Murray State opens up against Colorado at 12:15pm on CBS.
We are about an hour away from tip off! Let the fun begins!!!!!!
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I don't want my 9 year old cousin to beat me again...
Edit: Wait a minute...Colorado plays UNLV...
He meant Colorado St.
Some folks around here have the tendency to drop the state from school names...
I call it the So-So 64, then the Thriving 32, and so on
In my 5 brackets I have one that is perfect and one that has 1 victory from the first four. How are others starting out?
But your brackets really do first four games? I have never considered such a possibility. The games Tuesday were captivating, but the ones last night were brutal.
My friends and I decided to include the play-in games just for fun. Then I went to the March Madness website and they included them too. To be honest, I didn't have a clue about these games and felt it just gave people a chance to get an early lead.
Score those games?
I had enough of a challenge having everyone get their brackets in by noon.
go murray state!
and...BEAT OHIO!
I am overly skeptical about Murray State. I kind of want them to lose so I can feel right about saying how they were ranked too high all year. I think this officially makes me a hater and I'm not too proud.
Oh, so it's called the 2nd round now?
The morning before March Madness begins and ESPN is talking about Dwight Howard. Get off my lawn, ESPN
That's because the tournament is on CBS not ESPN. That's why I'm watching The Price is Right.
Lady totally got the easiest last spin. only needed to beat .35!
Drew Carey is also slowly morphing into Bob Barker
Who the hell would pay $3500 for that ugly desk?? Worst prize ever. Gets a new Mac, though.
The Mac was $3400, the desk was $100 and the cheapest they could find from IKEA.
The price is right before the tournament...what's better?!
Girl just bid 5 dollars under somebody. This is after she thought she'd won the previous round, but didn't realize the guy next do her did. She's not having a great day
They weren't talking about Tebow. Take what you can get.
I hear Favre is thinking about a comback!!!
Good time of year for sports, March Madness, NFL free agency, and Spring Training with opening day in less than a month. This time of year is 2nd only to Football season starting and MLB playoffs.
Just caved in and made a bracket even though I said I wouldn't this year, but a lady in the dude offered me a bracket so I couldn't say no. C'mon UNC-Asheville!
A lady in the dude? I think they're doing it wrong....
I'm marrying into a family of Duke fans. All the men in the family pick Duke to win it all every year.
I grew up a Carolina fan (because I grew up in Chicago and Michael Jordan and all that). I can't wait to watch how this goes down.
FWIW, I've got Duke losing to Baylor.
I usually skip class today, but I have an exam at three. Such a bummer.
Same thing happened to be last year, I had to leave for an exam at halftime of the Michigan game. I left and the score was 33-29, I got back and it was 70-40.
I hate it because I have two enormous tests coming up in the next week and I can't just sit around watching all the games playing today.
But I love today too, because a club I'm in is doing a tour of the Big House, so I'm going to be taking a tour of the stadium as a study break, so I get to see the locker rooms and walk the field. I'm pretty damn excited for that.
Just so you all know, I'm being paid to host a tournament day at a local college. Yea..2 projectors and a flat screen. Deal with it.
Yeah, yeah. We know in reality you're buried under TPS reports.
I'm not even mad. I'm impressed.
I'm with you. I'm still calling it "First Round". Those early games are "Play-In" games as far as I am concerned.
But we don't have a prayer. We were all never going to call Div 1-AA "FCS", or call the Big Ten East and West Divisions "Leaders" and "Legends". But the great media marketing machines wore us down.
Hello Second Round.
I refuse to let this one get me. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the new 10 team MLB playoffs yet...
I'm just going to pretend that the two WC teams finished with the same record and are having a 1 game playoff for the final spot.
This one's a little different. Names like "I-AA" and "FCS" are just arbitrary labels. "First round" is more descriptive. For 64 of the teams, this is their first round of NCAA tournament action. For only four teams is it the second round, and few even watch their "first round" games, anyway. I could possibly see the NCAA backtracking on this.
Those champagne glasses in The Young and the Restless commercial were LARGE.
OMG IT'S HAPPENING!
Tip off :)
lets go murray st.!!!
and the game I really need today is harvard. I have them in the round of 8.
jdon
Ack. come on Murray State :(
Bill Raftery brings nothing to the table. I hate him.
I love that they brought back the Boss Button for the NCAA's video player. That's pretty funny.
Wish they would kick it off withh 4 games all at once.
Did Vern Oundquist lose an eye!! Oh my god please never show him again.
Is not a holiday to me and will hardly be thought of with opening weekend occuring. THIS is truly my late Winter/early Spring holiday. Off work for the rest of the week/weekend; I am soooo...Content. God I Love this sh*t.
Apparently Murray St. doesn't know how to block out. They look totally lost on offense, too.
This is some sloppy shit right here.
Paul Hornung is still the most undeserving Heisman winner of all time
Especially when you consider that it was Jim Brown that was screwed out of that Heisman.
Despite my pathetic history in Bracketdom, I decided to fill one out anyway about a half hour ago. I joined a group of Michigan fans on yahoo so my bracket will be on full display if you want to see it taken off life support by Sunday.
Or maybe you might want to look at it so you can either point and laugh or just feel better about your own bracket. It's probably the only good that can come from my failures.
Aaaand Colorado St. can't defend the perimeter.
The Tourney's started. It's going to be 80 degrees and sunny in DC today. St. Patricks Day green beer this weekend.
I'm F'd at work. I can't get motivated to do anything.
My biggest accomplishments today were e-mailing a spreadsheet and 2 MGoBlog posts. I'm exhausted from all of that. I'm taking the rest of the day off. And tomorrow too, just in case.
They seem to be letting them play in the CSU-Murray State game for sure and from what I've seen of the KSU-USM game they are as well. Allowing the BigTen style of play can't be a bad thing for our Conference.
Totally.
That was the nerdiest coach I ever did see. I like him.
I know this was covered somewhat elsewhere but, they're forced to cover Dwight Howard's EGO and NFL Free Agency for the day until they can play highlights on SportsCenter tonight!
Three o'clock class cancelled and I have a brand new case of Shandy from Sam's Club yesterday. With this weather and the tournament on, I cannot describe how much I want to dive in. I have to pick up the girlfriend at 7:30, though, so cracking open the first beer at one would be a terrible idea.
Must...wait...
I've got some GLBC Dortmunder Gold waiting for me once I get home.
CAN'T WAIT!
EDIT: And no, I did not pick USM in any of my brackets. I actually have KSU winning, then going on to beat Syracuse.
is really, really good. One of the few things to love about Ohio is the ability to buy Great Lakes at most gas stations. Commodore Perry is usually my choice, but on a day like today their Dortmunder would be incredible.
One beer won't hurt.....
I was considering multiple beers, though. I'll just hold off until the night games/ catching up on the new South Park from last night. For the best, probably.
Plus, two of my roommates just moved the deck chairs, and half the temptation was sitting outside in this weather with a summer beer.
/sad face
For people watching via the March Madness Live link, has anyone else noticed you can't change anything once a commercial break starts? This is terribly annoying. you can't even switch to the box scores or anything, or more importantly to a different game. I understand the business reasoning behind this, but I think this is taking it a little far. It would be like your remote control locking once a game on your TV went to commercial break.
It's always been that way (at least for the past few years). When I know a commercial is coming, I try to click away to a different game before the commercial starts.
show a commercial when you switch games this year. That was more annoying. This way all you have to do is pay attention and switch games before the commercials start.
I noticed that during the First Four games. They've been doing that for a few years now. I just leave the radio link on and watch the CBS game.
I'm a teacher so I can't really watch it all anyway... I'm just glad to be able to follow it...
And like I said, its 4$ - maybe they should have a premium package for like 20 with no commercials? I would think about that...
jdon
Holy crap, Colorado St. looks horrendous in the second half.
Holy turnovers, Batman!
Murray State looking good. Murray State/Marquette should be a fun match-up if Marquette gets by BYU.
Looks like I'm not going to be perfect in our bracket this year...
Louisville's uniforms look like orange construction cones.
As @Mgoblog pointed out, nice to see Ben Wallace eligible for Murray State.
Anyone else have Davidson upsetting Louisville? They're keeping it close early.
Also if K-state loses my bracket is already fucked.
I did, but switched it last night after I did some Seth-like calculations. It violated my first rule of bracketology, which is to always bet against the Big East, so they better not get upset.
That's the rule I live by too. I have 0 big east teams in my sweet sixteen, and I like it that way.
You shouldn't bet against the BE Conference Tourney champion though. 4 of the last 5 have gone to at least the Elite 8 and 3 of the last 5 have gone to the Final Four.
Louisville and Syracuse for me, but I have them both losing in the sweet 16.
I have one bracket with Davidson beating Louisville and New Mexico. All of my brackets have KSU beating USM and Syracuse, so yeah, I'll be hating myself if KSU loses this one.
KSU will be safe if USM keeps bricking free throws. 4 straight misses for USM.
This "boss button" thing on the march madness live is awesome. I'm hitting the button for every commercial break.
So much grit on the floor right now for Colo St.
The 1st-2nd round thing will never be right - throws off all the symmetry. I try and just ignore the "play-ins" and start today.
Wooo! I'm tied for 382nd in the MGoBracket! Thank you Murray State for stopping Colorado State from making a run to the Sweet 16
KSU up by 3 over Southern Miss
Come on K-State!
No sense of urgency on that possession. Or the next one. 14 seconds left.
Can I just have a perfect bracket for one day..that's all I'm asking..............and a big FU to any Carolina team that isn't red, plus another FU to UK, IU, and of course that damn state down south...................
Southern Miss goes down, along with my perfect bracket.
Wisconsin is playing in front of about 78 people.
The entire state of Montana decided to show up.
Another absolutely brutal first twelve minutes.
The difference is that Marquette has more guys and probably won't feel the need to take their foot of the gas pedal.
Kind of a boring lull right now. Louisville up by 11 late in the second half, Wisconsin up by 13, Marquette blowing out BYU. GIVE ME LONG BEACH STATE OVER NEW MEXICO. And I'm serious about that. I have LBSU going to the Sweet 16.
Because today's games have kinda been stinkers.
That's usually how it goes with round 1...one day kinda meh, the other all about the madness.
But there's a lot of basketball still to be played.
"Altitude is a problem for Montana"
Um...wut?
I know at any moment this will change, but UNC-Ashville is out-gritting Cuse right now.
Up 20-17!
You do not say ANYTHING. Understand. The thing you do not talk about has never happened before, and we ALL want to see it happen. It's like this:
"Hey everybody! Justin Verlander has a no-hi-"
"Shut up. You say NOTHING. NOTHING is happening until it has happened."
Same deal.
I've seen a few times (while keeping other eyes on my other tv, so I've only seen a couple minutes of this game) where Asheville has some pretty ball movement in and out of that "vaunted" 2-3 zone. 'Cuse has their hands full at the moment. This team won a game last year and isn't afraid of a Big Bad Big East team.
Till DreisbachTurneroverdrive starts freaking out.
I'm not saying one single thing. I'm just saying if you aren't watching UNC-Ashville - Syracuse, maybe you should.
Kid plays for UNC-Ashville. Hmmm. Interesting. That's just the way it is?!?!
was fab melo really that good / important?
I haven't watched Cuse a ton this year but I feel he is offensively challenged. Doesn't rebound as well as a guy his size should either. Blocks alot of shots though. He'd probably already have a double-double against Asheville seeing they're terrible at rebounding. He'd make a big difference in this game IMO, but not for Cuse' chances overall. I had them losing in the Sweet 16 anyways. Almost had them bowing out in the second round.
I think I'm gonna be a UNC-Ashville fan the rest of the day
wouldn't this be a great way to open the first day of the tournament? I still think SU comes back to win, but who cares if they don't.
I think Syracuse finally got the memo that if they drive to the hole they will likely score or get FTs. Not sure what took them so long.
Holy shit is that bad plastic surgery. She is unrecognizable.
Yes, I hadn't seen her for a long time, then did a few months ago and had to do a major double take. I don't know much about plastic surgery, and whether that is actually bad, or just extreme. Seems sometimes moderation works better.
http://twitter.com/BryanDFischer/statuses/180387625562152962
First upset of the tournament: Wisconsin scores 73 points.
UNC Asheville is basically doing the same thing every time: pass it inside, draw the extra defender, kick it back out to the open shooter. Once Syracuse stops doubling down on the inside pass, UNC-A will probably find it harder to score, unless they have someone who can take his man 1 on 1 down low, which, I don't think so. Also, UNC-A's top 3 scorers each have 2 fouls. This game is going to be all Syracuse in the second half.
$3.99 has been totally worth it to be able to watch while I'm at work.
$0.00 is worth it as well.
I've been convinced for this entire basketball tournent season that I knew a girl who runs for UNC Asheville, when actually she runs for another UNC campus.
</semipersonalconnectiontothisgame>
What's sad to me is that Asheville isn't really playing all that well IMO. Turning the ball over alot, giving up offensive boards and fouling like quite a bit. Part of this is due to them just being completely overmatched athletically and in length. However, when they shoot the ball inside the 3 point line, they're knocking them down.
New Mexico and LBSU looks like its gonna be an offensive explosion lmao
Love this quote from Grantland live NCAA blog...
Here's a tweet from @OtterVonBismark: March Madness needs more Celine Dion references. Who is the Titanic of the Midwest bracket?
Man, what an awesome Twitter handle. Great work, @OtterVonBismark. The unsinkable ship of the Midwest is, of course, UNC, while NC State is Leonardo DiCaprio and Kansas is Kate Hudson, who escapes. The Crimson Tide are the crazy poor people who party in the lower deck, Georgetown is the arrogant rich dude, and Michigan is the iceberg.
Asheville robbed of at least one point
Worst missed goal tending I have ever seen.
That was a huge three by UNC-Ashville.
Tommy Amaker is down early to Vanderbilt.
Need one more run by Asheville but they're running out of steam...come on
I refuse to acknowledge those early games as "Round One". What a sham!!!
I'm about to transfer to UNCA for psychology. GO BULLDOGS. Been living in Asheville for the past few years.
Still not over. It's a shame that Asheville seems to be getting the short end of the stick with some of the calls. Dickey got bodied on that missed layup, the missed goaltending gost them 2 points, and there were a couple fouls on the Bulldogs that I didn't think were warrented. Maybe I'm just looking through my underdog glasses. UNCA still had the opportunity to win this game.
NO 5 seconds?!
Another unlucky call against the Bulldogs!!!
Lane violation?!
Wow...this grey haired official is killing ashville every change he gets. This guys tourny should be down after this game. He is on Jim Burr levels at this point.
Wow. Another bad call. I think this ref has Syracuse in the final 4 in his bracket.
and a clear out of bounds off of the cuse missed....what a fucking joke
The lane violation was a lane violation. The announcers are looking at the wrong guy. But WTF was that out of bounds call?!?!?
The official pointed at Prim and the FT line though. And that's who he talked to.
Well, he got it right by accident then. Clearly the Asheville guy has a foot in the lane before the ball left the shooter's hand.
FUCK these refs...FUCK them hard
So if UNC-Ashville loses I'm blaming it on the officiating. They fucking got hosed.
The worst officiating I have ever seen in the Syracuse - UNC Asheville game.
Know there going to be a lot of bitter and angry people over those last calls which favored Cuse, but at least my bracket isn't busted
Cuse was going to Elite Eight anyway, or at least the Sweet 16.
Reggie Miller is PISSED.
I would be too if this crap was happening.
This is god-awful officiating. I'm sorry it's bullshit and they know it themselves. They're aiding the advancing of the 1 seed. Any other explanation?!
Absolutely stole an opportunity from Asheville. What a fucking disgrace.
UNCA just got royally screwed. Who knows what would have happened had the refs not made either bad call, much less both.
they may still have lost, but asheville got screwed by the officiating.
I don't give a fuck how it happened.
When did Keith Sergott start calling basketball games?
Rule 9.1.g:
Players not in a legal marked lane space shall remain behind the freethrow line extended and behind the three-point field-goal line until the ball strikes the ring, flange or backboard, or until the free throw ends.
He may have been behind the 3-point line when the ball left the shooter's hands but he was clearly beyond it when the ball struck the rim.
NVM
The goaltending non call and the out of bounds were just terrible calls, or non calls. Brutal.
should have been a foul. It was a ridiculous call, but it didn't really impact the game all that much. But the goaltending call was absurd.
The out of bounds play could only be called 2 ways: foul on Asheville or, off Cuse with no foul, they choose neither and went with off Asheville. Incompetence thy name is referee.
How did it not impact the game? It ended up giving Cuse 2 points instead of being Asheville's ball.
It gave Syracuse the ball out of bounds instead of shooting free throws.
Or....it could have been UNCA ball out of bounds. It was a bad call and it did have an effect on the game.
but that also would have been a bad call.
But they decided there was no foul there. If that's what you're deciding as an official, you have to get that OOB call correct. It led to 2 Cuse points. It had a large effect on the game.
Yes, they decided there was no foul there. They also decided it was out of bounds off Asheville.
As you said above, they were incompetent. A competent official would have seen and called the foul and the result would have been only slightly different than the bad call they decided to make (a couple of extra seconds went off the clock, the way it happened, because Syracuse had to inbounds the ball again before the foul).
I think you could make the argument that there wasn't a foul. At least that has some room for subjectivity and interpretation. They missed a foul on Dickey's layup attempt as well. A ball touching a player and not being near anyone from the team that it was said to go off of. That is more egregious than missing a foul call. I don't blame officials for missing/calling fouls as much because those can be tough to call unless it's a derp no brainer. Which is what the OOB call was. To say it didn't affect the game when it could have been, at worst, a two point swing and possibly a 4-5 point swing is a little silly IMO.
That was the correct ruling, but it doesn't dismiss the awful no goaltending call, and the even worse out of bounds play.
Outside of an almost/should have been upset by UNCA, this is the boringest tourney ever. There have been literally no upsets, and most haven't been close.
There's only been like 4 games...
There have been eight, counting the ones that are about to end, and my point wasn't necessarily just the results, but that none of them have been terribly close. Since I posted, LBSU made a comeback, but that makes it about the second game that's worth watching.
If I remember correctly, day 1 of 2011 was all chalk. I was thinking that earlier and it makes me nervous for Michigan (because day 2 had a lot more upsets last year, after everyone complaining there were no upsets)
I often think that way, but in truth Michigan's result will entirely be the product of their performance on the floor, regardless of how other teams perform.
This LB State - New Mexico game has been pretty good. LB State is leading. Now I'm getting mad.
Dullest thing to hear other people talk about:
a) their dreams (sleepy-time dreams, not goals-and-aspirations dreams)
b) their children / grandchildren
c) their fantasy teams
d) their brackets
And of, course, the correct answer:
e) all of the above are equally likely to induce severe zoning out
LBSU is down 4 with the ball with 53 seconds to go. Won't be easy, but they have a shot at an upset here.
Looks like Baylor needs RG3
Our old friend Kevin Pangos is showing WVU how it's done. Playing great for the Zags. Would have fit in great with our team and offense, but I'm happy with Burke.
but West Virginia is the suckiet bunch of sucks that ever sucked
I was scrolling through this thread to see if anyone noticed the destruction of West Virginia. The fact you did it with a Simpsons quote was just gravy.
Eggselent
What the fuck is Baylor wearing??
Adidas has decided to provide its schools with uniforms that "pop". I can't decide which eyesore is worse: Baylor's blinders, Louisville's orange construction cones (wait til you see their road unis) or whatever Cincinnati's wearing that I can't describe.
They're going to make Brandon an offer that he damn well better refuse.
Well into the third quartet of games now and only one game is even single digits. There's an upset brewing, but a 12-over-5 featuring last year's Final Four team VCU winning by 11 is hardly going to stop the presses. I guess I picked a good block of time to get some work done away from the TV... even if my phone is handy to stream anything interesting.
I wouldn't exactly count out Wichita.
Was a good call.
This is turning out to be a fun game, too. Someone said earlier they don't like it when two mid-majors are playing (or maybe that was another board, I dunno) because it deprives them of the chance to knock off a big guy, but I think these are a lot of fun - it shows you don't need the Big Ten or ACC or whatever to make one of the tournament's best games.
I don't understand VCU's thinking there, though - they should've gone for the early shot and gotten the 2-for-1. Now Wichita is guaranteed the final shot.
Touche, you were right even if VCU pulled it out.
Your phone can stream video in Duluth? Mine can't stream video in DC.
I'm getting great picture here on the standard AT&T 3g network. As good or better than the wifi connection I was getting when I was subbing at the hospital today.
I have my phone used as a hotspot in my office right now and the video I pulled in for the end of the VCU game was crystal-clear.
Wouldn't surprise me if the customer load is the issue; When I read of complaints about AT&T or Verizon's network I've noticed that in "flyover country" the issues are a lot lower than in the cities. When I worked in LA the difference between the big city and the bedroom community I lived in was noticeable.
Only blemish on my bracket so far is WVU over Gonzaga. :(
Baylor's uniforms definitely meet OSHA requirements for working in a public or municipal right-of-way.
Stupid Iowa State.
Baylor trying to hold on.
With Syracuse's struggles, and WV getting waxed...is it possible that the Big East just isn't that good? I hate to make too big a deal out of first round games, but only Marquette has looked remotely good today.
What a great line by the commentators on that last drive by UConn's Boatright:
A little head and shoulders, NO DANDRUFF!
Also, how about Uconn coming back to cut it to 6.
A little bit of fun left...