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The Vanderbilt win ruined the right side of my bracket. I was perfect on the right side until that game . Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I had Wisconsin losing to Oregon next round anyway, so it wasn't as big of a loss as it could have been.
6 of my Elite Eight are already intact, and 2 are at risk tonight(Kansas and Texas). As long as Texas keeps winning, I'll be in good shape. Once they lose, I'm screwed.
I just wanted my boys to win for once! They get me all excited - I don't even like basketball - and I start paying attention, just in time for them to dump it.
posted
Like I said, might as well burn my bracket.
There are a couple of scenarios where I can still win, but they are very unlikely. They involve either USC or Texas A&M winning it all.
Texas (as a team) just couldn't hang with USC it seems. Durant and Abrams played great - it's just the rest of the team decided not to show up. Durant/Abrams scored 50 points, grabbed 13 boards, and shot 50% from the field (40% from 3)... the rest of the team scored 18 points, grabbed 17 boards, and shot 24% from the field (9% from 3).
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I suppose I'm still technically in it, since paper tiger Wisconsin went down, ruining various brackets, and I picked the Rebels to run all over them.
Of course, the other paper tiger, OSU, needs to go down for me to have a shot, and UCLA has to reach the championship game.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
At least OSU is a paper tiger that makes free throws.
I'm pretty much out, now, since Texas lost. Any teams you want me to root for? I can surely get them to lose by doing so. Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Well, I've pored over the scenario generator, and the only way I can win is if
A: UCLA wins the National Championship
and
B: 3 out of the following 5 teams win their Sweet 16 game (Butler, UNC, Georgetown, Texas A&M, Tennessee)
and
C: Either Memphis or Texas A&M reaches the Final Four, or UNC reaches the championship game.
Well, that's not the ONLY way, but it is, sadly, the most likely. So, if you could root really hard for Kansas, USC, and OSU for me, that would be great.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I'm pretty sure that if Kansas wins the finals and Memphis makes it to at least the final four, there's no way I can lose regardless of the other results. Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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(I didn't do a bracket, I just want my guys to win it all.)
BTW, anyone have Oregon taking it all? It's a REALLY long shot, I know, but hey, miracles can happen.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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In brighter news (for me, anyway), Rutgers' women plastered East Carolina 77-34 in the first round last night. Hopefully we'll come out firing against Michigan St. tomorrow night, too. Granted, we're a 4 seed playing on the home floor of the 5 seed (I don't see the logic, either), but if we win, we get the privilege of playing 1-seed Duke at UNC Greensboro's campus.
I don't think there's any such thing as neutral courts in women's basketball.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Well, my bracket's even more toasted. The right hand side is essentially a total loss. So much for Texas A&M beaing Memphis...
Would have been kind of cool if Tennessee beat OSU, though. I've got friends who are Tennessee fans who I'm sure are nursing heavy hangovers today.
In women's tourney news, Rutgers' women get to face off again against Duke on Saturday. We lost 85-45 at the start of the year to drop to a 2-3 record. We've ended the year on a 19 of 21 run, though, having beaten five straight Top 25 teams, and are night-and-day better than our 5-5 start. Our players are healthy and playing their best basketball of the year, having already beaten top seeded UConn on their home court in the Big East Tournament.
Best case scenario, I think, is that we win 65-61 or so. Worst case scenario, I think, is that we lose 65-55 or so. It's just a matter of whether our defense (giving up an average of 55 ppg, and holding 12 teams under 50 and 6 under 40) can hold Duke's best-in-the-country offense in check. :fingers crossed:
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:At least OSU is a paper tiger that makes free throws.
Good call.
Watching Tennessee and A&M shoot 47% and 50%, respectively, from the free throw line in 1-point losses was really painful.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: (edit: and I would never have guessed UNLV to go so far -- but you can't help but like those guys if you watch them play.....)
You absolutely can - if they beat your team. Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: (edit: and I would never have guessed UNLV to go so far -- but you can't help but like those guys if you watch them play.....)
posted
Frisco, I finished off KU by rooting for them over UCLA. I hope you're happy.
I don't honestly think there's a team left in this that I give two shakes about. 'Twas fun, though, seeing it all unfold. Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Oregon didn't win against Florida. Not that I really thought they would win, but it would have been sweet.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Same thing happens to me every time I do these. I usually do great in the early rounds, in my money bracket I was 2nd when the Sweet 16 started and here I was around 3rd place for most of the time, and then when it comes down to the big games that are worth alot of points, my picks always die out. Last time I'm every picking Kansas to win it all. They always look hot at the start of the tournament and then choke.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
UNC should never have let them back in the game. Though it will be interesting to see Hibbert v. Oden in the Final Four.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I've been our for ages. I had every one in the Elite Eight wrong except for Georgetown, which I only chose because that's Matt's school.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I'm amazed that my I-have-no-idea-who-these-teams-are bracket is doing so well. I'd say it's beginner's luck, but I've done horribly in previous years. I guess my math teacher was right - it's as hard to get them all right as to get them all wrong (not that I'm 100%, but you know what I mean). BTW, my math teacher in high school (I had the same one all 4 years :whoa:) said he would give an A+ to anyone who got every single question wrong on a test. I don't think anyone ever took him up on the offer
quote:I'm amazed that my I-have-no-idea-who-these-teams-are bracket is doing so well.
With the later rounds weighted so heavily and the 2 pre-tourney favorites in the championship game, combined with the unusually low number of upsets, I wouldn't be surprised if every office pool in the country was won by people who don't know much about college hoops.
Unfortunately, I think Florida's going to win, so Megan will be victorious with her by-the-numbers bracket.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I think it will be good if Florida wins, and I think I'll be rooting for them.
I mean, Florida is a solid team that shares the ball and gets everyone involved. They have star players who opted *not* to jump to the NBA, and instead stayed in school another year.
OSU, on the other hand, is the product of the new NBA rule. If not for Greg Oden's presence this year, they would not be in the Championship, and Oden's surely going to jump ship as soon as possible for the NBA.
And, as an aside, Rutgers women are in the championship game against Tennessee! We've been in the tournament 8 out of the last 9 years, and four of those years we lost to Tennessee. Hopefully this will be the year we finally beat them!
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
As someone who has been following Greg Oden since he was a high school sophomore who lost to my high school (it was a very big deal, we knocked off two number one teams that season, but it was the last game he lost in high school) I really think he might have done at least a year in college without the rule. I'm not positive, but I think his mother would have encouraged it. I also think Mike Connely has been quite a help to OSU. And I hope they both go pro and make lots of money before they get hurt.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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So, how long as he looked like he was 45? He's going to be the only rookie in the NBA to make LeBron James look young.
Seriously, though, I'm not a big fan of players coming out early. As much as I'm all for the NBA's rule to no longer draft kids out of high school, I think it should be extended even further. The NFL requires two years out of high school, for instance.
The vast number of players jumping ship really sends a message, though, that money is all that matters, and an education is an afterthought, if anything.
I can't knock the players, though. Quincy Douby gave up one extra year at Rutgers to go in the first round in a weak draft year. By jumping early, he probably made over a million dollars more than he would have if he'd stayed for his senior year.
He made a good decision for himself and his family, but it really seems like we're incentivizing the decision to drop out of college. Seems strange to me.
So far, women's basketball hasn't suffered from this problem, though there is already talk of superstars like Candace Parker leaving early for the WNBA.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I once heard Jerred Jefferies explain in person why he quit IU after 2 (3?) years. He was raised by a single mom, on a trailer, in rural bloomington. If he'd gone on in college who is to say he wouldn't get hurt. If he finished at IU what would he do? Coach middle or high school basketball and teach gym? Making 30 to 50 thousand a year? But can't you always get a college degree? Why not play for a few years, then go back to college? This is what I always tell my friends who are in areas that they need to be physical but not having a degree doesn't matter too much.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Used to be, someone with athletic ability but a poor economic background would use their skill to get a scholarship so that they could attend college. It was a way to get the education they never could afford on their own.
If Jerred Jefferies had no basketball ability, what would he have given to go to college, get a degree, and come out making upwards of $50k? You talk about that like it's a bad thing, like someone coming from a trailer in rural bloomington with a single mom to a high school basketball coach making $50k is something to be looked down at.
Now, with the "money sports" - it's not enough to get a degree. That's not worthwhile. The goal is no longer to use your athletic ability to get an education. The goal has become to use your athletic ability to get rich quick.
Our priorities need adjusting.
Athletics should be the means of getting an education. Educational facilities shouldn't be the means to make money with athletics.
It's still the way it should be in sports like swimming, track and field, crew, etc. Sports that aren't multimillion dollar industries. Basketball and football have been corrupted, though, with many collegiate sports programs becoming "pro factories" (cough, cough, OSU football, cough) that have no academic rigor whatsoever.
Like I said, though, I can't blame the player who has the opportunity to jump early and make the big money. Especially those that came from economically destitute families.
The players are trying to look out for what's best for them. It's the system that's faulty.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Oregon didn't win against Florida. Not that I really thought they would win, but it would have been sweet.
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