2015 NCAA Tournament thread

It was pretty much a home game for Dayton. I'm no fan of Providence, being a product of their in-state rival, but they got jobbed with the Flyers getting into that seed. I would say that the refs were effected - flaky flagrant / offensive foul on Dunn in the first half, 23 FT disparity, weak technical on Cooley in the second half - but the reffing has been erratic for the whole tournament so far.

 

All that excuse making would mean more if the game was a nailbiter. But it was not. Dayton easily won by 13 and thoroughly outplayed Providence. The Friars didn't get jobbed as much as they simply got beat.

 

I'd hate to see what Dick Vitale would do with this.

 

Since the afternoon sessions of day 1, the better seeds have gone 23-1.

 

And yet those few perfect brackets that remained yesterday went down on Friday. Weird.

 

I told a friend he should turn that game on because it was close and entertaining, but I warned him it might injure his eyes.

 

Ron Hunter has emerged as the big media star of the tournament so far. The interview CBS did with him and his son yesterday was awesome.

And he cracked his cast when he fell of his stool and had to get it replaced.

 

BTW, other than R.J. Hunter's ridiculous 3 to beat Baylor, my favorite moment so far is Belmont's Craig Bradshaw hitting a 3-point bank shot and telling the TV guys he called the shot.

A couple of those Mamadou Ndiaye dunks where his feet never left the floor are close.

 

Belmont is a fine team to watch. Sorry they didn't beat UVa, but gave 'em a damn good game.

 

Did you see the shot during the timeout of Homer in the stands drawing up a play?

Actually, I can't think of any of the underdogs that had to score a last basket running a decent play -- even the ones that won. I mean, Georgia State's play was crap, which is why Hunter had to make that incredible shot, and UCLA wound up with a terrible off-balance 3 but was bailed out by the ref. There might have been a good one, but I don't remember one -- then again, I'm on basketball overload right now.

 

When his coaching career ends, he could end up with a great TV gig.

 

Caught that, and it was great. Knowing coaches, though, and seeing R.J. Hunter shake his head when his old man was riffing, I got the sense that Ron Hunter has tried out a lot of that material before.