NCAA Tournament, week 1 of 3

[Sluconn Husky]

OU being taken to the woodshed by the Irish. Not surprising.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Stanford and NC St (maybe throw in Texas potentially) are getting hot at the right time.

If you had to rank the teams, not sure there would be more than 1-2 in the top 10 on SC's side. That is such a weak half bracket.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I coulda wore I saw some proposing the Big 12 was looking the best of any conference in the Tourney. NOPE. Other than Texas, going down HARD yesterday and today.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I coulda wore I saw some proposing the Big 12 was looking the best of any conference in the Tourney. NOPE. Other than Texas, going down HARD yesterday and today.

Iowa State.

But that was against the SEC so not sure it counts.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Iowa State.

But that was against the SEC so not sure it counts.

Oops, forgot that one. Thanks. But between Baylor the victim of a big upset, and Kansas, Kansas St. and Oklahoma all getting destroyed, not really a good look for the conference.

 

[UcMiami]

Oops, forgot that one. Thanks. But between Baylor the victim of a big upset, and Kansas, Kansas St. and Oklahoma all getting destroyed, not really a good look for the conference.

ND scored 60 in the first half to lead by 35! This is one of those games you wish you could carry over some of the points to the next game!

 

[TheFarmFan]

Pardon me for interrupting folks' grasping for narratives, but while some folks are talking a big game about this vs. that conference, P5 vs. mid-majors, etc., at the end of the day, we're likely to see multiple Sweet Sixteen bids from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, and (hopefully, pending Arizona's game) the Pac-12, along with the Big East (which, in basketball, has always felt a bit like a sixth P5, especially on the men's side). Indeed, 15 of 16 bids will go to the P5+Big East, and the only true "mid-major" in the Sweet Sixteen is South Dakota, which has been to the Dance the last three tournaments, and won the WNIT recently.

While some individual teams have underperformed, I guess I'm not seeing anything so shocking this year as to reassess my general view that this year is playing out much like every year does - some big seeds go down early, some 11-15 seeds make some noise, and in the end the same handful of players are in conversation to cut down the nets at the regional finals and in the Final Four.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Pardon me for interrupting folks' grasping for narratives, but while some folks are talking a big game about this vs. that conference, P5 vs. mid-majors, etc., at the end of the day, we're likely to see multiple Sweet Sixteen bids from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, and (hopefully, pending Arizona's game) the Pac-12, along with the Big East (which, in basketball, has always felt a bit like a sixth P5, especially on the men's side). The only true "mid-major" in the Sweet Sixteen is South Dakota, which has been to the Dance the last three tournaments, and won the WNIT recently. While some individual teams have underperformed, I guess I'm not seeing anything so shocking this year as to reassess my general view that this year is playing out much like every year does.

Yeah, a few upsets in the early rounds are fun, but there are very few true Cinderella teams that make a run, like SW Missouri St. did w/ Jackie Stiles. It all shakes out as the Tourney progresses.

 

[TheFarmFan]

FWIW, in round one the top four seeds who won by <10 were: #4 Oklahoma (by 6 over #13 IUPUI), #4 Arizona (by 5 over #13 UNLV), #3 ISU (by 7 over #14 UT Arlington), and #3 LSU (by 6 over #14 Jackson St.).

And honestly, a lot of the upsets were 5-7 seeds who did travel for round one: Oregon, Colorado, BYU, Ole Miss, Kentucky. But men's and women's alike, 5-12, 6-11, and 7-10 upsets are pretty common. I guess I'm just missing how this year is somehow the year that proves something structurally is amiss with how the committee seeds, how commentators adjudge top teams, and how we should really be viewing things. At the end of the day, one true mid-major will probably make the Sweet 16, all the 1 seeds survived the first weekend comfortably, and none of Vegas' top 7 odds-makers have lost so far. Shortly after the brackets were announced, those odds were:

-South Carolina 2/1
-Yukon 13/4
-Stanford 6/1
-NCST 10/1
-Maryland 12/1
-Louisville 15/1
-Tennessee 15/1
- Baylor 20/1

**Edited to add: Tennessee doing its best to prove me wrong and prove the existence of the woofing gods right, blowing what was a 14 point lead when I wrote this now down to 4 vs Belmont late in 3Q, LOL. Gave away 9 points in about 2 minutes!

 

[nwhoopfan]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention sometimes the Cinderella per se...is a mediocre P5 team. You can't tell me the Tourney would've been better off w/ out Plum, Osahor and Walton doing their thing for Washington in 2016, or Ionescu and company w/ Oregon in 2017. Maybe the Huskies weren't the kind of team some here are suggesting shouldn't have been in (11-7 in conference, 5th place, 26-11 overall), but Oregon definitely fits the bill (8-10 in conference, 6th place, 23-14 overall). What non automatic qualifier mid major would've done better, or been more entertaining than either of those teams those 2 years? Ima go ahead and say NONE.

 

[Plebe]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention sometimes the Cinderella per se...is a mediocre P5 team. You can't tell me the Tourney would've been better off w/ out Plum, Osahor and Walton doing their thing for Washington in 2016, or Ionescu and company w/ Oregon in 2017. Maybe the Huskies weren't the kind of team some here are suggesting shouldn't have been in (11-7 in conference, 5th place, 26-11 overall), but Oregon definitely fits the bill (8-10 in conference, 6th place, 23-14 overall). What non automatic qualifier mid major would've done better, or been more entertaining than either of those teams those 2 years? Ima go ahead and say NONE.

Yes, you'd definitely be remiss to deprive us of yet another gratuitous Kelsey Plum mention.

 

[the Q]

So the Belmont girl hangs onto the ball when she could’ve moved it and drained more clock….and then missed both fts

 

[the Q]

And then the girl drops a good pass for a clear layup.

Jesus

Talk about pulling defeat from the jaws of victory

 

[nwhoopfan]

So do we go to the football chat room to discuss non UConn games while the UConn game is going on?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Belmont did EVERYTHING wrong in the last minute of the game to hand it to Tennessee. They had that one. Vols back their way into the Sweet 16. I guess Harper had to get past the first weekend eventually.

 

[triaddukefan]

TN is the luckiest team... Belmont should have won that game... feel so bad for the Belmont kids

Hopefully Louisville rips the guts outta them next week...... not literally of course.. that would be a messy court.

 

[the Q]

Belmont did EVERYTHING wrong in the last minute of the game to hand it to Tennessee. They had that one. Vols back their way into the Sweet 16. I guess Harper had to get past the first weekend eventually.

TN is the luckiest team... Belmont should have won that game... feel so bad for the Belmont kids

Hopefully Louisville rips the guts outta them next week...... not literally of course.. that would be a messy court.

It’s hard to feel bad when you lose because you, miss fts and…can’t catch

 

[GoCardinal]

Jacy Sheldon is one heck of a player. Ohio State is on the verge of knocking LSU off to head to the Sweet 16.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wait a minute. NC State and Notre Dame will meet in the 3rd Round. I thought teams from the same conference weren't supposed to play each other prior to a Regional Final.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looked like Princeton might take Indiana, but they blew it at the end. Both teams had a BUNCH of empty possessions the last 2 minutes of the game. Good defense by both, but offensive execution was bad.

 

[southie]

Wait a minute. NC State and Notre Dame will meet in the 3rd Round. I thought teams from the same conference weren't supposed to play each other prior to a Regional Final.

That's only true for the 1-4 seeds. ND is a #5 seed, as were fellow ACC schools UNC and Va Tech. So, this was probably pretty unavoidable.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Meaningless 3 at the buzzer, Indiana edges Princeton.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What are LSU's colors? Pink and silver sparkles? Kim with a vintage outfit.