BuffOrange

The guy does sort of just ooze talent. I don't know why he can't at least develop into a Fab Melo type of force (stud defender, competent offensively).

I think that's right. The first 4 are the bluest of the blue imo (and hey they all wear blue). Then Indiana/UCLA. Then the blue chippers: Cuse/Arizona/Mich St/G'town/Ohio St./L'ville maybe a couple others. Uconn is the tough one to place given their unknown future.

Winning a national championship is hard dude. It was L'ville's first since '86. Kansas went 20 years w/out one, Indiana 27&counting - those are probably two of the top five blue bloods - and they were lucky to win those games, which you almost have to be. I'm pretty greedy too though; really want 'Cuse to win another one as they're probably the best program with just 1 (Arizona & G'town are right there too I guess). Oh well better than the best by far with none, which is probably Illinois now.

I don't disagree. Just hard to have any sympathy after the bogus calls UM got Saturday.

Who would've thought the Buffalo News would have poor basketball coverage? I didn't really care about the last sequence because we weren't going to win in OT without both Guards. It is hilarious to read Michigan fans crying about the refs last night though after the sham that was Saturday.

I mean, it's sort of the "tv analyst guy" thing to say Michigan played better & 3 of our best guys barely showed up. Of course that's true. But the sports history books are filled with games won by teams who were outplayed the majority of the game - the Marty Schottenheimer playoff losses, every Patriots game in 2001, the Mich-Kansas game in this tournament, the Cuse-Indiana game in '87, and a million others. Somehow I don't think the fans of teams who won those games lose much sleep over it. It'd have been nice to get a fair opportunity at the end like they did.

So? It's not 1976, they're not sticking around.

CJ is awesome. Good game sir. The Triche charge call was awful but unfortunately not that unusual for horrible NCAAB officiating; so I can live with it even though I don't like it. The MCW foul for getting stiff-armed was the worst.

Bring 'em on.

It is interesting that everyone rips Boynton/Florida for not playing well in crunchtime but those same people have no problem picking L'ville to win it all. I mean, Russ Smith butchered the last possession against Notre Dame what - 5/6 times?

+2 on the happy to be wrong on mcw club. Attacking when he should & backing out when he should is frankly not the sort of intelligence I'm used to in an SU team. Btw you're nuts to prefer Fla tomorrow imo; Michigan is the worst defensive team left by a mile.

Sweet! Of all the great 'Cuse teams, '96 and this team make the F4. Lol @ regular season.

I don't disagree. It just seems like instead of the typical 65/35 split of marginal calls in favor of the home team, it's more like 80/20 in Cameron & 50/50 on the road. Like if there were a regional final in Charlotte or someplace, it's hard to imagine a bogus charge going against them at the end of a close game as happened to Baylor in Texas a few years ago. Granted, this is obviously anecdotal and hard to find empirical evidence on. JMO, not trying to hate. I have Duke in the finals this year. Strange how many said they were the best team w/ Kelly all year and suddenly after one bad game vs Maryland, L'ville is now an overwhelming favorite (at least among the public...line is only 3.5).

Yah i don't care much for Michigan, but like to see a good guy like Beilein triumph over a thug like Self. The amount of shadiness around that guy from Illinois-Kansas is ridiculous (yet somehow largely unreported in the mainstream media). The whole Duke thing with calls isn't prevalent every game. It's just that their homecourt calls are tenfold of other teams and they're more likely to get a fair shake in hostile territory. I've always thought it would be pretty fair if every game were ref'd like a Duke road game.

Seriously upsetting how lucky they are. Just glad I'm not a Michigan/Indiana fan. And for the Elite 8 you get....the almighty Shockers!

They're not a great defensive team at all. I think basically it will come down to 3pt shooting. Which means advantage them but we have a puncher's chance.

Lets go Owls! Pretty dumb of Crean to sit Zeller the whole half w/ 2 fouls. Wyatt is a baller.

Uggh, Aaron Craft. Singlehandily blow 13pt lead + get chickencrap charge call ---> become hero. No justice in sports sometimes.

I think Indiana is a bad matchup. Seems like the sort of team that gets a million offensive rebounds vs us. Plus they have a bunch of 40% 3pt guys. Triche please get your head out of your @ss - nobody is buying your lame shot fake when you shoot 28%.

Well yah we will beat darn near everyone if Southerland/Triche shoot well. Question is can we win if they don't. This is probably the last game of the tournament that answer is yes.

That's the thing - he didn't even do that. Montana was worse than all of the 14 seeds and two of the 15's per kenpom. A pretty clear case of trolling by him.

Their road to the finals was Fla St & Maryland. Meh. One close game out of three vs Miami when two of them were home isn't impressive to me, particularly on the heels of getting smoked by Duke at home. Doesn't seem like their ceiling is really high enough to beat Kansas in KC. They should be able to handle Nova, who really doesn't do much well other than get to the FT line. Yah those are the best 1st (and 2nd) rd games you can have imo. Even the 8/9's can be a bit boring w/ no real underdog or contender.

I feel good about Florida & Indiana on the right side of the bracket. I'm with you on Michigan over Kansas (who actually lost to Iowa St twice without a banked in 3 and terrible call). But I think Fla losing every close game is more bad luck than anti-clutch. They're the only team in the country top 5 in both offense and defense. The other side is iffy. Toughest decision for me is L'ville-Duke; will probably roll w/ Duke to be different. I'll give them a mulligan for the Maryland debacle, which was their only loss with Ryan Kelly playing. L'ville better hope they don't get an officiating crew that calls fouls tight. Ohio St. reluctantly in the west I guess. Pitt will give Gonzaga all they can handle. With Cuse being the last Thursday game I'll probably just take Friday off and drink heavily.

Yah that is baffling. Pitt is 7th in Kenpom for God sake. Marquette a 3 is unreal too. Although I think Marquette has been screwed in other years iirc. I guess you just have to roll with this stuff & hope it evens out over the years (unless you're Duke or UNC obviously).

I'd give the draw a solid B. Switch Indiana with Kansas and it's an A+. UNLV isn't a particularly strong 5 and the 2nd wknd is in DC so that's good.