TruffleShuffle

I'll take it. I definitely would've preferred the 13 seed against UVA, but I didn't want to play Texas, and I'd rather play SIU than Maryland. I think it's a winnable game for us.

Maybe if Holy Cross gave out cars and money to their players, they could compete as well. But they don't. There's no point in getting in a pissing contest. My school is less than 1/10 the size of Illinois. Our players do all their work themselves and take real courses in real majors because almost none of them have a chance to play pro basketball after they graduate. Our point guard is a real good player for the level he's playing at, but he's headed to law school next year. Schools in our conference and the Ivy League will never compete for a title, because we're academics first and then athletics. That's the way I want it to be, and if we can make a run at beating one of teams that has guys who took the SATs 7 times to qualify, that's great. If not, then at least we've got our league to compete for.

yeah you'll really show them! :roll: Yeah why don't you cheer for your holy cross this will be the year they are relevent. Oh wait, no it won't :roll: hey at least I won't be swearing off one of the most fun tournaments to watch because a pretty good team that I root for won't be getting a chance to win one or maybe two games in it At least we have a shot to win a game, why does your team get to go again? I hope you look back on this conversation later and realize how immature you're being. A) Holy Cross has as good a chance as any mid-major to pick up a win in the first round, especially if they end up with a 13. They have an RPI of 62 and beat Bucknell twice. They have two very good seniors leading them. The Patriot League has shown in recent years that they can win NCAA games. If they play a team like Oregon---Lunardi's projection---they have a great chance. B) Illinois will make the tournament, without a doubt. All this whining and complaining is for naught. IU and U of I will both be in and will both probably lose first round games. Holy Cross is not beating anyone in this tournament. We came within 4 points of beating Tayshaun Prince and Kentucky in 2001, led Collison, Hinrich and Kansas with 10 minutes to go in 2002, and were even with Dwayne Wade and Marquette in 2003 with 2 minutes left. Bucknell, another Patriot League team, won first round games in 2005 and 2006. So are you sure that Holy Cross has no chance? Besides, I don't gauge the success of our season on how far we go. Hell, even putting a scare into a top 10 team like Kansas or Kentucky was a great accomplishment. And this year, we won every game in conference except for one, and beat a very good Bucknell team that had beaten us the previous two years in the Patriot League final. So unless Illinois goes to the NIT, I'm certain that Holy Cross will have more titles in 2006-07 than Illinois will. Holy Cross is 6th out of 336 in raw defensive efficiency, 4th in turnover rate against, and 1st in steal %. So you know the biggest reason that we have a chance in the first round? Because we play defense, and a lot of big conference teams don't.

yeah you'll really show them! :roll: Yeah why don't you cheer for your holy cross this will be the year they are relevent. Oh wait, no it won't :roll: hey at least I won't be swearing off one of the most fun tournaments to watch because a pretty good team that I root for won't be getting a chance to win one or maybe two games in it in all honesty, I don't find march madness that entertaining. NHL playoffs and NFL playoffs are better by far. Crazy stuff happens in the NCAA tourney because the players just aren't that good and it can be really sloppy. See Gonzaga game of last year. It's fun because the first two days you have four games going on at once, you get to watch a few of the little guys pull off big upsets, and then you get some great games, especially from the sweet 16 down to the final. The first round (Thurs/Fri) are my two favorite sports days of the year.

yeah you'll really show them! :roll: Yeah why don't you cheer for your holy cross this will be the year they are relevent. Oh wait, no it won't :roll: hey at least I won't be swearing off one of the most fun tournaments to watch because a pretty good team that I root for won't be getting a chance to win one or maybe two games in it oh and btw just because my alma mater has 2700 students, doesn't get great athletes and will never have a real chance to win the ncaa tourney, doesn't mean that i don't have just as much fun rooting for them as anyone else does rooting for their team... the goals are just a little different

yeah you'll really show them! :roll:

please oh please don't put us against texas in the first round

so is his name

There's ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with short girls, so long as they're not stubby. I'd take a 4'10" girl with a hot body over a 5'10" girl with a hot body anyday at this point i'd take either one :x :lol:

I'll also root for NC St because I have a soft spot for coaches at their alma mater (much like Ralph Willard resurrecting the Holy Cross program after it was destroyed by an alcoholic named Bill Raynor)

kudos to NC State... three tough wins in three days against ranked opponents. Gotta love the red blazer that Sidney Lowe wears. So, they get the Tar Heels with a shot at the auto bid. I work with three NC State grads, and while UNC fans see Duke as their biggest rivals, NC State fans and players HATE the Tar Heels. I'll be rooting for the Wolfpack, because the NC St grads will bring in donuts this week if they win. I'm already out $10 for Holy Cross donuts, someone else better be bringing donuts too.

looks like durant might singlehandedly beat another team today

What kind of unreasonable expectations are you talking about? I think there's a good chance that Prior as we knew him is gone. He threw 83-84 mph last game and it sounds like people were hoping he'd be back into the 90s and have good control again. It's not going to happen in a day, might never happen, but this game doesn't prove that he's done.

what a shock, another low-scoring Big Ten snoozefest

Adam Everett is widely regarded as an amazing defensive SS. He got 688 chances last year in just under 1300 innings, about 4.7 chances per 9 innings. Or in other words, a little more than the number of plate appearances he'll receive. Now, consider that a very substantial number of those defensive chances are plays that anyone who's played high school baseball can and will make(pop-ups, sunday hops, easy force out throws, etc.), never mind a major league caliber defender. The sheer amount of chances that a defender gets to add value aren't near the amount of chances he gets at the plate. And even then, that ignores that defense is a 9 man affair, where you can bobble a ball and still flip to the guy at second for a forceout, or lose a ball in the lights/sun but the center fielder/second baseman comes in and grabs it. Offense has more of an impact than defense. yeah, but isn't the difference between two lousy hitters (Cedeno and Izturis) only about 1 time on base per week, at best?

i just think shakira would be dynamite in the sack... she wins

I'm still hoping E-Patt is not in Iowa to start the year :twisted:

Here's what the ESPN guy (not Lunardi) had to say... seems pretty logical:

Not angry... more like just sick of trying to justify. I should be use to KSU getting no respect by now, but I just can't seem to let it go and sit back and just see what happens. Passionate fan I guess.... Their schedule sucked. It's not that every person on this board has an irrational hate for K-State, but they just played a cupcake schedule this year. That being said, they probably earned their way in with the win over Texas Tech yesterday.

I'll just be sitting my rear at the bar for 12 hours at a time on Thursday and Friday.

Holy Cross is better than K-State

.455 average for E-Patt? Man he's unstoppable.

Thanks! I came down with some nasty thing that's been going around town, threw up twice and had a temperature of 95.5 this morning and 101 this afternoon. But I'm feeling better now that we're going dancing, and it feels great to beat the team that has become our archrivals. I don't hate any one player at Bucknell though - just their d-bag coach who's rivalled only by Coach K in whining about the refs. Still, wasn't surprised to see it get tight at the end - those teams almost never play lopsided games. I thought the support from our women's team (and the men's team support of our women on Wednesday night) was great, it looked like a lot of students came back early from their break for the game. Kudos to them. I'm pretty sure I have to pick my boys to pull the first round upset this year... we have two amazing seniors who will be missed. GO CROSS!

kerry wood gave up 4 runs, looks like he's done too

i bet those refs hate the irish so much, they won't even get drunk on st. patty's day