# March Madness thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 19, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045 "2014-03-19T00:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/61 "2014-03-22T12:40:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > … > As someone mentioned in the other thread, this rule has been around forever. But why? What’s the point of it?.. My assumption is that they measure the rim, hoop diameter and length of net before the game at around the 20 minute-before-gametime,and don’t want the rim messed with (or backboard broken) after that point. It may be an archaic rule now that baskets are made of “space-age” materials. ( It might go back to Naismith and his peach baskets.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/62 "2014-03-22T12:56:56Z")
I wondered if it was something like that. Maybe in the old days it was easier to knock the basket out of whack? ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/63 "2014-03-22T19:08:20Z")
Well, thank you Pitt, for not surprising anyone and losing once again in the tournament. You never fail to live down to my expectations. What a turd they laid today. The entire ACC looks terrible. I know they lost to the number 1 team in the nation, but they should have put up a better fight than they did. They are one of the worst tournament teams in history. One Final Four appearance in their history, 1941. That is unbelievable to me. Hell, didn’t Butler go to the finals twice in a row a couple of years ago? I hate being a Pitt fan. But I can’t help it. That’s just the way I’m wired. OK. Now I need a new team to root for. Florida? I picked them in my bracket, but they beat Pitt, and I’m angry at them right now. UNC? or Virginia? Maybe I need to go with an ACC team (and forget Syracuse)… Virginia I like more than UNC. Wichita State? - the most disrespected number 1 seed and everyone’s favorite dog to kick? WS, UVa, Florida. I guess one of these three. Unless there is a great underdog that makes the sweet 16. I have to find some underdog… 3 number one seeds are no fun to root for… I don’t care about my bracket, so Florida is out. Now i am down to two. Mi’ll wait for the sweet 16 to pick an underdog to root for. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/64 "2014-03-22T19:22:46Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I was actually surprised that no one has ever put together a completely correct bracket. > > It just would seem that with all of the entries, all of the pools and all kids of people with all sorts of selection methods, one person somewhere would have randomly put together a perfect bracket. It’ll never happen. You must know how hard it is to hit a 3 or 4-team parlay. Not impossible, but difficult. A nine-team parlay? Might as well play Powerball. Someone hit a 10-team parlay in Vegas last year that made the front page all the way here in Washington, it’s so rare. So, now, what? A 63-game parlay? Never gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/65 "2014-03-22T19:26:33Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Well, thank you Pitt, for not surprising anyone and losing once again in the tournament. > > You never fail to live down to my expectations. > > What a turd they laid today. The entire ACC looks terrible. > > I know they lost to the number 1 team in the nation, but they should have put up a better fight than they did. They are one of the worst tournament teams in history. One Final Four appearance in their history, 1941. > > That is unbelievable to me. Hell, didn’t Butler go to the finals twice in a row a couple of years ago? > > I hate being a Pitt fan. But I can’t help it. That’s just the way I’m wired. > OK. Now I need a new team to root for. > > Florida? I picked them in my bracket, but they beat Pitt, and I’m angry at them right now. > > UNC? or Virginia? Maybe I need to go with an ACC team (and forget Syracuse)… Virginia I like more than UNC. > > Wichita State? - the most disrespected number 1 seed and everyone’s favorite dog to kick? > WS, UVa, Florida. I guess one of these three. Unless there is a great underdog that makes the sweet 16. I have to find some underdog… 3 number one seeds are no fun to root for… > > I don’t care about my bracket, so Florida is out. Now i am down to two. Mi’ll wait for the sweet 16 to pick an underdog to root for. UK!!! ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/66 "2014-03-22T22:37:54Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > It’ll never happen. You must know how hard it is to hit a 3 or 4-team parlay. Not impossible, but difficult. A nine-team parlay? Might as well play Powerball. Someone hit a 10-team parlay in Vegas last year that made the front page all the way here in Washington, it’s so rare. > > So, now, what? A 63-game parlay? Never gonna happen. Well, I don’t know if qnyone crunched the numbers, but I figured if someone was offering a BILLION dollars for a perfect bracket that, yeah… It’s never going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/67 "2014-03-23T00:26:44Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Well, I don’t know if qnyone crunched the numbers, but I figured if someone was offering a BILLION dollars for a perfect bracket that, yeah… It’s never going to happen. I would like to know what percentage of brackets were trashed on that one game. In the next year or so we should look to see if Buffet makes a major contribution to Duke. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/68 "2014-03-23T00:57:24Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Wichita State? - the most disrespected number 1 seed and everyone’s favorite dog to kick? I think you mean “everyone but Bo, who put a hundred bucks on them Shockers to win the tournament”. ETA: My only money pick game started about 20 minutes ago. Go Crimson! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/69 "2014-03-23T01:07:08Z")
The Wisconsin-Oregon game is crazy. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/70 "2014-03-23T01:16:43Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > The Wisconsin-Oregon game is crazy. I’m hoping the Badgers rally like they did in their 1st game. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/71 "2014-03-23T01:31:13Z")
Go Flyers! Holy fuck GO FLYERS! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/72 "2014-03-23T01:41:30Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Go Flyers! Holy fuck GO FLYERS! Nice win for Dayton and my region of the country, especially in light of the fact that UC and OSU have already lost, IU didn’t make it and UK and U of L have flawed teams. Syracuse had played like shit for awhile now so this loss shouldn’t be all that surprising but I guess it is. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/73 "2014-03-23T02:35:05Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I’m hoping the Badgers rally like they did in their 1st game. > > Brian \ That was too close for comfort Brian ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/74 "2014-03-23T12:24:41Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > \ > That was too close for comfort > > Brian Yeah…(still pissed me off with the push on Jackson with.06 left) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/75 "2014-03-23T21:36:19Z")
Well Kentucky just fucked it all up for me. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/76 "2014-03-24T02:09:39Z")
I sure didn’t see that Kentucky victory coming. Wichita State seemed like just the kind of experienced, disciplined team that would carve up Calipari’s latest batch of one-and-dones. I’m glad to see that I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/77 "2014-03-27T05:25:02Z")
Man, I am fired up for tomorrow’s slate of games. I expect all of them to be close fought affairs with the possible exception of AZ-SDSU. AZ could win that one handily. The WI-Baylor game and especially the UCLA-Florida one could be all-timers. Florida has run through a weak SEC, but UCLA is on a roll and has a lineup that goes 6’5", 6’5", 6’9", 6’10", 6’10". Florida hasn’t seen anything like that before, especially when the 6’9" guy is a point guard. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/78 "2014-03-27T12:56:28Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Florida has run through a weak SEC, … I tend to agree that the SEC was weak this year, but note that their three teams in the tournament haven’t lost yet. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/79 "2014-03-30T23:31:39Z")
Go Wildcats! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045/80 "2014-03-30T23:38:51Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I tend to agree that the SEC was weak this year, but note that their three teams in the tournament haven’t lost yet. And two of them in the Final Four! A Kentucky v Florida championship game would be the best of all possible outcomes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-madness-thread/684045.md?page=5)