NCAA Basketball

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 11:33 am

With the tournament starting today, who's everyone rooting for? Who do you thinks going to win?
I'm cheering for my Arizona Wildcats

My belief is they won't go to the Final 4 though. So I think Kansas might go home with the trophy. USC is another strong contender. We'll see

Bloodstalker · Post by **Bloodstalker** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 11:50 am

KY all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course they won't win it, but I gotta pull for them. I think Kansas will choke, like they always do

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:27 pm

Az wrote the book on choking

But I still love 'em

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:37 pm

Maryland bought a copy of the book on choking. Actually, I believe Gary Williams and Maryland's previous coach, whose name escapes me, co wrote the book with Lute.

Teams to watch in the tournament

Central Conn. St. - excellent guard play
Kentucky - always dangerous and the 1,2, and 3 seeds in their bracket don't impress me.
Marquette - again, excellent guard play
Michigan St. - dangerous coach, right up their with Coach K
Oklahoma - should've been a 1 seed
Illinois - Frank Williams
Boston College - excellent guard play
Missouri - this team is waiting to explode, remember they were ranked 2nd in the nation back in december but a horrible big12 conference run killed them
Pepperdine - again, excellent guard play, see a trend here
Gonzaga - should've been a 2 seed

As a student and fan of college hoops, this is how I see it, of course, come tournament time I am traditionally a curse for the teams I praise. All that TV time and breakdown of teams and conferences I do usually amounts to squat.

Let's keep this thread very active. We should've had a pool, I'd have administered it. Perhaps come monday we can do a Sweet sixteen pool. picks can be emailed to me.

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:41 pm

Good picks Ned

Thats all we've been talking about at work

All of us are worried about the likely AZ/Gonzaga match.

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:42 pm

I have it on good authority that the AZ Wildcats will win tonight, and will probably beat Gonzaga. The critical thing is if Jason Gardner shows up with a good three-point shot, but he hasn't been hitting them. AZ probably won't make it out of their bracket, but maybe the younger players will surprise us.

Bear Down!

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:47 pm

Hmm Gwally aren't you supposed to be at the dentist???

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 12:59 pm

T'l
your new avatar rivals Mcbane Danger Mouse.

Oh yeah, one more thing about Missouri, I heard Kareem Rush is a pretty good ball player.

You heard it here, Missouri, the first 12 seed to make a final four.

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 1:04 pm

Originally posted by T'lainya
Hmm Gwally aren't you supposed to be at the dentist???

Yeah, funny thing happened there.... You know that I was supposed to have the appointment about 2 weeks ago, but they failed to send a reminder, so I had already scheduled a meeting for that day. They changed my appointment for 11:00 today, then called a couple days later saying that they forgot to write in my new appointment, and would I please come in at 12:00 instead? Then, yesterday, they called to confirm, and said, "we have an opening at 9:00 if you would rather..." I said that I didn't care, and they preferred that I go at 9:00....

So, I've already gone, and my teeth are nice and clean!

Since this is way off topic, I'll sing a little song:

Bear down! Arizona!
Bear down, Red and Blue!
Bear down, Arizona,
Hit 'em hard, let 'em know who's who!

Bear down! Arizona!
Bear down, Red and Blue!
Bear down, Arizona!
Go! Go! Wildcats, go!
Arizona! Bear down!

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 1:06 pm

I'm interested in a possible Duke/USC in the 3rd round

Oregon is also a good team, but I don't know about choke factor
@ Ned

I like Pink Panther, always have

@ Gwally

McBane · Post by **McBane** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 1:52 pm

Originally posted by Bloodstalker
KY all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uhm BS, you are talking about basketball, aren't you?

Kent St won! Woo hoo. I am off to a historic start with my tourney picks. 2 for 2 so far! I know I'll win this year.

As for who I'm rooting for, Indiana and Texas Tech!

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 4:50 pm

Ohio State. THey're gonna beat Cincinnatti in the Sweet 16 and go all the way. Gonzaga's going to upset Oklahoma but lose to Ohio State.
Duke and Maryland in the finals. Maryland upsets and wins.

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 10:51 am

Whew

Well 'Zona squeaked by

My predictions as usual are a sure way to lose

humanflyz · Post by **humanflyz** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 11:48 pm

I am gonna root for USC, although I don't really know a lot about college basketball. Now the NBA, that's totally different. I root for USC because I live in So Cal, another demonstration of regionalism.

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 11:50 am

Didn't USC lose in the first round?

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 4:18 pm

Yep USC got upset by N.c. Wilmington

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 7:10 pm

Now why couldn't some team upset Duke?

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Sun Mar 17, 2002 9:55 am

AZ made it past the Cowboys last night. On to the Sweet 16!

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Sun Mar 17, 2002 10:47 am

Could someone explain this to me? I understand the College side of it, but what are team placements and things like that...

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Sun Mar 17, 2002 11:00 am

Nippy, how they pick teams is a mystery to everyone but the selection committee

Seriously, the top schools in the country are split into various leagues depending on geographic location, school population etc.
Most of these leagues have a championship tournament. Those winners are automatically sent to the playoffs. Other schools are picked by various criteria; strength of schedule, wins and quality of play. The selection committee then takes the 64 chosen teams and seeds them according to some arcane formula and places them in one of 4 regions. Each region plays off in single game elimination until they have the"final 4"
I hope that helped