2008 NCAA Tournament Round 1 Discussion Thread

[YanksFan1992]

I as encouraged to start individual threads for each individual round (so 6 different threads in total), which will keep the clutter to a minimum.

The Tournament will start tommorrow with the play-in game between Mt. Saint Mary's and Coppin St at 7:30 PM (Eastern) for the right to play UNC in the first round (it will be aired on ESPN).

The 32 first round games will all be aired on CBS and will be played on Thursday and Friday.

Here is a bracket and a the first round schedule (thanks to trapper700 for the schedule).
http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/colleg...s/viewable_men

Thursday, March 20th
No. 14 Georgia at No. 3 Xavier, 12:20 PM ET
No. 16 Portland State at No. 1 Kansas, 12:25 PM ET
No. 12 Temple at No. 5 Michigan State, 12:30 PM ET
No. 11 Kentucky at No. 6 Marquette, 2:30 PM ET
No. 11 Baylor at No. 6 Purdue, 2:50 PM ET
No. 9 Kent State at No. 8 UNLV, 2:55 PM ET
No. 13 Oral Roberts at No. 4 Pittsburgh, 3:00 PM ET
No. 14 Cornell at No. 3 Stanford, 4:00 PM ET
No. 11 Kansas State at No. 6 USC, 7:10 PM ET
No. 15 Belmont at No. 2 Duke, 7:10 PM ET
No. 13 Winthrop at No. 4 Washington State, 7:20 PM ET
No. 9 Texas A&M at No. 8 Brigham Young, 7:25 PM ET
No. 14 Cal State Fullerton at No. 3 Wisconsin, 9:40 PM ET
No. 10 Arizona at No. 7 West Virginia, 9:40 PM ET
No. 12 George Mason at No. 5 Notre Dame, 9:50 PM ET
No. 16 Mississippi Valley State at No. 1 UCLA, 9:55 PM ET

Friday, March 21st
No. 15 American University at No. 2 Tennessee, 12:15 PM ET
No. 10 Davidson at No. 7 Gonzaga, 12:25 PM ET
No. 10 Saint Mary's at No. 7 Miami (FL), 12:30 PM ET
No. 12 Western Kentucky at No. 5 Drake, 12:30 PM ET
No. 15 Austin Peay at No. 2 Texas, 2:00 PM ET
No. 10 South Alabama at No. 7 Butler, 2:45 PM ET
No. 15 UMBC at No. 2 Georgetown, 2:55 PM ET
No. 13 San Diego at No. 4 Connecticut, 3:00 PM ET
No. 11 Saint Joseph's at No. 6 Oklahoma, 7:10 PM ET
No. 16 Mt. Saint Mary's/Coppin State at No. 1 North Carolina, 7:10 PM ET
No. 13 Siena at No. 4 Vanderbilt, 7:20 PM ET
No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Mississippi State, 7:25 PM ET
No. 9 Arkansas at No. 8 Indiana, 9:40 PM ET
No. 14 Boise State at No. 3 Louisville, 9:40 PM ET
No. 12 Villanova at No. 5 Clemson, 9:50 PM ET
No. 16 Texas-Arlington at No. 1 Memphis, 9:55 PM ET

[YanksFan1992]

Well seeing how neither Albany, Syracuse or Washington are in the tournament I will mostly be rooting for the lower seeds. In fact, the only 1-8 seeds I will be rooting for in the first round are Indiana, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Butler, Drake, Gonzaga and UNLV (and possibly USC). So essentially I am hoping for all of the 1-6 seeds to lose except for Vandy, Kansas and Drake

[ChrisRo]

I guess I'll be rooting for George Mason, cause they have the only Romanian player in NCAA Division 1 this year Can't wait to see Beasley against USC, that's gonna be one amazing game.

[YanksFan1992]

I guess I'll be rooting for George Mason, cause they have the only Romanian player in NCAA Division 1 this year Can't wait to see Beasley against USC, that's gonna be one amazing game.

Yeah it definitely will.

I'll probably end up rooting for Mason as well as I have a cousin who went there, and I typically watch most of the tournament games with him. Hopefully I can watch George Mason take down three of my more disliked teams to get to the Elite 8 (Notre Dame, WSU and UNC)...

[YanksFan1992]

Well I guess we can leave this thread in the dust...

[26 and counting]

Hopefully we'll see more upsets than last year. It's been a while since we've seen a #15 beat a #2. I'll be rooting hard for Belmont to beat Duke. It's Belmont's 3rd straight year in the tourney, and maybe Duke will have a bad shooting night, so who knows?

[YanksFan1992]

I was thinking we could use this thread for a discussion on the first round as a whole, and individual game threads to discuss each separate game.

[Game4Tino]

KState getting in was a surprise, but putting Mayo and Beasley on the same floor will get ratings everytime. Every year I say I'm gonna take Thursday and Friday off so I can just veg out to the 1st round (most exciting sports day every year) and then I forget and have to push the "Boss button" all damn day!

Upset Picks for the round:

St.Joes over OU - No real explanation, just a feeling.
Nova over Clemson - Just a feeling, that the Big East is just that much better than the ACC.
Hogs over Hoosiers - for obvious reasons, I think these kids are just ready to go home.

[Martini6196]

Siena over Vandy is my biggest upset of the first round. Vandy is exactly the type of team that Siena matches up against. This game will be a high scoring shootout.

Siena takes it 77-71.

[Game4Tino]

Siena over Vandy is my biggest upset of the first round. Vandy is exactly the type of team that Siena matches up against. This game will be a high scoring shootout.

Siena takes it 77-71.

And I though I was going out on a limb with St.Joe's!!

[dabomb2045]

I'm picking Siena too. If its a close game, watch for Kenny Hasbrouck to step up and make big shots for Siena. I see alot of MAAC games and that kid's been a clutch player his whole career.

I like Winthrop's chances against Wash St as well. I also took St.Joe's over OU.

[Martini6196]

And I though I was going out on a limb with St.Joe's!!

Let me just say that Siena only lost to St. Joe's by 6 and their best big man Alex Franklin didn't play. He averges 15 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Siena also beat Stanford 79-67.....

[YanksFan1992]

I am soooo ready for this to start!

[YanksFan1992]

I am soooo ready for this to start!

[RhodyYanksFan]

MMOD is up and running. I love how CBS has a "boss button". I wonder if their sales/office people can watch without worry.

[RhodyYanksFan]

Poor Georgia. 4 games in 3 days, and they don't even get a Friday game in the tourney. They're keeping up with Xavier so far though.

[b_joseph]

Poor Georgia. 4 games in 3 days, and they don't even get a Friday game in the tourney. They're keeping up with Xavier so far though.

They are doing more than that now. Words cant describe just how much I want them to win.

Admittedly because it would give Duke an easier path

[xenadanielle]

MMOD is up and running. I love how CBS has a "boss button". I wonder if their sales/office people can watch without worry.

In my office it's websensed. Almost everything good is.

So I will try to follow along here and on accessible-at-work sites.

[RhodyYanksFan]

At Halftime #14 Georgia LEADS #3 Xavier 35-26.

[yankswn23]

I have Xavier beating Duke in the next round..

[Martini6196]

I have Xavier beating Duke in the next round..

Me too.......Xavier realy woke up in the second half.

[freebubba]

I have Xavier beating Duke in the next round..

That could be tough - Xavier plays Purdue in the next round. I know what you are getting at. If I have my druthers, Duke goes home before that.

[YankeeGalSC]

Wow! Davidson beats Gonzaga and Curry with 40 pts!

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=284000011

[Jace]

Wow! Davidson beats Gonzaga and Curry with 40 pts!

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=284000011

I remember watching him last year when he almost took out Maryland by himself, so I kind of followed him this year. He's one of my favorite players in NCAA ball, he's amazing. Its really really hard to believe he was passed up by all the big schools... he is incredibly talented, and its true he was only 5'11 but you would think they would look past that when a) he has time to grow (he did, he's 6'3 now) and b) his superlative talent and shot

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Looks like Marquette will beat KY. Tough first round matchup.