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2014 NCAA Tournament March Madness |OT|

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B

Black Mamba

Member
Some upsets aren’t as big as the seed lines suggest; some are bigger. Two years ago, the No. 2-seeded Duke Blue Devils were upset by No. 15 Lehigh in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But Duke was the weakest No. 2 seed in 2012, according to the FiveThirtyEight projections that year, whereas Lehigh was unusually strong for a No. 15. Our model had given Lehigh a 10 percent chance of winning.

Something of the same pattern held last season when No. 2 Georgetown lost to No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast in the first round. Georgetown was just the 15th-best team in the country, according to our ratings, and was badly overseeded as a No. 2. Our model gave that upset a 10 percent chance of occurring as well.

This afternoon, as a No. 3 seed, Duke lost to 14th-seeded Mercer — but the Blue Devils (and the FiveThirtyEight model) have fewer excuses. In fact, Duke was the strongest No. 3 by some margin this year, according to our ratings and other indices like Ken Pomeroy’s power ratings. Our projections had Mercer with just a 7 percent chance of winning before the game began.
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http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/dukes-lehigh-loss-was-bad-but-mercer-was-worser/
 
E

ErasureAcer

Banned
Anyway to cheat the MMOD and get more free airtime from my computer? I used the different browser trick(Chrome, Firefox) but apparently that trick isn't working with Explorer.
 
S

Silkworm

Member
Thanks a lot New Mexico. You dun busted by bracket (unless there are any 8 sec miracles) :-(

Edit: Flagrant 1 miracle? *hopes* Please miss your FTs Stanford. *fingers crossed*
 
J

Jarate

Banned
I would suggest all of you guys to do your bracket on morphine next year.

I still have no clue how my bracket is doing and its making this tournament a lot more enjoyable. So do it on morphine, and youll have fun
 
J

Jeff-DSA

Member
The refs in that New Mexico-Stanford game were atrocious. So many missed or confused calls down the stretch that really ruined the last five minutes. Key players were sitting because they were whistle happy early, and they missed some obvious calls that really ruined any positive feelings you can have about that finish.

That crew better be done for the tournament. They don't deserve to officiate another game.
 
S

Silkworm

Member
Jarate said:
I would suggest all of you guys to do your bracket on morphine next year.

I still have no clue how my bracket is doing and its making this tournament a lot more enjoyable. So do it on morphine, and youll have fun
Click to expand...

I'd probably do better in my picks on morphine :-D Oh well, now that any hope of a decent bracket is over I'll just enjoy the ride. If UF wins the NCAA championship, I don't even care about my bracket (not that it matters anyway, as I didn't enter any sort of wagers with it -- I just wanted to do well as a matter of pride).
 
A

Apdiddy

Member
So proud of my alma mater for beating Duke. We'll see how far they go against Tennessee who look like beasts incarnates on the floor against UMass.
 
S

Seth C

Member
Silkworm said:
Elite 8. Ugh!!!! *barfs*

Edit: Okay, forget the brackets. I'll just root for all upsets except for Florida. :p
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I'm supporting guys till the championship game.Surely you're return the favor, right? :)

Jeff-DSA said:
The refs in that New Mexico-Stanford game were atrocious. So many missed or confused calls down the stretch that really ruined the last five minutes. Key players were sitting because they were whistle happy early, and they missed some obvious calls that really ruined any positive feelings you can have about that finish.

That crew better be done for the tournament. They don't deserve to officiate another game.
Click to expand...

If they were so bad you noticed them, you can be almost certain they will move on to the next round.
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
BjRVgzoIYAA4kbn.jpg

:lol :jnc
 
J

jakefromstatefarm

Member
Welp, those last 10 minutes were awful, McConnell still can't hit free throws down the stretch, we still don't know how to attack a zone and teams still manage to catch fire from deep when its looking like we might finally put them away. This Arizona team wasn't as polished today as past Miller teams were in their tourney debuts, plus the crowd felt completely weak despite being dominated by our fans(I wasn't there, judging from tv). I still think we'll make it past Gonzaga/OSU relatively easily, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
G

Grover Cleveland

Member
I really have to tip my hat off to Mercer though. It gets lost in the LOLDUKELOST NATIONAL HOLIDAY TIME, but those dudes played their ass off.

They were the better team today.

HeisenbergLannister said:
Just want to see some opinions on this.

If Duke hadn't won the title in 2010, would the narrative coming out of today be that coach K is on the downside of his career and close to hanging it up? Gotta wonder if he doesn't make a Final Four with Okafor and Jones next year, what the reaction will be. Of course, Okafor and Jones could be highly overrated coming out of HS and take some time to adjust to college, like the UK class this year.
Click to expand...

You're about five years late on this.

The narrative was that the Duke empire was crashing down in 2009. The game had passed K by, and his scrappy kids could no longer get it done as evidenced by getting drubbed by a faster, more athletic Villanova. K hadn't won a title in almost a decade, couldn't keep up in recruiting , Roy had won two titles and Self another in that span, and all of the momentum in college basketball was sliding away from Duke. They were sliding into irrelevance.

Of course 2010 happens and K's recruiting turns up and that all seems like ancient history. But I think most Duke fans have come to grips with the fact that he's gone very soon. I would be very surprised if he doesn't retire after the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
 
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