2018 March Madness thread

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PeteRasche
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2018 March Madness thread

Post by PeteRasche »

Surprised no one has posted anything. How's da' bracket lookin'?

Hoping WSU and UC win today and make AAC 3 for 3 while "power" conferences like the PAC 12 are already done.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by gerryb323 »

Did not see Arizona doing that. Thought they would play with a chip after all that happened in the last month or so. I guess the PAC really did suck. I think Wichita State will have their hands full with Marshall today. Cincinnati should be fine, although it always seems to be a grind with them. Unfortunately I have Duke winning it all. I think it will be the winner of the Duke-MSU game, although Villanova looks good too. The whole left side of the bracket just looks terrible now that Virginia had the injury to their key guy off the bench. We'll see how the madness goes! Days like yesterday and today make me super happy I make my own schedule!
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

The Loyola-Chicago game was really exciting. Great shot at the end to win it for Loyola.

I agree with Pete, would be nice to see AAC squads make deep runs. Cincinnati and Wichita St. in the Final Four wouldn't hurt my feelings, though it's very unlikely to happen.

I still think USC got jobbed not getting into the tournament, but the PAC-12 was pretty bad. They are the first "Power" conference ever to fail to have a team advance past the round of 64.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by gerryb323 »

tulaneoutlaw wrote:The Loyola-Chicago game was really exciting. Great shot at the end to win it for Loyola.
That was amazing
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

gerryb323 wrote:
tulaneoutlaw wrote:The Loyola-Chicago game was really exciting. Great shot at the end to win it for Loyola.
That was amazing
Lol comic sans ftw
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by 1309th WAVE »

Marshall's been giving Wichita the business all day. 2 point lead for the Herd at the 10 minute mark in the 2nd half. We'll see how it plays out
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Cheerleader »

I have a nephew, who played for OU about 15 years ago. He and about 15 of his contemporary basketball buddies from all over go to Las Vegas every year for the first March Madness weekend. Each person puts up $500 and they bet all the underdogs on the first round. Every year, they win enough to pay for some of their weekend there. I don't know how it is coming out this year, but they say they never lose.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by GreenieBacker »

Oklahoma was everyone's "What the Heck!!???!" after they announced who got in. And even though they gave it the good fight, they got bounced in the First Round.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by GreenieBacker »

and Wichita State is sent home............
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Johnny4 »

I have a soft spot for Marshall, so i'm not too upset to see them win. I've made the drive over to Huntington several time to see Tulane baseketball (men's and women's) after UC and Louisville departed C-USA. I always had a good time and their fans were always very kind. Huntington is a nice little town. Really hope they get a chance to knock off West Virginia, but WV will have to get past Jonathan Stark first!
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by GreenieBacker »

Wichita State came into the AAC thinking they would waltz through the conference and then go deep in the tourney. A rude awakening awaited them instead.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Baywave1 »

Cheerleader wrote:I have a nephew, who played for OU about 15 years ago. He and about 15 of his contemporary basketball buddies from all over go to Las Vegas every year for the first March Madness weekend. Each person puts up $500 and they bet all the underdogs on the first round. Every year, they win enough to pay for some of their weekend there. I don't know how it is coming out this year, but they say they never lose.
Carry over from bracket betting perhaps? Folks pick mostly favorites there straight up and I guess some who don't bet much on basketball then do the same with game odds although now they are giving points and not just choosing the game winner.

In short, the favorites get over priced because of heavy betting by non-professionals and just going all dog all the time puts one in dog heaven. (Very bad pun but after watching the Shockers get the reality check, I couldn't help it.)
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by PeteRasche »

And history is made. UMBC not only takes down a #1, but utterly DESTROYS them.

UMBC 74, UVA 54!
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by sr »

PeteRasche wrote:And history is made. UMBC not only takes down a #1, but utterly DESTROYS them.

UMBC 74, UVA 54!
A 16 takes down a 1 - got to love it. Destroys is the right word.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by doncecco »

And I had UVA....... :thumbdown:
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by PeteRasche »

doncecco wrote:And I had UVA....... :thumbdown:
Me too. But I threw together a bracket for fun right before the deadline and don't have any money in it, so I'm not too sad. :mrgreen:
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

Kind of wish it had happened to a blue blood that wins all the time like Duke or UNC or Kentucky. Virginia had a good season and I would not have minded seeing them win it all.

But dang did UMBC come to play. I watched them beat Vermont in their conference tourney final and they looked nowhere near as good as last night. It took a last second buzzer beater to win that game and I thought, "some bigger school just got an easy draw". Boy was I wrong. Great game by those guys and now they will go down in sports history.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by gerryb323 »

tulaneoutlaw wrote:Kind of wish it had happened to a blue blood that wins all the time like Duke or UNC or Kentucky. Virginia had a good season and I would not have minded seeing them win it all.
Sure, but none of them were a 1 this year. Would have had to been Kansas, which people actually said got a tough draw with Penn
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by PeteRasche »

tulaneoutlaw wrote:Kind of wish it had happened to a blue blood that wins all the time like Duke or UNC or Kentucky. Virginia had a good season and I would not have minded seeing them win it all.

But dang did UMBC come to play. I watched them beat Vermont in their conference tourney final and they looked nowhere near as good as last night. It took a last second buzzer beater to win that game and I thought, "some bigger school just got an easy draw". Boy was I wrong. Great game by those guys and now they will go down in sports history.
I haven't looked up stats, but did umbc miss in the last 4 minutes or so? They missed the free throws after the intentional foul, but did they miss a field goal? I don't recall any misses at all.

I saw an article this morning which astutely pointed out something I hadn't thought of: this changes everything from here forward with respect to picking brackets. Every year, about 99.9% of brackets pick all four number ones without giving it a thought. And it was always right. Like, a guaranteed four points. But from here forward, everyone will have to at least give it a thought. It might not happen again for 20 years but everyone will at least have to consider it.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by doncecco »

Now, in a year they are subpar, KY doesn't face a top 8 seed until at least the E-8!
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Baywave1 »

Well I guess a Cincy-KY matchup in that bracket would make certain Midwest hearts beat faster.

Good for AAC. Let's see if Cincy takes advantage of it.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Baywave1 »

sr wrote:
PeteRasche wrote:And history is made. UMBC not only takes down a #1, but utterly DESTROYS them.

UMBC 74, UVA 54!
A 16 takes down a 1 - got to love it. Destroys is the right word.
From Tuesday's WSJ. May qualify for most prescient award.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-no-1-v ... ge=1&pos=2

May be behind a paywall but headline says it all:

"Why No. 1 Virginia’s Plodding Pace Makes It Ripe for an Upset
The Cavaliers may be the best team in the country. But the fewer the possessions in a game means the fewer chances a good team has to separate itself."

So for those who asked in another thread: Possessions matter to make freak or random results less likely. It's science!
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by Baywave1 »

PeteRasche wrote:
doncecco wrote:And I had UVA....... :thumbdown:
Me too. But I threw together a bracket for fun right before the deadline and don't have any money in it, so I'm not too sad. :mrgreen:
Ah but Arizona was there for the taking. Just ask Skip Bayless!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk ... spartanntp

BTW, I wouldn't have done any better and probably alot worse. Just disappointed about the Shockers. Conference solidarity and all that.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

There were even several articles about a 16 beating a 1 this year, but they all focused on Penn over Villanova. Penn was really underseeded at 16. Their metrics were more like a 15 or 14. Meanwhile, UMBC was considered one of the weaker 16s in the last few years. They way they played, they sure didn't look like a 16 seed. I think they'll be hard pressed to replicate that effort. They won't sneak up on anybody now. But it was still a great performance.
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Re: 2018 March Madness thread

Post by PeteRasche »

Baywave1 wrote:BTW, I wouldn't have done any better and probably alot worse. Just disappointed about the Shockers. Conference solidarity and all that.
I actually managed to get all four in the bottom half of the south bracket (including Loyola Chicago over Miami), but missed all four in the top half! Seriously, it's 16/9 & 5/13. Who picked that? (answer: no one, out of tens of millions, in any of the major online pools)
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