The lane violation call was the right call. If you’re outside the three point line, you cannot pass the free throw line until the ball hits the rim. The player was almost to the basket when the ball hit the rim, which was why he got such an easy rebound. He was ten feet past the line.
The other calls were a complete mystery.
That was great fun (even for someone like me who knows nothing about basketball). Go the Nurse Sharks my tip to win it all!
I don’t think he was beyond the 3 point line tho. I remember him being at the top of the key, but inside the 3 point line.
The goaltending that the officials didn’t call was blatant, and the OOB call was ludicrous.
However, like I said, the key to the game was Dickey not being able to score at all; IIRC he was like 1-12, including blowing a wide open layup as the game drew to a close.
ETA: Ddamn, it doesn’t look like Harvard is gonna pull it off against Vandy either. They played a good game, but just couldn’t quite get it done.
W KY coming out strong to start! Go Big Red!
The Hilltoppers couldn’t keep up the pace they set at the outset, but we finally have an upset! Grats to VCU!
Woohoo 11 for 11 in my main bracket my best start ever 
A team coached by Calipari is not an NCAA team, it is a more like a Developmental League team. His whole recruiting MO isn’t about “going to the dance” “Final Four” or winning national championships. It’s about getting the kid into the NBA as soon as possible. “One and done, fine, I’ll just reload.” It works for him. There is no shortage of talent. The problem is that these guys have an NBA mentality and they can go to sleep on you at any time. That explains all the wins and the dearth of championships. (Vanderbilt is a very good team, but still . . .)
Kentucky definitely should win but I wouldn’t pick them to win.
I don’t what can be done to outlaw this type of behavior but it needs to be curbed, somehow.
Do these kids even make an attempt at going to credible classes? the B-Ball season overlaps two semesters (or whatever they have in Lexington) so they have to have grades from the first qtr.
Do all they take is Basket-weaving 101? remedial addition? elementary reading?
Hate to pile on here, but if anyone has benefited from all of the 1st and 2nd round games held in North Carolina (and there do seem to be a lot), it’s UNC-Chapel Hill. Since 2003 (the first year they decoupled the opening weekend sites from the regionals) UNC-CH is 22-3 or .88 in years they played their first two games in North Carolina. They have 3 final four appearances (05, 08 and 09) and 2 national championships (05 and 09) to show for it.
Duke on the other hand is 12-5, and has one final four and no championships playing out of North Carolina despite the same number of placements in the state (5) over the same period. In fact, Duke’s record when it is seeded elsewhere is slightly better (9-3 or .75 versus 12-5 or .708) while UNC-CH’s tourney record is significantly worse in years they don’t open in North Carolina (2nd round losses in 04 and 06 for a 2-2 record).
Looking around the country, only four other programs played the opening weekend in their home states in more than one tournament: Florida (03, 06, 11), Ohio State (06, 09, 11), UCLA (06 and 07) and Villanova (06 and 09). Collectively, these ten teams have a 29-9 or .763 record, with four final fours (UCLA and UF in 06, UCLA in 07 and Nova in 09) along with Florida’s 2006 championship. Their 40% final four rate and UNC-CH’s 50% final four rate are significantly better than Duke’s 20% record of making the final four when playing the opening weekend in their home state.
If anything, Duke is uniquely disadvantaged by opening at “home.” Anyway, go Catamounts, and GTHC!
Road trip to Albuquerque is on the schedule! My Alma Mater is Wisconsin and my daughter is a Colorado student. Book it Dano.
I wish they would institute some NCAA bylaw that requires all athletic scholarships to stay in school for at least TWO years like its been bandied about.
Well, if they don’t get to play in NC, they get to stay somewhat close to home and have the skids well greased for them when the brackets are made.
And yes, the SEC gets to play home bowl games and it is indeed patently unfair.
the top teams tend to stay near their home campuses. That is a fact of the tournament. Michigan State went to the nearest site (Columbus). so did Syracuse (Pittsburgh). so did Kentucky (Louisville), Kansas (Omaha).
I can assure you that if NC State was ranked higher than either Duke or UNC, they would have been in Greensboro instead of Duke or UNC.
IIRC, there is a rule that a team cannot play a NCAA game in their home court or home town. Well I can assure you that Duke will never have that problem, because Cameron Indoor will never host a NCAA tournament game. Its not big enough.
As soon as Madison, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati start to pony up big bucks to old the Capital.com bowl, then the Big 10 can start playing bowl games in their home territory.
If you build it, they will come. Or will they?
There is a reason why people retire to Florida and Texas and Arizona, isn’t there?
I just put $50 on my 'Noles to cover the spread (6½) against St. Bonaventure. Game starts in just over 90 minutes.
So yesterday we only had one upset, and so far it looks like Cincy is gonna win handily over Texas. I can’t help but root for most underdogs (except against my 'Noles, of course), but looking at the match ups, I don’t really see this turning into Freaky Friday. OTOH, NC State is playing a solid game in the first half against SDSU, so maybe we’ll get 1 or 2 upsets today after all.
Texas making a game of it now.
Texas made a run, but fell apart in the last 3 minutes.
Hoping that the Wolfpack can keep up the level of play for another few minutes. They started the game fired up, and SDSU came out lethargic and the Aztecs have never really been able to step it up to the level that NC State started with.
ETA: SDSU letting the clock run without fouling; they’ve conceded. NC State with 2nd upset of the tourney! Grats Wolfpack! Go ACC!
Whoo-hoo!!! 0-2 to start the day!
I think the rule is, a team cannot play in an arena where they played three or more “home games” during the season. There might also be a rule about not being placed in a region in the same city, but I’m not quite sure about that.
I seriously doubt this will happen, for one reason: one-and-dones.
Besides, if a coach wants to free up a scholarship, all he has to do is to “convince” some of the player’s professors to give him poor grades - academically ineligible, and the player’s scholarship goes away. (This is one of the worries concerning the new four-year scholarship rule.)
His point was that one-and-done shouldn’t be allowed. I tend to lean the other way: fuck it, let them go straight to the NBA if they want to. I don’t think the pretense at scholarship for a year is fooling anyone.
Which one wasn’t an upset, VCU or Colorado?