Selection Sunday's coming up, but the conference tournaments are in full swing. Syracuse narrowly defeated Georgetown in an OT thriller, advancing to the finals. Fuck the 'Cuse for helping to ruin the Big East. So much for tradition - money talks.

uPtoWnNY said:

Selection Sunday's coming up, but the conference tournaments are in full swing. Syracuse narrowly defeated Georgetown in an OT thriller, advancing to the finals. Fuck the 'Cuse for helping to ruin the Big East. So much for tradition - money talks.

I don't know why all the Big East schools couldn't be happy as just the best basketball conference in the nation, why the hell did they have to obsess over football so much. Greed I guess.

I'm so tempted to pick Louisville to go deep in the tourney, but it seems like every year I do and every year I get burned by them.

uPtoWnNY said:

Ha ha, Louisville beat the 'Cuse!!!!!!!!

Pokeno, the conference realingment in college football/basketball is all about the benjamins. That's why I detest the NCAA suits. They talk about tradition and caring for their 'student-athletes' - bullshit. These cats are about one thing - the bottom line, no different than any American business. Hypocrites.

uPtoWnNY said:

Pokeno, the conference realingment in college football/basketball is all about the benjamins. That's why I detest the NCAA suits. They talk about tradition and caring for their 'student-athletes' - bullshit. These cats are about one thing - the bottom line, no different than any American business. Hypocrites.

I know what you mean, there's huge money in college football and that's why schools such as mine (UConn) felt it was critical to build up their football program and they knew it wouldn't happen staying in the Big East. Most of those same schools already had top basketball programs (men and women) and the money they were getting for basketball was pretty damn good. It's just greed, plain and simple. UConn thought they could turn Connecticut into a football state, they were wrong.

Selection Sunday. My alma mater, St. Mary's is supposedly a bubble team. See if they make it in.

Gonzaga is so overrated. They'll be the first No. 1 seed out. Kansas, I don't know. Not sure how deep they get. Duke will make Final Four if they are in a region with Kansas.

Louisville and Indiana should get to Final Four unless Indiana has to play Wisconsin of course.

Wether it's the One and Done deal or just twenty-five plus years of players thinking they are slam dunk champs from grade school, there is no clear cut choice for the champion this year. I would like to see Gonzaga get to the Final Four this year and take it all but who can tell. Hell, I don't even know who's going to be the No# 1 pick for the draft who will help Charlotte sweep the bottom of the league again.

SUPRMAN said:

Selection Sunday. My alma mater, St. Mary's is supposedly a bubble team. See if they make it in.

Gonzaga is so overrated. They'll be the first No. 1 seed out. Kansas, I don't know. Not sure how deep they get. Duke will make Final Four if they are in a region with Kansas.

Louisville and Indiana should get to Final Four unless Indiana has to play Wisconsin of course.

Co-sign on Gonzaga, their record is usually padded because of their easy conference schedule.

My method of filling out brackets always includes analyzing each team's record against Top 10 and Top 25 teams (ranked now, not when they played them). Gonzaga's strength of schedule never compares to the beasts of the Big East or ACC or other major conferences.

Louisville is the overall number one seed in this years NCAA Basketball Tournament and will be situated in the Midwest bracket. The other number one seeds are Kansas (South), Indiana (East), and Gonzaga (West). Duke, Georgetown, Miami, and Ohio State earned the number two seeds in each bracket, and the final four at-large teams to make the tournament were Boise State, Middle Tennessee State, St. Mary's, and LaSalle. Teams that saw their bubbles burst and did not make the tournament include last year's national champion Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Iowa, and Alabama.

Printable tourney bracket can be found here.

All this leads to the Final Four in Atlanta and the national championship game two nights later, where one of the 68 teams will be crowned national champions and earn their one shining moment.

[Edited 3/17/13 18:35pm]

SavonOsco said:

I'm rooting for Miami... Would be glad to see a fresh new team going for it. I'm tired of Duke,Indiana and the usual suspects.

I have Miami losing to Louisville.

Does anybody usually run an Org online March Madness competition? Websites like CBS Sportsline offer private group competitions and it's free, the prize could be just bragging rights.

I can see a number of teams winning this years tournament, it's WIDE OPEN!

Abdul said:

I can see a number of teams winning this years tournament, it's WIDE OPEN!

No I think only one will.

SUPRMAN said:

Abdul said:

I can see a number of teams winning this years tournament, it's WIDE OPEN!

No I think only one will.

Smart Ass! LOL!

When am I going to learn to not pick Pitt in the tournament, ever. They ALWAYS disappoint.

Went 14 of 16 for the first day.

Would love to repeat that tomorrow.

I picked Harvard and Cal.

Missed on Oregon and Memphis.

It's weird how this tournament generates millions, but the cats doing the yeoman work get nothing. Everyone gets their cut (NCAA suits, schools, networks, announcers, coaches) except the players. Where else do you see that in America?

SUPRMAN said:

Went 14 of 16 for the first day.

Would love to repeat that tomorrow.

I picked Harvard and Cal.

Missed on Oregon and Memphis.

Damn that's good, better than me and I had Oregon and Cal.

uPtoWnNY said:

It's weird how this tournament generates millions, but the cats doing the yeoman work get nothing. Everyone gets their cut (NCAA suits, schools, networks, announcers, coaches) except the players. Where else do you see that in America?

Isn't that how it works for everybody who goes to school or learns a trade as an apprentice or whatever? You're not paid for the work you do, but you're getting skillz whether it be on the court or in the classroom, and those skillz will eventually get you a big payday. Yeah other people make money off you at first, but they ain't gonna give you something for nothing.

uPtoWnNY said:

It's weird how this tournament generates millions, but the cats doing the yeoman work get nothing. Everyone gets their cut (NCAA suits, schools, networks, announcers, coaches) except the players. Where else do you see that in America?

Interesting isn't it?

So far so good today, I had upsets Ole Miss and Temple. KSU gave me a heart attack but they have almost finished digging themselves out of a huge hole. If they can complete the comeback and Creighton can hold on, I'll be a happy man.

Ole Miss put THE SMACK DOWN on Wisconsin. Hotty Toddy, y'all!

And showing they are THE team of destiny, LaSalle just beat Kansas State, so Ole Miss gets a 13 seed instead of a 4 seed in the next round.

HOTTY. FREAKING. TODDY.

[img:$uid]http://media.al.com/bamabeat/photo/ole-miss-logojpg-6be80bbc55832e12_medium.jpg[/img:$uid]

Uh-oh, 2nd-seeded Georgetown is down by 10 in the second half to Florida Gulf-Coast.

LeBron James is now Tweeting about Marshall Henderson AND talking about him in interviews!

LaSalle upsets K-State and Ole Miss now faces a 13 seed in the second round. Ole Miss probably didn't even bring their home whites uniforms, LOL.

Team of Destiny!

HOTTY. FREAKING. TODDY.

[img:$uid]http://media.al.com/bamabeat/photo/ole-miss-logojpg-6be80bbc55832e12_medium.jpg[/img:$uid]

uPtoWnNY said:

Uh-oh, 2nd-seeded Georgetown is down by 10 in the second half to Florida Gulf-Coast.

That's now 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament losses to teams with a double-digit seed, clearly G-Town chokes under the pressure of being a heavy favorite.

SUPRMAN said:

Went 14 of 16 for the first day.

Would love to repeat that tomorrow.

I picked Harvard and Cal.

Missed on Oregon and Memphis.

I went 11-5 on Friday, but losses have been critical. 5 of Sweet 15 selections are out.

Pokeno4Money said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Uh-oh, 2nd-seeded Georgetown is down by 10 in the second half to Florida Gulf-Coast.

That's now 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament losses to teams with a double-digit seed, clearly G-Town chokes under the pressure of being a heavy favorite.

JT3 needs to recruit a couple of pure shooters. Defensive-minded teams like Georgetown have trouble scoring at times. That will burn you at tournament time.

uPtoWnNY said:

It's weird how this tournament generates millions, but the cats doing the yeoman work get nothing. Everyone gets their cut (NCAA suits, schools, networks, announcers, coaches) except the players. Where else do you see that in America?

I'll watch March Madness when it gets to the finals; I'm not all that interested in seeing low scoring basketball games.

To your point...

The NCAA organizations are nothing more than pimps; compensation and rules changes need to happen. Number one the rule book in itself is so complicated and meandering on what you can do and not do for athletes every college athletic department, alumnus, coach, parents, and family have violated the rules at one time or another.

The flip-side...

Most young adults are graduating out of colleges with dept pass their ass all the way up to their necks... these guys are getting a free ride. A lot of this young men have bullshit majors or don't graduate at all or play until their eligibility is up. One of the things I'd like to see change; if these athlete's are admitted to post graduate schools, the University should pick up the tab: Master's, Phd's, Law, Medical schools degrees should be paid by the University.