NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - 2015 Edition

[jbcarol]

Final from UD Arena

BYU 90  Ole Miss 94

[jbcarol]

Hugh Kellenberger @HKellenbergerCL  ·  7 hours ago
My print column, on just how preposterous all of what happened here in Dayton was. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/2015/03/18/kellenberger-brink-humiliation-sweet-win/24943887/ ...

Those inside Ole Miss' locker room at halftime Tuesday, when the Rebels were down by 17 points to a BYU team that simply would not could not miss, said that the mood was one of resolve. Coach Andy Kennedy spoke, but so did most of the seniors. So did Martavious Newby, a junior captain who decided the comeback to win 94-90 and advance to the second round would have to start with his defense.

"We just wanted to show that we belonged here," Kennedy said.

"We didn't want to lose. That was it. We didn't want to get embarrassed," LaDarius White said.

"These guys got their heads up, and started pursuing the ball. We just started making shots, together as a team," Newby said.

Man, did they ever -- Ole Miss scored 62 points in the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field after a first half in which it shot 30. M.J. Rhett was the best big man on the floor, scoring 14 second-half points (he had 20 for the game). Stefan Moody broke out of his slump in a significant way, making three 3-pointers and scoring 15 (part of a team-high 26) in the final 20 minutes.

Even Jarvis Summers, whose senior season has been wholly disappointing up to this point ("He's had the yips like I've never seen," Kennedy said), responded. Summers was 1-of-11 from the field in the first half, but made 4-of-10 shots in the second half and had seven assists, five rebounds and one turnover.

"I told him I'm going to ride with him," Kennedy said.

[jbcarol]

Jimmy Buckets @JimmyWhitt33  ·  12 hours ago
Quinton Chievous!!!!!! My guy left Tennessee and is doin work at Hampton, just caught a killer body.

[jbcarol]

NCAA March Madness @marchmadness  ·  55 minutes ago
After seven years without a bid, returning to #MarchMadness is very special for Arkansas: http://on.ncaa.com/1AZisrv 

[jbcarol]

Blast from the past:  The compromise that brought the field of 68 and First Four games

July 13, 2010

The final four at-large teams and final four automatic qualifiers in the newly minted 68-team NCAA men's basketball tournament field will meet for the right to enter the traditional 64-team draw, tournament selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero announced Monday.

The "First Four" will be played either the Tuesday or Wednesday after Selection Sunday. The winners of the four games will advance to what will now be called the "second round" on either Thursday or Friday. The newly named third round -- with 16 games -- will be Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the tournament -- regional semifinals (Sweet 16) and regional finals (Elite Eight) -- will remain as they have been, as will the Final Four, which is set for Houston in 2011.


The games will be televised on TruTv (formerly CourtTV), which is available in 93 million homes, said NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen, who manages the NCAA tournament. CBS, Turner, TBS and TruTV are in their first year of a $10.8 billion, 14-year television agreement. ESPN had carried the tournament's opening-round game in previous years.

Dayton, which had been the host site for the opening-round game, is the likely destination for the games but there could be other sites looked at for future First Four games beyond 2011, Guerrero said. When the winners would play in the second round is still to be determined but one aspect is certain: If teams meet on Tuesday they would feed into a Thursday format, and the Wednesday winners would play on Friday if the First Four is split into two days.

This is the first time the last four at-large teams will be revealed publicly. Traditionally, the at-large teams are scattered throughout the seeding process, rarely going past No. 12, making it relatively easy to identify them. Yet the committee now will formally announce the last at-large teams by putting them in the first round.

Guerrero and Shaheen said the last four at-large teams would be put on the seed line the committee decided they earned. So, this could mean that two could be considered No. 12 seeds playing for the right to play a No. 5 and two could be No. 11s vying to play a No. 6 in the second round.

In its news release, the NCAA listed the 10th seed as a possible destination for the last at-large teams, something that has occurred in past years. It is unlikely that the committee will have one team seeded 10th, 11th or 12th to avoid having teams seeded differently playing in a First Four game.

"The teams selected for these games will be like teams," Guerrero said. "We felt if we were going to expand the field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line. We won't know until the seeding takes place and the principles and procedures are used and the teams are slotted appropriately."

Shaheen said the process will follow the same model used to select the previous 34 at-large teams, with the number now 37. Committee members go through a series of ballots, moving teams into the field and eliminating others by voting privately on a computer to determine the last at-large teams. The seeding and bracketing takes place once the teams have been selected to the field of 68.

The 10-member committee spent the last two months debating how to format the larger field. The committee decided in April to increase the field from 65 to 68 with three more additional at-large teams (going from 34 to 37) at the same time it announced it had agreed on a new television contract.

Other options discussed during the committee's meeting in Chicago the last week of June were: the last eight automatic qualifiers -- the Nos. 16 and 17 seeds -- playing against each other for the right to be the 16th seeds; and making the last eight at-large teams playing for specific seed lines. The compromise was this hybrid model which Guerrero said evolved out of many discussions with committee members and among the NCAA Division I membership.

"There was no consensus," Guerrero said. "We selected a format that will break new ground. We're excited about the concept of the First Four. We think we've added value to the tournament."

The NCAA made clear it's not interested in hearing complaints from high-profile conference teams that have to play in the First Four.

"Three of the four teams that would be in these games [the two First Four games involving at-large teams] wouldn't have been in the tournament in 2010," Shaheen said. "The fact is they weren't in the tournament before."

Shaheen said the First Four should be a natural bridge from Selection Sunday to the second round of the tournament. He said the opening-round game was the only presence of the sport in years past between Selection Sunday and Thursday's first round.

The selection committee punted on what was the most fair and equitable solution and did what was the best business decision. -- ESPN's Jay Bilas at the time.

[jbcarol]

Steve Walentik @Steve_Walentik  ·  21 hours ago
From Tuesday's Tribune: TAKE TWO: Deserving teams don't get left out of NCAA field http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/take_two/take-two-deserving-teams-don-t-get-left-out-of/article_fc1db55d-3ea7-5461-bf3e-b2a4a7f406f0.html ...

Here's my choice for the biggest snub from this year's NCAA Tournament: Nobody.

"Nobody" was also my choice for the biggest snub from last year's NCAA Tournament. And the one before that. And the one before that, and, well, you get my point.

There was a time when deserving teams were kept from competing for the national championship, but it hasn't been recently...

...the purpose of the NCAA Tournament is to unearth a champion of college basketball. Murray State isn't that team. Neither is Colorado State, Temple or the Tulsa team that swept the Owls but lost to Oral Roberts and Division II Southeastern Oklahoma State.

[jbcarol]

SEC Network @SECNetwork  ·  14 hours ago
Andy Kennedy's halftime speech!

[jbcarol]

Halftime in Daton

Robert Morris 29   No. Florida 35

[jbcarol]

Robert Morris beat UK two years ago in John Calipari's home township.

[jbcarol]

Rob Morris 53   N Florida 60   9:09

[jbcarol]

RM 73  NF 66  1:44

[jbcarol]

RM 78  NF 76  :10.1

Morris ball

[jbcarol]

Final from UD

81-77 Robert Morris

[jbcarol]

First Round Games (Dayton, Ohio)
Wednesday, March 18
Announcers: Ian Eagle, Doug Gottlieb, Evan Washburn
Network: truTV

8:20 p.m. CDT:
Game 2: Boise State vs. Dayton

[jbcarol]

Dayton 5  Boise St 4   15:36

[jbcarol]

Half at UD

Dayton 20  Boise St 29

[jbcarol]

Day 48  BSU 53  3:00

[jbcarol]

Final from UD Arena

Dayton 56  Boise St. 55

[jbcarol]

Round of 64 Games (Afternoon session)
Thursday, March 19

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Announcers: Brian Anderson, Steve Smith, Louis Johnson
Network: CBS
12:15 p.m. EST: Notre Dame vs. Northeastern
Game 2: Butler vs. Texas

Louisville, Kentucky
Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel, Allie LaForce
Network: truTV
12:40 p.m. EST: Iowa State vs. UAB
Game 2: SMU vs. UCLA

Jacksonville, Florida
Announcers: Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Jamie Erdahl
Network: TBS
1:40 p.m. EST: Baylor vs. Georgia State
Game 2: Xavier vs. BYU/Ole Miss

Portland, Oregon
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner, Rachel Nichols
Network: TNT
2:10 p.m. EST: Arizona vs. Texas Southern
Game 2: VCU vs. Ohio State

Round of 64 Games (Evening session)
Thursday, March 19

Pittsburgh
Announcers: Anderson, Smith and Jackson
Network: TBS
6:50 p.m. EST: Villanova vs. Lafayette
Game 2: NC State vs. LSU

Louisville
Announcers: Lundquist, Spanarkel and LaForce
Network: CBS
7:10 p.m.: Cincinnati vs. Purdue
Game 2: Kentucky vs. Manhattan/Hampton

Jacksonville
Announcers: Catalon, Lappas and Erdahl
Network: TNT
7:20 p.m. EST: North Carolina vs. Harvard
Game 2: Arkansas vs. Wofford

Portland
Announcers: Harlan, Miller, Bonner and Nichols
Network: truTV
7:27 p.m. EST: Utah vs. Stephen F. Austin
Game 2: Georgetown vs. Eastern Washington

[jbcarol]

Jerry Palm @jppalmCBS  ·  Mar 17

at Jucos? RT @Greg_Gaston: Where does Andy Kennedy find these Juco shooters? First Henderson and now Moody.

[jbcarol]

Keith Carter @KeithCarterOM  ·  Mar 17

Been around hoops for a lot of years....never really seen anything like that! Unbelievable second half! Congrats @OleMissMBB #WAOM

[jbcarol]

Randy Rosetta @RandyRosetta  ·  11 hours ago

Two years at #LSU were a good memory for Ralston Turner, but he found more success with N.C. State http://s.nola.com/YiBuuBC  via @nolanews

Randy Rosetta @RandyRosetta  ·  1 hour ago

#LSU (9) vs. N.C. State (Eight): Chalk talk http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2015/03/lsu_vs_nc_state_ncaa_tournamen.html ...

Records: LSU 22-10, N.C. State 20-13

Last meeting/series: Strangely enough, this is the first time the Tigers and Wolfpack will meet in basketball.

Last time out: LSU couldn't close things out against Auburn in an SEC Tournament quarterfinal game last Friday in Nashville and dropped a 73-70 decision in overtime. N.C. State won its first game at the ACC Tournament, 81-70 against Pitt, but then absorbed its most lopsided loss of the season in the quarterfinals to Duke, 77-53.

Up next: Winner moves on to face the winner between No. 1 seed Villanova and Lafayette on Saturday.

Of note

This is LSU's 21st NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers are 24-23 all-time in the event.

When Hornsby decided to transfer from UNC-Asheville after the 2011-12 season, his final decision came down to LSU, N.C. State and Saint Mary's. The Tigers' junior guard played against the Wolfpack twice while at UNCA, including a 23-point outburst when he was a sophomore.

[CabotHog87]

Thanks for all the updates and quips jb. One more hour till this thing really gets rollin'!

[jbcarol]

Thanks for all the updates and quips jb. One more hour till this thing really gets rollin'!

Can hardly wait

[jbcarol]

Someday, Wofford will win an NCAA tournament game.

The Terriers believe it could happen tonight (approximately 10 p.m. on TNT television) against Arkansas in the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. They think it is the program's best chance since they nearly pulled off a monumental upset of No. 4 seeded Wisconsin five years ago in this very building, tied in the final minute and with the ball, down two points, in the closing seconds of a 53-49 loss.

Is it today?

Someday, they said about a decade ago, Wofford would win a Southern Conference tournament and go to the NCAA tournament as the little school in the Big Dance. But after four berths in the past six seasons, someday is now used in a different way.

Someday, Wofford will win an NCAA tournament game.

The Terriers believe it could happen tonight (approximately 10 p.m. on TNT television) against Arkansas in the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. They think it is the program's best chance since they nearly pulled off a monumental upset of No. 4 seeded Wisconsin five years ago in this very building, tied in the final minute and with the ball, down two points, in the closing seconds of a 53-49 loss.

If the Terriers can make history, head coach Mike Young said, he might not be around for Saturday's next game against either North Carolina or Harvard.

"I might just shut it down," Young said. "I may just start running back to Spartanburg. It would be unbelievable."

Wofford was expected to be here. The Terriers won the Southern Conference championship last season, returned all but one player, and were picked in preseason polls to win back-to-back titles for the second time in school history. They did it in impressive fashion, breaking program records for wins (28-6) and going 19-2 against the league.

So is this the team the one that also takes Wofford to another level as the first to win an NCAA tournament game? The Terriers have their highest seeding, No. 12, and that is also the spot where underdogs have actually gone 6-2 in the past two NCAA tournaments.

"We've set milestone after milestone as a team for Wofford this year," said senior guard Karl Cochran, the Southern Conference player of the year. "And if we solidify a win in the tournament this year, we would build upon our program and challenge the group under us to top that, maybe even win two games the year after that, and just continue to push forward."

Young said he doesn't talk to his team about how much it has accomplished and the legacy it will leave behind. He talks only about the next game, the next opportunity. But he knows what even one victory in the NCAA tournament would mean to the program.

"In private moments, I think of the things this team has done and what this group of people has done," Young said. "... Magic carpet ride. Absolutely as much fun as I've had in 29 years. And walking on to that practice floor every day, I've felt like a first-year head coach with just great guys, high-character people that have made it a great deal of fun, not only for me but for our community and our fan base."

[jbcarol]

 OleMissPix @OleMissPix  ·  12 hours ago

Great respect between SEC teams Arkansas and @OleMissMBB here in Jax. Loved seeing this all day! @SEC

[jbcarol]

 Craig Pinkerton @SEC_Craig  ·  12h 12 hours ago

With Vanderbilt's NIT win tonight, the SEC is 11-0 in postseason opening round games over the last two years (7-0 in 2014, 4-0 in 2015).

[jbcarol]

 Riley Blevins @Riley_Blevins  ·  16h 16 hours ago

It's been a wild 24 hours and a tiring 24 hours for the Rebels. But they're not concerned about fatigue vs. Xavier http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/2015/03/18/rebels-overcome-fatigue-quick-turnaround-vs-xavier/24988909/ ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning, M.J. Rhett threw open his hotel room door and crawled into bed.

He flipped on the TV.

Sure enough, highlights from Ole Miss' improbable comeback win – completed just hours ago - over BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament flashed across the screen.

"Wow," Ole Miss' senior forward recalls thinking. "That really happened. That's unbelievable."

Needless to say, Rhett and many of his Ole Miss teammates had a hard time sleeping on the heels of the emotionally-charged victory.

But Xavier (21-13) isn't waiting for them to rest.

[jbcarol]

Pat McDonogh @PatMcdonogh  ·  1h 1 hour ago

One more for BBN. The 1949 UK Championship parade. By Barney Cowherd. @wildcatnews @mark_coomes @BigBlueNation__

[jbcarol]

 Seth Emerson @SethEmerson  ·  4m 4 minutes ago

Kenny Gaines will play tomorrow, per Mark Fox, but Fox and Gaines both say he's far from 100%.

[jbcarol]

March Madness from A to Z:

D is for doubling down. Twenty-one schools have teams in both tournaments, including LSU for the first time since 2009.

Q is for quintillion, as in 1 in 9.22 quintillion, which according to USA Today are the odds of picking a perfect bracket. But you, you're going to be the one, right?

R is for Ralston Turner, the LSU transfer who is now North Carolina State's second-leading scorer with 13.2 points per game. If he helps the Wolfpack beat the Tigers, the Curse of Trent Johnson will be to blame.

[jbcarol]

 Eamonn Brennan @eamonnbrennan  ·

68 to 1: Your comprehensive first look at every NCAA tournament team, from Texas Southern to Kentucky: http://es.pn/1CkL6u5

Arkansas Razorbacks (20) : OK, so the Razorbacks couldn't beat Kentucky. So what? Neither could anyone else. In an SEC oft described as a one-team league, Mike Anderson's team brought pace, offense and the conference's best non-Wildcat -- rebound-gobbling sophomore forward Bobby Portis.

[Cresthog]

Craig Pinkerton @SEC_Craig  ·  12h 12 hours ago

With Vanderbilt's NIT win tonight, the SEC is 11-0 in postseason opening round games over the last two years (7-0 in 2014, 4-0 in 2015).

I think UGA breaks this streak. They're way too banged up and MSU is playing well right now.

Wofford looks more and more like a ** draw. Let's just do the job boys and not overlook them.

[jbcarol]

Tipoff alert


Network: CBS
12:15 p.m. EDT: Notre Dame vs. Northeastern
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Announcers: Brian Anderson, Steve Smith, Louis Johnson

[jbcarol]

I think UGA breaks this streak. They're way too banged up and MSU is playing well right now.

Wofford looks more and more like a ** draw. Let's just do the job boys and not overlook them.

Think Ole Miss is out of gas?

[jbcarol]

NE 3  ND 7  17:00

[jbcarol]

NE is passing up point blank shots

[jbcarol]

[Cresthog]

Think Ole Miss is out of gas?

Nah, they've got Moody. He's a Kemba type who will take them to another win.

Just see them with too much momentum after that BYU comeback.

[ErieHog]

Nice to see NE playing well early.  I hope they beat ND

[jbcarol]

 WRBB Sports @wrbbsports  ·  49s 49 seconds ago

U12: NU: 11 ND: 9 @SE__43 with 6 points and and 2 rbs

[jbcarol]

ND opened soft in the middle

[jbcarol]

ND w/1 FG in last 5 mins.

[jbcarol]

 WRBB Sports @wrbbsports  ·  23m 23 minutes ago

One heck of a party


Northeastern

[jbcarol]

Louisville, Kentucky
Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel, Allie LaForce
Network: truTV

Iowa State 7   UAB 2

[jbcarol]

UAB 2  ISU 10  15:33

[jbcarol]

Northeastern 22   Notre Dame 20  5:20

Time out Bray

[jbcarol]

22-22 4:41

[jbcarol]

NU 24  ND 22  under 4

[jbcarol]

UAB 9  ISU 14  11:15