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(non-GT unfortunately) March Madness Thread

Just think if Mary-land had kept their finances in order and not jumped ship, the A C C would have 7 in the S. S.(almost half the teams)!
 
Maryland punches its ticket to the Sweet 16 where they will face Kansas. GT connections to the Twerps include Robert Carter Jr. and Asst Coach Cliff Warren.
 
One of the worst choke jobs down the stretch I've seen in a while by Northern Iowa. Good gracious.
 
Northern Iowa trying every choke method in the book to try to give this game to A&M. Wow!
 
Syracuse up big now. This means all 4 games Friday night will feature an ACC team. With, the chance that we could see one or two ACC teams face one another in the Elite 8 for a ticket to the Final Four...

Friday games...

East Region: 1 Cheaters vs 5 Indiana...6 Notre Dame vs 2 Xavier or 7 Wisconsin (who beat Pitt for the ACC's only loss so far)
Midwest Region: 1 Virginia vs 4 Iowa State...10 Syracuse vs 11 Gonzaga

So what does 6 ACC teams in the Sweet 16 mean for the quality of this year's Jackets team? We beat 3 of those teams, right? UVA, ND, and Pitt, and lost to Cuse by a hair. Of our 10 ACC losses, they are as follows:
UNC, Dook, UVA, ND, Pitt, Cuse, and Louisville (2x), plus VPI and Clemson. Not bad.
 
Wisconsin just keeps getting it done in the NCAAT. Buzzer beater for the win. Fun stuff on a late Sunday night.
 
For those not watching or missed it...

Regulation: UNI has an 8 pt lead with 26 seconds left and started turning the ball over and giving A&M baskets. Game goes to OT.

OT: UNI at the line with a 1 pt lead and about 10 seconds left. Missed free throw gets it to a 2 pt lead. A&M goes down and scores a field goal to put it to a 2nd OT.

Unreal.
 
I feel sick for those UNI kids. But, they had their chances in OT. Kudos to the Aggies for not giving up.

Stewart Mandel had already tweeted about the UNI win with 30 seconds left. LOL!
 
It was a 10 point lead with a little over 30 seconds, and UNI had the ball.
Momentum had to be with those $EC Agitators in OT.
 
I thought UNI was hosed last night.

Several times while inbounding the ball the UNI player was fouled, but no whistle and no free throws. But plenty of forced turnovers for Texas A&M.
 
Cardinal rule, you never throw an inbounds pass under your defending basket(multiple times)-particularly with less than 5 seconds left in the game and a two point game against pressure.

FWIW, Robert Carter, Jr. is on track to graduate, thus having an option to play his Sr.-R. year elsewhere.
 
If the Escort Service Academy was in the Tournament, it could have been 7 teams. Mark Turgeon and Co. could have made it 8 or 50 percent of the Top 16.
 
Pitt's Jamie Dixon leaves to take the job at his alma mater, TCU.

A bit surprising.
 
J.D. when asked about our job after Blewitt, said we didn't have enough money for a top coach. So the school he played for, must have ponied up five years later.

328-123, 11 out of 13 NCAA's at Pitt.
 
Sweet 16 point spreads FWIW...

Thursday
Miami +4.5 vs Villanova
Texas A&M +2.5 vs Oklahoma
Maryland +6.5 vs Kansas
Duke +3 vs Oregon

Friday
Iowa State +5 vs Virginia
Wisconsin +1 vs Notre Dame
Gonzaga -4.5 vs Syracuse
Indiana +5.5 vs North Carolina
 
J.D. when asked about our job after Blewitt, said we didn't have enough money for a top coach. So the school he played for, must have ponied up five years later.

328-123, 11 out of 13 NCAA's at Pitt.
I guess Pitts new AD wanted to go in a different direction. Dixon must have decided he was ready to make a move before the AD did.
 
DTM would have more insight, if he wants to answer the Pitt. A.D. question?

Only info. privy to, was that it was a Dixon decision. Pitt. did what they could to keep him happy.
 
The ACC has 19 units this NCAAT. And, if I understand the payout rules correctly, that is the gift that keeps on giving over the next 5 or 6 years by the NCAA's formula.

2 ACC teams in action tonight...

7:10pm Canes face Nova - two teams the Jackets faced and lost to this season. Game is on CBS.

10:07pm SUNJ-Durham faces Oregon - the Over/Under is 157. The Over looks rather tasty here as SUNJ-D plays very little defense and the Quackers can score. Risky though as SUNJ-D can be either very hot (Over with ease) or very cold (Under with ease) from outside the arc.

Looking forward to keeping an eye on the games tonight while listening to the Beesball game on WREK.
 
Nice comeback by the Canes. They were getting their butts handed to them early in this game and looking like Nova might run away from them. But, the Canes have fought back. Down 6 with just over 3 mins to go in the 1st half.
 
Oklahoma is abusing my sister's Aggies. The SEC really sucks this year.
 
Random observation...

...Va Tech's Buzz Williams is on TBS' March Madness studio tonight. Good to have a voice of the ACC there.
 
As bad as Duke's man defense has been all year, that zone D they are attempting tonight is laughable. Is Ratface losing it?
 
As bad as Duke's man defense has been all year, that zone D they are attempting tonight is laughable. Is Ratface losing it?

They played the bad zone much of the year to stay out of foul trouble. More specifically, they played it to keep Plumlee from fouling out in 10 minutes.

The zone made their rebounding problems worse. They were the island of misfit McDonald's All-Americans this year. The pieces didn't fit together well and K didn't have any answers.
 
Once again, the preferential treatment that Dook receives in ACC play hurts them in the tournament. Their starters averaged a tad over 12 fouls per game, but were whistled for 16 fouls last night.

In their 18 ACC games, they were hit with 293 fouls, for an average of just over 16 PF's/game, and in their 9 ACC home games, they were called for 142 PF's, an average of under 16 PF's/game.

They were called for 19 PF's last night.
 
Having said all that, let's not forget the Hitler Youth *ARE* still the defending NCAA Champions.

Ratface's new focus on being more like Calipari and doing the 1-and-done thing will give him banner years like a year ago and years where they have holes like this year. This year, the hole was in the middle of their paint defensively. Oregon just blew past them with better athleticism. The only team Puke has faced this year with that much athleticism is perhaps the Cheaters. But, I haven't forgotten that Ratface's boys did beat the Cheaters in their home dome this season. When Puke gets hot from outside the arc, they can overcome their vast defensive deficiencies. Not last night though.

I'd love to see our program one day where a Sweet 16 loss was considered a down year.
 
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All 4 favorites won in convincing double-digit margin fashions last night.

3 of the 4 games tonight feature ACC teams as favorites (albeit the Irish are a very slight favorite)...

France -5 vs Cyclones
Irish -1 vs Badgers
Cuse +4 vs Zags
Cheaters -5.5 vs Hoosiers
 
The games last night were not very entertaining at all. Not like last weekend. Let's hope tonight is better.

I'd like to see the ACC get 4 more units tonight!
 
Agree that the entertainment value to the fan with no significant rooting interest one way or the other was lacking due to all 4 being pretty much decided most of the way.

Having said that, the Saturday matchups are blockbuster. At least, looking at them in advance before tipoff. 1 vs 2 seeds in each game and all 4 teams are legit champion contenders who have spent most, if not all, of their respective seasons in the top 10/5.

Tonight will be very intriguing as the ACC has teams in each game of course. The nation would hate it, but we ACC fans would love it, if Sunday's matchups resembled the semifinals at the ACCT. Some questions I have going into tonight include...

1) Is it time for the French to choke and their defensive grabbing ways to catch up with them with the refs? They have a path to the Final 4 laid out for them on a silver French platter with Michigan State gone and the other side of the bracket featuring a 10-v-11 game.

2) Will Wisconsin lull the Irish to sleep or can the Irish set their own tempo? The Badgers really step up this time of year and they believe they are going to find a way to keep it close and then execute at the end to win. ND needs Jackson to really step up tonight.

3) The Zags are on a roll and absolutely destroyed their first weekend opponents. Can the Orange (who also looked very impressive last weekend) and their patented zone defense frustrate the Zags and drive them crazy? Can the Orange continue to be very efficient offensively and stay hot outside the arc? Though this is a 10-v-11 game, it might be the most entertaining of them all when said and done late tonight.

4) Can the Cheaters keep on keeping on? I picked the Cheaters to win it all in my brackets because I think they have shown the ability to defeat teams who like to slow it down, teams who like to play their speed, etc. UNC essentially played 2 home games in Raleigh last weekend. Now, they head to Philly where things will be considerably more neutral. In fact, the crowd may get behind the Hoosiers if the game is tight down to the wire.

It will be interesting to see - and I expect it will happen - if the ACC fans will root for one another loudly in the arenas tonight (e.g., Cuse fans rooting for the French and vice versa in Chicago). If you stay up late enough and things go the way I/we hope they do, you may even get a hint of an arena-filled cheer of "A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!" if we can get a sweep (or hopefully two) tonight.


edit note: Saturday's lines are out... Oklahoma-Oregon is a Pick and Kansas is a 2.5 pt favorite versus Nova.
 
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1) I don't expect the French to fold.
2) Notre Dame seems to do well enough with slow paced games. But Wisconsin can step up the pace too as needed. I expect a good game.
3) I think the Zags have played over their heads, but so has Syracuse. So who knows. I agree, this may be the most entertaining. But if either have early foul trouble watch out.
4) If UNC stays focused, I think they win. But I think it will be more entertaining than last night....
 
Unusual to see the French put up 45 pts on the board at half, but they came to play. Up by 14 at the half.

ND struggling. Wanting to play up tempo and Badgers doing their thing so far defensively. Still think the Irish will win this though.
 
The French taking care of business. Irish on a nice run midway through the 2nd half. Go Irish!
 
What an amazing last minute of the game for the Irish. 2 more units cashed for the ACC out of 2 tries tonight.

OK Cuse and Cheaters? Wanna make it an All-ACC Sunday Elite 8???

Woohoo!
 
Some tweets...

Darren Rovell ‏@darrenrovell 9h9 hours ago
ACC finishes with 25 units for the 2016 NCAA Tournament, which is a record. Those units will be worth at least $39.9 million to conference.

Matt Sarzyniak ‏@mattsarz 9h9 hours ago
Should be at 23 units tonight. Guaranteed 25 after Sunday, by far the most. ACC earned most (21) last year.


ACC looking at roughly $75 million from the 2015/2016 NCAA Basketball Tournaments alone (spread out over 6 years).
 
The ACC of course has guaranteed 2 teams in the Final Four - who will play one another - and one team in the national championship game.

In football, the ACC has 1 national title in the last 3 years and 1 runner up (this past season with Clemson in the national title game). We've had a team in the playoffs both years of its existence.

In baseball, we have the defending national champs in the French.

In men's basketball, we have the defending national champs in Rutgers-Durham and now will have at least 1 team in the national title game, 2 in the Final 4, 4 in the Elite 8, and had 6 in the Sweet 16...and this was WITHOUT Louisville this year and Syracuse last year.
 
NCAA Collegiate Baseball Poll had 8 teams from the A C C this week, Ga. Tech was one of them! Roughly 1/3 of the top 25.

March "Beesball" Madness!
 
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