March Madness

[Vrede too]

I hope the Zags rested their starters after the half. App's lucky they didn't have to face that slaughter.

Yeah, kinda takes the shine off of winning a play-in game.

3 Texas > 14 Abilene Christian, finally a favorite

Serves me right for rooting for a favorite:
14 Abilene Christian 53
3 Texas 52
Not my preference, but I'm still impressed.

1st round upsets, not counting any 9s beating an 8:
2 (OH St)
3 (Texas)
4 (Purdue), 4 (Virginia)
5 (Tennessee)
6 (SDSU), 6 (BYU )
7 (Clemson ), 7 (UConn)
Wow, MADNESS.

Almost one more:
Heartbreaking missed layup in final seconds spoils (12) UC Santa Barbara's March Madness upset bid (over 5 Creighton)

Ouch.

Mon, go:

5 Colorado > 4 Florida State
6 USC > 3 Kansas
7 Oregon > 2 Iowa, but I don't hate the Hawkeyes
10 Maryland > 2 Alabama, go Terps!
11 UCLA > 14 Abilene Christian, finally a favorite (ut-oh)
1 Gonzaga > 8 Oklahoma

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... e/20210322

[Vrede too]

Neither they (SDSU) nor UNC were ever close. Sorry. You had as bad a day as the Big 10 did. I wonder if there's ever been a 1st day or even a 1st round where a 2 (OH St), 4 (Purdue), 5 (Tennessee), 6 (SDSU) & 7 (Clemson ) all lost. I’ll bet that not one of the big pot ‘every pick correct’ selections is still valid....

Seriously?

Only 108 NCAA tournament brackets in ESPN's Tournament Challenge remain unblemished after first day

Maybe all 108 are on heavy drugs . . . or people are using proxies and random bracket generators to submit many, many pick sets.

Idk about ESPN's 108 after the Sat games, but:

March Madness: Ohio's upset of Virginia ruins the last perfect Yahoo Tourney Pick'Em bracket

Tiffany's run of perfection is over.

Jason Preston and the Ohio Bobcats ended Tiffany's streak of getting every game right on her bracket Saturday night when No. 13 Ohio beat No. 4 Virginia in the first round of the West region.

Tiffany was the last Yahoo user who had gotten every game right on her bracket. She correctly picked Oral Roberts' upset of Ohio State, North Texas' upset of Purdue, Syracuse's win over San Diego State and even Abilene Christian's win over Texas late Saturday night. She also had Oregon over VCU in a game called off because of COVID-19. But Tiffany didn't have the Bobcats.

Tiffany's bracket became the last perfect bracket earlier in the day on Saturday when USC beat Drake. There were two perfect brackets left before the end of the Trojans' win and the other bracket had Drake beating USC. When USC won, Tiffany was the last one standing.

Could Tiffany have gotten through Saturday with a perfect bracket had she picked Ohio? Yes. She had No. 14 seed Abilene Christian beating No. 3 Texas and No. 11 UCLA beating No. 6 BYU. Those two upsets weren't impossible. But they were improbable ... and they both happened.

Raise a glass to Tiffany. While she wasn't perfect, she was perfect far longer than any of the rest of us.

I can't find how many Yahoo submissions there were, but it could be even more than ESPN's 14.7 million brackets.

[Vrede too]

May not last, but:

Halftime
8 Loyola Chicago 33
1 Illinois 24
Illinois has never led and the last tie was 2-2.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... =401310888

[GoCubsGo]

May not last, but:

Halftime
8 Loyola Chicago 33
1 Illinois 24
Illinois has never led and the last tie was 2-2.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... =401310888

Damn.

Go Sister Jean.

[Vrede too]

Damn.

Go Sister Jean.

I forgot about her from the 2018 Final Four run. She's now 101 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Jean



Also:

Thursday
Drake

Friday
Baylor
Oral Roberts
Loyola Chicago
Villanova

Saturday
Abilene Christian
Creighton, with divine intervention on UCSB's last shot
Gonzaga

Non-Mormon, non-Falwell god's got game.



I also found this:

[Vrede too]

An 8 in the Sweet 16? Why not? They were an 11 seed in 2018.

Damn.

Go Sister Jean.

Sister Jean and Loyola Chicago celebrate the upset over No. 1 seed Illinois (0:32 vid)

Settle down, Sister Jean.

Sister Jean’s Pregame Prayer Inspires Loyola Chicago Historic Win Over Top-Seeded Illinois

... “As we play the fighting Illini, we ask for special help to overcome this team and get a great win. We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous,” Jean said during the prayer. “We have a great opportunity to convert rebounds as this team makes about 50 percent of layups and 30 percent of its 3 points. Our defense can take care of that…”

That's very specific.

... Sister Jean filled out her personal March Madness bracket and has Loyola-Chicago advancing to the Elite Eight. She has placed top-ranked Gonzaga to win it all....

Gonzaga, of course.

[Vrede too]

Another one bites the dust:

11 Syracuse 75
3 West Virginia 72

[O Really]

I'm guessing the ones responsible for assigning the seeds, as well as those responsible for hiring those who assigned the seeds have been sacked. Or at least roundly ridiculed and many farts passed in their general direction.

[Vrede too]

I'm guessing the ones responsible for assigning the seeds, as well as those responsible for hiring those who assigned the seeds have been sacked. Or at least roundly ridiculed and many farts passed in their general direction.

Holy shit!

15 Oral Roberts 81
7 Florida 78


How much of the seeding fails can be blamed on CV-19?

[Vrede too]

Sun, go:
12 Oregon State > 4 Oklahoma State

Not so surprising anymore, the last game of the day went like this:
12 Oregon State 80
4 Oklahoma State 70

"... Beavers 'never give up'"

Half of the Sweet 16 is now set. It should approximate 2 each of 1s, 2s, 3s & 4s. Instead, it will be:

1 Baylor
2 Houston
3 Arkansas
5 Villanova
8 Loyola Chicago
11 Syracuse
12 Oregon State
15 Oral Roberts, just the 2nd 15 ever to go so far
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... e/20210327

Only 3 of the 8 teams "should" be there. Half xtian is weird, too. Of course, the 1, 2 & 3 teams could all win, leaving only the 8 Loyola Chicago - 12 Oregon State winner as a real oddball. Sister Jean’s Elite 8 prediction is looking pretty sharp.

Go Sat:

5 Villanova > 1 Baylor
3 Arkansas > 15 Oral Roberts

[Vrede too]

Why not start a new day the same way?

Mon, go:

7 Oregon > 2 Iowa, but I don't hate the Hawkeyes

7 Oregon 95
2 Iowa 80

Go Ducks! Only Michigan and the "Traitor Terps" remain to rep the Big 10.

[Vrede too]

I'm guessing the ones responsible for assigning the seeds, as well as those responsible for hiring those who assigned the seeds have been sacked. Or at least roundly ridiculed and many farts passed in their general direction.

This article opines that Loyola Chicago "should have been a No. 3 seed, bordering on a No. 2. The committee gave it an 8," but it's complicated.

Did an NCAA selection committee mistake set up Illinois for March Madness upset?

If so, the committee should turn the seeding over to Sister Jean.

[Vrede too]

Women
https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d1/2021
Still 1st round.

Stanford is the overall 1.
6 OR plays 11 SD at 2200 ET tonight. Winner plays 3 GA. Go Ducks!
7 Northwestern beat 10 Mickey Mouse 62-51.
1 SC plays 8 OR St on 3/23 1900 ET. I like Beavers.
7 AL beat 10 UNC 80-71. Next up - crushed by 2 MD.
10 Michigan State 75, 7 Iowa State 79

The upsets so far:
11 BYU 69 > 6 Rutgers 66 . Next up - crushed by 3 AZ.
12 Belmont University 64 > 5 Gonzaga 59.
13 Wright State 66 > 4 Arkansas 62.

[Vrede too]

Mon, go:

5 Colorado > 4 Florida State
6 USC > 3 Kansas Just started
7 Oregon > 2 Iowa, but I don't hate the Hawkeyes
10 Maryland > 2 Alabama, go Terps! Looking ugly with 14:00 to go.
11 UCLA > 14 Abilene Christian, finally a favorite (ut-oh)
1 Gonzaga > 8 Oklahoma

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... e/20210322

[O Really]

Mon, go:


10 Maryland > 2 Alabama, go Terps! Looking ugly with 14:00 to go.

It got uglier.

[Vrede too]

It got uglier.

5:42 - 2nd
6 USC 74
3 Kansas 44

[O Really]

Maybe Sister Jean's helping out fellow Catholic school Gonzaga. At this point the Zags will be playing only 5-6-7 seeds into the final four. Of course, that hasn't been helpful to all the top teams so far. We'll see.

[Vrede too]

Maybe Sister Jean's helping out fellow Catholic school Gonzaga. At this point the Zags will be playing only 5-6-7 seeds into the final four. Of course, that hasn't been helpful to all the top teams so far. We'll see.

Good point, but 7 Ducks will grab that FF slot.

Now the entire Sweet 16 is set. It should approximate 4 each of 1s, 2s, 3s & 4s. Instead, it will be:

1 Baylor, Gonzaga, Michigan
2 Houston, Alabama
3 Arkansas
4 Florida State
5 Villanova, Creighton
6 USC
7 Oregon
8 Loyola Chicago
11 Syracuse, UCLA
12 Oregon State
15 Oral Roberts, just the 2nd 15 ever to go so far

Just 7 of the 16 teams "should" be there. Only being a 1 seed was better odds than being an 11 seed . PAC12 is kicking ass with USC, Oregon, UCLA and Oregon State still alive and only CO knocked out .

Sunday go:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... e/20210328

5 Creighton vs 1 Gonzaga. I'm rooting for the Catholics.
1 Michigan > 4 Florida State
11 UCLA > 2 Alabama
7 Oregon > 6 USC

Women 2nd round go:
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-wo ... n=trending

Tuesday, March 23
1 N.C. State > 8 South Florida
5 Iowa > 4 Kentucky
8 Oregon State > 1 South Carolina
7 Virginia Tech > 2 Baylor
1 Stanford > 8 Oklahoma State

Wednesday, March 24
2 Maryland > 7 Alabama, REVENGE!
6 Oregon > 3 Georgia
4 Indiana > 12 Belmont
7 Iowa State > 2 Texas A&M
3 Arizona > 11 BYU

[O Really]

I'm happy with anybody not named "Oral" or "Alabama."

[Vrede too]

I'm happy with anybody not named "Oral" or "Alabama."

I'd definitely add Baylor and Florida State to your list, along with a couple of others that I can't say I'd be "happy" with.