NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Thread - 2017 Edition

[BigSexyHog]

Got a push out of that game.   Guess it's better then a loss.   Glad Kentucky is going home a loser

[jbcarol]

 March Madness TV‏Verified account @MarchMadnessTV

#FinalFour Tip Times announced:

Gonzaga vs South Carolina at 6:09 pm, ET

North Carolina vs Oregon follows 40 minutes after conclusion

[jbcarol]

 Jon Rothstein‏Verified account @JonRothstein 4h4 hours ago

Need more proof on how conference tourneys have no bearing on the field of 68? South Carolina lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

[jbcarol]

 Gary Parrish‏Verified account @GaryParrishCBS

John Calipari has had a preseason top-four team seven times at Kentucky. He's fallen short of the Final Four in four of those seven seasons.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/UofSC/status/846133969179627522

[jbcarol]

 Jimmy Hyams‏ @JimmyHyams Mar 23

... SEC teams that made Elite 8 in 1986 were Kentucky, LSU and Auburn ...

[jbcarol]

 ESPN Stats & Info‏Verified account @ESPNStatsInfo 1h1 hour ago

South Carolina is 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament. It was 3-6 in its final 9 games entering the NCAA Tournament.

[jbcarol]

 ESPN Stats & Info‏Verified account @ESPNStatsInfo 1h1 hour ago

Only 657 Tournament Challenge brackets out of 18,797,085 had North Carolina, Oregon, Gonzaga and South Carolina in the Final Four

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846148503395020800

[jbcarol]

 Matt Jones‏ @KySportsRadio 1h1 hour ago

UNC fan called our Pregame Show today and said "Maye will win it for the Heels"....dude totally called his shot

[jbcarol]

 Mike McCurry‏ @Mike_McCurry16 53m53 minutes ago

The Final Four has consisted of at least one out of UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, UCLA, and Kansas in each of the last 30 seasons.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846175641716305921

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCBB/status/846198817896759300

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/846169759825711106

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/gatorhoops/status/846164413866524672

Some observations following Florida's 77-70 loss to South Carolina at Madison Square Garden in the Elite Eight

— Senior point guard Kasey Hill's final game in a Gator uniform encapsulated his UF career, some spectacular plays, followed by momentum-crushing mistakes.

— Sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes didn't have his best day defensively. Yes, Hayes had eight rebounds and three blocks, but too often, Hayes allowed South Carolina center Malik Kotsar to back down too easy in the post and get high-percentage shots.

— Junior forward Devin Robinson should have been able to impact the game more, given his size advantage at 6-8 compared to 6-6 guard P.J. Dozier. But Robinson never got into the flow of the game...

4. Three point percentage in the second half

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/846224953666158594

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/846412333530402818



https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/846409594826080256

https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/846409655123394560

[elksnort]

Dan Monson is at Long Beach State

Thank you. He was a hot item if I remember correctly. Coach Few has made me forget his name.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846428335379005441

[jbcarol]

 Adam Zagoria‏ @AdamZagoria

UNC is the favorite per @BovadaLV followed by Gonzaga. No surprise.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846477157987606528

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/NotJerryTipton/status/846125324228329472

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/846736466030026752

Matt Jones‏ @KySportsRadio 51m51 minutes ago

If you Call John Higgins' business right now, you get the FBI http://dlvr.it/NlDXMf 

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/DaggumRoy/status/846812744812810243

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/846829367686823936

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846878341701554176

Almost 40% got 0 Final Four teams correct.

Of the 64 teams left after the First Four, South Carolina was picked to win the championship in just 0.06 percent of all brackets, ranking No. 45 overall.

57 percent of users picks [sic] 10-seed Marquette to beat South Carolina in the first round. That was the highest percentage picking a 10-seed this year other than Wichita State over 7-seed Dayton —

3.15 percent of all users had South Carolina making it out of the first weekend. But of the 0.0026 percent that picked the Final Four correctly, 24.5 percent chose the Gamecocks to run the table.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/847094722355187712

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/AP_Top25/status/847127422940143616

#ItMeansMore

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/847221893459460097

[jbcarol]

Rick Barnes: He's the only man who has coached against each Final Four team

Quality Losses: Barnes' Vols lost 69-65 to Oregon on Nov. 22, 73-71 to North Carolina on Dec. 11, 86-76 to Gonzaga on Dec. 18 -- and then twice to South Carolina in the SEC. The first game with the Gamecocks was 70-60. The second was ... 82-55.

"So, if you really think about it, [South Carolina is] the only team we didn't play well," Barnes said...

"But I'm pulling for South Carolina [because of the SEC connection]. I'd love to see South Carolina win. And, I'm telling you, South Carolina can do it because they're going to fight and grind. ... It's going to be a hard-fought and physical game against Gonzaga. That's a game where, if I were an official, I wouldn't want to officiate that one.

"The most impressive victory to me in this whole thing is what Oregon did to Kansas," Barnes said. "I don't care what anybody says. That was the most impressive win in this entire tournament. Going into Kansas City and beating Kansas. And they beat them. That's the most impressive game I've seen a team win in this tournament. ... So logic would tell you it's going to be a North Carolina-Gonzaga championship game. But who knows? These other two teams might have lightening in a bottle.

"The x-factor is Joel Berry's ankle," Barnes said in reference to the injured ankle of UNC's point guard. "I guarantee you Roy Williams is scared to death about that."

Assuming we get Gonzaga-North Carolina in the title game, Barnes insisted he could see it going either way. "I bet it'll be a pick'em game," he said.

"Any team that rebounds 42 percent of its shots can overcome nights when they're not making 3s," he said. "And when they're making 3s, whole different team. When I saw them in Maui, they were on a different level than everybody else. I'd never seen a team play at the level North Carolina was playing at in Maui."

And what does Barnes like about Gonzaga?

"We scrimmaged Gonzaga every year for 10 years [while I was the coach at Texas] and, I'm telling you, this is the best team, by far, that Mark [Few] has ever had," Barnes said. "They're good at every position. And when he goes to the bench he's got some depth on his bench. Gonzaga has more talent than Mark's ever had. And they've done a great job of coming together."

[jbcarol]

 ESPN Stats & Info‏Verified account @ESPNStatsInfo Mar 26

More people had South Dakota State, Texas Southern and UC Davis in the Final Four in Tournament Challenge than South Carolina (106,192)

[cj_sez]

Death threats to a ref – the lunatics are threatening to overtake Kentucky's fan base


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/death-threats-to-a-ref-the-lunatics-are-threatening-to-overtake-kentuckys-fan-base-153826406.html

Lunatics....and the calls weren't near as bad as during the UA-UNC game. 

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/847535948355301376

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status/847616695959134208

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessTV/status/847586339205861377

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/847856689088839681

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/847866085055397888

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessTV/status/847260878881775618

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/847535948355301376

Kevin McCrarey‏ @KMacMustDie 2h2 hours ago

Sindarius Thornwell said he had a fever and headaches but he's feeling better now.

[jbcarol]

 David Cloninger‏ @DCTheState 2h2 hours ago

Maik Kotsar confirms his parents are coming to Saturday's game. First time he's seen them in 10 months.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/SECCountrySC/status/847934298636341248

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/CBSSports/status/848188696633507841

[jbcarol]

South Carolina 7  Zags 6  16:40  CBS

[alohawg]

Gamecocks defense is the real deal, be interesting if Zags can withstand 40 minutes.

[jbcarol]

SC 31  Zags 31  5:12

[jbcarol]

 Kevin McCrarey‏ @KMacMustDie 46s46 seconds ago

If you had Justin McKie outscoring Sindarius Thornwell with 5:12 left in the half and USC still tied you may collect your money.

[40MINSOFHELL]

South Carolina is getting away with some calls

[dhizzle]

I think both of these teams had basketball gods on thier side this year. Watching it I'm thinking what could have been?

[jbcarol]

 SportsTalk‏ @sportstalksc 2 seconds ago

Very physical, entertaining half of basketball. Gonzaga shooting 55%+ from the floor and lead 45-36 with :44.0 to play 1H. #FinalFour

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/848307909301817344

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/sportstalksc/status/848308234683166720

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/848309054950653952