<p>Are we talking basketball or ice hockey?</p>
<p>(C’mon, us Michigan grads need to look foreward to some kind of NCAA tournament.)</p>
<p>well here in Albany everybody’s chanting “lucky 13” for our Cinderella Great Danes. (Certainly a “David” amongst all the Goliaths out there.)</p>
<p>Now, as a Michigan State alum from the Dark Ages (pre-Magic Johnson even), I’m looking forward to Spartans v. Marquette in the first round…</p>
<p>I just want to know how UNC ended up in such an evil bracket!? Texas and then Georgetown? And Tyler not even scoring half his usual points? Boy oh boy oh boy…this ain’t gonna be fun.</p>
<p>(Curses on that Gerald Henderson.)</p>
<p>Go Spartans!</p>
<p>So I woke my son up for school the other day. He came stumbling out to the kitchen saying, “Mom, I was having such a good dream. I dreamt I was at AlusonFriend’s house and it was Selection Sunday…”</p>
<p>I can only imagine this level of fixation.</p>
<p>At least UNC now has an excuse if they lose… (although they have lost to some other teams before the mask. ex: Va Tech (twice), etc.) ;)</p>
<p>awww sokkermom…I’m not looking for losses with good excuses now. And honestly, I don’t think having your top scorer unable to perform is actually an ‘excuse’ now is it? Might be a reason, but not an excuse.</p>
<p>Seriously, I think it safe to say most teams in the tourney have had slumps; that’s what makes this one so interesting. Who knows what will happen. Maybe TAMU-Corpus Christi will actually take out Wisconsin…(it could happen!) Or Duke might even make it past Pitt and then UCLA, especially since they will have all THEIR players in the game uninjured. ;)</p>
<p>We were disappointed that NC State wasn’t invited. They had an amazing ACC Tournament. Most people actually think Duke could be bumped out very early. They are probably right. Unfortunately they have no depth… :)</p>
<p>yeah…Go Pack. Does it strike anybody else as odd that Duke is such a great school with such a great basketball coach/tradition and ALL those McDonald’sAll Americans lining the bench and yet they have no depth?</p>
<p>We are happy at our house, between shouting Hoya Saxa, Go BC Eagles, and VT rocks, I discover my beloved VCU Rams are even going. Can’t wait for Thursday.</p>
<p>The other thing that I hear a lot of is ‘how young the Duke team is…’. UNC has 11 freshman and sophomores and, I believe, only three seniors (which includes Biscuits, Wes and Reyshawn) and two juniors (Q and Surry). Given the tendency for many players to go pro before graduating, aren’t most teams considered ‘young’?</p>
<p>I saw pool, and I’m thinking wading, water, shoes off and feet in with marguerita in hand. Obviously, I’m in the wrong thread ;)</p>
<p>hmmm…like the sound of your thread anxiousmom! Unfortunately our family is stuck here in Houston for spring break while hubby sorts through contracts and the weather is horrid. Can’t even dip a toe…but sure can mix up some 'gritas. Thanks for a good idea…;)</p>
<p>After Xavier play (Go Muskies!), I’m waiting to see what Ohio State can do. Go Bucks!</p>
<p>National Player of the Year?</p>
<p>Oden? Durant? Hansbough?</p>
<p>Last year the media practically anointed Morrison and JJ from jumpstreet…</p>
<p>^Personally, I want Hansbrough…but Durant seems to be the anointed one this year. The run they made at the Jayhawks sure can’t hurt the Durant argument.</p>
<p>Okay…I’ve had a huge DUH moment. </p>
<p>Lindsey Harding of the Duke women’s team is our old neighbor. I knew she was a Lady Bobcat and I knew the family moved east to be closer to her college a few years ago, but I just did not connect the dots. The Hardings literally lived on the same street one block down. Our neighborhood is a small enclave of only about 200 homes, so everyone knows everything about everyone which is sometimes good/sometimes not. But this little tidbit got right past me. </p>
<p>I now must be a Lady Blue Devil fan in addition to a Lady Tar Heel fan. My brain just may explode.</p>
<p>(I hope Nneka O doesn’t end up at Duke too…rather see her at UNC 
)</p>
<p>Jeez… I go out of town for a few days, come back and find that I missed even getting into the running 'cause games have already been played this morning.<br>
Well, my alma mater is in the Madness again, but with their current record and their first-round opponent, it doesn’t look like they’ll be in for long. But then, you never know; they have surprised the heck out of the field from time to time and, once, a number of years ago…</p>
<p>I had a friend, a statistician fiend, who a couple of years did a run on 10 year’s worth of NCAA tournament data, trying various algorithms for the pool, and came up with one that seemed to have the largest probability of success: in every scheduled game, pick the team with the lowest published graduation rate for basketball players. (He believed the main reason was that, among those non-graduating, there would be the highest rate of players leaving early for the NBA, but I don’t think there are enough of those for the overall formula to have worked, though it might have on a game-by-game pick’em basis.)</p>
<p>Whoaah! Duke, did you just get beat??? Messed up my bracket, but I’ll take it…:)</p>
<p>PS, everyone likes to see the Bruins get beat first round too. It happens.</p>