Design contest & open thread
One final reminder that the design contest for my NCAA pools' logos ends at 5:00 PM EDT today; that's the deadline to submit your entries. I've already got some good choices, but the more, the merrier! Details here.
Also, if any of y'all are in front of a TV watching this afternoon's basketball games -- lucky dogs -- or otherwise want to comment on the results, feel free to do so on this thread. There's solid basketball from noon until after midnight today, with bubble implications galore, so there's plenty to talk about. God, I love March. :)
P.S. Here is Joe Lunardi's
current assessment of the bubble, with 25 teams competing for eleven
spots. They're listed in "S-Curve order," so the higher on the list
your team is, the better. Italics indicate the team's season is over.
• IN: Miami, Texas A&M, Arizona, UNLV, Arkansas, South Alabama, Oregon, Massachusetts, Illinois State, New Mexico, Arizona State
• OUT: Ohio State, Florida, VCU, UAB, Dayton, Saint Joseph's, Villanova, Mississippi, Syracuse, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Temple, Houston
Of course, a whole bunch of those teams have games today -- every non-italicized team, in fact, except Arkansas, Ohio State and Virginia Tech, all of which have byes until tomorrow -- so the situation is very fluid.
NOTE: This post will stay on top all morning & afternoon. New posts will appear below.
Please post about this! Sorry could not find your email. How many of these dogs will be put to sleep because it is just to many. Lets get the word out
Posted by: Brenda | Mar 13, 2008 10:29:01 AM
Do we get to vote on the logo? That would be fun!
Posted by: Kristy | Mar 13, 2008 1:26:33 PM
VILLANOVA!!!!
Posted by: Marty West | Mar 13, 2008 1:31:06 PM
this is amazing. dayton and nova just came back to tie their games. you gotta put these teams in if they win today right? i love march madness.
Posted by: yea | Mar 13, 2008 1:36:22 PM
yea, they'd both have pretty strong cases, particularly against the VCUs and Illinois States of the world, but it's tough to make a definite statement like "you gotta put them in" because 1) it depends on what other teams do, and 2) the committee has made some weird selections in recent years, such that we amateur bracketologists can't trust our instincts as much as we once could!
That said, if Dayton gets in, expect to hear a lot of commentators, and coaches & fans of "snubbed" teams, saying the phrase "SEVENTH PLACE IN THE ATLANTIC 10" over and over again in the hours and days after the selection show, with no accompanying context. (E.g., the fact that they have a really good profile, good non-conference wins, the Atlantic 10 actually has 14 teams, it plays a crazy schedule whereby the good teams plays most of their conference games against other good teams, etc.)
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Mar 13, 2008 1:45:06 PM
Oh, and Kristy, sorry, but no. I'm the dictator of my pool. :) A benevolent dictator, hopefully, but a dictator nonetheless...
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Mar 13, 2008 1:45:55 PM
Aaand now it looks like both Georgetown and Xavier are pulling away.
South Alabama, Illinois State and VCU fans, rejoice!
Posted by: | Mar 13, 2008 1:59:44 PM
Ugh Scottie Reynolds is 2-8 from the field so far. Gross.
GOOOOOO EXPLORERES!!!!! BEAT OWLS!!!! FUCK TEMPLE!!!!! WE ARE THE TRUE BIG FIVE CHAMPS!!!!
Posted by: Marty West | Mar 13, 2008 2:07:01 PM
My Iowa Hawkeyes lost.... :(
Posted by: Marty West | Mar 13, 2008 2:10:08 PM
Not only did your Iowa Hawkeyes lose, they lost to a team that went scoreless for 10 minutes in the second half... LOL. Big Ten basketball at its best! ;)
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Mar 13, 2008 2:37:34 PM
Hahahaha.
Man, that game must have been painful to watch!
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Mar 13, 2008 2:40:47 PM
Hahaha. Terrible!
Big Ten basketball is doo doo.
I almost don't want to drink the water out of my Hawkeyes cup now.
Posted by: Marty West | Mar 13, 2008 2:42:47 PM
Well, in the Big Ten's defense, that was indeed supposed to be the game in the conference tournament featuring the collectively worst teams. Illinois has an identical conference records to Michigan, but a worse overall record, and they'll be playing a Penn State team with both a better in conference and overall record than Iowa. Northwestern is, of course, expected to be blown out of the water by Minnesota, given Northwestern's stunning 1-17 conference record, but Minnesota's record isn't too shabby this year--not good enough for the big dance without a strong conference tournament run, but not a program on lifesupport either. Right above Minnesota, we've got Ohio State (an arguable bubble team), and then 4 ranked teams.
In other news, ugh. Brendan's obsession with the NCAA tournament has finally caused me to start looking up basketball statistics and sounding like I know what the hell I'm talking about in regards to the game.
Posted by: Mike | Mar 13, 2008 3:13:59 PM
NIT-ology has Minnesota listed as a bubble team... for the NIT. They don't just need "a strong conference tournament run" to make the NCAAs; they would actually need to win the thing.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Mar 13, 2008 3:31:24 PM
Woo! Proof that I don't, in fact, know what I'm talking about. I'm relieved. ;)
Posted by: Mike | Mar 13, 2008 3:37:59 PM
LOL @ Minnesota being a bubble team for the NIT.
Bubble and NIT should not be mentioned in the same sentence.
Last year my girlfriends brother and I convinced her that NIT stood for "Not In Tournament." She believed us.
Posted by: Marty West | Mar 13, 2008 4:20:24 PM
Man, that game must have been painful to watch!
Don't worry, nobody watched it. It was on the Big Ten Network.
Posted by: JD | Mar 13, 2008 4:35:59 PM