March Madness

Madness exhibit A: the Iowa Hawkeyes.  Enter the tourney on a 3-7 death spiral, now in the Sweet 16 after stunning the defending champion 1 seed Gators.

Go Santa Clara...Uh...

Vanguard83 wrote:
Go Santa Clara...Uh...

Ouch, dude. I've been here in St. Louis for the games and saw that live  :s   Miami became Public Enemy #1 beating Missouri and was getting booed by all the locals vs Purdue  :rolleyes:  Put up a good fight but their jump shooting legs crapped out on them in the 2nd half.

Great tourney so far, the Sweet Sixteen should be awesome. Iowa vs Nebraska? Nice. UConn vs Michigan State is going to be really good. The O/U on Michigan vs. Alabama is 176.5, lol. St. Johns and Duke? Sweet indeed.

Best 4 teams left IMO, Arizona....Michigan....Duke....then Houston. If Michigan had LJ Cason, I'd feel a tad more confident about them. The Big 10 is all over this remaining field, shows how amazing the Wolverines' run this year has been. They've beaten almost 40% (6) of the remaining teams in the tourney.

StickierBuns wrote:
Great tourney so far, the Sweet Sixteen should be awesome. Iowa vs Nebraska? Nice. UConn vs Michigan State is going to be really good. The O/U on Michigan vs. Alabama is 176.5, lol. St. Johns and Duke? Sweet indeed.

Best 4 teams left IMO, Arizona....Michigan....Duke....then Houston. If Michigan had LJ Cason, I'd feel a tad more confident about them. The Big 10 is all over this remaining field, shows how amazing the Wolverines' run this year has been. They've beaten almost 40% (6) of the remaining teams in the tourney.

That's going out on some limb, the three no. 1 seeds and then the highest remaining seed in the South.  lol The tourney only has 4 teams left that aren't a top 4 seed, Iowa, Texas, St Johns, and Tennessee, so it's been pretty well seeded as a whole.

StickierBuns wrote:
Great tourney so far, the Sweet Sixteen should be awesome. Iowa vs Nebraska? Nice. UConn vs Michigan State is going to be really good. The O/U on Michigan vs. Alabama is 176.5, lol. St. Johns and Duke? Sweet indeed.

Best 4 teams left IMO, Arizona....Michigan....Duke....then Houston. If Michigan had LJ Cason, I'd feel a tad more confident about them. The Big 10 is all over this remaining field, shows how amazing the Wolverines' run this year has been. They've beaten almost 40% (6) of the remaining teams in the tourney.

Houston was the other team I thought about. Super talented, they play defense, and Sampson is an excellent coach. They were so close last year. It would be cool to see them win it and get a little redemption

supafreak84 wrote:
Anybody else been glued to the TV? Just incredible. A few thoughts;

- This has been the most star studded tourney in a while. If your favorite NBA team is drafting in the top 15, you are going to get a hell of a player.
- With that said, I think Darryn Peterson is the 4th or 5th best player in the draft with lots of question marks.
- Acuff is Starbury 2.0
- Rick Pitino truly is one of the great college coaches of all time. The Johnnie's vs Duke will be must see TV.
- I've watched a lot of Arizona this year and love that roster. They are my pick to win it all. Brayden Burries is a dog 
- Speaking of must see TV, Coen Carr at State is the best in-game dunker since Vince Carter. 

Top notch tourney and if you haven't been watching, you are missing out

Don't forget Calipari down in Arkansas.  I lived in Louisville for the Pitino vs. Calipari Kentucky vs. Louisville years.  Both those guys can flat out coach and elevate those programs.  

Carlos Boozers son running the Dukies, but I saw a stat that for 2 years straight now, no 13-15 won a single game.  I think the NIL is sneaking in to March Madness now as well as the top teams are dominating to a greater extent.

Kentucky's 82-63 loss against Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday was even more of a disappointment when factoring in the astronomical price of the Wildcats' roster.

According to The Athletic's CJ Moore, Kentucky "spent a reported $22 million" in NIL deals ahead of the 2025-26 season, making it the most expensive roster in the history of college basketball.

The return on investment was minimal, as the Wildcats finished the year with a 22-14 record and failed to reach the Elite Eight for the sixth straight year, the longest drought in program history.

purplefaithful wrote:
Kentucky's 82-63 loss against Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday was even more of a disappointment when factoring in the astronomical price of the Wildcats' roster.

According to The Athletic's CJ Moore, Kentucky "spent a reported $22 million" in NIL deals ahead of the 2025-26 season, making it the most expensive roster in the history of college basketball.

The return on investment was minimal, as the Wildcats finished the year with a 22-14 record and failed to reach the Elite Eight for the sixth straight year, the longest drought in program history.

How long have they been tracking what the players are paid, 2 or 3 years?  Seems like a dumb way to phrase that.

StickierBuns wrote:
Great tourney so far, the Sweet Sixteen should be awesome. Iowa vs Nebraska? Nice. UConn vs Michigan State is going to be really good. The O/U on Michigan vs. Alabama is 176.5, lol. St. Johns and Duke? Sweet indeed.

Best 4 teams left IMO, Arizona....Michigan....Duke....then Houston. If Michigan had LJ Cason, I'd feel a tad more confident about them. The Big 10 is all over this remaining field, shows how amazing the Wolverines' run this year has been. They've beaten almost 40% (6) of the remaining teams in the tourney.

Looks like your long shot Houston team is going down.

Suck it, Nebraska!  Best season in Husker basketball history... well, except for going 1-2 against Iowa as they knock you out of the NCAAs  :D

Awww, poor Cyclones.  Refs give them a 25-15 FT attempt advantage and they still lose by 14  :D

"BEAR DOWN CATS!!!"

Go Blue.

Down goes Iowa, nice game by Illinois...probably as far as the Hawkeyes could have went this year. Fingers crossed my Wolverines can punch their ticket to the Final Four later today.

Down goes Duke!  Nuff said!!

ncvike wrote:
Down goes Duke!  Nuff said!!

Insane ending to that game...wow!

StickierBuns wrote:
Down goes Iowa, nice game by Illinois...probably as far as the Hawkeyes could have went this year. Fingers crossed my Wolverines can punch their ticket to the Final Four later today.

Michigan won that game when they got out of bed. Never a chance they were going to lose. Arizona and Michigan is the National Championship game. Winner of that will win it all. I have Arizona in both my brackets this year. I think they are the most complete team in the Tournament.

[quote="ncvike" pid="271984" dateline="1774838210"]
Down goes Duke!  Nuff said!!
[/quote]

Loved it. Not sure what Boozer was thinking but loved it.....after Coach K left, Duke is getting a rep for choking in the biggest games.

Arizona vs Michigan should be the Championship Game, that's the battle of the Titans and the best 2 teams IMO...whomever wins this game should take the winner of UConn and ILL. UNC is going to come after May HARD, hopefully Michigan can retain him. Illinois should give UConn a good game.

What a beatdown Michigan put on Arizona, even with Yaxel playing so few minutes. Wildcat coach said in the postgame presser no team did to them what the Wolverines did last night. One more, Go Blue.