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Post by vu72 on Mar 19, 2010 9:37:30 GMT -5
All I know is that I'M NUMBER ONE!!!!!!! Well, at least tied for number one in the Times Bracket Challenge. I picked 13 of 16 first round games, missing out by picking Texas, Georgetown and Notre Dame.
Today will be tough as well as I've got Siena and Cornell among other upsets.
I believe they are saying this is the most upsets in a long time. Great stuff and why I love college basketball!!
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Post by vuweathernerd on Mar 19, 2010 9:49:50 GMT -5
Anyone who watched the pre-tournament bracketologists, the experts, would have heard ad nauseum, that this year is the year where there won't be very many upsets. My guess is that there might have been a record set this year for upsets, and deep-seeded upsets, for the first night of the first round. Historians out there? all knowledge courtesy of cbs...the record for double digit seeds winning on day 1 is 6, and we had 5 yesterday. coulda tied the record if montana didn't get worn out at the end of the game. i'm sure that if we see a bunch more upsets, the statisticians at cbs will find that knowledge and it'll be aired during the last set of games.
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Post by rick on Mar 19, 2010 10:09:47 GMT -5
Looks like there is deep-seeded hostility from mid-majors this year towards the elites.
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Post by valporun on Mar 19, 2010 12:43:07 GMT -5
I felt this had an ugly taste of parity because a lot of the lower seeds had the ability to win, and normally those are the games that the higher seed would have won easily 15 years ago. I am a fan of mid-major basketball, but it just seemed to me that none of these games were serious upsets as much as they were up in the air for either team to win. Yes, I'm happy for Murray State and Ohio for winning, and Robert Morris and Sam Houston St. put up some valiant efforts, but based on how the brackets were setup, it just didn't seem like a year for extreme upsets. So far, I feel there has been one major upset, and that was Ohio over Georgetown. The rest of the lower seed wins were easy to see based on who they were playing, and how they played during the regular season.
Old Dominion was going to pull out the game against Notre Dame because the Irish just can't put games away. They have never really had that ability to put a game away where they were the higher seed with Mike Brey as their head coach.
Saint Mary's and Richmond was up in the air as a 7-10 because SMC comes from the same mid-major conference as Gonzaga, so they've had some good battles lately, and Richmond was an at-large out of the A-10, doesn't make for that exciting of a game, since we've seen a lot of 10 seeds are better than the 7 seeds.
Northern Iowa and UNLV was going to be up in the air as an 8-9 game because they are equal teams. One from the best mid-major conference in the nation, and the other a name team in the Mountain West, which isn't a very strong conference in the power conferences.
In Murray State's case, Vandy has struggled to put games away, so they did have a chance to win this game going in, and in my bracket, I underestimated that, but I wasn't totally shocked that the Racers could pull this game out either.
If all you see about these games is the seeding, then you're not really watching the games, or you're focused on one or two conferences, instead of bouncing around and checking out different conferences during the regular season.
Yesterday just had an ugly taste of parity because it seemed like no one had the strength to put their game away. (Take away Kentucky's blowout, the other double digit margins were a sign of one team losing energy late in the game.) It was exciting basketball all day long, but it was more because it left me on the edge of my seat at times, but in my opinion, there was one major upset, and five lower seeds who showed they could play against the higher seed or the big conference team.
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Post by ValpoHoops on Mar 20, 2010 18:58:50 GMT -5
My bracket imploded....WHO CARES!!!! GO UNI!!!! :dance
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Post by vuweathernerd on Mar 20, 2010 19:30:59 GMT -5
oh so true!! :cheers :thumbsup :bowdown
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Post by rick on Mar 20, 2010 20:12:13 GMT -5
First round upsets are not as exciting as second round (and beyond) upsets. The country often discovers for the first time that there are some very good teams that are legitmate contenders ala St.Mary's and Northern Iowa rather than one-time wonders like Ohio. To me this is the most exciting kind of tournament when you have genuinely good Cinderella teams making progress. Similar to Valpo in 98, who could have and should have made it to the elite 8 if it wasn't for a stupid foul or two. I'm rooting for St. Mary's and Northern Iowa although a Baylor win won't make me cry.
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Post by valporun on Mar 20, 2010 20:32:01 GMT -5
The Thursday-Saturday portion of the bracket is what made this tournament exciting so far. We still have tomorrow, but collectively, this was definitely a year for a couple of underdogs to do something. Saint Mary's and Northern Iowa going to the Sweet 16 is a definite upset. Those who still consider all of the 9 and above seed wins from Thursday as upsets might want to look at the brackets closer because the first round teams they played weren't spectacular, but these two teams showed they belong in the Sweet 16 today.
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Post by valpo04 on Mar 22, 2010 9:22:20 GMT -5
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Post by rlh on Mar 22, 2010 10:23:57 GMT -5
By the way, Chris Kramer may be the toughest player ever....wish we had one or two like him
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Post by fwalum on Mar 22, 2010 13:00:28 GMT -5
Kramer's performance was amazing.
Here is a Kramer story from last year.
Chris had to run an extra line in a suicide and if he did not make the time he would cause the whole team to run another one. Seeing that it was going to be very close to the time he dove for the end line and cracked his head, giving himself a slight concussion. After that coach Painter banned diving for the end line when running suicides.
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Post by rick on Mar 25, 2010 22:02:18 GMT -5
Kentucky is for real. Can't see any other team coming close to them. Edit: I haven't watched Duke play yet.
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Post by rick on Mar 25, 2010 22:14:17 GMT -5
Since 1985, which seeded team from 7 through 14 has made it to the sweet sixteen the most times?
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Post by vuweathernerd on Mar 26, 2010 0:10:17 GMT -5
12
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Post by rick on Mar 26, 2010 7:39:59 GMT -5
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