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.
Marcus Fizer chokes again.
Why couldn't it have been ND? I wouldn't have cared if ND losing ruined my bracket.
I'm glad they're suffering now
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Love the early round upsets. Every year there is a lower seed, like the 14 UAB we just saw, that wins in the first round; it is amazing. This is why the NCAA tournament is the best post season in all of sports.
they got stabbed in the heart when their football team died a few months ago. Now, their school is the talk of the nation!
Of all the early upsets, who picked UAB over ISU? I had them in the final four in one bracket
Plus, he has both the home and away UAB hockey jerseys.
I'm already fucked.
A guy in my pool had them in the NC. Luckily, I had them losing to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. Still some hope!
This Butler-Texas game has the potential to be one of the best of the first round. I'm excited for this one.
They always seem to choke during tournament time. Every time they are supposed to make a deep run they always crap the bed and lose come tourney time. Hampton beat them in 2001 when they were a 2 seed. I had a hard time penciling them to my elite 8 this year and knew I would regret it.
Butler decided to take the last 5 minutes of the first half off. Not smart.
Baylor, wtf, losing to a team that didn't score 40 points in their conference championship game.
HOLY FUCK GEORGIA STATE !!!!!!!!!!!
Horrible day for the B12
That was almost just like Northeastern
I was just at Chipotle with about half of the M basketball team, Beilein and some coaches :(
Holyfreakingshit, finish it GSU...
And then it wasn't!
Big 12, overrated as usual. Great story for Georgia St, even though they and UAB have killed my brackets before they had a chance to live.
Big 12!! (insert fart noise)
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Haha wow the Georgia St coach falling over in celebration as his son hits the game winning 3
How crazy is that?
Oh right, the Big 12 has TERRIBLE coaches. Be funny if Rick Barnes won though.
So all that talk about the Big 12 being the best conference in basketball? Two of their top teams just shit the bed in the first (or second?) round. Probably won't be long before Kansas follows suit as well.
Kansas will go down to Wichita St. in the second round
This is <almost> the same exact Wichita State team from last year. How they are seeded 7 is beyond me.
The Big XII is shatting the bed today. In a pair of 14-3 matchups no less. This can't be good for national reputation. <Big Ten smirks>
How was a 24-10 Baylor team seeded #3 in the first place?
BOOM goes every single bracket in the country. If you have a perfect bracket at this point, you are either a wizard or know somebody at GaSt / UAB and happen to have gotten lucky on the other one.
Brendan Quinn (the UM writer for MLive) has a perfect bracket so far apprently. Tip of the hat to him.
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I forgot to join the mgoblog bracket. Bye bye one of my Final Four teams, Iowa State, and the Baylor loss didn't help (sweet 16). I have UK, Arizona, UVA left, with Arizona winning the championship over UVA.
I have the same Final Four except I had ISU over Virginia. At least Baylor was only Sweet 16 for me.
FYI - Just 1.8 percent of ESPN brackets are unscathed.
After three games!
Is that a record for fastest busting?
So GSU goes up by one after hitting a three with 2.7 seconds left. (Much like the situation Michigan faced near the end of regulation at NW, only it was tied.) One timeout remaining.
What do the Bears do in that chaos? Are they coached to try to get open in the chaos near the front court, so that the ball can be advanced to ~midcourt via the stopped clock inbounds pass for an immediate timeout? Nope, (just like Michigan), they look down and call timeout.
So rather than having a very good chance at, say, ~42 feet from the baseline with ~2.2 seconds left (within range of a decent catch, dribble, jump-shot), Baylor opts to take the ball 94 feet away from the baseline.
Baylor got off a half-court heave that almost missed the entire backboard, and Bielfeldt threw the ball directly out-of-bounds, giving NW a very good chance to win the game in regulation. (Of course, NW won in double OT.)
One problem with your scenario: there is no advance the ball to midcourt in NCAA basketball; that is an NBA thing.
after the catch--provided you have a TO--isn't a violation in any league.
Basically, you're saying it's against the rules to throw the ball inbounds to half-court.
Pretty sure that Baylor didn't have a timeout.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/playbyplay?gameId=400785450&period=2
| Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 0:03 | GSU | GR.J. Hunter made 3 Pt Shot | 57-56 |
| 0:03 | Baylor | Timeout | |
| 0:01 | Baylor | T. Prince missed 3 Pt Shot | |
| 0:00 | End-of-Game | 57-56 |
Had they inbounded the ball successfully downcourt instead--say to ~midcourt--and THEN called the timeout, they would have been inbounding the ball ~47 feet from the baseline instead of the full length of the court with the loss of only the time it takes to catch and call timeout.
(My math was bad above when I wrote 42 feet.)
I read your comment as the team should either call an immediate timeout to be able to advance the ball to midcourt for an inbound pass or inbound the ball right away, call a timeout, and then advance the ball to midcourt for the next inbound pass, both of which are illegal in NCAA basketball. After a timeout when a team starts a new possession, the ball is advanced at full court. If I misunderstood you, I'm sorry and ask that you explain further.
Don't take that timeout--which they did (and which Michigan did against NW at the end of regulation)--until AFTER you've inbounded the ball as far upcourt as possible (with the clock stopped). As soon as you catch the ball upcourt, call that timeout. Perhaps that takes ~0.5 seconds to catch and call timeout.
Of course, the players have to be coached how to handle this situation, but this is college basketball, and they live it. Yes, the situation would be chaotic, but that's actually an advantage to the inbounding team.
The defense always has its players in their intended positions AFTER a timeout, and that's why bad outcomes resulted from the attempted long inflight ~half-court passes by Baylor and Michigan. At the moment the three goes in however, there is some natural scattering of players and there is the obvious urge of the making team to celebrate. Take advantage of that, get open, and advance the ball well upcourt at a cost of only ~0.5 seconds.
If it turns out that no one is open, the inbounder can always just call timeout without inbounding the ball like Baylor and Michigan did anyway. But at least you've taken a look at significantly improving your chances.
Ah yes, got it. I just thought you were saying they should do what they do in the NBA, which is advancing the ball after a timeout under two minutes left. I wish that was a thing in NCAA, but alas, it is not.
I'm shooting 10 after three holes...not bad!