And a once in a lifetime happening in March Madness

[vicrider 0]

I haven't seen this mentioned on the board yet but the first EVER upset of a 16 over a 1 seed happened. No one, No one, saw this coming. I would have watched the game except my limited TV channels now didn't have it. I did see a lot of replays of the second half and Virginia was flat outhustled and out fought for every ball and UMBC was shooting the lights from 3 point line. Virginia, having a huge size edge across the board, was outrebounded offensively and defensively by the smaller team.

 

Virginia will be an asset to every top echelon team out there because they realize overlooking anyone now can mean they put it back on the trailer and go home. The teams expected to lose are going to be so pumped by what UMBC (are they a junior college or a tech school?) did that they'll think they can do it and come at the those top seeds stronger than ever. If a top seed finds itself close at the end this is the time the underdog finds a second wind and fights tooth and nail for every loose ball and we see a few upsets in the tourney every year but never one like this. I doubt you could find more than 1 bracket filled out without VA in Final Four outside of possibly Maryland in the country. I would also guess 50% of the brackets had VA winning it all.

[flytire 0]

the best part is free pizza lunches from little ceasars

 

http://fox2now.com/2018/03/17/little-caesars-to-honor-promise-to-give-away-free-lunches-if-a-16-seed-team-beat-a-1-seed/

[Hogan 0]

That's March madness at it's best. The way the brackets are set up,there is always some good upsets. I didnt know it was the first of its kind, though. You're right, it could be a great motivational tool for both teams.

[vicrider 0]

Sorry Norm, you'd have to be in line at dawn to be ahead of the winos and street people at most locations. Hey, they deserve a free meal once in awhile beside Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[Jaydub 0]

Yes, an upset for the ages. Some of us are old enough to remember the last time Virginia was ranked #1 and were beaten by Chaminade a small NAIA school, during the regular season. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Virginia_vs._Chaminade_men%27s_basketball_game

[redietz 0]

The teams expected to lose are going to be so pumped by what UMBC (are they a junior college or a tech school?)

 

They're a campus of the University of Maryland system, with a heavy concentration in computer science and mathematics. A PhD from there is fairly prestigious in those fields. The joke in this area (which hints at why they're not a powerhouse in basketball) is that the acronym actually stands for "U Must Be Chinese" (and given stereotype of Asians, the implication is that it's a serious school, not a party school.)

 

I suppose you could call them a tech school in the sense of MIT or RPI.

 

It was a great game.

[vicrider 0]

Jaydub, you kind of confused me with your post. Yes, I was telling my wife about that upset with Chaminade over Ralph Sampson's VA team. Thing is, it was at a tournament in Honolulu and not a regular season game. That's what made it even more exciting was VA was more or less given that trophy for the tournament before the first tip off was tossed up. I was much more into BB then than I am now and that was one of the greatest upsets of all time, though there have been others.

 

redeitz, thanks for the info on the school. Didn't know much about them. I remember a game in the NCAA some years back when one of the IVY League schools was playing well but one of their star players was in Japan trying to sell the patent rights to a quieter vacuum system. Compare that team and UMBC to some of the big name BB schools that are lucky if the actually degree 25% of their players. I remember watching Bob Huggins coaching the Cincinnati Bearcats in an NCAA game and the announcer brought up the Huggins had not graduated a player with a degree in something like 6 years. Then there were powerhouse teams led by people like Coach "K", Bobby Knight, and several others I can't think of right now that ran reasonably honest programs, graduated a good % of their players, yet still won games.

[Kentuckysteve 0]

Kentucky is one of those teams.I doubt we even fit into the 25%.I remember in the 80's we had some great teams and just about all the players stayed the 4 yrs and got their degree.That was more important to them.Now it seems they can't even get thru a season and the players are trying to go pro.We are famous for the one and done and calipari sets his reputation on it.

 

I doubt there is a reasonably honest program.I think louisville and the others were just the ones that got caught.They have been buying and selling our kids for years.

 

After a terrible season we somehow got lucky and won the SEC championship which automatically put us in the NCAA tournament.We were headed to the NIT.We would be playing UMBC tonight if they had not lost to Kansas st.We have had one of the worst seasons i can remember but somehow we are hanging in like a hair in a biscuit.I just wonder how long the luck is going to last.

[Philly 0]

The luck ran out last night. Good game though. I'll continue to root for Villanova and Loyola Chicago.

[Kentuckysteve 0]

Yea i was surprised they stayed in that long.That was a pretty pitiful performance by kentucky.They only shot 38% and 26% of their offensive plays resulted in a turnover that kansas st.scored with.

Coach calipari had never lost a sweet 16 game at kentucky and kansas st. had never beat us until last night.They just flat out played us and we just plain sucked.

[vicrider 0]

Loyola Chicago, who's that? Last of the Cinderella's in this tournament, though some say Michigan is in over it's head. A lot of those teams coming on as the Cinderella's are comprised often of junior college or two year schools with students who couldn't make the scholastic grades or weren't at top of their game yet. Two years of seasoning in junior college and some of them come out on fire for the four year schools.