[monochrome]

UMBC just blew up everybody’s bracket

My alma mater

[boriscleto]

Nobody will remember that Syracuse was the first 2 to lose to a 15 anymore. And Boeheim continued the tradition of a play-in team winning in the first round tonight

[monochrome]

Nobody will remember that Syracuse was the first 2 to lose to a 15 anymore. And Boeheim continued the tradition of a play-in team winning in the first round tonight

So happy to relieve you of your ignominy*.

* Stop whining. You have Lacrosse

[Rondec]

I live in the heart of UVA country and I'd say prescriptions for Prozac will be up considerably next week. The surprising thing wasn't that a one seed eventually lost in the tournament, it was that UVA lost by 20 points.

I grew up in Ohio, so I'm more of a Buckeye fan (they're never that good in basketball).

[SSGGeezer]

UMBC just blew up everybody’s bracket

My alma mater

Dadipentak has roots with your alma mater also. Small world here at Pentax Forums. I'll bet you were surprised!

[monochrome]

Dadipentak has roots with your alma mater also. Small world here at Pentax Forums. I'll bet you were surprised!

Stunned. I was a cheerleader at UVA.

Breaking News popped up on my iPad. It was that big.

I believe dadipentak’s daughter took a college class taught by my daughter. 6 degrees.

[normhead]

I live in the heart of UVA country and I'd say prescriptions for Prozac will be up considerably next week. The surprising thing wasn't that a one seed eventually lost in the tournament, it was that UVA lost by 20 points.

I grew up in Ohio, so I'm more of a Buckeye fan (they're never that good in basketball).

You should be watching this years team, they have some glaring weaknesses, which means if they play Michigan or Penn State they'll lose, But Penn state didn't make the tourney, and they won't meet Michigan today. They've beaten Michigan and Purdue, the two highest ranked teams in the conference. They'll bang with anybody, but are a little challenged with defensive speed.

A really fun team to watch, even though their chances are slim.

---------- Post added 03-17-18 at 10:30 AM ----------

Stunned. I was a cheerleader at UVA.

Breaking News popped up on my iPad. It was that big.

Old guys like me are asleep for those games.... I'd love to watch Michigan tonight, now there's probably the best team nobody knows about. But 9:30 start. No blue light for me after 9 o'clock.Us old guys have to get our sleep.

---

Last edited by normhead; 03-17-2018 at 07:34 AM.

[reeftool]

The UMBC - VA proves one thing...college basketball is very unpredictable. It also shoots down something a lot of whiney sports writers bring up from time to time about automatic NCAA Tournament places for conference winners. They aren't crap teams and while there may not be a dramatic win like yesterday's game, many times these teams have scared the daylights out of top seeded teams.

My congrats to UMBC and here's hoping they go very deep in the tourney!

[Mr. Ed]

Really great performance by UMBC. They never seemed like the moment was too big for them and it obviously wasn't. Congrats to all their fans!

[normhead]

The UMBC - VA proves one thing...college basketball is very unpredictable. It also shoots down something a lot of whiney sports writers bring up from time to time about automatic NCAA Tournament places for conference winners. They aren't crap teams and while there may not be a dramatic win like yesterday's game, many times these teams have scared the daylights out of top seeded teams.

My congrats to UMBC and here's hoping they go very deep in the tourney!

I hope they play at a time where I get to watch...

Basketball is 5 guys on the floor at a time. You need two shooters, three guys who can score every now and then and 2 to 3 subs. Anyone can get lucky and recruit the right 8 players. The big school advantage can be nullified. That's a lot harder to do in football where they rosters are 85 players, and you can have 8 great players and still lose.

[Rondec]

The UMBC - VA proves one thing...college basketball is very unpredictable. It also shoots down something a lot of whiney sports writers bring up from time to time about automatic NCAA Tournament places for conference winners. They aren't crap teams and while there may not be a dramatic win like yesterday's game, many times these teams have scared the daylights out of top seeded teams.

My congrats to UMBC and here's hoping they go very deep in the tourney!

The thing is that usually there is such an athletic imbalance between a one and sixteen seed that even in a perfect scenario, the sixteen seed can't over come it. It's a little like the little school in Flubber (The Absent Minded Professor) that need something "special" to let them beat the better and bigger players.

For whatever reason, Virginia didn't exploit their athletic advantage and instead began to try to make up the difference quickly with three pointers. But if you miss a bunch of threes and your opponent is shooting well over 50 percent, that puts you farther and farther behind.

Not a Virginia fan, but felt like the coach kind of let the players down here.

[normhead]

The thing is that usually there is such an athletic imbalance between a one and sixteen seed that even in a perfect scenario, the sixteen seed can't over come it. It's a little like the little school in Flubber (The Absent Minded Professor) that need something "special" to let them beat the better and bigger players.

For whatever reason, Virginia didn't exploit their athletic advantage and instead began to try to make up the difference quickly with three pointers. But if you miss a bunch of threes and your opponent is shooting well over 50 percent, that puts you farther and farther behind.

Not a Virginia fan, but felt like the coach kind of let the players down here.

If the players aren't making their open threes, that's not on the coach. If the other team collapses the defence and won't let you play to your big guys inside you have to make 3s. The other team is betting you can't make them. If you don't your done. The courtsied commentators can say whatever they want... and basketball is funny that way. I Once had a sub-500 team beat a first place team by 30 points. We were on that day. Basketball is like that. It doesn't matter how good you are, it's all about the day.

The question for UMBC now is can they do it twice. After beating the first place team, my team went back to losing to anybody with pulse.

[reeftool]

If the players aren't making their open threes, that's not on the coach. If the other team collapses the defence and won't let you play to your big guys inside you have to make 3s. The other team is betting you can't make them. If you don't your done. The courtsied commentators can say whatever they want... and basketball is funny that way. I Once had a sub-500 team beat a first place team by 30 points. We were on that day. Basketball is like that. It doesn't matter how good you are, it's all about the day.

The question for UMBC now is can they do it twice. After beating the first place team, my team went back to losing to anybody with pulse.

It would be great if they can go deeper in the tournament! I really hope they do or at least, play very well and prove they are more than just some guys who got lucky. They went into the tournament with no or very low expectations from anyone, except from the teams they beat to get there. They went out there and played their hearts out and had an outside shooter who went on a hot streak. I hope they continue.

[normhead]

It would be great if they can go deeper in the tournament! I really hope they do or at least, play very well and prove they are more than just some guys who got lucky. They went into the tournament with no or very low expectations from anyone, except from the teams they beat to get there. They went out there and played their hearts out and had an outside shooter who went on a hot streak. I hope they continue.

Where as in last night's Ohio State game, in the last 45 seconds two of our best three point shooter had open looks and missed both shots. The difference in the game? 6 points. That's basketball. Good shooting makes up for a lot of bad play. Poor shooting negates doing everything else right.

[dadipentak]

I appreciate all the compliments and good wishes regarding UMBC--it's not my alma mater but I invested the better part of my professional career there and have a number of family connections with the campus.

The thing about the UMBC/UVA game is that it seemed as though it was being played in the Twilight Zone--as if nobody in the arena could quite believe what was happening. My take is that UVA had just not encountered a team with such quirky competence and composure* Whether those traits can take the team deeper into the tournament remains to be seem but it was a really sweet win.

* I might add that that description applies to the campus as well--see the NYT write-up here.