I will still never get used to the First Four being considered the first round. Let's get the talk started as things tip off with Michigan/Colorado State.
I for one hope CSU runs the Wolverines. I don't think Michigan belongs in the tournament, and I took the Rams in every bracket I filled out.
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I regret flipping my CoState to Michigan last minute now.
Not anymore. I so wanted Michigan to lose.
Yeah, lets go Longwood now though.
I sincerely hope Michigan gets whooped. Shouldn't have been in. Most glaring error by the committee
A very special someone wrote up 9 pages of research to show that A&M not making was actually the biggest error by anyone ever in the history of mankind.
Did they cry while reading it?
Why not both? To put A&M in, you'd have to take someone out after all.
Alright y'all. Everybody needs to pull for Longwood today. If not for any other reason, Griff Aldrich was part of the UMBC staff that beat the #1 seed loluva.
But they mocked us on Twitter yesterday so idk if I am tbh
We have a Hokie though....
But did you see what they said when they were trying to recruit uva fans? The #1 reason they had is they weren't Virginia tech😂 I don't think their twitter account thought it through cause without a former hokie I doubt they make the ncaa at all😂
Didn't see that...
I agree that sucks.
Should have been something about cheering on all 4 VA schools or something....
Big yikes. Who put the stamp of approval on this series of tweets?
I would have been fine with Longwood saying something like "Because UVA was dogshit this year and who else are you gonna root for...Virginia Tech?"
That at least wouldn't have been a slight because of course a UVA fan isn't going to root for us. But this? Boo this man!
I agree. Whoever tweeted that needs to be taken off the social media team.
Longwood's been around for longer than VT? TIL
Yup, since 1839...
And that is how you permanently alienate yourselves from at least half the population of the Commonwealth. Good job, Longwood
Pathetic
Stay in your lane
This is absolutely a mole-hill. If anything they're trolling UVA for not making the tourney. I mean they absolutely aren't VT and how often does that go into your equation on the reverse?
Mountain west joke conference but got four bids lol
Well damn...
Go Spiders!
Gonzaga trying to give UVA some company.
This cannot happen. LOLUVA needs to own that shit all by themselves.
Where all these mf "acc is Down" haters gonna come from when every other conference loses their first games in nit and ncaaT?
I would love to watch the Big10 get clowned early in this tournament. Their conference regular season co-champs and tournament champs lose to a 12 to get started.
Saint Mary's up 12 at half over Indiana too! Bounce them all
I feel even better about our UNC win right now
UNC is straight-up taking Marquette to the woodshed in the 8/9 matchup. It's a small sample size but the ACC is not "down".
Uhhhh... you've had your fun playing with your food Kentucky. You may commence real play now.
I wouldnt mind kentucky losing.
My bracket would...
I'd take an easier path to a possible Elite 8 for my team over an intact bracket any year.
Yep. Hurts my bracket but ......bye bye Kentucky!
Longwood's women won tonight!! Both Hokies play tomorrow...
Hell of a game between St Peters and UK. Indiana getting run out of the gym by St Marys
Come'on St. Peters! Kentucky is who many of the prognosticators have beating us, if we get to Round 3.
All the Big Ten teams are folding like dominos - IT'S AWESOME, BABY!. Strong conference, my ass. I say none of them get past Round 2, and probably only the team that absolutely didn't deserve to get in gets past Round 1. What a joke!
Seems like this is a common theme, where the conference that is viewed as the strongest, with the highest number of bids, usually has half or more of their entries lose in Round 1. I think it even happened to the ACC a number of times when they were viewed as the strongest of the Power Conferences. I think there is a lesson to be learned here in terms that a conference is usually not as strong or as weak as we are made to believe.
The other take from this is that the lower tier teams from the 'dominant league' really shouldn't be in the tourney at all, and more high level mid-majors or even high-minors should make it in. That's not exactly the best outcome for future ACC middling good teams.
But at the same time the WCC teams went 0-4 yesterday.
It's hard to draw too many big picture, long term answers from a single elimination tournament. VT, Miami, or ND could go on a run and i wouldn't necessarily say that means ACC should get more benefit of the doubt going forward.
I'm with you that it's funny to hear all year about how some conferences are just "built different" and then they trip over their own feet out the gate. Just not trying to draw too many trends and predict a method for it because hey there's a reason they call it madness
Counterpoint: The Mountain West got eliminated from the tournament with 4 teams in the first day, and other than a Creighton comeback (against one of said Mountain West teams), the Big East had two of their top teams defeated as well.
Big OOF time.kentucky misses 5 free throws in OT and falls to the 15 seed by 6. That was some incredible defense.
Still not as big an upset as UMBC over LOLuva!
What a great game. Down goes Kentucky!
I was posting on a different thread and had not paid attention until I checked this thread.
Kentucky going down 😀 could potentially be very very helpful to our boys if they take care of business this weekend.
THIS IS MARCH
SEC SO GOOD OMG GUSH GUSH
Rooting hard for Vermont right now vs Arkansas. GO VT BROS
To be honest I had never heard of Saint Peters before tonight. Or at least never paid attention. This ranks up in the area of UVA UMBC. Not quite but pretty close.
Still a world of difference between a 1 seed losing and a 2 seed losing, but its pretty bad.
The entire Mountain West has now been eliminated.
While I'm all for giving non-P5 teams a shot, but the MW got at least 2 bids more than deserved.
If you have an espn tournament bracket challenge, check out the leaderboard. TajBlue11, you da man.
First Day Observations On Overall Performance:
SEC 👎 💩
PAC 12 👎🤨
Big East 👎💩
B10 😂👎🖕💩😂😂😂
ACC: 👍😎 and if there was a Fuck Yeah Emoji.
MWC 💩💩💩💩💩💩
I usually feel like we shouldn't use a single elimination tournament to make generalizations about conference strength, but god damn why did all those B1G teams get in? Like it can be a good conference without needing to put its entire middle class in.
And also maybe we should just ban Iowa from the big dance, save everyone the trouble.
Right. My biggest fear is we look like Marquette today. Wow they suck.
Coming in a little early with these takes aren't we? And the PAC hasn't lost any games yet right?
Not just looking at losses but if the team won but not convincingly. It's just a one day observation of the games played with a little fun. After today's outcomes the ACC could be a 💩 or a 👍 or a 👍😂🎊 or a 💩😂💩😂💩😂👎👎👎. We know soon enough.
Kudos to the committee putting 4 Mountain West teams in. 1. The country loves the mountain west conference, which is why they don't have a national TV deal, and 2. They really kicked ass and played well in this tourney. Its a 1 bid fucking league.. proven time and time again.
I wanted Yale to come out strong to give us an easier run but I don't see it happening. Yale is smaller, which was expected, but they also look sloppy. Don't see them pulling this out.
Is Yale really that small or is Purdue's C actually 8 ft tall? That guy looks like a monster.
Purdue's center is a monster. Over 7 feet I believe
Unc destroying everyone in their path low key shooting like I thought we'd be able to against the field. Guess we got a tough matchup to draw that defense in our first game
This UNC-BU game is nuts.
Didn't get to watch any of it, but how UNC blew a 25pt lead, went to OT, and managed to pull it out anyway against the #1 is impressive.
Manek was given a BS flagrant two and ejected for what was barely a flagrant 1. Then the refs turned it into the ref show and I thought were clearly biased against Unc. UNC couldn't handle full court pressure and kept turning the ball over trying to inbound and for whatever reason kept inbounding to bacot when Baylor was immediately fouling while bacot was cold at the foul line.
My heart will bleed for them
Listening to UNCheat fans bitching about the refs was music to my ears. God forbid they get screwed by the refs for once.
That was an interesting strategy. Bacot couldn't make a FT so let's keep inbounding to him even when other players were able to receive the pass. And the Leaky Black kept dribbling himself into corners to get trapped. I am glad the ACC gets a win but UNC had nearly zero basketball IQ down the stretch.
I don't think anyone could have handled that press the way the refs were letting Baylor commit murder on those inbound plays. UNC was playing poorly, but complete immunity from fouls really helped the effectiveness of Baylor's press.
It's hard to feel bad about UNC getting hosed by refs, but whoa those refs were bad.
Hunter Catoor was just highlighted as one of the "Perfect Guy" players chosen by Kenney Smith's Perfect Player segment for his 3pt handle.
Recapping yesterday:
- UNC blows up more brackets
- Gonzaga has a scare
- St Pete's just played their coach into a new tax bracket
Sparty made it a game. d00k survives. I'd like to see them run the table, so we can boast of beating them in the conference tourney.
Yep want K's last loss to be against VT
That would be a good trivia question to be part of.
Unlike, say, a trivia question about the only #1 seed to lose in the first round.
NGL...I'm salty UNC, Dook, and what looks like Miami are all in this tournament still after 2 rounds. Can't make excuses, but just bummed still lol.
True but on the flip side, validates our ACC championship even more 🏆
I'm more frustrated that the ACC is supposed to be so weak and crappy and yet we've got 3 of the sweet 16 teams. That's a great system the committee is using. /s
Just your friendly reminder that the selection committee put 9 Big 10 teams in and 2 only of them currently remain 🤡
Yeah but Michigan tho. I legit thought that was the worst pick by the committee but maybe not
They played a soft CSU team missing their point guard and lead scorer first game. Gutted one out last night but we can still blame the Rick Barnes curse for their success
Glad someone others are tracking. Bracket be damned, let's put 3 in the Elite 8, really stick it to 'em.
TCU got absolutely jobbed by the refs to let Arizona win
Yeah and couldn't get a quick 2 or box out on the last two series.
I'm pissed cause I picked them in every bracket. Zona and UCLA did not get tested at all during the regular season in the PAC 12
Yeah that hurt too - but down the wire in regulation things felt lopsided and then you had some blatant calls like a jump ball somehow becoming a shooting foul with and 1
Welp, against Purdue Texas shot only 35% from three and was actually called for fouls. Gave up 46 free throws! Would have liked to catch that group of refs and Texas shooting their average.
Give us just one of two and we win. Or even just let us play defense at all without calling bs fouls (our brand isn't even very physical).
This always happens to us. Some garbage shooting team will shoot 50% from 3 and then go back to their low to mid 30%s the next round. Almost predictable at this point.
Collin Sexton on line 1
Edit: Whoa did not remember Wabissa Bede scored 9 points in 10 minutes in that game.
Guess beating St Bonnaventure isnt for everyone now is it? 17 points in a half bit UVA in the butt big time and two missed free throws late killed it.
The massive rejection at the end was cool too.
Silly Wahoos. Everyone knows if you're going to let St Bonnie score 50, you're supposed to put up 86...
Ya hate to see it
Their offense has sucked ever since bennett got there. Of course he won a national championship with bad offense. VT would never be so lucky.
I need to go back and look, but that national title run has to be close to the biggest bracket luck for a highly seeded national champ since it expanded to 64 then to 68
The Bonnies are a decent team year in and out. LOLUVA isn't this year.
Should Purdue lose tomorrow, the humiliation of the Big Ten shall be complete.
And I am rooting for it as hard as anyone.
I am equally as hard rooting for Duke, UNC, and Miami
Duke, *St Peters and Miami
This post was prophetic.
The humiliation of the BIG10 is complete (said in my best Darth Vader voice).
Me like.
VT is officially the last "Tech" to beat Coach K.
Purdue turned out to be Purdont
Kinda glad we lost to Texas. Didn't have to get buzzsawed by the Peacocks.
Lmaooo whoooa
Such a down year. 2 maybe 3 of the elite 8. Such a strong B1G. 0 elite 8.
Correction...9 teams and no Elite 8
This, so much this. After we lost, I've been rooting for every remaining acc team. I so want the press to eat their "the acc is down this year" BS.
Edit: And that isnt easy to do.......
VT beat ALL these teams.
Yep. Total bullshit. ACC puts 3 of 5 into Elite 8 and B1G is out.
The math feels incestuous where the B1G got a rep as having strong teams so when everyone went .500, they picked up occasional quality wins. Meanwhile the ACC had the rep of weaker teams so when teams lost, they kept getting bad losses.
Just because Duke, UNC, and Miami are good doesn't mean the bottom half of the conference isn't terrible.
we got barely any boost for beating them
How so? We had zero AP poll votes before the ACC tourney and were 26th in voting after.
We jumped from 29th to 19th in kenpom
We jumped 36th to 25th in Sagarin
We jumped 37th to 27th in NET rankings
I would say people took notice and boosted our rankings.
I think he's referring to the selection committee. We got some love in the rankings, but it didn't seem to make much difference in our position on the bubble.
Exactly because for whatever reason how your team performed in a single elimination tournament a week before you're invited to a larger single elimination tournament should have no weight according to the selection committee 🙄
I mean we kind of proved that, as have many other teams that have won their conference championships. It's really hard to win both.
On the broadcast Ian Eagle says UNC beat Coach K in his last home game and "hasn't stopped since"
Except for getting beat by double digits by the good guys...
There is a chance for Duke vs Carolina in the Final 4? I feel bad for what the refs are about to do to St Pete's and Arkansas.
Me if St Peters advances:
Me if Carolina advances:
Can't believe we won the acc on such a down year give the conference where clearly they were the worst conference it just feels so unsatisfying
VTs record against teams in the elite 8 since Feb 26: 3-0
I would love to see an almost-all ACC plus Villanova fina four.
I am going to talk to much trash about the Big Ten when I get back to State College
EDIT:
So close. Three outta four ain't bad. But look at the teams - Duke, UNC, Kansas, and Villanova. Damn what a lineup. I would say anyone can win it but with one of Villanovas stars out with a torn achilles it looks like their chances are slim. My rooting interests are now (in order): Duke, UNC, Villanova, and Kansas.
Also remind them we took their best football coach.
Please explain how Duke can ever be your rooting interest in basketball? Can you imagine the Coach K slurping we will endure for the next calendar year if he wins the title in his last year? It would be too much to deal with..............Kansas, Nova, UNC, Duke...........
Coach K's last season, and we beat them in the ACC tournament.
I'm OK with a Duke win here.
But I picked Kansas to March Madness.
So Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Nova
Sure. I like Dook enough to root for them.
For those that still think that size is the key to a successful March, i refer you to Purdue's tournament success (or lack thereof) every single year.
It's funny when our fan base gets hyped whenever any big man comes in, even if they are not acc level. Speaking of, Jalen Haynes is already transferring away.
Meanwhile small ball is working out for Miami. I know CMY ran some 4 guard sets, but i hope he does it more often.
McGusty (sp) is a stud guard.
So next week we're either getting Duke vs UNC in the biggest game in that rivalry's history or Duke vs an all-time historical underdog. I hope to god it doesn't all end with Duke winning a championship but you can't ask for a better Final 4 story line
I'm kinda rooting for Duke to take it all honestly. Sorta has the OSU in the horseshoe vibes to me. We beat ND, UNC, and eventual national champions Duke on our way to our first basketball ACC championship banner. Has a nice ring to it.
I agree with this. Duke winning the natty would make that ACC tourney run even more legendary. I'll hang that donation banner in my home office the rest of my life and tell my kids about that run.
I'm rooting for Duke from here on out. While I'd like to see #goACC for the rest of the tournament, Coach K getting one more on his way out the door would be a nice coda.
Also Duke looked really really good last night.
As I said in the other thread if Duke wins it all, we are the great answer to a trivia question. Who was the last team to beat Duke under Coach K?
A trivia question that no one will ever ask? Ask yourself if you ever heard that question asked about any coaching legend? The only people that will ever bring it up are people associated with VT but the rest of us will have to endure the constant Duke this and Duke that 4EVA.........4EVA EVA!!!! Which probably amounts to the rest of my life..........Nope. I'm praying hard to every BBall deity.........
Ach. Web was glitching.
At least in the year of the "Weak" ACC, we only had 3 teams in the elite 8, 2 in the final four, and 1 in the final. Can you imagine in a normal year, no other conferences might have been represented.
i feel dirty cheering for the remaining ACC teams... at least UVA isnt one of them.
Miami isn't bad though. I like Larranaga and their veteran guards
I'm good with being the answer to both:
"Who beat coach K in his last ACC game?"
AND
"Who was the last team to beat Coach K?"
2H was all-K.U. It was a good run, Canes.
I just looked at the box score, I'm glad I didn't watch that 2nd half looks like it would have been painful to watch.
St Pete completely outta their game and UNC can do no wrong. UNC up by 19 at the half.
UNC vs Duke in the Final Four. Ya just know the sports media hates that.
Somebody remind me....where the fuck is the mighty Big 10 (14) now? Funny. ....the 'down' ACC is half the final 4......
Ass clowns running the asylum.
People will just say "but it's Duke and UNC" and use that as some sort of logic that the conference still can't hold the Big 10s jock or something. All 9 of their teams can watch them from home
It's great for conference perception, so I root for either to win the Natty.
Big 10 is where they always are. Big men reliant teams (especially without dynamic guards) don't win in March so they always watch the final 4 from home.
If Villanova beats Kansas on Saturday, the ACC will be the last Major Conference standing in the tournament.
The BE is a major conference in basketball.
EDIT: because I live stats
Since 1985 (expansion of the tourny)
ACC 11 wins
BE 7 wins
SEC 6 wins
Big 10 3 wins
Big 12 3 wins
Pac 12 2 wins
Accounting for current members (so some teams won whe in another conference)
ACC 13 wins
BE 7 wins
SEC 6 wins
Big 10 4 wins
Big 12 3 wins
Pac 12 2 wins
The BE and ACC have meet the most of any two conferences in the tournament with the ACC winning 37-34
Well this season might have lost some momentum at the very end with the first-round exit for VT, but the good news is that we are 4-4 against Villanova/Duke/UNC over the past 2 seasons so we know we can hang with the big dogs.
I don't know whether to be excited at four collosal historic programs being there at once or disappointed that we don't have a Cindy there this year.
Since tourney expansion, the teams with the most national championships:
Duke 5
UNC 4
Uconn 4
Villanova 3
Kentucky 3
Kansas 2
UofL 2
Florida 2
Got a question about betting on the Final Four. I have two futures bets from 12 March that are still active, Duke (+1300) and Kansas (+1200) to win the National Championship. I bet $25 on each, so the total payouts are $325 and $350. However, they also have cashout options, which would net me about $220 for both of them (one is $99-ish and the other is ~$120).
I've been thinking about doing some probability calculations on the expected value that these bets have, and whether or not it's worth it to take the cashout value, but I suspect that the oddsmakers know how to do this a lot better than I do, and have priced them accordingly.
What are your thoughts on cashing out vs holding onto the bets? If both Kansas and Duke win their first games, should I cash out one of them?
If Kansas and Duke both somehow manage to win, I would cash out Kansas cause they aren't going to beat Duke down one of their best players.
Looks like I'm keeping Kansas.
I think the true heroes in the UNC/Duke showdown is VT. If not for us whoopin' their asses in the ACC Tourney they would never have found the drive to make it out of the 1st round.
Good job Hokies.
Due to the staggering number of undeserving teams the B1G had in the tournament they tied the ACC in total NCAAT units and will have the same payout as the ACC. This year's units are with an estimated $338k, making the payout about $36.4 million over the next six years.
wow that's crazy! I didn't even know NCAA tournament units were a thing haha. Thanks!
More bricks in this game than in the Great Wall of China
Yeah just said the amount of missed shots is ridiculous. Rooting for the asteroid here, man both of these teams are obnoxious. The "Everytime We Touch" Coach K montage pregame had me loling.
bye felicia
Welp, go UNCheat
I think Kansas will win and it won't be close.
Bacot's ankle may not be 100% and Davis played all of his starters 100% of the second half except for the brief subs for Bacot (because of the ankle). The game is tomorrow and the team might not have fresh legs.
I hate UNCheat. Don't like Duke much more, but was really hoping they'd pull the W. Oh well. At least I have Monday night free now.
Free throws were the difference
Hubert, the Lake Braddock Bruin, Davis. We taught that young fella well at LBSS.
UNC ties the series 50-50 for Mike Krzyzewski.
Haha, wow, UNC really did their best to send Coach K out on a low note. That's some good hating right there, hopefully the remember to put some water in Coach's mom's dish.
Just putting it out there that in the ACC tournament we eliminated two Final Four opponents, one of which is dominating at the half in the national championship game.
Epic choke by UNCheat
Hate to see it
But more than that, I love to see it
Guess we'll need carry the conference from here on out
Wow...
I expected a route by Kansas and bet accordingly with a nominal UNCHeat ML to salvage some losses. Kansas managed to win in one of the few ways that made my bet slip 0-4:
Kansas (-4.5) ❌
Kansas over 77.5 ❌
Kansas 1st half ML+ game ML ❌
UNCHeat ML ❌
🤦♂️ don't bet, kids...
I want to say this is the first time I picked the correct winner in my bracket!
Me, too.
I greatly underestimated the ACC, but I had Villanova/Kansas in the final four, and Kansas to win it all.
Yeah, same Villanova/Kansas in final four, Gonzaga let me down in what otherwise was as great region for me.
St Peter's and VT messed up my East region. I had KY in final 4
LSU and Miami were the only issues in the mid west.
Michigan and anOSU messed up South region.
Not surprised Kansas won but surprised how lackluster UNC's offense was in the second half. Very few organized sets, too many pop a quick screen and take a bad or well contested shot. Not alot of passing going on and led to some ugly shots and some really bad looks. See the finall 2 possesions where UNC should have driven the lane for two instead Love just dribbled around way outside the 3 point line and heaved a prayer three then instead of using the timeout to draw up something with 4.3 left they did the same just let love throw up a wounded duck instead of maybe setting something up for I dont know maybe Manek?
Dont get me wrong love seeing UNC lose but man did they underwhelm in that second half offensively.
I want to believe that the final play was intended for Manek because Caleb Love was having an awful game (was 5-for-23 before the final heave); however, Manek actually had a good opportunity but t
ripped over his own feetrolled his right ankle on his way to the 3-pt line and never regained his balance.Here's a clip starting at the final play. Watch Manek stumbling around on all 4s. https://youtu.be/uaDJFXOVF2E?t=774
Yeah I saw that happen and felt bad for him but I was more referring to when they got the stop and the ball before the first brick by Love. They were coming down the court with 20 seconds left and instead of running a play Love just hero balled around and dribbled and took a hail-Mary like heave all while Davis could have used one of his timeouts and tried to come up with something better.
If Hubert wanted Love to take the final shot he would have been crazy for me it would have been Manek, then Davis, then maybe Love but he was really poor last night.
That spot that Manek slipped on is the exact same spot that Bacot rolled his ankle, and if you're wondering if that's just a little too coincidental, you are probably right...
By no means do I support UNC, but its not a great look at all for the NCAA to have their court buckle in the waning mins of a 1 point title game knocking UNC's best player out with injury. If that had happened to us, we'd be apoplectic this morning for good reason.
I dunno, maybe we should be playing these games on a court that exists for more than 1 week every year. It wasn't that long ago that players were slipping on the logos that the NCAA stickered to the courts, so it seems to be a bit of a recurring problem that does bring player safety into question.
I mean that looks like pretty typical floor flex to me. Bacot is like 50lbs more than me and I noticeably make the court floor bend when planting
I'm glad Kansas won. ABC. Anybody but Carolina.
I'm here to rant... Why does tip off need to be 9:30pm EST on a Monday?! Why not do the Final Four on Thursday, and the championship on Saturday night? Same complaint for College Football.
It was way to late to be starting the game. I am sorry for the people who live on the west coast. You chose to live out there. :)
They will say because of the time zones on the east coast and work hours blah blah blah. Heres a smart ass idea put it on a Sunday and have the final four on a friday night then you can do late games as its the weekend. Nothing better than staying up till 12 am to watch a national championship on TBS no less.
Rant on brother. Preach it.
My wife's alarm is at 4 and mine is at 5 every work day. No way I was going to be able to watch the game. I was prob asleep by 9:45.
Yep. I was asleep before halftime. I'd probably be more upset if it was my team and I had to stay up for it, but it's just ridiculous
What an epic battle. A pair of blue bloods-- one which pays players without repercussions and another who doesn't even pretend that the athletes need to be students-- battling it out out all game long. Nothing says NCAA hoops like some bullshit like that.
What, Carolina doesn't cheat, just ask their fans!
Saw alot of tweets along the line of it was good to see two of the worst teams in terms of respecting the NCAA and the rules both in the title game competing for a title. Shit Kansas has one fewer championship overall than they do active major infractions.