The 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Thread:

Currently watching my Spartans take it to #1 Kentucky. Sparty is gonna make some noise this year!

Who else watches NCAA-M?

How are the Dawgs gonna to be this year?

LoRo is still the coach so you can count on the huskies playing zero defense and being completely undisciplined on offense.

Spartans?

I thought you were a Husker fan?

Hey Dan -

I went to MSU. Nebraska is a family thing. This weekend Sparty comes to Lincoln so we'll get to see who gets to be killed by OSU in conference championship (football).

Chuck - Good call on Kansas. Duke just couldn't hang down the home stretch. Parker is a stud IMO.

When it comes to NCAA basketball I root for whoever will win and make Dick Vitale shut up the fastest...which means always rooting against "The Dukies!"...

Fish on...

Todd

Going to be a long season for the Dawgs.
I watched a bit of both the MSU-Kentucky and KU-Duke games last night.
There are some super talented freshmen in this years class.
To bad we'll only get to see them play college ball this year.
SF

I watch the crap outta college hoops. I tell my wife I'm scouting for March Madness. Eye rolls ensue.

College hoops is the only sport I allow myself to jump on bandwagons. This year's freshman class has potential to be one of the best.

I like watching teams get progressively better as the season goes on. Last year Louisville had stretches where they were terrible but made it happen at the right time. Same with Michigan.

I do love seeing Duke and UNC struggle though.

Great games last night. No cupcakes.
Too bad my dumbass self missed them.

They should have billed it as a possible Final Four Preview (maybe they did) and I might have seen it on the radar.

They can't stop talkin' about that kid from Canada and the other freshmen assassins.

The Beavs need to spend some time in the new training center.
It's on the latest "Need a Caption" thread.

Buttlickers being schooled by Anteaters.

UCI big man is freaking impressive 7 and a half footer defends well.

As a past HS, military and industrial city league player, this guy is the real deal, just watch the way he moves.
9 blocked shots puts him in the human eraser and leading rebounder category every game.
Here's what he does against an old pro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mkh-ECT08

Wow - dang.

rock chalk jayhawk KU

Slow stiff.

Brilliant!

Bwahahahaha

It is going to be a long season for the Dawgs.....

Gonzaga sure looked good last night, but the Cougs have a way of helping that along.....

Watched the Dawgs for the first time last night Stonefish and I gotta agree. It doesn't look too promising.

Heard the Gas Man on the call for the UW/BC game. He sounded optimistic for the dawgs trip to San Diego. Good luck with that Mike!

Buttlickers looking good against Montana, but they managed a W, but not by much.

Always rooting for Izzo's Spartans and KU - rock chalk!!!!

College hoops is the best...

My Spartans laid a turd against Carolina on Wednesday night. It looked like the whole team had the flu or something. Zero energy. Why can't MSU just for once - beat UNC?

Yeah, I know a couple guys that bleed Carolina Blue, there will be no living with them now.

Really good game tomorrow night. #3 OSU at #5 MSU. Go Sparty!
It's easy being green these days.

Washington looked good for a half against #1 Arizona the other day, so they have that going for them which is nice.

Cougars Boned the Dawgs today. This win will temporarily silence Bones' critics.

Cal stuns Arizona.

Damn it. MSU went down today. That's ok. They are badly short handed right now, but will be at full whoop ass strength by B1G & NCAA Tourneys

Did Washington forget they had a basketball program??

wtf is going on over there on Montlake?

Fu.ck.

On ESPN2 right now BC is ahead of Syracuse by 2 with three minutes to go...

Fish on...

Todd

Hmmm...Auburn is up on Florida with four minutes left, too.

Fish on ...

Todd

BC and Syracuse headed to OT.

Fish on...

Todd

Is anyone interested in having a PP March Madness bracket challenge? Maybe we could have a small $20 buy-in to play and the proceeds can go to the winner's charity of choice or something cool like that? Any suggestions by those interested?

I'd be willing to manage it if enough people are interested?

No Bracket takers? Geez guys. Football season ends and everyone goes into hibernation around here.

Sparty is gonna take down the Skunks today. GO GREEN!!!

I'm kinda interested in the billion dollar bracket.

http://www.quickenloans.com/blog/quicken-loans-billion-dollar-bracket-challenge

Yeah - winning that amount would be insane. The taxes alone would be hundred of millions. Interesting fact: there has never been a perfect bracket. Good luck!


MSU is looking solid right now against the Skunks. Up 36 - 29 with 1:30 left in the 1st. GO WHITE!

Ah yeah! Sparty brought the title back to East Lansing!

SUCK IT SKUNKS!

Big Ten Champs in Football and now in Basketball.

As a Spartan, its been a hell of year! SPARTY ON!

Spartans headed to Spokane! Man...I gotta get tickets!!!!

I suppose I will be interested until I miss one in my totally guessed bracket. I suppose I will make it through the first game. Maybe.

one billion dollars!

Go whomever!

I filled out my Billion Dollar Bracket...sorry, Nick, I've got your Spartans taking it in the shorts in Round 2 from Cincinatti.

If I win the billion dollars, I'll buy you an ice cream cone to make you feel better

Fish on...

Todd

If you win a Billion dollars, I will be ordering the double scoop

Looking forward to it again even though I never win [Bleeeeep!] in my brackets.

Dad picked 'em

Basetball?

Soon if he doesn't turn things around....like next year. Based on the crew he has coming back, I don't see that happening.

Vegas Chuck. It was in Vegas!

House of Payne went off today. Sparty gonna make some noise before its all said and done.

NMSU has a guy playing right now that is 7' 5" and 375 pounds. Sim Bhullar. Dude is HUGE and makes the other players look like ants.

Get it together Louisville!

NDST wins a huge upset!!!

Louisville is currently attempting to coog it.

This is not good. I have em' in the #2 spot losing to Florida Chuck.

The Fightin' Jaspers are taking it to Pitino & Gang. Crazy...

Hancock saves the day (again). The dude is just ice, ice cold for a white boy. That was too close for my comfort, but I'll take it.

My bracket is off to a slow start, luckily all the losers I picked, I had losing the next round so I may still have a skin in the game.

Duke's out. Dang...

95% of people were out of the billion after yesterday days games I would think its 99% after Dook.

HAHA! VCU just coog'd it so very hard. They were up by 4 with 5 secs left and they fouled the good 3 pt. shot. Dude hit the extra to force OT and then VCU proceeded to lose in OT. HAHA!

There are now no perfect brackets left. There's always next year. IMO - Excellent marketing campaign...

That really sux Chuck. Duke did that to me. They were my #6 spot team. My only miss so far, but still....ouch!

#1 Seed Virginia is down by 5 at half. No 16 seed has ever beat a 1 seed. Virginia, as a state...as a whole...is trying very hard at sucking balls today. They are succeeding with flying colors.

Thanks for not coog'in it UVA. Nice second half pull away...

Don't count Wisky out yet Chuck. They just woke up. 17 - 1 streak and its a 1 pt. game.

I had the Orange just winning the Dayton game and then getting knocked out by Kansas, so that didn't hurt me too bad.

GO SPARTY!!!!!

Wow...The Badgers have just gone unconscious from the field in the second half. They have the lead now...62 - 59 12:00 left in 2nd.

Badgers pull it out!

Now MSU is having problems with the Nerds.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C'mon Sparty!

Woohoo! SPARTY!!! Free throw clinic.

+1. Some very fun games as always. The Badger / Quack game was very good. This UConn / Nova game is setting up nicely. Dayton's come outta nowhere as the lone Cinderella and SDSU is playing solid. Florida and Louisville have struggled a bit. MSU & Michigan are looking solid. 8 more games tomorrow....

Yeah - great going Kansas. What's up with the #2 seeds?

Are there any more games on tonight?

zags on now and letting zona walk on them.

I have Zona to the final 4. I thought the West bracket looked weak, so I stuck with em'.

I also have Virginia & MSU next week...which should be a barn-burner (picked MSU winner of course).

Luckily, I picked Creighton, Wichita St., Nova and Syracuse to bow out early. So they didn't cause me too much damage. IMO - All of those teams were vastly overrated at the end of the season.

Poor Zags....sorry Todd.

I pretty much have the opposite picks Chuck. MSU, Louisville and Zona.
Next week should be fun! Wanna make some SMALL side wagers?

Zona will win it all.

OK - since we have the opposites picked for the below games, how about $10 bucks for the winner of each game (straight up)?

Virginia vs. MSU
Zona vs. SDSU
Louisville vs. Kentucky

You have Virginia, SDSU and Tucky. I have MSU, Zona & Louisville.

Game on?

I'll give you the pts. if you want em'. Fair is fair....

Here's the latest VI spread consensus outta Vegas as of 8 pm 3/24. These are the averaged spreads across books like MGM, Ceasars, Harris etc...

ARIZ-6.5 SDSU+6.5
LOUIS-5 KEN+5
MICHST-1.5 VA+1.5

Those seem about right.

This is gonna be fun to watch!

Nice win Chuck!

A couple more good ones tonight. Sparty on!

C'mon Sparty! Virginny's d is tough

Second half Here we GO! Sparty's O needs to keep probing the post to keep the perimeter guys in check.

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great 8 for Sparty!

I owe you a twenty spot Chuck. Got that last one on a single free throw to avoid the skunk!

Louisville can suck my BBC. [Bleeeeep!].

Great call on having Kentucky in both brackets Chuck. Alas, I did not and rated them low. I had Louisville coming out of the Midwest.

Florida, MSU, Arizona & Louisville. Florida winning it over Louisville (oops).

Wow - what a crazy ending to the Zona / Wisky game.

The Big Ten is killing it with a potential 3 of 4 teams in the final four. MSU and The Skunks could be in it if they win their games tomorrow. I would go ape chit if it was a MSU / UoM final.

Fun game to watch. A Big Blue/MSU final would probably cause more than a few conniptions in the midwest.

Fish on...

Todd

GO GREEN!

Gonna b a shoot out...picked State to win it all

Nick, so far it's looking like you should consider NOT rooting for your team of choice in big games...

Fish on...

Todd

And then the Spartans come roaring back!

Fish on...

Todd

I am stressed out.

Wheeeewwwwww......

Halftime. Thank sweet baby Jesus.

I think UConn is in trouble unless MSU somehow forgets how to rebound and run the floor...the Sparties are killing'em in transition.

Fish on...

Todd

Uh oh. Apparently the Spartans have indeed forgot how to play transition ball...and not only running the ball and popping threes, but they've forgotten how to play transition defense now, too.

Too many turnovers. Not enough looks from deep in the paint.

Well....shoot.

Dayam....how 'bout those Huskies !
Big game against those Gators.

Great finish by Kentucky.

They could go all the way...like him or not, Calipari is a helluva leader.
I believe that is the difference when you match up against those Wildcats.

Thanks Chuck. It was a good run for Sparty. UConn played a great game. You can't turn the ball over that many times this deep in the tourney and expect to last. I'm impressed with UConn's free throw abilities - I like seeing the fundamentals win games, so you can't hate on em' for that.

Oh well...there's always next year. Replacing Payne is going to tough.
Rooting for Florida now. Although it seems like anything is possible this year...

UConn splashing free throws has carried them all tourney...if they are ahead at the end of a game they will win if they keep hitting them like they have been.

Fish on...

Todd

I just went and checked my Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket...I am really kicking ass at 1,058,924th place.

Yeah, that's correct...One Million Fifty Eight Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty Fourth Place.

The only thing good about that is that there are reportedly over one billion participants...so there are plenty who are worse at this stupid game than I am

Fish on...

Todd

How 'bout those Huskies ?!
Didn't think that they could whack the Gators like that.
Dayam...they just might take it all.

The great philosopher Mike Tyson once said...
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

UConn had their plan, got punched in the mouth, then got up and started landing their own punches.

I have a feeling that this more experienced UConn crew will have something for those Wildcats.
I'd love to be in the UConn War Room right now.

The Final should blow the roof clean off of Jerry's Palace.

At least the folks in the nose bleed sections will get to see something !

[quote=Chuck S.]Took Uconn on the betting ticket today ... 3.5pt underdogs [/quot
e]
I will give you 5 pts for $50

Jake

Crazy, crazy tourney this year. It proves just how impossible it is to pick a perfect bracket. Todd nailed it - UConn's ability to hit free throws just wins games.

Free throws are one element.
It's their defense...Coach Ollie has studied under Coach Calhoun, Chuck Daly, Larry Brown, and George Karl.

Not a bad apprenticeship !

Let's see if the UConn perimeter defenders can limit/disrupt the Kentucky inlet passes, box out and effectively nullify Kentucky's penchant for offensive rebounds/interior scoring.

It was said that Coach Ollie will game plan concepts and not focus on any one opposing player.

Gonna be a good one !

U
C
O
N
N

Who are those fools doing the game for CBS....that panty-waist Jim Nance and some other joker I think.
Since they can't call a game I hit mute and cranked on the radio.

J FC

Interesting start to the second half. UConn needs to get more aggressive against the zone.

UConn needs to penetrate on offense and turn up their harassing D or they will lose the way it's going now.

Congrats DD!

Now its onto being let down by the M's and Rockies for me...

It was a hard fought win.
Kentucky almost pulled it out.
UConn accomplished their game plan to limit Kentucky's board crashing.

Boatright and Napier....the best guard tandem in the country.


I have a feeling Coach Ollie will visit this place again.

You definitely had it going on for this one! Just a little late on the bet. We will do it again. I think we are 1&1.

Hehehe....

The FT disparity was a known going in.
In the grand scheme it almost cancels out.

"If they only made their free throws."
Wish I had a quarter for every time I heard that.

The unknowns were...
Will Kentucky own the paint (no)
Will big game jitters befall the frosh (yes)
Will the UConn guards dominate (yes)

The Kentucky jitters at the front end did them in.
If they didn't have to try to climb out of that hole all game....

I said that a couple of days ago, too...if it's close at the end UConn wins on free throws, and it gets to be close at the end because they pester them so badly on defense that even a much bigger and more athletic guard tandem from Kentucky can't get a pass inside.

Those UConn guards are good all around.

Fish on...

Todd