The Official NCAA Tournament Thread

[Jami]

silverblazer said:

Man, everything is crazy up here in Northern Virginia/ D.C. I live about 20 minutes from Mason and even toured the Campus earlier this year and it is a nice small school (i dont see how it is the largest public school in Virginia though)

I guess it's largely a commuter school...the vast majority of students live off campus, meaning the campus doesn't have to be that huge.

As for the Disney movie, no - but Instant ESPN Classic sure. That UConn game will be on Classic tomorrow night...I can almost guarantee it.

Edit: I'm 12th in the DC Pool out of 19...definitely my worst year ever.

[Bibby10]

Man, living 20 minutes from GMU, lemme say it was pretty crazy last night. People drove all around yelling for their George Mason Patriots. Then me and some of my friends hit GMU for the celebration. It was a blast. And it's still pretty crazy out here.

[ChisAto]

If they win it all this year, then Bearcat's prediction will come a few years early.

[darjarbinx]

A name change was definitely in order to root on for George Mason. I know little about College Basketball, but this is substantial. Go Patriots!

[Just Blaze]

Man, seeing George Mason lose kind of hurts. I saw Jim Laranaga's post game speech to the team on CBS and it made me become in a state of disbelief. I doubt they'll be going deep into an NCAA tournament for a few years but this season's journey will allow them to grab some recreuits from the DC/MAryland/Virgina as well as propsective students(including me. Im gona apply there this fall.)

[darjarbinx]

Maybe this occurence could render the Patriots a contendor in years to come. I'm thinking the Gonzaga of the East Coast in a few years if Larranaga can reel in a couple of recruits to build his program around.

[bearcat]

chisato said:

If they win it all this year, then Bearcat's prediction will come a few years early.

Again, mark it down, a mid-major will win a title within five to seven years.

But yeah, this is the kind of exposure similar to Zaga's run a few years back, and they are now considered to be a power in Division I basketball. Just a few big name recruits can turn a program around in a hurry. Adam Morrison anyone? J.P. Batista was also a big-name player for them for a few years.

[ChisAto]

Don't forget Ronny Turiaf! . He wasn't a BIG big recruit, but he was good for the Zags while he was there.

[ruff edgz]

its sad to see George Mason lose, would have loved them to make it to the Final Four!

|2uff

[Jami]

tbbearcat5 said:

chisato said:

If they win it all this year, then Bearcat's prediction will come a few years early.

Again, mark it down, a mid-major will win a title within five to seven years.

But yeah, this is the kind of exposure similar to Zaga's run a few years back, and they are now considered to be a power in Division I basketball. Just a few big name recruits can turn a program around in a hurry. Adam Morrison anyone? J.P. Batista was also a big-name player for them for a few years.

What the mid-majors have going for them is that their players stay all 4 years. Jim Calhoun brought that point up today in the pregame show when they were interviewing him - he said that GMU had all of the seniors of that recruiting class playing this year, while UConn loses underclassmen every year. He asked the hypothetical question - how good would UConn be if they had Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva still on this year's team?

I think it'll be interesting to see how the NBA Draft rule will affect those mid-majors - on one hand, you might have better players going to some slightly smaller schools, but on the other hand, you might start to see those players leave early.

Just watching the McD's All-American game, it seems like next year Duke and UNC will be stacked...I'll say it's highly doubtful that a mid-major will be making the Final Four next year. Duke and UNC will have too much firepower, LSU is obscenely young, and you also have schools like Ohio State pulling in huge recruiting classes.

[darjarbinx]

WTF? 9:30! Way to not favor the East Coast. My bedtime is 10!

[detroitbasketball]

You have a bedtime? Weirdo...

I have Florida tonight, but I want UCLA to win. I didn't really want either of these teams in the title game...not only has my bracket gone awry, but my dream situations have all blown up in my face. Bad year.

Go George Mason next year though.

[dkgojackets]

I could not care less about this game. Ill be watching baseball online and playing poker or xbox like its not even on, then go to bed around 10

[JacktheRipper]

I care, because an SEC team is involved. An SEC team who's fans call UCLA's win of Alabama (a slight generalization but a lot have), unimpressive. Considering UF lost to Alabama, in both basketball and football (31-3) I might add , they should really shut their mouths.

So I want to see UCLA trash UF tonight if at all possible. If UF wins though, I can at least say we went (1-0) against the National Champions this season.

[Tarheels Reign Supreame]

win-win situation for u then bama, aint life great

idlove to see ucla win, because i used to live in LA, and it would be great to see them reach their ultimate height after their ultimate low (remember firingof steve lavin of about 3 years ago)

[hoosier]

I wouldn't say that was an ultimate low for UCLA. If the program wasn't so coddled in the John Wooden era, and the NCAA hit them with infractions as aggressively as they do today, UCLA wouldn't have half the titles they do.

[JacktheRipper]

Billy Packer (name right?) is an idiot! UF is 2-1 against the two teams common opponents, while UCLA is 3-0. At least get your stats right for the National Championship game.

Florida is playing pretty well right now to start with. Sure it's tied, but UF is playing the way they have all year. UCLA hasn't been able to change the pace.

[Jami]

bamarulz2020 said:

Billy Packer (name right?) is an idiot!

That was well established on the Selection Show when he blasted Craig Littlepage (to Littlepage's face, even) for putting some team named George Mason into the tournament instead of the Big East's 14th-place team or whatever. True, no one knew that GMU would go to the Final Four, but Packer's idiocy has shone throughout the tournament. On Selection Sunday, he was more or less saying that mid majors shouldn't be allowed, and during the GMU game he was singing the praises of the mid majors.

[detroitbasketball]

Yawn. Boring game, Florida's owning.

[Jami]

I haven't paid attention to the game since before halftime. Yawn.