March Madness Thread

[Almond2Oak]

Yeah, Illinois for me was easily the worst...blew like a 10 pt lead in the last 4 minutes. I remember Santa Clara well. Steve Nash was on that team. Shot 14% though in that game.

The Wisconsin losses sucked hard too since they were so close..and in b2b years. Buffalo almost wasn't that bad because it was never that close. It was a horrible loss but it wasn't like a gut punch or heart wrenching squirm in your seat type of loss. This team this doesn't have any big name players on it either.

I had them losing in the 2nd round of my bracket so at least I didn't have them going very far.

Illinois took 5 years off my life. We lived thru that, nothing could be worse

They were the #1 team in the country all year too and I think had only 1 loss...much like Kansas in 97. They also had Deron Williams. Amazing to think he was drafted the same year as Chris Paul...seems like he's been done for nearly a decade.

Would’ve been interesting to see that team with Self as it’s HC… glad it never happened but Self had that team straight gold for Weber, then he stole Sherron a few years later.

[Duke4life831]

One hell of a defensive showing by Duke’s big men.

Flip: 4 steals and 9 boards
Lively: 6 blocks and 12 boards

When you get that kind of performance from your twin towers, not shocking they just shut down one of the best offenses in college ball.

[azcatz11]

One hell of a defensive showing by Duke’s big men.

Flip: 4 steals and 9 boards
Lively: 6 blocks and 12 boards

When you get that kind of performance from your twin towers, not shocking they just shut down one of the best offenses in college ball.

Very impressive. Proctor is low key a stud. I had OR with the points…

[Duke4life831]

One hell of a defensive showing by Duke’s big men.

Flip: 4 steals and 9 boards
Lively: 6 blocks and 12 boards

When you get that kind of performance from your twin towers, not shocking they just shut down one of the best offenses in college ball.

Very impressive. Proctor is low key a stud. I had OR with the points…

Proctor has turned himself into a flat out star on the defensive end throughout the year (fantastic on that end again tonight). And you can see the easy offensive potential with him as well. Not super quick, but has a fantastic tight handle, never gets sped up and his jumper is finally slowly eating to come around.

[azcatz11]

One hell of a defensive showing by Duke’s big men.

Flip: 4 steals and 9 boards
Lively: 6 blocks and 12 boards

When you get that kind of performance from your twin towers, not shocking they just shut down one of the best offenses in college ball.

Very impressive. Proctor is low key a stud. I had OR with the points…

Proctor has turned himself into a flat out star on the defensive end throughout the year (fantastic on that end again tonight). And you can see the easy offensive potential with him as well. Not super quick, but has a fantastic tight handle, never gets sped up and his jumper is finally slowly eating to come around.

I’m adopting Houston as my squad the rest of the tourney

[Nate505]

Very impressive. Proctor is low key a stud. I had OR with the points…

Proctor has turned himself into a flat out star on the defensive end throughout the year (fantastic on that end again tonight). And you can see the easy offensive potential with him as well. Not super quick, but has a fantastic tight handle, never gets sped up and his jumper is finally slowly eating to come around.

I’m adopting Houston as my squad the rest of the tourney

On the other hand, if N. Kentucky knocks them out, nobody will be talking about Arizona tonight!

[Dan33185]

Very impressive. Proctor is low key a stud. I had OR with the points…

Proctor has turned himself into a flat out star on the defensive end throughout the year (fantastic on that end again tonight). And you can see the easy offensive potential with him as well. Not super quick, but has a fantastic tight handle, never gets sped up and his jumper is finally slowly eating to come around.

I’m adopting Houston as my squad the rest of the tourney

You might just be a bad luck charm

[HMFFL]

I would like to see Houston lose tonight.
I personally don't care to hear about Mattress Mack's $4.05 million dollar wager he has on Houston to win. The media will run with the content and give him more TV time than he needs to have.

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[knicksfan974]

Didn't see the game but projected #2 pick Brandon Miller in his first tournament game: zero points on 0-5 shooting.

[ReddoverKobe]

My arizona pick to the finals not looking good.

[azcatz11]

Didn't see the game but projected #2 pick Brandon Miller in his first tournament game: zero points on 0-5 shooting.

Means absolutely nothing

[IllMagic04]

Marquette, Baylor, Kansas, Texas is my final 4.

I actually had Furman over VA. I also had Louisiana over Tennessee so I missed there. Nobody had Arizona out in the first round. Thats the beauty of March Madness. Is there any real debate about March Madness vs the NBA Playoffs? I love the NBA but its not even close. In fact March Madness is better then all postseasons period

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[ejftw]

UCSB pulling the upset tonight baby! Big West represent! I have ASU, Drake and Pitt pulling upsets today. USC and UCLA will also get the wins, helping the Pac-12, in one of its final years, get on the win board.

Really though, can't believe the fashion in which Arizona lost, that was just flat out bad. Not very shocked at Virginia losing, took them due to Kihei Clark, and having seen him grow since HS, but man, they had a time out left.

[hippesthippo]

I’m posting this here since no one posts on the NCAA board.

Who is in your final 4? This has the potential to be an epic tournament

I just came here to add this after I couldn't get it to take off in the NCAA section.

I brought pics, was going to use them in a new thread, but seeing as you beat me here, by a lot, feel free to use them to update the OP with a Day 1 Recap or just link to the post.

BRIEF DAY 1 RECAP (March 16, 2023)

"March Madness has begun! On the tournament's opening day, only four out of 32 teams lost to lower-seeded foes but two of them were big: No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 4 seed Virginia both went down, busting millions of brackets."





DAY 2 PREVIEW (March 17, 2023):

All times Eastern

No. 10 USC vs. No. 7 Michigan State | 12:15 p.m. | CBS

No. 14 Kennesaw St. vs. No. 3 Xavier | 12:40 p.m. | truTV

No. 14 UC Santa Barbra vs. No. 3 Baylor | 1:30 p.m. | TNT

No. 12 VCU vs. No. 5 Saint Mary's | 2 p.m. | TBS

No. 15 Vermont vs. No. 2 Marquette | 2:45 p.m. | CBS

No. 11 Pitt vs. No. 6 Iowa State | 3:10 p.m. | truTV

No. 11 NC State vs. No. 6 Creighton| 4 p.m. | TNT

No. 13 Iona vs. No. 4 UConn | 4:30 p.m. | TBS

No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 1 Purdue | 6:50 p.m. | TNT

No. 11 Providence vs. No. 6 Kentucky | 7:10 p.m. | CBS

No. 12 Drake vs. No. 5 Miami | 7:25 p.m. | TBS

No. 14 Grand Canyon vs. No. 3 Gonzaga | 7:35 p.m. | truTV

No. 9 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 8 Memphis | 9:20 p.m.| TNT

No. 14 Montana St. vs. No. 3 Kansas St. | 9:40 p.m. | CBS

No. 13 Kent State vs. No. 4 Indiana | 9:55 p.m. | TBS

No. 11 Arizona St. vs. No. 6 TCU | 10:05 p.m. | truTV

Note: All unattributed quotes were found here: here. I'm lazy sometimes.

[hippesthippo]

I caught a few good games yesterday. Maryland beating West Virginia in the comeback win made me a nice stack. [Enough to cover the other losses and keep playing today hahahaha].

I caught a bit of Virginia getting knocked out. Good riddance, I say. I'm not a fan of their play and State won't have to face them if they make it to the final 4.

I watched the Bama game to get a look at prospects. Brandon Miller was... well, I'll just call it a DNP for scouting purposes.
They did have some lengthy dude --I think his name was Pringle-- that caught my eye tho. His physical profile stood out as did a few heads up plays and he had energy for days. Haven't checked age or anything tho.

[ejftw]

Man, really hoping Boogie and Reese get it going, while I'm a UCLA fan, have to #BackThePack, especially with the UoEh choking last night.

[Dan33185]

Upset watch in a couple of the early games- UCSB up on Baylor towards the end of the first half, Kennesaw State rolling against Xavier in the second half.

[ejftw]

SC out choking Michigan St, who botched three straight one n ones on the front end...sheesh..0-2 for the Pac 12.

Not surprised that UCSB is hanging in with Baylor. Hope the Barbies pull the upset.

[Dan33185]

heck of an effort by Kennesaw State, they just went cold for like 8 minutes, hard to overcome that.

[Castle Black]

Epic choke by Kennesaw State allowing Xavier to go in a 23-6 run to end the game when they were up 15. They had that game in the bag. Tough. I will say they got screwed on quite a few calls during that stretch though. There was definitely some home-cooking going on that game for Xavier.