2025 NCAA Tournament & March Madness Thread

[CJ Vogel]

3 minutes ago, bierce said:

Rooting for Calipari and Arky makes me ill.  It's against Self and Kansas, so I'm willingly sticking fingers down my throat. 

Looks like an Achilles off of replay for KJ Adams Jr. too. Really unfortunate to see at the end of this contest. 

[bierce]

Just now, CJ Vogel said:

Looks like an Achilles off of replay for KJ Adams Jr. too. Really unfortunate to see at the end of this contest. 

Yeah, that is a shame.

[bierce]

Drake is pulling away from Missouri in the game that had my interest.  43-28 with 12:40 left.

[bierce]

Hahaha, Kansas.  Preseason #1 to 7 seed and first round knockout. 

[pinkman_90]

Really hate momentum officiating.  Every single bit of contact is a foul on Drake and Mizzou is playing prison defense while the refs look the other way 

[bierce]

Utah State becomes the second MWC team to lose in spectacular fashion. 

[bierce]

UC San Diego could not handle Goldin and Wolf in the first half, but a 9-1 run to start the second half has brought the Tritons to within 6.

 

[horns96]

12 minutes ago, bierce said:

UC San Diego could not handle Goldin and Wolf in the first half, but a 9-1 run to start the second half has brought the Tritons to within 6.

 

UCSD in the field of 64 while we're done...smh. Great academics, but I didn't know UCSD even had had athletics programs, much less their mascot is  "Tritons". 

Also, I was in academia for 20+ years and, somehow without fail, there is a school in the tournament every year that I had no idea even existed.  SIU Edwardsville?  Sounds like a school five years removed from being a junior college.

All that to say, getting in the tournament is a really low bar for measuring success of a college basketball program.

Edited Friday at 03:42 AM by horns96
edited for readability and sense

[MJW2327]

Yesterday was a little mad but I’m hoping today is straight 🤪🤯🫨

[CJ Vogel]

Need more upsets. Clemson really the biggest one to fall, though that late last minute comeback got much closer than I ever thought it would. 

[MJW2327]

Michigan easily should’ve lost, 12 seed should’ve been 2-0. Historically the best value for upsets

[bierce]

57 minutes ago, MJW2327 said:

Michigan easily should’ve lost, 12 seed should’ve been 2-0. Historically the best value for upsets

Yeah, that was a close one.  For those who didn't see it, UCSD quickly erased a 14 point halftime deficit, closed to within one before Michigan started to open it up to 10 again.  UCSD then closed gradually over the next eight minutes, finally taking a 2 point lead before Michigan responded with a three.  UCSD had a couple of chances to regain the lead but couldn't convert.  With about a minute left, Goldin was blocked right at the time, complained about no call (I thought it was clean, at least clean enough), and got revenge with a pretty good body bump on a Triton trying to make a layup after recovering a loose ball in the paint.  No call there, either.

Michigan ran clock, missed a shot, Goldin got the offensive rebound, was fouled, made the ft, and UCSD missed a three that was neither rushed nor a great look in rhythm. 

I thought the foul by Goldin was pretty obvious, but that's the way things go. 

Edited Friday at 03:42 PM by bierce

[ArizonaLonghorn]

The ACC had a terrible regular season with just four teams getting bids (and UNC the last team in) and now in the tournament they are even worse.  The two teams tied for 2nd in the regular season (Clemson and Louisville) both lost in the first round to lower seeded teams.  An 8 (Louisville) losing to a 9 is not much of an upset, and a 5 (Clemson) losing to a 12 seems to happen annually, but Clemson scoring 13 points in the first half is awful.

UNC is a slight favorite to beat Ole Miss, could probably hang with Iowa State and possibly Michigan State (lost to them by 3 earlier in the year) but could just as easily lose to any of those three teams.  Hard to see them making the Final Four though and that's pretty much the minimum expectation at UNC.

Duke is the only hope for conference glory and they obviously have a really good team, with a manageable path to the Elite 8 where they could face Alabama but their youth and Flagg's injury (also Malik Brown's) are problematic.  I'd be surprised if an SEC team doesn't win it.

I grew up in the Carolinas so naturally pulled for ACC basketball.  My first basketball memory was as an 8 year old listening on the radio to an undefeated UNC team facing Kansas for the championship (UNC won in 3 OT) and the first game I watched in person was UNC with Billy Cunningham vs Indiana with the Van Arsdale twins.  First Duke game I saw live was against UCLA the year Alcindor was a frosh when frosh weren't eligible (Duke won easily).  A dozen NCAA titles between the two programs plus a couple more from NC State (I was polyamorous in my basketball fandom) so it's disappointing to see the league do so poorly.

[harveycmd]

Hugs.

[harveycmd]

Greatest sports day of life was 19 May 2001. Lakers had just swept Sacramento with Kobe scoring 48 in game 4. Pundits were railing away about how Kobe couldn't do it against San Antonio's defense. He lit em up for 45 in game 1 on the road. Literally dominated Duncan and Robinson at the rim. 

[harveycmd]

4-0 sweep. Best when best was needed.

[CJ Vogel]

Alabama showing exactly why they can't be trusted for a long run in my eyes.

They play virtually no defense and rely on out-shooting opponents. Except when they have a cold night, they are toast.

[bierce]

Early games going to the wire.  Love it.

Also loved the NBA continuation call against Mississippi State until it was reversed by another ref.  Hell, could have been an f1 as not a legit play on the ball by a guy behind the driver.  Obvious intent to commit foul to avoid the driving layup.

So now Mississippi State has to reach twice more to finally put Baylor in the bonus.  Made both. 

MSU responds with a basket inside and calls TO.  73-72 Baylor with 29.5 left.

Edited Friday at 06:27 PM by bierce

[CJ Vogel]

MS State allowed 16 offensive rebounds to a significantly smaller Baylor team. Lose by 3 as a result.

Great game, but a very frustating one for anyone who picked MSST.

[bierce]

Memphis athleticism beating Colorado State passing and motion right now.  Dainja is having a monster first half.

Baylor always is a great offensive rebounding team regardless of size.  The NC team played Vital alongside 3 guards and had the fifth highest offensive rebounding percentage. 

[CJ Vogel]

@bierce which game today are you most looking forward to?

Maryland-Grand Canyon is intriguing.

[bierce]

2 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

@bierce which game today are you most looking forward to?

Maryland-Grand Canyon is intriguing.

I want to see if Florida can set a tournament record for offensive rebounds against Norfolk State.  Nah, that's just kind of an amusing side note, but Florida is great at it, and Norfolk State is terrible at stopping it.  I suppose it could just left Florida always score with the first shot.

I picked Colorado State as my one upset, so this game interests me.  If Colorado State loses, then I will be very interested to see if UNM can give Marquette a game or if the MWC will disappear with barely a whimper.  Then there will be the matter of where Richard Pitino winds up.

But as a matter of just interesting basketball, I think UNC-Mississippi.  UNC has beaten everyone it has played except Duke over the last 5 weeks.  Most of the teams weren't even bubble quality, but UNC was winning most of the games handily, and we saw what it did to SDSU on Wednesday.  Mississippi looked pretty good in the SEC tournament, and it will have the advantage of rest like it did against Arkansas in the SEC tournament, but

 

 

[Ronnie Barnhardt]

St. Mary's head coach looks like Dr. Evil

[bierce]

42 minutes ago, Ronnie Barnhardt said:

St. Mary's head coach looks like Dr. Evil

Years and years of having good teams but being poorly seeded or even overlooked entirely because you couldn't beat Gonzaga every single time can take its toll on a person. 

Then never getting to the second weekend even when you do make the tournament can be the clincher. 

[McCoyColt]

Ole Miss game is pouring salt in the wound