Bracket Pool

Blacksheep has a commanding lead, riding the back of Kansas. It hasn't hurt that KU has played the #16, #12, #9 seeds, and has #11 next. If they win that, they'll face #8 Butler. Has any team ever had an easier path to the championship game?

mattywizz wrote:I would just like to thank R54 for taking up the rear yet again.

Without a bottom there would be nothing to hold up the top.

I'm pretty sure Blacksheep has wrapped up the title. I am also pretty sure that free rent from blacksheep is going to expose me to a lot of bragging and talk of the bucket o beer.

On the bright side, should Kansas lose, I am not alone in last place...wizzy will join me!!

Rochin54 wrote:I am also pretty sure that free rent from blacksheep is going to expose me to a lot of bragging and talk of the bucket o beer.

Yep.....he's a Slum Lord

You live with Donald Sterling?

up7587 wrote:Blacksheep has a commanding lead, riding the back of Kansas. It hasn't hurt that KU has played the #16, #12, #9 seeds, and has #11 next. If they win that, they'll face #8 Butler. Has any team ever had an easier path to the championship game?

I'm not sure why any team would want to face either Butler; that team has a lot of will power and the highest basketball IQ of any team left. Kentucky's perimeter defense is going to dominate UNC today; that's my prediction.

I'm really proud of myself. I did better than random coin flips on my selections.

Butler vs. VCU. This should give us hope as UP fans...or give hope to any mid major team for that matter...

Rochin54 wrote:I'm pretty sure Blacksheep has wrapped up the title. I am also pretty sure that free rent from blacksheep is going to expose me to a lot of bragging and talk of the bucket o beer.

On the bright side, should Kansas lose, I am not alone in last place...wizzy will join me!!

Yep, with UConn's win yesterday, I locked it up. I was still hoping to get some more points out of Kansas, but at least now you're not alone in last place.

It's going to be the best tasting Bud Light I've ever had

So...it's over early. Nobody even has any possible points left. I think this years brackets might just be the lowest scores as a group I've ever seen. I almost picked Butler to make the Elite 8 and lose to Florida...and then I was feeling pretty good that I only picked them to win 1 game after they beat Old Dominion. Now I'm feeling pretty dumb about it.

onetouchfutbol wrote:Butler vs. VCU. This should give us hope as UP fans...or give hope to any mid major team for that matter...

Luckily the BCS doesn't run basketball, otherwise this matchup would never be allowed to happen.

The BCS might WANT the matchup avoid an all mid- major final.

Besides, the BCS does run basketball. It has a 60% vote on the selection and seeding committees by NCAA bylaw, just as they do on all other committees, even though the BCS schools comprise only about a third of D1 basketball schools.

Purplegeezer wrote:The BCS might WANT the matchup avoid an all mid- major final.

Besides, the BCS does run basketball. It has a 60% vote on the selection and seeding committees by NCAA bylaw, just as they do on all other committees, even though the BCS schools comprise only about a third of D1 basketball schools.

Good point. It's become extremely boring to watch the majority of the ESPN commentators chose the favorites to win the games round after round. Really? This is what makes you an expert... I can't wait to hear the scintillating analysis of why UConn vs. Butler will be the final game. Great games. Boring analysis. At least they are finally admitting that VCU and Butler are teams with good players...

Apparently picking teams based upon mascots really is a legit way to fill in your bracket

http://salem.katu.com/news/people/salem-librarian-wins-ncaa-bracket-contest-yahoo/439531

I'm not normally a Dick Vitale fan, but, I like his picks to win in the Final 4. I think a Kentucky vs. VCU final wouldn't shock me at all. In any case, the VCU vs. Butler team is going to have a good shot to win it all because of experience. Kentucky and UConn send far too many players to the NBA to build up much continuity and VCU and Butler are both senior laden teams.

Kentucky's perimeter defense is very, very tenacious and that might be too much for anyone else to handle... Go underdogs!

Here's an interesting Article from the Wall Street Journal suggesting what having a 64+ team tournament ala basketball might do to football.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576235191915692976.html

In addition to the points this writer made, the March Madness tournament makes the regular season less important for many schools. Major conference schools don't have to win their conference or their conference tournament, just schedule enough winnable OOC games to get a tourney invite. Kentucky was only the third best team in regular season SEC play, but who cares? With a good OOC record there was no question they were going to the tournament.

To get a BCS bowl bid, the pressure is on from game one, and every game counts. Colin Cowherd made this exact point this last week (it scares me that I agree with him). He said he doesn't bother to talk about college basketball until the first of March. But college football has critical games worth paying attention to from day one. Oregon-LSU this Fall will probably knock one pre-season top-5 team out of the Natty contention. UP could have beaten Kentucky in the Rose Garden and they'd still be playing today.

W W Winkie wrote:Here's an interesting Article from the Wall Street Journal suggesting what having a 64+ team tournament ala basketball might do to football.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576235191915692976.html

I couldn't disagree more with the writer. For starters, yes, I love underdogs...and there is no proof whatsoever that the BCS system works for college football. Someone gets excluded every year, and we still don't have true champions. Winning in sports is about overcoming pressure packed situations, and college football won't give us that without a tournament. Plus, college bowl games are corrupted by money. Lousy 6-6 teams get into bowl games if they can draw enough fans. I believe that the best teams can handle the pressure of a one and done system and still come out on top.

One-and-done tournaments bring us the best drama in sports: the World Cup in soccer and the NCAA tournament. Other sports events suffer from being too damn predictable. How often does the home team lose in game 7 of the NBA playoffs? Almost never. Why is the Super Bowl often called the Super Bore? It's because it often is worse than the games that came before it. Tournaments add drama, and that's their strength. I want to watch David beat Goliath.

How is World Cup a one-and-done tournament? There's group play, goal differential, teams playing for a tie to get through, etc.

up7587 wrote:How is World Cup a one-and-done tournament? There's group play, goal differential, teams playing for a tie to get through, etc.

Well, obviously it is not that way at the group play stage, however, it changes later on. My point is that tournaments are something that make sports entertaining and unpredictable. Even in the group stage, the lesser known US team beat out England to advance further on. In the NCAA tourney, we get to see the 12 vs. the 5. Yes, Boise State over Oklahoma was a great upset in a bowl game, but, overall college football is lacking the same kind of drama that a championship tournament would bring. I dislike feeling like I know what the outcome is going to be in sports before it happens because of homefield or homecourt advantage or because the home team almost always wins game 7 (in the NBA).

Anyone who looks at this year's NCAA tournament and uses it as evidence that the best teams don't always make the final so a tourney would not be good for college football (and the BCS system works) is kind of missing the boat of what sports should be in my opinion. Everyone knows that the best teams in the NCAA are losing players to the NBA, but, no one is admitting that the senior-laden mid major teams like Butler might actually be good. So, fine let's watch David beat Goliath until they start to give us mid majors some respect. I'll enjoy every minute of it.