College Basketball Thread 2013-14

[FVBrewerFan]

We don't get Raff and Gus Johnson for the Milwaukee games, so that's dissapointing. Ian Eagle on TruTV. Really?

[pitchleague]

I didn't know Gus Johnson was back with CBS.

 

Ian Eagle is okay. I really like him for football. He's grown on me over the years.

[FVBrewerFan]

I didn't know Gus Johnson was back with CBS.

 

Ian Eagle is okay. I really like him for football. He's grown on me over the years.

 

 

My bad, Verne Lundquist is doing the games with Rafftery.

[Baldkin]

We don't get Raff and Gus Johnson for the Milwaukee games, so that's dissapointing. Ian Eagle on TruTV. Really?

 

Ian Eagle, calling a game for the Eagles.... can you say bias?

[LouisEly]

I'm concerned about Creighton; even though their defense is poor they are #1 in the nation in 3-pt FG% and that comes from taller players (McDermott, Wragge). I don't know that Kaminski can defend McDermott outside (well, few if any teams have anyone who can defend him inside and outside). Dekker/Hayes should be able to guard Wragge and hopefully are smart enough and coached well enough to know to stay no further than a foot from Wragge at all times. The Badgers have enough of a post presence in Kaminski/Hayes/Dekker to be able to get McD & Wragge on the bench with foul trouble.

[RockCoCougars]

I agree that Creighton is the biggest hurdle for the Badgers to get to the Final Four. It will all hinge on how much damage McDermott can do. He has the ability to single-handedly shoot down the Badgers (a la Stephen Curry a few years back) if he is on. If they can limit him, I like their chances. Arizona would be a slugfest, but if the Badgers could shoot at a decent clip, I think they'd be OK. That said, I'm not convinced that Arizona will even hit the Elite 8, and the Badgers match up pretty well against the other threats on that side of the bracket (I'd actually be more concerned with Oklahoma State as opposed to SDSU or Oklahoma).

[RobDeer 45]

I didn't know Gus Johnson was back with CBS.

 

Ian Eagle is okay. I really like him for football. He's grown on me over the years.

 

 

My bad, Verne Lundquist is doing the games with Rafftery.

 

Dangit man!!!!!!!!!!! You really got me excited. I started searching the inter-webs. Such a disappointment that he can't call these games. He was the best and took an exciting game from level 10 to level 100.

[fondybrewfan]

Ugh in my two big pools I ended up with Creighton in one and Oregon in the other. I love WI but I am really torn.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Decent run at the end of the half to take control of the game. Don't like it when you let these lower seeds hang around. Badgers need to come out at the start of the 2nd and keep the momentum.

[adamb100]

I dont think I've ever seen such a bigger blowout. Wisconsin has scored over double the points American has.

[fondybrewfan]

AMerican was u like 19-12 midway through the 1st half and scored like 16 points the rest of the game.

 

Ouch.

 

I am not all that impressed with Oregon right now; BYU just isn't that good

[wibadgers23]

Anybody know what time they'll play on Saturday?

[fondybrewfan]

Thanks for the choke job NC State. Blew a 16 point lead in 8 minutes because they choked at the line. That would have been a solid upset pick for me

[adamb100]

Game is close for what should be a blowout.

[fondybrewfan]

I went to bed thinking SDSU was cruising against New Mexico St only to find out they blew it and survived in OT. That would have been disastrous for my bracket. A lot of teams really struggled down the stretch, SDSU, Texas, NC State, Etc. There were a lot of nerves out there yesterday but their were a ton of great games. Well except for UW which looked better than anyone out there.

 

Need Wichita St, GW, and Nebraska today.

[TooLiveBrew]

What an amazing first day of the tourney! 4 OT games, for the first time that's happened on one day of the dance! I definitely stayed up too late watching last night, but I couldn't switch it off. The Texas winner was incredible!

[Funketown]

No shocking upsets, but really a fun day of basketball. I finally went to bed around 12 ET a few minutes into the second half of the UL game because my iPad's NCAA app stopped streaming for me. My primary thoughts...

 

- NC State lost that game in a way you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Just brutal. St. Louis was a pretty weak #5 seed (Kenpom #30 or so), so I thought TJ Warren might pull that game out. Amazingly, St. Louis was worse from the FT line than State (54% vs. 42%).

 

- Pittsburgh can beat Florida. They've given lots of good teams fits (UVA x2, Syracuse x2, UNC x2, Cincinnati) even when they haven't one. If I'm a Florida fan, I'm more worried about losing to Pittsburgh than losing to either UCLA or VCU.

 

- Sim Bhullar (7'5", 350 Sophomore for NMSU) is really amazing to watch. He makes a 6'10" center look tiny. Best yet, his brother Tanveer (little guy at 7'3" 335) is a redshirt Freshman. I need to remember to watch some NMSU action on ESPN3 next year when they're both on the court.

 

- Tennessee vs. UMass might be the most lopsided 11 vs. 6 I've ever seen in favor of the 11.

[pitchleague]

I don't know about anybody else, but as I'm watching that New Mexico St.-San Diego St. game all I can think of is Doug Gottlieb (the color commentator.)

 

I couldn't decide if he sounded more like Craig Sager on helium or Quagmire from Family Guy. I seriously was waiting for a, "Diggity, Diggity!" to come out of his mouth sometimes.

[bani1717]

I went to my first NCAA tournament game yesterday to see the Badgers crush American. It was undoubtedly the most intense game I've ever seen in person for a 40-point blowout. Early in the game, most of the arena was pretty quiet while the small section of American fans made most of the noise (especially after American stormed back from an 8-2 deficit to go up 17-10). After that, obviously the Badgers came back and went on something like a 50-9 run thanks to starting to hit some shots and American cooling off significantly. It is really amazing how often the little guys in the tournament hang around early on due to good shooting and/or the extra adrenaline of playing on that stage for the first time, only to eventually have it wear off and lose by a big margin.

 

I wish I could have stayed for more games but unfortunately I had to get back to work... but following the games for the rest of the day was pretty good too. I was just so excited about having seen the Badger game and knowing I'd get to see them again on Saturday that I couldn't go to bed, so like others, I stayed up too late watching. Those OT games really delayed things quite a bit. It's weird to think that the Louisville game didn't end until around 1:00am local time in Orlando. I stayed up to see New Mexico State send their game into OT but went to bed at that point (~12:15 CDT or so). I was also trying to stay up until the game times for Saturday were announced. They weren't set yet when I went to bed, but they were set when I checked this morning around 6:30 so they must have set them real late last night or real early this morning. All in all a fun day. Looking forward to this weekend when work won't get in the way of watching games.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

So, let me say that I think Mercer is really good. They beat Florida Gulf Coast (and should have beaten them last year--playing on their home floor in their tourney championship). They've got three big guys who can score inside and defend, and Langston Hall is a stud. I thought about picking them.

 

But Duke was playing in Raleigh. With, by far, the two best players on the floor. This is why the tournament is so awesome. Even when you have a GREAT mid-major like Mercer, it's hard to see them being able to play well enough to beat a team as good as Duke. And they did. They played perfectly. In fact, they were better. Duke looked like the mid, relying as much as they did on the three.

 

What a fun game to watch. Screw the brackets, right? You just don't have nearly as much fun rooting for yourself. Give me chaos and a wasted 10 bucks any day.

[Funketown]

Kenpom has Mercer like a mid-tier ACC team, they're pretty solid. Not that I'm defending dook. But Mercer and NCCU both looked like they could win a game in the tourney.

 

K has now lost to a 14 and a 15 in the past three years.

[bjkrautk]

Buzz Williams to VA Tech, according to CBS Sports.

[PeaveyFury]

Very Bielema-esque move there.... Va Tech really isn't an upgrade except for conference.

[hawing]

Boy, that escalated quickly. See you, Buzz.

[TooLiveBrew]

Very Bielema-esque move there.... Va Tech really isn't an upgrade except for conference.

That was my first thought as well. Must be the $$$ & conference.