College Basketball Thread 2014-15

[fondybrewfan]

Go Ohio St I guess. They are going to get thrashed. I was really hoping Harvard was going to pull the upset of North Carolina. Pretty darn close. North Carolina's played pretty bad

[DuWayne Steurer]

I had Nova going down to NC St. in my bracket. They are just not a tourney team.

[homer]

I had Nova going down to NC St. in my bracket. They are just not a tourney team.

 

 

I don't believe you.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I had Nova going down to NC St. in my bracket. They are just not a tourney team.

 

 

I don't believe you.

 

 

You can not believe me, I had NC St in the sweet 16. To be fair, I also had Iow a St in the eleite 8

[young guns]

I had LSU beating nova in one of my brackets...does that count?

[DuWayne Steurer]

Badgers didn't look very good tonight, but they're moving on. Oregon really is a one-man team.

 

Bucky will need a better effort against UNC.

[superfly]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about UNC.

 

UNC-Arizona-Kentucky is one hell of a gauntlet...not sure if the farmers can withstand that one or not. Go Badgers

[DHonks]

Well, back after a tough opening weekend in Vegas. Vegas made a lot of money tues-fri on games. I believe only 4 of the 20 favorites covered their point spreads on Tuesday-thurs. but there weren't many upsets. Still a fun tourney so far. Congrats to Bucky fans. They're doing fine, although they'll have two tough games to win if they want a Final 4 berth.

[tmwiese55]

[sarcasm]Man I can't believe Villanova lost before the Sweet 16.[/sarcasm]

 

Yea if UW pulls this off no one will say they won't have earned it. UNC, AZ, Kentucky, Duke. Have to beat 3 of the 4 blue bloods of CBB, plus AZ. I'm content with a FF birth at this point.

[fondybrewfan]

Badgers really played like crap yesterday and still managed to get a W over a pretty solid, albeit flawed, Oregon team. They shot the 3 terribly and somehow let a much smaller Oregon team out-rebound them. Kaminsky specifically didn't play all that well. Glad to see Dekker step up and hit some big shots. Koenig was kind of off all late but also made some nice late drives.

 

UW will absolutely have to play better against UNC and they do scare me a little. That being said; UNC is not a great 3 point shooting team and they are also not a great defensive team. If UW controls the pace and doesn't let UNC get a lot of transition baskets I think UW will advance.

 

Arizona is looking pretty good right now; however they will have beaten a #15, #10, and #6 seed before possibly meeting up with UW. UW annihilated that OSU team Arizona let hang around for 30 minutes. If UW advances to the Elite 8 that will be another epic matchup.

[tmwiese55]

I wonder if the lack of depth led to the poor shooting yesterday. Gasser/Bronson basically have to play all 38-40 mins so the quick turnaround on one day off could come back to bite us vs AZ if we manage to get by UNC. On the plus side, if we get through next week they'll have a full week off to prepare for Kentucky.

[FVBrewerFan]

Nah, I don't think the Badger players are gassed. These guys are used to playing a ton of ball in one weekend from back in their AAU days, not to mention Bo/s practices aren't exactly a walk in the park. Plus, the Tourney adds a lot more commercial breaks, and they're longer breaks. So plenty of down time.

 

I'm sort of glad they beat Oregon with Kaminsky having a bad game. Get that out of the way, save the best for NC and beyond. Oh...and hope AZ or KY somehow get upset. We can dream.

 

As for the rest of the tourney, yea I picked NC State over Nova. Also picked Mich St over Virginia, have the Izzos going to the Final 4. Not gloating though, because most of my other upset picks didn't go so well.

[fondybrewfan]

I really hope Jackson can play this week and maybe give 10-15 minutes off the bench. UW could use another good ball handler against UNC and it would allow Bo to spread out the minutes a bit more. I don't remember Brown ever getting in the game yesterday; I would have liked to see Bo steal him 2-3 minutes in each half to give Kaminsky a break. UNC plays fast too; Kaminsky just shouldn't be playing 38 minutes a game.

[tmwiese55]

It's not really about being out of breath tired. With so many deadballs it's almost impossible to get that gassed. More about your legs being a little worn down and then your shot is just slightly off. It's why they make such a big deal out of playing back to backs in the nba.

 

I would assume Kentucky to press us a bit due to their depth and our lack of depth, especially at guard. Would really be nice to have Tre for that game.

[superfly]

As for the rest of the tourney, yea I picked NC State over Nova. Also picked Mich St over Virginia, have the Izzos going to the Final 4. Not gloating though, because most of my other upset picks didn't go so well.

 

All of the Izzos, the Xaviers, the Butlers and the San Diego States. Automatic wins in the tourney every single year.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm sitting at 10 of 16 right in the Sweet16. Plus I still have 3 of 4 possible for the Final4 and both teams in the Final game alive (Wisconsin vs. Gonzaga).

 

A long shot, but who knows.

[bjkrautk]

I'm sitting at 10 of 16 right in the Sweet16. Plus I still have 3 of 4 possible for the Final4 and both teams in the Final game alive (Wisconsin vs. Gonzaga).

 

A long shot, but who knows.

 

Also sitting at 10/16, with all of my Final 4 still alive (UW, UK, MSU, Duke).

 

Still sitting fairly well in the Brewerfan.net pool, if Kentucky runs the table. (Wanted to pick Wisconsin, but the UNC/Arizona/UK gauntlet makes it tough for me to believe they will be able to run the table. Surprised by how few people went with the preemptive favorite this time around.)

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'm at 13/16 in my Sweet 16. My final 4 (UW, Kentucky, Duke, Louisville) is still standing. It was a good year to not pick a lot of upsets. The only big slips I had were picking Iowa St and Baylor to the Elite 8. Both are still correctable mistakes though. :D

[Funketown]

I think Wisconsin is a really, really bad match-up for UNC given their poor jump-shooting. They get a very large proportion of their offense on high-risk, high-reward passes (they rank 1st in assists, 329th in turnovers, non pace-adjusted so take it with a grain of salt) and also use Kennedy Meeks for long outlet passes after defensive rebounds. Meeks is doubtful for the game, and UNC's backup center Joel James is much-improved from last year, but foul-prone.

 

UNC may need Justin Jackson to provide a few threes in addition to Marcus Paige in order to win the game. Their team 3P% is bad, but they've been much better as of late as their three freshman have finally gotten healthy (Berry & Pinson) or found their stroke (Jackson). Marcus Paige has also only been healthy-ish since the most recent Duke game, and since that game he's 22/50 from beyond the arc and averaging 17.8 PPG and 5.1 APG.

[fondybrewfan]

I have only 9 of my sweet 16 left primarily because I got the entire east region wrong. Villanova, Virginia, Providence, and Northern Iowa. Ouch.

 

With Meeks probably being out the Badgers should be favored in this game. UNC does have a ton of athletic ability and have been playing pretty good of late; it certainly won't be easy. UW should be able to score and since UW doesn't allow a ton of transition points since they don't turn it over I feel pretty good. I wouldn't be shocked if UNC won though. Badgers clearly have the toughest road of anyone to the championship. They likely need to beat perennial powers UNC, Arizona, and Kentucky just to make the final. IF UW somehow wins this thing they sure has heck earned it.

 

I won't be disappointed if they don't win the whole thing; but I really want them to get a crack at Kentucky.

[FVBrewerFan]

7/8 and all my Final Four teams- UK, Arizona, Mich St, Duke. Didn't get tricky picking the champs, went with UK. Didn't do so well in early rounds, but IF I hit the end of the tourney I should be in great shape. Obviously Mich St would help a ton since I'm sure very few picked them. (Yes, got a lot of heat in my family for not picking Wisc to even go to the Final 4, much less win it.)

[CheezWizHed]

I predicted 'Novas ousting, but had Virginia going. Mich St. surprised me there. But that also shows well for the Big10 that Mich St. has done so well. And gives me hope that Wi is legit competition for Kentucky.

 

I missed the BF.net competition, but I have a firm hold on my family competition (wife and 4 kids 12 and under). So I've got that going for me...

 

But winner gets to chose a dessert. What do you guys get for winning?

 

Edit - Just found the thread: The winner this year will receive a 1988 Topps Joey Meyer rookie card.*

 

Ironically, I think I have one of those!

[DHonks]

still rooting for Wichita State and Utah to keep advancing. These two--despite being in the Top 10 for much of the year--haven't gotten any love this tourney.

[lcbj68c]

I live 5 mins from the U of U Campus. They got tons of love in the West USA until they completely crapped the bed in February and March. That said, in my mind, they have a 1% shot of beating Duke.

[DuWayne Steurer]

still rooting for Wichita State and Utah to keep advancing. These two--despite being in the Top 10 for much of the year--haven't gotten any love this tourney.

 

To be completely honest, I think the selection committee gave them the 7 seed as a gift. "Kansas keeps ducking you? Alright. Win your first round game, and you guys get them in round 2."

 

Wichita St is, in essence, the 2 seed now.