3/21 NCAA Tournament First Round Game Thread

[YanksFan1992]

Here are the games for tommorrow:

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 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

[JeffWeaverFan]

My predictions:

Tennessee
Davidson
Saint Mary's
Drake
Texas
Butler
Georgetown,
UConn
Saint Joe's
UNC
Vandy
Miss. State
Arkansas
Louisville
Clemson (although hoping for Nova so Vandy gets a better matchup in the next round)
Memphis

Bets I love: Vandy -6.5, Drake -4, and Miss. State -2.5. I'm biased towards Vandy but there is absolutely no way we lose to Siena. Ogilvy will have an easy day on the inside which will create open looks for Foster and Gordon from the outside. I'd be surprised if we win by less than 15.

[YanksFan1992]

My predictions:

Tennessee
Davidson
Saint Mary's
Drake
Texas
Butler
Georgetown,
UConn
Saint Joe's
UNC
Vandy
Miss. State
Arkansas
Louisville
Clemson (although hoping for Nova so Vandy gets a better matchup in the next round)
Memphis

Bets I love: Vandy -6.5, Drake -4, and Miss. State -2.5. I'm biased towards Vandy but there is absolutely no way we lose to Siena. Ogilvy will have an easy day on the inside which will create open looks for Foster and Gordon from the outside. I'd be surprised if we win by less than 15.

I agree with almost all of your picks except for the two 8-9 games, as I am picking Oregon and Indiana in those games.

[Martini6196]

My predictions:

Tennessee
Davidson
Saint Mary's
Drake
Texas
Butler
Georgetown,
UConn
Saint Joe's
UNC
Vandy
Miss. State
Arkansas
Louisville
Clemson (although hoping for Nova so Vandy gets a better matchup in the next round)
Memphis

Bets I love: Vandy -6.5, Drake -4, and Miss. State -2.5. I'm biased towards Vandy but there is absolutely no way we lose to Siena. Ogilvy will have an easy day on the inside which will create open looks for Foster and Gordon from the outside. I'd be surprised if we win by less than 15.

Don't be so sure.......Siena beat Stanford this year by 13 and they have the Lopez brothers who are both 7 ft tall. They also beat Rider by 20 in the championship game that includes 6'11'' Jason Thompson who is a 1st round draft pick. Siena has 4 guys who can score 20 on any given day and 3 who average 15 points or more per game. Look out for Edwin Ubiles who many say is going to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft.

By the way I went to Siena if you couldn't tell......I'm assuming you went to Vandy?

[JeffWeaverFan]

Don't be so sure.......Siena beat Stanford this year by 13 and they have the Lopez brothers who are both 7 ft tall. They also beat Rider by 20 in the championship game that includes 6'11'' Jason Thompson who is a 1st round draft pick. Siena has 4 guys who can score 20 on any given day and 3 who average 15 points or more per game. Look out for Edwin Ubiles who many say is going to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft.

By the way I went to Siena if you couldn't tell......I'm assuming you went to Vandy?

I did go to Vandy. I am embarrassed right now. Great game by Siena. Can't say much else. You guys guarded our permiter game like crazy, and just killed us. By far the worst game we have played all year, and that has a lot to do with Siena's perimeter defense.

I'm somewhat in shock of how badly we played... I hadn't been so sure of a win in a long time, and look what happened. Yes Siena is a good 3 point shooting team, but so are we, it was just an absolute disgrace for us.

Anyways, good luck to Siena. You can definitely beat Villanova and I hope you do. After that, you'll play Kansas and I think that might be it. Either way, congrats on a very impressive win.

[Game4Tino]

Today's Winners:
Carolina
Louisville
Arkansas
St.Joe's - Is an 11 over a 6 really an upset? I hate to go against the Big12, but it's the Sooners...
Butler
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Villanova
Gonzaga
Georgetown
Memphis
Miss State
Miami
Texas
Drake
UConn

[YanksFan1992]

I really think today's games will be mutch better, especially because in only 3 of the 16 games yesterday did the winner win by less than 10.

Just look at some of the games we had:

Noon (Eastern):
Davidson-Gonzaga
Saint Mary's-Miami
Drake-Western Kentucky

3 PM (Eastern):
South Alabama-Butler

7 PM (Eastern):
Saint Joe's-Oklahoma
Oregon-Mississippi State
Vanderbilt-Siena

10 PM (Eastern):
Arkansas-Indiana
Villanova-Clemson

[keg411]

I expect my 'Canes to lose to St. Mary's today (despite Miami being the #7, St. Mary's is favored), but I'm somehow hoping we can pull off an upset. Apparently they have trouble with outside-shooting teams so there might be a smidge of hope.

[RJ44]

This is the first year in I can't even remember that I (A) didn't get the USA Today on Monday after Selection Sunday for their team-by-team analysis and regional brackets, AND (B) didn't watch even 1 second of an opening day game.
I can't say that I'm pleased about it.

[CptCrunch]

This is the first year in I can't even remember that I (A) didn't get the USA Today on Monday after Selection Sunday for their team-by-team analysis and regional brackets, AND (B) didn't watch even 1 second of an opening day game.
I can't say that I'm pleased about it.

Are you a commie or somethin?

[RJ44]

Are you a commie or somethin?

Seriously!
I think what happened is we were really expecting URI to do something (maybe even an NCAA win)... they got 20 wins fairly quickly, then Feb. took a total 180 and they had no chance...I think it's related to that. It has to be.

[RhodyYanksFan]

Seriously!
I think what happened is we were really expecting URI to do something (maybe even an NCAA win)... they got 20 wins fairly quickly, then Feb. took a total 180 and they had no chance...I think it's related to that. It has to be.

For me it's I don't have the cash to bet this year and I have no real interest in any team over another, as long as Duke doesn't win it all I'll be happy.

[CptCrunch]

Steve Gray is one helluva shooter.

[freebubba]

It means very little at this point, but I threw up a perfecto yesterday: 16-0. I have 5 lower seeds today though: St. Mary's, St. Joes, Oregon, Davidson, and W. Kentucky (had to take one #12, plus my buddy played baseball there).

[MassNYYfan]

1 guy in the office pool went 16-0 yesterday. 5 or so 15-1. I'm T19 with my 13-3 start.

Seems to me just about everyone has Duke losing in the Elite 8 to UCLA though. I've got them going out vs West Virginia. I hope I'm the one that's right - for a couple of reasons. Was killing me in the "upset-free" bracket to have them go anywhere. Ugh.

[CptCrunch]

Ugly finish to the half for Drake.

[RhodyYanksFan]

American hanging in there with Tennessee.

[RJ44]

American hanging in there with Tennessee.

Don't say that.

[RhodyYanksFan]

Don't say that.

Why not?

I like Bruce Pearl a lot, but 15/2 upsets are too rare to pass up, especially after Duke almost bit it.

[RJ44]

Why not?

I like Bruce Pearl a lot, but 15/2 upsets are too rare to pass up, especially after Duke almost bit it.

Gee, I don't know Greg... maybe it's cuz I have Tennessee WINNING IT ALL!

[MassNYYfan]

Come on, Davidson.

[BonusCantos]

Fie on Gonzaga.

[MassNYYfan]

American 40
Tennessee 40

[CptCrunch]

Wow, American has 13 offensive rebounds to Tennessee's 2.

[MassNYYfan]

There are no Cinderellas.

Great commercial.

[RJ44]

There are no Cinderellas.

Great commercial.

Maybe so, but Prince Charming's gonna be PISSED when he finds out.

[MassNYYfan]

He should have watched The Crying Game.

[MassNYYfan]

My two 10's are trailing. Grrrr....

[MassNYYfan]

Western Ky is putting Drake in the rearview.

[CptCrunch]

Curry ties it up.

[RhodyYanksFan]

Looks like a lot of people are switching to the American/Tenn game. My MMOD video is getting choppy.

[MassNYYfan]

Stephen Curry is one shooting mofo. Guess shooting is in the genes.

I'm still confused as to why he's at Davidson and not a bigger school.

[BonusCantos]

This is going to be a bad first wave of games for me. If Davidson comes back, 2-2 is the best I can manage. But the only way I lose a sweet 16 team is if Tennessee goes down.

[CptCrunch]

What the hell happened to St. Mary's? They were up 5 at the half and now they're down 14.

[MassNYYfan]

Someone wake up all those Aussies at St. Mary's ASAP.

[keg411]

'Canes are finally hitting the 3's .

Frank Haith really shored up the defense in the second half. St. Mary's only has 6 points right now (and the 'Canes have almost matched their first half scoring total).

Of course, it's nowhere near over and they still have a chance to choke it away .

Someone wake up all those Aussies at St. Mary's ASAP.

Hopefully they'll stay sleeping .

[MassNYYfan]

Damn Gonzaga is hitting 3's at a 20% higher clip than they average.

Fook.

[CptCrunch]

Curry is unreal. 8 3-pointers, 37 points.

[MassNYYfan]

Drake and St. Mary's both making late runs.

[MassNYYfan]

Curry should transfer to UNC.

[MassNYYfan]

89 FT% and the 1st rattles out.

[MassNYYfan]

Lane violation on the 2nd? Ouch!

[MassNYYfan]

Let him have the damn layup. WTF.

[CptCrunch]

These early games have killed me. 1-3 if the scores hold up.

[MassNYYfan]

Miami's gonna lock this one up. I'm a bad ACC fan for picking that upset, I guess.

[keg411]

Miami's gonna lock this one up. I'm a bad ACC fan for picking that upset, I guess.

That's okay. I'm a Miami fan and if I actually filled out brackets, I totally would have picked St. Mary's too. They were considered a "sleeper" team to really have a run.

Meanwhile, Jack McClinton made up for his poor ACC Tournament by putting up 36 points. There is a reason he was named to the ACC First Team .

[MassNYYfan]

Davidson wins!

82-76

[MassNYYfan]

With the Davidson win no one at my office will claim a perfect bracket.

[BonusCantos]

17-2 pending this Drake game.

[MassNYYfan]

Drake to within 1!