march madness

[vajerzy]

Richmond, VA accounts for 1/8 of Sweet Sixteen.

Man- I'm loving this!! Attended 5 Spiders games this year- they have a good team...and VCU is playing out of their minds.

Jay Bilas- line 1...it's Billy Packer...

[jlhoots]

They're not getting any mention, but Wisconsin & Marquette are playing well.

[ghost of miles]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

[paul secor]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

It's too bad they have to play each other in the semi. I would have liked to have seen the possibility of both of those teams in the final.

[ghost of miles]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

It's too bad they have to play each other in the semi. I would have liked to have seen the possibility of both of those teams in the final.

Me too--that would have been a beautiful finale! I didn't realize till just now that Shaka Smart is even younger than Brad Stevens... 33 years old! (Stevens is 34.) When was the last time you had two coaches under 35 in the Final Four?

Edited March 27, 2011 by ghost of miles

[paul secor]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

It's too bad they have to play each other in the semi. I would have liked to have seen the possibility of both of those teams in the final.

Me too--that would have been a beautiful finale! I didn't realize till just now that Shaka Smart is even younger than Brad Stevens... 33 years old! (Stevens is 34.) When was the last time you had two coaches under 35 in the Final Four?

And two coaches who don't come across like sleezy dirtbags when you see them. Unusual these days in college coaching.

[JETman]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

It's too bad they have to play each other in the semi. I would have liked to have seen the possibility of both of those teams in the final.

Me too--that would have been a beautiful finale! I didn't realize till just now that Shaka Smart is even younger than Brad Stevens... 33 years old! (Stevens is 34.) When was the last time you had two coaches under 35 in the Final Four?

And two coaches who don't come across like sleezy dirtbags when you see them. Unusual these days in college coaching.

Really? How is this unusual? AFAIK, they are ALL pimps to a certain degree. Even the Bear Bryants, Lou Carneseccas and Joe Paternos of the world! Blech!

[paul secor]

Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four--who woulda thunk it?

It's too bad they have to play each other in the semi. I would have liked to have seen the possibility of both of those teams in the final.

Me too--that would have been a beautiful finale! I didn't realize till just now that Shaka Smart is even younger than Brad Stevens... 33 years old! (Stevens is 34.) When was the last time you had two coaches under 35 in the Final Four?

And two coaches who don't come across like sleezy dirtbags when you see them. Unusual these days in college coaching.

Really? How is this unusual? AFAIK, they are ALL pimps to a certain degree. Even the Bear Bryants, Lou Carneseccas and Joe Paternos of the world! Blech!

Those two aren't old enough and haven't been in the big time coaching biz long enough to look like sleezy used car salesmen. But give them time and they probably will.

[ghost of miles]

Here's an audio story and a review I wrote about Butler creative-writing professor Susan Neville's excellent book covering last year's tournament run:

Butler basketball and the Big Dance of Life

[Aggie87]

Great win by A&M over Baylor in the women's tourney. A&M had lost to Baylor 3 times this season already, and Baylor had probably the best overall player in women's hoops in Britney Griner.

A&M going to the Final Four for the first time ever, along with Stanford, UConn, & Notre Dame.

[paul secor]

Great win by A&M over Baylor in the women's tourney. A&M had lost to Baylor 3 times this season already, and Baylor had probably the best overall player in women's hoops in Britney Griner.

A&M going to the Final Four for the first time ever, along with Stanford, UConn, & Notre Dame.

Kudos to Texas A&M on their win. But I beg to differ on your assessment on Britney Griner. Maya Moore is the best overall player in college basketball. Britney Griner's game, in contrast to Moore's, is one dimensional.

It will be interesting to see if Notre Dame can beat Connecticut in the final four after losing to them three times during the regular season and the Big East tournament. It's hard to beat a good team four times in one year. We shall see.

[Aggie87]

Kudos to Texas A&M on their win. But I beg to differ on your assessment on Britney Griner. Maya Moore is the best overall player in college basketball. Britney Griner's game, in contrast to Moore's, is one dimensional.

You may be right about Moore. I've only seen her play once this season, so I don't have a good enough sense of her game. She's a great player obviously. My opinion of Griner is based on seeing her more frequently, and she's almost a freak of nature out there. Taller than everyone else, long armspan, and able to make shots from almost everywhere. Her game was off last night vs A&M, but I'd like to think that was because of the Aggies' defense.

[Neal Pomea]

Final Four in April!

VCU in the NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament LXXIII!

[paul secor]

Kudos to Texas A&M on their win. But I beg to differ on your assessment on Britney Griner. Maya Moore is the best overall player in college basketball. Britney Griner's game, in contrast to Moore's, is one dimensional.

You may be right about Moore. I've only seen her play once this season, so I don't have a good enough sense of her game. She's a great player obviously. My opinion of Griner is based on seeing her more frequently, and she's almost a freak of nature out there. Taller than everyone else, long armspan, and able to make shots from almost everywhere. Her game was off last night vs A&M, but I'd like to think that was because of the Aggies' defense.

No knock on Griner. She can rebound, block shots, and score from close in. I do think she'd be a better player if she played for a coach like Auriemma, who would push her to expand her game. Moore can do everything Grimer can do except block shots as well as Grimer does, plus she has a sweet 15 foot jump shot, plays great overall defense, and can run the floor.

Good luck to your Aggies against Stanford.

[alocispepraluger102]

Great win by A&M over Baylor in the women's tourney. A&M had lost to Baylor 3 times this season already, and Baylor had probably the best overall player in women's hoops in Britney Griner.

A&M going to the Final Four for the first time ever, along with Stanford, UConn, & Notre Dame.

the bears and big girl got bounced? sad news. their coach kim is a piece of work.

would you want your daughter to play basketball under the demanding gino or even more demanding pat?

how many mental breakdowns to youngsters have they caused?

Edited March 30, 2011 by alocispepraluger102

[paul secor]

Most big time college basketball coaches are wackos/driven people to some degree - Summitt carries it to an extreme. If you're a player who's recruited by a big time basketball school, you should know what to expect. Sometimes players don't - Connecticut lost a freshman player who evidently didn't like the pressure. That sort of thing isn't for everyone. I don't think that I and most others who watch big time college sports stop to think about what the players go through to try and accomplsh their goals.

[ghost of miles]

Butler's back in the championship game--incredible!

[Aggie87]

Good luck to your Aggies against Stanford.

They did it! They beat Stanford 63-62! Somehow they clawed their way back into the game down 10 points, at the end. Was a rough, physical game.

I'm proud of this team - knocked off 2 straight No. 1 seeds in Baylor and Stanford. They can hang with anybody.

[paul secor]

Good luck to your Aggies against Stanford.

They did it! They beat Stanford 63-62! Somehow they clawed their way back into the game down 10 points, at the end. Was a rough, physical game.

I'm proud of this team - knocked off 2 straight No. 1 seeds in Baylor and Stanford. They can hang with anybody.

Beating Notre Dame will be a tough task, but after the way they came back against Stanford, nothing would surprise me. I thought that Stanford had them, but they kept on coming. I'll be rooting for them. Hope you and they end up happy Tuesday night.

[Aggie87]

They did it - Texas A&M is the National Champion! Whoop!!!

A&M topped Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame back to back.

edit - it was a much better game than the men's game last night too, IMO.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Aggie87

[Free For All]

They did it - Texas A&M is the National Champion! Whoop!!!

A&M topped Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame back to back.

edit - it was a much better game than the men's game last night too, IMO.

Congrats to the Lady Aggies!

Yeah, after a great men's tourney the final game was really awful. Both teams played horribly, UConn a little less so.

[paul secor]

They did it - Texas A&M is the National Champion! Whoop!!!

A&M topped Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame back to back.

edit - it was a much better game than the men's game last night too, IMO.

Congrats! They sure had a great run.

[Soulstation1]

I hope Michigan can win the championship

Not getting my hopes up

Most freakish basetball injury EVER for Ware from Louisville

Seen thousands of games and that was a pretty common move to wind up with a broken leg

Hope he can return to the court at 100%

[PHILLYQ]

Louisville now has a chance to win both the men's and women's titles. I caught the last 5 minutes of the women's, big drama and very close, fun to watch.

[Soulstation1]

Go Blue!