2020-21 College Basketball Discussion and Pick'em Thread

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Oral Roberts becomes the second 15 seed to ever go to the Sweet Sixteen, joining 2013 Florida Gulf Coast.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

I am so dumbfounded about the Illini game. They've seen it all, and come back from any deficit over the past two years. They were the most tested, most clutch, hottest team in the country. But they looked completely and utterly lost, like it was each of their first game playing / coaching in college basketball. Really embarrassing look for a team and fanbase that is desperate to see success on the big stage.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I am so dumbfounded about the Illini game. They've seen it all, and come back from any deficit over the past two years. They were the most tested, most clutch, hottest team in the country. But they looked completely and utterly lost, like it was each of their first game playing / coaching in college basketball. Really embarrassing look for a team and fanbase that is desperate to see success on the big stage.

The committee really messed up by giving a team in the Top 10 of both the NET and KenPom rankings an 8 seed.  It was unfair to Illinois to have had to face a team like Loyola in the second round.  It's still certainly an upset, but I don't view it as a typical 8-over-1 upset.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I went from total panic/meltdown to Matthew McConaughey smoking a cigar reaaaaal fast. Always nice when a Sunday night gets to this level of complete relaxation, especially in March.

[GeorgiaModerate]

A couple of observations so far:

1. The PAC-12 was way underrated by most people.

2. The comittee really needs to stop putting in so many mediocre P5 teams. Choose more of the good non-P5 teams instead.

ETA: And yes, Loyola was ridiculously underseeded.

[DINGO Joe]

I kind of wanted to see what Loyola would do with Cade. Oh well.

[Donerail]

Pac-12 is now 7-0 in the tournament. 6-0 against the spread (plus one victory against the "spread" of the novel coronavirus). Every win except the UCLA win in the First Four (and the Oregon no contest) has been by double digits. Conference of Champions

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

What a bad day for brackets, even if you get Zags right your bracket is still messed up, Mid Majors fall out in end but create havoc in brackets

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/RedditCFB/status/1373814369373585408

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

I'm really bad at rooting for just one college team. I root for Oklahoma in football and Wichita State in basketball but I have like 10 auxiliary teams in both sports that I like to see succeed as well. I guess I'm pulling for Oklahoma in March Madness now, but I would love to see Oral Roberts or Ohio or Abilene Christian go the distance. I also think Colorado and Arkansas are really entertaining. This has been a really fun tournament.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The hard thing about it is that sports is regional, I picked the Zags and USC to win it all, just like in all 4 other sports Tampa and WC Cali teams have been dominant.

Look, Stafford with Rams

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

The hard thing about it is that sports is regional, I picked the Zags and USC to win it all, just like in all 4 other sports Tampa and WC Cali teams have been dominant.

Look, Stafford with Rams

Do you think it's normal to root for multiple teams, even if you're not close to them geographically?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The hard thing about it is that sports is regional, I picked the Zags and USC to win it all, just like in all 4 other sports Tampa and WC Cali teams have been dominant.

Look, Stafford with Rams

Do you think it's normal to root for multiple teams, even if you're not close to them geographically?

I think it's normal to have a team that is "your team" in any sport and then a handful of others that you enjoy watching and might find yourself hoping they win a game.  But, there should never be any ambiguity as to whether they are "your team".

I'm also personally OK with people having "second favorite team" in the opposite conference from their main team in pro sports, but some might not agree with me there.  I'm also good with cheering for your conference in the postseason in college sports, but that might just be the SEC fan in me there.

I personally find it hard to care about a game if I'm not rooting for something to happen, but also don't want to cheapen the excitement you feel when YOUR TEAM finally wins it all.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The hard thing about it is that sports is regional, I picked the Zags and USC to win it all, just like in all 4 other sports Tampa and WC Cali teams have been dominant.

Look, Stafford with Rams

Do you think it's normal to root for multiple teams, even if you're not close to them geographically?

I think it's normal to have a team that is "your team" in any sport and then a handful of others that you enjoy watching and might find yourself hoping they win a game.  But, there should never be any ambiguity as to whether they are "your team".

I'm also personally OK with people having "second favorite team" in the opposite conference from their main team in pro sports, but some might not agree with me there.  I'm also good with cheering for your conference in the postseason in college sports, but that might just be the SEC fan in me there.

I personally find it hard to care about a game if I'm not rooting for something to happen, but also don't want to cheapen the excitement you feel when YOUR TEAM finally wins it all.

I'm somewhat the same way about rooting for other SEC teams, but it's secondary to Georgia's strongest rivalries.  I'm NOT going to root for Alabama, Auburn, or Florida; Tennessee is borderline.  But I'm happy to root for the other SEC teams in the postseason.  I also root for other Georgia teams (Georgia State, Kennesaw State - but not Georgia Tech.)

[GeorgiaModerate]

Oregon-Iowa in a track meet.  It's 56-46 Oregon at the half.

[Mr. Illini]

I am so dumbfounded about the Illini game. They've seen it all, and come back from any deficit over the past two years. They were the most tested, most clutch, hottest team in the country. But they looked completely and utterly lost, like it was each of their first game playing / coaching in college basketball. Really embarrassing look for a team and fanbase that is desperate to see success on the big stage.

The committee really messed up by giving a team in the Top 10 of both the NET and KenPom rankings an 8 seed.  It was unfair to Illinois to have had to face a team like Loyola in the second round.  It's still certainly an upset, but I don't view it as a typical 8-over-1 upset.

This isn't a great excuse, though. Prior to the tournament, they 4 top ten teams in their prior 5 games. Loyola isn't an 8 seed, but the Illini still should have been able to beat them.

Regarding what Illiniwek said, though, I feel like their performance isn't indicative of anything broader than that they got knocked off by really good team. The Illini were on a hot streak, but hot streaks always end eventually. Not to mention that these kind of upsets just happen in March. Just look at OSU and Purdue.

One broader conclusion that I think is fair to make, though, is that the Big Ten was not as good as everyone thought. Michigan and Maryland are the only ones left standing, and we'll see how long that lasts.

[GeorgiaModerate]

LSU-Michigan is the game of the day so far.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Pac 10 is doing swell USC, USC and Zags

[Donerail]

Third-worst loss in the history of Kansas basketball

[ChelseaT]

Sadly it looks like WSU will never be relevant in basketball so gotta say go zags!

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Eventhough Brackets are busted proud to have UCLA, USC and Zags advance.

This was not the year of Big 10

[DINGO Joe]

Not every bracket is busted

https://twitter.com/DavePasch/status/1371246167204392962

[GeorgiaModerate]

My bracket isn't in totally awful shape.  I got only 8 of the Sweet 16 correct, but 6 of my Elite 8 and 3 of my Final Four (Gonzaga, Alabama, Arkansas) are still alive.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Brackets are never gonna be correct, this isn't the pros, this is college and Mid Majors always weed out the teams like IL, Ohio State the pretenders not contenders like Zags and USC

The teams don't play each other all the time during the season

[GeorgiaModerate]

This year's Sweet 16 is the least "chalky" ever; it has the highest average seed (5.88) since the seeding system started in 1985.  The historical average is 4.45.  Weirdly, the most chalky Sweet 16 was one tournament ago (2019), when it was 3.09.