2014 Men's NCAA Tournament & Post-season Discussion

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Originally Posted by CLW

wow what a shot. sorry but the opening days of the NCAA Tourny are by far the biggest and best sporting event in the U.S. (and that includes the super bowl)

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:nod: With all of the upsets and the great games, the first two days of the NCAA Tournament, when all 64 teams are still in action, are without a doubt by far the great sporting event in the US, with days 3 and 4 with the round of 32 games a close second. The rest of the NCAA tournament is great, but when you get past the first four days, the first two rounds, where all the upsets happen, all the great underdog David vs. Goliath games are played, then it just becomes a typical weekend of basketball. After that, it's just typical nights of watching the Louisvilles, the Kansas', the Kentuckys, the Floridas, the Michigan States, etc., of the college basketball world fighting each other for another NCAA title. If the underdogs can go on a run deep into the tournament (Butler, Wichita State, VCU, etc.), it's much better and keeps the later rounds exciting, but it still never has and never will compare to the first two rounds and first four days.

Didn't need another reason to dislike :Texas: However I now have one... heartbreaking loss for :Arizona_State:

Next year :Arizona_State2: nation.

Yeah, that was a "rip your heart out" loss. That's just rough.

And Louisville is in trouble right now. They're treading water with danger of going under against Manhattan.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjQDqI2CEAE9wNc.jpg:large

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Originally Posted by cdj

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjQDqI2CEAE9wNc.jpg:large

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That's why you don't duck in state schools. For YEARS now :Kentucky: has ducked :Murray_State: playing EVERY school in the state but the Racers. I look forward to the day when the committee puts the two together and the kitties go down.

:Duke: never bought in on defense (apparently believing they could just outscore everyone). Nope give up 78 to a SHITTY :Mercer: club and C-Ya.

They almost attempted more 3's than Mercer's FG attempts alone

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Originally Posted by skipwondah33

They almost attempted more 3's than Mercer's FG attempts alone

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Yep Mercer played ton of zone or almost "pac line" man. It's the way the game is played now. The shots were by and large good shots and they hit 41% of those shots. O and shots weren't the problem. Duke NEVER comitted to playing defense the ENTIRE season and they just let a borderline top 100 team put up probably 1.2 points per possession. The defense was PATHETIC as it was all year (ranked 116th in D by Kenpom).

However, the media will use the old cliche live by the bomb. That was NOT the story today. Duke's lack of defense was.

Thank you god, I had Tennessee beating Duke in the next round. I've had 6 swings and a miss so far in the first round, but not a single Sweet Sixteen team lost year.

Watching the highlights of the Mercer-Duke game, after Florida Gulf Coast last year and Mercer so far this year, I'm going to have to start giving the Atlantic Sun a lot more attention each year when I make out my bracket. That's two years now, with two different teams, that the Atlantic Sun has had huge wins and upsets.

Well, it's not much, but so far, Wichita State is the only #1 seed to have actually played like a #1 seed, leading Cal Poly 30-8 with 5 minutes left in the 1st half. This has turned into an utter ass whooping in a matter of minutes.

The poor officiating wasn't the (sole) reason Nebraska lost today, but it sure didn't help.

Karl Hess led the charge (known by ACC fans as the worst ref in the country) ended up issuing a statement after the game. Something like this is inexcusable in the NCAA Tournament, so hopefully he and his crew are done for this year.

Official Karl Hess, who ejected Nebraska coach Tim Miles Friday after Miles was trying to get the officials' attention because of a shot clock malfunction, said he and his crew were in error regarding the shot clock problem.

"Prior to the second technical foul call, there was a shot clock error that both the shot clock operator and officials did not notice," Hess said in the statement released by a pool reporter. "The error should have been noticed and could have been corrected."

Regarding Miles' ejection, Hess only referred to cited rule 10, section 3, article 2, items E and F, which states the automatic ejection of a coach after he receives his second technical foul.

There were no additional statements, or opportunities for follow-up questions.

Miles watched the final 11 minutes of Nebraska's 74-60 loss to Baylor from various places in the bowels of AT&T Center, including the Creighton locker room, because the TV in the Nebraska locker room was malfunctioning, just like the shot clock.

Miles said he was never offered an explanation or apology, and the bench official didn’t say anything, either, while he pleaded his case about the shot clock problem.

“I tried to find the shot clock guy, and I assume it was the guy that just dropped his head," Miles said. "I’m assuming it was him. He didn’t give much support, either.

“I was embarrassed. Personally, you just feel like you’ve let down your team. And then there’s just this, ‘You’re kidding me, is this real?’ It was just a tough moment.”



It seems like so many refs make anticipatory calls instead of waiting to see what actually happens. It's really hurting the game, IMO. There's too many games where there's 40-60+ combined FTA.

Thank you baby Jesus! North Carolina survives to beat Providence and my bracket survives for another game. Took some hits yesterday and today, but only on teams I had losing this weekend. I still have every Sweet Sixteen team alive for the moment.

Providence absolutely pissed it away. Tied 77-77 with three seconds left, UNC made the first free throw, missed the second, but Providence left the shooter completely unguarded and he was able to get his own rebound. Fouled again, with 1.8 seconds left, made the first free throw, missed the second again and while trying to get the rebound, the ball ended up going out of bounds off a Providence player with 0.7 seconds to go. Absolute total collapse by Providence, but I'll take it!

Kansas State has been assessed a technical during warm ups for dunking and grabbing the rim. Kentucky gets 2 FT before jump.

— Kevin Kugler (@kevinkugler) March 22, 2014

Are you shitting me? :fp:

You have got to be shitting me. They just showed the replay, he hung onto the rim for MAYBE a half a second, barely even noticeable outside of slow motion replay. That is the absolutely stupidest goddamn rule I have ever heard. :fp:

I hope that is a typo and he meant "Kentucky fan" or....

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Originally Posted by cdj

I hope that is a typo and he meant "Kentucky fan" or....

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:fp: The NCAA is really becoming goddamn ridiculous with all these stupid ass rules these days.

Goddamnit VCU, you stupid goddamn choking sumbitches!

Holy crap, Coastal Carolina leads Virginia 31-21 with 3:32 left in the first half. Still a LOT of game to go, but the 16 seed looking go so far! It would completely clusterfuck my bracket since I have Virginia making the Final Four, but to hell with it, come in #16 seed upset!!!

FUCK! Go fuck yourselves VCU, you goddamn worthless choking fucks!

Damn this is a crazy day! This is by far the worst opening two days I have ever had regarding my picks... :fp:

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Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes

:fp: The NCAA is really becoming goddamn ridiculous with all these stupid ass rules these days.

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The rule is that you cannot dunk in warmups inside the 20:00 mark. The offending KSU dunk came at 19:58. :fp: I've always known the rule existed, but am not sure I've seen it called before. Supposedly it is considered 'taunting.' :dunno:

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Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes

Holy crap, Coastal Carolina leads Virginia 31-21 with 3:32 left in the first half. Still a LOT of game to go, but the 16 seed looking go so far! It would completely clusterfuck my bracket since I have Virginia making the Final Four, but to hell with it, come in #16 seed upset!!!

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It seems like every year we get closer to a #16 winning. However, UVA has just went on a run to regain the lead. IMO, they are the weakest #1 seed this year and maybe in recent memory.

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

Damn this is a crazy day! This is by far the worst opening two days I have ever had regarding my picks... :fp:

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Yeah, my blow off of steam after VCU lost helped, but yeah, still pissed. :D I still have all but one of my Sweet Sixteen teams alive, but I'm sure that's going to go to hell this weekend. And I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in my Final Four picks of Florida, Arizona, Virginia and Louisville after these first two days.

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Originally Posted by cdj

The rule is that you cannot dunk in warmups inside the 20:00 mark. The offending KSU dunk came at 19:58. :fp: I've always known the rule existed, but am not sure I've seen it called before. Supposedly it is considered 'taunting.' :dunno:


It seems like every year we get closer to a #16 winning. However, UVA has just went on a run to regain the lead. IMO, they are the weakest #1 seed this year and maybe in recent memory.

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Taunting. :fp:

Still an incredible stupid rule that needs to be changed. The NCAA has so many stupid rules, trying to regulate everything they possibly can apparently.

Yeah, I'm not impressed by Virginia so far. Coastal Carolina is still hanging in there, only down three (and tied a moment ago) with 8 minutes left. They just need to settle down and take good shots and keep trading punches.

And it's over. :(

Virginia is 6-8 on three point shots in the second half and has now pushed their lead out to 13 points with just 3 minutes left. Coastal Carolina put up one hell of a fight, but just couldn't keep it together long enough to have a fighting shot at the end.

The wait continues for another year to see when the 16 seeds will finally shock the basketball world.

The ESPN app is reporting that 100% of the 11 million brackets are now officially broken!!!

Conclusions from the First Round (Sorry NCAA I will NEVER call it the 2nd round). :Wichita_State: looked the best and everyone else looked like [CENSORED]. OAD has ruined college basketball as the big guns are pretty much all young/inexperienced and then the mid-majors that make the dance have several solid senior/junior laden teams. The end result is absolute chaos. The media will spin it as "parity" but the reality is the top of college basketball has come down to the land of mediocrity. We will likely NEVER see a truly great college basketball team again. That is truly sad.

Come on Dayton you sons of bitches!!! I have Kansas beating Syracuse next round, and my Sweet Sixteen picks are no longer perfect thanks to VCU, so to hell with it, COME ON DAYTON!!!

Awesome video seeing Coach K going to the Mercer locker room and congratulating the team. Very classy move. We don't see enough of this in sports today.

Oh sweet Jesus, they pulled it out of their ass! Dayton is some lucky sons of bitches! Syracuse had SO MANY chances to put that one way, and Dayton tried so many times to piss it away, but in the end, Dayton is going to the Sweet Sixteen!

I realize they want to have the time on the clock correct, but damn this is destroying the flow of the Oregon-Wisconsin game. It's taken them over 3 minutes just to play 20 goddamn seconds of basketball, because they keep going to clock after practically every single play to check the clock and the correct time. Good lord.

Kansas loses early in the tourney again. Not surprised.

Great, now all the fucking idiots get to go on about Wichita State "being an overrated team that played in a horrible conference and thus the only reason they were undefeated". :fp: To which I say they can all go fuck themselves. Kentucky just had a couple breaks go their way more often than Wichita State did today.

:Kentucky: is normally a PISS POOR shooting team from 3 (32%). Today they shoot out of their minds from 3 45% and they still needed a few breaks and a non-flagrant call on an elbow to the face to win. Oh well looks like a :Louisville: :Florida: championship tilt now.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjbScNrIgAAGxz0.jpg:large

lmao how old is that kid 12?

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Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes;23rd27

Great, now all the fucking idiots get to go on about Wichita State "being an overrated team that played in a horrible conference and thus the only reason they were undefeated". :fp: To which I say they can all go fuck themselves. Kentucky just had a couple breaks go their way more often than Wichita State did today.

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I'd rather not go undefeated going into the tourney than to lose in 2nd round.

I knew they wouldn't likely go far even against a young inexperienced Kentucky team. Regardless of schedule or conference their team just didn't strike me as a team that could win the Championship against these other teams.

Almost won..but unfortunately almost only counts in hand grenades and horeshoes.

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Originally Posted by skipwondah33

I'd rather not go undefeated going into the tourney than to lose in 2nd round.

I knew they wouldn't likely go far even against a young inexperienced Kentucky team. Regardless of schedule or conference their team just didn't strike me as a team that could win the Championship against these other teams.

Almost won..but unfortunately almost only counts in hand grenades and horeshoes.

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No, they weren't going to win the championship. They could have gotten much further than the second round, but they would have lost at some point. However, it doesn't matter as anything short of them winning it all, everyone and their dog would be shitting all over their team and their season. All week long, "who have they played?" They played Tennessee, Tennessee is still playing. They beat Saint Louis, Saint Louis was still playing until yesterday afternoon. They beat Tulsa, Tulsa gave UCLA a hell of a time until the final couple minutes Friday night. They beat BYU, one of the top teams to not make the tournament. They beat some good teams.

They went undefeated in their conference, which is literally the top thing you can ask a team to do. They can't control how good or bad their conference schedule is. All they can do is play it and Wichita State came out on top in every conference game they played. Everyone stepped all over themselves to praise Florida for going undefeated in the SEC with many already wanting to just give Florida the national title before the game were even played, but yet they shit all over Wichita State for doing the exact same fucking thing in their own conference.

I'm just sick and tired of the total goddamn lack of respect that the mid-majors get, both in basketball and football. If you're not in a power conference, it's nothing but "well fuck you, you're not good enough, your conference sucks, you don't belong". It gets real fucking old after hearing it over and over and over week after week, year after year.

What a cluster to end UNC/ISU. Clock operator doesn't start the clock following ISU basket, so UNC player thinks he can cross midcourt and call timeout before the clock finally goes. After review, the game ends - which is probably the right call - but given the clock operator error, I thought for sure UNC would get at least 0.4 on the clock. The Heels should have either called timeout right after the Cyclone basket or just heaved the 35-footer. It was a disaster on all fronts. Given the site, I am assuming it was the same clock operator who screwed up in the Nebraska-Baylor game on Friday.

Smooth well according to their record they were the best team in the country.

With that in mind their region wasn't tough because every team should have been the underdog according to seeding and again their perfect record.

If they weren't look at as such then no one truly believe they were that good or that their record was anything that special.

Sure they had a "tough" bracket but Kentucky beating them wasn't an upset. Because Kentucky was expected to win based on talent blah blah.

So people either want them to get the respect they deserved for going undefeated and being recognized as the best team but then when they have to go up against a tough bracket think it's unfair to them? Statically they are better than all those teams or were they and just had the benefit of not really playing the quality of team they would face in said region.

Either way I knew they weren't beating Kentucky or winning the title. Especially considering Kentucky was coming in on what should have been an SEC title but fudged that up