NCAA March Madness: Sweet 16 / Elite 8 edition

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Cmdr. Solrak

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Lost 3 teams in my final four already from rounds 1/2 faceoffs. :(


That being said, I'm still not out of it because Illini will take me to the promise land! :D




GO ILLINI.....GO BIG 10!!!!
 
I am miraculously leading my pool! All of my final four teams are alive (OK St., Kentucky, UNC, Louisville), and I am the only one in the pool that does have the final four still going, so I am in good shape!

GO GO OK STATE!
 
I have 3 of my final four still standing and both of my championship game teams(Illini and Tar Holes). I'm in third right now but if things go my way I can still win pretty big.
 
Wellington said:
I am miraculously leading my pool! All of my final four teams are alive (OK St., Kentucky, UNC, Louisville), and I am the only one in the pool that does have the final four still going, so I am in good shape!

GO GO OK STATE!
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Boy, you have three current or former Kentucky coaches in your Final Four.
 
Grr, a couple of games are giving me a hard time:

Arizona VS Oklahoma State - I really like Oklahoma State, but if it turns into a shootout I think Arizona has the advantage.

Texas Tech VS West Virginia - Another even match.
 
I like Washington in the Louisville game. They could very well lose, but they proved something to me in their win over Pacific. Still, the game will be very close, simply because Louisville at the very least should've been a 2 seed, and I see the game as a 1 seed vs a 1A seed.

BTW, current reports are that Sumpter will have a MRI today, but isn't optimistic about his chances of being ready to play Friday. That's a huge loss for Villanova.

Here are my picks:

Syracuse
(1) UNC over (5) Villanova
(10) NC State over (6) Wisconsin

Austin
(5) Michigan State over (1) Duke
(6) Utah over (2) Kentucky

Albuquerque
(1) Washington over (4) Louisville
(7) West Virginia over (6) Texas Tech

Chicago
(1) Illinois over (12) UW-Milwaukee
(2) Oklahoma State over (3) Arizona
 
Michigan State? :lol

duke.jpg
 
Eminem said:
Michigan State? :lol

duke.jpg
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Face it, the only reason Duke even got past Miss. St. last night was because of their defense and bad FT shooting. Michigan St. leads the nation in FT shooting (I believe) and plays comparable D to Duke. If Redick doesn't pull out of this shooting slump he's been in (6-24 shooting in the two games), I think this one could get pretty ugly.

edit: and btw, Michigan St. is a HELL of a lot better than Delaware St. and Miss. St.

We asked our friends at Whatifsports.com to simulate each first-round game in the NCAA Tournament. Results are based on averages over 100 simulated games. Each game is simulated with a degree of randomness, and results are based on the season statistics of the players involved. Get more Insider Tournament coverage Insider

Average score: Duke 84, Michigan St. 82

Winning percentage over 100 simulations: Duke 52%

Sample box score: Duke 87, Michigan St. 85
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No relevance, just thought I'd post it.
 
Bowser said:
Face it, the only reason Duke even got past Miss. St. last night was because of their defense and bad FT shooting. Michigan St. leads the nation in FT shooting (I believe) and plays comparable D to Duke. If Redick doesn't pull out of this shooting slump he's been in (6-24 shooting in the two games), I think this one could get pretty ugly.

edit: and btw, Michigan St. is a HELL of a lot better than Delaware St. and Miss. St.
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:lol

Gotta love the UNC crowd. Remember, Duke has already beaten Michigan State once this year. Of course, that was way back in November, so a lot has changed since then. We'll see how it goes, but you are completely forgetting matchups. We matched up horribly with Mississippi State (two dominant interior big men with a good defender on the outside). They really took it inside and exposed Duke's biggest weakness (depth, especially on the interior). The matchup against Michigan State is much more favorable.


*and for the record, I didn't have UNC in the final four either. But that was because I didn't want them there, not because I didn't think they would make it.
 
How about this? The Scorecard predicts this as the outcome of the third round...

99.49% chance that Illinois defeats Wisc. Milwaukee.
73.78% chance that North Carolina defeats Villanova.
72.68% chance that Kentucky defeats Utah.
69.19% chance that Duke defeats Michigan St.
65.22% chance that Wisconsin defeats North Carolina St.
62.19% chance that Arizona deats Oklahoma St.
61.81% chance that Texas Tech defeats West Virginia.
52.65% chance that Washington defeats Louisville.


So, it is predicting the upset for Arizona, and Louisville, West Virginia, and North Carolina St. are the next most likely to pull the "upsets." In its history, Scorecard has been right about 75% of the time in predicting the outcome of games.

So, if you're a betting man, take the Scorecard prediction for 6 of the games, and then take 2 of the closer predictions to stray.
 
Ahhh, nice to see Wisconsin teams as well as the Big Ten being thick in the tourney. If you don't love the way UWM plays you've got a problem. They will lose to Ill. but it will be a fun game to watch. And as for the NC State vs. Wisconsin game... should be slow... but close. Infact if Wisconsin wins they will have made it to the elite eight only playing against doubledigit seeds!!!

As for the Big Ten.... 6-2 in the tournament and everyone had the big ten as weak sauce. What happened to the Big East? Laughable.
 
The shocker of the tournament is about to go down.

UW-Milwaukee is going to upset Illinois. If you missed the first two Panther NCAA games you are in for a treat. Living in Wisconsin I've seen a ton of Panther games on local TV. This team is the real deal. They may be the deadliest 12 seed ever in the history of the NCAA tournament. If mid major conferences didn't get shunned on by the NCAA selection committee the Panthers should have been a 3 or 4 seed while Detroit (Also from the Horizon league) should have got an 8-10 seed in the tourney. No 12 seed has ever beaten a 1 seed but history is about to be rewritten!

The Panthers are 26-5 and have won 20 out of their last 21 games and also have the longest winning streak in the nation at 11. Don't count them out.
 
Yeah, UWM matches up well against Illinois. And people laughed at me when I pimped them earlier. But I also picked against them in the first round. :lol

Having said that, I don't think they'll be able to beat Illinois. The environment will be VERY hostile.

I suck at supporting my school. :lol
 
Duck of Death said:
Yeah, UWM matches up well against Illinois. And people laughed at me when I pimped them earlier. But I also picked against them in the first round. :lol

Having said that, I don't think they'll be able to beat Illinois. The environment will be VERY hostile.

I suck at supporting my school. :lol
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Well, while Illinois is playing practically in their back turf, Milwaukee isn't that far away from Rosemont so I'm sure we'll see a ton of Panther fans make the trip to the game as well.
 
I don't know, Illini fans have been buying tickets for awhile now. Plus, Illinois fans HATE Bruce Pearl. I'm sure ESPN has covered that story by now.
 
Duck of Death said:
I don't know, Illini fans have been buying tickets for awhile now. Plus, Illinois fans HATE Bruce Pearl. I'm sure ESPN has covered that story by now.
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The story took a full page in today's Chicago Sun-Times.
 
I really like UW-M, I've rooted for them the 1st 2 rounds... but their ride ends here. Take pride in the fact that they've come this far into the tournament.

The Illini are going to take care of business. They've looked unimpressive the last several games or so, but they are finally getting back into their groove. This'll be the Illini team that blew out Gonzaga, Wake Forest, and Cincy. Not the one that crawled through the Big Ten sludge late in the season.

I've been saying for awhile now that their inside game has been growing and growing. They can win without their guards being THE factor. Could you have said that a year ago? Probably not. Let teams focus on the 3 G's, and Augustine/Powell will tear them up. Bring it, McFarlin, because Fazekas sure as hell didn't. All you need to know is that Pearl has already said they'll be playing Man-to-Man D. Suicide IMO.

Illinois vs. UNC, baby. The only way it gets settled.

Oh, and my Sweet 16 picks:
Syracuse
(1) UNC over (5) Villanova
(10) NC State over (6) Wisconsin

Austin
(5) Michigan State over (1) Duke
(6) Utah over (2) Kentucky

Albuquerque
(4) Louisville over (1) Washington
(7) West Virginia over (6) Texas Tech

Chicago
(1) Illinois over (12) UW-Milwaukee
(2) Oklahoma State over (3) Arizona

Pretty much the same as Bowser's, sans Washington.
 
If the Illini had not acted like dirty cheaters a couple years back Bruce Pearl would not have had to pay off someone and tape a phone call to at them out!!! :lol

The history between Bruce Pearl and Illinois is the most interesting non game story of the tourney right now! You know the stadium will be rocking on Thursday!
 
Sal Paradise Jr said:
All you need to know is that Pearl has already said they'll be playing Man-to-Man D. Suicide IMO.
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He's joking, right? Brown and Head are gonna tear them up one on one.

MrBob - Are you a betting man ;-)?
 
I had UWM going to the Sweet 16 in my bracket. Both Alabama and BC were prime canidates for overlooking a sleeper team like UWM. The amount of hussle and effort is second to none. I don't believe they can fool Illinois though. Too well coached. And the backcourt will be able to handle early full court press. I wouldn't be surprised if B. Pearl abandons it all together once the game gets going, I fail to see how the likes of brown williams and head will panic. But by all means I'll be rooting for UWM though. Heck I was almost going to transfer into there next fall.
 
Nerevar said:
:lol

Gotta love the UNC crowd. Remember, Duke has already beaten Michigan State once this year.
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Duke beat State by seven points, and that was at Cameron. And it was also thanks to their FT shooting... they were lucky to pull away from that game with a W. Also, keep in mind that Duke's bench is about as deep as a kiddy pool... and Izzo uses a lot of players.

Granted, this isn't one of Izzo's best squads... but they're not gonna simply roll over for Duke. This game is going to be a lot closer than people think. If Duke plays like they did the first 2 games in this tourney, or if Williams gets in foul trouble, they're gonna be in trouble.
 
Mudwhistle said:
Duke beat State by seven points, and that was at Cameron. And it was also thanks to their FT shooting... they were lucky to pull away from that game with a W. Also, keep in mind that Duke's bench is about as deep as a kiddy pool... and Izzo uses a lot of players.

Granted, this isn't one of Izzo's best squads... but they're not gonna simply roll over for Duke. This game is going to be a lot closer than people think. If Duke plays like they did the first 2 games in this tourney, or if Williams gets in foul trouble, they're gonna be in trouble.
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Oh, I don't disagree. You noticed what I mentioned in the rest of my post - that that was way back in something like November, so it hardly matters now. But of course, the UNC crowd would still pick against Duke. That's what I find so humorous (especially because I did the same thing for them - I picked against them simply because I don't want them to win).
 
Nerevar said:
Oh, I don't disagree. You noticed what I mentioned in the rest of my post - that that was way back in something like November, so it hardly matters now. But of course, the UNC crowd would still pick against Duke. That's what I find so humorous (especially because I did the same thing for them - I picked against them simply because I don't want them to win).
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I hear ya. It just cracks me up that everyone (not just here) is saying that Duke will breeze past MSU and take on UK in the finals. Personally, I think the Austin region is completely up for grabs. It should be a great game though...

UNC's got their work cut out for them, too.
 
Sweet 16 picks are tricky this year. Of the 8 games, 2 are easy to pick (Illinois and North Carolina) but after that it's pretty close. The Louisville / Washington game is the most intriguing to me, but I'd have to go with the favorite - Louisville. My upset pick of the round would be Michigan State over Duke. I don't think many people would have guessed there might be three Big Ten teams in the Elite 8 this year.
 
Mudwhistle said:
By the way, UNC isn't the only team that hates Duke:

bigmddook8.jpg


2.jpg
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Yeah, the Maryland inferiority complex is pretty hilarious. Of course, it gets a lot less funny when ESPN has to tape-delay broadcasts from College Park due to the students chanting obscenities, students being so clever as to wear "Fuck you JJ" t-shirts, and fans assaulting family members of student-atheletes. What a classy group of people.
 
For this pool I'm in we randomly picked the 16 teams out of a hat and I got Illinois. :D I would've rather had North Carolina but oh well I'm happy with that pick.

Oh and my picks:

Syracuse
(1) UNC vs. (5) Villanova
(10) NC State vs. (6) Wisconsin

Austin
(5) Michigan State vs. (1) Duke
(6) Utah vs. (2) Kentucky

Albuquerque
(4) Louisville vs. (1) Washington
(7) West Virginia vs. (6) Texas Tech

Chicago
(1) Illinois vs. (12) UW-Milwaukee
(2) Oklahoma State vs. (3) Arizona
 
Cubsfan23 said:
Digger just picked Washington. Time to buy my tickets to St. Louis
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Digger is such a douchebag. This is most-evident when ESPN points out how he is always holding a hilighter that matches his tie.
 
Mudwhistle said:
Digger is such a douchebag. This is most-evident when ESPN points out how he is always holding a hilighter that matches his tie.
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I've seriously never seen him pick the favorite in a game. Anybody else notice this?
 
A co-worker said he also picked Wisconsin-Wilwaukee because of their press. Is that true? If they press the Illini Augustine and Powell will have 30 points apiece with 54 of the 60 points coming off dunks. The ball will never touch the floor.
 
Brian Fellows said:
A co-worker said he also picked Wisconsin-Wilwaukee because of their press. Is that true? If they press the Illini Augustine and Powell will have 30 points apiece with 54 of the 60 points coming off dunks. The ball will never touch the floor.
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Yep, Milwaukee has a really tough press... but I doubt they'll use it as much against Illinois. But that is how thay got past Alabama and BC.
 
Unless your team has played against the press, it is difficult to overcome. You can practice against it, but finally playing a team that uses it effectively is different and more challenging. It will be interesting to see how Illinois handles the press. I think Illinois will win, but it should be an exciting game.
 
Duck of Death said:
Unless your team has played against the press, it is difficult to overcome. You can practice against it, but finally playing a team that uses it effectively is different and more challenging. It will be interesting to see how Illinois handles the press. I think Illinois will win, but it should be an exciting game.
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I could be exciting yes but not if they press. This isnt Alabama or BC they are playing. You could take the best guards from both teams and not come close to the talent in the U of I's backcourt. Illinois has 3 of the best point guards in the whole tournament in their backcourt. They also have very mobile big men who can handle the ball well. If UWM tries to press too long it will get ugly.
 
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