Running 2023-24 NCAA Basketball Thread

That Indiana State center, with thick goggles, and all the acne on his back? He wouldn't have gone an hour in real time, without a bucket.

 

I'm not defending it at all. Just saying there was no easy answer to who should have been that last team in. In retrospect, it's pretty clear it shouldn't have been Virginia. I was surprised they got in, TBH.

 

Sportscenter was on the background yesterday afternoon and I'm pretty sure I heard Seth Greenberg say that he thought Virginia could make a run.

 

Virginia threw people off the scent with that eight-game winning streak, which included wins over VT, GT, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami, and FSU. In other words, the dregs of an incredibly top-heavy ACC. Sure, they beat Clemson on the road too, but still. Failing to break 50 points seven different times in one season is a tough look.

I also think New Mexico is going to fuck up Clemson's shit. Another fraud.

 

Retired man yelling at the Internet: That was a very good story that could have been great with a competent editor, of which there are sadly too few. Too many "woulds" and the random leaps from past to present tense verbs were jarring. Like a ill-fitting suit. A nip here, a tuck there makes all the difference.

 

I also like how the headline proclaimed "How one fan picked the greatest March Madness bracket ever built," and then the caption read, ". . . How he pulled it off remains a mystery."

"How" and "Why" have been the scourge of online clickbait headline words for more than a decade. Because the stories almost never tell you how or why.

And the story failed to mention a few things. Such as where did this "greatest bracket ever built" finish in the contest (he had only one correct Final Four pick, and neither of his title-game participants made it to the Final Four)? Greatest first-two rounds of a bracket? Sure. But I was expecting to read about a bracket that was maybe a couple of games from perfection, not missing by 10 (with an inglorious 4-for-14 finish).

 

Good for you guys. I dropped out of that story early, somewhere along his second sleepover on his way to his ski trip. And I have zero journalistic background, but the author was talking about how there has never been a perfect bracket, "Yet we can't stop trying. About 40 million Americans fill out an estimated 70 million brackets every year".

No, nobody is trying to complete a perfect bracket. Nobody. We are just trying to win our office/family pool, and win 150 bucks.
Thanks for letting me know he finished 4-14. That's a lot of words in the story for that kind of finish.

 

God, how I hate the whole “would” thing.

 

What the committee never gets is that when it consistently underseeds teams from glamour conferences, it screws their opponents as well.

If a mid major does break through with a deep run though, then the committee treats them like a made man the next time. Florida Atlantic probably deserved play-in purgatory and maybe not even that after piling up conference losses. Instead it’s an 8. Gonzaga deserved to be in, but as a 5? Their resume consists of a nice win in Rupp, a 1-2 showing against Saint Mary’s and not a lot of protein after that. But now they’re probably a favorite to reach the Sweet 16 opposite the remains of Kansas.

 

One of the first indicators of a shitty (or at least inexperienced, with no editor involved) writer.

 

You'd think a college that's been around 300 years would specify which '13.