2009 NCAA Tournament Thread

[sterlingice]

Figured it was time to start a thread now that the brackets are out.

SI

[sterlingice]

So, filling out my bracket- the bottom half of the south bracket is the hardest in my mind. I could see 6 of the 8 teams coming out of there.

Oklahoma is fairly strong but limping along right now and not a "dominant" 2
Clemson- good but inconsistent
Michigan- decent, don't see them winning the subregion but felt the need to include them as I could see them beating Clemson
Syracuse- I could easily see them running out of steam after laying it all on the floor in the Big East tourney
Arizona St- Wins against Washington, at UCLA
Temple - again, like Michigan, not going to come out of the subregion but could beat Arizona St

SI

[Radii]

I think the bottom half of the east is failry similar. duke, texas, minnesota, villanova, UCLA, VCU could all win a couple games IMO. I do agree completely with the bottom half of the south.

[sterlingice]

I have 23 "gut" picks so far that I'm pretty happy with, tho in pencil so far and subject to change. The rest I'll need to read up some more and once I have the whole previous part of the bracket filled out, then I can do the last 7 games (I always seem to do my bracket as "sub-regions").

Midwest
Louisville and Michigan State seem to be on a collision course. I have Wake and Kansas winning their first games but that's all I have so far in this bracket. I really worry about Kansas's second game against WVU so I just can't do that one at all yet. Also, I have to look at Utah/Arizona.

West
I have the top 4 all winning their first game and Memphis winning their second. That's it. I could see Mizzou making some real noise here but I don't know much about Marquette. I also don't see UConn making the Final Four- they have to lose somewhere in the bracket because they aren't the same without Dyson.

East
I have Pitt winning 2 but I worry about a potential match with Florida St. Duke and Nova winning their first games are easy, too. But, like Radii said- the bottom half of this one is pretty tough. I don't think we can just write in VCU as a perfect token upset like everyone on ESPN liked. And I really think Nova has a pretty easy first two with home games in Philly but I want to look at Nova vs VCU/UCLA before "inking it", so to speak. Similarly, Duke has a lot of warts so I need to see how this goes before advancing them too far.

South
The top half is easy. Carolina wins twice, tho their second game is interesting. I like Western Kentucky over Illinois but the Zags will beat either of them after beating the Zips. As I said above, the only thing I can figure out in the second half of that bracket is OU winning their first game.

So, there's my preliminary bracket- maybe 1/3rd done...

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having not been real happy with the outcome with most of my brackets in recent years, I've decided I'm going to wait until Monday to do one.

[DeToxRox]

Michigan/Clemson has a 7:10 est tip on Thursday according to the guys at TheWolverine.com

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Michigan/Clemson has a 7:10 est tip on Thursday according to the guys at TheWolverine.com

Any idea where they go that info from, I really wanna know what time the Washington game is Thursday

[spleen1015]

Printable bracket with game times.

NCAA.com - The Official Web Site of the NCAA

[MrBug708]

Nice to see the committee stick it to UCLA. You would think having the chairman of the selection committee would help, but it obviously didn't. Now the UCLA upset is the trendy pick.

[Butter]

Kind of pissed that Dayton ended up as an 11 seed. Was hoping for a 10, or even an 8-9 matchup.

West Virginia is one of those teams that either they're on, in which case NOBODY is beating them, or they're off, in which case they can still beat you with defense. Dayton is a bad offensive team, no doubt about it, but they whipped Marquette this year by making it an up-and-down athletic game, which most teams since then have been smart to try and avoid.

The other thing that gives me hope for UD is that Bob Huggins has traditionally been a bad NCAA tournament coach. How many highly ranked Cincinnati teams did Huggins have taken down in the 1st and 2nd rounds? Several, as I recall.

Anybody else with scouting reports on their hometown teams/first round matchups?

[Butter]

Louisville got rewarded, yet hosed at the same time by being placed in Dayton.

Should Ohio State get by Siena, it will be a 2/3 pro-OSU crowd in round #2 to face the 'Ville. Should be interesting.

[mauchow]

Wisconsin got a huge break avoiding a 1/2 matchup in the second round. But they've got an seemingly coming together 'Noles team. We stop their stud guard, Douglas, we should have no problem coming out on top. The only thing the Badgers HAVE to do is make sure they're not winning by about five with three minutes to go because they Badgers are a lock to lose that game. They've lost those games all year long thanks to the guard play of Hughes in most cases. If Hughes is on this game there is very good chance the Badgers win. If Hughes is off, Bohannon will have to go off(20+ points), which I don't see happening. It's one of the more interesting first round matchups, imo.

Go Wisconsin!

[RainMaker]

Couple higher seeds to keep an eye on:

Portland State - They have a couple solid players and are no cake walk. Beat Gonzaga this year soundly and almost took out Washington.

North Dakota State - Really fundamentally sound team that have 4 guys on the court that can hit 3's at any time. They took USC down to the wire and I think could be one of the odd sleepers that hangs around with Kansas for a half. The game is also in the Twin Cities which has a ton of NDSU alumni and isn't a far drive. This could be a home game for NDSU.

[DeToxRox]

F NoDak State. No way they beat OU with Derrick Nelson playing. Kid is a stud. Can't wait to see them next year when he is back and ready to go.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Nice to see the committee stick it to UCLA. You would think having the chairman of the selection committee would help, but it obviously didn't. Now the UCLA upset is the trendy pick.

What are UCLA's strengths/weaknesses?

VCU will matchup well against a team that doesn't have a lot of weight in the front court and cannot man-up on guards well. Also if a team has problems with the press, VCU will eat them alive.

They do a few things very well:

A) Larry Sanders (their C) is a blocking machine. He has a giant wing-span and loves to get highlight real blocks.

B) Eric Maynor is considered by many to be one of the top PG's in the country. He's not a pure shooter, but his dribble drive creates havock. So if you can't man up and keep him from penetrating he'll give you hell.

C) Full Court Press. They use the full court press all game and are quite good at it.


So, depending on how UCLA is built (I really don't know West Coast teams well) then I think there is a reason for an upset pick. It's not often that a mid-major has two NBA potential players (Maynor is a senior and is getting some consideration as a draft pick and Sanders is a Sophomore with a lot of upset that could make him an NBA draftee after his senior year).

[Lathum]

just looking at some interesting opening round betting lines

Obviously Vegas felt Arizona deserved to get in, they are a 1 point favorite over Utah

Duke, a 2 seed is a bigger favorite over their opponent then Pitt or uConn.

Vegas doesn't buy into the VCU hype, UCLA is favored by 7. In fact, Vegas seems to like the PAC 10. All 6 teams are favored. Including CAL and USC over ACC teams, Arizona as a 12 over a 5, and UW by 5 over the SEC champ. As the other 5 seed go Perdue is an 8 point fav, Illinoi 4.5 and Fl St by 3.

Of the 3 conferences that got 7 teams

5 ACC teams are favorites
All 7 Big East teams are/ will be favorites
4 Big 10 teams are favorites

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

West Virginia is one of those teams that either they're on, in which case NOBODY is beating them, or they're off, in which case they can still beat you with defense. Dayton is a bad offensive team, no doubt about it, but they whipped Marquette this year by making it an up-and-down athletic game, which most teams since then have been smart to try and avoid.

That is a pretty good assessment of WVU, especially over the past couple weeks of the season with Ebanks really coming on. They played poorly against Louisville and stayed within 3 and again had a poor showing against Syracuse in the BE tournament and still got it into OT. Dayton still scares me, though. They deserved a higher seed.

A point on Huggins being a "bad tournament coach" (which seems to have Doug Gottlieb as a primary source): The rumor is that he spent part of his year away from coaching in rehab for alcohol and has been more focused and a much better coach than he was the last 5-7 years in Cincy since. (He made a final four and 2 elite 8s from 1992 to 1996 and only had a single sweet 16 from 97-05, though at least one year of underachieving can be chalked up to Kenyon Martin's broken leg.)

It's hard to say if that's true, but I've been impressed with Huggins as a bench coach. Based on what I saw of the Cincinnati teams, I thought he'd be more of a recruiter/motivator, but he seems like a pretty good coach all the way around. Looking at the win over Pitt for some examples of what I'm talking about: Early on WVU posted up with whomever Levance Fields was covering for some easy layups and late in the game Huggins switched to a 1-3-1 zone that really confused the Pitt offense.

Dayton is still capable of pulling off the upset. I just don't see it happening because of a bad coaching job by Huggins.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Lathum

just looking at some interesting opening round betting lines

Obviously Vegas felt Arizona deserved to get in, they are a 1 point favorite over Utah

Duke, a 2 seed is a bigger favorite over their opponent then Pitt or uConn.

Vegas doesn't buy into the VCU hype, UCLA is favored by 7. In fact, Vegas seems to like the PAC 10. All 6 teams are favored. Including CAL and USC over ACC teams, Arizona as a 12 over a 5, and UW by 5 over the SEC champ. As the other 5 seed go Perdue is an 8 point fav, Illinoi 4.5 and Fl St by 3.

Of the 3 conferences that got 7 teams

5 ACC teams are favorites
All 7 Big East teams are/ will be favorites
4 Big 10 teams are favorites

The VCU line makes sense. It's a 6 vs. 11. I don't think anyone is saying they are favored to win, but as far as upsets go they seem like the most likely upset - that doesn't translate into being favored.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by wade moore

The VCU line makes sense. It's a 6 vs. 11. I don't think anyone is saying they are favored to win, but as far as upsets go they seem like the most likely upset - that doesn't translate into being favored.

I wouldn't expect them to be favored, but there are alot of other matchups with smaller spreads

[JonInMiddleGA]

Hope nobody had Kickingstallionsims in their Top Gun squad.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by timmynausea

Dayton is still capable of pulling off the upset. I just don't see it happening because of a bad coaching job by Huggins.

I don't think Huggins is a bad coach... you don't win 30 games a year at Cincinnati that way. But his tournament credentials are not good... yes, he snuck up on some people for a couple years at UC, but he had some crazy good talent then.

I could see UD sneaking out a 2 point win, or losing by 30. Just hoping for the Flyers to keep it close and somehow gut out a win. They are something like 10-1 in games decided by 5 points or less, so WVU better hope for the "win by 30" route.

[sterlingice]

So I've been looking at some of the more "exotic" picking stuff- like the guy who CBS has on their page talking about upsets (Tiernan, I think). I've been seeing more and more of this type of analysis over the past 2 to 3 years- it's kindof a "pigeonholing" of upset types. If you're a 12, you'll upset a 5 one way but if you're an 11, you upset teams another way.

It's as if I could make a list and set up conditions like if you're an 11, you need to be good at playing on Thursdays and in the mountain time zone and have good guards but if you're a 12, you need to be in a city with a greater than 1 in 1000 per capita of sushi restaurants, play in a conference that starts with a letter in the first half of the alphabet, and have good strong forwards.

It just seems like a really flawed model in my mind and I'm starting to see a lot of these. The numbers and credentials are arbitrary and it's more like using hindsight to collect some only some select facts and predict the future and using only those. It's seems so counter to the stats that you see especially in baseball where a whole body of work is chosen and attempted to be quantified before trying to make a prediction.

Let me go dig up the link:
Bracket Science: The anatomy of an upset - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com News, Fantasy, Video I mean, I like some of the broad strokes the guy uses at first but then we start in on this silly pigeonholing. He has another article like that on CBS, but I don't have the link handy.

SI

[sterlingice]

Every year, there are a few trap games that make or break brackets. My thoughts on ones for this year:

North Carolina-Gonzaga: That bottom half of the bracket is a mess and this one is for the F4.

Louisville-Michigan St: Like I said above, they just seem like they're on a collision course in the midwest.

Memphis-Mizzou: If UConn survives to the E8, I think the winner here takes them out

Arizona St-Syracuse: Winner has a good shot at the E8.

Utah-Arizona : For some reason, I just see Wake primed for an upset and that's if they get past Cleveland State.

Also, a couple of thoughts based on "common knowledge"

1) VCU is no lock to beat UCLA. I don't like any of the 11s over 6s this year.

2) People have fallen in love with Florida State and Syracuse after their conference tourney performances. I think Syracuse, in particular, is badly overseeded. But the problem is I could see that half of the South bracket fall apart as I mentioned above.

3) The more and more I want to mark UConn down for an early exit, the harder I have a problem seeing who can do it. That part of their bracket is just fluffy. I would pick their 8/9 over any other and is anyone scared of Purdue or Washington?

4) If Lawson is really gimpy or unable to play, aren't you scared of putting North Carolina even past the winner of LSU/Butler?

5) The more and more that I look at it, the more and more I'm scared of KU's game with West Virginia. I'm not overly worried about North Dakota State but I don't think WVU has much to worry about with Dayton either- it's a good matchup for them.

SI

[Radii]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Utah-Arizona : For some reason, I just see Wake primed for an upset and that's if they get past Cleveland State.

If Wake gets by the first two rounds i think they'll make the final four. Against the best of teams they seem to play like a top 5 team. Against anyone else, they are wildly inconsistent. Not suprising for a team led by underclassmen I suppose. I won't be surprised if they lose to cleveland state but if they get out of the first weekend I think they've got a real shot at Louisville.

4) If Lawson is really gimpy or unable to play, aren't you scared of putting North Carolina even past the winner of LSU/Butler?

Yes Lawson played ok while hurt against Duke, but he was noticeably slowed, he wasn't able to blow by the entire other team for layups like he is normally able to do 4-5 times a game. I suspect he'll sit for round 1 and play vs LSU/Butler, but won't be full strength. That should be enough in the 2nd round barring a meltdown but then Gonzaga scares the hell out of me without a full strength lawson.

[Lathum]

[quote]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Every year, there are a few trap games that make or break brackets. My thoughts on ones for this year:

North Carolina-Gonzaga: That bottom half of the bracket is a mess and this one is for the F4.

I pretty much agree, unless OK can revert back to the way they were before the Griffen injury.

Louisville-Michigan St: Like I said above, they just seem like they're on a collision course in the midwest.

I just don't get the MSU love. Yes Izzo is a great coach, but I think the Big 10 is overrated and the times I have seen MSU play they have a tendancy to let teams hang around. I see alot of teams on their side giving them problems. KU and USC are athletic and WVU has come together of late and wont be intimidated by anyone.

Memphis-Mizzou: If UConn survives to the E8, I think the winner here takes them out

I think with the D Memphis plays they are in good shape to win this bracket

Arizona St-Syracuse: Winner has a good shot at the E8.

I think the potential AZ st- 'Cuse matchup is a great one. Az State has 2 amazing players and 'Cuse is a good team with great guardplay, alot of good matchups.

Utah-Arizona : For some reason, I just see Wake primed for an upset and that's if they get past Cleveland State.

I think with the number of scorers Arizona has they can give most teams problems, the problem is they have underachieved all year.

Also, a couple of thoughts based on "common knowledge"

1) VCU is no lock to beat UCLA. I don't like any of the 11s over 6s this year.

I think UCLA will blow them out

2) People have fallen in love with Florida State and Syracuse after their conference tourney performances. I think Syracuse, in particular, is badly overseeded. But the problem is I could see that half of the South bracket fall apart as I mentioned above.

Good guardplay seems to get rewarded

3) The more and more I want to mark UConn down for an early exit, the harder I have a problem seeing who can do it. That part of their bracket is just fluffy. I would pick their 8/9 over any other and is anyone scared of Purdue or Washington?

I have watch alot of UW basketball being a student there. They could actualy give UConn problems. Jon Brockman is a beast inside and can get Thabeet into foul trouble and UConn isn't the same team without them. They also have alot of guys who can score and a deep bench. The problem is they may not get past Perdue. I can see Perdue slowing the game down and UW and their freshman PG getting impatient

4) If Lawson is really gimpy or unable to play, aren't you scared of putting North Carolina even past the winner of LSU/Butler?

no

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I think with the D Memphis plays they are in good shape to win this bracket

This comment about Memphis has always confused me. Here are the defensive rankings for the top 4 teams in this bracket.......

National Defensive Efficiency Ranking

Memphis - #1
Connecticut - #3
Missouri - #8
Washington - #11

As you can see, Memphis is in fact #1, but there are 4 of the top 11 defenses in this bracket alone. It's not like Memphis is going to be playing a bunch of offense-first teams. They're going up against three top seeds who have posted great defensive numbers in far tougher conferences than Memphis.

Just as telling could be the offense rankings of the same 4 teams.

National Offensive Efficiency Ranking

Missouri - #18
Connecticut - #19
Washington - #37
Memphis - #38

Memphis has the worst offensive ranking of the top 4 seeds in that bracket, despite playing in a weaker conference than the other three teams. I really think Memphis and their defense aren't nearly the advantage in this bracket that most people think it is.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I just don't get the MSU love. Yes Izzo is a great coach, but I think the Big 10 is overrated and the times I have seen MSU play they have a tendancy to let teams hang around. I see alot of teams on their side giving them problems. KU and USC are athletic and WVU has come together of late and wont be intimidated by anyone.

+1

Of course, I could be off because the games I remember watching of theirs they got drilled by Purdue and Ohio State.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

2) People have fallen in love with Florida State and Syracuse after their conference tourney performances. I think Syracuse, in particular, is badly overseeded. But the problem is I could see that half of the South bracket fall apart as I mentioned above.

I'm somewhat torn on Syracuse. They have really underperformed and played unmotivated often the last few years. Boeheim has seemingly mailed it in since winning the championship with Carmelo. No team in college basketball has played less hungry.

Then again, they do have something like 7 McDonalds All-Americans right now, and Flynn is an awesome point guard. The effort was suddenly there at the end of the year, and this team is much more talented than the Gerry Macnamara team that won the Big East tourney and got knocked out early.

I guess I must think they'll finally go somewhere as I picked both Flynn and Devendorf for my Top Gun team. Then again, I won't be shocked if they get knocked out in the 1st or 2nd round. And I don't think I'd shed any tears, either.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

This comment about Memphis has always confused me. Here are the defensive rankings for the top 4 teams in this bracket.......



As you can see, Memphis is in fact #1, but there are 4 of the top 11 defenses in this bracket alone. It's not like Memphis is going to be playing a bunch of offense-first teams. They're going up against three top seeds who have posted great defensive numbers in far tougher conferences than Memphis.

Just as telling could be the offense rankings of the same 4 teams.



Memphis has the worst offensive ranking of the top 4 seeds in that bracket, despite playing in a weaker conference than the other three teams. I really think Memphis and their defense aren't nearly the advantage in this bracket that most people think it is.

I think you need to throw out most of what UConn has done this year, they haven't been the same without Dyson. I admitidly don't know much about Mizzu. I have watched alot of UW games. Thomas is a youn PG who has turned the ball over in bad spots at times and Memphis is a team that can capitilize on that. IMO

[Radii]

I think Mizzou can really give Memphis a great game if they can avoid one of their 20% shooting first halves. I've picked Memphis to win in any pool I've entered but I think Mizzou has a legit shot.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Radii

I think Mizzou can really give Memphis a great game if they can avoid one of their 20% shooting first halves. I've picked Memphis to win in any pool I've entered but I think Mizzou has a legit shot.

I think I am a little sour on Mizzou because the only games I saw them in were a blow out to A&M and one to KU. They have alot of wins, but looking at their OOC schedule it isn't very impressive. They lost to the 2 best teams they played ( Xavier, Illinois) and their best win was USC and crushing Cal.

I am by no stretch an expert on them, they just don't seem as impressive on paper.

[muns]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I think I am a little sour on Mizzou because the only games I saw them in were a blow out to A&M and one to KU. They have alot of wins, but looking at their OOC schedule it isn't very impressive. They lost to the 2 best teams they played ( Xavier, Illinois) and their best win was USC and crushing Cal.

I am by no stretch an expert on them, they just don't seem as impressive on paper.

Ya but you know they are gonna bring that "D" and at this level to me thats a nice wildcard to throw into the tourney mix as most of these teams dont get pressed like that, ever......

[Lathum]

not sure if anyone cares but Obamas picks

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/entry?entryID=2813746

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Lathum

not sure if anyone cares but Obamas picks

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/entry?entryID=2813746

He's won my vote for re-election in 2012.

[SnDvls]

is there a FOFC yahoo tournament group set up somewhere?

[LloydLungs]

The President is not exactly going out on a limb with those picks, but we have identical Final Fours at least.

[wade moore]

On the UCLA-VCU game..

A blowout by UCLA would surprise me. They play very good defense.

I still think they have a solid shot to win and regardless of win/lose I believe they will keep it close.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

The President is not exactly going out on a limb with those picks, but we have identical Final Fours at least.

you'll get my vote in 2012 as well then, if you're up for anything I can vote for.

[Danny]

Is there anyone not picking Louisville, Pitt, NC and Memphis? You'd think there would be a surprise final four team, but I can't pick against those 4 myself.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by SnDvls

is there a FOFC yahoo tournament group set up somewhere?

Free Yahoo Tournament pick em - Front Office Football Central

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Danny

Is there anyone not picking Louisville, Pitt, NC and Memphis? You'd think there would be a surprise final four team, but I can't pick against those 4 myself.

No matter which of my brackets you look at, you don't see that combo.

Louisville, UConn, Duke, UNC in one bracket.
Louisville, UConn, Duke, Oklahoma in the other.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

No matter which of my brackets you look at, you don't see that combo.

Louisville, UConn, Duke, UNC in one bracket.
Louisville, UConn, Duke, Oklahoma in the other.

I don't see Duke getting anywhere near the final 4 unless someone else knocks off Pitt . If they get to the Elite 8 and play Pitt they will get manhandled by them.

I honestly don't think Duke gets past Texas.

[Lathum]

In my 2 money pools I have

Louisville, Pitt, Memphis, UNC
Louisvills, Memphis, Gonzaga, Pitt

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I don't see Duke getting anywhere near the final 4 unless someone else knocks off Pitt . If they get to the Elite 8 and play Pitt they will get manhandled by them. I honestly don't think Duke gets past Texas.

{shrug} I had to pick somebody and I just ain't feeling it for Pitt. Hell, if you really want your mind blown the Duke bracket I mentioned has them losing the final to Louisville.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Danny

Is there anyone not picking Louisville, Pitt, NC and Memphis? You'd think there would be a surprise final four team, but I can't pick against those 4 myself.

Wake Forest, UConn, Pitt, UNC

I'm an ACC Homer. But I think Louisville(pending a healthy lawson) is the most likely 1 seed to miss the final four, and as I've said elsewhere, if Wake doesn't bomb out in the first weekend, I think they give Louisville a hell of a game, they absolutely play up to the level of the better teams that they face.

[Tigercat]

Originally Posted by Radii

Wake Forest, UConn, Pitt, UNC

I'm an ACC Homer. But I think Louisville(pending a healthy lawson) is the most likely 1 seed to miss the final four, and as I've said elsewhere, if Wake doesn't bomb out in the first weekend, I think they give Louisville a hell of a game, they absolutely play up to the level of the better teams that they face.

I was begining to think I was the only one high on Wake making a run into the final 4. (Although looking at your location... ) For the most part I see it as a tourny dictated by low post scoring more than normal.

I've got Wake, UConn, Pitt, Oklahoma; Oklahoma beating UConn in the final.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Radii

Wake Forest, UConn, Pitt, UNC

I'm an ACC Homer. But I think Louisville(pending a healthy lawson) is the most likely 1 seed to miss the final four, and as I've said elsewhere, if Wake doesn't bomb out in the first weekend, I think they give Louisville a hell of a game, they absolutely play up to the level of the better teams that they face.

I think Wake is a risk because they can't shoot. Everyone is going to play zone against them like Maryland did. I just don't know how far a team can get when they don't shoot well in the tournament. I think they are a Sweet 16 team and that's it.

[Ramzavail]

Just as a side bar, I think this is the best college BB stat site I've ever seen.

hxxp://kenpom.com/rate.php

[JonInMiddleGA]

Media Life Magazine - On CBS, let March Madness begin

The men’s NCAA basketball tournament tips off in earnest today at noon on CBS, after Tuesday’s inconsequential play-in game, with two top seeds in action and many traditional powers, including North Carolina and Duke, favored to do well.

Whether the tourney will draw higher ratings this year, with money-strapped viewers looking for cheap entertainment, remains to be seen, though it’s generally the storylines that draw in more people. When popular teams like UNC and the Blue Devils do well, ratings tend to rise, despite the perception that Cinderella teams fuel strong ratings. (They don’t.)

Last year 136.8 million people tuned in to at least one minute of the tourney, and 24.6 million households watched some portion of the first-round games. All told, 56 million households tuned into at least a few minutes of a March Madness game, according to Nielsen.

The company also found that, over the past five years, Louisville has been the biggest regional NCAA viewer. The market has generated an average rating of 19.0 for the tourney, six full points ahead of second-place Raleigh-Durham, home to Duke and North Carolina. Memphis, Cincinnati and Columbus round out the top five hoops markets.

African-American households are also more likely to tune into the game than the average household. Since 2004, black households have had a 28 percent higher rating for March Madness than the national average, including up 35 percent last year.

As for which teams would score the biggest ratings for the final, CBS should be cheering for a team from Michigan. The top three most-watched finals – 1979, 1992 and 1993 – all featured a Michigan team, either the Wolverines or the Spartans. Both teams made this year’s tourney.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Radii

He's won my vote for re-election in 2012.

Coach K apparantly does not hold the same opinion.......

Duke Coach to Obama: Worry About the Economy, Not NCAA Picks