I agree. I always liked the basketball tourney playoff stuff, even back to high school when the runner-up in the district tournament still could advance and the runner-up in the regional tourney would advance to the next round, just on the road. So that aspect can be kind of fun, but on the other hand, with college basketball it can be a drag. Regular season champs should be the ones with the automatic bids. Nobody will ever do that and give up the conference tourney money though. Coppin State and Georgia (and probably a couple of others) have no business being in the tournament, good story or not.
March Madness - 2008
- Thread starter tomalak301
- Start date
I agree. I always liked the basketball tourney playoff stuff, even back to high school when the runner-up in the district tournament still could advance and the runner-up in the regional tourney would advance to the next round, just on the road. So that aspect can be kind of fun, but on the other hand, with college basketball it can be a drag. Regular season champs should be the ones with the automatic bids. Nobody will ever do that and give up the conference tourney money though. Coppin State and Georgia (and probably a couple of others) have no business being in the tournament, good story or not.
Not only did Oregon get in, they got a nine seed. Color me surprised.
This will be interesting. The Ducks have talent but have been terribly inconsistent this year. They'll either go deep into the tournament again like last year or be gone this weekend. It could go either way.
My home team, Washington, has quality wins over UCLA, then-ranked ASU, and coming in 8th in a stacked Pac-10 that sent six (should have been seven) teams to the NCAAs... got snubbed by the NIT! How rude!
Well, they lost to Valpo. I can't complain anymore. 
Speaking of Valpo, this never gets old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Impx-uPmoEA
Speaking of Valpo, this never gets old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Impx-uPmoEA
I'm 8/8 right now on picks!
I really have to disagree. It's part of the charm of the tournament, which makes it one of the most successful sporting events ever. Coppin St simply earned their way in, the same way any other school did. It means even more to these guys, than it does to the UCLAs, Dukes, and so on, because those schools nearly always get an at-large bid when they don't win their conference. Coppin State is the little guy getting his moment to shine, however fleeting it is. They are what helps keep college basketball from becoming even more of a professional sport, something which pretty much has already happened to college football.
What makes the tournament look bad is when Dayton has to stay home and Villanova gets in ahead of them purely because they are from a power conference. It's decisions like that which warrant more criticism, imho.
Belmont - Duke ...... THIS is why I love this tournament more than any other sporting event in the world!!!
Funny how almost all of the earlier games were blowouts or convincing wins.... and most of the later ones are hard fought, tough, almost nailbiters
Funny how almost all of the earlier games were blowouts or convincing wins.... and most of the later ones are hard fought, tough, almost nailbiters
Yeah, the Belmont/Duke game was great. Belmot played a hard game. Unfortunately, I had to leave with five minutes on the clock to watch LOST (my TiVo doesn't allow to record one thing and watch another at the same time). Thank God Duke managed to pull it out (silence, Alidar, I know where you live).
Yes, your Tivo does allow you to do that. You just don't have it set up right. Use a splitter to split the cable signal (with one cable to the tv and the other to your Tivo/DVR). You'll be able to watch one channel on the regular tv, while your Tivo (set to, say, input 2) records something else. Before I had dual-tuner DVRs, I ran all my Tivos like that and maximized my recordings per hour. Hell, I split to TWO Tivos in addition to the tv. Never had to miss a game ending as a result.
I did miss everything but the first hour today though. Gone all day doing important things and there's no way I'm recording all day's worth of hoops to re-watch. I'm off Friday though and will be able to watch both the Miami and Tennessee games. Hope they win, but I already picked the 'Canes to lose to St Mary's and UT to lose to Butler.
#$%^*&@!!#$%$&^*#@!!!!
DRAAAAAAAAAAKE!!! How could you? How could you come all the way back from 15 down only to let Western Kentucky beat you in overtime on a 3 point shot with a tenth of a second left on the clock, busting every bracket I had to PIECES?? I had Drake going to the sweet 16 or final 8 on every single entry I had on ESPN's tournament challenge game.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's beyond preposterous is the fact that a team demonstrating excellence and consistency over the course of an entire season often loses its rightful bid to one that gets hot for three or four games. I can't abide when a mid-major goes, say, 24-8, 14-2 in its conference, loses a hard-fought quarter- or semifinal to the eventual tourney champ, some 15-17, 7-9 team ... and then finds itself watching that same squad it walloped twice jump around at having made the Big Dance.
It's a conference's regular season champion that should receive an automatic bid, not its tournament winner. And if it weren't for revenue and ratings, that's exactly the way it would be.
God'll get you for that, mrcoaster. 
I didn't pick UConn in every bracket. Didn't pick Gonzaga in every bracket. Didn't pick Miami of Fla. in every bracket. I even gave South Alabama the benefit of a doubt in a few.
Not Western Kentucky. No sir. I've seen Drake play. This was "their year."
Crap.
I didn't pick UConn in every bracket. Didn't pick Gonzaga in every bracket. Didn't pick Miami of Fla. in every bracket. I even gave South Alabama the benefit of a doubt in a few.
Not Western Kentucky. No sir. I've seen Drake play. This was "their year."
Crap.
JM1776, agreed. With the bigger conferences it's not really a problem. The PAC-10, ACC, Big East, etc... they are all well enough established that you know that their regular season champion will get an at large bid no matter if they even lose in the first round of their conference tournament. It's those mid-majors and smaller who get hit the hardest. I can see both arguments, I suppose.... but it doesn't mean I dislike the set up any less.
I went 23-9 in my picks for the first round in my main bracket. Not terrible, but sure as hell not good. I had Vanderbilt and UConn going into the Elite 8, so I got kind of kicked around by those losses. and I had Gonzaga into the third round. I really have to hope for almost all of my other picks to pan out...
Great day for the Madness and I was busy that I didn't catch most of it. That F***ing sucks. It always seems like a lot of the fun happens on the friday of the first week. I wish I was in Tampa Bay today because history was made there. That Siena/Nova and San Diego/Western Kentucky games should be really interesting. Has that ever happened before with a 12 playing a 13 in the second round?
Last edited:
