March Madness

[Tazio]

Huggie-Bear was at Cincy when I was there. Was basically a used car salesman then too. Good to see nothing changes.

[AndyRAC]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'll go for Duke......

[Tazio]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'll go for Duke......

Not a bad choice. That is a program that is used to winning.

None of us are experts that is the thing I really like about collegiate sports,

teams are evaluated by relative opinions. Unless you don’t have a life, it is too difficult to keep track of these things

[Tazio]

One thing look out for Wisconsin
They are a real sleeper

[Tazio]

What a finish to the Temple game

[veeten]

Suprise of the tourney, so far, Moorehead St. Followed closely by Richmond. Go Spiders!

[ICWS]

My bracket predictions have already been busted. Louisville, Michigan State, and St. John's lossed their games and thus their opponents (Morehead St., UCLA, and Gonzaga) busted up my bracket predictions. I'm happy, though, that I got my upset prediction correct (Richmond over Vanderbilt).

I predict that Pittsburgh will win the whole thing, and if they don't win, then I expect Ohio State, Kansas, or UConn to win. I predict those teams will make the Final Four because: A. I think UConn will overcome their opponents in the early rounds and beat Duke in the regional finals with their strong guard play from Kemba Walker, B. I think battle-tested Pittsburgh will handle their regional opponents easily and win a tough regional finals game against Florida, C. Ohio State and Kansas both have relatively easy paths to the Final Four, even though they will probably face Notre Dame/Purdue and North Carolina/Syracuse in their regional finals. Then for the championship game, I predict Pittsburgh will win a hard-fought game against Ohio State.

[Tazio]

My bracket predictions have already been busted. Louisville, Michigan State, and St. John's lossed their games and thus their opponents (Morehead St., UCLA, and Gonzaga) busted up my bracket predictions. I'm happy, though, that I got my upset prediction correct (Richmond over Vanderbilt).

I predict that Pittsburgh will win the whole thing, and if they don't win, then I expect Ohio State, Kansas, or UConn to win. I predict those teams will make the Final Four because: A. I think UConn will overcome their opponents in the early rounds and beat Duke in the regional finals with their strong guard play from Kemba Walker, B. I think battle-tested Pittsburgh will handle their regional opponents easily and win a tough regional finals game against Florida, C. Ohio State and Kansas both have relatively easy paths to the Final Four, even though they will probably face Notre Dame/Purdue and North Carolina/Syracuse in their regional finals. Then for the championship game, I predict Pittsburgh will win a hard-fought game against Ohio State.

IMO Your bracket may have gotten busted because you bought into the east coast bias that has been hammered into the networks and talking heads. 5 teams to look out for; Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Gonzaga, and SDSU are playing out of their minds. BYU is also a force to be reckoned with. The big East has been exposed. Florida is overvalued just as Vandy was today. I have already stated that I think Pitt
has the inside track, even though they have a brutal road to hoe. Much to my distress "The Crying Irish" are a very strong force to be dealt with, and could go all the way. MO!! This is going to get good.
Good luck the rest of the way
BTW don't count out The Badgers
They could be Pitt’s worst nightmare

[ICWS]

IMO Your bracket may have gotten busted because you bought into the east coast bias that has been hammered into the networks and talking heads. 5 teams to look out for; Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Gonzaga, and SDSU are playing out of their minds. BYU is also a force to be reckoned with. The big East has been exposed. Florida is overvalued just as Vandy was today. I have already stated that I think Pitt
has the inside track, even though they have a brutal road to hoe. Much to my distress "The Crying Irish" are a very strong force to be dealt with, and could go all the way. MO!! This is going to get good.
Good luck the rest of the way
BTW don't count out The Badgers
They could be Pitt’s worst nightmare

You may be right in how I bought into the east coast bias displayed on ESPN/CBS/Fox Sports, etc. However, I disagree with some of your points in your post...

1. I think BYU, despite their record and ranking, has overachieved this season. They are painful for me to watch considering their offense seems to revolve 90% of the time around one guy (Jimmer Fredette). I know that guy can shoot the lights out, but he struggles at dealing with being double-teamed and isn't that great at driving to the basket when the defense collapses on him. BYU kind of reminds me of Davidson's team when Stephen Curry was on that team: both teams basically let these two guys have the ball 90% of the time and get out of their way/stand around. That kind of offense isn't very productive in the long-run and can be easily exposed by a good team, especially if BYU advances and faces the likes of Florida (if BYU defeats Gonzaga first, which I think they will).

2. I can't see UCLA putting up much of a challenge to Florida. I will admit that I was suprised to see UCLA hold off Michigan State, but Florida is a different and more difficult beast to handle.

3. I did predict that Washington will defeat Georgia when they play tomorrow, but I think that's as far as they'll probably go. I can't see Washington beating North Carolina.

4. I agree with you that San Diego State is a great team and I predict they'll beat Temple, but I think they'll lose a tightly-contested game when they face UConn, which I think will be the most entertaining game of the tournament.

5. I agree Notre Dame will go far, but I think they'll be stopped in their tracks in the Elite Eight when they play Kansas.

6. Wisconsin will put up a good fight against Pitt, but Pitt should come out on top...

...I picked Pittsburgh to win the tournament mostly because they are battle-tested due to their regular season contests with teams in their conference (Big East) which was the deepest conference this year, and because they seem to play the best defense out of all the teams in the tournament (Defense Wins Championships). Pittsburgh is also a very good rebounding team, especially on offense. Lastly, every game they played this season was a blow-out victory for them or a tightly-contest coin flip of a game, oftentimes resulting in another victory. Even the five games they did lose were tightly-contested; their worse lost was only 7 points against Tennessee. So they know, for the most part, how to come out on top and pull through in clutch situations. That tenacity on defense/rebounding and ability to win in crucial situations is what I think will put them over the top of the other teams in the tournament.

[Tazio]

You may be right in how I bought into the east coast bias displayed on ESPN/CBS/Fox Sports, etc. However, I disagree with some of your points in your post...

1. I think BYU, despite their record and ranking, has overachieved this season. They are painful for me to watch considering their offense seems to revolve 90% of the time around one guy (Jimmer Fredette). I know that guy can shoot the lights out, but he struggles at dealing with being double-teamed and isn't that great at driving to the basket when the defense collapses on him. BYU kind of reminds me of Davidson's team when Stephen Curry was on that team: both teams basically give these two guys the ball and get out of their way/stand around. That kind of offense isn't very productive in the long-run and can be easily exposed by a good team, especially if BYU advances and faces the likes of Florida (if BYU defeats Gonzaga first, which I think they will).

2. I can't see UCLA putting up much of a challenge to Florida. I will admit that I was suprised to see UCLA hold off Michigan State, but Florida is a different and more difficult beast to handle.

3. I did predict that Washington will defeat Georgia when they play tomorrow, but I think that's as far as they'll probably go. I can't see Washington beating North Carolina.

4. I agree with you that San Diego State is a great team and I predict they'll beat Temple, but I think they'll lose a tightly-contested game when they face UConn, which I think will be the most entertaining game of the tournament.

5. I agree Notre Dame will go far, but I think they'll be stopped in their tracks in the Elite Eight when they play Kansas.

6. Wisconsin will put up a good fight against Pitt, but Pitt should come out on top...

...I picked Pittsburgh to win the tournament mostly because they are battle-tested due to their regular season contests with teams in their conference (Big East) which was the deepest conference this year, and because they seem to play the best defense out of all the teams in the tournament (Defense Wins Championships). Pittsburgh is also a very good rebounding team, especially on offense. Lastly, every game they played this season was a blow-out victory for them or a tightly-contest coin flip of a game, oftentimes resulting in another victory. Even the five games they did lose were tightly-contested; their worse lost was only 7 points against Tennessee. So they know, for the most part, how to come out on top and pull through in clutch situations. That tenacity on defense/rebounding and ability to win in crucial situations is what I think puts them over the top of the other teams in the tournament.

1) BYU is a lot better than I think you are giving them credit for, and I'll tell you why They play dirty, and they are as tough as just about anyone under the boards.
They maul people in the paint, and they have an excellent coach. I think that you have an appreciation of what the media has portrayed Fredette It is really a team that has great discipline and great rebounding, I can't stand Fredette , he's a punk and a crybaby. Half of his open looks he gets for three's are kick out passes that his front court give him off the offensive boards He also knows how to draw fouls.
2) I can't mount a defense for UCLA, and to be honest I have not payed that close attention of the SEC this season.
3) I have to withhold judgment because they have to get passed Georgia and they are a very streaky team, and I would not be all that surprised if they give NC a beat down.
4) SDSU has a very basic style, they play their toughest ball on defense and on the offensive boards they are peeking at the right time but then again they are quite capable of losing to anybody. I also think the only team in the tourney that is better is Pitt however I am a little bias. If you give State a double digit lead in the second half it is game over. Instead of trying to run with great transition teams, they run the full clock in the half court and save their energy for their ungodly defense.
5) Agreed another Jeckyle and Hyde team. But when they smell blood they are the type of team that can impose their will and play very well from behind
6) A very astute observation but not a give me, and like I said they play almost the same style as S.D. but probably a little better.
I think those games they lost (and I have only limited actually observation of them.) enough though to extrapolate the part of the game that separates them is that Pitt can penetrate from outside better than the Aztecs backcourt off the dribble.
7) Arizona is” the real deal don steel”. The best of the teams out west with 2 or 3 exceptions, and I will be very surprised if they get stopped before they play Duke but Texas may give them a thorough a beat down.