OT (sadly) - March Madness Day 1 Open Thread
I know a lot of people will be at work until the later games, but I know there will be some people watching these early games. All four look like snoozers, but odds are that one will turn into a nail biter. Hopefully it is ND-Northeastern. With my luck it will be Zona, since I have them winning it all.
I feel like VCU still gets hype from that Final Four from years ago. They seem like a slightly above average team every year since.
To be fair, this year they were a much better team before they lost Weber to injury.
panel, I hearby commit this otherwise shameless act.
I know Shaka Smart is supposed to be a hot commodity and all, but everytime I watch VCU they look horribly coached - awful turnovers, wild shots, poor offensive sets out of TOs, and bad helpside defense. It's tough to watch.
that boasted a string of NCAA appearances in the early 80s, a 1996 appearance, and two 2000s appearances (2004 and 2007), and turned them into a mid-major power that's moved up to the Atlantic 10 and has made the tournament 6 of the last 7 years.
| Year | Record | Seed | Region | Round | Opponent | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 18–12 | #12 | East | First Round | #5 Iowa | L 72–86 |
| 1981 | 24–5 | #5 | East |
First Round Second Round |
#12 Long Island #4 Tennessee |
W 85–69 L 56–58OT |
| 1983 | 24–7 | #5 | East |
First Round Second Round |
#12 La Salle #4 Georgia |
W 76–67 L 54–56 |
| 1984 | 23–7 | #6 | East |
First Round Second Round |
#11 Northeastern #3 Syracuse |
W 70–69 L 63–78 |
| 1985 | 26–6 | #2 | West |
First Round Second Round |
#15 Marshall #7 Alabama |
W 81–65 L 59–63 |
| 1996 | 24–9 | #12 | Southeast | First Round | #5 Mississippi State | L 51–58 |
| 2004 | 23–8 | #13 | East | First Round | #4 Wake Forest | L 78–79 |
| 2007 | 28-7 | #11 | West |
First Round Second Round |
#6 Duke #3 Pittsburgh |
W 79–77 L 79–84OT |
| 2009 | 24–10 | #11 | East | First Round | #6 UCLA | L 64–65 |
| 2011 | 28-12 | #11 | Southwest |
First Four Second Round Third Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four |
#11 USC #6 Georgetown #3 Purdue #10 Florida State #1 Kansas #8 Butler |
W 59–46 W 74–56 W 94–76 W 72–71OT W 71–61 L 62–70 |
| 2012 | 29–7 | #12 | Midwest |
Second Round Third Round |
#5 Wichita State #4 Indiana |
W 62–59 L 61–63 |
| 2013 | 27–9 | #5 | South |
Second Round Third Round |
#12 Akron #4 Michigan |
W 88–42 L 53–78 |
| 2014 | 26–9 | #5 | South | Second Round | #12 Stephen F. Austin | L 75–77OT |
| 2015 | 26–9 | #7 | West | Second Round |
#10 Ohio State |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCU_Rams_men%27s_basketball#NCAA_Tournamen…
let me once again point out my pet peeve.
Down 5 points with 4.9 seconds left with two timeouts in OT after a made OSU free throw, Shaka's team calls timeout. Fine. You've got two, and OSU is already in good defensive position since it's a free throw.
What does VCU do out of the timeout? They inbound the ball in the backcourt to about the top of the key, and the VCU player goes coast-to-coast to score a layup as time expires. Final, OSU 75, VCU 72.
Now how in the hell is that gonna score 5 points in 4.9 seconds? You need to score with enough time remaining such that you have a chance for a steal and a tying basket. A cautious length of the court drive that exhausts the clock has zero chance of winning the game.
Do the both of you forget they lost their best player in Briante Dunn? You know the guy who was about to break the NCAA steals record.
I know, but I don't think they were that good to be begin with even with him. Last year I thought the same thing.
They're a one-trick pony. Beat their press and you'll beat them. That's true pretty much every season.
for Urban Meyer, then we learn that Weber was the one?
Damn that Urbz.
I should have said Briante Weber. And saying after they lose their best player that they weren't that good really means nothing.
Kind of a lull in the games. Two of them aren't overly competitive and watching Purdue play basketball is always meh for me. These teams are basically fighting to get slaughtered Saturday.
Like Tiger Woods in his prime
For ESPN's Tournament Challenge (with 10 points per win), not so much.
Mr. Ellis (Cincinnati) should be going to the locker room after that forearm shiver. Nice move, jackass. Way to throw away your NCAA tournament like that.
Wow. Flagrant 2 on Cinci. That has to be rough for that kid. He basically decked Hammons in the neck in leui of boxing out.
Also, did Hammons lose weight this year?
If Purdue could shoot halfway decently, this would be a 10-12 point game.
I was really hoping that SFA and Harvard would make better games out of this. Although I have both Utah and UNC in the Sweet 16, I'm rooting for all of the upsets at this point. MOAR double digit seeds!
Can we talk about how much the state of Texas sucks at sports yet? Vince Young was nearly a decade ago.
Well, TCU had a pretty great year in football. Other than that, though, I've got nothing. A&M beat Alabama a couple years ago?
As if the Cinci player hitting Hammons wasn't enough, now his own teammate pelts him in the face with a pass. Seriously, though, when you are running down the lane how are you not even aware that someone might throw the ball to you?
Harvard? Harvard.
They all passed their classes.
Great googily moogily that was a bad Cincy possession.
Harvard really screwed up the last minute of that game. Damn. The two big upsets I was really rooting for today are the ones where the double digit seed screwed up the last possession and blew it.
Has the spread between teams been this close ever before? Seems like every game is a 2 point win.
Poor Harvard... at least they can read unlike the UNC players
Purdue, man, make a FT.
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Thanks for that, Purdue. If your shooters could actually hit water if they fell out of a fucking boat, you would have trounced Cincinnati.
Surely the Cincy coach can afford a better necktie than that.
Cut him some slack, he's the assistant coach. So he's not makin that head coach cash. Though maybe he should check out those sales at Mens Warehouse.
March 19th, 2015 at 10:18 PM ^
He's still far better dressed than what Bob Huggins used to wear. I wondered if Huggins was out there coaching basketball or collecting money for Tony Soprano.
I thought the Big 12 was supposed to be some great conference this year. Sure couldn't tell from the first day of the tourney. Bye Texas, Iowa St and Baylor.
Jesus, Purdue. So much fail.
All these close games today. Almost every single one of them has gone the way I didn't want it to go. I don't mean for my bracket, I mean who I was rooting for. The only one I got to really enjoy was Georgia State winning, unless you count the Butler game as close. Kind of annoying.
4 of 11 thus far. Given that I've got Kentucky over Duke in the final, I might be stochastically dominated already.
March 19th, 2015 at 10:12 PM ^
Man we are really spoiled by Michigan being one of the best FT shooting teams in the country year in and out...
These teams can't hit FTs for the life of em
March 19th, 2015 at 10:16 PM ^
Free throws are just killing teams today. That and god awful three point shooting.
March 19th, 2015 at 10:20 PM ^
Now let's see if Hampton can stay within 80 of Kentucky.
March 19th, 2015 at 10:24 PM ^
Man I'm embarrassed for some of these guys. How do D1 players have such a terrible grasp of basic fundamentals?
March 19th, 2015 at 10:40 PM ^
What in the hell just happened in the Arkansas game? A delay of game penalty for kicking a shoe off? And they took several minutes to give Arkansas a warning for delay of game. Yet the refs are never called for it.
March 19th, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^
There''s such thing as a delay of game penalty in basketball?
March 19th, 2015 at 10:50 PM ^
I had never heard of it. Apparently they were going to call a technical, but after 5+ minutes of watching replays of the guy kicking his shoe into the stands they determined it shouldn't be a technical but only a delay of game, which is a warning. I still don't really understand what happened.