March Madness 2000!!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, here we are, March Madness has begun. (Hey, conference tourneys damn sure are part of the Big Dance) #1 Cincy is without its leader, and college hoops without its player of the year. A half dozen top seeds have been knocked off in their Conference Tournaments. The NCAA Tournament chairman called this the toughest year he’s seen to seed and elect the top 64.

So I want to hear everyone hype their team and alma mater. Lets predict the seeding before the NCAA gets around to it Sunday Evening. Lets bitch about the buffoonery and the bubble teams left out. Who is a lock for a #1 seed, and who is gonna win it all? What dark horses can line up to try on the glass slipper? What conference is gonna flex its muscles and prove itself to be the best in the land?

I can garauntee you that my Big Ten will be a lock for 6 tourney teams, and you can expect 4 of them in the Sweet 16. The Illini are gonna knock off favorite MSU in the Big Ten championship game (assuming MSU gets there). MSU still sneaks in with a #1 seed. The Illini deserve a #3 seed, but will probably end up getting the #4 in the Midwest. Illini are the team to watch, gonna shake the big boys and claim the throne after a Final Four birth…see you in Indy.

Where will Cincy land? I think the seeding is based on how the team is predicted to do in the tourney, not as a reward for a good regular season. As such watch for the Bearcats to bitch about a #3 seed at best, and look ripe for a fist round upset. No Chris Porter for Auburn or Erick Barkley for St. Johns, I expect an early exit for these two #4 seeds. Stanford is the team to beat, and you’ll see them facing my Illini in the Final Four somewhere. Saint Louis University is the dark horse to watch, gonna be last years Gonzaga…who by the way is going to make another strong showing. Temple is crowned “Team Everyone Hopes Not To Play”, with the Illini a close second. MSU isn’t going to have a close match up until the Elite 8, probably in their 4th matchup against Illinois this season. The official “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” award goes to DePaul, who can beat or lose to literally anyone in the dance depending on the direction of the wind.

More to come…

2

It’s gonna be a tough year for us in the Bluegrass State. Kentucky will certainly make it in, but they’re very inconsistant. I’ll be thrilled if they make it to the “Elite Eight”.

As for the SEC in general, they’ll be there in force, and the Big Ten is gonna be in a fight.

Of course, I’m routing for Kentucky to win it all, but I’m still trying to find a back-up team, just in case.

Now with 1000 posts of pure wisdom!
(or something)

3

You like Illinois, Omniscient? Just wait til next year. Number 1 in the nation. They had better be anyway, with almost everyone returning except Cleotis Brown (who hasn’t been as effective as he should be this year). They are going to at least the Final Four next year, if not winning it all. Heck, they might even go to the Final Four this year. Illinois is sooooo dangerous that you can’t underestimate them in any game. They have the potential to beat anyone, and I mean anyone. Watch out everyone.

4

Well, looks like Notre Dame or Wisconsin may lose a spot in the dance because of the Arkansas upset. I’d hate to be a bubble team today, looking forward to the selection show. The Big Ten has earned that 6th team, hopefully the selection committee will cut one from the Pac10, ACC or SEC. They haven’t shown the consistency that the Big Ten has, and those conferences are top heavy.

One more thing. Most overrated team in the country, Texas. Also having the most overrated player in the country Chris Mihm, this team is poised for a woodshed job on national TV. If I were one of those automatic bids getting seeded in the low teens I’d be making a deal with the devil to get matched up against Texas.

5

Remember all the upsets last year? (Detroit, Southwest Mo. State, Gonzaga in the final 8!)

I predict there will be even more this year, including a 2-15 matchup; possibly even a 1-16 matchup.

And to predict the top seeds about 24 minutes before they’re announced -

Michigan State - Midwest
Duke - South
Stanford - West
Temple - East

“You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks

6

I don’t think Temple gets a #1 seed.

Originally, I would have picked:
Midwest - Michigan State
East - Duke
South - Ohio State
West - Stanford

Since OSU fumbled in the Big Ten first round, and the Illini laid the wood to Penn State who beat them, OSU is going to settle for a low 2 seed.

I’d say now its:
Midwest - Michigan State
East - Duke
South - Arizona
West - Stanford

Arizona has some injuries, and I would be less suprised if Iowa State gets the nod before Temple.

Unfortunately my Illini lost to MSU in a valiant effort. Had Bradford not gotten knocked out by a elbow to the nose, the outcome would have been much different, the Illini outplayed MSU up until that point, and never regained form after losing their leader. I expect to hear that his nose is broken (it sure looked bad), and as such I fear his performance will be weakened in the dance. Put the Illini as a low 4 seed, maybe still staying in the Midwest, matching against MSU in the Sweet 16, then its payback.

We’ll see in 5 minutes.

7

Well, heres our brackets, I think I fared pretty well in my redictions.

ESPN’s brackets

and

CBS’s brackets

CBS’s weren’t updated, as of this post, but they certainly will be soon.

8

CBS’s bracket is up.

Bubble teams that got screwed:

Notre Dame, quite simply they scheduled very tough, played difficult preseason tournament schedule and won some tough games. Swept defending champ UConn, beat Ohio State in Columbus.

Virginia, they tied UNC in the ACC, had one more win, and beat UNC twice. While the ACC was weak, I can’t believe UNC got in over this team. Reputation has no place in this selection.

Silly seed decisions:

Ohio State, they deserved the West #2 seed, St John’s lost its best player pending a NCAA rules decision. At worst OSU should have been in the Midwest #3, swapping places with Maryland. Honestly OSU probably is in very nice shape

Cincy, simply didn’t warrant a #2 seed w/out Martin.

The East is by far the strongest region. Duke, Temple and Illinois are going to make this very interesting. DePaul as a 9 seed could make an exciting run giving Duke alot of trouble. One of the only teams thats as athletic as the Blue Devils, go Blue Demons. Could we see a DePaul vs. Illinois cross state battle? Indiana got a break, will probably make it to the sweet 16.

The West is easily the weakest because they moved all the powerful teams out of there. Arizona is a shaky #1 seed, probably shouldn’t have gotten the home spot over Stanford. Look for Wisconsin to freeze out Arizona in the second round. LSU, Texas, and Oklahoma are heavily overrated, but got matched against some weak 12-14 seeds. I think Wisconsin may be the favorite for a dark horse Elite 8 shot, if they get past an athletic Fresno St. Also, a Louisville upset of St. Johns isn’t a bad bet.

Dicky V just railed the selection committee chairman about UNLV getting in w/out a single quality win. I gotta agree, the chairmans position as Big West chairman certainly influenced that decision, the championship game blowout notwithstanding. Notre Dame should be very angry, they are much stronger than UNLV.

9

Oops, didn’t finish a sentence.

10

just to let y’all know, I signed Kenyon Martin’s get well card

and if you want, you can send him one too, just head on over to www.channelcincinnati.com

“People must think it must be fun to be a super genuis,
But they don’t realize how hard it is
to put up with all the idiots in the world.”
– Calvin and Hobbes
(__)
/

11

MSU gets to play close to home, but damn, that region is brutal.

And how 'bout the cakewalk Arizona is set up with in the West? They are the only one of the top six seeds in the region who is a conference champion.

And I still think they’ll blow it. Take away their one national championship, and they tend to massively underachieve in the tourney.

“Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known” - Michel Gyquem de Montaigne

12

Milo, generally I agree, but I don’t think the Midwest is all that tough. MSU should not have a challenge until Iowa State. Utah hasn’t beaten anyone good, nor has UCLA. Auburn and Syracuse have fallen apart the last 2 weeks, and looked pathetic in conference tourneys. Kentucky just had one of its starters arrested and suspended, not that they had much of a chance anyways. Maryland will play well, and SLU may be the only real low seed that makes any waves. Alot of the bracket has solid records, but very few ar playing well at the moment.

You are 100% right about Arizona having a cakewalk, if they can handle Wisconsin…I don’t think they can.

13

For anyone who’s interested, I just set up a Straight Dope group for our on-line tournament bracket picks!

Go to www.sandbox.net

Click on their tournament picks option. Register, and then click “choose group”

Type in Straight Dope

When you’re asked for the password, it’s

cecil

(in all lower-case)

This is for the bragging rights of the SDMB, so get in it! (Even if you don’t know a basketball hoop from a peach basket. People like that win in brackets-picking all the time)

Should be fun.

“Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known” - Michel Gyquem de Montaigne

14

Or, to take a step out of the process, go to
http://rivals.itsmadness.com

Then do everything I mentioned above.

15

Yikes! Kentucky (assuming they beat St. Bonn.) will probably have to face Syracuse in the second round. Forget the “Elite Eight”, at this point I’ll be happy with “Sweet Sixteen”.

OTOH, Woo-Hoo! Seven, count ‘em, seven SEC teams in the tourny! Plus, in-state rival Louisville will have to face Gonzaga in the first round! The Red Birds are goin’ down!

God is my co-pilot. Blame Him.

16

That must be the “New Math”, there are only 6 SEC teams. Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, and Florida.

17

Yep. My bad. I saw South Carolina State and thought just plain South Carolina. Still, six teams is pretty good.

While I was making my picks, I realized Kentucky might not be so bad off after all. It’ll be tough, but Kentucky has had the toughest schedule in the NCAA this year. They’re used to having several tough games in a row.

My picks for the Final Four:

Kentucky, Arizona, Duke, and Stanford, with Kentucky beating Duke to take it all. Woo-hoo!

Hey, a guy can dream…

God is my co-pilot. Blame Him.

18

Really going out on a limb with those #1 seeds ain’tcha?

Hate to burst your bubble, but Kentucky is going to be this years #5 vs #12 upset victim. Theres one every year, and this ones it.

19

Ok, I’ve got my picks in on Milo’s Straight Dope group. He and I are the only ones so far. Where is everybody?

And hey, don’t harass me about picking Ky to win it all after talking so bad about them. It’s traditional to underrate the 'Cats in this state. We like to be pleasantly surprised.

20

Who said it was going to be Wisconsin? They’re not even going to get past Fresno State.