March Madness Thread

[blazers091]

Who do you guys think are going to be strongest teams and sleepers this year? There aren't a ton of standout teams this year. I think Kansas and Kentucky are the best all around teams. N. Iowa may be a sleeper with the center they have.

 

[kdailey4315]

First of all I'm amazed at the season that Syracuse has had. Imagine how good they would be if Flynn stayed. As far as march madness I can't go against Kentucky. Guards win titles and Kentucky has the best in the country with Wall. One of my sleepers, not really a sleeper but I like Georgetown to make a deep run in the tourney.

 

[Hallsgator]

Northern Iowa is in the top 25 and has been pretty well known all year. Wouldn't really call them a sleeper.

 

[gt2590]

I love the depth of the tourney this year, and I don't think Kansas and Kentucky are that so much better than anyone.

I think there are 15 teams that could win the 6 games necessary. And Lunardi doesn't have any PAC-10 teams in at all!

I'll list UNLV, Virginia and College of Charleston as my sleepers.

 

[kdailey4315]

I love the depth of the tourney this year, and I don't think Kansas and Kentucky are that so much better than anyone.

I think there are 15 teams that could win the 6 games necessary. And Lunardi doesn't have any PAC-10 teams in at all!

I'll list UNLV, Virginia and College of Charleston as my sleepers.

That's because the PAC 10 is an absolute joke this year.

 

[KandKCards]

There should be a lot of upsets this year because the top isn't that strong. The fact that a team as weak as Purdue is in the hunt for a #1 is laughable. #1s are clear cut, IMO: Nova, KU, UK, Cuse. I am NOT on the Cuse bandwagon though, I think they're very overrated. As the second half showed yesterday, they are vulnerable against good guards. Penetrate that zone and run a lot of breaks and you should be able to beat them. If UNC were recognized as they should be (a subpar, #82 RPI team instead of as a title contender), that win would not have seemed as huge and the whole world wouldn't be on the Cuse bandwagon.

 

[sportzluvr1]

I look my for my Fighting Illini to make a Sweet 16 appearance. I think they will surprise a lot of the nay-sayers this year. They are a projected 12 seed and i can guarantee you that any 5 seed will be terrified to play them in the opening round. I also like Siena as a long shot Cinderella team.

-Gauge.

 

[minpin]

I look my for my Fighting Illini to make a Sweet 16 appearance. I think they will surprise a lot of the nay-sayers this year. They are a projected 12 seed and i can guarantee you that any 5 seed will be terrified to play them in the opening round. I also like Siena as a long shot Cinderella team.

-Gauge.

This +1. The Ilini are peaking at the right moment and no one is talking about them. The Pac 10 is weak. I'll root for my Jayhawks, but please don't overlook the Kansas State Wildcats. This is a team that will outwork anyone anytime they take the floor and with solid guard play, they can make a run. Sleepers: Cornell, Siena and College of Charleston.

 

[jeff550]

George Mason, there gonna win it all this year :lol: , i can dream right. I think Nova is gonna go all the way this year. should be fun and i cant wait

 

[jetsmets150]

I like Kentucky to win it all but for a sleeper, Maryland Terrapins. They have been dominating ACC play (although a down year for the ACC) and have a great guard in Vasquez. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in sweet 16, elite 8.

 

[fengzhang]

The media sweetheart that is Cornell just lost to a 4-15 University of Pennsylvania team. Very surprising considering last week's match up with a Harvard team that beat Boston College and only lost to Uconn by 5 was supposed to be competitive. Cornell put Harvard in its place with a 36-pt drubbing but ends up losing to Penn. Go figure. Princeton is actually on top of the Ivy League right now with a match up against Cornell tomorrow. If they lose again tomorrow, they can kiss any NCAA berth good bye.

 

[bballcardkid]

UK obviously, and in March, everyone in the country will see why Patrick Patterson is the MVP on that team.

edit: and this is coming from a UK student and fan, John Wall is probably the most over rated player in the country.

 

[andyduke86]

It's going to be awesome seeing UK suffer a devastating loss in the Tourney once they don't have the protection of SEC Refs. The Refs bailed them out 100% in the game last night. That was some of the worst officiating I've ever seen. Typical of SEC refs though. After MSU went up 67-60 with 3 minutes to go there were 10 fouls called on MSU compared to 0 against Kentucky. Some of the calls in OT were clearly phantom calls, they certainly weren't calling it the same on both ends, and the missed goal tending call was a major error.

 

[bballcardkid]

It's going to be awesome seeing UK suffer a devastating loss in the Tourney once they don't have the protection of SEC Refs. The Refs bailed them out 100% in the game last night. That was some of the worst officiating I've ever seen. Typical of SEC refs though. After MSU went up 67-60 with 3 minutes to go there were 10 fouls called on MSU compared to 0 against Kentucky. Some of the calls in OT were clearly phantom calls, they certainly weren't calling it the same on both ends, and the missed goal tending call was a major error.

The goal tend was the only one they missed that I saw. One play Patterson drew a fould which COULD have gone the other way. Vernardo's back to back fouls were the right calls even though MSU didn't think so. Trust me, UK generally does not get a favorable whistle, even in Rupp.

 

[andyduke86]

It's not so much what was being called a foul, it's that they unquestionably weren't calling it the same on both ends. In the last few minutes and in overtime there were several times when MSU guys got bumped with no call. Then there were several absolute phantom calls that went against them, like the one on Wall's 3 point play and other times when much less contact was called a foul against MSU. There's no way you could objectively watch that game and think that it was called fairly on both ends. Bottom line is that the refs saved them in the game. It's tough to win playing 5 on 8.

 

[sffanmike25]

http://vault.ncaa.com/

All NCAA Sweet 16 games-forward since 2000-01 season.