2014 OFFICIAL NCAA Tournament Thread: Connecticut wins the title

[mauchow]

Over time we go

[EagleFan]

At the timeout they came up with that play for after a made free throw?

[bhlloy]

Looks like a flop to me - inexcusable to get anywhere near him but I haven't seen any contact yet

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

At the timeout they came up with that play for after a made free throw?

I'm thinking someone forgot their assignment

SI

[cmp]

Not much of any contact on that at all

[BishopMVP]

Chances for the 4-pt play doubled because Gus Johnson was announcing.

[kingfc22]

Still not sure on how much contact there really was on that play. But why even challenge the shot that hard.

[PilotMan]

Damn having all the games to watch online is nice.

[sterlingice]

Ouch for VCU. What a gut shot

SI

[PilotMan]

Freddy Mercury would be a very busy man in the first 2 days of this tournament. {cue the music}

[Thomkal]

wow Coastal up 5 at the half, up by as much as 10 at one point, wow. Been great with 3 pointers, rebounds

[Buccaneer]

My son won his other 12-seed pick.

[Thomkal]

going to watch the second half in the other room with no computer access, so cheer loud for CCU

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

What a stupid rule.

But it's been a rule for at least a decade (I've found Google references that far back) and IIRC for at least 30 years or so, as I remember it being banned as far back as HS in the 80s.

Violating it -- which seems to happen & make the news at least once a season for back to about '08 or '09 -- is waaaaay stupider than the rule itself afaic.

The origins of the rule are based around concerns over equipment damage & injury risk, I'd say the more practical reason is to avoid having every college pregame turn into a dunk contest.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BillyMadison

A10 has proven itself as a power conference. 2-1 and ... I expect 5-1 after today.

Umm ...

[mauchow]

I made three brackets and all my sweet 16's are still safe! That's the way, baby! With a lot of people still ahead of me in all the pools with the same final picks as me I really need to hit a few of these nice upsets over the rest of the weekend. NDSU over SDSU, Tennessee winning (thanks Mercer) among others.

[mauchow]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Umm ...

Close to happening in all the games(except UMASS). But close doesn't matter in the NCAA's.

[mauchow]

Why is Virginia trying to run it up the court? Twice now in last handful possessions turning it over by trying to run n gun..

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm missing 4 S16's already, including 1 F4 team ... yet somehow I'm ranked 73,514th out of 11 million+ entries on ESPN, that's 99.3 percentile.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Ouch for VCU. What a gut shot

SI

I really wanted to pick Stephen f Austin, but VCU has been So good to me in the past I couldn't do it.



Three missed games and two sweet 16 teams down.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

But it's been a rule for at least a decade (I've found Google references that far back) and IIRC for at least 30 years or so, as I remember it being banned as far back as HS in the 80s.

Violating it -- which seems to happen & make the news at least once a season for back to about '08 or '09 -- is waaaaay stupider than the rule itself afaic.

The origins of the rule are based around concerns over equipment damage & injury risk, I'd say the more practical reason is to avoid having every college pregame turn into a dunk contest.

The weird part is that the NCAA rule only prevents dunking in the last 20:00 before the tip... and the walk-on did it with 19:58 until tip.

[nol]

Looks like Iowa State's worn NC Central down and is starting to pull away.

[EagleFan]

Looking like we won't have a run on OT games tonight.

[sterlingice]

All the games kindof boring right now

SI

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Kodos

At least we can all be united in our hatred for Duke. And Kentucky. And OSU.

My brother!

[nol]

Ugh. Georges Niang for Iowa State fractured his foot. He's out for the rest of the season. It was gonna be hard enough for them to match up with UNC on the inside.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I end up 27-5 in the first round, good for 54,980th place, 99.5 percentile

It's not how many I lost that'll kill my bracket, it's who I lost

[Solecismic]

I was still tempted to enter that perfect bracket contest even though the chances of even coming close were lower than the chances of Gabe Newell himself flying out to Michigan to give me a featured spot on Steam.

In the end, linking my cell number to my throwaway Yahoo account was too high a price to pay for a near-nothing chance at a billion dollars.

So, no one has a perfect bracket, despite 11 million entries and a relatively tame first round (only one 3-seed of the top 16 teams were upset). I was 24-8 myself and solidly in the middle of mediocrity.

[Simbo Klice]

I have a 260 point bracket w/ Florida winning and 15 of my sweet 16 intact, and a 240 pointer with 13 of the 16 intact and Mich St. winning. Pretty confident with my chances, it's a 14 bracket $25 pool.

[SportsDino]

On ESPN I am sitting on a 28/32 record with only one automatic loss coming up in the next round. I could potentially finish 59/64.

On Yahoo I see one person has a 32 record, meanwhile I am crying with my 24/32, best possible 55/64 (do not think that will cut it with how popular Michigan State is this year).

Even with 139 billion brackets I couldn't achieve perfection, thanks to Duke losing to Mercer. Without that decision I would have had about 278 billion brackets, but 14% more likely for my pool to survive.

After some calculation assuming no restrictions once it hits Final Four you need to satisfy the equation 8R^4, where R is the number of possible outcomes from a region. For a pool of 15,000,000 this means you need to narrow a region down to only 37 outcomes, and repeat the feat 4 times. With 32,768 outcomes per region that is a lot of skill required. To put it in perspective, out of the 15 games you must make the equivalent of 10 guaranteed win decisions per region to create a pool that covers all possibilities. Since that leaves all of 5 coin flips to work with I think it suggests that Buffet's money, even if all 15 million people colluded, is very safe.

[Thomkal]

Well Coastal Carolina did me proud last night-playing like there were a much higher seed than 16 in the first half when they led by 10 points at one point-hitting most every shot, getting rebounds almost every time, etc. Then they played like a 16 seed sadly in the second half, looking very sloppy and nervous, not getting their shots to fall or most rebounds. And Virginia hit just about every shot they took. Losing by just 11 was far far better than I thought they'd lose by.

They only have two seniors on the roster, only one of whom is important, so I hope they remember how they played in the first half and carry it forward next season.

[stevew]

I'm really loosely following the tournament, and 95% of it is because of future NBA type stuff. How the hell did VCU manage to lose that game? I'm a big Shaka Smart fan and would love to see him replace Mike Brown with godspeed this offseason. It appears as if VCU choked on Free throws and then gave up a 4 point play(wtf).

Jabari Parker's draft status won't be affected at all by a first round exit. The "college is sacred" forces will try to push the whole thing that he'll come back for "unfinished business". I guess he's probably better off than most because his dad was an ex pro player, but there is literally no reason to return to school when you're drafted in the top 5. Look no farther than Marcus Smart who came back for "unfinished business" and cost himself the chance to go #1 in the 2013 draft.

[mauchow]

11:15 CT, Pitt vs Florida - Vegas says 5 or 6 and kenpom has 4 for a 68% chance Florida wins. If Pitt plays as well as they did against Colorado then this should be a great game. If Florida starts out slow like it seems they like to then this could be interesting. Like pretty much all games today (except Lville/St Louis) they are likely to go down to the wire. I will be signing papers for my new (used) car at 1:00 so I will be tuning in the last 10 minutes or so on my phone.

1:45 CT - St Louis vs Louisville, the worst game of the bunch today according to kenPom where Louisville is picked to win by 9 with an 80% chance. Vegas says 10. Will Jordair Jett make some magic with his beautiful hair?

4:15 CT - Texas vs Michigan, 4 pt, 66% chance Michigan wins here. Vegas says 5 pts. If Texas can stay close early then there will be a chance for them but if Stauskas and Co get hot early I don't see this being closer than 6-8 in the end.

5:15 CT - NDSU vs SDSU - SDSU by 3 via KenPom @65% chance of winning for SDSU. I have NDSU going to S16. Vegas agrees with Kenpom on the spread.

6:45 CT, Oregon vs Wisconsin - WI 5 pt faves, KenPom says 3 (add 1 or 2 for near home court advantage). Oregon pushes pushes pushes, Wisconsin doesn't force anything but not deliberately slow like in years past.

Kids are being a pill now but

The rest: Nova over UConn by 3, MSU over Harvard by 3 each of them in the mid 60's % chance of winning for nova and MSU.

If these games are like the first round games we should be in store for another great day. Hopefully my wife lets me watch them all....

[PilotMan]

I'm at 23/32 so far with 3 16's missing. I imagine thats just a bit below average. Certainly nothing to get excited about.

[mauchow]

I'm hitting abotu 75-80% so far on my three brackets.. the positive though is that NONE of them have any S16's missing.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by nol

Ugh. Georges Niang for Iowa State fractured his foot. He's out for the rest of the season. It was gonna be hard enough for them to match up with UNC on the inside.

That's disappointing. I was hoping to see Iowa State shake off some of their demons from the past and do a deep run.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by mauchow

11:15 CT, Pitt vs Florida - Vegas says 5 or 6 and kenpom has 4 for a 68% chance Florida wins. If Pitt plays as well as they did against Colorado then this should be a great game. If Florida starts out slow like it seems they like to then this could be interesting. Like pretty much all games today (except Lville/St Louis) they are likely to go down to the wire. I will be signing papers for my new (used) car at 1:00 so I will be tuning in the last 10 minutes or so on my phone.

1:45 CT - St Louis vs Louisville, the worst game of the bunch today according to kenPom where Louisville is picked to win by 9 with an 80% chance. Vegas says 10. Will Jordair Jett make some magic with his beautiful hair?

4:15 CT - Texas vs Michigan, 4 pt, 66% chance Michigan wins here. Vegas says 5 pts. If Texas can stay close early then there will be a chance for them but if Stauskas and Co get hot early I don't see this being closer than 6-8 in the end.

5:15 CT - NDSU vs SDSU - SDSU by 3 via KenPom @65% chance of winning for SDSU. I have NDSU going to S16. Vegas agrees with Kenpom on the spread.

6:45 CT, Oregon vs Wisconsin - WI 5 pt faves, KenPom says 3 (add 1 or 2 for near home court advantage). Oregon pushes pushes pushes, Wisconsin doesn't force anything but not deliberately slow like in years past.

Kids are being a pill now but

The rest: Nova over UConn by 3, MSU over Harvard by 3 each of them in the mid 60's % chance of winning for nova and MSU.

If these games are like the first round games we should be in store for another great day. Hopefully my wife lets me watch them all....

I think I've said this each year for the past couple but I don't understand why the Saturday/Sunday schedule is the way it is. You have 1 game and then another single game and the in the evening you have 2 and 3 overlapping games. Move that one spare game back to overlap the two games earlier on in the day and you basically would have 2 games going all day.

SI

[rowech]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think I've said this each year for the past couple but I don't understand why the Saturday/Sunday schedule is the way it is. You have 1 game and then another single game and the in the evening you have 2 and 3 overlapping games. Move that one spare game back to overlap the two games earlier on in the day and you basically would have 2 games going all day.

SI

I always just assumed it was because of the time zones of the locations.

[mauchow]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think I've said this each year for the past couple but I don't understand why the Saturday/Sunday schedule is the way it is. You have 1 game and then another single game and the in the evening you have 2 and 3 overlapping games. Move that one spare game back to overlap the two games earlier on in the day and you basically would have 2 games going all day.

SI

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. At least one overlap for each game should happen on the first weekend.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by rowech

I always just assumed it was because of the time zones of the locations.

I think that's what it is. But this is first and foremost a tv event so I figured they would plan it around that

SI

[nol]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think that's what it is. But this is first and foremost a tv event so I figured they would plan it around that

SI

They want to maximize their chances at least one good game is going on during prime time. The games now aren't as important to them since West coast people like me are just waking up (note that the two early games feature the number one overall seed and the team the numbers regard as the most likely champion. Without predicting exactly which Cinderella teams will emerge, you have to assume that those 2nd round matchups will be among the least likely to go down to the wire).

If they moved like, Oregon-Wisconsin to earlier in the day, they'd run a greater risk of it being 7:30 EST and having Syracuse and San Diego State blowing out the underdogs while the next game isn't coming on for over an hour.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think I've said this each year for the past couple but I don't understand why the Saturday/Sunday schedule is the way it is. You have 1 game and then another single game and the in the evening you have 2 and 3 overlapping games. Move that one spare game back to overlap the two games earlier on in the day and you basically would have 2 games going all day.

SI

CBS and Turner split the contract but CBS gets it pick of the best games and wants 4 games on Saturday and Sunday also. I might be wrong but I don't think CBS owns the Turner companies so it makes perfect sense why they would want all of their games spread out as much as possible.

EDIT: Even if I am wrong about whether CBS/TNT are owned by the same company I am guessing CBS still pulls in better ratings. JonMGa hopefully can help out with some numbers here.

[sterlingice]

This game is just ugly and crappy

SI

[miami_fan]

I have a general hate for anything Gator related but watching this team play defense is a joy.

[britrock88]

Luke Hancock already cheesing me off. The body-to-body contact he put on an SLU guy that went uncalled led to his 3, and then he reaches in far enough that he gets clipped by an elbow and scores 2 more for the Cards.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think I've said this each year for the past couple but I don't understand why the Saturday/Sunday schedule is the way it is. You have 1 game and then another single game and the in the evening you have 2 and 3 overlapping games. Move that one spare game back to overlap the two games earlier on in the day and you basically would have 2 games going all day.

SI

I find it especially annoying since I am in London with a 4 hour time difference.

[britrock88]

Ugh, and then the way Hancock drew a third foul from Rob Loe. Seems like he traveled, then was given the call.

What's the foul disparity right now? Seems like the zebras aren't interested in calling a fair game.

[B & B]

After hoops overload yesterday, we are treated with b2b one game at a time only with the WORST TWO GAMES OF THE WHOLE DAY.


I like basketball, I like defense. These games are shit.

Turnovers, missing open shots, missing FTs, sloppy passes and just piss poor basketball.

[Jas_lov]

44-26 won't be the score at half time, it'll be the final score. Great feature game, CBS.

[sterlingice]

Ugh. These crap fests are wearing out my will to watch more basketball and simultaneously allowing me to get more chores done so it's a double whammy

SI