Early afternoon games thread
Providence won. Memphis is up big at the half on Boise St. They are a better team without Bates. Baylor up big at the half as well. Waiting on the TN/Longwood and Iowa/Richmond games to come on.
You can do it, Longwood. I know you can.
I saw online that Longwood was the popular choice for all the lady's in their brackets this morning.
It's a travesty that they are not named the Woodpeckers.
I have Tennessee as my national title pick in one of my brackets. More than happy to have Longwood completely destroy that bracket.
Longwood Lancers.
1st tournament appearance. Old timers may remember Jerome Kersey. 3rd oldest public university in Virginia.
That's all I got.
Jackrabbits already ruining my early perfect bracket. Should have known better than to go with super popular and trendy upset pick. My original thought was they had played nobody to rack up their PPG number and that seeing a real defense would be an issue for them. Should have gone with it.
Surprise, surprise, Emoni Bates is in the lineup for Memphis. The kid makes me wonder if he's in a Marinovich or Ball situation with an overbearing, stifling father.
Can't recall the details of Marinovich, but while Ball was and is an asshole, I don't have too many complaints about his fathering
emoni does what emoni wants.
Fuck. I only picked that team to go far because Bates wasn't playing. What an asshole.
I was going to make some snark about Bruce Pearl. But forget that because Tennessee's head coach is Rick Barnes. Then I was about to talk minor shit about Rick Barnes. But Rick Barnes has won a shit-ton of games over a long career. Just not many of them in the NCAA Tournament. I suspect coaching basketball is hard.
I don't think Longwood has any chance but hoping for at least not a total blowout to give me some hope that UM could pull it off on Saturday.
Don't underestimate Tennessee's ability to shit the bed.
6 OTs.
TN fans seem to have traveled well
Tennessee is big and organized on defense inside. But they are a little slow and stiff.
Frankie can carve them up.
LOL at purported-expert Jerry Palm picking Colorado St, S Dakota St, and Boise St to start the tournament
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/expert-picks-and-anaylsis/
Facepalm.
To be fair South Dakota State was probably the most popular upset pick. I fell into that trap too.
Tbh I did too. (Though my main bracket awards 9 underdog points for a 13 over a 4, so I'd be stupid not to when the spread was just 2.)
Getting them *all* wrong so far is a special talent though. I might think about fading Mr. Palm
That SD St-Providence game goes directly into my theory that teams full of speedy little guys look great for a half against a big, physical team that can score inside (See: CSU). Then reality sets in.
At first they swarm around the bigger team like bees, forcing turnovers and hoisting threes. Then, in the second half, they start to get in foul trouble, their legs get tired, threes start missing, and those bigs on the other team keep dominating inside.
Everyone seemed to think this matchup favored SDSU; I really thought Providence would eventually overpower them. I felt the same way about Michigan.
Of course, I also picked Iowa to easily beat Richmond, so what do I know?
What about Doug Gottlieb?
I don't blame him for the South Dakota St. and Boise St. as much because (a) they nearly upset a very overrated Providence team and (b) nobody can get a read on Memphis especially if they're pulling Bates in from the cold.
Him picking CSU is just him being a troll.
He is not an expert and should look for a new job. It would do CBS good if they parted ways with him.
I picked SDState and they had a chance! Stupid foul on a 3pt shot put a nail in their coffin.
Longwood starting to turn it over and TN is pulling away a little. I’d like to see TN to at least have to play a full 40 minutes and not test their starters half the game.
Iowa is gonna be this year's team that looks like a sexy pick because they won their conference tourney...only to do nothing much in the tournament
I have them out to Richmond.
Yeah I avoid "hot" teams like the plague
I also avoid Iowa generally, who I don't remember seeing in the 2nd weekend since ... the Acie Earl boxfade days?
you want a stat? here's one: iowa hasn't made a sweet sixteen since dr tom davis coached them, in NINETEEN NINETY NINE. 23 years. oof.
Ah, so it's only been since the Jess Settles crewcut days. When the NL Astros played at Enron Field and Sixpence None the Richer was lighting up the charts
Never put a Fran McCaffrey team into the second weekend.
You called it!
Honestly my bracket relies on Iowa making the Final Four. They were just playing so well down the stretch and I didn't like the top 4 seeds in that region as much top seeds in other regions. But something tells me I will regret showing any faith in tournament Iowa. Arizona, Gonzaga, Iowa and UCLA with Arizona over Gonzaga is my final four. But UCLA and Iowa are definitely gambles.
I have two TVs going, ninety percent of the time they're both on commercial. Commercial madness is more like it!!
Imagine if Fox ever gets their greasy hands on the TV rights
TN is shooting 64%/55%/85%, maybe they are getting it all out of their system now?
UPDATE: 65/60/85
Honestly as someone else said just looking for Longwood to keep within the realm where Tennessee can't just sit their starters the rest of the game.
Edit: And that is a nope
Longwood having performance issues.
They peaked too early
memphis may still win today, but penny hardaway sure looks like a future "bet against this guy for easy money" guy. memphis looks completely uncoached.
I thought Longwood was gonna be able to keep this game close and maybe win, but I was sorely mistaken. Tennessee is scary
Not that Tennessee isn't very good but I honestly didn't even know Longwood was a university before this morning.
The tallest players in their starting lineup is 6’6. Tennessee looks good but not because of the Longwood game.
Too easy for Tennessee. They won't be prepared for a fight.
Tennessee will be fun
Welp so much for Longwood, maybe they are more of a morning team.
Morningwood.
Not sure that Memphis player should've been eligible to touch that ball...came from out of bounds as ball was stripped on a Dreb from BSU player...then he picks it up to score. He was first to touch from OOB and not sure he even established himself inbounds either
Duren with an absolute boneheaded play