Normally at this time of year, I would be experiencing it, but there are no compelling teams this year. Would have to cheer for Texas, Canada's team. Obama gave the kiss of death to Kansas. Anyone care to construct a poll?
March Madness
- Thread starter friendz4evr
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Why is Texas Canada's team?Would have to cheer for Texas, Canada's team.
Gonzaga has 3 starters who are Canadian.
Gonzaga only has 1 starter who is Canadian - Sacre. Olynyk is a key rotation player, and Magisto Arop is a pure scrub who plays from time to time.Why is Texas Canada's team?
Gonzaga has 3 starters who are Canadian.
Given that the two Canadian Texas Players are likely future first round draft picks, have two starters, who happened to by McD All Americans, and are seeded 4 vs 11, they are Canada's team this year.
The Orangemen always seem to under achieve in the tournament. S. Diego St. will exit early, didn't play any good teams all year, except for BYU and lost twice to them.I don't see NC getting past syracuse.
OSU, PItt, Kansas, and my crazy pick SD state.
Except in 2003.The Orangemen always seem to under achieve in the tournament. S. Diego St. will exit early, didn't play any good teams all year, except for BYU and lost twice to them.
Texas holds off Oakland to snare 85-81 victoryGonzaga only has 1 starter who is Canadian - Sacre. Olynyk is a key rotation player, and Magisto Arop is a pure scrub who plays from time to time.
Given that the two Canadian Texas Players are likely future first round draft picks, have two starters, who happened to by McD All Americans, and are seeded 4 vs 11, they are Canada's team this year.
TULSA (AP) — Tristan Thompson handled the Summit League's best player and made sure Texas did what a No. 4 seed is supposed to do in its NCAA tournament opener.
The sensational freshman had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots Friday, and the Longhorns survived a second-half comeback by high-scoring Oakland for an 85-81 victory.
Thompson controlled his head-to-head matchup with Summit League Player of the Year Keith Benson while getting plenty of help from frontcourt partner Jordan Hamilton, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds in an impressive one-two punch.
The No. 4 seed Longhorns (28-7) led by 15 with less than 5 minutes remaining, but the Golden Grizzlies cut the lead to 80-75 with 1:23 left. Texas then hit five free throws in the final minute to advance into a third-round matchup with Memphis or Arizona in the West Regional.
Reggie Hamilton scored 25 to lead Oakland (25-10). Benson had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The 6-foot-8 Thompson was up for the challenge of battling the 6-foot-11 Benson in the first half. The freshman grabbed three offensive rebounds on the Longhorns' first three possessions while battling head-to-head with the senior big man.
Oakland had no answer at times for Thompson, who grabbed his own alley-oop miss for a putback early in the game. He followed that with an inside spin move against Benson for a basket that put Texas up 10-7 in the first few minutes.
The biggest underachievers in the tournament in the last seven or eight years relative to seed has been Gonzaga (since their early heroics at the end of 90's and early in the 2000's)).The Orangemen always seem to under achieve in the tournament. S. Diego St. will exit early, didn't play any good teams all year, except for BYU and lost twice to them.
Syracuse has had its share since the title however, losing to Vermont in 4-13 (when Cuse should have been a 2 or 3 seed and Vermont should have been around 10), the 5-12 loss to Texas AM (which was actually a toss up game especially with GMac injured), and last year's 1-5 loss to Butler -- but Butler handled alot of good teams.
Syracuse has not played over its seed since 2003 - hopefully this is the year they make the elite eight. They have also reached the title game twice as a 3/4 seed in the last 15 years. So who knows with them.
Between 1997 and 2001, it seemed like we lost in the sweet 16 every year.
From today's New York Times:
No Stranger to Pipelines, Texas Builds One to Canada
By RAY GLIER
Published: March 19, 2011
TULSA, Okla. — Cory Joseph’s mother did not have to persuade him to shovel snow. The basketball goal was part of the driveway in their Major Oaks neighborhood in Toronto. So Joseph, a freshman guard for Texas, and his brother, Devoe, shoveled and chipped ice without threat and then left their gloves on to play ball.
“It was hard playing in that your hands would get cold, so you couldn’t play too long, maybe two games up to 10, go back in the house and get some hot chocolate and then come back out and play again,” Joseph said.
“My mom liked it because we shoveled the driveway for her.”
Tristan Thompson, a Texas post player who is from the Toronto area, also learned to work with a shovel and play basketball in gloves.
“I was sweating in my coat when I played,” Thompson said. “It’s what you did.”
Joseph and Thompson overcame most obstacles trying to play basketball in a place where hockey is the national sport, but the one hurdle they could not clear was finding a game to challenge them. At 13 and 14 years old, they would face 23- and 24-year-old players at neighborhood playgrounds and gyms, but that was still not enough.
So they left Canada. Thompson and Joseph honed their skills at Findlay Prep in Nevada and are now starters for Texas, which will play Arizona here Sunday in an N.C.A.A. tournament third-round game.
“Canada has a lot of raw talent, it just hasn’t been discovered yet,” Thompson said. “Coaches get paid to coach high school basketball in the states, and the coaches in Canada, it’s more a volunteer thing. A lot of guys play basketball, but it’s kind of like a hobby; they never see themselves on CBS.
“Me, Cory and a bunch of other guys had that dream.”
Texas was the first to offer Thompson, a 6-foot-8 forward, a scholarship, and he committed to the Longhorns his sophomore year in high school. That opened a pipeline from Toronto to Texas.
Joseph was the next to commit. The Longhorns have also signed the 6-foot-2 guard Myck Kabongo, a Toronto native who is playing this season at Findlay Prep. Texas has also received a commitment for next season from the Toronto native Kevin Thomas, a power forward who is playing at a prep school in North Carolina.
“I started recruiting Toronto when I was at U.N.C.-Wilmington, where we always tried to tap into areas we felt weren’t as tapped as much,” the Texas assistant coach Rodney Terry said. “We found a niche. We missed on a couple of good guys, and then when I got to Texas I went back again.”
Thompson, who is averaging 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds a game for the Longhorns (28-7), said one of the reasons he was able to contribute as a freshman was because he got out of Canada and into a bigger pool of talent.
“I wanted to be more college-ready,” Thompson said. “I knew if I stayed in Toronto I would have gone Division I, but I wanted to actually be ready to come in and contribute. So going down to the States to play against guys who were going to be in Division I programs was going to make me ready to play.”
Joseph, who is 6-3, also came prepared. He has started all 35 games and averages 10.5 points and 3 assists a game.
Sitting in the Texas locker room Saturday afternoon, Joseph had a cut above his upper lip and a bump on his chin. There was an ice bag on his left forearm, and his lip looked puffy from a blow.
It looked as if he had just come off the ice after a hockey game.
Every bump and bruise, though, came from a cherished victory over Oakland on Friday. At one point during the game, Joseph came back on the floor with gauze taped to his top lip to stop the bleeding. For Joseph, it was worth it.
“Some people up there didn’t understand our passion for basketball, but that was because they were into hockey,” Joseph said. “In our neighborhood, we focused on basketball because we wanted to get here.”
No Stranger to Pipelines, Texas Builds One to Canada
By RAY GLIER
Published: March 19, 2011
TULSA, Okla. — Cory Joseph’s mother did not have to persuade him to shovel snow. The basketball goal was part of the driveway in their Major Oaks neighborhood in Toronto. So Joseph, a freshman guard for Texas, and his brother, Devoe, shoveled and chipped ice without threat and then left their gloves on to play ball.
“It was hard playing in that your hands would get cold, so you couldn’t play too long, maybe two games up to 10, go back in the house and get some hot chocolate and then come back out and play again,” Joseph said.
“My mom liked it because we shoveled the driveway for her.”
Tristan Thompson, a Texas post player who is from the Toronto area, also learned to work with a shovel and play basketball in gloves.
“I was sweating in my coat when I played,” Thompson said. “It’s what you did.”
Joseph and Thompson overcame most obstacles trying to play basketball in a place where hockey is the national sport, but the one hurdle they could not clear was finding a game to challenge them. At 13 and 14 years old, they would face 23- and 24-year-old players at neighborhood playgrounds and gyms, but that was still not enough.
So they left Canada. Thompson and Joseph honed their skills at Findlay Prep in Nevada and are now starters for Texas, which will play Arizona here Sunday in an N.C.A.A. tournament third-round game.
“Canada has a lot of raw talent, it just hasn’t been discovered yet,” Thompson said. “Coaches get paid to coach high school basketball in the states, and the coaches in Canada, it’s more a volunteer thing. A lot of guys play basketball, but it’s kind of like a hobby; they never see themselves on CBS.
“Me, Cory and a bunch of other guys had that dream.”
Texas was the first to offer Thompson, a 6-foot-8 forward, a scholarship, and he committed to the Longhorns his sophomore year in high school. That opened a pipeline from Toronto to Texas.
Joseph was the next to commit. The Longhorns have also signed the 6-foot-2 guard Myck Kabongo, a Toronto native who is playing this season at Findlay Prep. Texas has also received a commitment for next season from the Toronto native Kevin Thomas, a power forward who is playing at a prep school in North Carolina.
“I started recruiting Toronto when I was at U.N.C.-Wilmington, where we always tried to tap into areas we felt weren’t as tapped as much,” the Texas assistant coach Rodney Terry said. “We found a niche. We missed on a couple of good guys, and then when I got to Texas I went back again.”
Thompson, who is averaging 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds a game for the Longhorns (28-7), said one of the reasons he was able to contribute as a freshman was because he got out of Canada and into a bigger pool of talent.
“I wanted to be more college-ready,” Thompson said. “I knew if I stayed in Toronto I would have gone Division I, but I wanted to actually be ready to come in and contribute. So going down to the States to play against guys who were going to be in Division I programs was going to make me ready to play.”
Joseph, who is 6-3, also came prepared. He has started all 35 games and averages 10.5 points and 3 assists a game.
Sitting in the Texas locker room Saturday afternoon, Joseph had a cut above his upper lip and a bump on his chin. There was an ice bag on his left forearm, and his lip looked puffy from a blow.
It looked as if he had just come off the ice after a hockey game.
Every bump and bruise, though, came from a cherished victory over Oakland on Friday. At one point during the game, Joseph came back on the floor with gauze taped to his top lip to stop the bleeding. For Joseph, it was worth it.
“Some people up there didn’t understand our passion for basketball, but that was because they were into hockey,” Joseph said. “In our neighborhood, we focused on basketball because we wanted to get here.”
Well Derrick Williams just zoomed up the draft board. That was about the best team half of basketball I have seen in a long time (Arizona 2nd half versus Duke). Williams was a beast in the entire game.
It totally was wasnt it? I agree 100%.That was about the best team half of basketball I have seen in a long time (Arizona 2nd half versus Duke).
Arizona just put on a clinic in the 2nd half. In the halfcourt Duke couldnt contain Arizona's dribble-penetration. Not only did that lead to high % shots but it also led to offensive rebs & 2nd chance points b/c the Duke bigs had to help on the penetration. On the defensive end for Arizona when they werent creating turnovers it was one-and-done for Duke. Arizona was able to get out in transition because they were cleaning up on the def. glass and getting steals too. They got a lot of points in transition in that 2nd half. Really like the range and shooting of Williams as well as his ball-handling skills. For a frontcourt player he has got some nice guard skills.
Have to agree here. I have been following Duke since 1988 and this was a bitter pill to swallow. It was really a tale of two halves. Great game to the wildcats.
Poor guy if he's a Raptor.He was projected as number 1 pic prior to last nights game ... Future Raptor ???
Tonight's games:
UNC over Marquette
Kansas over Richmond
Kentucky upsets Ohio St.
VCU toss-up over Florida St.
March 26:
Arizona vs Uconn
Butler vs Florida
(Uconn vs Florida)
I have to wait for tonight's results to choose.
UNC over Marquette
Kansas over Richmond
Kentucky upsets Ohio St.
VCU toss-up over Florida St.
March 26:
Arizona vs Uconn
Butler vs Florida
(Uconn vs Florida)
I have to wait for tonight's results to choose.
March 26, 2011Tonight's games:
UNC over Marquette
Kansas over Richmond
Kentucky upsets Ohio St.
VCU toss-up over Florida St.
March 26:
Arizona vs Uconn
Butler vs Florida
(Uconn vs Florida)
I have to wait for tonight's results to choose.
4:30 PM (8) Butler vs. (2) Florida* CBS
7:05 PM (5) Arizona vs. (3) Connecticut* CBS
March 27, 2011
4:30 PM (4) Kentucky vs (2) North Carolina CBS
7:05 PM (1) Kansas vs (11) VCU (CBS)
