College basketball

[Vrede too]

Crap, the girl gymnast gropers of MSU win . VA is the only #1 left. My last chance to get $5 back dies .

Go VA > TT.

Yahoo! I'm now 2,443,766th Rank, 20.6th percentile!

[O Really]

I'm lucky I didn't play this year. I would have been totally flushed.

[Vrede too]

I'm lucky I didn't play this year. I would have been totally flushed.

There is no joy in the state of NC.

[billy.pilgrim]

Is Coach K done?

He has been my favorite basketball coach since pretty much forever (until Pearl). We took my son to his insane 14 hour day summer basketball camps, where we met him several times and attended most of his 9 pm end of the day lectures.
Love the guy and so does my son, who says that Coach K's time is over. He says that Coach K isn't focused on game plays and plays anymore, but instead mainly relying recruiting top players.

I hated this loss - and to Michigan - damn

Maybe this loss will inspire K and team - Go Duke

[Vrede too]

Worse, Michigan State.

One article I read suggested that he'll be back, though may never have this lineup again - 3 players drafted in the top 5, 4 going in the 1st round. It was making the case that this loss thus hurt more than prior ones. Could be, or it could be that the last loss always hurts the most.

[O Really]

I'm a long time admirer of Coach K, but I think it's time he passed the torch. No disrespect to the level of competition, but there's really no excuse for Duke not making it to the finals. Talent was unsurpassed, and the Coach K of a few years ago would have made it happen. Duke may have a couple of down years like UNC after Smith retired, until they get their own version of Williams, but it's not a program that's going to fall apart with a coaching change.

[Vrede too]

I'm a long time admirer of Coach K, but I think it's time he passed the torch. No disrespect to the level of competition, but there's really no excuse for Duke not making it to the finals. Talent was unsurpassed, and the Coach K of a few years ago would have made it happen. Duke may have a couple of down years like UNC after Smith retired, until they get their own version of Williams, but it's not a program that's going to fall apart with a coaching change.

I don't have an opinion on whether he should go or stay, but everyone has an expiration date. Not sure I agree with you about "no excuse for Duke not making it to the finals." I think all of the Elite 8 teams were terrific and all/almost all of the games could have gone either way. Should we condemn all of the 4 losing coaches?

Here's the article I mention above:

Why this Duke loss will haunt Coach K more than any other

Only .02 percent of people correctly predicted the 2019 Final Four in the NCAA Bracket Challenge Game

... Auburn and Texas Tech earned their first-ever Final Four trips, Virginia is in its first since 1984, and Michigan State had to beat out the top overall seed, Duke, to reach the national semifinal....

CBS reported the same percentage of correct Final Four predictions in its game. ESPN's was .046 percent.

ESPN Stats & Info
@ESPNStatsInfo

7,928 out of 17.2 million Tournament Challenge entries correctly predicted Virginia, Michigan St., Texas Tech and Auburn would comprise the 2019 Final Four.

... With Duke’s Elite Eight loss to Michigan State, eight of the 10 most-popular picks to win the championship have now been eliminated.

If you added up all the brackets that picked one of the four teams remaining to win the championship, they’d only total 11.7 percent.

Duke 39.2%
North Carolina 15.7%
Gonzaga 11.6%
Virginia 5.9%
Kentucky 4.9%
Mich. St. 4.7%
Tennessee 4.3%
Michigan 3.2%
Kansas 0.9%
Villanova 0.8%
Houston 0.8%
Texas Tech 0.7%
Purdue 0.7%
LSU 0.6%
Auburn 0.5%

So yeah, this field was a slightly surprising outcome.

But it isn’t that different from years past.

On average over the past nine years, just 0.25 percent of all BCG users have picked the Final Four correctly.

Only one year has seen more than 1 percent get the semifinals perfect — 2015. That year saw three 1 seeds (Duke, Wisconsin, and Kentucky) and a 7-seed Michigan State team that had made three straight Sweet 16s.

Compare that to a year like 2013, when one 1 seed (Louisville), two 4 seeds (Michigan and Syracuse), and one 9 seed (Wichita State) made it. No one called that one.

PERCENT of brackets with perfect final four

2011 0.0
2012 0.31
2013 0.0
2014 0.006
2015 1.61
2016 0.09
2017 0.003
2018 0.003
2019 0.02

In total, this year actually saw the highest percentage of perfect Final Fours since 2016, and the fourth highest in the nine years. All that goes to show you, they don't call it March Madness for nothing.

[billy.pilgrim]

I'm a long time admirer of Coach K, but I think it's time he passed the torch. No disrespect to the level of competition, but there's really no excuse for Duke not making it to the finals. Talent was unsurpassed, and the Coach K of a few years ago would have made it happen. Duke may have a couple of down years like UNC after Smith retired, until they get their own version of Williams, but it's not a program that's going to fall apart with a coaching change.

This is exactly what my son has been saying about Coach K, and a couple of others, for a couple of years.

[O Really]

Well, maybe "no excuse" is a little much. Shit does happen, but still...

[Vrede too]

Vegas

Michigan State -3 vs. Texas Tech
Virginia -5½ Auburn

Odds to win 2019 NCAA Men's Tournament (4/8/19)

Virginia 8/5
Michigan State 7/4
Texas Tech 4/1
Auburn 7/1

After winning 2 games as an underdog, including pasting Michigan, I don't think Texas Tech is worried about the odds.
After winning 3 games as an underdog, including pasting KS and UNC, I don't think Auburn is worried about the odds.

Women's Bracket

2 OR plays tonight's 1 Baylor - 2 Iowa winner on Fri. Go Iowa, then Ducks in the semi and championship on Sun.
Perennial champ UConn plays tonight's perennial contenders 1 Notre Dame - 2 Stanford winner on Fri. Go Stanford, then either Stanford or Notre Dame in the semi.

[Vrede too]

... Go Iowa ...

85-53 Baylor. Go Ducks!

UNC women's basketball places entire staff on leave to examine 'issues raised by student-athletes'

Something really ugly must be alleged, and there must be some reason to believe that it's not made up.

... Perennial champ UConn plays tonight's perennial contenders 1 Notre Dame - 2 Stanford winner on Fri. Go Stanford, then either Stanford or Notre Dame in the semi.

Oh well, go Notre Dame!

[billy.pilgrim]

It's looking like the sec has its sight set on being a basketball powerhouse. Arkansas and the ATMs are working on big time coaches and after a huge losing season uga is somehow attracting top recruits away from Kentucky. Even with uga paying more for players, Kentucky and Tennessee have top programs. Florida and Vandy's programs will be strong again. There's also plenty of talent in Mississippi.
Even lowly Auburn has won a few games.

It wasn't but a few years ago that the acc rarely had a decent football team
Not so anymore.

It hasn't been long since the sec only had 2 or 3 teams interested in basketball.
Not so anymore.

Let's all play ball.

[billy.pilgrim]

Colbert, Sir Charles and the ugly tie.

[Vrede too]

:?:

[billy.pilgrim]

:?:

oopsie daisy

The Bet


https://youtu.be/8nJ7AjY3mw8

[Vrede too]

Congrats, Auburnian.

[billy.pilgrim]

Kinda cool

Austin Wiley and his mom will have both played in a Final Four wearing the same number.

She played in 2 championship games

[Vrede too]

UNC women's basketball places entire staff on leave to examine 'issues raised by student-athletes'

Something really ugly must be alleged, and there must be some reason to believe that it's not made up.

Report: Parents accuse UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell of referencing noose, pressuring players to play hurt

Sigh.

[O Really]

Sigh indeed. I liked the comments, especially

Clarity10 hours ago
SHE WAS REPORTED to be heard often shouting, "You people need to play harder!"

Bobby Knight, who I never liked, had to pretty much maim a player on national TV to get criticized. Look out Roy, K - you could be next.

[Vrede too]

"noose" is pretty crude, and unacceptable these days. However, I'm more concerned about forcing them to play hurt, if true. Whatever the details, something is broken for it to reach this point.