Time to talk about our brackets!  How messed up is yours with all the upsets?  I had Kentucky beating Kansas in the championship.

 

 

I have Ohio State over KY in the final.  According to ESPN my bracket is currently at 78.4 percentile.  Only final four team that has lost for me is Nova, they blow chunks.  Squeak by R. Morris and lose to St. Marys? Wow.  Duke got such an easy route to the final 4 its not even funny.  They will get stomped by KY in the final four though.

My final 4 is completely intact, and 7 of my elite 8 teams as well (kansas being the only one out).  I also missed only 4 first round games, 2 being the big time upsets noone predicted.  I need Pitt to beat Xavier right now and I got real lucky with my MSU over Maryland pick.  Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with my bracket right now.

Xavier pulled it out, wow, and Purdue without Hummel... Big Ten has 3 teams in the Sweet 16.  Ohio has 2.  Not bad for the good guys!

Xavier Muskies 71 (6), Pittsburgh Panthers 68 (3) for men's

Xavier Women Muskies 94 (3), E. Tennessee State 82 (14)

http://www.facebook.com/xavieruniversity?ref=nf

Things have lined up nicely for the Buckeyes, but I'm a little worried about a Tennessee team that took out Kansas and Kentucky during the regular season.

My bracket is officially busted.  I had both Villanova and Kansas in the Final Four and had Kansas winning it all - along with about 80% of America.  But its been an entertaining first four days. 

 

This year's tournament has probably had more upsets in the first two rounds then any other tournament.  It's certainly had more higher seeded underdogs advance to the Sweet 16.  No. 10 St. Mary's, #11 Washington and #9 Northern Iowa all advanced - UNI knocking off the #1 overall seed Kansas.  And tonight features the longest remaining underdog, #12 Cornell, against the remaining tournament favorite, #1 Kentucky. 

 

It should be fun to watch how it all turns out.

I had Kansas-Kentucky in the final, and had Villanova in the Final Four.

 

The fact that my bracket is officially busted means I'm free to root for whomever I want now, though, so ... Go Big Red!!

^I thought the exact same thing when I saw Kentucky lost.  Mick Cronin is not, and never will be a coach that will lead Cincinnati basketball back to greatness. 

She's not even around here anymore. Not like she cares..lol

I'm glad Kentucky lost. Maybe now I wont have to hear so much about them.

Does anybody have a team left on the left side of their bracket?  I had Kansas vs. Ohio State today, and I doubt anybody had Butler going to the Final Four.  I just feel lucky to have the entire right side of my bracket intact (I had WVU over Kentucky and have Duke over Baylor).  I figure I must be doing pretty well all things considered with these crazy bracket busters.

If someone tells you they had Butler in their Final Four, don't believe them.  Even though the Sweet 16 cinderella longshots of St. Mary's, Washington, Northern Iowa and Cornell had all been eliminated.  And even though Butler as #5 seed doesn't technically qualify as a longshot.  Does anyone seriously know anybody who boasted two weeks ago that Butler was going to the Final Four? 

 

And did anyone actually enjoy watching that Kentucky/West Virginia game last night?  That was hands-down no-doubt the ugliest piece of junk basketball game of the entire tournament. 

 

- Five players foul out (3 for KY and 2 for WV) and I think the refs gave both teams a break at that!

- KY shots 4-32 from 3-point range after missing their first 19 shots!

- KY barely shoots over 50% from the free-throw line and only 34% from the field

- WV shoots a marginally better 38% from the field and a stellar (for this game) 68% from the free-throw line to eck out the win

 

If I wanted to see a game with turnovers, missed shots and bodies crashing to the floor with each possesion, I could have watched minor league hockey.

All things considered, OSU doesn't look so bad (not that we really looked bad anyway): Three teams we lost to are in the Final Four.

All things considered, OSU doesn't look so bad (not that we really looked bad anyway): Three teams we lost to are in the Final Four.

Wow! That is right isn't it?  (Although the loss to Butler deserves an asterisk because Turner didn't play.) 

 

And how about Butler.  A school based in Indianapolis making the Final Four played in Indianapolis.  Pretty sweet for them!

 

The tournament made up for yesterday's dog w/ fleas KY/WV game with two fantastic games today.  That Michigan State/Tennessee game was one of the most entertaining and well played games of the tournament so far.  Coach Izzo does it again.  The Duke/Baylor game, though not as great, was pretty good too. 

 

How about Duke?  The #1 seed that "everyone" predicted would the least likely #1 to reach the Final Four.  And they are the only #1 to reach the Final Four!

And how about Butler. A school based in Indianapolis making the Final Four played in Indianapolis. Pretty sweet for them!

 

Butler is a tiny school, though.  I bet MSU fans coming down from East Lansing and elsewhere in the Midwest will outnumber Bulldog fans.

 

How about Duke? The #1 seed that "everyone" predicted would the least likely #1 to reach the Final Four. And they are the only #1 to reach the Final Four!

 

Yeah, because Duke was given a cakewalk to the Final Four! ;)

This MSU fan hopes to be coming up from Cincy to Indianapolis.

 

That'll be great for the Butler fans and hopefully they get out there and have a great time with it.  I sure hope that they go home upset on Saturday night.

 

This is the most flukey tournament i can remember.  I have a shot in one bracket because i picked MSU to win it all...that wasn't really a premonition as much as a homer pick.

Michigan State are overachieving like nobodies business.  Izzo is one helluva coach. 

people keep saying that this final four is a complete fluke...but aren't all 4 teams pre-season top 10?

 

Izzo is the best coach in the country.  I'm a homer, but he is definitely up there.

He certainly is, doesn't have the history of a Duke or UNC, UCLA or even Indiana and has been kicking butt and taking numbers the past ten years.

now that everyone's brackets have been busted, who is the final four winner?

now that everyone's brackets have been busted, who is the final four winner?

 

If WVU wins Saturday night, I will be very happy with my bracket.  I am already 97th percentile on Yahoo, and I probably will pick up a lot of ground if my WVU over Duke pick is correct.

My final four includes such teams as: Syracuse, MSU, WVU, Duke with MSU vs. Duke in the finals and MSU winning.

 

gotta have at least one bracket where your team wins it all and i got lucky this time.

I go with the all or nothing technique.  One bracket.  No cutting losses.  Go for the gusto!  This year is looking good, but WVU/Duke is huge for me (and to top it off I hate Duke basketball with a passion)!

Truck Bryant is out for the Mountaineers, but I still think they're going to beat the Blue Devils and probably win it all.  The Final Four is very weird this year, IMO Duke is the worst of the #1 seeds and they're the only one still playing.

I go with the all or nothing technique.  One bracket.  No cutting losses.  Go for the gusto!  This year is looking good, but WVU/Duke is huge for me (and to top it off I hate Duke basketball with a passion)!

 

who doesn't?  The people I work for me are sports lunatics, well just lunatics and one happens to be a Dukie!

who doesn't? The people I work for me are sports lunatics, well just lunatics and one happens to be a Dukie!

 

I know a lot of people who enter different brackets in different pools so they have a better chance of winning "something".

who doesn't?  The people I work for me are sports lunatics, well just lunatics and one happens to be a Dukie!

 

I know a lot of people who enter different brackets in different pools so they have a better chance of winning "something".

 

We have one pool at work with 600 people and the pool is $9k.  then different divisions have pools.  it's crazy.  I'm in 4 pools right now.

Hehehe.  My traditional bracket is busted, but I'm in a "spread pool" with a number of people from law school--your team is considered to "win" the game if it beats the spread; if an entrant's team loses but covers the spread, that entrant "wins" the game and takes over the team that didn't cover the spread.  That means that my team just has to overachieve against the conventional wisdom (i.e., the spread), rather than win, for me to take home the $$$.

 

Right now, I'm in possession of Butler.  I like my chances!

who doesn't?  The people I work for me are sports lunatics, well just lunatics and one happens to be a Dukie!

 

I know a lot of people who enter different brackets in different pools so they have a better chance of winning "something".

 

We have one pool at work with 600 people and the pool is $9k.  then different divisions have pools.  it's crazy.  I'm in 4 pools right now.

 

I wish I was in your pool.  I'd be set up for a big pay day!

who doesn't?  The people I work for me are sports lunatics, well just lunatics and one happens to be a Dukie!

 

I know a lot of people who enter different brackets in different pools so they have a better chance of winning "something".

 

We have one pool at work with 600 people and the pool is $9k.  then different divisions have pools.  it's crazy.  I'm in 4 pools right now.

 

I wish I was in your pool.  I'd be set up for a big pay day!

 

I was in 2nd for a while, but then went Syracuse...and it was down hill from there.  I'm now in 8th but only the top four (50%-30%-15%-5%) get cash.

I'm in 3 pools.  One of them gives you 5 brackets for $20.  That's the only one where i'm doing any good.

Duke and Butler advanced to Monday's National Championship Game. 

 

Butler won first game with a hard fought 52-50 win over Michigan State.  Butler played their typical tough defensive style, forced Michigan State turnovers and converted those turnovers into points.  Michigan State definately missed their injured point guard.  And Butler took advantage.

 

Duke probably played its best game of the tournament in its 78-57 win over West Virginia.  The three top scorers for Duke netted 23, 21 & 19 points.  The rest of the Duke team matched the physical West Virginia play.  The Mountaineers stayed close most of the game but a game-ending injury to a key WV player with nine minutes left probably ended any comeback chance.

 

Interesting match up Monday between the nationally famous #1 seed Duke Blue Devils and the Cinderella hometown heroes in the Butler Bulldogs.  All eyes on Indy Monday Night!

Cinderella?  really?  a team ranked in the top 15 all year and a #5 seed?  hardly a Cinderella.

 

I was disappointed by the Butler fans.  First class jerks.  WVU fans as well...Duke fans (the team i typically dislike, although mostly because of their habit of winning) were really pretty cool.  Said nice things and were all around decent.

 

MSU was taken out of the game early by some pretty ticky-tacky fouls and were unable to play aggressively.  Of course, they needed to hit more free throws in order to win that game (10 of 18? terrible).

 

We watched most of the first half of the Duke/WVU game before heading home.  the Duke fans were really out in numbers and were really into the game.  WVU fans were pretty good too, but most of the stadium was for Butler and not as interested in the second game.  They were more interested in low balling MSU fans on tickets and hurling insults.

Not to worry, they will get smacked down by Duke.

diaspora: It sounds like you were at Lucas Oil Stadium.  If so, congrats.  Kind of surprised about your assessment of the Butler fans as "first class jerks".  Wouldn't have been surprised if you said that about the WVU fans or the Duke fans (due to their previous home court behavior).  What did the Butler fans do?  Just curious because you couldn't tell in the TV broadcast.

 

Also, I do get the whole Butler "Cinderella vs. non-Cinderella" argument.  Many do not consider Butler a "Cinderella" team for the reasons you stated.  At the very least, the final game is a "well known major college" vs. "relatively unknown small college".  But like I said before - does anyone know anybody who picked Butler in their brackets to reach the Final Four and/or Championship Game?  That, and their relatively unknown status, makes Butler a Final Four Cinderella to me.

Personally, Michigan State shouldn't be talking about "first class jerks" from all the basketball and football games I've been to.  They are worse than Michigan fans.

Yeah, i was there.  A final four with MSU in it and only 90 or so miles away from home? i'm there.  Before the game we had very pleasant exchanges with most Butler fans (or perhaps i should say people from Indianapolis rooting for Butler) with a few exceptions (guys in the bar continuously trying to put the "shocker" into pictures taken by/of senior citizen MSU fans).  It was in the immediate aftermath of the game when they were yelling at us and talking smack.  many of my friends were really disappointed.  Duke fans were the only ones saying things like "great run this year" and "Good luck, you'll be back next year" etc.

 

It showed which fan bases were used to success and which ones were acting like immature idiots.  I think the biggest insult was that the fans in the stadium coming up and asking us to sell them our championship game tickets for $20 a piece.  face value was $360 for three games.  If it's even for all three games and there is not championship game premium then that's $120 a ticket.

 

I sold to a scalper for $50 a piece and i hope he makes 4x what he paid in profit on them.

I have a "poor winner" story from the NCAA tournamnet which still sticks in my craw (wherever that is).  My school (which rarely goes to the tournament (maybe once every 6-7 years on average) beat the defending champs in a great upset in the first round (32 teams at the time).  The next game we played Kentucky at Dayton Arena (I think they eventually won it all that year).  Even though our campus was much closer to Dayton (about an hour away), their fans out numbered us 4-1 easy (how the hell did they get all these tickets).

 

Anyway, with about 10 minutes left in the game we were problably down by 16-18 points and we were pretty discouraged (despite the fact the week before we had come back from 10 points down with 3 minutes to go to win in overtime).  At that time we were swarmed by Kentucky fans who came into our cheering section  and went through the isles while the game was still on offeing x amount of cash for our tickets to Saturday's game (this was the regional and you had to buy tickets for both games).

 

I thought it was pretty tacky and poor sportsmanship (at least wait two minutes after the game...we would still have our tickets) and I have disliked Kentucky ever since, and am always glad when they lose in any sport.  I have a long memory.

 

 

WVU fans? yeah, they were insulting and we didn't play them.  And this isn't merely talking smack (i'm not that sensitive).  I tend to believe in good sportsmanship and after a game decided by 2 points i'd expect more of a "whew...good game, could have gone either way" unfortunately it was more of the "you suck, get out of here, go home" etc.

 

it goes to the adage: "act like you've been there before" <- loosely translated: "don't be an a-hole."  It was clear which programs hadn't been there.

 

Well, the scalper offered me 2.5x what they offered and he was lamenting that Butler won because (in his words) "these fools don't know what they're doing."

 

I imagine the hotels were also lamenting as many of them cleared out since the Butler folks were all local.

Duke edges Butler to win national title

 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The ball went sailing while the buzzer went off.  Where it landed would be the difference between a shining moment for one team, a tearstained loss for another.  Butler forward Gordon Hayward's halfcourt shot hit backboard, then rim, then barely careened out.

 

Duke beat Butler 61-59 on Monday night.  What a game!  And what a way to end the season, even if America's favorite underdog came up a little short.

 

"It will become an historic game, a benchmark game,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.  "Not just the way it was played, but who played in it and what comes about.'' 

 

Memorable, indeed, for the way both teams battled, never giving an inch, or giving in on a single possession.

what a fantastic game. you could see butler just wasnt going to win but they kept it close and kept coming back and hanging in there. time seriously froze on that last shot -- it almost went in. wow.

what a fantastic game. you could see butler just wasnt going to win but they kept it close and kept coming back and hanging in there. time seriously froze on that last shot -- it almost went in. wow.

 

it was ok.  Im more upset i finished 5th in the tourney poll.  Just outta the money!

so the greatest final in ncaa history was just ok? lol! and is there anything you cant try to tie yourself to somehow? 

hey...none of my teams made it to the final four.  i lost interest!

^Only one of mine did lol, Duke.  But I didn't have them winning it all.

^Only one of mine did lol, Duke.  But I didn't have them winning it all.

 

I dont think anyone did!  But that the ncaa tourney for you.  oh well...better luck to all in 2011!