The always popular "say something crazy..so that in April we can all come back and laugh at you for being wrong" thread.

Gonzaga and Mark Few will silence Rec and make it to the Final Four.

Kansas either loses in the first round or doesn't lose at all.

The A-10 will have the best overall success of any conference.

Oregon makes the Final Four.

No way Gonzaga goes to the Final Four.

Duke gets Kelly back and wins every game it plays thereafter.

Duke doesn't get Kelly back and becomes the first No. 1 seed to lose in the NCAA Tournament.

Butler wins the NCAA championship (for those keeping track at home, I have now predicted two national champions)

UNLV cuts down the nets at the regionals and goes to Atlanta behind the best natural talent in the country -- Anthony Bennett.

LaSalle pulls a first round shocker (really like the Explorers guard play and they are a nasty three-point shooting team. If they get in the Dance and get hot, watch out).

Miami doesn't survive the first weekend
Memphis makes the final 4 - predicted it before the season and not bailing now
The B1G goes unbeaten in the first round

Another one, Temple gets to the Elite Eight. The Owls still need to do work and get in the Dance, but this is a team behind Khalif Wyatt, Anthony Lee and Jake O'Brien that can score and beat anyone on any given night. A very dangerous team that just needs to get hot at the right time. If the Owls can just put together a string of four or five wins and do well at the A-10 tournament, I like their chances in the big one.

The MAC gets 2 teams in the tournement Akron and Ohio U. and both win 1st round games.
The B1G despite being the best confernce this seaon gets no team to the Final Four despite having 4 teams (Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the Sweet 16)
Kentucky loses in the 1st round
Ohio State gets lit up by a mid major in the 2nd round while shooting 32% from the field.

The Zags would have a better chance of advancing if the committee didn't treat them like a 2nd class citizen. Some teams get favorable treatment while others usually get the shaft. The Zags fall into the 2nd category.

0311sdp;1393995 wrote:The MAC gets 2 teams in the tournement Akron and Ohio U. and both win 1st round games.
The B1G despite being the best confernce this seaon gets no team to the Final Four despite having 4 teams (Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the Sweet 16)
Kentucky loses in the 1st round
Ohio State gets lit up by a mid major in the 2nd round while shooting 32% from the field.

I like most of this.

Syracuse....Final 4

I have no reason why.

Akron to the sweet sixteen.
UNLV to the final 4. They were my preseason final 4 team I'm sticking with them

Prescott;1394024 wrote:The Zags would have a better chance of advancing if the committee didn't treat them like a 2nd class citizen. Some teams get favorable treatment while others usually get the shaft. The Zags fall into the 2nd category.

I'm not sure if Gonzaga is treated as a second class citizen or not -- the ZAGS have been awarded a six seed or higher FOUR times and a three seed or better THREE times out of the freaking West Coast Conference -- but if they are, then they have done nothing to prove they deserve anything otherwise.

Here's how Gonzaga's best seeding years turned out:

2006 - 3 seed - Lost in Sweet 16 to UCLA
2005 - 3 seed - Lost in Second Round to Texas Tech
2004 - 2 seed - Lost in Second Round to Nevada
2002 - 6 seed - Lost in First Round to Wyoming

I think Gonzaga gets just the right treatment that they deserve. What kind of treatment should a team that has gotten beaten in the first or second round of the tournament nine of the last 11 years get??

reclegend22;1394109 wrote:I'm not sure if Gonzaga is treated as a second class citizen or not -- the ZAGS have been awarded a six seed or higher FOUR times and a three seed or better THREE times out of the freaking West Coast Conference -- but if they are, then they have done nothing to prove they deserve anything otherwise.

Here's how Gonzaga's best seeding years turned out:

2006 - 3 seed - Lost in Sweet 16 to UCLA
2005 - 3 seed - Lost in Second Round to Texas Tech
2004 - 2 seed - Lost in Second Round to Nevada
2002 - 6 seed - Lost in First Round to Wyoming

I think Gonzaga gets just the right treatment that they deserve. What kind of treatment should a team that has gotten beaten in the first or second round of the tournament nine of the last 11 years get??

Im pretty sure he was taking a loose shot at the dukies there with the whole "other teams get favorable matchups"

Idk how he gets them in so subtly.

SportsAndLady;1394116 wrote:Im pretty sure he was taking a loose shot at the dukies there with the whole "other teams get favorable matchups"

Idk how he gets them in so subtly.

Oh, I know exactly what he was doing.

However, I obviously have such built up hatred bottled in me for Gonzaga for whatever reason that I decided to take another shot at them since the opportunity presented itself. For whatever reason, after all the praise they have been receiving, I have a burning desire to take them out like George Foreman. Lol.

Gonzaga becomes the first 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed.
The B1G gets two teams into the final four(My guess is IU and MSU; but Michigan could surprise some people)
Ohio State won't make the sweet 16.

And Oregon to the final 4? LOL. SMH.

And aside from that, if you look at my I Hate Gonzaga Chart above, you will see that Gonzaga has not deserved any higher seeding than it has gotten over the years. They simply have not performed to the level of their talent in March. Again, the Zags have only been out of the first or second round twice since 2001, and never past the Sweet 16.

I hate Gonzaga as well. Trash mid major.

sleeper;1394126 wrote:And Oregon to the final 4? LOL. SMH.

Haha just wait!

Ironman92;1394030 wrote:Syracuse....Final 4

I have no reason why.

Because they're pretty good? lol

I'll bite. Why not. We can always re-visit this thread in 6 weeks and laugh.

Middle Tennessee and Gonzaga will be the only 30-win teams in the big dance.
The Big Ten will have 3-4 teams in the Sweet 16 and possibly 3 in the Elite Eight. After that, it's wide open.
Syracuse will make the Final Four. It's destiny after being shorthanded the last 2 years. They will lose to Florida in the national semifinal, the Gators owe them for 3 losses in the last 4 years.
Louisville will go out on the opening weekend (they may be the 3/14 victim I predict below).
A 14-seed will win multiple games, my guess right now is South Dakota State or Long Beach State.
Someone will become the darling player of the tournament and carry their team on a run, maybe Nate Wolters or James Ennis (see above)
St. Louis will go further than any A-10 team.
The Pac 12, however many teams, does not survive the opening weekend.
Florida gets Will Yeguette back and Billy Donovan wins another national title.

Indiana wins the first Big Ten National Title since 2000 and Tom Crean achieves God Like Status on ESPN.

Thad Matta sees that the recruiting pipeline to Indiana is now dry and bolts for another job within two years or is fired by 2016

SportsAndLady;1394116 wrote:Im pretty sure he was taking a loose shot at the dukies there with the whole "other teams get favorable matchups"

Idk how he gets them in so subtly.

Of course I'm taking a shot at the dukies. They do get favorable draws in the tournament. See their last tournament championship for proof. They were sent to what most experts considered the weakest region by far.

As for the Zags, the treatment they get from the committee has more to do with location than it does with seeding.If memory serves me correctly the ZAGS had the pleasure of playing the Stephen Curry led Davidson Wildcats in North Carolina. Last year, while victorious in the 1st round, they played WVU in Pittsburgh , which is about 75 miles from Morgantown.


BTW, Recs 2006 reference was not a tournament failure for the Zags.They lost to a #2 seeded UCLA team.

Indiana beats Florida in the Championship game
Big Ten has 6 in the Sweet 16 and 4 in the Elite 8
Big East has 1 Elite 8 team and 0 Final Four teams
Duke doesn't survive the first weekend
Butler makes the Elite 8
Other 2 Elite 8 teams: Kansas and Arizona

Prescott;1394210 wrote:Of course I'm taking a shot at the dukies. They do get favorable draws in the tournament. See their last tournament championship for proof. They were sent to what most experts considered the weakest region by far.

As for the Zags, the treatment they get from the committee has more to do with location than it does with seeding.If memory serves me correctly the ZAGS had the pleasure of playing the Stephen Curry led Davidson Wildcats in North Carolina. Last year, while victorious in the 1st round, they played WVU in Pittsburgh , which is about 75 miles from Morgantown.


BTW, Recs 2006 reference was not a tournament failure for the Zags.They lost to a #2 seeded UCLA team.

Please. Duke played by far the toughest regional final game of any Final Four team that year, having to face a red hot three-seeded Baylor (No. 8 RPI in 2010) in Houston. That was like a Dallas Cowboys game in terms of the amount of fans cheering for the native Texas team.

Duke also had a very good five-seeded Texas A&M (No. 8 RPI) in its Sweet 16 bracket, a game that also would have been played in Houston in front of a pro-Aggie crowd had they not bowed out of the tournament early to Purdue. Additionally, Louisville as a potential second round game was a much more difficult propsition heading into the tournament than, say, Northern Iowa or UNLV, which Kansas played the winner of.

Duke also wasn't given any favors by being sent to the same side of the bracket as Kentucky, which was many people's favorites to win it all behind John Wall and Co. heading into the Dance.

reclegend22;1394292 wrote:Please. Duke played by far the toughest regional final game of any Final Four team that year, having to face a red hot three-seeded Baylor (No. 8 RPI in 2010) in Houston. That was like a Dallas Cowboys game in terms of the amount of fans cheering for the native Texas team.

Duke also had a very good five-seeded Texas A&M (No. 8 RPI) in its Sweet 16 bracket, a game that also would have been played in Houston in front of a pro-Aggie crowd had they not bowed out of the tournament early to Purdue. Additionally, Louisville as a potential second round game was a much more difficult propsition heading into the tournament than, say, Northern Iowa or UNLV, which Kansas played the winner of.

Duke also wasn't given any favors by being sent to the same side of the bracket as Kentucky, which was many people's favorites to win it all behind John Wall and Co. heading into the Dance.

They had a cakewalk to get to the Baylor game................Any word on Lance Thomas or anyone else with integrity telling the whole story about the 97k worth of jewelry?

Prescott;1394297 wrote:They had a cake walk to get to the Baylor game................

Louisville and Texas A&M (in Houston) were far from cakewalk matchups for Duke heading into the Tournament. Did Duke benefit from not having to play either of those teams, and instead getting Cal and an injury-depleted Purdue? Certainly. But that is no fault of Duke or the Selection Committee. That's just how it shook out.

Again, a potential matchup with Louisville in the second round that year was a much more daunting challenge on paper compared to Northern Iowa. The Selection Committee did Duke no favors in that regard. Give me a break and save the Gonzaga sob story. Duke was paired with two Top 12 RPI teams from Texas IN Houston in the 2010 regionals. It doesn't get any more difficult in terms of tournament travel than that.