Sprung Forward Sunday College Hoops Open Thread

Submitted by Steves_Wolverines on

Welcome to the Sunday Open thread. Lots of games today, so let's get to the match-ups:

Around the Nation, Wichita State looks to cap off a perfect season against Larry Bird's Sycamores in the Arch Madness Final. This game is on CBS following:

Virginia at fututre Big-10 team Maryland. Maryland winning would be a good thing. 

At 2:00 on ESPN3, we can all stream FSU vs. Syracuse, and watch Syracuse try and right the ship. We hope that FSU doesn't let that happen. 

In the only other ranked game outside of the Big-10, we have St. Louis trying to figure things out too, and to do that at UMASS might prove too difficult. 

There are a couple of mid-major championships today as well. 

The Big South features Winthrop vs Coastal Carolina at noon. 

FGCU aka "Dunk City" looks to punch their ticket against Mercer at 2:00 on ESPN2.

Big-10 Games:

NW vs Purdue gets the day started on the BTN at noon. The loser gets sole possession of last place!

The day continues with MSU visiting OSU at 4:30 on CBS. 

PSU takes on Minnesota at the Barn.

Following the PSU/Minn game is the game of the night. Nebraska looks to hold home court, beat Bo Ryan and the Badgers, and punch their ticket to the Big Dance. 

 

After playing around at this site, http://bball.notnothing.net/big10.php?sport=mbb , if you're in the boat that you want to see Michigan win the BTT, we would want the following results:

Purdue, OSU, PSU, and Neb to win their games. This would have Michigan face the winner of IU/Minn, and the the winner of Neb vs OSU/NW. Iowa, MSU, and Wisc would be on the other side (along with ILL). 

 

 

Bambi

March 9th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

I'd rather Minnesota win. Of Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota Indiana scares me the most, and they're guaranteed to be in the 8/9 matchup but Illinois scares me the least. I'd rather them be in that matchup so we could potentially face them.

freejs

March 9th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^

Seriously. What the fuck is this bullshit with a number of people entertaining any possibility but John Beilein as COY?

He lost the NPOY and THJr. and then lost a pre-season all-american and won the Big Ten outright by two full games. 

Stop the fucking insanity. If Beilein doesn't get it, it's an out and out outrage.  

freejs

March 9th, 2014 at 2:44 PM ^

I don't think there should be a conversation. 

What, we won too many games to not be a cute story?

Who in fuck had us picked to go 15-3 and win the conference outright when we were 6-4 with McGary reporting to the ER? 

Miles is a good coach, but he also had one super transfer and a halfway decent team. So he won some games, mostly at home. That can't trump one of the most unbelievable coaching jobs I've seen in 30 plus years of watching college basketball. 

gwkrlghl

March 9th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^

Beilein took the preseason #2 Big Ten team and made them #1 minus McGary

Miles took the preseason last place Big Ten team and has them currently in 4th and fighting for a tournament bid.

Beilein is awesome and has a built a great program here, but Miles has impressed far more with respect to expectations this year. It's going to be a close call either way

mbee1

March 9th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^

Thanks for the post. Lots of games potentially impacting Michigan ' s seed.

Definitely want Nebraska to win. Tim Miles does a great job. A win would push them to the good side of the bubble. Plus it would knock Wisconsin off the 2-line for the ncaa tournament.

asstastic

March 9th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^

I'm literally rooting for every favored team to win today, and not just for upset-sake, but every upset benefits Michigan in some way. Also, Evan Smotrycz with some early bench minutes for Maryland so far. 

atom evolootion

March 9th, 2014 at 12:47 PM ^

one good shooter, I believe, and all defense and rebounding. they beat Syracuse by exploiting that soft spot in the middle of that zone (a la mcgary in the tournament last year), but instead of shooting over it, they drove inside for paint points. then they locked down Syracuse's offense, which isn't all that impressive to start with. Virginia plays something like a b1g team, like a sparty or buckeye outfit...

Wolverine Devotee

March 9th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^

Who do we want to win the ohio vs state game? Whatever keeps state off of our side of the bracket is what I want.

asstastic

March 9th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^

For that situation, the winner doesn't matter. State won't be in our side of the bracket in either outcome. But ohio winning keeps Iowa in the other bracket and puts ohio and Nebraska in ours. So personally, I'm rooting for ohio to win that game, but state won't be in our bracket regardless. 

LSAClassOf2000

March 9th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^

It is admittedly morbidly amusing to watch a team like Northwestern hang onto a lead despite currently sporting a 39.65% effective field goal percentage. If you're shooting worse than Northwestern, as Purdue is at the moment (24.00% effective FG%), that's when you know it is an awful, awful start for you. 

snarling wolverine

March 9th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

Watching Coastal Carolina always reminds me of their 1993 team we faced in the first round, led by Tony "Slam" Dunkin.  That was a fun game.  We shut Dunkin down and won so big that a walk-on who hadn't scored all year got a basket at the end.

 

 

Steves_Wolverines

March 9th, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^

Maryland sure is sticking around. It just seems like UVA is going to pull away at any time now, but Maryland isn't going away. 

Now that Maryland's bigs are in foul trouble, it will be interesting if they can stick around.

Maryland is up 2 with 8:40 left in the game. 

BeaverKeeper

March 9th, 2014 at 1:56 PM ^

Bracket Matrix has us now as a #2 seed as of this morning. If Maryland wins should solidify a 2 seed but probably also kick us out of the Midwest if Wisconsin stays ahead of us.