NCAA basketball, tornadoes, and March Madness 2008 (1 Viewer)

[Elizabeth S]

Poor Belmont. :frowning: 38-1/2 minutes of good basketball.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Even though I have Duke losing to UNC in the final, I was rooting for Belmont to pull off the upset. Oh well.

I've got a feeling that with today being free of upsets, that tomorrow will be different.

 

[Marty M]

I went 13 for 16 yesterday. My biggest loss was George Mason. I had them going into the third round. I've got several upsets pick today like St. Josephs over Oklahoma (11 vs. 6) and Western KY over Drake (12 vs. 5). I like to root for the underdog so I figured I would start picking some of them.

 

[DanaA]

I was hoping for Belmont as well and I know nothing about them. This is nothing against Duke, but the the tournament is all about the excitement of a Cinderella team jumping all over the court after a monumental upset, their fans pouring out onto the floor wrapping them like a blanket.

Those moments stay alive in our memories for years.

For the players, it can be the moment of a lifetime.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have paid almost no attention to college b-ball this year, but I was tuned in and pulling for Belmont last night, too. As Dana said, it was nothing against Duke, but the first weekend of the tournament is always about the Cinderella teams.

 

[Mike Williams]

I, too, went 13 for 16 yesterday, having lost the Marquette-Kentucky game, Purdue-Baylor and USC-Kansas State. The three teams I picked against, I don't have getting beaten in the second round anyway, so I'm still OK. So far.

 

[Carlo_M]

15/16 yesterday and I woke up wanting to change my pick for Arizona/WVU (the only game I got wrong) but Yahoo had already locked the brackets.

Last year I went 15/16 on my first day and something like 9/16 the second day. I'm hoping for better luck on Day 2 this year.

I have Duke losing to my Bruins (UCLA) in the Eight, but I was pulling for the "other Bruins" yesterday, bracket be damned! The whole time Gerald Henderson was driving on that last bucket I was like "stop the ball, stop the ball, STOP THE BALL" but that guy from Belmont never turned around until the ball was in the hoop.

Yep, 38+ good minutes of BB for Belmont. Must be a heartbreak for those kids.

 

[Mike Williams]

Carlo, you wanted to change your pick AFTER the game was played and your pick was wrong? Ummmm . . . .

 

[Carlo_M]

I should have been more specific: yesterday morning I woke up wanting to change the pick. It was 9AM PST and the USC/WVU game didn't tip off until 4PM PST, but because one game had already started in the morning, Yahoo had locked the brackets.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

Duke is not a #2 seed, they will likely be gone after the sweet sixteen. This is not a team like the Duke teams of old, I've watched them all season long here in ACC country and they just don't have it. They live by the 3 and they shoot fairly poorly from the line. Both big and bad weaknesses in the tournament.

 

[Marty M]

The site was locked down right before the first game started at 12:00 EDT, which would have been 9:00 PDT.

Right now UConn is killing me. I have them going to the Sweet Sixteen.

 

[Bob Graz]

I found myself rooting for Belmont as well, even though I chose Duke in my bracket. Belmont played an incredible game, and even given Duke isn't at their best, it was an impressive display. That should be about it for Duke, they just don't have it this season.
I'm looking forward to the UNC game tonight. I have them as this years champions (I'm a bit biased as my oldest is a UNC grad). UNC has been playing very solid lately.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Wow, 2nd day is definitely what March Madness is about. 3 upsets already today.

 

[DanaA]

Agreed, they probably are better than their teams the last couple of years, but a pale comparison to teams of the past. Ironically, they had a good shot at Kevin Love who grew up a Duke fan, but, at least from what I heard, Coach K gave him a cold shoulder early in his recruitment, which opened him up to other teams, eventually settling on UCLA. If Duke had Love, they'd probably be the favorite. Singler and Love have been long-time friends and know each others' games. With Love on the inside and the three point threat, Duke would be a lot better. Thing is that UCLA's three point shooting has been VERY inconsistent, especially Shipp, who has been pretty horrible of late.

I think if Duke and UCLA meet up, UCLA wins because of their defense.

But, of course, especially given what's transpired today, both have to get to the Elite Eight.

 

[DanaA]

And now, Vandy is being taken to the cleaners by Sienna, another team that I would have been completely oblivious was in the tournament.

Wow!!! What a day!!!

 

[Carlo_M]

There's a lot of stories about Love's recruitment, and no doubt the story has changed over the year(s), maybe even by the involved participants. So take this with a grain of salt (and keep in mind I'm a UCLA alum).

The way I've heard/read it over the years, and I've followed the recruitment closely, was as follows:

The Loves are So-Cal natives. Yes they lived in Oregon when Kevin went to HS. But they're So-Cal natives. Beach Boys, Mike Love, etc. Stan Love has said that he idolized and wanted to play for UCLA when he was young but no offer ever came. He then went on to star for Oregon.

It was Ernie Kent who botched the recruiting for UO. He might have gone there but EK did something to upset or disrespect (wherever perceived or actual it doesn't matter) the Loves, who then opened up his recruiting. Yes Duke and UCLA were among the leaders, and it was widely known that he and Singler were shopping many of the same schools. They both tripped to UCLA and Duke on the same days.

Love was the first to commit, choosing UCLA. He then tried to recruit Kyle, but Papa Singler was a big Duke fan, and ultimately Kyle chose Duke.

A big part of what Kevin said made him commit was having family close by. He has family in So-Cal, none in Durham. I had never heard that Duke was a favorite of Kevin. I had heard that had EK not screwed up in the early going (and Howland's been following Kevin since the 9th grade), they would have been the prohibitive favorite being Stan's alma mater, and close to their Oregon home.

 

[DanaA]

I'm deleting this post as well as my following post as they're kind of off topic.

Sorry.

 

[DanaA]

Sorry again.

 

[DanaA]

One more time. And, no, I'm not trying to increase my post count.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I've been watching GMU all year long and was dissapointed but not surprised by their poor performance against Notre Dame. As Campbell goes, so goes the team, and Campbell had the worst game of his season. This was not the GMU team of '06, which was nationally ranked for one week of the season and got an at-large bid; this was a typical mid-major team which was only in the tournament because of the automatic bid.

There's always next year - I've heard the incoming class is pretty sick.

At least Will Thomas ended his college career on a high note, he had a monster game and Notre Dame had no answer for his play. Unfortunately he was the only guy on the team with a good game.

Another cool thing... this Sunday's Circuit City ad in the Washington Post has images of George Mason and VCU players in all their TVs. I don't know if it's different for different localities, but even if it is, I'd expect to see local basketball powerhouses Georgetown and Maryland instead of CAA teams.

Well, it is Lamar Butler and Gabe Norwood, both of whom have graduated and weren't on this year's GMU team......