicago, even before they were leading. So far, so good with 11 to go, a moral victory even if they lose.

Loyola-Chicago fell apart literally the moment that I posted the above. I'm a jinx . Given this, go KS!

[Vrede too]

I want Nova > KS.

... I'm a jinx . Given this, go KS!

Cool.

I want either Michigan or Loyola-Chicago to beat either Nova or KS.

However, if I was making a new bet it would be on Nova.

Even more so after tonight.

[Vrede too]

How about those Notre Dame women! They wrecked UConn’s unbeaten season in OT on Fri. night. Now - Mississippi State, the team that spoiled UConn’s tournament last year and buzzer beater winner over Louisville on Friday. Go Irish!

10 minutes into the game there's a Mississippi State player with 100 rebounds in the tourney. The old record was 75.

5:30 left in the 3rd. Ut-oh, forgot that I'm a jinx, go Mississippi State!

Notre Dame was down about 13 when I posted the above, now 41-41 at the end of 3.

3 point buzzer beater for the Notre Dame61-58 win!!! Damn, I'm good . . . or bad . . . or something.

Go Nova.

[O Really]

WTF? It's not like I can't get the channels if I decide to watch some of the game, but running it on no major networks or ESPN and running it on TBS, TNT and TruTV? Seriously?

[Vrede too]

WTF? It's not like I can't get the channels if I decide to watch some of the game, but running it on no major networks or ESPN and running it on TBS, TNT and TruTV? Seriously?

Turner must have bid more.

Fwiw:
truTV - Villanova TeamCast
TNT - Michigan TeamCast, I'm pretty sure
TBS - Neutral national program, I'm pretty sure

I do think it's kinda cool that viewers can choose partisan programming.

[billy.pilgrim]

WTF? It's not like I can't get the channels if I decide to watch some of the game, but running it on no major networks or ESPN and running it on TBS, TNT and TruTV? Seriously?

Turner must have bid more.

Fwiw:
truTV - Villanova TeamCast
TNT - Michigan TeamCast, I'm pretty sure
TBS - Neutral national program, I'm pretty sure

I do think it's kinda cool that viewers can choose partisan programming.

Very cool. I wish i had known.

[Vrede too]

Fwiw:
truTV - Villanova TeamCast
TNT - Michigan TeamCast, I'm pretty sure
TBS - Neutral national program, I'm pretty sure

I do think it's kinda cool that viewers can choose partisan programming.

Very cool. I wish i had known.

Which did you end up with? I chose TBS, though it was such a rout I was mostly watching other stuff. The Michigan TeamCast must have been depressing.

TV Guide wasn't very clear about it, hence my "I'm pretty sure" about TNT and TBS before the game. I wouldn't have known at all except that the distinctions were mentioned well into the Women's Final the night before.

... 3 point buzzer beater for the Notre Dame 61-58 win!!! ...

Same player as shot the OT game winner buzzer beater vs. UConn, Arike Ogunbowale.

[Vrede too]

105 brackets.

Villanova > Gonzaga, Duke and VA losing in the Final 4 - Tie for 18th.
***** Picks by Seeds ***** - Tie for 34th.
VA > Duke, Michigan and Villanova losing in the Final 4 - Tie for 45th.
*****Barack Obama ***** and Michigan > Purdue, Michigan State and VA losing in the Final 4 - Tie for 71st.
Cincinnati > KS, Xavier and WV losing in the Final 4 - Tie for 89th.

Average 56, a bit below the group average.

[Vrede too]

I'm not doing brackets this year, and am not even paying much attention. I disapprove of play. Both Duke and last year's NCAA champ Virginia are out of ACC Tournament after positive COVID tests.

[O Really]

I'm not doing brackets this year, and am not even paying much attention. I disapprove of play. Both Duke and last year's NCAA champ Virginia are out of ACC Tournament after positive COVID tests.

Yeah, with the wild card of covid, plus the unpredictability of match-ups and team play, you might as well toss a coin for each game. Oh wait, that would probably improve your picks, eh? Sorry about Dook. They may not have been themselves this year, but they deserve better than to go out by quarantine.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, with the wild card of covid, plus the unpredictability of match-ups and team play, you might as well toss a coin for each game. Oh wait, that would probably improve your picks, eh? Sorry about Dook. They may not have been themselves this year, but they deserve better than to go out by quarantine.

Opps, I meant 2019 NCAA champ Virginia. There were no 2020 NCAA or ACC Tournaments.

[O Really]

I'm not doing brackets this year, and am not even paying much attention. I disapprove of play. Both Duke and last year's NCAA champ Virginia are out of ACC Tournament after positive COVID tests.

This guy agrees with you ...

Should tourneys have been played? No

Bryce Miller Columnist
LAS VEGAS
No one in college basketball is immune, no matter how blue the blood, no matter how bold the résumé, from a single COVID-19 test result sucking the air out of March Madness.
Just ask Duke. Just ask No. 11 Kansas. Just ask No. 16 Virginia.
On Friday alone, the Cavaliers and Jayhawks fattened a well-heeled list suffering through season-capping pandemic pain.
As casualties pile up, it’s fair to ask whether these conference tournaments should have been played at all in 2021. It’s fantastic drama, a spot on the calendar when Cleveland State can star alongside Ohio State. People pay attention to the Ramblers of Loyola, the Dragons of Drexel and the deliciously patriotic Flames of Liberty.
Moving into March without those NCAA-determining storylines sounds near blasphemous, given the country has salivated for sports normalcy. The agony and upsets leading to the NCAA Tournament provide the type of reality TV millions have craved as the pandemic loosens its grip.
This isn’t any March, however. This is a unique and utterly bizarre moment in time. These games are not the ones in need of full and focused protection.
As No. 19 San Diego State tipped off against Nevada on Friday night in a Mountain West Tournament semifinal here, it was impossible not to worry about the chance the Aztecs or any other team could face the same jolt as Virginia by breakfast. The NCAA Tournament is the end-all, the Hoops Holy Grail, the most golden of geese.
In mere days, Duke withdrew from the ACC Tournament and said it was ending its season after a positive test, while headliners like Kansas and Virginia scrambled to sort through NCAA protocols in time to qualify for next week’s Big Dance.
In that same small window, No. 1 seed North Carolina A&T was tripped up by the virus in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. All that wreckage came before the season’s flurry of games on the final weekend.
No one wants more teams to feel a dose of this singular March misery. Imagine the Aztecs, who have been so meticulous about safeguarding players and staff, being sidelined at the wire. Consider the heartbreak of missing out, again, after a once-in-a-generation team that soared to 30-2 a season ago was handed a lifetime of what-ifs.
As March bloomed, Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher shared concerns about make-up games in the Mountain West. He just as easily could have been talking about the conference tournament.
“COVID cost us the NCAA Tournament last year,” Dutcher said. “… I don’t want it to rear its head and all of a sudden we test positive either after our (trip last week to UNLV) or the conference tournament and we don’t get to go to the NCAA Tournament again because of COVID.”
What about Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel, program cornerstones, potentially being robbed of an irreplaceable experience at the apex of their college careers — not once but twice? What about senior transfer Terrell Gomez, who after scoring a season-high 20 points to ward off Wyoming in the quarterfinals, made his sole goal as clear as Buckingham Palace crystal?
On Nevada’s first possession Friday night, Schakel’s quick hands forced a loose ball, Mitchell raced it up court and found Gomez for a baseline jumper. Gomez happily, willingly and hungrily traded off individual stardom at CSUN to become a cog in the Aztecs’ NCAA Tournament-chasing machine.
“This is March now,” he said Thursday. “This is what I came here for. I’ve got to make the most of it.”
Though as few as five healthy players are required to play and travel parties can be trimmed, all involved in the tournament will be required to produce negative tests for seven consecutive days. That means Kansas and Virginia still have enough time to meet the requirement.
That window is closing now, though. Talk about shot-clock pressure.
Fears about potential NCAA Tournament impacts are not simply about teams falling to the virus, but those who could be greatly and irreparably diminished. Contact tracing through a member of the travel party has the potential to wipe out backcourts.
Think about the Aztecs limping into Indianapolis without Mitchell. Without Schakel. Without … Dutcher.
“I just think the risk of exposing ourselves to one more trip doesn’t benefit anybody if our goal is the NCAA Tournament and trying to have teams healthy for that event,” Dutcher recently said.
Keeping eyes on the prize means keeping pupils pointed at the NCAAs. The crushing economic ripples of losing last year’s tournament sent financial shock waves across the country. The event’s massive TV contract and the shares divvied between conferences and programs because of it constitutes critical, life-giving blood.
If shutting down the conference tournaments for one lap are off the table, why not play a week earlier to allow more time for quarantining? Why not create more distance and cushion between those games and the NCAA Tournament?
Make-up games played by groups like the Mountain West eager to fulfill TV contracts made that impossible, of course, so chalk that up as another strike against the conference office that can’t shoot straight.
Losing teams on the cusp of, or during the NCAAs also would alter competitive fairness. Issues born out of conference tournaments could mean some teams skipping a game and advancing with fresh legs into the next round.
With so much at stake, the playing field would become anything but even.
Shield and insulate the NCAA Tournament, then work back from there. No? Ask Kansas and Virginia what they think, right about now. There’s the unfortunate likelihood other teams could collide with similar fates.
So now, the Aztecs and everyone else hold their collective breath.
For only one year with so much on the line, everyone could have breathed much easier.
bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com

[Vrede too]

This guy agrees with you ...

Weird bracket, bunch of teams I've never seen get in. Copy and zoom to read, or the 1st round is laid out in text in the article below.

NCAA men's tournament bracket revealed: Gonzaga earns top seed

... Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed.

The Bulldogs enter the tournament undefeated, and as the betting favorite to win the national title — +300 at BetMGM. They went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the AP poll.

Baylor earned the second No. 1 seed. Illinois earned the third and No. 1. Michigan got the fourth.

Is your Spokane family excited?

... Louisville, Colorado State, Saint Louis and Ole Miss were the first four teams left out, in that order. They'll be on standby if any COVID-19 outbreaks require replacement teams between now and 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Great, 4 teams praying for illness. Some teams of interest:

West Region

1. Gonzaga
16. Norfolk State/Appalachian State

Go Mountaineers, win it all!

2. Iowa
15. Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon?

South Region

8. North Carolina
9. Wisconsin

UNC surprises me, I haven't looked up why it made it.

2. Ohio State
15. Oral Roberts

God hates fundies.

Midwest Region

5. Tennessee
12. Oregon State

Not that neo likely cares.

4. Oklahoma State
13. Liberty

God hates fundies.

6. San Diego State
11. Syracuse

Good luck.

East Region

7. UConn
10. Maryland

Go Terps.

NCAA tournament snubs Louisville, Duke among teams to turn down NIT



Did they really have to pit the 2 NC teams, Davidson and NCSU, against each other in the 1st round? :confusion-scratchheadblue:

[O Really]

8. North Carolina
9. Wisconsin

UNC surprises me, I haven't looked up why it made it.

[/quote]

Legacy votes.
And, they had quality late season wins over Virginia Tech and FSU, and ran FSU to the line last week. Plus a total stomping of ND and Dook (of course, Dook may have been sick that night)

[Vrede too]

8. North Carolina
9. Wisconsin

UNC surprises me, I haven't looked up why it made it.

Legacy votes.
And, they had quality late season wins over Virginia Tech and FSU, and ran FSU to the line last week. Plus a total stomping of ND and Dook (of course, Dook may have been sick that night)

Ah, I gave up on them many weeks ago. That was a strong finish.
https://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/n- ... a/schedule
10-6, 18-10 ain't awful. It's better than Duke's 9-9, 13-11 . . . or Miami's 4-15, 10-17 .

We'll see, I don't hate Wisconsin.

[O Really]

We'll see, I don't hate Wisconsin.

'Heels have lost only 2 first round games since 1941ish. Of course, most of those games they were seeded much higher than 8, typically 1 or 2 playing some hamburger meat team. But still - it's a long record that no team wants to break.

[Vrede too]

'Heels have lost only 2 first round games since 1941ish. Of course, most of those games they were seeded much higher than 8, typically 1 or 2 playing some hamburger meat team.

Last MM meetup - #1 seed Wisconsin beat #4 seed UNC 79-72 in the 2015 Sweet Sixteen on its way to the Final Four. UNC is favored this time.

But still - it's a long record that no team wants to break.

#1 overall seed Gonzaga's really gonna hate it when play-in #16 seed App St beats them.

[O Really]

#1 overall seed Gonzaga's really gonna hate it when play-in #16 seed App St beats them.

I'd say they and everyone else, including App St, would be shocked. A 16 seed has only beat a 1 seed once, in 2018 when UMBC upset Virginia.

[Vrede too]

#1 overall seed Gonzaga's really gonna hate it when play-in #16 seed App St beats them.

I'd say they and everyone else, including App St, would be shocked. A 16 seed has only beat a 1 seed once, in 2018 when UMBC upset Virginia.

Ah-ha, it is possible!

Another oddity, it's no surprise that these teams are in play-in games:
16. Norfolk State/Appalachian State
11. Drake/_______ _____
16. Mount St. Mary's/Texas Southern

However:
11. _____/Wichita State
11. Michigan State/UCLA
???!!!

https://sports.yahoo.com/march-madness- ... 32867.html

[Vrede too]

#1 overall seed Gonzaga's really gonna hate it when play-in #16 seed App St beats them.

I'd say they and everyone else, including App St, would be shocked. A 16 seed has only beat a 1 seed once, in 2018 when UMBC upset Virginia.

Play-in game tonight.
truTV 8:40 PM ET
App St is favored by 3.5.

Also:

11. Michigan State/UCLA
???!!!

9:57 PM ET TBS.
Go Bruins, underdogs by 2.

Entire tourney will be in and around Indianapolis.