<p>You know its bad when I am staring at the ESPN web page yelling “will you REFRESH already?” The Bruins should be proud of themselves. Almost a duplicate of the Richmond win over Syracuse (we don’t talk about that much around Western NY)</p>
<p>Tomorrow at noon it is the Wildcats’ turn - not Kentucky (who lost), or Arizona, but Davidson…one of the smallest schools in D1, someone wrote that there are less students at Davidson than in the larger DORMS at most of the schools in this thing…</p>
<p>We got back about an hour ago from a full day at the Verizon Center, including the Duke game. 4 games in one day is definitely my limit, especially when one is emotionally (and financially) invested in a team. Our Dukie came home to cheer on his beloved Blue Devils–and Belmont played an amazing game! We were biting our nails and wringing our hands. Survive and advance! For those of you who are Duke haters, you’ll be pleased to know that all the WVU and Arizona fans were cheering their lungs out for Belmont since their fans were not there in abundance. The WVU/UofA game was almost as close until the end…And the day started with Xavier clawing their way back against Georgia. All in all, lots of fun–just exhausting!!</p>
<p>For Cornell to have even won the Ivy League championship is impressive. If Cornell had actually managed to win a game in the NCAA tournament, it would have been extraordinary. </p>
<p>Cornell is a hockey school. When I was a student there in the 70s, the basketball team was a joke (kind of like all sports at Columbia). </p>
<p><em>ducks incoming missiles from Columbia alumni</em></p>
<p>Now, if the Stanford players would like to strap on ice skates and pick up hockey sticks, things might get interesting.</p>
<p>Marian: don’t forget lacrosse–another sport that Cornell does well in.</p>
<p>They’ve never been national championship level at football or basketball. On the other hand, when I arrived there in 1972 as a freshman, everyone was quick to show me the astroturf that had just been installed in Schoellkopf field as a result of Ed Marinaro’s success as a running back (first to rush for 4,000 yards in a college career).</p>
<p>At 157lbs, Jordan Leen of Cornell just beat Josh Zupancic of Stanford in the other March Madness known as the NCAA DI college wrestling tournament. Wrestling is a far more difficult sport than basketball and Cornell has excelled at that sport.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, to win in the tourney, you need something other than good shooting as Cornell, Oregon, Drake, Duke, etc. have shown. </p>
<p>I’m a Cornell alumnus (and obviously happy to see Cornell do well this year) but I’ve been a Stanford basketball fan since eighth grade from having grown up 10 min away. It’s been disappointing to see Stanford have so much talent (Collins twins, Casey Jacobsen, etc.) and not accomplish more. Hopefully, this year’s team will go far.</p>
<p>I’m currently first in the NCAA backet pool we have at work ($300 pot). Hopefully, that trend will continue :)</p>
<p>Today I’m the biggest WVU fan in the world!</p>
<p>Mountaineers prevailed! Sweet.</p>
<p>Busted all my brackets, though. Because I picked Duke to go further than I remembered, thinking I should pick with my head and not my heart. What was I thinking?</p>
<p>^^ Ain’t that the truth! I didn’t even pick Duke in the pool I play because I knew they wouldn’t last long. WVa gets me 3 points every time they win!</p>
<p>razorsharp- That is a silly remark. Wrestling and basketball are quite different and I don’t think you can say one is a more “difficult” sport.</p>
<p>I had Clemson in the final four…:(</p>
<p>They busted my bracket last night!</p>
<p>
Try them. Then you will understand. The amount of effort necessary to be a good wrestler greatly exceeds the amount of effort necessary to be a good basketball player. On the other hand, basketball requires more coordination that a lot of people either born with or not. Success in wrestling is all about effort and only a little about coordination. Nothing silly about my remark.</p>
<p>BTW, another significant difference is that wrestlers have to starve themselves to make weight and then wrestle while emaciated and dehydrated. Basketball players play on a full stomach.</p>
<p>^^ Which is a huge problem with wrestling. The starvation is not healthy.</p>
<p>I still think the physical conditioning and teamwork that basketball requires makes it demanding. You can’t compare the two sports, except perhaps in the amount of boredom involved watching wrestling!</p>
<p>Sports you don’t understand are always boring. The mental strength needed is much greater in wrestling than in baseketball. If the team loses in basketball, a player can blame it on others. If a wrestler loses, he can only blame it on himself. Being pinned can be one of the most embarassing moments in a wrestler’s day. Yet wrestlers always get up off the mat and come back ready to wrestle. The only college sport harder than wrestling is probably boxing, although not many colleges have boxing teams. In boxing, the athlete has all of the experiences of a wrestler but also is at risk of immedate and sudden death.</p>
<p>I understand wrestling quite well. It is an impressive and demanding sport. I just don’t think you can say it is “harder” than basketball, or for that matter, track or cross country! It is just a silly comparison. I have a nephew who wrestles and WildChild’s prep school roommate/college classmate is nationally ranked, so I do follow the sport. I have also seen the misery and health problems caused by the starvation stints.</p>
<p>
I guess you would disagree with saying that playing on USC’s football team is more difficult than playing on USC’s ultimate frizbe football team. It is pretty obvious playing on the real football team is more difficult than playing on the frizbe team. Saying you can’t compare sports in terms of effort, mental strength and physical strength is silly.</p>
<p>
Which is why wrestling requires so much more discipline than other sports. Many wrestlers have so much discipline they are willing to hurt themselves to lose weight. Both high schools and colleges now have rules regarding how much weight you can lose and the rate of lose.</p>
<p>Meanwhile back at the ranch…</p>
<p>(the March Madness basketball ranch)… Stanford has a tenuous lead over Marquette, with the Stanford coach having been ejected from the game fairly early on (first half).</p>
<p>Eh, who cares about wrestling. This thread’s about bball anyway.</p>
<p>Anyone see the Marquette-Stanford game? By far the most exciting game I’ve seen this tournament. I think Brook Lopez solidified his position as a NBA lottery pick. With all of his academic troubles, I don’t think he’ll be returning to Stanford after this year.</p>
<p>Real nail biter, but Stanford eked it out. Yess!!!</p>
<p>Didn’t know about the Brook Lopez issues. Sorry to hear it.</p>
<p>Didn’t play the first 7 or so games of the season due to academic ineligibility. That was when Stanford lost to Siena. Everyone called it a bad loss but who’s laughing now? (ironically, Cornell beat Siena later on in the season).</p>