Nova dominated and looked great doing so. If they play like that going forward they very well could be the favorite.

SFA/Notre Dame was an excellent basketball game. A shame SFA wasnt able to keep Notre Dame off the baords at the end and the third, maybe fourth tip in went in for that guys only points of the game.

VCU down double digits made a furious comeback and even took the lead before OU finished them off to win by 4. As expected been some good games so far today.

Hawai'i and Maryland in a burner heading into halftime.

(03-20-2016 01:34 PM)dan10 Wrote:  Nova dominated and looked great doing so. If they play like that going forward they very well could be the favorite.

They looked a lot like they did in the Georgetown game at the Wells Fargo Center. They used their defense to jump out to a big lead but then go into a stretch where they get really sloppy with the ball. Both Gtown and Iowa were able to get it down to around 10 before running out of gas. That sloppiness will eventually catch up to them as they get deeper in the tournament. I expect Miami to knock them off, but if not them, then definitely Kansas.

I can never decide if I want VCU to just be embarrassed or to keep it close only to lose at the end because it's more painful. A UNI type meltdown would have been perfect for them.

I went to bed so I missed that ending. Unbelievable that had to be the worst collapse ever. Feel for those kids to be winning that game the entire way only to somehow blow a 14 point lead with 44 seconds left. That is beyond impressive.

Bruiser esque

It truly was a historic meltdown, feel awful for the kids. Killed any chance of having a mid make it to the second weekend. Instead "Cinderella" this year is Syracuse and Gonzaga.

(03-21-2016 11:43 AM)DrachenFire Wrote:  It truly was a historic meltdown, feel awful for the kids. Killed any chance of having a mid make it to the second weekend. Instead "Cinderella" this year is Syracuse and Gonzaga.

Yeah unfortunately after the "crazy" first round all settled down and we are left with the usual suspects. WSU had a chance and let it slip away (well, more like Rodriguez decided he wasnt losing on that day and went batsh!t crazy), SFA had that game won and let it slip away, UNI (who should have prevailed because how much can you hack a guy in the corner without a foul call?) had their epic meltdown with a gentle nudge from the stripes. All big missed opportunities for the mids to crash their party and I am sure it will be held against them in future tournaments.

In a couple good games last night BYU beat Creighton and Valpo beat St Mary's to both advance to the final four of the NIT in MSG. The other half of the bracket will have the winner tonight between George Washington (who beat Hofstra in round 1)/Florida and SDSU/Georgia Tech.

In the womens NIT Hofstra got a nice victory last night over UVA.

Final four of the NIT is set. BYU/Valpo and George Washington/San Diego State. Should be a really good final four at MSG. As an aside, I am not surprised in the least that the best of the NIT all ended up as mid major schools versus the middling power conference teams.

(03-20-2016 10:36 PM)DrachenFire Wrote:  

(03-20-2016 01:34 PM)dan10 Wrote:  Nova dominated and looked great doing so. If they play like that going forward they very well could be the favorite.

They looked a lot like they did in the Georgetown game at the Wells Fargo Center. They used their defense to jump out to a big lead but then go into a stretch where they get really sloppy with the ball. Both Gtown and Iowa were able to get it down to around 10 before running out of gas. That sloppiness will eventually catch up to them as they get deeper in the tournament. I expect Miami to knock them off, but if not them, then definitely Kansas.

Oof, did I get this wrong. That Seton Hall loss in the BE finals may have been the best thing to happen to them. Their defense cranked it up to another level the second weekend.

Also very happy to see that Syracuse made it to Houston as that should justify all future selection committees choosing sub .500 (in conference) power conference schools over mids. Hooray!

UVA really choked that game away and stopped playing until it was too late. I agree they will use them as an example to include more middling teams, even though if you look how the other middling teams did (in the NCAA or NIT) the real story would be being told. Syracuse figured it out and ramped up playing strong basketball in the tournament, but didnt change what they did in the regular season. They had many breaks to this point as well (facing a 7, 15, 11, 1 seed). Where the 1 seed was a conference member who they played once this season. It still took big comebacks against Gonzaga and UVA to make it to the final four. I have my doubts that UNC will have such a collapse. Still been a good tournament overall.

NIT final four is tonight. Should be good games BYU/Valpo and GW/SDSU. I like Valpo and I think the other game will be a toss up and go down to the wire

Don't forget about other CAA action. Last night, the last CAA team standing, Towson, was routed by Oakland 90-72 in the Vegas 16. I guess the new tournament got it's name, not from the amount of teams in the tournament (since they only got 8 teams to show up), but the amount of fans in the stands. My guess is that this tournament will cease operations after this season.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/03/...attendance

Yeah that tournament seemed like it would draw well and fell apart really fast this year, which being their inaugural year, really just about starts the end of it.

Valpo tried to be the next team of many to have large collapses this postseason when they allowed BYU to come back from 16 down. Valpo ended up holding on by 2 to advance to the NIT championship. George Washington blew out SDSU on the other side. Should be a great championship game.

The WNIT Championship Matchup is set with South Dakota hosting Florida Gulf Coast. The tournament is loaded with schools from the power conferences, so it's great to see 2 mid-major programs push their way through to the final game.

I kind of like the WNIT, and I wish that men's basketball would follow a similar format. Women's teams seem thrilled about getting into the WNIT, but in Men's Basketball fans and schools don't think too highly of the secondary tournaments after the NIT.

I would like to see the NCAA buy out the CIT and CBI, just like they bought out the old NIT. Then I'd like to see the NIT expanded to 64 teams. I think teams and fans would take more pride in being invited into an expanded NIT, rather than the CBI, CIT, Vegas 16 etc.

Also in NIT news from last night GW won handily over Valpo for the title.

Two blow outs on Saturday lead to an intriguing championship game. Villanova just had a field day against Oklahoma and are moving the ball as well as anyone in recent memory, along with shooting that ball very well. Two very contrasting styles, will be interesting to see which comes out on top. The veteran team that shoots well and plays great defense, or the young athletic team that has lots of length everywhere on the court, but cant shoot. History says Villanova should win, but it will be interesting to see which style hurts whom, since it seems like the strength on offense of Villanova is the strength of UNC's defense and UNC's strength on offense has been the strength of Nova's defense.

People in the Philadelphia area are mildly excited, but I'm sure that there's not even close to the excitement that there is in North Carolina. People say that Philadelphia is the greatest college basketball town in the country, but it's really not. Philadelphia is a pro sports town and college sports are secondary. It's unique because the best college basketball teams in the state are not from the big mega state school, like it is in most states.

There would be 100 times more excitement in Philadelphia if one of the 4 major sports teams were in the finals.

It's cool that Villanova is the closest Division I team to where I live. I will be rooting for them, but win or lose, my life doesn't change since they're not my team. If they win, I won't be running out to Foreman Mills at 2 in the morning to get my Villanova championship gear.

Id agree and disagree. I dont think I have heard many people saying Philly is the greatest "college basketball town". Not recently anyhow. There certainly used to be an argument for that, especially during the heyday of the Big 5, now, not so much. Most large cities are going to favor pro sports teams, thats how things have changed from 20-30 years ago. Off the top of my head I cannot think of a major city that hails its college sports more than its pro sports, if they have pro sports. LA may be the closest with USC and UCLA, but there is still more of a following for the Lakers than either. With the Rams moving back I would imagine they will jump up over college football in short order as well. Philadelphia has a lot of basketball talent, arguably the best in the country, but most of that talent does not stay in Philadelphia.