All posts in March Madness

Irish Beat UConn Women

By | April 4, 2011 | Basketball, March Madness, NCAA, Women's Sports | Comments Off

The UConn Huskies’ three-season dominance of women’s basketball ended tonight, as Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish knocked them off in the Final Four.

The story is really best told by my friend Alana, a daughter of ND alums, partially raised in Indiana:

UConn star Maya Moore could not overcome Notre Dame, led by guard Skylar Diggins, who scored 28 points tonight and had the look of a woman who was not finished winning games in this particular series. March was lucky indeed for the Irish, who had already knocked off a Tennessee team they hadn’t bested in 20 games.

The Huskies pulled back within six a little more than three minutes from the final buzzer, with a series of buckets from Moore pulling them closer than the 10 deficit they faced at the half, but it wasn’t to be. Statistics aside, shots of UConn coach Geno Auriemma courtside after the two-minute warning told the tale. Or at least I thought you could see it on his face:

He just did. He looked like a guy who knew his girls were done, that they were going to lose this game. And I have to say that of all of the displays of basketball coaching I’ve witnessed from many men and women over the past few weeks, I think that Geno Auriemma handled this situation in the best possible way for the situation he was facing for his players and himself.

And I don’t even like UConn, so you can take that to the bank.

“They played great basketball all year,” he said in the post-game presser, which UConn also handled with aplomb across the board, of Notre Dame.

“It’s their turn.”

Moore was a model of poise and mature disappointment in her post-game interview, speaking of her UConn family as the best thing she’d gotten from her competitive experience.

And to anyone who says that women’s basketball isn’t exciting or athletically viable? I say you missed a hell of a game, and a fine example of collegiate athletes working hard to represent themselves and their teams on and off the court. I don’t give a damn where the net is or how exciting anyone thinks  games are or should be. I know basketball, and this was good, competitive basketball, gender aside. All of the women on that court tonight should be proud.

The Irish will meet the Aggies Tuesday in the NCAA women’s championship.

Draft Day Suit March Madness Bracket Update

By | March 28, 2011 | Basketball, March Madness, NCAA | 1 Comment

How are your brackets? Yeah, mine are totally screwed too. I suppose this isn’t too surprising. I mean – how many people had VCU in the final four? Not very many. In fact:

Yeah, two out of almost six million.

Not too surprisingly out of the 64 brackets filled out for Draft Day Suit, none of us correctly picked the final four. The good news is that if you have one or two of the right teams in the final four you still might have a chance at winning.

Here are the top teams as of this morning.

It is looking good for you if you are MAJOKADABA.

So yeah, my brackets might suck, but I am loving this tournament. Who do you think will take it home?

Why I Love March Madness: VCU Beats Kansas, Advances to Final Four

By | March 27, 2011 | Basketball, College Basketball, March Madness, NCAA | Comments Off

In the hour or so since Virginia Commonwealth University advanced to the Final Four and sent number one seed Kansas home, Shaka Smart probably  just broke Google.

Seriously, who’d have thought?  But rankings don’t matter when you check out this picture of the VCU bench emptying, just after the final buzzer. That’s some happiness, and a great big exception to the “It’s not how you win or lose” business. Here’s another one:

Talk about winning: VCU is the first team in history to defeat five schools from five different power conferences in the same tournament.

I was sad that the University of Maryland didn’t make the NCAA Tournament (or even the NIT, ahem) this year, but it’s freed me up to watch the action, root against our rivals, and cheat on them in the only acceptable way, which means pulling for underdogs like VCU and Butler.

Or maybe they’re the overdogs? Butler beat Florida, up is down, and Kansas, OSU, and North Carolina are done. ESPN tweeted that out of 5.9 million brackets in their Tournament Challenge, two — TWO! — predicted the Final Four correctly.

I usually don’t wish my days away, but is it next Saturday yet?

[Image: Mike Stone, Reuters]

Bracket Attack!

By | March 27, 2011 | Basketball, March Madness, NCAA, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Ok, full disclosure, I don’t watch much college basketball. I have a hard time mustering any attention to it pre-mid March, you know? I think it’s decent basketball, but the tournament is so compelling because it’s so frantic and so often really, really close. Otherwise, they’re taking a lot of ill-advised shots. Or as I like to say during pick-up, “Put a tent over that circus!”

You would think such ignorance would liberate me in making my picks, but alas, it has not been so. Instead I recall every prejudice I’ve ever had about any college basketball program ever and apply it to this year’s tourney despite its obvious insignficance.

“Duke, not with that pasty Danny Ferry!”

“Michigan with those long shorts!”

“Notre Dame? Oh, the pope would like that now wouldn’t he?”

Instead of polishing up my bracket in 10 minutes, I’d spend 3 to 5 work hours reading

Brackets even I can understand. I take the one on the far right.

synopses of all the teams and constructing a wonderful fantasy land in which 3 lines of text improve my
chances of success in some statistically significant way.

But the last few years I got smart and constructed a more “effective” strategy. I decided to always pick a team that is “unpopular” (i.e. not very good) with the expectation that if they win it, I’m guaranteed to be in the money, despite getting 4 to 8 correct picks in the first round.

Brilliant, right? I could have taken the “smart” pick, Ohio State. But I live IN Ohio. You know how many Nuts there are around here? Bunch-a-million (as my friend once replied when pondering how many records the Beatles had sold). Picking them would have required me to actually know something other than that Ohio State was good. Duke? Don’t they win like every year? These choices are far too obvious! One must think outside the tiny 3/4s boxes.

And man, am I looking like a genius right now. There are upsets all OVER the place. Butler’s making another unlikely run. AND something called “VICU” (do you spell the letters or try to say it as a word?? I mean, who are those guys?) is also in the Great 8. This looks like the perfect year to have applied my airtight strategy and come out like a bandit. Seriously, that Pitt pick is looking so sweet right about now.

Photo

Draft Day Suit March Madness Brackets – WITH PRIZES!

By | March 11, 2011 | Basketball, College Basketball, Contest!, March Madness | 8 Comments

This is the one you’ve been waiting for, the March Madness brackets where you don’t have to throw in your $5, but you can still win something.

That is right, people. FREE BRACKETS.

My Bracket

See also: Plenty of trash talking. I mean, you’ve met us, right?

Yes, if you would like the fabulous authors at Draft Day Suit to kick your butt in some bracketology, sign up here.

Our friends at Yahoo have graciously provided us with prizes from the Yahoo! Sports Shop. The winner will receive a code for $200 worth of merchandise at the Yahoo! Sports Shop and the runner up will receive a $100 gift code.

How cool is that?

Selection Sunday is only two days away, so get your game faces on, but don’t get your hopes up. I’ve already picked out how I will spend my prize money for when I win.

MARCH MADNESS!!! Sign up now.

* * *

Disclaimer – Yahoo! is not sponsoring this contest, but they have provided Draft Day Suit with the prizes.

Please, one bracket per person. Draft Day Suit authors, friends and family are all eligible for the prizes.

[photo by Goon Squad Sarah]

Blog Widget by LinkWithin