http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketbal...ts/viewable_men

CLEMSON GOT ROBBED!!

just kidding

So either the seeds are a joke or the rankings are a joke. Because they sure don't mesh ... well unless you are one of the "Big Six". And the committee definitely doesn't like basketball in the state of Nevada. And it's interesting to see where the 5 seeds are ranked. And you wonder why a 12 always beats a 5.

Week 19 ESPN/USA Today Poll

1. Ohio State (30) 30-3 773 - (1 SEED)
2. Kansas (1) 30-4 733 (1)
3. Florida 29-5 694 (1)
4. North Carolina 28-6 651 (1)
5. Memphis 30-3 639 (2)
6. UCLA 26-5 606 (2)
7. Wisconsin 29-5 601 (2)
8. Georgetown 26-6 598 (2)
9. Texas A&M 25-6 508 (3)
10. Pittsburgh 27-7 451 (3)
11. Texas 24-9 442 (4)
12. Oregon 26-7 424 (3)
13. Nevada 28-4 368 (7)
13. Washington State 25-7 368 (3)
15. Southern Illinois 27-6 350 (4)
16. Louisville 23-9 292 (6)
17. Notre Dame 24-7 266 (6)
18. UNLV 28-6 176 (7)
19. Butler 27-6 167 (5)
20. Marquette 24-9 160 (8)
21. Winthrop 28-4 144 (11)
22. Maryland 24-8 117 (4)
23. Brigham Young 25-8 96 (8)
24. Creighton 22-10 80 (10)
25. USC 23-11 79 (5)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Duke 70 (6), Davidson 55 (13), Virginia Tech 45 (5), Virginia 44 (4), Virginia Commonwealth 19 (11), Vanderbilt 13 (6), Tennessee 12 (5), Villanova 10 (9), Boston College 7 (7), West Virginia 6 (NIT), Xavier 3 (9), George Washington 3 (11), Illinois 1 (12), Syracuse 1 (NIT), Air Force 1 (NIT), Akron 1 (NIT), Arizona 1 (8).

DROPPED FROM RANKINGS
Duke 21, Virginia 24.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankingsindex

- TOP 25 SEED BREAKDOWN:

Seed - Number of teams
1 - 4 TEAMS
2 - 4 TEAMS
3 - 4 TEAMS
4 - 3 TEAMS
5 - 2 TEAMS
6 - 2 TEAMS
7 - 2 TEAMS (from Nevada)
8 - 2 TEAMS
9 - 0 TEAMS
10 - 1 TEAM
11 - 1 TEAM

Oral Roberts is going down!

So is Xavier!! Any A-10 fans on here?

Don't get cocky now Wazzau, you should beware the power of the Christian right.

Davidson's giving the Terps all they can handle. 7 threes from Wildcats already. (That's the game we have on here in DC, of course)

Looks like TX Tech v. BC is a good one too.

... and then there's Stanford ...

Oral Roberts looks decent so far. They have size, speed, ability. I would be surprised, though, if they will be able to keep this pace all game. My guess is they will be able to stay close through halftime, but then will run out of gas.
Damn it, CBS just switched over to Georgetown/Belmont. I don't want to watch that!
They will switch over to Butler/OD shortly here in Chicago. That should be a great match up!

You can keep tabs on the Outsports pool HERE. Look at the reports to see what the consensus was -- Ohio State and Florida are the favorites to win it all. I picked UCLA over Ohio State. As for Cyd's Stanford -- thanks for not showing up!

A 12 point win. Not even close. UMD has problems with the three's.

5:30 EST

No upsets yet and there hasn't been a game closer than 7-8 pts. I'm watching Vanderbilt spank George Washington harder than Martha ever did. Our cable company did something awesome this year....they added 3 special channels and are showing all of the games on the 4 different stations (3 Stations + CBS).

Snuck peaks at the NCAA tickertape online at work today, and I imagine the Terps played the same against Davidson as they did when I saw them against a "pre-season" warm-up team.

In that one they started their second-string though.

Mike Jones is their go-to guy for the three-pointers, but no three point shooter can get hot unless he relaxes. It takes a while to get use to the post-season spotlight.

Still I think they may get through another round at least.

From the second half that I saw, Maryland looked pretty good. It was just Davidson's first half shooting that kept them in and on top of the game. Davidson got worn down hardcore in the second half where several times players were having trouble going getting down the court. So far, the UMD-Davidson game has been the most entertaining game

That's why I love the Mega March Madness package on DirecTV. I'm watching two HD games on one TIVO and another 1 or 2 SD games on my other TIVO, just switching between the two TIVOs on one TV is like being in a big sports bar. Now all I need are hunky sports guys to share in the party.

A big thanks to a former Outsporter who long ago turned me on to TIVO!

Did anyone just see the flash to Christian Laettner and his buddy at the Duke game? COME OUT already! Is he still in the NBA?

Well we finally have our first upset with VCU taking down Duke.

Fire Mike Krzyzewski!!!

I actually had picked VCU to win the game!

Maryland wins and Duke loses. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the tournament.

I had VCU in most of my brackets, I could not be happier right now. Dook goes down in the first round. Awesome.

Gonzaga ruined my perfect day!

Gone-zaga... Again!

The big boys are ruling so far, not just winning, but dominating. Only one mild upset of an overrated Duke team and a couple of nines over eights, which aren't really upsets, although I hope that trend continues.

Watch out for Michigan State! They always seem to over-achieve in the tournament and if Carolina snoozes like they did tonight, it will be a LOT harder to recover.

Made it through today and am taking half a day off tomorrow so I can see our guys play. I am very happy for us to have made it here, would love to pick up a win too!

For Sparty in the tourney it seems like bust in 1st round or make an inspired run.

The Carolina Curse for Marquette lives on (boy did they stink up the place last night)

They are 3-25 in games played in the state of North Carolina.

Bucky pulled a Marquette in the 1st half, but turned into Tennessee for the last 20 minutes.

Big 10 5-1!!!!! And I think Illinois got screwed a bit at the end of their game since Virginia Tech was pretty much tackling them with no calls, but they should have put them away.

Man, it is nice to see our program on the upswing and next year we have four top 50 recruits coming in so these are exciting times!

Aargh! Can we please shorten the games by five minutes? My bracket would be so much prettier. I've lost Duke, Brigham Young, Creighton, and Illinois in the final minutes.

Illinois just ran out of gas -- just one more bucket or two in the last five minutes would have done the trick.

as for Purdue -- I really like Painter -- got the program back on track in no time. For years the Badgers never won in Mackey Arena -- finally broke that curse last year I think. I fear it's gonna turn back into a house of horrors for them again.


Thank god for two halves. btw loved TAMU-CC's mascot. Reminds me of Homer Simpson as the tiki god!

(although I'm surprised Papuan-New Guinean Americans aren't suing, ala Chief Illini )

This had to be the most boring first round bracket in a while....the only real upsets being vcu/duke and winthrop/nd....other than that a ton of the games just sucked big time. Not a very memorable two days at all.


But of course, witnessing Duke/VCU live and attending an entire subregional absolutely rocks! Headed back down to the arena later on today for Md/Butler and VCU/Pitt....

2000 was more boring as the higher seeds went 29-3

10 seeds Gonzaga and Seton Hall and 11 seed Pepperdine were the only ones who advanced.

heh, heh, heh....and lucky for me Buffalo hosted a subregional then too where Seton Hall made it all the way to the sweet 16 and had Pepperdine's win over Indiana.

Wonder where Ty Shine(SHU) and Tom Prince(Pepperdine) are now????

Xavier's doing a great job against d'OSU. Damn that I picked those Buckeyes in at least one pool.

In the meantime in badgerland, Brian Butch has already been cleared by the medical team to play. That was really fast. Don't think we'll see him tomorrow. But maybe if UW gets past unlv ... I can only hope.

Crushing loss for Xavier- too bad they couldn't close it out.

Unbelieveable ending. The refs were cowards not to call Greg Oden's intentional foul with 8 seconds left with OSU down 2 points. Oden intentionally pushed XU's Justin Cage to the ground with two hands. The refs called a ordinary foul. It was the most blantant foul I've seen in college basketball this year.

and lose today on Butler's three-point accuracy.

I agree, but Ohio State sure played a hell of a lot better without Oden. This is actually the first game I've seen him in and despite the commentator's constantly talking him up, I wasn't all that impressed.

Agree about Oden. Pitt is the same way without Gray, being a lot quicker and effiecient, though both big men help their team when they're in the game. It's just a different style game for each team when they're out.

I'm amazed today (Saturday, Rd 2) how many teams are missing free throws at the end of the game (Pitt, Washington State, Xavier, Vandy, Louisville). Seems like more than other years. For some teams, they're able to survive with the misses but for the others, it's the dagger in their game.

I'm surprised Pitt has gotten has far as they have with their atrocious free-throw shooting. And it's not just been this year, but every year they've gone to the tournament, their inability to shoot from the charity stripe has knocked them out. I can't understand why Jamie Dixon hasn't worked with them on that crucial aspect of the game, particularly since Pitt is a defensive team and needs as many gimmes as they can get. If today's game against VCU is any indication, the next matchup will prove to be even more difficlut, whether it be against Indiana or UCLA. Furthermore, I don't think they will build a 19-point cushion against either of those teams, so perhaps they need a practice devoted to free-throw shooting.

I loves going to subregionals, one of the best events in sports and today a great doubleheader took place in Buffalo.

Butler v. Maryland....Butler is definitely a throwback team, playing a style slow enough for a game that existed prior to a shot clock....taking at least 25 or so seconds off of the clock before shooting many times over. And when they do it's not a hurried shot like so many other teams put in that situation, impressive. And they had enough underneath to battle Maryland. The Terps escaped one mid major, but two was too much for them.

Pitt v. VCU....We were sitting there with about ten minutes to go with Pitt holding a commanding lead and began to put our coats to leave thinking that the game wasn't going to get more interesting. As soon as we got up VCU starting pressing full court, and I was stunned as to how difficult of a time the Panthers were having with it. As the regulation time wound down the crowd began to side with VCU, and by the time the Rams tied it HSBC Arena had become Richmond Coliseum North....even moreso than the Duke game.

Thank god Pitt missed those two fts at the end of regulation, what a pathetic call that should have decided the game. Pitt did hang on in OT...best of luck to them in the Sweet 16.

I can't wait until 2010 when the tournament comes back to Buffalo, it's always a super time!!!!

I agree about subregionals, the Columbus one has been fun. I have a new found love for Tennessee fans in their bright orange suit jackets.

In regards to Pitt, free throw shooting has been an issue that everyone has complained about for years as you mentioned. But over the last 5 years, the overall percentage has gone up each year and there have been some games that we can't miss from the free throw line, but then there are still times that we can't make one. Aaron Gray has probably the lowest percentage. I have no doubt that there will be a large focus on that for Thursdays game against UCLA.

This seems to be the year for Coach vs. Former Team games: Marquette vs. Michigan State in Round 1, Ohio State-Xavier Round 2, and UCLA-Pittsburgh in Sweet 16. Wonder if there's any other possibilities? I can only think of a finals matchup between UNC and Kansas. If only they paired up 7 Indiana and 10 Texas Tech in the first round.

They tried to do a double dose with the Illini. Had they won Friday it woulda been Weber against his old school (SIU), with a possible Sweet 16 matchup against Bill Self had the Illini gotten that far. An Elite 8 trip that way would've been a wet dream for Illinois fans.

potential coach vs. old teams or ex-assts I see

Kansas-A&M final (Self-Gillispie)
UNLV-Florida Elite 8 (Kruger)
Ohio St.-Butler final (Matta)
SIU-Purdue Final 4 (Painter-Lowery)

Good first round, but this round is killing me!! I really wanted to go with A&M, but I thought Louisville would pull it out playing so close to home.
Not surprised by MSU losing to UNC. Frankly, I hadn't expected much this year, so this run was a pleasant surprise...watch out for the Spartans next year! They've got a great Freshman class coming in...

Sub-regionals have got to be a basketball fan's greatest treat. I've attended 3 and had more fun at every single one of them. Plus that's where all the upsets happen which can lead to a either a very elated or stressful experience depending on which side of the court you decide to cheer.

Plus you can't beat the enthusiasm of the fans at the event. Whether it's from the teams coming in to play or those that just come to watch good basketball it's true college sports at its best.

For those who haven't had the experience if a sub-regional is scheduled in a town near you grab tickets regardless of who is playing the in field. You can typically buy them starting the week after this year's sub-regionals. You won't regret it.

Not sure where to post this but this is as good a place as any. Great article in the Kansas City Star about Kansas City's gay and lesbian sports bar, Outa Bounds. I know they're out there and sometimes they show up in the most interesting places but it's good to see some press on them.

Thanks for the link. Finally, in 09, they're coming to Miami....it's been a while since we've had them here.

I knew Texas and Wisconsin were the most overrated teams in the Field.

I had Texas losing to USC. I actually had Wisconsin losing in the first round so I was a round late in that one.

Conference breakdown:

SEC(3) - Vanderbilt,Tennessee,Florida

Pac-10(3) - USC,UCLA,Oregon

Big East(2) - Pittsburgh,Georgetown

Big XII(2) - Kansas, Texas A+M

And one from each of the following:

ACC - North Carolina

Big 10 - Ohio State

Missouri Valley - Southern Illinois

Mountain West - UNLV

Conference USA - Memphis

Horizon - Butler

So this tells us that the PAC10 and SEC are the bestest conferernces ever ?


Meanwhile I dropped from 291st to 84th place Yay!!

means that tennessee is the bestest basketball state ever!!!!!

TN( my home state) plays some damn good hoops Aside from Vandy, UT, and Memphis, Florida players Corey Brewer and Lee Humphrery are from TN. Add UNC's Brandon Wright who is from Nashville and the Sweet 16 has a Tennessee feel to it.

Whew, my Gators barely got past Purdue.... but I think the challenge is only going to make them better.