Showing posts with label March Madness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March Madness. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
2011 NCAA Tournament National Championship Game Schedule
Butler was 8 pixels away from taking the championship last year. Is this their moment?
National Championship Game
Monday, April 4
Butler vs. Connecticut 9:23 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson
National Championship Game
Monday, April 4
Butler vs. Connecticut 9:23 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
2011 NCAA Tournament Final 4 Schedule
After one of the most exciting Elite 8 weekends in recent memory, it is down to 4 teams not many thought would be here. Actually, only 2 out of millions correctly called it on ESPN. Here is the schedule of games for Saturday, although it really comes as no surprise. Mid-major championship on first. Power conference championship on 2nd. (all times ET)
Final 4
Saturday, April 2
Houston: Virginia Commonwealth vs. Butler 6:09 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Houston: Kentucky vs. Connecticut approx. 8:49 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Final 4
Saturday, April 2
Houston: Virginia Commonwealth vs. Butler 6:09 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Houston: Kentucky vs. Connecticut approx. 8:49 (CBS - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Well This Whole First Four Idea Has Made Quite The Impact
In 2006, George Mason, an 11-seed, defeated UConn, a 1-seed to advance to the Final Four. Since then, it has become one of the most famous upsets in recent NCAA Tournament history. For the past five years everyone has asked "who is the next George Mason?" heading into the NCAA Tournament. To wit, George Mason has always answered that question with "We're the next George Mason!" though they have yet to advance to the Sweet 16 since 2006.
Move over, George Mason. What 11-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) did today is even more improbable than the George Mason win. Consider two things. a). George Mason did it in a 65-team field. Granted outside of the addition of 3 extra play-in games, the tournament format has not changed, but when you consider that VCU was a First Four team and was the 66th team into the field, it becomes quite significant. Had the field not expanded, VCU would not be where they are today. b). George Mason played that Elite 8 game against UConn in their own backyard at Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Not only did Virginia Commonwealth venture outside their backyard to play this game, they played Kansas in San Antonio, the heart of Big XII country where all but one or two sections in the Alamodome consisted of Kansas fans. George Mason had a virtual home game. VCU had a virtual road game. George Mason's game may be more memorable in the long-term because it was first and had a dramatic overtime finish, but make no mistake about it, in terms of impressiveness, what VCU did today is greater than what George Mason did.
VCU will now meet Butler in the Final Four in what I guess you can call the Mid Major Championship. The winner will go to the national championship game where they will face Kentucky or Connecticut in the National Championship game. The winner of VCU/Butler will be the highest (or lowest, depending on how you look at it) seeded team in the national championship since 8-seeded Villanova in 1985. I think we all remember how that one turned out.
No one saw this coming. Hell, the majority of people saw this as a year when chalk would hold strong. So much for that. Add the 4 seeds together (3+4+8+11) and it's the highest ever. Now when VCU was first selected into the NCAA Tournament, there was a lot of outrage among ESPN analysts among others about how VCU should not be in the tournament. I was not one of them, but the fact that VCU made the Final Four does not make them wrong. They were comparing VCU's regular season resume with the resume of Virginia Tech, Saint Mary's, Alabama's, and the like. Looking at things after the fact does not change things before the fact when all arguments were based on before the fact. I even recall Jay Bilas saying on Selection Sunday that even if VCU made a run, that would not change his argument. He did decide to eat crow on Twitter, but that should not change the initial argument. If you wanted to, you could make the argument that Virginia Tech should have gotten into the tournament over VCU just as easily today as you could two weeks ago. I always liked VCU more than most, so it is never an argument I made (considering other teams had plenty of blemishes as well), but people will point and laugh at all the ESPN talking heads for their Selection Sunday rants when in reality, nothing about what they said has changed. VCU beating Southern California, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas, has impressive as it was, still does not change things in terms of teams' regular season resumes, which is what Selection Sunday is based off of.
How has VCU made the run? While not the whole answer, but a large part of it is they are making 3-pointers at a ridiculous rate, well above their season average. An absolutely incredible run for the Rams, who must surely hope can continue as they make the trip to Houston, Texas for Saturday's Final Four showdown with Butler.
Lastly, I recommend checking out Mid Majority's post on Richmond, Virginia that was published before the Sweet 16. It is a great read, and the fact that VCU advanced to the Final Four only makes it greater.
Move over, George Mason. What 11-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) did today is even more improbable than the George Mason win. Consider two things. a). George Mason did it in a 65-team field. Granted outside of the addition of 3 extra play-in games, the tournament format has not changed, but when you consider that VCU was a First Four team and was the 66th team into the field, it becomes quite significant. Had the field not expanded, VCU would not be where they are today. b). George Mason played that Elite 8 game against UConn in their own backyard at Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Not only did Virginia Commonwealth venture outside their backyard to play this game, they played Kansas in San Antonio, the heart of Big XII country where all but one or two sections in the Alamodome consisted of Kansas fans. George Mason had a virtual home game. VCU had a virtual road game. George Mason's game may be more memorable in the long-term because it was first and had a dramatic overtime finish, but make no mistake about it, in terms of impressiveness, what VCU did today is greater than what George Mason did.
VCU will now meet Butler in the Final Four in what I guess you can call the Mid Major Championship. The winner will go to the national championship game where they will face Kentucky or Connecticut in the National Championship game. The winner of VCU/Butler will be the highest (or lowest, depending on how you look at it) seeded team in the national championship since 8-seeded Villanova in 1985. I think we all remember how that one turned out.
No one saw this coming. Hell, the majority of people saw this as a year when chalk would hold strong. So much for that. Add the 4 seeds together (3+4+8+11) and it's the highest ever. Now when VCU was first selected into the NCAA Tournament, there was a lot of outrage among ESPN analysts among others about how VCU should not be in the tournament. I was not one of them, but the fact that VCU made the Final Four does not make them wrong. They were comparing VCU's regular season resume with the resume of Virginia Tech, Saint Mary's, Alabama's, and the like. Looking at things after the fact does not change things before the fact when all arguments were based on before the fact. I even recall Jay Bilas saying on Selection Sunday that even if VCU made a run, that would not change his argument. He did decide to eat crow on Twitter, but that should not change the initial argument. If you wanted to, you could make the argument that Virginia Tech should have gotten into the tournament over VCU just as easily today as you could two weeks ago. I always liked VCU more than most, so it is never an argument I made (considering other teams had plenty of blemishes as well), but people will point and laugh at all the ESPN talking heads for their Selection Sunday rants when in reality, nothing about what they said has changed. VCU beating Southern California, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas, has impressive as it was, still does not change things in terms of teams' regular season resumes, which is what Selection Sunday is based off of.
How has VCU made the run? While not the whole answer, but a large part of it is they are making 3-pointers at a ridiculous rate, well above their season average. An absolutely incredible run for the Rams, who must surely hope can continue as they make the trip to Houston, Texas for Saturday's Final Four showdown with Butler.
Lastly, I recommend checking out Mid Majority's post on Richmond, Virginia that was published before the Sweet 16. It is a great read, and the fact that VCU advanced to the Final Four only makes it greater.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Butler Is Back In The Final Four
1985 was the first year the NCAA Tournament expanded to a field of 64 with the only format changes since then being that of play-in-games. In that year, 8-seeded Villanova went to the Final Four, and ultimately won the NCAA Tournament in what is considered one of the greatest NCAA Tournament upsets of all time. Since that time, only 3 other teams seeded 8th (and 0 seeded 9th) advanced to the Final Four: North Carolina in 2000, Wisconsin in 2000, Butler in 2011. North Carolina and Wisconsin both bowed out in the Final Four that year. There is a reason this is a rare occurrence. The 8 or the 9 seed is literally the worst possible draw in the NCAA Tournament. If Butler beats the winner of Kansas/VCU, they will do something that has not been done in 26 years: advance to the Final Four as an 8-seed. Best of luck to the Butler Bulldogs, for when they take the court next Saturday in Houston, they will be up against some very sacred NCAA Tournament history.
2011 NCAA Tournament Elite 8 Schedule
So that was an amazing Sweet 16 to watch. Sure there were a couple duds (i.e. Friday's first two games), but for the most part, the past two days have been wall-to-wall excitement. And with trips to the Final 4 at stake, we can only hope that the excitement continues. So without further ado, here is the Elite 8 schedule!
Elite 8
Saturday, March 26
New Orleans: #2 Florida vs. #8 Butler 4:30 (CBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Anaheim: #3 Connecticut vs. #5 Arizona 7:05 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Sunday, March 27
San Antonio: #1 Kansas vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth 2:30 (CBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Newark: #2 North Carolina vs. #4 Kentucky 5:05 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Elite 8
Saturday, March 26
New Orleans: #2 Florida vs. #8 Butler 4:30 (CBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Anaheim: #3 Connecticut vs. #5 Arizona 7:05 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Sunday, March 27
San Antonio: #1 Kansas vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth 2:30 (CBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Newark: #2 North Carolina vs. #4 Kentucky 5:05 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
2011 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Schedule
Unfortunately, the names listed below are accurate and not typos. (all times ET)
Sweet 16
Thursday, March 24
Window #1
Anaheim: #2 Connecticut vs. #3 San Diego State 7:15 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
New Orleans: #2 Florida vs. #3 Brigham Young 7:27 (TBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Window #2
Anaheim: #1 Duke vs. #5 Arizona approx. 9:45 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
New Orleans: #4 Wisconsin vs. #8 Butler approx. 9:57 (TBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Friday, March 25
Window #1
Newark: #2 North Carolina vs. #11 Marquette 7:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
San Antonio: #1 Kansas vs. #12 Richmond 7:27 (TBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Window #2
Newark: #1 Ohio State vs. #4 Kentucky approx. 9:45 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Craig Sager)
San Antonio: #10 Florida State vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth approx. 9:57 (TBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Sweet 16
Thursday, March 24
Window #1
Anaheim: #2 Connecticut vs. #3 San Diego State 7:15 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
New Orleans: #2 Florida vs. #3 Brigham Young 7:27 (TBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Window #2
Anaheim: #1 Duke vs. #5 Arizona approx. 9:45 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
New Orleans: #4 Wisconsin vs. #8 Butler approx. 9:57 (TBS - Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, and Reggie Miller, SR: Marty Snider)
Friday, March 25
Window #1
Newark: #2 North Carolina vs. #11 Marquette 7:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
San Antonio: #1 Kansas vs. #12 Richmond 7:27 (TBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Window #2
Newark: #1 Ohio State vs. #4 Kentucky approx. 9:45 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Craig Sager)
San Antonio: #10 Florida State vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth approx. 9:57 (TBS - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
The Big East Is Not The Overrated Conference Charles Barkley And Matt Jones Think It Is
Outside of various bone-headed plays and bad officiating decisions, the big talking point in this year's NCAA Tournament is how "bad" the Big East is done. And why not? It was set up as an easy narrative. After all, only one team wins, so when at the very least 10 Big East teams lose, it is easy to write the column about how the Big East is overrated as it is happening. A conference is built up just so its failings can be written about later. You see this all the time in sports in general. It happens with every team that gets hot in the NFL (remember in the middle of the season when the Giants were the "best team in the NFL?"). It is happening with the Miami Heat. And now, the Big East.
Now there are those that will call the Big East the best conference in the history of mankind and praise Saint John's, Marquette, Syracuse, Connecticut, and Georgetown as teams all deserving of the Final Four, but let's ignore those on the fringe. Instead let's focus on the narrative, the "Big East is overrated."
Now to those selling this bullshit argument. First up is Charles Barkley, who said that the Big East is only worthy of 8 teams in the Big East Tournament. Teams placed in 9th, 10th, and 11th in the Big East are Connecticut, Villanova, and Marquette, respectively. The 3 Big East teams with the lowest seeds are Marquette (11), Villanova (9), and three teams with a six seed (Georgetown/Saint John's/Cincinnati).
I'll open up the field, and will ask the question with all these teams included. What columnist/pundit/media argued that Connecticut, Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown, Saint John's, or Cincinnati should be out of the NCAA Tournament and Alabama, Virginia Tech, Saint Mary's, Boston College, and/or Harvard should be in their place? I'm not talking about talking about VCU and UAB, who argued one of the aforementioned teams should be in the tournament instead of a Big East team. The only ones who are entitled to be saying the Big East is overrated are those that made the argument on March 13. I watched Selection Sunday. Charles Barkley never made that argument. And neither did any national pundit. To turn around and make that argument now is backseat driving and writing revisionist history. One game in the middle of March does nothing to change an argument about how one team should be excluded and another included. Seriously. Did any of those first teams out of the NCAA Tournament deserve to get in over any of the Big East teams that got in?
CBS Sports' Matt Jones on Twitter said the following in a series of tweets: "Charles Barkley absolutely CRUSHING the Big East...and he is right. Says conference with best coaches and little talent...agreed. Big East fans believe it is good bc teams beat each other up like SEC football...difference is SEC football beats teams in OTHER leagues too. And Big East spare me 'top to bottom competition.' You lost to teams in the OVC, COLONIAL, HORIZON and WEST COAST CONFERENCE. #Notwinning"
I have no idea where this notion of "little talent" comes from, one of the two best players in college basketball comes from the Big East and his name is Kemba Walker. You may have heard of him. Secondly, the Big East does very well non-conference. Just take a look at any of the 11 Big East teams' schedules in this year's NCAA Tournament. There is a reason why Marquette, Villanova, and UConn were easy choices over the likes of Virginia Tech. Matt Jones also tries to marginalize the opposition of Big East foes by pointing out conferences of some of the teams that beat Big East teams. Of course, 9 Big East teams lost, and he only mentions 4 conferences. But let's take a look at the teams from these conferences. The Colonial teams to triumph over Big East foes are a very good George Mason team who a Villanova team in a tailspin (George Mason was the higher seed in this game, oh by the way) and VCU who beat Georgetown. While VCU's inclusion in the tourney was very controversial, they are still dancing. So I fail to see how someone can marginalize a team that is in the same part of the tournament as Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky. The Horizon League team to beat a Big East team was Butler who beat Pittsburgh. You may remember Butler. They were in the national championship game last year and returned a good number from that team this season. The WCC team to beat a Big East team was former Cinderella turned tournament mainstay Gonzaga who beat Saint John's. The OVC team that beat a Big Team was Morehead State who beat Louisville. This is the only real indefensible loss a Big East team suffered against a team from a mid-major conference. Everyone else lost to a major conference foe. The exact results: Florida State beating Notre Dame, fellow Big East team Marquette beating Syracuse, Kentucky beating West Virginia, and fellow Big East team Connecticut beating Cincinnati.
Now I do not know what people were expecting at this stage, but let's play the numbers about what people were expecting. Chances are nobody actually thought about what the Big East would look like after the first 4 days of the tournament because the most any conference had ever gotten into the tourney in the past was 8. The Big East had 11 in. But let's play around and what people should have expected.
The Big East got 11 teams in a 68 team field. That is 11/68, or .1617, which is to say 16.17% of the tournament field consists of Big East teams. Now let's set that equal to x/16 to see if a conference gets 11 teams in a field of 68, how many teams it can reasonably expect to the Sweet 16? Set 11/68 equal to x/16, solve the proportion by multiplying 11 by 16 and dividing the result of 176 by 68 and the answer is 2.59 teams. Because it is impossible to have .59 of a team, it can be safe to interpret this answer has anywhere between 2 and 3 teams. Guess how many Big East teams are left in the NCAA Tournament? You guessed it, 2 teams! The Big East is not overachieving, but just because it is not overachieving, does not mean it is overrated and is undeserving of 11 teams. That is flat out absurd. Also, the Big East has won 9 games this tournament (psst, Marquette and UConn, the 2 teams still remaining combine for 4 of those 9). Sure one of those was against UNC-Asheville, but let's not paint the Big East has a conference where 9 of 11 teams dropped like a fly to the likes of UC Santa Barbara and Wofford.
The Big East does not have great teams. The Big East has lots of good to very good teams that make it the deepest conference in college basketball, bar none. There is a reason they only got #1 seed. I make no bones about that, but to paint the Big East has this hilariously undeserving conference because of the past few days when they had only one real bad loss got a number of Sweet 16 teams that you would expect from a conference with 11 teams in a field of 68, you cannot say they are overrated. Unless of course you are writer that said the Big East was invincible last week. In which case, you just set yourself up for a false narrative that will get you a lot of page views. Good for you.
Now there are those that will call the Big East the best conference in the history of mankind and praise Saint John's, Marquette, Syracuse, Connecticut, and Georgetown as teams all deserving of the Final Four, but let's ignore those on the fringe. Instead let's focus on the narrative, the "Big East is overrated."
Now to those selling this bullshit argument. First up is Charles Barkley, who said that the Big East is only worthy of 8 teams in the Big East Tournament. Teams placed in 9th, 10th, and 11th in the Big East are Connecticut, Villanova, and Marquette, respectively. The 3 Big East teams with the lowest seeds are Marquette (11), Villanova (9), and three teams with a six seed (Georgetown/Saint John's/Cincinnati).
I'll open up the field, and will ask the question with all these teams included. What columnist/pundit/media argued that Connecticut, Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown, Saint John's, or Cincinnati should be out of the NCAA Tournament and Alabama, Virginia Tech, Saint Mary's, Boston College, and/or Harvard should be in their place? I'm not talking about talking about VCU and UAB, who argued one of the aforementioned teams should be in the tournament instead of a Big East team. The only ones who are entitled to be saying the Big East is overrated are those that made the argument on March 13. I watched Selection Sunday. Charles Barkley never made that argument. And neither did any national pundit. To turn around and make that argument now is backseat driving and writing revisionist history. One game in the middle of March does nothing to change an argument about how one team should be excluded and another included. Seriously. Did any of those first teams out of the NCAA Tournament deserve to get in over any of the Big East teams that got in?
CBS Sports' Matt Jones on Twitter said the following in a series of tweets: "Charles Barkley absolutely CRUSHING the Big East...and he is right. Says conference with best coaches and little talent...agreed. Big East fans believe it is good bc teams beat each other up like SEC football...difference is SEC football beats teams in OTHER leagues too. And Big East spare me 'top to bottom competition.' You lost to teams in the OVC, COLONIAL, HORIZON and WEST COAST CONFERENCE. #Notwinning"
I have no idea where this notion of "little talent" comes from, one of the two best players in college basketball comes from the Big East and his name is Kemba Walker. You may have heard of him. Secondly, the Big East does very well non-conference. Just take a look at any of the 11 Big East teams' schedules in this year's NCAA Tournament. There is a reason why Marquette, Villanova, and UConn were easy choices over the likes of Virginia Tech. Matt Jones also tries to marginalize the opposition of Big East foes by pointing out conferences of some of the teams that beat Big East teams. Of course, 9 Big East teams lost, and he only mentions 4 conferences. But let's take a look at the teams from these conferences. The Colonial teams to triumph over Big East foes are a very good George Mason team who a Villanova team in a tailspin (George Mason was the higher seed in this game, oh by the way) and VCU who beat Georgetown. While VCU's inclusion in the tourney was very controversial, they are still dancing. So I fail to see how someone can marginalize a team that is in the same part of the tournament as Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky. The Horizon League team to beat a Big East team was Butler who beat Pittsburgh. You may remember Butler. They were in the national championship game last year and returned a good number from that team this season. The WCC team to beat a Big East team was former Cinderella turned tournament mainstay Gonzaga who beat Saint John's. The OVC team that beat a Big Team was Morehead State who beat Louisville. This is the only real indefensible loss a Big East team suffered against a team from a mid-major conference. Everyone else lost to a major conference foe. The exact results: Florida State beating Notre Dame, fellow Big East team Marquette beating Syracuse, Kentucky beating West Virginia, and fellow Big East team Connecticut beating Cincinnati.
Now I do not know what people were expecting at this stage, but let's play the numbers about what people were expecting. Chances are nobody actually thought about what the Big East would look like after the first 4 days of the tournament because the most any conference had ever gotten into the tourney in the past was 8. The Big East had 11 in. But let's play around and what people should have expected.
The Big East got 11 teams in a 68 team field. That is 11/68, or .1617, which is to say 16.17% of the tournament field consists of Big East teams. Now let's set that equal to x/16 to see if a conference gets 11 teams in a field of 68, how many teams it can reasonably expect to the Sweet 16? Set 11/68 equal to x/16, solve the proportion by multiplying 11 by 16 and dividing the result of 176 by 68 and the answer is 2.59 teams. Because it is impossible to have .59 of a team, it can be safe to interpret this answer has anywhere between 2 and 3 teams. Guess how many Big East teams are left in the NCAA Tournament? You guessed it, 2 teams! The Big East is not overachieving, but just because it is not overachieving, does not mean it is overrated and is undeserving of 11 teams. That is flat out absurd. Also, the Big East has won 9 games this tournament (psst, Marquette and UConn, the 2 teams still remaining combine for 4 of those 9). Sure one of those was against UNC-Asheville, but let's not paint the Big East has a conference where 9 of 11 teams dropped like a fly to the likes of UC Santa Barbara and Wofford.
The Big East does not have great teams. The Big East has lots of good to very good teams that make it the deepest conference in college basketball, bar none. There is a reason they only got #1 seed. I make no bones about that, but to paint the Big East has this hilariously undeserving conference because of the past few days when they had only one real bad loss got a number of Sweet 16 teams that you would expect from a conference with 11 teams in a field of 68, you cannot say they are overrated. Unless of course you are writer that said the Big East was invincible last week. In which case, you just set yourself up for a false narrative that will get you a lot of page views. Good for you.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Most Bizarre Ending To A College Basketball Game You Will Ever See
Presented with only one comment: Chris Webber now feels better about his life.
NCAA Tournament 3rd Round Schedule
The 2nd round got off to an exciting start, but after the first 8 games, things fizzled out a lot and despite some close games and good finishes, we were left with mainly clunkers and blowouts. The good news though is the 3rd round schedule looks much more appetizing than the 1st or 2nd round schedule ever did. So without further ado, here is your 3rd round NCAA Tournament schedule, with each day divided up into 4 (very arbitrary) windows.
3rd Round
Saturday, March 19
Window #1
Tampa: #4 Kentucky vs. #5 West Virginia 12:15 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, SR: David Aldridge)
Window #2
Tampa: #2 Florida vs. #7 UCLA approx. 2:45 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, SR: David Aldridge)
Window #3
Denver: #12 Richmond vs. #13 Morehead State 5:15 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Tucson: #2 San Diego State vs. #7 Temple 6:10 (TNT - Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Reggie Miller, SR: Sam Ryan)
Washington D.C.: #1 Pittsburgh vs. #8 Butler 7:10 (TBS - Tim Brando and Mike Gminski, SR: Lewis Johnson)
Denver: #3 Brigham Young vs. #11 Gonzaga approx. 7:45 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Tucson: #4 Wisconsin vs. #5 Kansas State approx. 8:40 (TNT - Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Reggie Miller, SR: Sam Ryan)
Washington D.C.: #3 Connecticut vs. #6 Cincinnati approx. 9:40 (TBS - Tim Brando and Mike Gminski)
Sunday, March 20
Window #1
Charlotte: #2 North Carolina vs. #7 Washington approx. 12:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Window #2
Charlotte: #1 Duke vs. #8 Michigan approx. 2:45 (CBS - Jin Nantz and Phil Simms, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Window #3
Cleveland: #1 Ohio State vs. #8 George Mason 5:15 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, SR: Marty Snider)
Tulsa: #4 Texas vs. #5 Arizona 6:10 (TNT - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Chicago: #3 Purdue vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth 7:10 (TBS - Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel, SR: Jamie Maggio)
Window #4
Cleveland: #3 Syracuse vs. #11 Marquette approx. 7:45 (truTV - Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, SR: Marty Snider)
Tulsa: #1 Kansas vs. #8 Illinois approx. 8:40 (TNT - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Chicago: #2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Florida State approx. 9:40 (TBS - Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel, SR: Jamie Maggio)
3rd Round
Saturday, March 19
Window #1
Tampa: #4 Kentucky vs. #5 West Virginia 12:15 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, SR: David Aldridge)
Window #2
Tampa: #2 Florida vs. #7 UCLA approx. 2:45 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, SR: David Aldridge)
Window #3
Denver: #12 Richmond vs. #13 Morehead State 5:15 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Tucson: #2 San Diego State vs. #7 Temple 6:10 (TNT - Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Reggie Miller, SR: Sam Ryan)
Washington D.C.: #1 Pittsburgh vs. #8 Butler 7:10 (TBS - Tim Brando and Mike Gminski, SR: Lewis Johnson)
Denver: #3 Brigham Young vs. #11 Gonzaga approx. 7:45 (CBS - Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, SR: Lesley Visser)
Tucson: #4 Wisconsin vs. #5 Kansas State approx. 8:40 (TNT - Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Reggie Miller, SR: Sam Ryan)
Washington D.C.: #3 Connecticut vs. #6 Cincinnati approx. 9:40 (TBS - Tim Brando and Mike Gminski)
Sunday, March 20
Window #1
Charlotte: #2 North Carolina vs. #7 Washington approx. 12:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Window #2
Charlotte: #1 Duke vs. #8 Michigan approx. 2:45 (CBS - Jin Nantz and Phil Simms, SR: Tracy Wolfson)
Window #3
Cleveland: #1 Ohio State vs. #8 George Mason 5:15 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, SR: Marty Snider)
Tulsa: #4 Texas vs. #5 Arizona 6:10 (TNT - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Chicago: #3 Purdue vs. #11 Virginia Commonwealth 7:10 (TBS - Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel, SR: Jamie Maggio)
Window #4
Cleveland: #3 Syracuse vs. #11 Marquette approx. 7:45 (truTV - Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, SR: Marty Snider)
Tulsa: #1 Kansas vs. #8 Illinois approx. 8:40 (TNT - Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, SR: Craig Sager)
Chicago: #2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Florida State approx. 9:40 (TBS - Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel, SR: Jamie Maggio)
Friday, March 18, 2011
Juan Fernandez Beats Penn State At The Buzzer
What many expected to be the most boring game of the day may have had the best finish of a day filled with them. Granted, this will likely be the forgotten buzzer beater of a Day 1 of the NCAA tournament filled with them, but Battle's shot with too much time left to tie and Fernandez's game-winner for the Owls were both incredible shots.
A big congrats to Fran Dunphy, who won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 17 years. Very few people have contributed to Philadelphia and Big 5 college basketball the way Dunphy has over the past 21 years and it is great that the current coach of the Owls finally got his moment in the sun. In spite of a disappearing act from Lavoy Allen, Juan Fernandez picked up the slack on the offensive side of the court, with it ultimately culminating in a great 2011 NCAA Tournament moment that will be hard to top as we progress.
A big congrats to Fran Dunphy, who won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 17 years. Very few people have contributed to Philadelphia and Big 5 college basketball the way Dunphy has over the past 21 years and it is great that the current coach of the Owls finally got his moment in the sun. In spite of a disappearing act from Lavoy Allen, Juan Fernandez picked up the slack on the offensive side of the court, with it ultimately culminating in a great 2011 NCAA Tournament moment that will be hard to top as we progress.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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