Selection Sunday is rapidly approaching. The Pac 10 looks like the conference to beat this year.

Interested in reviving our Yahoo! Tournament Pick 'Em group? Sign in here!

Cheers, Anne

I'm In - ready to lose again.

This year there is a good chance that there will be no NYC or Philly schools in the Tourney. That must be a first. (But there still is hope for a few)

The big east tournament results so far means there's little difference between the teams. Will we get a Georgetown-Pitt rematch for the finals?

Maybe Tennessee takes the men and women's crowns?

Lots of action to come in the next few weeks!

Cheer, Anne

Anne,

Bite your tongue, woman! It has to be Memphis all the way!

I love it each year when Anne gets into a frenzy about basketball, and Gil always joins in! Seems to encourage the male participants on this board to join in!

Sign me up, Anne. I don't keep up with basketball like I used to do, well, except for the strange situation with Lute Olson. Anyway, I always have fun making totally un-informed guesses. So, let the games, I mean fun, begin!

From your lips to God's ears, Pam. Memphis has put together another terrific season. The question is the strength of the C-USA conference and if they are prepared for the tuff stuff.

There are so many close teams in terms of ability and record. Anyone's got a fair chance of winning this year.

Who set up the group ID last year? Was that you, Gil, or was it Marc?

Cheers, Anne

I set it up last year on Yahoo.
Set up a league just now:

LCT Tourney Bracket

I think NC will win it this year - Preliminary Pick, of course. Memphis would be my choice if they were better from the FT line.

Well - looks like there will be at least one Philly team in there -St. Joe's just played itself into the tourney even if they lose the A-10 Final. And if Temple gets to the game, which looks likely, Temple has a good shot to go too.
So then I'll be able to HOOT HOOT for the Owls!

A double Philly entry will keep the East Coasties in the hunt, that's for sure. Once again - Georgetown and Pitt for the Big East Final. I'm sticking with Georgetown. Maybe a #3 seed for them. Big Ten has a bunch of upsets going this year. Wisconsin's path looks easier today. Then there's the venue change for the SEC that needs to be resolved NOW. No lack of drama this weekend!

Where are the Jayhawk and Tar Heel Nations?

Cheers, Anne

I am sweating the PAC-10 selections; they should get seven. I am hoping that there are no 8 or 9 seeds for the PAC-10; if not, there is a possibility they could get four or five into the sweet 16.

I am disappointed New Mexico lost and is now out. Of course, I have been living with the east coast bias all my life. :)

Anne, The Heels are here. We have two more games to win before the parings come out tomorrow night. I watched all four ACC games yesterday. More games today and tomorrow.

Beth - glad you are checked in! You and I have been spending LOTS of time on those conference tournaments this week. Good luck against Clemson .. big surprise Duke is out.

Cheers, Anne

Thanks, Anne, We squeaked through in that game against Virginia Tech yesterday. Not looking forward to the game against Clemson today. We've already had 3 overtimes with them this year. (Still wearing my lucky UNC t-shirt, unwashed since last week's game against the DOOKIES) Looking forward to the NCAA Parings Show tonight and the games beginning on Thursday.

C'MON LCTers - JOIN THE POOL! Hoops fans or not - just for the fun & bragging rights!


Well what a great surprise - THREE Big 5 schools got in!
TEmple, St. Joseph's & Villanova all made it. But all have lousy pairings & will likely lose in first round. But I'm going to hope that Nova's great guard play gets them through a few games, and that St. Joe's & Temple can overcome the odds with their hustle & motivation & win a game or two or three.

Overall, I think the Committee did a pretty good job. Maybe one can kick about Az State, and possibly Syracuse, but that's about it. Seems like Strength Of Schedule was a strong factor, and at times RPI seemed to be thrown out the window.

Only 5 people in Pool so far. SIGN UP!!!!!

It is kind of confusing once you join, The link I provided to Register above only allows you to register. After that registration, you then have to follow the link they email to you to be able to get to your bracket. (Or remove the "register" part from the url the link leads you to.)

P.S. SCARY PART:
In watching the Talking Heads last night, I found that Bobby Knight & I are picking the same championship game. I'm agreeing with Bobby Knight!?! UHOH!

Jayhawks here! Didn't think we would score a Number 1 seed but glad we did!

I am in with my normal Pac-10 "uber alles" picks. I did show a little sanity by picking UCLA over USC in the championship game.

Welcome back Sue! We've been waiting for you.

Gary and I independently put forth our 4 #1 seeds just after the Kansas-Texas game. We got 'em all right. I figure Pam's all over Memphis. :D

For those of you wavering because you've never heard of some of these teams, let alone know how to pick among them: (a) Yahoo helpfully has a little box marked with "i". Hover over it with your mouse and .. voila! .. a summary of the two teams pops us. (b) getting the winner AND most of the Final Four teams right more than offsets any misses in rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4. (3) The odds in prior years argue for the Final Four teams being either #1, 2 or 3 seeds in their brackets. (4) The highest historical upset picks are #12 taking out #5 in the first round and a #10 seed getting into the second weekend.

Go ahead .. add a bracket entry. Each time we've done this, the lead really changes between the start of the tournament the scores once we're down to the final four teams.

Cheers, Anne

How do we get into the yahoo web site?
What is the password etc?

I dunno, Marc...the regular season games were split 1-1 and UCLA *barely* squeaked by with a 3 point win in the Pac 10 tournament. :D Go Trojans!

Hometown favorite Cal State Fullerton will play USC in the second round if they both win their first round games. Go Titans!

Dena

I think if you follow the link I placed above, it will automatically take you to the League for you to register without needing to put in league # or PW.

If not, the league # is 64447, and the PW = cruise


Been thinking that it's about time an Ivy school won a tournament game again. Sorry, Stanford.

To you West Coasters - a big issue for me is to determine the health of the UCLA players. What's the deal with them - all OK, or lingering injuries?

Nope!
Can't get in. :mad: :mad:

Hum....I'm in. Haven't followed it at all but always enjoy the madness. Jim, I hope you can get it to work. We need you!

Make sure you've registered for a Yahoo ID if you haven't already before you try to access the pool. If that doesn't work, we go back to Gil to figure out how to get our picks recorded.

Hmm..Bracketmaster has Brigham Young beating UCLA for the Sweet Sixteen. Does that sound right to you West Coasties?

Cheers, Anne

Well, Annie, I hope UCLA doesn't suffer too much from THE injury - can't spell his name....you know my vote :)

Ok Ok I am in!! :ch: :ch: :woh: :woh:

Now when will the womens come out?
GO GRIZ!!!!

Yea, Jim!! We are dancin' now with you on board! :banana:

Two minutes and counting, Jim .. ESPN.

59 minutes of why UConn is so great and 1 minute of the other teams ... grrrrrrr

Cheers, Anne

Grizz are a #13 seed playing #4 Vanderbilt. Good news is you're in the Spokane Region, Jim, and you pulled a #4 for the first two rounds, not a higher seed. Best of luck to the Grizz!

We pulled #10 in the New Orleans region. Baton Rouge & a first round match up against Marist. Oh well .. at least our last second loss to UConn got played at least three times on the selection show. What's the old saying? There's no such thing as bad publicity?

Maryland over Stanford as a #1 seed? Let the disagreements begin ... including matching UConn and Rutgers as #1 and #2 in the same region. Same thing with #1 UNC and #2 LSU in the same region. At a minimum, they should have swapped the #2 teams between those two regions. LSU had as much reason to think they should be #1 as Stanford does.

Nothing like rankings to bring out the discussion! :ch:

Cheers, Anne

Ok, my pics are done. Talking about a shot in the dark! Once an ACC girl, always an ACC girl. Got to go with UNC. Can't talk the talk like Anne (who should be on ESPN!).

I love Anne's enthusiasm!!!! Reminds me of a GATOR, right Betty??? :app: :app:

Yes indeed, Joanna!

We'll miss our GATORS this year. "They'll be back"!

Well done, Donna! Unfortunately, Roy Williams only meets his former team in the semifinals. Too bad it couldn't be the final game. Kansas was ranked weakest of the #1 seeds so they draw the overall #1 in the semis. That's the way the basketball bounces.

Our picks are in .. now to review them one more time before they go on lockdown.

Joanna and Betty - you don't have to wait til next year. The GATORS are alive .. just creeping along alligator alley through the NIT back roads. I read Billy Donovan made the team practice in the old ratty gym during the selection show. They don't get back into their new gym til they SHAPE UP!

But I digress .. on to the important details. Florida is the #2 seed in the Arizona St. #1 bracket. They have home court advantage until they meet Arizona St. Their first matchup is with San Diego State Mar 19 @ 9 pm and scheduled for ESPN 2 telecast.

Suzanne - Cal's a #4 seed in the Ohio State bracket. They play March 19 at 11 PM (8 PM real time) at home against New Mexico. The game is also supposed to be telecast on ESPN2.

If you want to track the NIT (or find your favorite snub team left waiting at the Big Dance door), here's the link:

NIT 2008 Bracket

A third tournament for post-season is set to start this year. Sixteen teams who missed the NIT cut play in a weird new format known as the college basketball invitational. A few years ago the NCAA bought the NIT, agreeing to run it for five more years. This is year 3 out of 5. That provides an opening for a competing tournament to succeed - or forces the NCAA to keep the NIT going.
College Basketball Invitational Tournament Bracket

Virginia, Richmond and Old Dominion are all playing Mar 18 at 7 pm in this one.

Is the next 'enhancement' the parking lot playoffs, reserved solely for the lowest ranked 16 teams? The losers are the ones who advance to determine who is, in fact, the worst team out there. Ratty hoops on a ripped up abandoned parking lot - oh yea - and bring your own lawn chairs, refreshments and refs. :rolleyes: Hey, if ESPNU will run it, they will come.

Cheers, Anne

What do I need to do different to get into the womens tournament site?
It won't let me. :mad:

Jim - does Yahoo have a women's tournament pick em contest? I found one on ESPN's website yesterday & am planning to play there:

http://games.espn.go.com/tcwomen/preentrybracket

Cheers, Anne

Yeah Anne, we know, but just not what we are accustomed to. ;) Billy hates to lose. You think the team is getting that message?

I am nagging Larry to get our picks made!

Betty - I know it's not the big dance. However ...

The NIT is a fun tournament because the higher seed gets to play at home. It also gets a fair amount of TV coverage.

The brackets are set up so Florida and Ohio State could wind up in the championship game. In Madison Square Garden. In New York City. Now THAT would be something.

Try to enjoy Florida's run for the daisies. It's better than no post season play.

Cheers, Anne

I don't follow tournaments, closely, (well I did last year) but love your news, enthusiasm and updates Anne!!! MSG and NYC Betty!!! We'll meet you and Larry there should such a wonderful thing happen!!! :app: :app: :app: :app: Joanna

I do hear ya, Anne!!!! Wouldn't that be great!!

Joanna, You've got a deal, Honey!

I just saw that five of six Pac-10 games are today and they all start late. We are taking the train to Kyoto in the morning so I will miss them all. :(

I am hoping the west coast contingent cheers on our teams. Hopefully, all five teams make it through so that I have someone to watch later in the tournament. ;)