B1G/NCAA basketball

[Whitley]

You may be right. I am not confident enough to bet the o/u on that game either way, though.

And there are 6 SEC teams in the round of 32 - more than any other conference. It would not shock me to see the SEC go 1-5 today and tomorrow though - with 2-4 being very likely.

Bama-Nova
Tenn-Loyola
TAMU-UNC
Auburn-Clemson
Kentucky-Buffalo
Florida-Texas Tech

3-3 is what I have them at with....Tenn., Auburn and UK advancing.

[Whitley]

The B1G's match-ups are interesting:

OSU-Zags
M-Houston
MSU-Cuse
Purdue-Butler

3-1 there with the Zags kicking out OSU.

[iam416]

Purdue is in for some trouble. However, I think they match up fairly well with Butler even without Haas. Butler definitely wants to play more uptempo, and Purdue has some players to do that and it fits with their "smaller" lineup.

Sparty, I think, will struggle with Syracuse. From what I've seen, this is probably one of Izzo's poorer coaching efforts. He had teams where their offensive sets were really hard to deal with. Lots of motion, gads of picks. Denzell Valentine would run off of 5 picks in a set. Now it's fairly basic 4-out, set a ball screen, take a dude of the bounce shit. They'll look like a clownshow against the Syracuse zone. But, Syracuse can't really score well.

Ohio State was run off the court by Gonzaga in November. It was one of those games where they just seemed to win every 5 minute interval by a bucket or two and it ends up a 25 point ass-whupping. Kaleb Wesson will have to play big. They didn't use him against SD State because they went small. But, he has to play well against Gonzaga's front line. Unfortunately, he's foul prone, and Noah Potter just isn't that good as a backup. That, and Andrew Dakich is still geting 20-25 minutes and teams are daring him to shoot. OSU can hang around if KBD, Tate and one other player have really good games. I wouldn't be surprised to see OSU hang around a little -- maybe stick within 6-8 at half. But as the game wears on the margin won't really come down and eventually they'll be down 10 with 4 to play and it's over.

Michigan has the easiest matchup, by far, IMO. I think Houston is a lot like M, but with lesser players. I think M caught a real break when SDS didn't pull the "upset." I think that would have been a grinder for M. I think they win by 12ish today and are never really in trouble.

[iam416]

I have the SEC at 1.5-4.5.

I feel pretty good about UNC, Nova and, for some reason, TT. I think the remaining games are in teh 60/40 range. I think Clemson gets Auburn. I think Tennessee and UK escape with their lives. Those won't be easy games, IMO.

[AlabamAlum]

ACC:

UNC- TAMU
Duke-Rhode Island
Clemson-Auburn
Florida State-Xavier
Syracuse-Michigan State

BigXII:

Kansas-Seton Hall
Texas Tech-Florida
West Virginia-Marshall
Kansas St.-UMBC

BigEast:

Nova-Bama
Xavier-Florida State
Seton Hall-Kansas
Butler-Purdue

American:

Cinci-Nevada
Houston-M

[The Oracle]

After everything that's happened(my picks), fortunate to down just 6.

Villanova -11.5
Tennessee -5.5
TT -1.5
Michigan -3 (LIGHTNING, aka, Triple Lock Shocker)

[hack]

Izzo needs more system seniors than he has to be able to score. He looks out of ideas now, but he'll probably be back with an overachieving team at some point too.

[AlabamAlum]

My upset pick is Rhode Island over Duke.

[Da Geezer]

Had no belief in AZ.

Me neither, or in the rest of the Pac-12. I hate listening to Bill Walton doing color for the west coast games. He must call the P12 the "conference of champions..." twenty times per game.

Well, all of Arizona's recruits have decommitted. I suspect they know something that is not public.

We were the third youngest team in the nation this year. Our only notable loss will be Sexton.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

[iam416]

I have URI in my bracket. And I definitely like them today with the points.

[Cody_Russell]

They’re done. They run everything through him. That’s about as big a loss as there could be. Painter has some horrible luck. Hummel tore his ACL on one of best teams.
Meanwhile, UNC is up by 23 with 35s left, gives up a 3, missed a dunk, commits a foul and gets backdoored.

Well said. Purdue is cursed. ... and I’m a Lions/ millennial Michigan fan FML.

Purdue can win a game or two, but there is no question Haas’ 20-22 mins per game will be missed. Purdue will have to go small for half the game. Haarms doesn’t quite have a post game (yet).

[Whitley]

Well said. Purdue is cursed. ... and I?m a Lions/ millennial Michigan fan FML.

Purdue can win a game or two, but there is no question Haas? 20-22 mins per game will be missed. Purdue will have to go small for half the game. Haarms doesn?t quite have a post game (yet).

True but he is more of a defensive rim presence and seems a better passer than Haas?

[AlabamAlum]

Seven 3-pointers. Just some lights out shots by DiVincenzo. Refs letting them play. Hand checking, reach-ins, over the backs only called occasionally and at odd times.

The under is in play. And with a similar effort in the second half, Bama can conceivably cover.

[The Oracle]

If Brunson and Bridges actually show up in the 2nd, I see the 11.5 as good to go.

[AlabamAlum]

If Brunson and Bridges actually show up in the 2nd, I see the 11.5 as good to go.

DiVincenzo was not a liability in Brunson's spot.

A lot of why Bridges hasn't shown up is good D by Bama. We will see if it holds.