<p>What? Do you guys even watch basketball? Oregon is one of the most overrated teams in the nation. Their three top players - Brooks, Taylor, and Porter - are undersized and inconsistent on defense. The Ducks have no inside presence - offensively or defensively, for that matter - and they're rebounding is weak. They shoot the perimeter ball well, but draining three's is not enough to win ball games. Every FF-caliber team has a big man who is capable of dominating a game (OSU's Oden, TX's Durant, UCLA's Mbah a Moute, Wisc's Butch, FLA's Horford and Noah, UNC's Hansbrough and Wright, Georgetown's Hibbert, Mem's Dorsey...) Their record is misleading because they play in a very weak Pac-10.</p>
<p>Ummm...didn't Oregon just win the Pac-10 (which, by the way, is pretty good, just listen to the commentary on EPSN or something).</p>
<p>lol Is that where you guys get all of your information? ESPN? You're incapable of observing for yourselves? Incapable of understanding what "good" basketball is? Hah. </p>
<p>Out of their first thirteen wins, their only good win was a win at Georgetown. They beat teams like Lehigh, Portland State, and CSU Northridge. Then, the Ducks lost to USC at home. Lost key road games to USC, Washington and UCLA. Lost to Arizona at home. Another pair of losses against Cal and Stanford.</p>
<p>Smells like inconsistency to me.</p>
<p>i agree with avant-garde, and i have a question for you, who do you think is a dark horse or contender for the title?</p>
<p>Doesn't matter. Florida is winning it all.</p>
<p>And brackets are up!</p>
<p>It's an interesting year because for the first time in a while, there isn't a clear-cut favorite to win it all. Every so-called "elite" team has blatant weaknesses that has surfaced throughout the season. </p>
<p>FLA has been lax in showing that they are capable of repeating as champs. Their play as of late has improved, but I still question their ability to play well early in games. Against Vanderbilt and Tenn, two teams the Gators should have beat, they were down early and they didn't execute properly throughout the game. </p>
<p>OSU is purely a one-dimensional team. If you figure out Oden and force the other players to step up, any opponent can hang with the Bucks.</p>
<p>Wisconsin is a great defensive team, but I wonder if they can put up enough points on the board. They are a fundamentally sound ball club, but lack the explosive offense needed to win big games. They remind me a bit of Duke this year, strong defensively but not much offensively. Tucker needs to have a monster tourney in order for them to do well.</p>
<p>Memphis has surprised me this year. I remember watching Carney and Washington rocking the house every time the Tigers took the court; I didn't expect them to be so hot this year. They are in a weak C-USA and they don't have too many impressive victories. I expect them to do no better than they did last season.</p>
<p>UNC. Everyone has been writing them off because of their youth, but I'll tell you what, they are the team to watch out for this year. Yes, yes I know. A number one seed should always be approached with caution, but they are the most complete team in the country. Veteran leadership and astute coaching with Terry and Coach Williams. Combine that with the bubbling, youthful passion of Hansbrough, Wright, Ellington, and Lawson and you have a helluva team. If Wright plays the way he did in the ACC tournament, and Lawson continues to play steadily, Chapel Hill is in the Final Four.</p>
<p>TX is my dark horse this year. Why? Durant and Augustin. I think it's time for another Carmelo-esque season and why not start with the POY? In order for the Longhorns to get deep into the tourney, Durant needs to be a more consistent player. He'll put up 24 in the first half, but in the second, he'll only shoot 1-12 from the field. He needs to play like a champion from start to finish. But Durant can't do this himself, Abrams and Augustin need to contribute offensively.</p>
<p>Like I said earlier UNC is going to win. But I wanted to specify that they will beat Oregon in the final game.</p>
<p>Also watch out for Georgetown. They have such a huge size advantage against other teams.</p>
<p>Okay, I need to stop reading this thread because I just keep laughing too much.</p>
<p>You know, I never understand why they have the same teams play each other year after year in the first, second, and even third rounds of this tournament.</p>
<p>For example, didn't Indiana play Gonzaga in the first round last year? Didn't UCLA and Gonzaga meet in the second round last year? (If they both win in the first round, they would meet again in the second round this year). This would make sense if they were high seeds (and thus both rewarded by being placed in the West Region), but Gonzaga is a #10 seed.</p>
<p>I remember a few years back when Kentucky and Utah played each other like four years in a row--and everytime they met was third round or earlier (out of six possible).</p>
<p>I would think that the selection committee could try to mix these matches up a bit. I mean I know you can't match teams from the same conferences early and they try to reward some teams by putting them in the local region. But some of the locations make no sense anyway. For example, some of the East Region's first round games are in Sacramento, California and some of the West Region's first round games are in Buffalo, NY for heaven's sake !?!?</p>
<p>Plus a team like Texas A&M (#3 seed) gets rewarded by being forced to play what essentially would be a home game against Louisville (#6 seed) in Lexington, KY if both win the first round. This is totally illogical and unfair to Texas A&M. It's just strange.</p>
<p>They hate Louisville in Lexington.</p>
<p>Maybe so, but there will be NO, repeat NO Kentucky University fans at this game. The crowd will be at least 90% Louisville basketball fans who have come down from Louisville (about 60 miles away or so) to watch their team play.</p>
<p>I think I'll be rooting for Stanford.</p>
<p>haha looking forward to the second round game between Duke & Pitt. It's gonna be an interesting early fight!</p>
<p>also Maryland - Florida sweet 16 would be a great game too</p>
<p>What would have been a GREAT match-up, referring to the Indiana/Gonzaga thing is if they would have shaken it up like this:</p>
<p>7 seeds play 10 seeds - Indiana is a 7, Texas Tech is a 10. They could have very easily placed Texas Tech against Indiana in the first round as opposed to Ind. vs. Gonz....think about that...Bob Knight vs. his old team - now the only way they will meet is if they both make it to the final game.</p>
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TX is my dark horse this year. Why? Durant and Augustin. I think it's time for another Carmelo-esque season and why not start with the POY? In order for the Longhorns to get deep into the tourney, Durant needs to be a more consistent player. He'll put up 24 in the first half, but in the second, he'll only shoot 1-12 from the field. He needs to play like a champion from start to finish. But Durant can't do this himself, Abrams and Augustin need to contribute offensively.
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</p>
<p>Playing games on back to back days isn't easy, he gets tired just as most of the other players did. Durant is consistent, it's his team that isn't.</p>
<p>Unlv All The Waayyy Wooo</p>
<p>I'm only going to support my school: Go MSU!</p>
<p>Go Illini!</p>
<p>I think the whole selection thing was fine except my favorate team/college is Syracuse. They are awesome. I do not understand why they didn't get a tournament bid when they deserved one or should have gotten one. They were good this year. Also Villanova who as well is in the Big East Conference made it in the tournament and they were ranked two lower than Syracuse. Syracuse ended georgetowns 11 game winning streak and they won against uconn in the first conference game of the tournament. Let me know your thoughts.</p>