Re: March Madness Thread

by Geezaldinho Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:31 pm

Which leads us to...

Which will be the first WCC team to march into history?

by Guest Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:36 pm

PurpleGeezer wrote:Which will be the first WCC team to march into history?

Wouldn't it be third? USF went back-to-back in the 50s, didn't they?

by Geezaldinho Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:51 pm

Umm...

I meant this year...marching backwards.

by Guest Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:52 pm

PurpleGeezer wrote:Umm...

I meant this year...marching backwards.

Good lord...I should have gone back to lurk mode when I said I was going to. Carry on!

by ShipstadPilot11 Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:11 pm

DeanMurdoch wrote:Good lord...I should have gone back to lurk mode when I said I was going to. Carry on!

I disagree. Keep posting! Fresh blood and new perspectives keep the internet afloat.

by Guest Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:29 am

So, with Cal losing their play-in game, I guess you could say that the PAC-12 is really only a one bid league. And the WCC is a three bid league. The real tournament starts today! Go WCC!

by pilotram Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:35 pm

Southern Miss bringing their finest fans to the game.
https://youtu.be/w7FnxjfLXkY

by ShipstadPilot11 Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:37 pm

pilotram wrote:Southern Miss bringing their finest fans to the game.
https://youtu.be/w7FnxjfLXkY

Stay classy, Mississippi.

by Guest Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:50 pm

GU shoots 9 - 17 from 3PT, while West Virginia shoots 3 - 17. Zags roll to an 18 point halftime lead and a 23 point victory. WVU supposedly had a home court advantage in Pittsburgh; not much help.

by PurplePrideTrumpet Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:59 pm

up7587 wrote:GU shoots 9 - 17 from 3PT, while West Virginia shoots 3 - 17. Zags roll to an 18 point halftime lead and a 23 point victory. WVU supposedly had a home court advantage in Pittsburgh; not much help.

Thanks a lot West Virginia.

Louisville-Davidson: Pretty boring really. Davidson couldn't buy a shot, missed all kinds of open looks, but Louisville wasn't that great either. They did enough to keep a double-digit lead most of the second half but didn't look really impressive.

New Mexico-Long Beach State: Very even matchup. The lead stayed around 2 or 3 most of the second half. Long Beach couldn't hit some shots at the end, NM made their FTs and it was closer than the 75-68 final.

Wichita State-VCU: The one I was most excited for. Both teams delivered. VCU used its pressure D to get out to a big lead, Wichita State came all the way back to go ahead with 2:00 to go, teams traded baskets, VCU scored their last possession, WSU didn't. Awesome game, just amazing. I don't mean to be a jerk but if I had to endure all the bad basketball I saw this year to be rewarded with that, it was worth it.

Indiana-New Mexico State: IU had too much talent for the Aggies. We've all seen this game before, where the favored team was just too good for the lower seed. Moving on...

Now the stuff I really care about: the bands. Wink

Best fight song: NMSU. Sounds like something from a Western, very catchy.

Best repertoire: LBSU. They started with a brilliant "In the Stone" and the rest of their charts were just as fabulous. "F[orget] You," "Make Me Smile," "Jesus Christ Superstar," the list goes on and on...

Best sound: VCU. Pure power from all their sections and lots of energy. Their arrangement of the Hey song is the most unique I've heard.

Underwhelming: Louisville. I expected more from a big program but they weren't that loud and their charts weren't all that exciting.

In summary, a great day and night at the Rose Garden. I'll be back Saturday cheering VCU on to the Sweet Sixteen. You can probably go too if you want; the scalpers had huge stacks of tickets and there were tons of empty seats in the upper level. A lack of Pac-12 or WCC teams I think.

by DoubleDipper Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:30 pm

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Now the stuff I really care about: the bands.

Best repertoire: LBSU. They started with a brilliant "In the Stone" and the rest of their charts were just as fabulous. "F[orget] You," "Make Me Smile," "Jesus Christ Superstar," the list goes on and on...

Best sound: VCU. Pure power from all their sections and lots of energy. Their arrangement of the Hey song is the most unique I've heard.

Seriously, I love the PPPB, and that it plays at the men's and women's games. BUT, can't we punch it up a little too!? Good music from PPPB, no doubt! But a repertoire like that of The Beach Band is something we should be striving for.

Let's face it, after Dr. C's passing, PPPB doesn't have a unique physical personality; it should have a unique style!!

What can we fans/civilians do to help make that happen?

by DoubleDipper Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:55 pm

Musings..........

Watched a minimum of the last 12 minutes of all 16 games today (watched all of the GU game), and saw some really good stuff. BTW, I generally mute the TV. Why anyone would want to hear all the commentators talk about themselves for over two hours, I’ll never know.

It is obvious that the Pilots have a long way to go to match any of these tournament teams, but I would sure like get there one more time before it’s too late for some of us fossils. There’s just great excitement and school spirit, and a much higher level of urgency and play when your school is at the Dance. I was at the ’96 game when we lost to Villanova; the result wasn’t good, but our guys left it all on the court and it’s an experience they’ll never forget.

One downside to being part of the PilotNation Bracket: I quickly made my picks early on, speculating who would win, but I should have picked who I wanted to win; it would have been a lot more fun to watch the games without being conflicted as to the outcome! I was rooting all the way for Iowa State, but picked UCONN to win; well, we know UCONN won't win next year either. (Oh, excuse me, Rafferty said something about UCONN appealing their exclusion next year because of poor academic performance – that’s when, doing my best imitation of MesaPilot1, I yelled, “Yea, who's smart enough at UCONN to write an appeal!!??”) The TV was muted the rest of the day.

by mattywizz Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:01 am

DoubleDipper wrote:One downside to being part of the PilotNation Bracket: I quickly made my picks early on, speculating who would win, but I should have picked who I wanted to win;

That's the opposite theory I use in fantasy sports et. al. Pick teams/players I don't like, that way if they do well I am happy because it helps my fantasy team. If they do poorly I am also happy because it doesn't hurt my favorite teams.

by ShipstadPilot11 Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:11 am

mattywizz wrote:
DoubleDipper wrote:One downside to being part of the PilotNation Bracket: I quickly made my picks early on, speculating who would win, but I should have picked who I wanted to win;

That's the opposite theory I use in fantasy sports et. al. Pick teams/players I don't like, that way if they do well I am happy because it helps my fantasy team. If they do poorly I am also happy because it doesn't hurt my favorite teams.

Basically the same for me. I avoid picking players from teams that I like (although very few Mariners have fantasy relevance, anyway) and that way, I'm happy if the Mariners do well and, if my fantasy players are playing against them, I'm happy if they don't.

by mattywizz Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:25 am

DoubleDipper wrote: BTW, I generally mute the TV. Why anyone would want to hear all the commentators talk about themselves for over two hours, I’ll never know.

If Gus Johnson still worked for CBS I know which games you would not be muting.

by PurplePrideTrumpet Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:35 am

mattywizz wrote:
DoubleDipper wrote:One downside to being part of the PilotNation Bracket: I quickly made my picks early on, speculating who would win, but I should have picked who I wanted to win;

That's the opposite theory I use in fantasy sports et. al. Pick teams/players I don't like, that way if they do well I am happy because it helps my fantasy team. If they do poorly I am also happy because it doesn't hurt my favorite teams.

That's why I don't do fantasy sports either.

by DoubleDipper Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:56 pm

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:That's why I don't do fantasy sports either.

Nor I. If I'm not ALL-IN, I don't want to do it! cherry

by PurplePrideTrumpet Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:23 am

Well I'd say today was rather more interesting...

by PurplePrideTrumpet Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:13 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:
PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Now the stuff I really care about: the bands.

Best repertoire: LBSU. They started with a brilliant "In the Stone" and the rest of their charts were just as fabulous. "F[orget] You," "Make Me Smile," "Jesus Christ Superstar," the list goes on and on...

Best sound: VCU. Pure power from all their sections and lots of energy. Their arrangement of the Hey song is the most unique I've heard.
Seriously, I love the PPPB, and that it plays at the men's and women's games. BUT, can't we punch it up a little too!? Good music from PPPB, no doubt! But a repertoire like that of The Beach Band is something we should be striving for.

Let's face it, after Dr. C's passing, PPPB doesn't have a unique physical personality; it should have a unique style!!

What can we fans/civilians do to help make that happen?

I think it goes back to the students. The ones in the band reflect the student body as a whole. They don't get into the game, they don't start chants, and they react to what's happening on the court instead of getting behind the team and getting the crowd fired up. Oh, we're winning? Cool! Oh, we're behind now? Uh, let's go! Or something, wait I have a text coming in...

It extends to the playing. If the VCU band got any camera time you'd have seen a group with swagger and boundless energy. They knew they were good and showed it (in a positive way). Just looking at them you could see they were behind the Rams 100% the whole 40 minutes.

In Kenny Ocker's Mid-Majority recap of the VCU-Wichita State game he talked to a tuba player. I think there's some interesting comments regarding repertoire in there that could apply to us as well:

[WSU's band has] got to get out of that 'band in a box' sound," Peyton says. "It's not their fault, but a lot of these schools that are in the middle of the country haven't gotten into the modern music.

Thing is, we've got the charts already. "In the Stone," "I Like Your Style," "Lucretia MacEvil," "Make Me Smile": all of these are in the book but we don't pull them out because they're not easy. But to sound like VCU you have to challenge the students and get them to practice their pep band music as hard as they practice their concert band pieces. And from what I hear our current director has made excellent strides with the concert band. When there's only one or two pep band rehearsals before the season it's difficult to get the members to learn new music. In-season rehearsals might help but you're asking for more of a time commitment than they already give with games.

I know this was a long post, but my friends and I put a lot of work into keeping our spot as the top pep band in the WCC and I want to make sure we stay there. Phil believed even if you didn't have the best team you could have the best band and I believe that too.

by PurplePrideTrumpet Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:24 pm

Also, Kenny, DJ Sherman, and I were all at the games this weekend. If you go to Kenny's game story you'll see a link to my recap at the bottom.

Here's Kenny's recaps for the other three. Again, links to my posts are at the bottom of each:

Davidson-Louisville

Long Beach State-New Mexico

New Mexico State-Indiana

by Guest Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:59 pm

How was the PPPB formed for Las Vegas. Obviously most (all?) the alum members could not be there, due to cost, work committments, etc. Were the students there all regular members all season, or did they call in reinforcements?

Several other schools had pretty energetic student bands in LV, which I presume was their regular pep band.

by PurplePrideTrumpet Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:35 am

up7587 wrote:How was the PPPB formed for Las Vegas. Obviously most (all?) the alum members could not be there, due to cost, work committments, etc. Were the students there all regular members all season, or did they call in reinforcements?

Several other schools had pretty energetic student bands in LV, which I presume was their regular pep band.

Students get their trip paid for. Community members have to get themselves down there, which some have done in the past.

For the regular season most of the members are divided into group A and group B and alternate games. Key players like community members play all the games. For big games like Gonzaga or BYU, the whole band is scheduled. So all the students there were regular members, but not all of them were at every regular season game.

by Guest Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:16 pm

So, if Xavier and Cincinnati, who are both in the Sweet 16, make it through to the championship game, will Michael Buffer do the introductions?

by Guest Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:56 pm

I haven't been following this conversation (my bad). But, here is a Canzano piece on Oregon-based basketball with a tiny tiny tiny UP mention. We Pilot fans apparently deserve better from our team, as Canzano puts it.

I will let you all chew over his words...

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2012/03/canzano_ncaa_tournaments_retur.html

by oldtimer Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:27 pm

RipCityPilot wrote:I haven't been following this conversation (my bad). But, here is a Canzano piece on Oregon-based basketball with a tiny tiny tiny UP mention. We Pilot fans apparently deserve better from our team, as Canzano puts it.

I will let you all chew over his words...

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2012/03/canzano_ncaa_tournaments_retur.html

Not impressed with his line of thinking. There is a reason there are 68 teams and not 300+ in the tournament. Even the last two seasons for UP, which were 20+ wins the team was a far cry from the NCAA tournament. NIT? nope CIT? yep. Does that mean the fans were "cheated"?? I think not. While it would be fantastic if the team went to the "dance" I dont think it diminishes all the effort the players put forth making this game enjoyable for us to watch.