Thursday's NCAA Tournament (Sweet Sixteen) Thread

[fishwax]

The Sweet 16 starts in just a few minutes:

7:15 PM (3) Connecticut vs. (2) San Diego State CBS
7:27 PM (3) Brigham Young vs. (2) Florida TBS
9:45 PM (5) Arizona vs. (1) Duke CBS
9:57 PM (8) Butler vs. (4) Wisconsin TBS

So who will win tonight, DU? What games are you looking forward to?

If your bracket is already busted, there may even still be a bit of time left to join WolverineDG's second chance bracket.

[JonLP24]

1. Already filled out my second chances

Here's hoping to a perfect bracket. *crosses fingers*

Duke vs Arizona is probably one game I won't feel like watching.

[fishwax]

2. I suppose that's a "why can't they both lose" game for you, eh?

That's how I would have felt if Texas had beaten Arizona and were playing Duke :evilgrin:

[KamaAina]

3. It most certainly is.

Imagine how I felt the year that was the national final. :puke:

[bigwillq]

4. Rooting for Wisconsin.

I have the Badgers in a Sweet 16 Pool.
Also hoping UConn loses.

Would like to see BYU and Arizona win the other games.

[pscot]

5. I'm roting for Arizona and S.D.State

but don't realy expect too much. VCU vs the Seminoles tomorrow sounds like a great match-up.

[fishwax]

11. I'm looking forward to that game too

I'll be pulling for VCU, but it should be a good game :bounce:

[bigwillq]

6. Two great games so far.

:bounce:

[JonLP24]

7. San Diego.. State... .... Super Aztecs

San Diego...

[bigwillq]

8. Let's GO SDSU!!!

:bounce:

[fishwax]

9. another silly technical -- don't blow it, Aztecs

:kick:

[JonLP24]

12. Damn

SDSU gets a nice little lead and they blow it. They were up 24-17 earlier when UConn went on a 10-0 run.

[fishwax]

16. SDSU back to within four now ...

:bounce:

[JonLP24]

17. Free throws are killing them though

Hopefully they can fix that :bounce:

[fishwax]

18. THREE!

[JonLP24]

65. Looks like it was a flop

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Video-Kemba-Walker-flops-for-technical-then-le?urn=ncaab-wp1133

but the play was still dirty

[fishwax]

10. indeed -- florida and byu looked like it might get out of hand early, but with Jimmer all things are

possible, I guess ...

[JonLP24]

13. Walker can sure shoot and score inside

They can't do anything.

[bigwillq]

14. Walker is the best player in America (nt)

[JonLP24]

15. Wow -- did you see how far Jimmer shot that to tie at 63?

Was there time left on the shot clock cause he looked like he just wanted to pull it up from there?

[bigwillq]

19. And in the other game, Lamb just hit a big trey

to give UConn a four-point lead.

[JonLP24]

20. Fantastic steal by UConn

Set up an easy bucket.

[bigwillq]

21. Awful pass by SDSU

yuck

[bigwillq]

22. UConn FTW

:thumbsdown:

[JonLP24]

23. BYU-Florida-TIE-35.4 Seconds left

:bounce:

[fishwax]

24. big offensive rebound

:bounce:

[bigwillq]

25. Shot clock off!!!

Last shot. :bounce:

[fishwax]

27. overtime!

:bounce:

[JonLP24]

28. Overtime

Damn - I wanted to head off to the store.

[bigwillq]

30. Sorry BYU and Florida ruined your night!

LOL :rofl: :P

You rooting for Arizona?

[JonLP24]

31. Don't care much either way in that game

Probably Duke if forced to pick one. Arizona St fan here.

[bigwillq]

32. Ah

My bad. Thought you were a Wildcats fan.

[Ptah]

26. Bear Down Arizona!!

Avenge 2001!

vs

[Ptah]

41. Derrick Williams 25 points in the first half

:wow:

[Ptah]

44. Tied up!

:applause:

[Ptah]

45. Arizona 60 Duke 53

:woohoo:

[Ptah]

46. Arizona 66 Duke 55

:woohoo:

[fishwax]

47. 19-2 run -- 11 point lead

:wow:

[Ptah]

51. Arizona 77 Duke 63

[JonLP24]

58. Arizona

made it look real easy against the Blue Devils.

Congrats to your team. :toast:

[Ptah]

60. Down goes Duke! Down goes Duke!

Down goes Duke! Down goes Duke!

[murielm99]

63. Oh, I love it.

I HATE Duke!

[bigwillq]

29. OT!!!!

:bounce:

[JonLP24]

33. BYU just doesn't look good this OT

I'll stick it out though.

[bigwillq]

34. Couldn't hit any shots

when it counted.

[JonLP24]

35. Unreal

All 5 of my second chance brackets are busted. I either had UConn winning or Florida winning but not both. 1 bracket I'm 0-2. :(

[fishwax]

39. d'oh! Maybe they'll be a third-chance bracket

;)

:yoiks:

[WolverineDG]

36. wow, thanks for posting the 2nd chance bracket

I completely forgot the games were on tonight (got called to a committee meeting & stuck around chatting).

Now off to see how badly my brackets are bleeding. :rofl:

dg

[fishwax]

38. I'm 2-2 and tied for first!

:woohoo:

That probably won't last. Meanwhile, on the full bracket I'm sliding closer to the bottom :)

[WolverineDG]

42. Congrats!

I'm 2 for 2 as well! :woohoo:

Let's enjoy our blood-free brackets while we can, ok? :rofl:

dg

[fishwax]

48. lol -- I'd better hurry -- looks like I could soon be 2 for 4

Butler and Arizona both have double-digit leads at the moment.

"Let's enjoy our blood-free brackets while we can, ok? :rofl:"

:rofl:

[WolverineDG]

50. Hey, ya gotta laugh

cuz otherwise, you might :cry: over these silly things. :)

on edit:
:mad: :mad: :argh: damn Duke!! *knew* I shoulda gone with Arizona! :mad: :mad: :argh:

dg

[fishwax]

53. I never complain too much if Duke screws up my bracket by losing early

Go ahead and lose, Duke. I won't hold it against you :rofl:

[JonLP24]

55. Interesting

that Memphis has probably given Arizona's its toughest game.

[WolverineDG]

66. yeah, I wasn't wild about having to pick them

so not too upset that they got tossed by Arizona. :)

dg

[fishwax]

37. Butler up 18-11 halfway through the first half

:kick:

[AngryOldDem]

40. I'm done.

I had BYU winning it all. Took a calculated risk and failed, but I'm tired of seeing the same old teams win year in and year out.

Oh well.

[KamaAina]

43. If only the other guy hadn't been kicked off the team for having sex

The world may never know. :eyes:

[Laura PourMeADrink]

49. Go Huskies. Hoping Duke bites the dust now. nt

[JonLP24]

52. I gotta say this

When all the "experts" were talking about how there were no stars I thought it was BS. As an ASU fan, I saw Derrick Williams as the terrific player he is. I consider him a star. I also consider Jared Sullinger from Ohio State as a star. Walker from UConn looks like one which bigwillq says is the best player in the country. He certainly looked like it today but I feel Williams is a great candidate as well as Sullinger. BYU's Jimmer, I consider a star as well.

Anyways, I just felt there was something fundamentally wrong with the argument that there are no stars in the tournament which is what many experts said before the whole thing started.

[fishwax]

54. Williams has been wow tonight

:wow:

Arizona has looked incredible this half.

[bigwillq]

56. Williams has been insane.

Great player.

[bigwillq]

57. Overall, I think it's a down year

All but Jimmer in the players you listed are underclassmen.

Walker, junior.
Sullinger, freshman.
Williams, sophomore.

I feel, as far as the NBA draft is concerned, it's a down year for star power. But, I agree, all those players you mentioned are indeed stars.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

59. what a GREAT night. Duke OUT....woo-hoo.!!! nt

[gratuitous]

61. Duke shoulda brought their varsity

They also have to beware of leaving North Carolina.

[bigwillq]

62. Wisconsin rallying!

:bounce:

[47of74]

64. Looks like my bracket is going straight to hell.

BYU lost. Wisconsin lost. Duke lost. Bad night for my bracket.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

67. Well, needless to say I was disappointed my team lost...

still can't understand all the hate (and I mean vicious hate, including a lot of racial stuff, not just your average regular banter) directed at the team and its players - both current and former. I follow a lot of them via Twitter and I actually know a few former players personally.

I don't care if one hates Duke -the school or its winning program or whatever other stereotypical notion you may have of the school - but the current players are just kids. Apparently, quite a few people tweeted Kyrie Irving last week, making some rather nasty comments about his family and questioning his 'black' credentials for daring to go to such a school (perhaps, he also cares about an education even if he intends to bolt for the NBA????). Kyrie stopped tweeting.

Nolan Smith - who is perhaps one of my favorite Duke players of all time - was also attacked via Twitter about his family (his father, Derek, played for Louisville when it won the National Championship and died suddenly at age 38).

Former players have also been involved. For instance, Jason Williams (a/k/a Jay Williams), who is a current ESPN analyst and was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that ended his pro career, was barraged with really nasty comments about that accident and/or his being a traitor to his race for going to Duke.

It may be the Fab 5 documentary shown on ESPN (that documentary is about the Fab 5 freshmen that Michigan had in the early 1990s) is aiding and abetting a lot of pent up racism and stereotypes... Grant Hill, a person I admire outside of the basketball realm (please read up on him and see his contributions and his philanthropy especially with regards to African American art), wrote an eloquent op-ed in The New York Times refuting the Fab 5's mistaken attitudes about the Duke program.

So Duke lost... big deal. They played like merda in the second half; Arizona was the better team. Other teams have lost as well and a few more will also lose... But the hatred out there for this particular school - and not for many others with equally rigorous academics and healthy athletics, i.e. Stanford - is getting to be a little extreme.

Good luck to all remaining teams (except for one :) in light blue)... I will miss Nolan and Kyle, who decided to return for their senior years despite winning the national championship last year, and I will miss Kyrie Irving who played just a few games but who showed why he is a likely top 3 pick in this year's NBA draft. Hopefully, he will stay and join Austin Rivers and several other incoming players.

Haters will be haters. At some point early next year, Coach K will have passed Bob Knight for the most wins in college hoops of all time... he is at 900 now... and he will have done so with players who are first and foremost students - whether black or white - at a premiere institution with a very diverse student body.

[JonLP24]

68. As a Suns fan, I love Grant Hill

Very underrated defender (maybe not because he gets a lot of praise for being matched up against the other team's best offensive guard or forward(except for big power forwards)). Like you said, he is a very good person off the court as well. I'm a big Arizona hater but I love Channing Frye(who went to Arizona and plays for the Suns) who is also a good player on-and-off the court.

I won't touch that argument though as I don't feel appropriate but Jalen Rose insisted he was talking about how he felt at that time and stands by his assertion that they'll focus on private school kids. He said (paraphrasing) "They won't recruit me but they would recruit my kids". Not saying I agree with that, like I said I'm not touching this one.

But I wanted to say I respect a number of Duke players, especially Grant Hill.