March Madness 2021

[RobDeer 45]

Tournament thread for 2021. Let's start with who you got in the final four. I haven't started mine yet but will get on it tonight. I'd imagine I'll have Illinois, the've really impressed me this year.

[pacopete4]

Illinois - Gonzaga - Texas - Ohio St

[DR28]

Gonzaga

Michigan

Baylor

Houston

 

I have Gonzaga being perfect, giving Mark Few his first national championship.

[nate82]

I have:

 

Baylor, Houston, Gonzaga and Michigan. With Gonzaga beating Houston.

[MrTPlush]

Illinois / Gonzaga / Alabama / Arkansas

 

That south bracket is a tough one. Not a fan of Baylor in this tourney at all and both the high Big Ten seeds in that bracket don't scream tourney run in my opinion. So with that I picked Arkansas because I didn't want to pick a 5 seed or worse...I honestly know nothing about the Arkansas basketball team.

 

Gonzaga has a really generous road. 2 of the top seeds in their bracket have COVID concerns.

 

I really like Illinois, but their road to the final four is pretty rough. Once they get to the Sweet 16 they will have some real good teams to go against, potentially of course.

 

Michigan is a good squad, I just think someone topples them and that is probably Alabama. Texas is a darkhorse, but I am not much of a Shaka Smart fan.

[PinaMadness]

Baylor, Gonzaga, Michigan and Houston. Baylor beats Gonzaga in the championship. I've got alot of chalk this year so this will not go well for me. But maybe in a strange year like this, it's really what we should expect.

[patrickgpe]

Illinois - Gonzaga - Texas - Ohio St

i have the same 4 / gonzaga beating illinois for the title

[patrickgpe]

Illinois - Gonzaga - Texas - Ohio St

i have the same 4 / gonzaga beating illinois for the title

[bjkrautk]

Illinois over Gonzaga, plus Ohio State & Alabama

[CheeseheadInQC]

I’ve got Gonzaga, Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan, with Gonzaga winning it all. I don’t like going with Michigan, but I am not buying the SEC this year and Texas’ Big 12 Tourney win felt more like a matter of circumstance than an indicator of future success. I would be tempted to take Illinois to win it all, but that path is just brutal.

[homer]

I picked Illinois over Gonzaga. I haven't watched any college hoops this year. Had no idea Houston was good until I checked out KenPom rankings.

[MrTPlush]

Any Badgers fan put Wisconsin into the Sweet 16 or better not totally based on homerism? I had them (not a badgers fan) in my Sweet 16 and losing to Purdue, but at the end of the day I could not stomach the potential they lose their first game. Now I have them losing in the 2nd round. I still think the Badgers could end up going deep. They certainly have to ability to have a good game against a Baylor team that just isn't what it was earlier in the season. Of course they have to get to that game, but I think they could win it. If they can win that game they are either playing a cinderella team (that often lose in the Sweet 16), a Big Ten team they can beat, or a Villanova team that lost one of their top players earlier in the month. I wouldn't be that shocked if they can make the Sweet 16 or even Elite 8...however, not winning a single game seems like a really high outcome for the Badgers too.

 

I have my team (Kansas) losing in the second round to USC. I am actually surprised on yahoo people are picking Kansas at about 75% rate for that match-up. Kansas is hurting down low from COVID issues and USC is a massive team down low, maybe one of the best in the country. Seems like it should be a popular upset pick for people having it in their bracket.

[nodakfan17]

Virginia - Illinois - Michigan - Baylor

 

I’ve picked Virginia to win the whole thing for the last several years (big Tony Bennett fan). When they finally won in 2019, I came in 4th in my large work pool and missed out on the big money. After having a good-looking bracket and still missing out on the big prize, I thought I’d do something different this time around and pick a dark horse. The rest of my bracket is pretty chalky. Go Cavs!

[owbc]

Gonzaga - Alabama - Purdue - Illinois

 

Mostly just random guessing. I figure Baylor will go down, I have Wisconsin beating them but I have zero confidence in that actually happening. Maybe Purdue will be the ones to do it? Hoping for some Big Ten vs. Big Ten matchups in the Elite 8 or Final Four. That would be fun. Give me OSU-Purdue in the South.

[adambr2]

Colgate/Arkansas 3 vs 14 upset watch.

[MrTPlush]

Colgate/Arkansas 3 vs 14 upset watch.

 

Up 33 to 19 and managed to not only blow the lead in 5 minutes, but go into the half down by 3.

 

Exactly what you cannot do if you want to pull off a big upset.

[adambr2]

Colgate/Arkansas 3 vs 14 upset watch.

 

Up 33 to 19 and managed to not only blow the lead in 5 minutes, but go into the half down by 3.

 

Exactly what you cannot do if you want to pull off a big upset.

 

Yep. So much for that.

 

Oral Roberts/Ohio State is getting interesting.

[PinaMadness]

Bracket buster!

[homer]

Oral Bob!

[DuWayne Steurer]

Welp. There goes a bunch of brackets

[homer]

Looking forward to the Illinois/Loyola Chicago game. Loyola is a very tough 8 seed.

[trwi7]

[PeaveyFury]

Losing in the first round to a CUSA team that has never won a tourney game when you basically have home court advantage the entire tournament is the most Purdue thing ever.

[bjkrautk]

Losing in the first round to a CUSA team that has never won a tourney game when you basically have home court advantage the entire tournament is the most Purdue thing ever.

 

Looking at the box score, Purdue’s 7-4 Center was held scoreless...having seen him as basically unstoppable against the Badgers, that leaves me scratching my head.

[wildcat83]

Rough first day for the Big 10.