The Official March Madness 2007 Thread

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Bear with me on this one. I don't follow the Big Ten at all (even though I'm surrounded by Penn State fans), so I didn't realize how impressive Oden is. I only watched Ohio State when they played Memphis, and Oden only played 24 minutes because of foul trouble. He was great on the glass, but with Memphis' Joey Dorsey having a horrible game, I wasn't surprised by Oden's dominance.

Anyway, my point is that I hadn't seen much of Oden until last night. So perhaps I'm the last guy in the country who's finally sold on him, but I was impressed. Billy Packer wouldn't shut up about how tired Oden and the Buckeyes were, but he was right. Those kids were gassed at times, yet Oden never stopped hustling. He's quite a talent, and if he and Conley return to OSU next year, they've got to be the favorites to win the title.

As for Florida, it's amazing that the same starting five won the championship two years in a row. It's even more amazing that all five could be gone next year. Humphrey's graduating, and the others are all juniors who will obviously get attention from NBA teams. I don't know if all four juniors will leave, but it could happen. How competitive will the Gators be next year if they lose the whole starting lineup?

Oden sold me last night. I was not really sure from the earlier games in the tournement. Of course you saw flashes throughout the season, but last night was the first time I saw him be dominant on both ends of the court to carry the Buckeyes.

[st.cronin]

The most impressive guy in the tournament was Conley, I thought. Would love to see him on the Celtics.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Press conference in 25 minutes for Arkansas hiring Dana Altman from Creighton.

The search begins again.

Dana Altman, introduced as Arkansas' new basketball coach on Monday, changed his mind less than 24 hours later and announced on Tuesday night that he is returning to Creighton, where he has coached the Bluejays the past 13 seasons.

The coach apologized to Razorbacks fans "with deep regret" and said returning to Creighton was in his family's best interest.

University Chancellor John A. White announced Altman's departure at a hastily scheduled news conference outside Bud Walton Arena.

"I knew it was a very difficult decision for them and their family," White said.

Altman has coached the Bluejays for 13 years and said he made the decision to return after talking to his wife and Creighton's athletic director Bruce Rasmussen, who agreed to take him back.

"This is something I'm doing for my family," Altman said. "I wish had would have come to that decision earlier."

Altman, who had a 260-141 record at Creighton, spent much of the day in his new office in Fayetteville, but talked with Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles and met with White earlier in the day and expressed reservations about taking the job.

A plane owned by Creighton boosters was en route Tuesday to pick up Altman from Drake Field in Fayetteville on Tuesday night, ESPN.com has learned. Meantime, Broyles was expected to return from Augusta, Ga., where he was scheduled to attend the Masters (he is a member of Augusta National Golf Club). The Razorback Foundation's jet was scheduled to pick up Broyles later Tuesday night.

Altman was hired Sunday night by Broyles, who will have to renew an arduous search for a replacement for Stan Heath, who was fired last month after six seasons. Broyles, who has spent more than 50 years as the school's athletic director and football coach, will retire at the end of the year.

Altman was believed to be at least the Razorbacks' sixth target. Arkansas officials reportedly offered the job to Texas A&M's Billy Gillespie, Kansas' Bill Self, Southern California's Tim Floyd, Memphis' John Calipari and Marquette's Tom Crean, who each turned the job down.

At Monday's press conference, Altman hinted at the difficulty of his decision, saying, "You don't stay in a place 13 years, and in 72 hours change your feelings about a special place and a special group of players that I had. So today, although I'm very excited, has also been very tough."

[MJ4H]

Seriously, more of this kind of crap and I may be done with all sports forever. This just pisses me off.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Seriously, more of this kind of crap and I may be done with all sports forever. This just pisses me off.

*points and laughs*

[MJ4H]

death is a dish best served now

[miami_fan]

Finally a coach realizes it is okay to be at a smaller school and be happy then to go to a bigger school and be unhappy.

[MJ4H]

My guess is this wasn't Altman's decision.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

My guess is this wasn't Altman's decision.

You mean the Mustain crew ran off another coach?

[Young Drachma]

It was all about Candace Parker tonight. Wouldn't have mattered who played them tonight. Though I'm tired of schools that wear Orange winning titles.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

My guess is this wasn't Altman's decision.

Unless you are talking about the decision being his wife's and not his, I am not sure what you mean.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

It was all about Candace Parker tonight. Wouldn't have mattered who played them tonight. Though I'm tired of schools that wear Orange winning titles.

That was a hard game to watch. Impossible to win when you can't get a defensive rebound.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

It was all about Candace Parker tonight.

I suppose it would be too easy a pun if I said "Hold on, don't sell Shannon Bobbitt short"

Anosike was a monster with 16 boards, and Auguste's 10 points in the first half felt awfully important to me.

7 titles for Pat, just 3 more to to tie Wooden.

[JonInMiddleGA]

And most happily, Candace just told Trey Wingo that she will "definitely" be back next season.

[Groundhog]

Hang on a second... The WOMEN have their own NCAA tournament too?!

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Hang on a second... The WOMEN have their own NCAA tournament too?!

It's a strange world we live in these days.

[Leonidas]

I'm an Ohio State guy who is not too disheartened by the loss. Hard to be upset to lose to a team as good as Florida. They clearly are the best team, no gripes or complaints. In fact, OSU fans should hold their heads high that such a young team could have gone so far and played as respectably in the title against a great team like that as they did.

And I'l throw this out to the peanut gallery. With or without Oden OSU should be the favorites to win next year. The recruiting class they have coming in may be every bit as good as the class they had last season. They have 7'2" Koufos coming in who shoots threes, a bruiser 6'9" center, and Ohio's all-time high school scoring leader who hasn't met the three point shot he can't hit. If Oden stays they might be talking about doing the '76 Indiana thing.

And for dessert, the 08 class already committed might be better than either class.

[hoopsguy]

Leonidas, do you feel the same way if Conley followed Oden out the door? I agree that the future looks very bright, but I can't see them being Top 5 next year without Oden and Conley.

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Leonidas, do you feel the same way if Conley followed Oden out the door? I agree that the future looks very bright, but I can't see them being Top 5 next year without Oden and Conley.

Conley's gotta stay, no doubt. But he's said all along he's going nowhere. And like Florida's Green and Noah his dad was a world class athlete who made a good living at it. Conley doesn't need to come out like some guys do for their family, so I think he'll stay at least another year. Besides, to be a truly great PG he needs to work on the 3, and he knows that. Watch for Conley to really bloom with his outside shot next year.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Leonidas

Conley's gotta stay, no doubt. But he's said all along he's going nowhere. And like Florida's Green and Noah his dad was a world class athlete who made a good living at it. Conley doesn't need to come out like some guys do for their family, so I think he'll stay at least another year. Besides, to be a truly great PG he needs to work on the 3, and he knows that. Watch for Conley to really bloom with his outside shot next year.

Conley is being talked about as being a top 14 pick. That might change his mind about staying in school.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I suppose it would be too easy a pun if I said "Hold on, don't sell Shannon Bobbitt short"

Anosike was a monster with 16 boards, and Auguste's 10 points in the first half felt awfully important to me.

7 titles for Pat, just 3 more to to tie Wooden.

No doubt, she absolutely killed them on the boards and Shannon Bobbitt was feisty. I just meant that just having a player like Parker means the other players have to step up and they did just that. I think Rutgers was obviously young and CVS said as much when she talked about their deer in the headlights looks. I think just getting the final is huge for that Rutgers squad and it should help recruiting.

I hope Stringer doesn't leave for LSU as I've heard rumoured. She's done such a great job with that program in Jersey and it seems to me that it would be a pretty big blow to a program that she ushered to national prominence, far before we were talking anything about football at RU, just to go and leave at this stage of her coaching career. Though I suppose she deserves a title before she's all done, so I can't say I blame her if she goes. It would just be really nice to see her get a title in Jersey.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

I hope Stringer doesn't leave for LSU as I've heard rumoured.

Did you happen to see her post-game press conference? Toward the end, there was a comment that struck both me & my wife a little strange. It wasn't what she said so much as how she said it, both word choice & tone of voice. Something about how if she couldn't get back to the Final Four next season, she certainly wouldn't be around there another 24 years.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Did you happen to see her post-game press conference? Toward the end, there was a comment that struck both me & my wife a little strange. It wasn't what she said so much as how she said it, both word choice & tone of voice. Something about how if she couldn't get back to the Final Four next season, she certainly wouldn't be around there another 24 years.

You know I was on a call when that was happening and I was annoyed, because I too heard that last part where she said "I can assure it won't take another 25 years." and I was trying to rush the person off the phone so I could actually listen to what she was saying.

So I dunno if she was saying "no way I'm coaching another 25 years or no way that it'll take whatever team I'm with that long."

I think she was pretty confident her players were good, but yeah...it's hard to say what she meant from the little bit I saw. My understanding is that entire press conference was marked with all sorts of curt comments throughout. I'm intrigued to see what will happen. Though if she does leave, it's not as if whoever takes over won't be taking over a team that's not battle tested and experienced now. And maybe she's been there too long and they need something else. I dunno.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

You know I was on a call when that was happening and I was annoyed, because I too heard that last part where she said "I can assure it won't take another 25 years." and I was trying to rush the person off the phone so I could actually listen to what she was saying.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. Here's the transcript from the post-game press conference.
http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball...ress_post/2007

And here's the quote:
And Pat did a great job. They played well. As Candace said, it was nice for them to return. And I'll never know why. We just seemed to be a little just a little off. And yes, we would like to come back next year, but it's not that simple. So we know what it took to get here this time and I appreciate the team and the support that we have gotten and if we end up here, that's good. If we don't, wow, I won't be 25 more years, I'm going to tell you that, doing it.