The all time worst CBS broadcasting happened here. In the closing 30 seconds of the George Mason-UNC game we’re stuck watching the empty court of the UConn-Kentucky game during a TV timeout. Mind you, this is while UConn is up 11 with about 10 minutes to go.
Think about that, a wide angle shot of an empty floor for 3 minutes, while one of the big, cinderella upsets is about to take place. We entirely miss the big UNC 3s to make it close and we miss the end of the game. Not once did they cut away from UConn-UK, period, not once, in Chicago. Even during TV timeouts, when even a commercial would be more interesting, we are stuck staring at the UConn game.
Fuck CBS. Can we move into the goddamn 21st century and play games on the dozen other channels you own.
My other favorite thing, when watching the ditect TV package at the bar, they’d frequently cut away from the scheduled broadcast to another game, meaning that of the 4 feeds, with 4 games playing, you’d still be stuck watching the same crappy game…only this time all the feeds are out of sync by about 8 seconds.
Stellar job all the way around by CBS…again. :rolleyes:
You know, I had UNC going out in the second round and changed my pick. Of course, I guess it would’ve been a wash since I had MSU beating them. So I’ll just be glad they’re gone.
This, boys and girls, is why I have taken to watching the game with the audio turned down and my radio on, so I can listen to Tom Leach and Mike Pratt rather than Dickie V, Billy Fuc…I mean Packer or even former Wildcat Larry Conley.
Kid_A, why the UK/Sparks hatred? Michigan State alum?
Just a Duke fan who simply hates Kentucky in return for the consistent words of hatred they’ve spewed towards Duke in the past 15 years or so.
No Big Ten teams in the Sweet 16. It’s surprising to me especially since I had three of them in my bracket. Michigan State, Illinois and Ohio State. But aside from that, I only lost one other team. Assuming 'Nova holds on, of course.
He’s too streaky. I’ve watched him play long enough to figure it out:
Once he hits a 3, he thinks he can hit them all. He’ll can 3 or 4, but as soon as he misses one he thinks he’ll miss them all. Plus, his range is really somewhere between the college and NBA lines (excepting those times he pulls up with a 30-footer and drains it.)
Plus, he’s entirely dependent on his teammates getting him the ball off screens to get shots, because he doesn’t have the strength or speed to get his own shots, and completely disappears any time the opposition puts someone taller on him. His defense is a little shaky too.
Sparky was one hell of a sniper when he was hot, and we’ll certainly miss him, but I just don’t see him playing at the next level. Rondo and Morris will play at the next level, and Ramel Bradley has the tools to be an NBA guard, but Sparks is just going to be another great Kentucky college guard.
That still sounds like a specialist to me if he’s got the game. A guy like Kerr doesn’t need to be able to create his own shot and being streaky can be a plus - all the team wants is for him to get hot. That said, I don’t know if Sparks is the right guy, and with so many larger players shooting the three these days I’m not sure how much demand there is for a player like that.
I was checking another one of my pools. And there was one guy in it who knew absolutely nothing about basketball and naturally, we were all fearful of his random picks. Well, it turns out he has exactly one team left alive in his bracket, Duke. And he has them going out in the Sweet Sixteen. So he’s done. After the first weekend of the tournament, he can’t get any more points.
So for every person who wins the pool based on picking the better state flower, there’s the other side of the coin with the guy who’s in the 0.4 percentile.
The principal problem, streaky or not, is that he’s not actually that good of a shooter – 37-38% from three in college isn’t normally what you’d want to see if you’re looking for a pure marksman at the NBA level. Steve Kerr was a career 45%-plus from the NBA three, and probably well above 50% in college. Of course, Steve Kerr might very well be the greatest shooter in the history of basketball, so you obviously don’t have to be that good to fill a role, but there are plenty of guys out there who have better credentials as three point shooters than Sparks does, and most of them won’t catch on in the NBA unless they have something else to offer.
On the other hand, though, Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry is a career 34% from the NBA 3 and shot 37% in college at Alabama, so there is a precedent for a guy who shoots less than 40% from 3 in the SEC finding success in the NBA. Then again, Robert Horry is also 6’9".
I still don’t think he’ll even get a look, though.
I think it has something to do with their conference (CUSA). Call it ‘Billy Packer syndrome,’ but I think coming from a conference labelled as “mid-major” has something to do with it. Forget that Memphis has alrready beat some of the top seeds in the Tournament this year, including the #2 and 3 seed in their own region, have a number of future pros on their team, or are 32-3 – it doesn’t seem to register since they play in a mid-major conference. Memphis absolutely confused and used a Bucknell team that beat a pretty good Arkansas team in frount of about 15,000 Arkansas fans in Dallas. Not only couldn’t Bucknell run their offense against Memphis, there was balanced and controlled play on Memphis’ part. Right now, I think Memphis is the second best team in the Tournament.
Damn, that LSU defence impressed the pants off me. Which was really impressive since I hadn’t put pants on since the Fantasy Baseball draft last night.
Now that my bracket is busted, I’ve got to pull for West Virginia and Gonzaga. Two teams I originally picked against.
Yikes-a-Daisy! LSU beat Duke…they must have some powerful Hurricane Mojo going on. UNC fan here, with Louisiana ties, so; YeeHa!
I’ll now take the opportunity to recommend a fine new book on the Carolina-Duke rivalry by Will Blythe. Well-written, and worth a read by any basketball fans.
…and JJ Redick lives up to his “Peyton Manning of College Basketball” label–can’t win on the big stage (although he was instrumental in that ACC championship game).
To be fair, though, nobody outside of Shelden Williams produced–Josh McRoberts did for a stretch, but then disappeared. So all LSU had to do was concentrate on Redick. JJ helped out by bricking his shots.
[slight hijack]
So, where to now for Shelden and JJ? A lot of publications have them both going in the Top 20. I’m sure Redick will have a nice career as a Steve Kerr type–put him on the Cavs with LBJ, and watch out! Shelden Williams? Will probably be like Carlos Boozer. And what next for Duke? Right now it’s just Paulus and McRoberts. I see UNC lording it over the ACC next year…
[/end hijack]
I knew that I couldn’t trust Duke to make it to Indianapolis–they just went out one round early for me. Now, if only Texas would win, I might be able to recover from my delusional fantasy of Pitt making it to the finals…
What a finish for WVU-Texas… the Horns couldn’t hit a three-pointer all night and they get the big shot at the end. I wish the best of beatings on them from LSU (as does my bracket - LSU in the final would be heavenly in the SDMB pool, among others).
If tonight has taught us all one thing, it’s reinforced that if you’re going to the NBA, you can whack around smaller guys all you want and get the fouls called on them (doubly ironic since that’s why Texas beat WVU the first time this year). Let’s just hope that this holds form for Rudy Gay tomorrow night.
Also, Gonzaga not looking pathetic at all (with five to go). I can’t be too terribly hopeful for them against Memphis, but one would hope that if they pull this out they will have fully justified their seeding and quieted some of the doubters.
