Flames24Rulz

I want to pick Villanova to go deep but I think the UCLA game is about as much of a toss-up as you can have in a 3-6. I can't talk myself into picking anything but 1's and 2's. And I hate taking the chalk. And I am strongly considering VCU over UCLA. :oops: I don't think UCLA has a chance against Nova in Philadelphia, especially with Collison playing injured. I picked VCU over your guys. Sorry. I hate picking games where it seems like everyone is picking the upset. Something about that game reeks. Yeah that irks me too. I feel more confident about my Temple pick than I do the VCU one because of that very reason.

First round times are out. Thursday: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?date=20090319 Friday: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?date=20090320

IMO, this has been a pretty mediocre year for college basketball. Or rather there has been a lot more parity. There simply aren't any teams you can point to and say are spectacular or a favorite. All the teams in the field are very beatable, and we may see a real free for all. Predicting the results is going to be dicey. The first part of your statement is correct. It's been a very mediocre year for college basketball.

Exactly. No one is going to go to this game. It's going to be embarrassing. No one wants to go watch a group of ridiculous underachievers bow out against one of Memphis's C-USA punching bags. I'm going to be at work so I won't even be watching. I can't even describe my level of dumbfoundedness over that blog rant, as if the NIT means even one tiny little thing. One of the worst things the NIT can do is give an underachieving team a home bid. No body is going to show up to that game. In 2001-2002 Iowa played LSU at home and nobody showed up to an Iowa loss. To get good attendance they should let the teams who don't go to the post-season much host or let teams who weren't expected to make the post-season host. Yeah, I refused to go to SIU's NIT game last year against Oklahoma St. That's an interesting idea, but I'm sure they would want to reward the better teams the home game so the fans can see them play a 'meaningful' game at least one more time.

I want to pick Villanova to go deep but I think the UCLA game is about as much of a toss-up as you can have in a 3-6. I can't talk myself into picking anything but 1's and 2's. And I hate taking the chalk. And I am strongly considering VCU over UCLA. :oops: I don't think UCLA has a chance against Nova in Philadelphia, especially with Collison playing injured. I picked VCU over your guys. Sorry.

Usually later tonight. Does anyone have a link for what site each set of games is played at?

Interesting, I had the same Final Four. I have Temple, Miss St, and Arizona as bigger upsets. I'm strongly considering picking Temple over Cuse in the 2nd round as well.

Glad I wasn't the only one that caught this. I said the exact same thing about Nantz too.

It's too bad Keller's performance is going to waste today.

Yeah, you may be right now. This has been absolutely atrocious. Northwestern. Purdue's better than Northwestern. Not to mention Northwestern had a lot of chokejobs this year.

Yeah, you may be right now. This has been absolutely atrocious.

If you shut down Davis and McCamey, you have a clear path to a W. I don't like Hummel either, but he is a decent player.

More like Illinois isn't guarding anybody.

I don't see Illinois getting worse than a 5.

I know you're mocking what Sponge said earlier but Kalin Lucas can't hold James Harden or Jordan Hill's jock. please. neither harden nor hill can spell "jock". Being illiterate doesn't make them worse basketball players. I really hope/think that sulley was being a little sarcastic. Harden and Hill are top 5 NBA picks.

Went to the second session of the BTT today. Conseco Fieldhouse is really nice, but it really didn't feel like a basketball stadium. My friend and I both thought it felt more like a baseball stadium more than anything. I can sort of see why the Big Ten moved it to Indy because there is a ton of stuff to do right next to the stadium, but I think they really should've kept alternating the two venues for the tournament. The Illinois game was pretty fun besides that 13-0 Purdue run. Mike Davis was a man today. I really don't think Illinois will miss Chester that much if Jeff and Brock can defend like they did today. The Purdue-Penn State game was actually decent to watch, even for a game that was decided in the first five minutes. We sat next to a group of Penn State fans that were constantly negative about their team, so that was interesting. Watching Purdue drain 3's like it was nothing was sort of amazing considering how offensively inept the conference has been this year. Hopefully they got all of their made shots out of the way tonight. I'm hopeful I can go to the semis tomorrow. Should be two real good games.

I thought Versteeg had a good game in the parts that I watched. He was everywhere on ice and probably should've had more than the one goal he had in regulation.

Florida St. Illinois Xavier Gonzaga 16 other in: 1. Utah 2. Butler 3. West Virginia 4. Purdue 5. Marquette 6. Tennessee 7. Oklahoma St. 8. BYU 9. Texas 10. Wisconsin 11. Cal 12. Texas A&M 13. Arizona St. 14. Michigan 15. LSU 16. Boston College 13 auto bids: 1. Siena 2. Western Kentucky 3. VCU 4. Northern Iowa 5. Cleveland St. 6. North Dakota St. 7. Robert Morris 8. Portland St. 9. Cornell 10. ETSU 11. Radford 12. Morehead St. 13. Chattanooga Edited to reflect aTm's horrible loss tonight.

Again, I'd rather make the playoffs than get a lottery pick in a real bad draft class. You should be arguing whether or not Del Negro will get fired or not if we make or miss the playoffs; not the draft pick excuse.

I'm pretty sure he's missed about 3/4's of the season every year for the past three years or so.

Also in the 'race' for the playoffs, both the Bucks and Bobcats lost tonight.

Ben would be a second option on good to great teams. Incorrect. Why not? He averages 20 points and is usually the go-to guy on a terrible team. How many players who score 20 a game are not the second scoring option? Citing PPG by itself is getting dangerously close to citing RBIs Correct. Ben Gordon on a very good team does not score 20 and even if he does it's irrelevant without taking team defense, shot selection, team offense and per minute efficiency into account. Which is what I was getting at without really explaining it very well or at all. Second scoring option implies he plays major minutes and gets the second most looks on a good to great team. I don't think that would be possible or wise unless you had an unrealistically good front court. Ben Gordon would be devastating on a team like the Lakers, Celtics or Spurs. On a team where he is the second or third best player, he's good and valuable, but the team isn't very good. I think he'd be great if we land Amare/Bosh and Rose matures. If Gordon in his prime is your 3rd option, I think you're going to have a pretty good team. And I think Salmons can handle guarding 3's. Obviously we'll get more of a look at that the rest of this season, but he does make up for his lack of size at the 3 with his quickness and long arms. I'm all for the 2010 plan too, but I still believe you have to keep Gordon to keep the backcourt where it's at. For all the criticism that Gordon had coming into this season with all those people saying he couldn't work together with Rose, I think they're doing a solid job. They've really been the only two guys that have came to play from start to finish this year.

no, they better be rooting for butler. brainfart and cleveland state is up 57-54 with 14 seconds left. it's over. have fun in the NIT, Penn State They're solidly on the bubble. Win 2 in the tourney, they're probably safe. Problem is, after Indiana they'd face MSU, right? Winner of NW/Minnesota gets MSU. I think Penn St. gets Purdue on Friday.

cincy lost their last three games - they got blown out at syracuse, lost at south florida and then home against seton hall. i'd guess they're just not playing well right now and that's why they won today. it'd be the greatest thing ever if depaul won the big east tourney, but the odds of that happening are like 10000 to 1. DePaul actually was playing a little better lately too. They nearly beat Villanova at home and they gave Georgetown a game at Georgetown on Saturday. After today, I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Providence tomorrow.

Gordon's better than many Bulls fans give him credit for. That'll become apparent if the Bulls don't re-sign him after this year. I still think they will though. The lineup with Rose/Gordon/Salmons in it looks really good and if the Bulls have a shot to unload Deng in the summer, they will.