Posts Tagged ‘Bracket’

Cornell won the Ivy League for a second straight year - and got blown out in the first round both NCAA trips

The Other Side to March’s “Madness”

It’s been raining all day today (Friday) here in Knoxville, so I think it’s perfect time to do this post, one I’ve been conjuring up for the past week. A couple of disclaimers: first, it has little or nothing to do with anything Tennessee-related; secondly, overall it just isn’t going to be a happy post in any sense.

The NCAA Tournament is undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting events in the world. It’s my favorite time of the year, along with the fall of course. We all know why it’s so great – a champion being determined on the court, players rising to the occasion, teams playing their best basketball, schools you’ve never heard of putting a scare into a traditional power – so on and so forth. The office pool phenomenon is second to Super Bowl parties in sports-related hooplas. Everybody loves it and says that’s what makes college basketball so much fun to watch.

However, there’s a bad side to just about everything, and the NCAA Tournament/March Madness. And it’s one I’ve come to realize this past March more than ever before.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you that thought the tyrannical lawvol had kicked me out of the Gate, well, I’m sorry but I’m still here. I haven’t posted in a really long time, more or less because I haven’t had much to say. It’s not that there has been nothing to write about – because there certainly has – but my already limited creativity was pretty low. The juices of my mind weren’t flowing. At all. I also am taking a sports writing class in which two of our last three assignments have been of the column genre – or what I more or less view as a much more formal post I would do here. Lame I know…

And honesty, much of what I would have been posting about – Tennessee’ basketball team – would have been a repeat of what I’ve said in the past. This team has the talent, they’re just not playing together. They’re just not playing with much heart. The defense is bad. They can’t shoot. So on an so forth.

Yet what I saw Sunday afternoon on my TV as the Vols beat Florida was a team playing inspired and playing team basketball at both ends of the court. It helps when you hit 10 three-pointers, yes, but it also helps when you’re relatively open, as Tennessee has been in both meetings with the Gators this season. And even though there were the usual moments of defensive lapses, failures to rebound Florida’s missed shots, and a little dicey from the free throw line at the end – you knew Tennessee wasn’t going to lose.

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Ahh, the Joys of the NCAA Tournament Selection Process…

A few links worth looking at from across the blogosphere…

• A great discussion on the competition ala Print Media vs. Bloggers – World According to MoonDog
• An open letter to Ashley Alexandra “Kristen” Dupre and a Little Celebration at the Dawgs winning the SEC Tournament – Hey Jenny Slater
• Pat Summitt loves putting the screws to Geno Auriema for using ESPN’s front-office as a recruiting tool – ESPN (HT to Loser With Socks)
• A bevy of thoughts from the monkey house on the NCAA Bracket and Tennessee’s fortunes: The Bruce Ball Blog Part 1 & Part Deux, Spirit of the Hill, Rocky Top Talk, Fulmer’s Belly, Third Saturday in Blogtober, The Power T, The Tennessean, and GoVolsXtra” target=”_blank”>everyone GoVolsXtra could find

In the unlikely event that anyone cares, here’s my bracket (at least the one I’m claiming publicly, that is):

Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh it up…

• A podcast on getting to know the American University Eagles – Rocky Top Talk
• An addictive time waster on learning how not to fly a helicopter – Fulmer’s Belly
• Awww, Florida has to go to the NIT – Orange and Blue Hue
• WVU’s Noel Devine claims that his misdemeanor battery is a mistake (it wasn’t him, it was the one-armed man) — Wizard of Odds
• Something Reeks in Ann Arbor – Get the Picture
• A Little Saint Patrick’s Day Wish for You All – Kissing Suzy Kolber
• Why some people think that Bob Costas is a Douchebag – Epic Carnival
• Ahh yes, the joys of Rivalry, Buckeyes Rejoice at the Emasculation of Mee-shee-gun – Eleven Warriors
• Another Reason to Love CraigsList: “To the Guy Doing My Wife…” – CraigsList (HT Deuce of Davenport)
• A real find … The Application for Admission to Duke’s Flopping Camp – Brahsome

• And finally, A few ESPN highlights of everyone’s favorite grandpa, Bobby Knight – Awful Announcing

For more Bobby Knight clips, check out Gate 21’s videos over on the right sidebar… (yeah, that’s right, over there >>>>)

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: LOL Jocks

Well, the final brackets are out…

Despite having the No. 1 RPI and Strength of Schedule Rating, the BasketVols were not awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. As Fulmer’s Belly, the Bruce Ball Blog, and 3rd Saturday in Blogtober all pointed out, that sucks. There really isn’t much more to be said about it, and at this point complaining further is — essentially — pointless. It ticks me off, but there’s nothing to be done about it now. I suppose we got one-upped by the “regal” basketball schools. Still as the blogs above point out, along with my man Basilio, any other school with Tennessee’s resume this season would have been a lock. There’s only one thing to do now…

…make them all regret passing us over.

Anyway, you can get a look at the full bracket here, and feel free to print it out to use for your office pool, for writing your grocery list, or for papering a bird cage…

2008 NCAA Tournament Bracket

For those of you out there who have nothing better to do, feel free to join in Rocky Top Talk’s ESPN Tournament Bracket Challenge along with a whole bunch of Tennessee bloggers and other members of the nuthouse. You can learn how by sliding over to RTT and reading Joel’s remarkably well-written instructions on joining in the fun.

Once I’ve had a chance to digest the whole thing, I’ll be posting my bracket so everyone in the blogsphere will be able to make fun of how bad I am at picking winners…

On a completely different note, I’d like to congratulate the Georgia Bulldogs and head coach Dennis Felton on winning the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs showed a lot of heart in managing to bring home the Tournament crown. Best wishes to the Dawgs in the NCAA Tournament.

– Go Figure …