The Syndicate

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:20 pm A pox on all who don’t pick Buffalo to go to the Elite 8 at least.

How about Sweet 16?

Anyone want to participate again this year?

Here is a group I made; if anyone wants to join, feel free. Password is chronoton (because I couldn't help but reference Futurama).

Marmot wrote: ↑Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:54 pm UMBC didn't win, but we had two 7-seeds and two 9-seeds reach the Sweet 16 today instead.

You expect the 1-4 seeds to make the sweet 16 right? Only one of the eight teams to advance today was a 1-4 seed. Good stuff.

Here's a cool article by 538 where they empirically show that this year's Sweet 16 is even stranger than the average March Madness.

At this point, go UMBC to win it all. I actually wasn't TOO bad off until that disaster.

The ultimate underdogs must reign.

...and well, shit. Ugh. I had UC to win it all.

Of course they blew an entire-game massive double digit lead classic Cincinnati style.

Crazy Round 2 day today. First Syracuse barely pulls it off over MSU despite both teams towards the end looking like they were trying to throw the game as much as possible, and then UNC absolutely got wrecked by TAMU. And still more to come!

Marmot wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:23 pm How about that Virginia loss last night?

OMG I KNOW RIGHT??!

Epignosis wrote:Sloppy basketball is the most entertaining basketball (except for fouling slowing down the pace).

Yeah, the fouling would have gotten on my nerves, but at least it wasn't a blowout or anything.

Yeah, I didn't watch it, but it sounded like it sucked.

nijuukyugou wrote:Huh. Who won the Syndicate bracket pool?

Go Heels Go America

Congrats!! :yay:

Marmot wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:Wow, how about South Carolina in the Final Four? Crazy.

It's also Gonzaga's first Final Four appearance ever (I believe), and they are definitely the favorite to win it out of the four teams left, but they're still a solid group of teams left.

Pretty cool stuff.
I was thinking North Carolina would be the favorite at this point, but we'll see I guess.

I'm surprised I somehow managed second place right now. My bracket is a bloodbath.

I would have thought that too, but 538 which aggregates various statistics thinks otherwise. They actually give the UNC-Oregon match a 52%/48% probability, which is nearly an exactly even match. Crazy.

Wow, how about South Carolina in the Final Four? Crazy.

It's also Gonzaga's first Final Four appearance ever (I believe), and they are definitely the favorite to win it out of the four teams left, but they're still a solid group of teams left.

Pretty cool stuff.

I was going to say! How about Oregon? Crazy!

I'm officially knocked out completely now too. And I'm solidly in 9th place. Hi, Sloonei! At least I beat you.

Man, these games have been getting intense. Except for Kansas v. Purdue. Go Kansas!

Marmot wrote:
JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I'm pretty sure my bracket is murdered, but I haven't looked.
You and me both.

This is exciting though. Two 1&2 seeds have been eliminated already, and we're only halfway through the round of 32.

Indeed, I'm loving Round 2. Round 1 was a bit boring.

MovingPictures07 wrote:You're actually in 4th place right now too. If UK gets to the finals, Michigan upsets Louisville (score is 28-26 right now), and everyone else loses their National Champions, you could still theoretically win.

...and Michigan just upset Louisville (73-69). That's going to further wreck some brackets.

You're actually in 4th place right now too. If UK gets to the finals, Michigan upsets Louisville (score is 28-26 right now), and everyone else loses their National Champions, you could still theoretically win.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Oh shit I forgot I did that.

Well, it wasn't a bad choice necessarily; they were the favorite to win the whole thing, even if not heavily so. They did have a pretty treacherous path to get to the end though, but I don't think anyone expected them to bow out in Round 2.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I'm pretty sure my bracket is murdered, but I haven't looked.

And how about that Villanova loss? Didn't someone here put them as their National Champion?

Sloonei wrote:I see Xavier won again. I should have just picked them as my national champions.

Yeah, and by a lot. FSU tanked.

Yesterday was definitely more like normal March Madness. Round 1 was surprisingly not super crazy.

Sloonei, 538 is giving the game where your national champions are getting whooped the lowest possible excitement score: 0.1.

Sloonei wrote:My national champions are down 33 with 12 minutes to go. Here comes the comeback.

In other news: I got wrecked by SMU losing at the last second.

Sloonei wrote:My one true upset pick was correct; Xavier always seems to go deep into this tournament one way or another.

I had a feeling Xavier was going to pull it off as well.

My big upsets today so far are 1-1; I lost Princeton but I won MTSU. My third is FGCU over FSU, which seemed possible even if unlikely for a bit there, but now not so much.

GO MTSU, GO!!!

Marmot wrote:Just scrolled through my bracket. I only picked one upset that was higher than a 10-seed in the first round. 11 Rhode Island over 6 Creighton.

Not even MTSU over Minnesota?

Though I do have Rhode Island in that matchup as well. I would argue they're underseeded for sure.

Final score: Princeton 58 - Notre Dame 60. First game and my bracket is already tainted.

And better yet, Sloonei actually picked the higher rank out of that one (#5 v. #12), so for just this brief moment in time, I'm behind him and in last place with Jay.

COME ON, PRINCETON! Get your shit together and nab me a really good starting upset prediction here.

Marmot wrote:Has anyone told Sloonei how the seeding works?

And my alma mater (NKU) is in the tournament for the first time this year since securing Division I status in 2012!

But there was no way I was going to pick them over UK.

G-Man wrote:Oral Roberts University didn't make the tournament this year but thank God Wichita State did. If Oral isn't an option, I'll settle for the Shockers.

I could see the Shockers doing some real damage, as for some reason yet again they're dangerously underseeded. We shall see.

I voted Gonzaga even though my bracket predicts Baylor will fall in the second round to SMU, because it's Gonzaga and I think they'll be taken out fairly early.

In other news, with #5 Notre Dame v. #12 Princeton, I may have my first miss already since I went for the upset here.

Here's the group on Yahoo! where participants and spectators can check out everyone's brackets and current standings.

Also, new poll added.

Because Sloonei decided to actually have all #16 seeds advance not only beyond the first round but to the Final Four

, note that the poll asks which one will be the SECOND to go.

If you all have any suggestions for future polls, by all means.

So it begins! I'll be adding a poll shortly.

I spent way too long on mine on Tuesday, that's for sure.

It'll be worth it when my bracket crushes all of yours though.

8 brackets have been submitted! You still have another 3.5 hours or so to submit one if you are not one of those folks. And if you want the information for the bracket pool, PM me. I'll be here off and on until the first game starts at 12:15 Eastern.

Then I'll be starting the smack talk and game talk.

MovingPictures07 wrote:
JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Crap, I didn't realize the tournament started tonight.
Only the start of the play-in games that no one really cares about. The "real tournament" / Round 1 games don't start until Thursday, so you (and others) have until then to complete brackets and such. I would guess Thursday at noon Eastern is the standard cutoff.

Yeah, just confirmed, first Round 1 game between Notre Dame and Princeton starts at 12:15 Eastern on Thursday, March 16th.

I'll shoot you all a PM reminder to fill out the brackets tomorrow night in case anyone still needs to complete it.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Crap, I didn't realize the tournament started tonight.

Only the start of the play-in games that no one really cares about. The "real tournament" / Round 1 games don't start until Thursday, so you (and others) have until then to complete brackets and such. I would guess Thursday at noon Eastern is the standard cutoff.

Sloonei wrote:
JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I know jack shit about college basketball, but it'd be easy enough to fill out a bracket.
I am in this camp as well. I think I'll swing for the fences and pick an all 16 seed Final Four. It's bound to happen one of these years.

Do it, I dare you.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I know jack shit about college basketball, but it'd be easy enough to fill out a bracket.

I know right? Same here! I never follow any year and couldn't tell you even the simplest thing other than maybe some info regarding what happened in past tournaments (and even then, I didn't even follow some years), but I at least found filling these things out in the past to be fun.

Marmot wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:Anyone want to fill out brackets this year in a Syndicate league?
Yes please!

Sweet! Hopefully other people want to as well.

Anyone want to fill out brackets this year in a Syndicate league?

Illyria wrote:I'm sorry I wasn't around this go round. I'm a Tar Heel, as all of my family is, and I was GUTTED. I loved this team so much, losing like that was brutal. I almost wish they had us by 15 points at the end. It would have hurt, but not like that.

Yeah, a treasured team or player losing like that is always tough. Maybe they can make up for it next year.

I didn't have any reason to root for one team over the other, but considering Villanova had less history of NCAA success, I am glad they at least had their 15 minutes of fame this year. Of course, I can understand why you and other UNC fans wouldn't feel that way though.

Hell of a championship game. Props to Villanova for the win.

G-Man wrote:Holy crap. I saw your comment about it being a blow out and figured Oklahoma was lighting yet another team up. Just the opposite! The guy who was my tax professor my second time through college also teaches at Villanova, so I've been pulling for them.

I know, right? I definitely didn't expect it. Villanova could definitely win the whole thing if they play on Monday like they did tonight. UNC has been heavily favored from the getgo though, and Syracuse have gotten this far for a reason, so either way hopefully it'll be an interesting finals match.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I didn't watch the game, but I did see a couple stats afterward. A team shooting 78% does attribute some to preparation, but there was certainly some luck involved. When everything is rolling your way, it's hard to lose.

Indeed, once Villanova got ahead, it was pretty much over. That train just wouldn't stop.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I think they will perform better than Oklahoma will.

Lol, yeah, I'm with you there. That was a disaster.

Wow, what a one-sided match with Villanova v. Oklahoma.

Anyone think Syracuse actually has a chance tonight?

Crazy! I think you're right re: the coach. Too funny.

I could see MTSU beating Syracuse pretty easily, but they're probably going to get stomped by Gonzaga or Utah thereafter (my bet's on Gonzaga).

WOAH, there's that upset I was looking for! I would have never called that. WTF MSU?

13/16 for Day 1 of Round 1 isn't half shabby. I've definitely scored less.

I'll root for them anyway.

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