Eastern Washington University, all the way Eagles!
Scouts are rating guard Tyler Harvey as a high NBA pick. Plus he’s an academic All-American. The guy was a walk-on. The head coach also has a great story. He coached in obscurity at a D-3 school for ages before coming to EWU. First round upset (hopefully) against Georgetown!
I was never into basketball (I’m football all the way) but my other half it totally into it. He makes me fill out the bracket thing and I have no idea what I’m doing. I choose the names that look good (hahaha). I don’t know what constitutes a cinderella team. Do they have to be at a certain low ranking? I chose MSU to go to the final 4 but I don’t really think that they wll make it that far. MSU is my half’s alma mater. That’s the only reason why I chose them. Because I have to watch them so much and hear so much about “Izzo this and Izzo that”.
I think of Cinderella teams as No. 10-16 squads that advance to the Sweet 16. That is, they win their first two games.
First upset of the tournament today; Georgia State University panthers knock off Baylor. If any of you have heard of GSU, you know that it doesn’t have much of a campus (downtown Atlanta and no on-campus arena) and not much of a athletics department. But it has the makings of a good story because their best player is the head coach’s son; the coach who tore his Achilles heel celebrating the conference championship last week.
And I heard it was the coach’s son who sunk the three-pointer to win the game.
I have Oklahoma State in the Final 4. This year I went heavy in selecting Big 12 teams. Not looking so good.
I like the Zags as a team that could give Kentucky a battle for it all. But since the Zags are a #2 seed I don’t think they qualify as a Cinderella. A Cinderella is a unexpected or under the radar choice to do some damage. I can’t believe someone with a scree name that mentions Washington isn’t pimping the Zags!???
Let’s see, a Cinderella.
Well, The Terrapins are a #4 seed that could see Kentucky in round 3 or 4 and had a great year so they could pull off a huge upset if they beat KY.
I think Wichita State had a great year, they are a low seed for some reason, and they were a final four team last year. They could make a run. I am an ACC football and basketball fan so I am rooting for Virginia, ND, Louisville, Duke and the rest of them.
Yep. And here is a great video of the coach watching his son sink that shot…and falling off his stool in the process. What a great story!
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/12515339/georgia-state-coach-falls-stool-celebrating-son-game-winning-shot
Sorry, tom. Big 12 stunk it up today. Big East, however, went 4-0. Hoya Saxa!
Oh yes, I have been a Gonzaga fan since their first Cinderella run years ago. But they are no longer Cinderella. They are perennial top ten program. Wichita State may qualify as Cinderella this year, especially since they got hosed by the selection committee as far as seeding goes.
Alabama-Birmingham could be the media’s darling Cinderella, since the loss of D1 football at UAB is fresh in everyone’s mind. By the way GoNoles; since you’re an ACC football fan, you have my condolences. LOL. ACC football is starting to remind people of the old football dominance of Michigan and Ohio State, causing many folks to call their league “the Big Two and the Little Eight.”
My bracket busted by Iowa State loss, had them going to final 4.
Lake,
As an ACC football fan I have learned to live with low expectations so I accept your sorrow and condolences. We live in the shadow of the mighty SEC the cheatingest (yes I spelled that right) organization on earth where stud high school athletes go to the highest bidder every February during signing day. Yet, FSU and Clemson manage to keep up pretty well and, as you said, the rest of the ACC gets pushed around every football season like that 98-lb kid at the beach.
Although, GT beat UGA and Miss St. this year from the SEC. I guess the boosters didn’t pay the SEC athletes well enough that week to make them play hard meanwhile those fine young GT boys were at home reading the bible and studying for final exams. You know how it is.
I’m sorry the Noles didn’t give the Ducks, from your neck of the woods, a better game in the semi-final this year but when you win 29 in a row you are due for an old fashioned wood shed visit as they say down here. And we got one. Oregon pushed us around and then didn’t play with the same intensity against Ohio St.
I like the Pac-12 and the Ducks. I am pretty simple. I love the ACC because they at least pretend to not exploit the student athletes, and I hate the SEC with every fiber of my being. It gives a code to live by.
NC State University…Go Wolfpack!
They’re seeded well but I can’t imagine them really beating Kentucky, and they’d be a Cinderella in the sense of a small school going all the way-- Univ of Northern Iowa Panthers, from my hometown (my mom taught there long ago)!
Sweet 16 for the boys from Raleigh! I saw Villanova play earlier this year and I think they were overrated.
Hilarious notes from Sports Columnist Phil Mushnick, describing the questions his wife asked him when she watched NCAA tournament game with him on TV. He saved the best for last;
"…They’re not silly questions, they’re annoying questions. They’re good questions to which we have no good answers:
“Why is that coach allowed to stand on the court and run up and down while the game’s being played?”
“How can these kids afford such elaborate tattoos?”
“Why do teams need four or five coaches to coach five players at a time?”
“Why is it important for refs to use TV replays to check calls with a minute left but not with five or 10 minutes left?”
“Why are coaches allowed to scream at the refs? Isn’t that setting a bad example?”
“Aren’t opposing players allowed to help each other up?”
“Why do coaches wear suits?”
“When do these kids go to school?”
“Why do the players slap hands after every foul shot, even after they miss?”
“That’s the coach’s wife? She’s too young to be his first. I’ll Google it.”
Those are hilarious! I know the answer to a couple!