March Madness Thread

[Rack Em]

Who are some upsets ppl are picking? South Dakota State? Belmont? Bucknell? Davidson? Anyone else?

Louisville is the only Final Four team I'm locked in on right now

Like Digger Phelps, I like SLU a lot. I think they'll give Louisville a run and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win.

 

[Rack Em]

Who are some upsets ppl are picking? South Dakota State? Belmont? Bucknell? Davidson? Anyone else?

Louisville is the only Final Four team I'm locked in on right now

Cal over UNLV
Minnesota over UCLA

 

[arrowryan]

Who are some upsets ppl are picking? South Dakota State? Belmont? Bucknell? Davidson? Anyone else?

Louisville is the only Final Four team I'm locked in on right now

I can see St. Louis making a lot of noise. Someone I know has them going to the final four

 

[STLDomer]

Like Digger Phelps, I like SLU a lot. I think they'll give Louisville a run and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win.

I can see St. Louis making a lot of noise. Someone I know has them going to the final four

But unless your picking them over Louisville is that really an upset/sleeper pick?

I was more referring to double digit seeded teams winning their first game and/or going to the Sweet 16

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Cal over UNLV
Minnesota over UCLA

EVERYONE'S picking MN over UCLA. Not sure that's an upset anymore. lol

I heard a few people say that Florida Gulf over GTown won't shock them. South Dakota State will probably give UM all they can handle. I'm really torn with Michigan. IF they get by S Dakota, I have a hard time seeing them getting past VCU (if they win). At the same time, UM has the ability to get hot and roll to Atlanta. No offense to you ND bball lovers, but I have Iowa State over ND and OSU. OSU has the potential to get to the Final 4, but I'm having trouble trusting them. They may have won the B1G tourney, but they were 4th or 5th best in the B1G this year, imo.

I'm looking at UL, Wisconsin, IU, and Kansas for my Final 4.

 

[irishfan]

UL, OSU, Indiana, and VCU in final four. Lville over Ind in the final.

 

[IrishSpartan]

I have VCU in my final four now

 

[BeauBenken]

I've been seeing a lot of New Mexico in people's final four. I just don't see it.

 

[IrishSpartan]

I've been seeing a lot of New Mexico in people's final four. I just don't see it.

theres a reason why there a 15 in the rpi and won 29 games. There one of the few complete teams that has a fairly easy path.

 

[STLDomer]

theres a reason why there a 15 in the rpi and won 29 games. There one of the few complete teams that has a fairly easy path.

What quality wins do they have OOC? I know they lost to SLU w/o Kwaime Mitchell and lost to South Dakota State

 

[IrishSpartan]

What quality wins do they have OOC? I know they lost to SLU w/o Kwaime Mitchell and lost to South Dakota State

thats the question everyone has asked. They played a weak schedule but they went through it with ease. No one really knows how their going to fair in the tournament but most seem to think that the will play well Sort of like the Calipari Memphis teams but less star oriented and more of a cohesive team.

People forget that Tournament style play is based upon team leadership and savyness as talent, that is why there always seems to be a team who is comprised of upperclassmen in the mix at the end.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I've been seeing a lot of New Mexico in people's final four. I just don't see it.

Kenpom has NM is the 19th "luckiest" team in college basketball. Of major teams, only Butler is considered luckier.

 

[STLDomer]

thats the question everyone has asked. They played a weak schedule but they went through it with ease. No one really knows how their going to fair in the tournament but most seem to think that the will play well Sort of like the Calipari Memphis teams but less star oriented and more of a cohesive team.

People forget that Tournament style play is based upon team leadership and savyness as talent, that is why there always seems to be a team who is comprised of upperclassmen in the mix at the end.

From my personal eye test, Calipari's Memphis teams were 10x better than this New Mexico team, I don't see them getting far but as u said their path is fairly easy

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Final Four
Louisville, New Mexico, GT, Miami
Miami winning all of it

 

[gkIrish]

I like the winner of Bucknell and Butler to beat Marquette. I like VCU to at least the Elite Eight. I wish Saint Louis was in a different region cause I don't see them beating Louisville but love their team. Thinking hard about S. Dakota St., Montana, and Minnesota

 

[95NDAlumNM]

theres a reason why there a 15 in the rpi and won 29 games. There one of the few complete teams that has a fairly easy path.

They beat the following OOC NCAA tournament teams:

Davidson in Abq.
Valparaiso in Abq.
NMSU twice (ones in Cruces and once in Abq.) - WAC champion
Cincinnati @ Cin.

They also won the Paradise Jam tournament (neutral court) with a wins over George Mason and Uconn.

There only bad loss was the last of the season where they lost at Air Force by one when they really had nothing left to play for.

There shooting has been much better in the MWC tournament but what I think will help this team most in the NCAA tournament is their defense. They have really played great defense throughout the season and have one games with it even when their shooting was not that great. They have a few shooters who are really hot right now (Tony Snell) and they have a pretty good group of big men.

I also like their bracket and match ups which should help them and Alford is a very good coach.

This is all slightly biased since I live here in New Mexico but I have seen every game of theirs that was televised. Solid team.

 

[TK22867]

I'm a season ticket holder to South Dakota State basketball. The Jackrabbits (or Jacks as we call them) should give Michigan a serious fight, especially if we can get the MSU fans behind us.

We have Nate Wolters at point guard.....he is simply amazing. You are all in for a treat on Thursday night.

Yes, we beat New Mexico at the Pit. I believe they were ranked #15 or so. Probably the biggest win in our program's history. Better yet? It came after a long bus-ride from Tennesee. We couldn't fly out because of weather after getting trounced by Belmont.

Last year we gave Baylor a real scare and missed a few putbacks in the final minutes. May have been a different story had they gone in.

I know we will have the Irish nation behind us on Thursday.

Go Big, Go Blue, Go Jacks!

 

[Koreyirishkelly]

Final Four: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, and Indiana. With Louisville and Indiana in Finals with Louisville winning it all.

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Lots of people riding that New Mexico bandwagon. I'm not biting.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Final Four: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, and Indiana. With Louisville and Indiana in Finals with Louisville winning it all.

Going with Pitt takes some major balls or some major

 

[PANDFAN]

Has anyone watched Bucknell play? I'm hearing they're a pretty solid team and I'm 50/50 on the upset over a Butler team that struggled with some inconsistent play. Hard to bet against Brad Stevens in March, but my gut keeps saying to pick Bucknell.

it's funny to see people actually talking about Bucknell...its a 15 min drive from my house...they try giving tickets away and no one ever goes....what's even crazier is that they are barely making the local paper...a couple of years ago they had a chance to win in be in the sweet 16 but lost....sorry...just the local college getting some pub and still seems weird

 

[gkIrish]

Updated final four is Louisville, Gonzaga, Miami, and Georgetown. I have VCU and Arizona in the Elite Eight

 

[Irish Insanity]

Mid Bracket fill out right now and I seem to have all the #2s in the final four. Gonna have to do some erasing.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

Mid Bracket fill out right now and I seem to have all the #2s in the final four. Gonna have to step my game up and throw some money down.

FIFY...

http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/leprechaun-lounge/92065-10-tourney-pool.html

 

[Irish Insanity]

FIFY...

http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/leprechaun-lounge/92065-10-tourney-pool.html

LOL. Already in.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

LOL. Already in.

Haha nice.

 

[STLDomer]

Any guesses on what happens to this Kentucky team? Really only Noel should go to the draft but I've seen that Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein would be drafted if they choose to leave. They could be sick next year if they all choose to stay but I think them all leaving is more likely.

 

[Irish Insanity]

I think Dickie V tweeted something earlier about possibly 4 of them being first rounders

EDIT:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>UK was OVER-Rated in pre season- however stock still high with NBA experts - just askingHas any team had 4 1st rounders & not make NCAA?</p>— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) <a href="https://twitter.com/DickieV/status/314064058993221632">March 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[IrishSpartan]

Any guesses on what happens to this Kentucky team? Really only Noel should go to the draft but I've seen that Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein would be drafted if they choose to leave. They could be sick next year if they all choose to stay but I think them all leaving is more likely.

Kentucky will be ridiculous next year with the harrison twins. Expect a top ten kentucky team next year.

 

[KPENN]

Any guesses on what happens to this Kentucky team? Really only Noel should go to the draft but I've seen that Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein would be drafted if they choose to leave. They could be sick next year if they all choose to stay but I think them all leaving is more likely.

Goodwin already said he's coming back but who knows once some time passes.