2018 TRF NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge!

[goose]

Of the 17 million+ brackets entered into the ESPN challenge, only 31 remain perfect.

 

I wonder if any of those are left now?

Nope. 100% busted!

 

Never mind UV losing first round...1 in 5 brackets had them winning it all!

Edited March 17, 2018 by goose

[goose]

20 points with a minute to go!!!!

 

This is historic...and beautiful. The top seed goes down in round 1!

 

First time ever. EVAR!

21-21 at the half, UMBC blows up for 53 pts in the second half, which just happens to be the number of the avg points UV gave up for an entire game this year.

[goose]

With both Virginia and Zona bounced in the first round, how stoked are Cincinnati and Kentucky right now?

[goose]

Was hoping Auburn would lose, Pearl reminds me of a used car salesman.

 

That call should have been made.

Didn't see the play, but...

 

NCAA tournament: Did late no-call rob Charleston's shot at historic upset over Auburn?

 

The Cougars went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line down the stretch in the last two minutes and had their chances, but one controversial no-call by the referees seemed to resonate most in a late-game situation that could've made it a tie game with seven seconds remaining.

 

Trailing 61-58, Charleston had a chance to knot the game after Auburn's Davion Mitchell missed two free throws. The Cougars' Grant Riller rose up for a potential game-tying three-pointer but the shot came way short. On the replay, television analysts showed an angle that looked like good defense by the Tigers. And coach Bruce Pearl said in a postgame television interview, point blank, "I don't think it was a foul."

 

Others disagreed. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tweeted, "Unfortunate missed call. No question, clear from seeing it live, he was hit (on) the elbow."

Another closer angle provided by CBS showed what appeared to be the foul on Riller's shooting elbow.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/03/16/ncaa-tournament-did-late-no-call-rob-charlestons-shot-historic-upset-over-auburn/434399002/

 

I don't like the tradition of refs swallowing their collective whistle in the waning seconds of a game. The philosophy is that refs shouldn't decide the game. But by not calling a clear violation of the rules, a ref does just that.

 

GIF of the foul...

[laughedatbytime]

Of the 17 million+ brackets entered into the ESPN challenge, only 31 remain perfect.

 

I wonder if any of those are left now?

No

[laughedatbytime]

Was hoping Auburn would lose, Pearl reminds me of a used car salesman.

 

That call should have been made.

Didn't see the play, but...

 

NCAA tournament: Did late no-call rob Charleston's shot at historic upset over Auburn?

 

The Cougars went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line down the stretch in the last two minutes and had their chances, but one controversial no-call by the referees seemed to resonate most in a late-game situation that could've made it a tie game with seven seconds remaining.

 

Trailing 61-58, Charleston had a chance to knot the game after Auburn's Davion Mitchell missed two free throws. The Cougars' Grant Riller rose up for a potential game-tying three-pointer but the shot came way short. On the replay, television analysts showed an angle that looked like good defense by the Tigers. And coach Bruce Pearl said in a postgame television interview, point blank, "I don't think it was a foul."

 

Others disagreed. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tweeted, "Unfortunate missed call. No question, clear from seeing it live, he was hit (on) the elbow."

Another closer angle provided by CBS showed what appeared to be the foul on Riller's shooting elbow.

 

https://www.usatoday...burn/434399002/

 

I don't like the tradition of refs swallowing their collective whistle in the waning seconds of a game. The philosophy is that refs shouldn't decide the game. But by not calling a clear violation of the rules, a ref does just that.

 

GIF of the foul... https://twitter.com/...824096985788416

Saw it. Was watching on a quarter of my screen and I saw it.

[goose]

Was hoping Auburn would lose, Pearl reminds me of a used car salesman.

 

That call should have been made.

Didn't see the play, but...

 

NCAA tournament: Did late no-call rob Charleston's shot at historic upset over Auburn?

 

The Cougars went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line down the stretch in the last two minutes and had their chances, but one controversial no-call by the referees seemed to resonate most in a late-game situation that could've made it a tie game with seven seconds remaining.

 

Trailing 61-58, Charleston had a chance to knot the game after Auburn's Davion Mitchell missed two free throws. The Cougars' Grant Riller rose up for a potential game-tying three-pointer but the shot came way short. On the replay, television analysts showed an angle that looked like good defense by the Tigers. And coach Bruce Pearl said in a postgame television interview, point blank, "I don't think it was a foul."

 

Others disagreed. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tweeted, "Unfortunate missed call. No question, clear from seeing it live, he was hit (on) the elbow."

Another closer angle provided by CBS showed what appeared to be the foul on Riller's shooting elbow.

 

https://www.usatoday...burn/434399002/

 

I don't like the tradition of refs swallowing their collective whistle in the waning seconds of a game. The philosophy is that refs shouldn't decide the game. But by not calling a clear violation of the rules, a ref does just that.

 

GIF of the foul... https://twitter.com/...824096985788416

Saw it. Was watching on a quarter of my screen and I saw it.

Three officials got it wrong.

 

As a coach it used to infuriate me how often that was the case...or the one that did see the foul would say "Not my call".

[goose]

Bluesy and I respectively have North Carolina and Duke as winning it all. We're looking good, chica!

[goose]

The second round really is quite boring to me, unless I'm tied emotionally to a team. Thursday/Friday upsets usually lead to Saturday/Sunday ho-hum blowouts. It's nice to have the weekend free, really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Wolf Pack!

[Fordgalaxy]

Was hoping Auburn would lose, Pearl reminds me of a used car salesman.

 

That call should have been made.

Didn't see the play, but...

 

NCAA tournament: Did late no-call rob Charleston's shot at historic upset over Auburn?

 

The Cougars went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line down the stretch in the last two minutes and had their chances, but one controversial no-call by the referees seemed to resonate most in a late-game situation that could've made it a tie game with seven seconds remaining.

 

Trailing 61-58, Charleston had a chance to knot the game after Auburn's Davion Mitchell missed two free throws. The Cougars' Grant Riller rose up for a potential game-tying three-pointer but the shot came way short. On the replay, television analysts showed an angle that looked like good defense by the Tigers. And coach Bruce Pearl said in a postgame television interview, point blank, "I don't think it was a foul."

 

Others disagreed. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tweeted, "Unfortunate missed call. No question, clear from seeing it live, he was hit (on) the elbow."

Another closer angle provided by CBS showed what appeared to be the foul on Riller's shooting elbow.

 

https://www.usatoday...burn/434399002/

 

I don't like the tradition of refs swallowing their collective whistle in the waning seconds of a game. The philosophy is that refs shouldn't decide the game. But by not calling a clear violation of the rules, a ref does just that.

 

GIF of the foul... https://twitter.com/...824096985788416

Saw it. Was watching on a quarter of my screen and I saw it.

Three officials got it wrong.

 

As a coach it used to infuriate me how often that was the case...or the one that did see the foul would say "Not my call".

They also missed that the wrong guy shot free throws on the rebound of that 3 pointer. The guy who got fouled on the rebound is a 67% free throw shooter but between the time the ref called the foul, turned to give the scoring table the info and turned back, the fouled player had passed the ball to a guy who shoots in the 83% free throw range and he sunk both of them. Seems the refs blew that 1 in a couple of ways.

[blueschica]

Loyola/Chi wins again! Awesome!

[laughedatbytime]

Loyola/Chi wins again! Awesome!

[goose]

Loyola/Chi wins again! Awesome!

Missed it. Good on them!

[goose]

Crap officiating down the stretch as the refs work to keep OSU alive vs Gonzaga. Back to back possession fail/foul given on the flop.

 

Zags having none of that, with an emphatic power jam to seal it.

 

[edhunter]

I'm not seeing a repeat win this year, unless some breaks come my way. I haven't checked my picks against the folks ahead of me to see what we have in common.

 

At least my Lady Huskies squeaked by in their opener today.

 

Actually I just checked again, and it might not be as hopeless as I thought. The three people between me and blues chica all have Virginia going the distance, so they're doomed.

Edited March 18, 2018 by edhunter

[goose]

Link to the group:

 

http://games.espn.co...groupID=2347911

 

password: toronto

:bump: for easy bracket access.

:bump:

[goose]

I'm not seeing a repeat win this year, unless some breaks come my way. I haven't checked my picks against the folks ahead of me to see what we have in common.

 

At least my Lady Huskies squeaked by in their opener today.

 

Actually I just checked again, and it might not be as hopeless as I thought. The three people between me and blues chica all have Virginia going the distance, so they're doomed.

You have 'Nova, BC has NCarolina, and I have Duke (you and I are tied). On that site that LABT linked, 'Nova was the favorite this AM at 20% chance to win it all. But now... https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-march-madness-predictions/?addata=espn:frontpage

 

'Nova: 22%

UNC: 6%

Duke: 14%

Edited March 18, 2018 by goose

[goose]

Amazing buzzer beater puts Michigan over Houston!!!!

 

:dweez:

[goose]

TxRush in 8th, but has the 2nd most possible points remaining, at 1380. BC has two brackets taking up the 1 & 2 spots, yet her 2nd place bracket only has 720 possible points remaining. Her top bracket has 1400 ppr.

[Fordgalaxy]

Crap officiating down the stretch as the refs work to keep OSU alive vs Gonzaga. Back to back possession fail/foul given on the flop.

 

Zags having none of that, with an emphatic power jam to seal it.

 

I'm not sure how they or any other people with normal vision and reasoning can miss a call when they have video replay to look at as long as they need to. From 1 angle, the ball wasn't clearly off the OSU guy's fingertips, but from the baseline view, it very clearly hit his fingers last. Oh well, justice prevailed. Suckeyes.

[goose]

A great end to a fairly dull day of basketball. Gonzaga battles back to win by double digits, and then Michigan wins at the buzzer...

 

https://www.ncaa.com...an-second-round

 

Michigan hits last second shot to take down Houston

 

Michigan takes down Houston 64-63 after Jordan Poole hits a last-second three at the buzzer to advance to the Sweet Sixteen

 

 

Edited March 18, 2018 by goose

[Fordgalaxy]

The shot of the tournament so far.

[laughedatbytime]

The shot of the tournament so far.

Nice to see Sampson lose.

[Dread Pirate Robert]

20 points with a minute to go!!!!

 

This is historic...and beautiful. The top seed goes down in round 1!

 

First time ever. EVAR!

 

NCAA Tournament 2018: ACC Tournament title proves Virginia is nation's best

 

Regardless of what happens during March Madness, Virginia's already proven its greatness

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• by Matt Norlander
  
• @MattNorlander
  
• Mar 11, 2018• 5 min read
  
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NEW YORK -- For the sixth time in school history, and for the third time in five years, Virginia will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Is this the year college basketball fans finally allow yourself to trust this program in March Madness, though? The Cavaliers have given you almost no reason not to. Pick against the Cavaliers at your own risk -- and potentially at the threat of losing your office pool.

For starters, Tony Bennett has a case for best coach in college basketball. I'm not only talking about this season. That's already been settled.

Virginia capped off a dominating run to Selection Sunday with a 71-63 victory against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament title game Saturday night. The conquering of Carolina set a UVA record for most victories in a season: 31. The Wahoos have only two losses, which is half as many as the next closest teams (Villanova, Michigan State, Cincinnati and Gonzaga).

 

 

The ACC title also birthed an ACC record: 2017-18 Virginia is the first team to win 20 games in a season against league competition. And the Cavs are going to their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament -- the first time the program's done that.

"I think that we know who we are," senior Isaiah Wilkins said.

What they are is a team built for a championship. It's magnificent to watch Virginia force teams to bend to their will every time, every game, and win almost every time.

For Bennett, a second conference tournament title comes as backdrop to the 2018 NCAA Tournament that will bring a lot of pressure to win at least four games. Virginia doesn't need to get to at least 35 wins this season, but 34 or fewer will almost certainly bring about an army of critics over UVA's style. Yet, at 48, Bennett has achieved everything at the college level short of making a Final Four.

 

 

It feels inevitable that this will be the year.

The Cavaliers are a problem that seem only solvable with a lucky, blind guess. West Virginia and Virginia Tech, congrats on somehow beating this team. I'm sure Bob Huggins and Buzz Williams have been bothered plenty in search of state secrets.

So, again, will you allow yourself to trust this team that's put a chokehold on college basketball? If you don't think Virginia looks special, your biases are blinding your judgment. It's by far the best defensive team in the sport -- statistically one of the best of the past 20 years -- and damn good on offense, too. This Cavs squad rates as the second most efficient offensive team Bennett's had, only behind that No. 1-seeded Cavaliers of 2015-16 that had a freakish collapse in the Elite Eight against Syracuse.

Without that devastating loss, Virginia's reputation is different. What you think of it, and how it's perceived nationally, is different. Final Four runs will do that for coaches. Ask Frank Martin and Shaka Smart. Gregg Marshall, Jim Larranaga and John Beilein too. All with a Final Four to their name, all held in higher esteem because of it.

 

 

"Those are the tangible things everybody judges you on," Bennett said Saturday night.

He's now become, right there with Arizona's Sean Miller, the carrier of the Best Coach Never to Make a Final Four moniker. Two years after the Syracuse catastrophe in Chicago, he's never looked better. He's operating on a level with few peers in college basketball right now. And he's done it with humility that, honestly, is appalling sincere.

I mean, the guy apologized for his players at the postgame press conference on Saturday night after they opted to bring the trophy to the dais.

Virginia was (ridiculously, in retrospect) unranked in the preseason. It went from that to capping off the best regular season in school history. Yes, even better than when Ralph Sampson was on campus and considered the top player in college basketball.

 

 

There's no singular superstar on this team like Sampson was. The Cavs boast a coach, a culture and a system that's managed to make its mark in an era where small-ball and space-and-pace philosophy has overtaken basketball at all levels. Yet Bennett has found a cheat code with season-long benefits.

Virginia took hold of the No. 1 spot in KenPom in early February and hasn't slipped since. It's the slowest and most suffocating team in the sport. And you think this club has no stars? Check back in a few years when freshman De'Andre Hunter is contributing on an NBA roster like Mike Scott, Joe Harris, Justin Anderson and Malcolm Brogdon are now.

Harris and Anderson were at Barclays Center on Saturday, right behind the UVA bench, smiling like giddy school kids after their program completed the crown-jewel accomplishment: winning the league's regular season and tournament title. The double-dip champ run is a special thing. This is not a school that has ever, or probably will ever, win with one-and-done types. In fact, Bennett had a nice line on Saturday night. A bit cheesy, but accurate nonetheless. He said a one-and-done at Virginia is defined by an opponent shooting, missing, and not getting a second chance with an offensive rebound. One shot, then you're done. Make it or else.

It's at the core of how he's won 288 of his 406 games at Virginia and Washington State. If you combine the five years prior at each of those schools before Bennett got there, the aggregate record of those programs was 126-165.

 

 

Now comes the do-or-die litmus test of the NCAA Tournament. Bennett's and Virginia's regular season rule over the ACC and much of college basketball has created a -- pardon the boilerplate buzz word, but it does apply -- narrative about Virginia basketball.

"Don't over-complicate it," Bennett said. "Improve, prepare well, play to win. That's what we have to do when we step up. And whoever it is or wherever it is, I don't know if we have a choice on that or not."

Thing is, it's the other team that usually doesn't carry a choice when it plays Virginia.

This Cavaliers team will face a skeptical public, but they should be the favorite heading into the NCAA Tournament. From a common sense and statistical perspective, there's no argument against the Hoos right now. On Saturday night, they sealed that. No ACC Tournament fold job, no weak showing against a dangerous Carolina team pushing for a possible 1 seed.

 

 

The NCAA Tournament will decide a national champion, but unless Virginia cuts down the nets, it won't prove who the best team was in college basketball this season. Through 33 games, we have our answer. The results from here on out can't take away the best coaching job of Bennett's career. This is college basketball's best team.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Dread Pirate Robert

[Dread Pirate Robert]

Articles like the above, combined with an immediate collapse afterwards, make me LOL. The real world can be a weird, funny place indeed.