Bracket Time - Who Celebrates in the City of the Purple Sprite?
I've spent pretty much all day at work looking at coverage of the upcoming NCAA tournament and I wanted to discuss who you guys have winning the entire thing.
Initially I thought it was going to be very tough to pick against Ohio State, no matter how much I hate that school. Duke won last year. Kansas always chokes (except when Chalmers and Manning were playing). Pitt is bound to fail and plays in the craziest regional.
As I have mentioned in another thread, I hate all the 2 seeds except perhaps SDSU (but their "unknown" factor is so high, you can't have them winning it, and having them in your Final 4 is questionable at best). 3 seeds aren't much better, either.
But I was looking at something this afternoon given the recent Kyrie Irving news. In the limited time he saw action, the kid put up 17 pts / 5 reb / 4 ast / 2 steals & blocks per game. Very impressive numbers. Now I know what you're thinking - he put those numbers up before the ACC began play and it was against weak competition. Well, actually, that is not the case. In those 8 games he played, 5 were against NCAA tournament teams and Duke beat all of them (he put up 31 against State).
So... in my opinion - if they kid can play and contribute - no one is beating Duke. They'll have him, Nolan Smith, the Plumlees, the Other Curry kid, Dawkins, Icabod Crane (Kelly), and Singler (as long as he doesn't shoot them out of the tournament - my ONLY fear with this team).
Anyone care to talk me out of taking Duke in both of my brackets?
[Edit: I realize we could play them in the second round. I should have also mentioned I'd be rooting very diligently against my thoughts above if we did play them. I'll take a M win over Duke in the tourney 1,000 times over making any money off a pool.]
She's in my Elite 8 for sure.
Rule #1 regarding picking your NCAA bracket:
Never EVER ask other sports fans for their advice.
You're better off asking a guinea pig, a computer, or your grandma. Why is this? Because sports fans are naturally biased towards and against different teams. You'll get the most objective advice by soliciting advice from those who have little to no interest.
But asking mgoblog for advice on this is like discussing pyramid schemes with Bernie Madoff and an Amway saleman.
Me? Biased?
I am not asking for advice. I am simply saying "it's Duke for me, who ya got?". Just trying to create some chatter.
Dick.
That is exactly what Colin Cowherd said. He claims that he doesn't consider himself an expert or a person who watches lots of college basketball. Last year he did better than other ESPN analysts like Lunardi who consider themselves experts. He cited exactly what you talk about being biased to certain teams.
Colin Cowherd is the kind of fan who watches the fourth quarter of uncompetitive OSU blowouts of MAC teams. In other words, he's a giant douche.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
So apparently we should listen to Woody Paige.
Kansas is so deep and can straight up score. Pitt really matches up well against Kansas in an inevitable final four game. With physical perimeter defending and a strong low post presence I can see Pitt shutting down the morris twins and winning it all.
I am torn between those two teams at the moment but i am sure that will change soon.
Deah, Taxes, and Pitt choking in the post-season.
upperclassmen, wanamaker, mchgee, and gibbs having the experience of past pitt teams, i think will definitely allow them to get to the final four.
They better be. I think they can win it all; they're a fundamentally sound, physical, defensive team that works together. IMO, this means highly replicable games, and winning a one-and-done tournament has a lot to do with consistency. They have five total losses on the season: one to ND playing the worst ball I've ever seen them play, almost ditto for Tennessee, and another to UConn with no time on the clock after Kemba Walker decided he wanted to win POY.
"Death, Taxes, and Pitt choking in the post-season."
Another year, another Pitt choke.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
OSU, Texas, Kansas and Pittsburgh with OSU winning it all.
OSU is in a tough region but they are one of the more balanced team in the country with Sullinger manning up down low with multiple of players especially Diebler who can make team pay for doubling Sullinger down low. They rarely foul, rarely turn the ball over, and can really shoot. That is a pretty good formula for winning a national championship game.
Texas is an another team that is underseeded, but is a very dangerous team come tourney time. They are the best defensive team in the country and they forced a lot of bad shots. They also take care of the ball pretty well and their offensive rebounding will help them even on a bad shooting night.
Kansas is a team that dominates with the Morris Twins at the interior. They are efficient offensively and can rebound. They don't allow easy shots and don't give teams 2nd chances.
Pittsburgh plays in the weakest region in the tourney IMO. They have an easy road to final four. With that being said, Pittsburgh is no slouch. They shoot the ball well and can rebound especially on the offensive side.
The fact that Kansas and Pittsburgh doesn't take care of the ball well compared to other teams may hurt them down the road, but there are other areas in their game that they compensate like offensive rebounding, play good defense. OSU has teh best of both worlds. OSU are dangerous offensively yet is stout on defense. They are excellent in taking care of teh ball and does not give up cheap points.
I really think OSU is overrated. They havent played anyone outside the conference. I think the orange match up well against them in both the 2-3 zone and if needed man to man. As great as Sullinger is i think he can be shut down by a physical team like Syracuse or even West Virgina.
2-3 zone and WVU's zone defense. They have shown that they can destroy zone defense with timely 3 point shooting from Buford, Lighty, Diebler and Thomas. OSU pretty much dominated Big 10 conference. They spanked Purdue by 20 points and Wisconsin by 30 points which is their most impressive wins. Throw in #2 seed Florida(who is overseeded IMO) whom OSU dominated by 18 pts on the road.
Yes, youre right that OSU is a great team and defintely deserved a one seed in the tournament because of their dominant regular season performance but i dont see them winning the NC let alone getting out of their regionals. They struggled against michigan both times we played them. A team with skills on the perimeter and a big man down low (i.e. syracuse with scoop and jackson) could defintely beat the buckeyes
March 17th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^
As a Syracuse fan, OSU scares the shit out of me.
We'd have to extend the zone to protect against Diebler, which would put more pressure on our bigs inside against Sullinger. We'd need Jackson, Melo, and Joseph to have huge games, and Scoop and Triche to shoot well.
No reason we can't beat them though.
in my announcer's say the stupidest shit pool, i took "score the ball" over "guard play"
I've got a Kansas vs OSU National Championship game with Kansas winning by 2. I also have Pitt and UCONN(though I have my doubts with this pick) in the Final Four. I also seriously considered having St Johns in the Elite 8 but had them lose to BYU and having Syracuse in the Final Four over OSU.