OPEN THREAD - Second Round Friday Afternon Session

Go Dukies!

(Yes, I feel disgusting having just said that but I have them winning the championship, unfortunately.)

go albany fighting albanies or whatever you're called!

Founders on tap

All you can eat Fish n Chips

Not in the office

Friday after a Michigan win



I'm in heaven

Wow I'm just buying some time till that game.  I can't even begin to imagine Marshal Henderson and Bo Ryan on the court at the same time.

NO SCHOOL TODAY! So- that just makes everything that much better! Watch ALL of the basketball!

It's some sort of Arms Race between Duke and Wisconsin as to who has the gumpiest big white dudes.

It pains me to say it, but I think I am rooting for Wisconsin the first round. I really don't like Marshall Henderson and his antics. This is one time when I am looking forward to Wisconsin grinding someone down defensivly.

Just found out I am working Saturday during the M game...

Im going to do my best to watch it on my phone, but idk what I will do if we lose (knocks on wood for the next hour) and I don't even get to see Trey's last game. Sorry, I am having a complete mental breakdown over this notion right now...

Time for Henderson to lose his shit on the first flop from Wiscy. I am looking forward to it.

Aggrieved Bo Ryan foul face, right on cue.

Reginald Buckner is the most SEC player and name ever.

Rootin' for 'Scansin even though I hate their fuggin' guts...I don't get it either (something to do with haha-ing the SEC as much as possible).  Need Duke by double-digits for the Streak-for-the-Cash on ESPN.com today; they're doing a contest today having whoever gets the highest streak today win $5,000.

Ole Miss is looking WAY more athletic.

Damn it Wisconsin don't screw the pooch today! I hate you all but need you for two games in the tourney.

How do you beat Wisconsin? With zone defense. Who would of thought??!

It seems to me that the rest of the conference can be analogized to a barely-tamed guard dog. Teams like Wisconsin and OSU spent the past two or three months biting us constantly, but now we get to sit back and watch them bite people that actually seem to deserve it. Like Marshall Henderson.

Why does Wisconsin look so unathletic? Would have been nice to play this team. Ole Miss certainly doesn't seem more talented than us or IU.

Plenty of seats available for the Wisky game.



I guess people would rather watch paint dry.

I realize they win, and Bo Ryan has a great record in Big Ten play, but do Wisconsin fans actually enjoy watching them play basketball? I'm sure they enjoy the winning, but they can't derive much pleasure from actually watching the games can they?

That white guy for Ole Miss can't buy a bucket.

If I took a dumb after a night of drinking Busch Light and eating Toronados from Speedway, and that dump sprouted eyes, it would be Bo Ryan.

Wisconsin's offensive rebound percentage is 15% greater than Ole Miss, and their effective FG% is about 8% higher, but thanks to 8 turnovers, they are only up three points. Also, the CBS feed over here gets blurry from time to time, showing that yet again, Wisconsin basketball is played out of phase from normal space-time.

A 3 point deficit against Wisconsin is like a 10 point deficit against a normal team.

Where did Reggie Miller play college ball??

Stumbled across this - thought it was an interesting way to visualize tournament predictions based on the '538' forecast from Nate Silver at the NyTimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/18/sports/ncaabasketball/nate...

I was traveling earlier this week and one of the airport shuttle bus drivers had sports talk radio on. I missed the context, but a caller said something like "If you cloned Bo Ryan 50 times and had them all coach various teams around the country, you would destroy college basketball." I laughed.

/cool story bro

I had an idea for a new bracket style last night and I figure this is as good of a place as any to get some opinions on it. Maybe if people like it, I'll put something together to try it out next year.

Basically, the idea is that everyone picks a bracket like usual, but once the games are set for the next round, players have the opportunity to change their pick. However, their options will be limited to picking the favored team minus the points or the underdog in a straightup win. There is almost always the chance that the favored team wins and doesn't cover the spread, which would mean there is no chance for the player to earn points.

I was thinking that this would make the brackets still somewhat interesting for someone who picked something like Duke over Missouri in the Final 4 or championship game last year. It would also allow people to switch their picks to Wichita St over Gonzaga for tomorrow, which people might want to do.

This format would still strongly favor the person who built a good bracket, but people who would normally be eliminated after the first week or two would still have a fighting chance, which would help keep interest up.

Thoughts?

Why is it that every Duke team seems to have a player that is easy to despise?  For me, it started with Laettner, continued with Hurley (until he had that terrible accident) and Plumlee is the current position-holder for me.

Anyone know if JLA has wifi? Going to the CCHA Semis and would like to see it on my phone during the first game with nd and ohio. 

wisconsin game is nearly impossible to watch, naturally.