Smack

I'm all about the upsets making a fun tournament.... but it's starting to seem like a bad seeding job more than anything.

This is Marquette we're talking about. They played 16 games within 5 points or something nuts like that. They couldn't stand that kind of prosperity. Plus, they're in the Big East, a league whose entire mission is to annoy me today. I'm trying to get caught up on Breaking Bad so with Marquette cruising I watched an episode and came back and they had lost. So now I'm down two Sweet Sixteen teams... Marquette and Georgetown... I guess I should be glad I didn't have either of them going to the Elite Eight.

WTF Marquette? Weren't they up 15 in the middle of the second half?

I had forgotten all about Scott Martin's existence. He'll have two years left that he can play?

If BYU loses, my bracket is hurting already!

I just realized my high school (Warsaw) is in the 4A Final Four in Indiana this year... of course we have no big time recruits. Other than Rick Fox I don't think we have any nationally recognizable basketball alumni. Though, our conference has some colorful alumni including Scott Skiles and Shawn Kemp.

cirque du soleil (sp?) is at Illinois.

My high school's gym was bigger than Stony Brook's.

That's a lot of faith in Hummel-less Purdue, not to mention Minnesota. I have Purdue reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Really, I could see them losing either of their first two games. There is absolutely no way Purdue gets past Duke.

You said top two, which is what we all took issue with. had you said one of the ebst, I know I wouldn't have laughed so hard. As for being the best next year, no way. Michigan State was better than you this year, and they bring back everyone but Morgan, and replace him with a top 5 recruiting class. For one Michigan State wasn't better than us. They were equal to us and that is with the Hummel stuff at the end. For two I said we may be the best if Barlow, Byrd, Bade and LewJack all step up/are more healthy. I don't think that is a stretch. If we lose Kramer and Grant and have four guys doing better that would make us a better team this year's team. Bade has a very long way to go to become a useful backup post player. Purdue better hope that Marcius is fully healthy and ready to play next season. What's the storry with Byrd? He was a four star. He didn't see the floor much, but when he was out there he ran around looking like he knew what he was doing (unlike Bade). I wanted to see more, but Barlow was getting the minutes over him.

Anyone have a link to regional maps for the Thursday/Friday games?

I already called BYU and Wisconsin, so back off. Find your own Mormons!

And again, I think our program is better, but not by enough to make some ridiculous claim about being one of the top programs ever. Bum's done that and that's why,imo, most of us are making fun of Purdue at any turn. I actually root for you guys to do well. Which is a shame, that he pushes your (collective, Illinois) buttons I mean. Most of the Illinois fans around here are pretty knowledgeable and I look forward to reading what you guys have to say.

Look, you can come up with stats all day long trying to make Illinois look better and I can do the same trying to make Purdue look better. We're both currently living in the shadow of Michigan State and Ohio State. They continue to out-perform and out-recruit us on a regular basis. I do understand your angst in regard to the NC game though. I'll be feeling that angst about this season for a long time. Hummel doesn't go down and we likely beat MSU, win the Big Ten outright, and possibly end up ranked #1 in the country (#1-3 went down that weekend). Oh and we would've had a #1 seed with the Final Four an hour from home. Yeah, the end of this season is a bitter pill to swallow.

Since conference play standardized in 1939 (i.e. the NCAA tournament came into being), Purdue has finished ahead of Illinois 35 times. Illinois has finished ahead of Purdue 34 times. So Purdue has finished ahead of Illinois more times than not? Thanks for clearing that up. Yep, after doing it this year. Man by one year. I guess that makes you the best program of all time. Or at least in the top two. The point is that Illinois fans are trying to come off as elitist. Y'know, us Purdue fans are a bunch of upstarts with no tradition. Congratulations you got to a national championship game, and lost. As for Purdue versus Illinois in the Big Ten standings. Last five years Purdue has finished ahead twice and Illinois once, with two ties. Last ten years Illinois is ahead six to two (plus the two ties). Last fifteen years and Illinois is ahead seven to six (plus the two ties). Last sixteen years, it's even at seven each, and the two ties. It's freaking cyclical (35 to 34 all-time even). Illinois hasn't finished ahead since 05'-06'. Before that, Illinois finished ahead six consecutive times (ending in 05'-06'). Before that Purdue finished ahead of Illinois six years out of seven. Purdue has been the better team over the last few years and Illinois fans are clinging to the success of the first half of the 2000's. It's like Purdue's teams never did well under Keady (or before). Neither school has had the long-term success of IU or the short-term success of Michigan State. We're at about the same level.

After some revisions last night, I've got... My Elite Eight: Kansas Ohio St. Syracuse BYU Wisconsin West Virginia Duke Baylor Final Four - Laugh if you must... (Pomeroy Rankings in parenthesis): Ohio St. (#4) BYU (#7) Duke (#1) Wisconsin (#3) Duke beats Ohio St. for all the marbles.

Nice work guys. You know your [expletive].

My best friend lived there for a year. I went down to visit him twice. I was underwhelmed.

Elite Eight Kansas Ohio St. Syracuse Kansast St. Wisconsin West Virginia Duke Villanova I haven't filled it out past here, but I think Wisconsin has the matchups to reach the Final Four where they would likely face Duke, who they beat earlier this year. Just saying.

A few times. I liked them better last year. I do think they were probably underseeded, but you should handle them. They're definitely the trendy upset pick. I've been looking for matchup articles and the stuff I'm seeing says they (Siena) get into a lot of foul trouble and have trouble hitting their own free throws. They are a bad free throw shooting team, but I think you misread(or were given bad information) on the foul trouble. They're #1 in the nation at percentage of FTA given up per FGA Ok yeah, I did read it wrong. Thanks.

A few times. I liked them better last year. I do think they were probably underseeded, but you should handle them. They're definitely the trendy upset pick. I've been looking for matchup articles and the stuff I'm seeing says they (Siena) get into a lot of foul trouble and have trouble hitting their own free throws.

Has anyone here actually seen Siena play?

I think there is a good chance that at least one of Johnson or Moore go pro. I also think that Hummel won't be as good after his second major injury in as many years. I still think you will be a really good team though. Johnson would be crippling, I would much rather loose Moore. If we lost both of those guys I could see us in the bottom half, next year.

Purdue is losing Kramer and Grant, and adding two four star guards (that can score) to replace them. They're getting Hummel and (6' 10") Sandi Marcius back from injury. They're also adding a three star C (6' 9") and PF (6' 8"). They'll have six guys at 6' 8" or bigger on the roster, and size was their weakness this year. Why does everyone think they're going to drop back to the 4/5 range? Not arguing it won't happen, I'm just curious.

There's a much stronger advantage in basketball than football though. Their football program doesn't have the tradition and the in-state talent level is higher comparatively in basketball than football. Our football program has 5 National Titles and according to ESPN the number 1 player of all time(Grange) and another top 5 guy(Butkus). Oh, come on. Purdue basketball fans get ripped for claiming a Helms title and you're going to hang Illinois' hat on 5 football 'titles', the most recent being 60 years ago? With four of them between 1914 and 1927?