College Basketball 2017-18: Road to the Alamo

[DG_Now 7,103]

5 minutes ago, BengalsJunkie said:

 

are you talking about the NCAA tournament or the NIT?

 

I wish I were this naive.

[DaRadniz29 77]

Sorry, fell into a trance where this UMBC team beat Virginia. Thankfully that trance is over and I'm back in real...wait what just happened?

 

 

I actually watched the entire second half and UMBC never looked scared, intimidated and Virginia looked confused, frustrated and cold until about the 10 minute mark of the second half.  Of couse everytime UMBC got up by 12-14, I'd look down at the game clock on my screen and I swear it was going in slow motion.

 

Congrats to UMBC, in the 5-6 years I've been doing bracket wallpaper, I know eventually a 16 seed would beat a 1, little did I know it would be the overall number one. 

 

Also in case anyone isn't aware - the first 16 seed upsets a 1 seed on the 16th of March, how did I not see this coming?

[dfwabel 2,115]

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/2018/03/16/little-caesars-pizza-umbc-virginia/434483002/

 

 

Quote

No. 16 seed University of Maryland-Baltimore County made history by demolishing No. 1 seed Virginia, 74-54, the first-time a No. 16 seed knocked off a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Before the tournament, the pizza company promised every family that enters a participating store between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. (local time) on April 2 and mentions the offer at the check-out counter would receive one free HOT-N-READY lunch combo.

 

[SabresRule7361 540]

And the South Region has been turned upside down just like that.

[Crabcake47 1,286]

Not really a huge college basketball fan (usually follow the tournament from a distance), but HOLY COW UMBC!!!! Making Maryland proud. What an upset. Hopefully the first of many!

[Dalcowboyfan92 275]

Congrats Arizona, you're off the heat a bit. You guys didn't lay the biggest egg in the tournament.

 

And now Virginia has two dubious losses as a #1 seed in tournament play.

[stumpygremlin 266]

19 minutes ago, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

Congrats Arizona, you're off the heat a bit. You guys didn't lay the biggest egg in the tournament.

 

And now Virginia has two dubious losses as a #1 seed in tournament play.

Virginia seems to have a history. This goes back to the loss, as the #1 ranked team in the country, to then-NAIA Chaminade.

 

I’ll say that it’s funny that everyone was saying that if it was going to happen this year, that Penn would be the one to do it, and looked for a half like they would.

[buzzcut 162]

6 hours ago, dfwabel said:

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/2018/03/16/little-caesars-pizza-umbc-virginia/434483002/

 

 

 

I'm taking advantage. Is anyone else?

[Dalcowboyfan92 275]

My CCSLC Bracket burst into flames and sunk when UMBC upset Virginia. I mean, when Arizona got stampeded by Buffalo, I kind of avoided major damage (because I had 'Zona lose to Kentucky in the Round of 32), but not this time.

 

(My Dad was not as lucky with Arizona compared to me.)

[dfwabel 2,115]

Under the radar in all of this is after all the complaining done by John Calipari about his path (as he does EVERY year), he is likely in the Elite 8.  The 4 and the 1 seed on his direct side of the bracket are out.

 

 

And UMBC athletics Twitter has been savage to writers and the bookstore hasn't been kind either.

[stumpygremlin 266]

30 minutes ago, dfwabel said:

 

And UMBC athletics Twitter has been savage to writers and the bookstore hasn't been kind either.

Oh?

[MBurmy 916]

WOW...believe the hype, ladies and gentlemen-this will continue to be talked about for YEARS to come.

 

My only question is, when conference expansion time rolls around again, will it be the A-10 or the CAA who picks up UMBC?

[stumpygremlin 266]

12 minutes ago, MBurmy said:

WOW...believe the hype, ladies and gentlemen-this will continue to be talked about for YEARS to come.

 

My only question is, when conference expansion time rolls around again, will it be the A-10 or the CAA who picks up UMBC?

Could be either one. They’re actually a geographic outlier in the America East, whose other schools are in Maine, NH, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

 

Geographically, they’d fit in the CAA or even the Big South first.

[dfwabel 2,115]

40 minutes ago, stumpygremlin said:

Oh?

The main targets Seth Davis and Jon Heyman.

 

For Davis:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/03/17/seth-davis-apologizes-after-getting-roasted-by-umbcs-twitter-account/?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.685e388ca485

 

Quote

CBS studio analyst Seth Davis has a tradition during the NCAA tournament, one that’s become fairly well known to college basketball. When a game’s outcome is no longer in doubt, Davis tweets out “Sharpie” to his hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.

 

Friday night, he tweeted “Virginia. Sharpie” at exactly 9:36 p.m.

 

Which was something like two minutes after the game tipped off.

And so the gentleman running the UMBC Athletics Twitter account, at the start of a career-defining night, began relentlessly pestering Davis about his premature announcement, as the Retrievers turned what was supposed to be a blowout into a back-and-forth affair.

 

[stumpygremlin 266]

8 minutes ago, dfwabel said:

The main targets Seth Davis and Jon Heyman.

 

For Davis:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/03/17/seth-davis-apologizes-after-getting-roasted-by-umbcs-twitter-account/?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.685e388ca485

 

 

Ah playful swagger. Love it. The sports world needs more of it. 

[mr.nascar13 779]

Loyola defeated Tennessee to earn a spot in the Sweet 16. Hate to see the season end for UT but man, I'm hoping we get a Loyola-UMBC Elite 8 matchup. 

[sc49erfan15 1,346]

17 hours ago, stumpygremlin said:

Geographically, they’d fit in the CAA or even the Big South first.

 

UMBC was in the Big South from 1992-1998, during the Big South's attempted expansion to the mid-Atlantic. Towson was also a Big South member for a few years.

 

Anyway, I don't think one tournament win (as big as this one is) is going to bring the A-10 calling. CAA, maaaaybe - but also because that's a much better geographic fit in the first place. They're going to have to turn this into something a lot bigger (which is certainly possible), but UMBC actually has the lowest all-time winning percentage of all America East men's basketball teams.

[waj287 27]

Texas Tech beat Florida in a super close game...so that happened.

 

Also, my bracket’s busted because I had Tennessee going to the final and well...you know.

 

UMBC plays again tonight, so that’s cool. Hope they keep this bracket-busting streak alive.

[leopard88 1,902]

I know I'm jumping in a little late on this, but raise your hand if you actually knew anything about UMBC before Friday night.

 

*raises hand because it's 25 minutes from his house and his wife earned one of her degrees there.

[rams80 3,400]

On 3/17/2018 at 11:11 AM, MBurmy said:

WOW...believe the hype, ladies and gentlemen-this will continue to be talked about for YEARS to come.

 

My only question is, when conference expansion time rolls around again, will it be the A-10 or the CAA who picks up UMBC?

 

CAA if they are desperate.  Picking off Virginia is one thing, but it doesn't change the issue that UMBC is a commuter campus within the Maryland system.