The official tournament time thread

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Jon would you mind a periodic update of the Arkansas game, at least the first half? I have class to teach until 3:05 pm our time. I might see if I can get a gametracker up or even a video stream, but I doubt I will be able to.

Barring something unforeseen should be no problem. The game should be on ESPN 360, although IIRC that won't help you. I almost didn't find this one on TV myself, no broadcast coverage Atlanta (not sure if that's blackout or simply no station willing to carry it, as the regular Raycom affiliate took the ACC tourney instead), finally found it on an FSN alternate feed that wasn't blacked out on Dish.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Vols are having one of those games we talked about in the main basektball thread. Tied at 46 with 17 minutes to play, already 6 team fouls on UT. Can't guard (former GT starter) Zam Frederick who leads all scorers with 18 so far.

[INDalltheway]

I'm heading to the Big Ten tourney for the second session. Pretty good deal, I will be seeing Purdue and IU play today.

[st.cronin]

Congratulations to Michigan on their record-setting performance.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Congratulations to Michigan on their record-setting performance.

seriously, Big 10 basketball is unwatchable.

[JonInMiddleGA]

South Carolina has a combined 39 by their starting guards & leads 53-50 with 14 minutes to play.

edit: Vols by 1 with 12+ left, after Tennessee scores 7 points in just under 30 seconds. Meanwhile, I'm amazed somebody hasn't just slapped the hell out of Dave Odom at some point in his career.

[cartman]

Texas beats Oklahoma State by 7 to advance in the Big 12 tourney. They await the winner of the Colorado-Oklahoma game coming up next.

I'm really looking forward to the late Big 12 game between Kansas State and Texas A&M. That should be a great matchup.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Meanwhile, I'm amazed somebody hasn't just slapped the hell out of Dave Odom at some point in his career.

That made me laugh, but why do you say that about him?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

That made me laugh, but why do you say that about him?

The combination of his sideline antics & his facial expression that goes with them. Even when he's right about a call he looks like a politician who just got caught with a hooker or a wide stance.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tennessee up 82-78 with 3:30 to play. SC guards Frederick & Downey have combined for 47 points, UT's Lofton/Smith/Smith trio has 31, 19 of those from Juwaun Smith. C Wayne Chism is trying to save the Vols, career high 23 points & 5 blocks so far.

edit to add: 84-83 Vols with 1:38 left in regulation. UT ball. Scratch that, SC ball after another Lofton turnover, now 1:10 left.
Trivia note: UT is 0-11 in the conference quarterfinals, last won in '91.

[JonInMiddleGA]

SC took an 85-84 lead on a offensive rebound dunk, Vols come right back & get a Tyler Smith bucket with 36.3 left. SC ball after a missed and-one try.

edit: SC by one with 16.7 left
Lofton buries a three with 11.4 left
No timeouts left, SC misses a three but gets it OOB with 1.1 left. Timeout UT, leading 89-87.

[Radii]

huge shot by lofton, damn.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Vols hang on as SC basically inbounded right into a jump ball tie-up.

Lofton's game-winner left him 2-10 from outside for the day.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just in case MJ4H checks in, the overrun of the first game means that Vandy-Ark has not started yet. Teams are still in the shootaround right now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Arkansas up 15-11 with 12 minutes left in the half.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Congratulations to Michigan on their record-setting performance.

I was at a bar for lunch and saw the ticker show "MI 34 .." and thought "not too bad a half for Michigan". Next time it came around, I saw it was the final

[JonInMiddleGA]

Arkansas 32-28 with 6 minutes left in the half.

[MrBug708]

Calipari's thoughts on the top teams

Memphis' John Calipari unleashed the stream-of-consciousness: "You have North Carolina because they've got the inside-outside game. Kansas, who I think is off the chain. Kansas is ridiculous. We played Tennessee; talk about a ridiculous team because of how they play and shoot threes. They could make 15 threes in a game, and I'm talking bad threes. They shoot it and it goes. Georgetown, because of [Roy] Hibbert and [Jonathan] Wallace. Then Louisville, they play that zone to perfection and have [David] Padgett, who I think has had an All-America year. I'm leaving out UCLA. I just hope they don't get calls in the tournament like they're getting now. If they get calls like that they're going all the way. Then Texas, because of guard play. That combination of guards may be the best in the country. And it could be Stanford because of the two big kids [the Lopez twins]. Connecticut is playing better, too. There are probably eight or nine teams [to beat]."

------------------------------
When we hold your team below 50 Cal, cry all you want

[SnDvls]

UCLA is in my final 4 no doubt the way they are playing. Bad ref calls and all.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Arkansas up 40-36 at the half, Vandy still in it with 16/19 FT shooting, Ark something like 3/7 from the line.

I've seen very little of the game as I've spent the first half fulfilling my wife's telephone request ... yep, you guessed it: tickets for tomorrow's semi-finals.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by SnDvls

UCLA is in my final 4 no doubt the way they are playing. Bad ref calls and all.

Hard to say without seeing the brackets yet, but as much as I hate them, barring a bad matchup for them, I agree.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Arkansas leads 48-46 at the first TV timeout of the second half.
Vandy has started hitting threes, Arkansas is living on 12 offensive rebounds.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Arkansas still leads Vandy, 60-58, with 7:42 left.
The story of the game remains FT's and OR's.
Vandy 21/28 from the line, Ark 5/11.
Arkansas has 14 Off/30 Total Reb to Vandy's 4/17.

[MJ4H]

Home. Thanks Jon. I appreciate it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Cool, sorry I was so spotty on the updates in the first half, damned near never got the ticket thing straightened out.

edit: Good thing you got home, my feed just cut out at exactly 530pm. Just *poof*, gone.

[MJ4H]

Wow. How in the world that didn't happen to me, I don't know. That is exactly the kind of BS that I get when I get interested in a game these days.

And now, Vandy will every three pointer ever from here on out 73-68 Arkansas with 44.6 seconds to go after Foster (I think?) hits like a 30 footer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Duke making it look easy, leading GT 44-29 at the half. Dookies have a 20-9 rebounding edge & are shooting 57% from the floor.

[miami_fan]

Does anyone want to solidify their tourney spots?

[MJ4H]

I think Arkansas did.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Does anyone want to solidify their tourney spots?

Virginia Tech maybe?

[JonInMiddleGA]

GT goes on a 13-2 run to get within 8 at 52-44.

edit: Tech within 4 with 14 minutes left. Make that 2 with 13:30 left.
And with 11:51 left, it's back to 8.
And with 5:30 to play, it's 71-56 Duke. Tech cooled off, Duke got a couple of close calls, their defense tightened up & that's all she wrote.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Alabama & Mississippi State headed to OT as 'Bama recovers from blowing a lead & hits a three at the buzzer to force the extra period.

[miami_fan]

There is a hole in the roof of the Georgia Dome.

[MJ4H]

Anyone watching the Georgia Dome fall apart in the severe weather? (tornado??)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Severe thunderstorm / possible tornado has apparently damaged the Georgia Dome and caused a stoppage in play with 2:21 left in OT. Teams were sent from the floor, although the coaches are starting to come back to the court.

Really freaking bizarre scene, Tim Brando mentioned clearly hearing a "freight train or locomotive sound" and is showing some of the pieces that hit the court, looked like a metal washer about the size of a silver dollar. The roof was swaying, the catwalks are still swaying, and there's obvious damage to a couple of the fabric panels along the side/at the top of the Dome.

edit to add: The hook echo is pretty clear on local weather radar right in that area.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sounds like they announced a delay of about 20 minutes just now but the coaching staffs appear to be relocating their families in the background shot.

edit: Seeing coaches carrying their kids around reminds me of the World Series earthquake scenes (obviously, thankfully, tons less severe)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Gee, comforting thought ... I'm watching the radar-in-motion thing as this same storm system heads straight for me.

Meanwhile, since the storm ain't here yet ... major props to the Raycom crew all the way around -- from cameras to announcers -- for their work through this scenario. At the high school level I've worked through thunderstorms, fights that involved police, several strange things & I know how hard those were, I can't really imagine getting through something like this as professionally as these guys have. And I have a pretty high opinion of my own ability, but these guys, sheesh damn.

[MJ4H]

Agreed, Jon. I've been pretty impressed with how the whole thing was handled. Right down to the security in the building. The shots of the event showed some major panic creeping into the crowd when the roof started swaying.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Agreed, Jon. I've been pretty impressed with how the whole thing was handled. Right down to the security in the building. The shots of the event showed some major panic creeping into the crowd when the roof started swaying.

Talked to my wife about that a few minutes ago. VERY important, IMO, to note that the security personnel were different than the standard Dome staff (the difference in demeanor & professional was pretty clear to her today under normal circumstances). Also noteworthy was something I noticed on tv & she confirmed, that the majority of uniformed law enforcement on hand for the event were state troopers, not local city/county police or deputy sheriffs.

For those watching the Raycom coverage, the first shot they showed from outside a few minutes ago I recognized immediately ... one of the two main smoking areas is just to the right of the p.o.v. of the first camera shot. I'd know that view in my sleep

[Ksyrup]

I was watching the weather on our local Fox station and the meteorologist starts talking about the UK game being delayed because of a possible tornado. Bizarre.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Fox5Atlanta is reporting also that "Numerous windows were broken at CNN Center during the Friday night storm, and there was also damage at nearby Philips Arena."

[cartman]

Since the roof was moving that much, and CNN Center is basically next door, I'm not surprised to hear that. I bet the people at the top of the Westin Peachtree got a hell of a ride and view during the storm.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Watching radar & weather now (http://www.11alive.com/video/default...storyid=112917)
and there's another strengthening system heading straight for the Dome in the next few minutes.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cartman

Since the roof was moving that much, and CNN Center is basically next door, I'm not surprised to hear that.

Y'know though, I've seen the roof fabric do that at least a couple of times in the past just from moderate winds/rain/storms. That really wasn't all that freaky to me. Never seen the catwalks move to anything remotely like that extent though, that's when I knew the shit was serious.

[JonInMiddleGA]

After all of that, a three for the win rimmed in & out, Miss State hangs on to win by 2.

[Ksyrup]

This is funny...the Raycom guy is giving weather reports from the Lexington weather guy I was watching.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This is funny...the Raycom guy is giving weather reports from the Lexington weather guy I was watching.

(for those not watching) He works for a Lexington TV station as his regular job, so he's been back & forth on his cell phone with his own weather man.

edit to add: Local news is reporting, per the Fire Department PIO, that up to a dozen people have been transported to area hospitals from the Omni Hotel and/or the hotel area, with dozens more believed to be injured (presumably to a lesser extent).

[Eaglesfan27]

They just called for a postponement of the 2nd game (Georgia - Kentucky) due to continuing severe weather in the Atlanta area, and there is talk that whoever wins the game will have to play 2 games tomorrow.

[Ksyrup]

They are going to have to. Somebody's playing 2 games in 1 day - either the winner of the UK/UGA game tomorrow, or if you only make THEM play once tomorrow, then the winner of the UK/UGA vs. Whoever game on Sunday would have to turn around and play the championship game that afternoon.

Only other way to do it is postpone the championship game until Monday, right?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Still trying to decide what they're going to do. And Monday makes sense ... except it creates a mess for the NCAA selection folks if a non-sure thing is still in contention at that point, or even for seeding purposes.