Midwest Region 12:30 PM ET (14) North Dakota State vs. (3) Kansas 3:00 PM ET (11) Dayton vs. (6) West Virginia 7:10 PM ET (12) Arizona vs. (5) Utah 7:10 PM ET (16) Morehead State vs. (1) Louisville 7:20 PM ET (10) USC vs. (7) Boston College 9:40 PM ET (13) Cleveland State vs. (4) Wake Forest 9:40 PM ET (9) Siena vs. (8) Ohio State 9:50 PM ET (15) Robert Morris vs. (2) Michigan State
West Region 12:30 PM ET (11) Utah State vs. (6) Marquette 3:00 PM ET (14) Cornell vs. (3) Missouri
East Region 12:25 PM ET (9) Tennessee vs. (8) Oklahoma State 2:55 PM ET (16) East Tennessee State vs. (1) Pittsburgh 7:25 PM ET (13) Portland State vs. (4) Xavier 9:55 PM ET (12) Wisconsin vs. (5) Florida State
South Region 12:15 PM ET (14) Stephen F. Austin vs. (3) Syracuse 2:45 PM ET (11) Temple vs. (6) Arizona State
Well, the good news is that I did call Cleveland State to win (whatever has to be celebrating like crazy tonight), so a Barry Horowitz slap on the back goes to me. The bad news is that after the first round, everyone in the The W pool is only seperated by two points... except me, down 5 to the leader and 3 to next-to-last. I keep teeling myself to just stick to NASCAR, but I never listen.
Originally posted by supersalvadoranWell, the good news is that I did call Cleveland State to win (whatever has to be celebrating like crazy tonight), so a Barry Horowitz slap on the back goes to me.
WHOOOOOOO! Damn straight, and thank you for your support!
Originally posted by supersalvadoranThe bad news is that after the first round, everyone in the The W pool is only seperated by two points... except me, down 5 to the leader and 3 to next-to-last. I keep teeling myself to just stick to NASCAR, but I never listen.
If it makes you feel any better, OSU just demolished my Midwest bracket. I also whiffed on most of my 5-12 upset picks. I'll take it all for an extended Vikings run. Bring on the Wildcats!
Awesome Friday - had a great time flipping between the BSG Finale and two kickass NCAA games.
"As you may have read in Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter, 'Donaghy Estates tastes like the urine of Satan, after a hefty portion of asparagus.'" Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
If anybody needs to feel better about themselves, just take a gander at my bracket.* I've never done this poorly before and I don't think I could do this poorly again even if I tried. Lessons I've learned:
1) Never pick a team from Utah ever again (picked all 3, all 3 lost).
2) Never put an ACC team other than Dook/UNC in the Final Four (Clemson burned me last year, FSU burned me this year).
3) Never spend more than 15 minutes doing your bracket. It makes you hate yourself less when you are COMPLETELY WRONG.
- StingArmy
* For the record, I knew Dook wasn't going to lose in the first round, but I felt confident they would lose in the second round (to Texas) and I couldn't resist the urge to bounce them in their first game. But the Pitt-ETSU pick was legit and I totally expected ETSU to be the first #16 to win a game.
Here’s what I think is an interesting thought on the non-BCS teams (or “Mid-Majors” if you buy into the NCAA marketing machine) making the tournament: Not counting the extra 65th team that lost the play-in game (errr “Opening Round Game”), 27 non-BCS teams made the NCAA tournament this year or 42.2% of the field of 64. The number of those non-BCS teams in the “Sweet Sixteen” is three (edit: Missed Memphis thanks Mr. Boffo), or 18.8%. For all of the kvetching about teams like St. Mary’s and the like being left out and BCS teams like Arizona being put in, once they’re in, every one of those 42 non-BCS schools has just as good of a chance to survive and advance as any of the 37 BCS conference teams, but they didn’t by and large. As much as it pains me to give the NCAA credit for doing anything other than putting on the greatest sporting event weekend of the year (because they do so many other things wrong), should it be said that they ultimately got it right by putting in the teams they did and that the non-BCS teams should just be happy they got what piece of the pie they did get?
(edited by DrewDewce on 23.3.09 1727) “You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.” Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic’s “Manhunter”)
If by BCS you mean the 6 power conferences of Pac-10, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC, and Big East, it's 3 out of 16. I don't know a definition of BCS that includes C-USA that wouldn't also include all the rest of Division I-A. No surprise that those 3 teams are the highest ranked non-BCS schools: #2 Memphis from C-USA, #4 Gonzaga from the WCC, and #4 Xavier from the A-10. And of course it's possible that Western Kentucky might had made it to the Sweet 16, but they lost to Gonzaga along the way.
Second, all I'll say is that you can't treat all mid-majors the same. Gonzaga and Xavier are miles above East Tennessee State, Binghamton, and Cornell in terms of basketball.
We need a way to separate these two groups. If we consider only the non-BCS schools who would have made the tournament without winning their conference championship (which for simplicity sake we will consider getting higher than a 12 seed), we have 10 non-BCS schools out of 44 (22%). As I said, 3 of those made the sweet 16 (19%), which is entirely in line.
That doesn't say anything about how any mid-major would do if they were in the tournament, of course, just as the wins by Wisconsin and Arizona don't prove that major conference teams deserve to make it in.
Yup, missed Memphis. My bad. Edit - Don't post theories when battling flu-like symptoms :-(
(edited by DrewDewce on 23.3.09 1728) “You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.” Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic’s “Manhunter”)
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age 86. He had an ownership stake in the WNBA’s Detroit Shock and Palace Sports and Entertainment, which owned the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, the year the Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup and the Pistons captured the NBA title.