Official Running NCAA/March Madness thread

Not really surprised at the chalkiness of this particular tournament. I thought college basketball was extremely top heavy this year, and I think there's a pretty good divide between the top five or six and the next tier as well. I could see Florida State beating Gonzaga, and I could see Texas Tech taking out Michigan. Would not surprised to see Houston take out Kentucky, especially if Washington is still out. But nothing from here on out would be a titanic upset.

 

The lack of fizz in this tournament is surprising. Not just the lack of upsets, but the lack of tight games.

 

The chalk has won, but some of it has also revealed vulnerabilities. Both UVa and North Carolina were down at the half of their 1-16 games. Duke lucked one out last night that certainly could have gone either way. Tennessee looked like the '87 Lakers in the first half against Iowa and like the 2019 Lakers minus LeBron in the second half. Kentucky didn't exactly blow Wofford away. In the game I have seen, which is sure not all of 'em, Gonzaga and Texas Tech have been the most consistently close to what we assume is their best and of course they could wind up playing each other.

 

Amin from Oregon had the best scrappy game I have ever seen. We always laugh about the Johnny Hustle plays, but that dude was everywhere, and it made a difference.

 

There were some fascinating, thrilling games though, the UCF-Duke game, the Tenn game, the UNC and UVA openers. Do I want to see a Butler/Wichita State/VCU/James Madison sleeper? Yeah, those are cool. But if not, then thrillers but with the strong teams remaining make for strong games remaining. I think Oregon has a chance to be that team because they've got all the parts, strong inside D, good outside shooting and an aggressive PG.

 

The Admiral Schofield story is either strangely wonderful . . . or just strange.

You sometimes will hear of a pouting malcontent not wanting to go in. But Admiral's not that. He's also stepped up in key situations before --- basically won the Gonzaga and UK games with late baskets --- so he's not one to shy away from that. So until I learn differently, I'll just give him big props for good character and doing what he thought was best for the team.

Why did Tennessee's coach bench a star in OT? Because the star told him to

 

Take me out coach, I'm not ready to play

 

And DOWN goes Duke!

Duke to pay $112.5 million settlement for allegedly falsifying research

Not the upset we had in mind, though.

 

Not really any underdog / Cinderella stories in this year's Sweet 16. You can't count Oregon, which is a major school; nor Houston, which has a rich basketball history; nor Gonzaga, which was ranked No. 1 for much of the year and hasn't been a typical mid-major for two decades now.

 

SI's college basketball preview, for one, had Oregon as a Final Four team.

 

That was with Bol Bol. I agree that it's hard to call Oregon a Cinderella but without Bol Bol this is a wildly different team.