In '07, also gearing up for my Vegas trip, difference being I watched this essentially live, and had been having a few beers during the day before watching....referenced a lot of guys on our Vegas trip in this one.
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Running commentary on selection show (because I fancy myself a poor (very poor) man's Bill Simmons at times) - helps to have Tivo to pause as it goes:
- wait, so Florida's the 1 in the Midwest and Ohio St is the 1 in the South? we have a neighbor with a very poor sense of direction who get's lost on our block, but even she could have gotten that little mixup correct
MIDWEST
- i heard a lot of people picking the 1 seeds on ESPN/CBS/little podunk cable channels the last few weeks, and they were mostly leaving Florida out of it...now they are the overall 1 seed. Tells you two things - the "experts" on most sports channels are about as accurate as weathermen, and all it takes to vault over everyone else is to be the only Sunday big conf number 1 seed to cover the spread
- Arizona just got a bid cause of their coach, and no other reason....and facing Purdue - Tim, bet both those sheds on Purdue - that is LOCK money right there (a bit early to be calling Lock of the tourney, but i'm not sure it could have been easier)
- Butler still gets a 5? I'm telling you, they are not good...matched up with...ODU!!! Moneyline all day....i can taste the cash
- Heard a lot of talk about Davidson and Maryland is a late season run but crap tourney game...could be another ML cash
- I don't like Wisconsin - and while none of the 4 in their sub-bracket are impressive, you gotta like a UNLV team that was sweating a little about getting in and has every player dress in all black for the selection show "camera is on you to watch you cheer or cry"....if they didn't make it, could have thrown on the ski masks and pulled an Oceans 15 on the Luxor
- Oregon as a 3 is a possible semi-sleeper - looked great in the Pac10 tourney
- Winthrop-Notre Dame may set a record for most 22 footers jacked up (both teams love the trey)
WEST
- The "play-in" game is annoying - look, if your going to lead a lamb to a slaughter, don't single out the two - make the bottom 8 teams "play-in" and give a few more at large or don't to it at all, but this one play in is stupid.....(but it does give us something to bet on Tuesday)
- Kentucky as an 8??? Man do coaches get respect....I like Villanova matched up there - will be a good early indication of the real strenght of the Big East (meaning if they win by 20-30, big east is strong / 10 to 20 it's ok / less than 10, I'll assume the entire Nova squad got food poisoning) ..... does set up a good bit of confusion for announcers as both teams are "Wildcats" which happens to be the name of a stripper at the Rhino
- Cam, the Illinois coach should thank Sampson for that bid as that was definitely a circumstance where without that win, they are not in....i think that's a good matchup with Va Tech to see how those two conf stack up.
- Saluki Fever Baby, Catch It at a 4 seed....who would have ever thought So. Ill and Holy Cross would be 4-13 and not a play-in game....by the way, anyone catch the Holy Cross win at the buzzer...my only question, did he call "glass" cause if not, that shouldnt' have counted
- Indiana gets the 7 against Gonzaga - wow...Graham, that's your hippie team against Cam's hittie team (oh, sorry, forgot the "s" at the beginning)....funny that those were two of my big "bet against" teams the last few weeks
- BP - any love for Wright St against Pitt?
- NO F"N WAY DUKE IS A 6!!!!
- Ok, my Lock of tourny just changed - VCU is now my lock....and I AM LOVING MY MONEYLINES
- Any chance the Venetian has Tivo - I want to watch a lot of these games but also don't want to just sit there and watch like last year...
EAST
- I see UNC and just think...ok, who beats them in 2nd or 3rd
- and I see my pick already....winner of Marquette/Mich St (and damn, cause those were two of my "deep picks" to come out of the pack and go far..now one will be gone day one) I'll go with the bald dude at Mich St to win 2 then collapse in the 16 as his chemo finally takes him out
- USC doesn't deserve a 5...this aint' football. Then again, Arkansas doesn't really deserve to be in.
- AND THERE'S YOUR CHAMPION - Texas at a 4...thought they'd get a 3 - now I'm firmly convinced UNC doesn't make it out of the 16 at best - could easily get beat by the Marquette/Mich St winner, but if not they haven't seen anything like Texas
- G'Town is my sentimental pick ... if they end up matched up in 8 with Texas it'll be tough for me (but you know I'll have money on one of them)
- I really hope for a Tx Tech- Gtown game so I can wholeheartedly root against Knight....that Texas Tech/BC game will go a long way to showing my theorem on Big 12 vs ACC - I think Big 12 is better by three seeds so should be even...MONEYLINE BABY
- Wash St I don't like...but I don't like any of the other three teams in that sub-bracket...man, how does a Wash St end up with that crap, and some other teams gotta win two real tough ones just to get to where Wash St may walk in (Seth Davis just picked Oral Roberts to beat them...again I say MONEYLINE BABY)
SOUTH
- So is it bad every time they flash to teams, and there are little kids in the shot (who are probaby coaches kids) all I think is "ok, which player had three kids already"
- BYU - first team that I saw and said "huh..didn't even know they were in the mix"
- Graham - you'll like this - saw Tenn on the 5 line and thought "assuming that 12 isn't some crap-ass team, I like them to take out Tenn" - comes up LBU - another MONEYLINE CASH
- Virginia I don't have a good feel for - saw them play a few times, and they could beat Albany by 30 or lose by 10, and either way I wouldn't be shocked
- so far, this bracket bores me....could be I'm on beer 12 or so for the day
- No, after 4 more teams, it's not the beer, but the fact that they took all the teams that no one knows what to think and no one cares about and shoved them into the south for some reason (part of the reason could be that the "south" is the "Ohio St. bracket" so they were f'd from the start directionally)
- A&M wins this bracket going away....although Louisville could give them a run (I'll have ML money on Stanford, but that'll be a reluctant bet)
Was rooting for Drexel to make it - somewhat surprising ODU made it over them, but both should have made it
So my all year long final four can (and will) happen:
South - Texas A&M
East - Texas
West - UCLA
MW - Florida
a 1,2,3 and 4 seed....remember where you heard it first
Big East only gets 6 - same as Pac 10 and Big 10 - that's a travesty....
None of the mid-majors get more than 1 At large....wow, that's a stat - after all the success, least number of mid-major at-large bids in 5 years
Arkansas and Illinois are probably the last two in due to conf tourney wins they had (amazing that Indiana had that big an impact..but they did)
Cuse and Drexel should be in over those two
Ok, there's Billy Packer, and since I'm now on beer 13, I gotta stop watching or I may puke cause he is one UGLY dude
3 F'N DAYS