M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[iam416]

Tourney only should be like 32 teams. The regular season should mean a lot more and getting to the tourney should be a 'feat'. 7 teams from a 14 team B10 made it, teams that can't win half their conferences games get to play in the postseason.

It has to be at least 40. There are like 31 automatic bids or something? If you took the lowest 16 auto bids and put them in a play-in, you could get 9 at-large bids. M wouldn't have made the tourney. Neither would Syracuse, nor Wichita.

I'm with Hack -- I love the tournament as a sporting event. I just point out -- and I've been doing it whenever it comes out -- that it's not an event to crown the "best" team. It's a great event that crowns a tournament champion. And I love that teams like M and Syracuse can make it or George Mason, Wichita, VCU, Butler, NC State, Villanova, etc. That said, those teams can and have led to some crappy FFs. I think the best FF I ever saw was the Webber TO FF. M-UK and UNC-KU. Those were epic FF matchups. And with the decreasing advantage power programs have (1 and dones v experience) and general decrease in quality of play, those types of FFs are going to be increasingly rare. Tradeoff.

Now, if only the NBA would go to single-elimination and (A) shorten the season by weeks and (B) give me some outside hope that the Heat won't win. But in the current format, the best team wins. Bah.

[hack]

Each have their charms. Nothing like a best-of-seven. That's how men are made. I absolutely love it when both sides know each others' game plans to a T and have worked up a healthy sports hate. Woody Allen once said you can live to 100, but only if you cut out all the things in life that make you want to last that long. I always think of that quote and Game 7s. A Game 7 your team is not involved in is one of the few things worth living to 100 for that aren't unhealthy for you. Even the blowouts tell you something about humanity. A Game 7 involving your team on the other hand -- good god is that ever stressful. But we all know how sweet the wins are.

Yes on that Final Four. I was a Kansas win over UNC from winning my poll that year. And holy mother of god those were two titanic battles.

[iam416]

Doesn't get much better than an even best of 7 contested by two really good teams. The good ones you don't ever forget as a sports fan. Totally agree.

[Optimus Prime]

I'd add....." What you know about rockin' a wolf on your noggin?"

[Rob F]

Well, then I wouldn't be routinely exposing M idiocy. And idiots need to be kept in check. And if you can't handle facts, truth and reason, just put me on ignore. Or, perhaps, don't bother addressing me. Then again, that goes against your obsession with me. So, I don't see that happening. So I guess you'll continue to be exposed to facts, truth and reason. Sucks for you.

Though, I will say, you basically just agreed with everything I've said about the tournament and OSU's season, which you pejoratively referred to as painting with Easter egg pastel colors--or something like that. There may be hope for you if you keep reading me.

No intention of putting you on ignore, even if I could (mods can't). Truth be told, I have no problem with most of what you post, even if a lot of it is filled with "olieo homerism", as someone else earlier pointed out. So go ahead, and continue "exposing M idiocy" or whatever it is you do; I find most of it entertaining and some of it even enlightening.

As for my "basically agreeing with everything" you've said about the tournament, well, I'm not going to post something that I don't believe to be true just in order to take an opinion opposite yours. Somehow, though, you had an uninformed, misguided belief that I had somewhere posted something contrary to that regarding the NCAA Tourney. Sucks to be wrong.

As for the other part about osu's season, like I said, ask Matta and his merry band of buckfutts how pleased they were to be shedding those ugly-ass uniforms for the last time after the loss to a 2nd-place MVC team that went 5-5 over their final 10 conference games this season. This is where my "leftover pastel Easter egg colors" comment fits in: I'm sure that while you paint things in a way that gives you solace and comfort, they also were singing some medley of 'Hang On Sloppy' and Carmen SanDiego and Kumbaya in the locker room after letting their NCAA wet dreams slip away...

Sucks to be oiho

[iam416]

It's great to be Ohio State. For a host of reasons, not the least of which is how badly they own M.

As for your nonsense, there are 67 losers in the NCAA tournament. I trust, if M should lose, that you'll post about how miserable Beilein's merry band of buttfucks are after throwing their hideous highlighter yellow uniforms in a pile. You know, because you're not one to hold back the truth if it's inconvenient for you. LOL. LMAO. LMMFAO.

Incidentally, I was trying to find some opinion you expressed on M hoops recently, but you haven't posted in the Hoops thread of B10 hoops thread in awhile. You really ARE a M fanboy. Nailed it. You do seem to care about M football, though. LOL. No wonder you're so bitter and obsessed. Boy, a little research confirms the truth and explains a lot.

[Rob F]

Since you're so obsesssd with my opinions and the fact that I haven't posted much regarding Michigan Basketball, is it actually me that has a problem? Check your mirror lately?

I'm primarily a Michigan Football and Detroit Tiger Baseball fan. Everything else in sports is pretty much filler stuff while I follow those two great sports "obsessions" of mine. Does that make me a "FanBoy"? You seem to be an expert in such stuff, so if the label fits me, so be it.

I follow, to some extent, all U of M Sports. I have held U of M season Football Tickets for 34 years, plus gone to numerous road games to follow Michigan Football. In the meantime, I've probably gone to only about 8-10 Michigan Basketball games while probably twice that many M Hockey games. Based on that stat alone, I guess I'm twice the Michigan Hockey fan than I am the M Hoops fan. Does that relegate me to "fanboy" status? Your call, since you're the non-resident expert.

Frankly, I dont give a flying f*** what you label me, just don't do it with your leftover pastel Easter Egg colors.

[DennisT]

Psst Rob. Guys who hang out at the other team's forum are special kinds of assholes. He's a wanker and not worth your energy.

[Optimus Prime]

If you think (Doyle/Talent) is insufferable now wait until Hoke hangs another loss on them next November in Ann Arbor. First basketball and now football!


Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam):

"If y'all don't shut up, I'm gonna go out of my mind. Besides, Karl (Billy Bob Thornton) here is liable to bust his spring. He's already off balance."

[WM Wolverine]

Auto bids would be a thing of the past in my tourney. They are great for the mid majors and realize why its setup the way it is. I could compromise, go with 48 teams; give the top 6 seeds byes in the first round and have the 7 - 12 seeds play each other in the first round...

Yes, I know my preferred tourney will NEVER happen. The tourney is only going to get even larger. I expect it'll be 76-80 before too long and could grow even larger. And really, I don't have much of a problem with it growing either.

[iam416]

Frankly, I dont give a flying f*** what you label me

Funny way of showing you don't care. Shall we try for another long post disputing your fanboy status? Your indifference is so passionate. Heh heh heh.

Auto bids would be a thing of the past in my tourney. They are great for the mid majors and realize why its setup the way it is. I could compromise, go with 48 teams; give the top 6 seeds byes in the first round and have the 7 - 12 seeds play each other in the first round...

In a way, I like the auto-bids/small tournament. I liked the value of, e.g., the ACC tournament. To this day, that's an event that is beloved in ACC land, at least for a little while longer. And I loved that the B10 used to play a straight-up home/home full rotation schedule with the winner going to the tourney. There's no better way to settle a champion.

So, I sort of like the idea of 40 or 48 with full auto-bids. Ohio State's season-ending run would have been huge. The M-IU game would have been even bigger. I like that. But, it's theoretical. It's going up, as you suggest, not down. And like you, I'm ok with it, too.

[Hannibal]

I'd much rather see the tournament made double-elimination before making it bigger.

[iam416]

I like it! Maybe something like 40 (31 auto bids). Preliminary round of 16 is single elimination. Once it's down to 32, it's double elimination. That actually gives the NCAA more games to broadcast.

If it only it had more than a zero chance and didn't have significant feasibility issues vis-a-vis TV.

[Hannibal]

IMHO the feasibility issues that it has is not with TV, but with people filling out their brackets. The tourney gets a lot of mileage out of its simplicity.

[hack]

How would that work?

Agreed that the way the Big Ten used to do it was the right way. Everybody ignores the conference tournament result anyways. I guess it's good to allow a bubble team to try and pull an upset and get into the field of 68, but that's no reason to play a tournament.