GWJ NCAA Bracket Challenge

Well, my bracket is swiftly turning messy. At least my elite 8 is all still in it, but my sweet 16 is borked

Woot, South Florida!

Stele wrote:

See what have to live with growing up in Kentucky? Such classy fans. ;)

Hush you. Most of us don't even consider Louisville part of Kentucky. It's like its own little state.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Stele wrote:

Additional ESPN Group.

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-...

Group: GWJ ESPN
Password: stan

I thought it would let me re-enable last year's group, like Yahoo! does, but it didn't. So I just had to make a new one. Sorry for the delay! 22 hours to fill out another bracket if you want. :cool:

I decided to go a little more rational with this bracket. I was getting worried because through the first three regions I only had one upset (I did have a 9 and a 10 winning but those aren't upsets). Then, I got to the Midwest and it's upset city. I picked the 10 through the 14 to win in that region. In the end, I'm going to guess that will be my best region.

Only one I got wrong was Belmont.

Between ESPN and UPS, I love that all these commercials are highlighting crushing UK losses. Both to men named Christian. They have one more coming to them this season, me thinks.

My bracket is officially toast (had Mizzou winning it all and Duke in the Final Four), so now I root for mayhem (and of course the Hoosiers).

hoosierjoe wrote:

Between ESPN and UPS, I love that all these commercials are highlighting crushing UK losses. Both to men named Christian. They have one more coming to them this season, me thinks.

Man the UK fans are irate. I hear about it down here from friends back home who have to see those crazies every day. It's also been picked up by some of the local news sites in KY, and of course they note that the university gave permission for the game footage to be used by UPS... but that doesn't seem to calm any of the Big Blue Nation.

It's their "worst day ever" moment and it's being broadcast every 3rd commercial break.

Seriously my mom was telling me about a woman she works with the other day and talking about the commercial. And that woman actually said "Don't you remember where you were when Laettner hit that shot? It's like how everyone remembers where they were when Kennedy was shot or when Challenger exploded!"

That's the level of insanity you deal with when dealing with UK fans. They equate UK losing to a true national tragedy. So sad.

I remember exactly where I was when that happened: 10 years old, on the couch in my dad's living room. Know why I remember? Because I got so mad that I punched a wall, hit a stud and broke two knuckles -- the only broken bones I've ever had.

You have to realize, though, that particular moment was not perennial powerhouse UK losing to a great Duke team that year. UK was coming out of a very dark era, winless and on probation, with a fresh young coach in Pitino. Pitino had managed to take a rag-tag band of walk-ons -- no McDonald's All-Americans here -- mostly from the local area, and turn them into lovable underdog contenders. So you had a bunch of down-home, Kentucky Heartland farmers (literally, one of the players had the last name Farmer), who against all odds were fighting for their lives against a classic blue-blood, hoity-toity ivory tower Duke team that outmatched them (on paper) in every conceivable category. They played their hearts out that day, got stomped in the chest while on the ground by Mr. Asshole Supreme, and still managed to be in the driver's seat...only to lose in the most heart-breaking fashion possible.

So yes, it's true that on an average day, your typical UK fan obsesses over college ball far more than is healthy, and takes any loss worse than a death in the family -- but that game is so special precisely because it wasn't the usual situation.

Thank you Duke for living up to my group name.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/nlKXL.gif)

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/5cd...

LIU Brooklyn all the way baby.

I was 13 years old, in Sears with my parents, looking at TVs. A bunch of people watching went nuts, it was a crazy shot. Afterwards, we celebrated with some KFC.

OK, only half of that is true, I refuse to hang out with my parents in public.......................

Survive and advance! Go Cards!

That was a bit too close for comfort, but hey, Sweet 16!

Stele wrote:

Survive and advance! Go Cards!

That was a bit too close for comfort, but hey, Sweet 16!

Ditto for the Hoosiers. BRING ON THE CATS!!!

Gonna be rooting big time for the Bilikens today, even though they will destroy my bracket. Rick Majeras has done an awesome job rebuilding the St. Louis University basketball program with very little support. A Sweet 16 appearance by taking down a Goliath would be a huge boost.

Bernie Miklasz has a great interview with Majeras in the StL Post-Dispatch.

I certainly wouldn't complain about St Louis.

But it'd be kinda nice to beat Izzo straight up, unlike 2009. His buddy Tom Crean is too busy coaching this year to gameplan with him against us. :p

Jayhawker wrote:

Gonna be rooting big time for the Bilikens today, even though they will destroy my bracket. Rick Majeras has done an awesome job rebuilding the St. Louis University basketball program with very little support. A Sweet 16 appearance by taking down a Goliath would be a huge boost.

Bernie Miklasz has a great interview with Majeras in the StL Post-Dispatch.

I loves me some Majerus. Good man.

I expect revenge on Friday. Sweet, sweet revenge. Should look a bit different not in Assembly Hall. Right, hoosierjoe?

Kansas may have God on their side.

http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2012...

Just like the Denver Broncos did in this year's playoffs?

Ugh, so close. Oh well, now to root for FSU.

karmajay wrote:

Ugh, so close. Oh well, now to root for FSU.

Yeah was cheering for the Bulls for proximity/conference. Still, they won 2 NCAA games, just didn't get a sweet 16 for it.

Marked improvement over cellar-dwelling the last few years, and hopefully will help recruiting immensely.

Bit of a nail-biter there, Jayhawker. Always nice when your opponent doesn't score a point for the last 2+ minutes of the game.

Breathing now.

Rock Chalk Jayhawks! KU!

I think God was on our side tonight, after all.

IMAGE(http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/g-cvr-120318-kansas-850p.grid-8x2.jpg)

Oh yeah are we doing the 2nd chance game at Yahoo? Let's you fill out a Sweet 16 bracket. There should be a "copy group" button at the top of the current group for Jayhawker.

Stele wrote:

Oh yeah are we doing the 2nd chance game at Yahoo? Let's you fill out a Sweet 16 bracket. There should be a "copy group" button at the top of the current group for Jayhawker.

Done! Invites sent!

In like Flynn!

I might as well since one of my brackets only has three teams in the sweet sixteen. I think this is my worst year ever in, like, 15 years of filling out brackets.

karmajay wrote:

Ugh, so close. Oh well, now to root for FSU.

Thanks....Pal

/grumble

What? I'm not nervous about tonight...

*Stele pours some rum and coke

Nothing to worry about. Pitino is 9-0 in Sweet 16 games. We prepare better than anyone. The team didn't even come home from Portland, they just went straight to Phoenix.

*Stele pours another drink

Not nervous at all. C-A-R-D-S, CARDS!

C-A-R-D-S, CARDS!

Oh yeah, better check your brackets fools!

Stele wrote:

C-A-R-D-S, CARDS!

Oh yeah, better check your brackets fools!

When I first checked the score on that, I figured "oh wow, the cards are up by double-digits with only 15 minutes left to play." Then I double-checked. 44 points for the #4 team in the nation? Wow.

Defense wins championships, baby! Book it.