See, folks, if you want to tell if a team will choke, just follow this simple test:
Is TheWombat an alum? If yes, the team will choke.
MA, UVA, '84.
Cavalier? I don’t know what that is…I just like basketball.
Incredible win by the Retrievers…and terrible historic choke by Virginia. I always figured a 16 seed would sneak up on a #1 some day, a last second 3 pointer to win by one sort of deal. You could almost live that one down over time. But nope. If ever there was a headline that deserved the “Subject A DESTROYS Subject B” hype…it was this one. Sorry UVA fans, your team is going down in history in the worst possible way.
Thankfully, it’s hard to imagine anyone outside of rabid UMBC, Creighton and Kansas State alums having Virginia exiting prior to the Sweet 16, so while brackets everywhere are busted, if you only had UVA out to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8, and avoided putting Arizona or Wichita State (the other big upsets) out that far as well, you’re actually in decent shape. And if you have a Final Four that consisted of teams seeded #1-#3 that didn’t include UVA, congrats, the standings today may not reflect it yet, but you just vaulted to the top of your office pool!
Hey, free pizza…thanks, UMBC!
So if the left side of your bracket last Thursday morning had a Sweet Sixteen that read : Kansas State, Kentucky, Loyola-Chicago, Nevada, Florida State, Gonzaga, Michigan and Texas A&M, congrats…I’d like to take a ride in your time machine.
I know it’s stupid, but I was so angry at the double fuck up by both Cincinnati (I’m a Bearcat) and Xavier (whom I also am a fan of except when they’re playing Cincinnati) that I literally couldn’t sleep last night. I was watching an episode of Westworld at 12:30AM just to get my mind off of basketball. Michigan State losing earlier didn’t help me either, as that blew up my one remaining shot at any money in the office pool.
Those Bearcats though…up 22 points with 10 min left. FUUUUuuuuuuu…
First time in history that the top 4 seeds in one region were wiped out before the Sweet 16. The South is a bloodbath, and Kentucky is going to cakewalk to the Final Four. So, thanks Virginia.
well, free “pizza”
Yeah - all 3 of those (UC, X, MSU) had leads and just choked. I didn’t watch the X game, but both UC & MSU looked for all the world like they were trying to lose.
Izzo’s decision to bench his future NBA-lottery pick in the 2nd half in favor of the grad transfer who barely played all season sure made it look like he didn’t want to win.
Kentucky is dead!
The South has lost the 5 top seeds.
Top 8.
It’s absolutely nuts how one entire side of the bracket simply fell apart, with only a single team seeded higher than 9th (Michigan at #3) advancing to the Elite Eight, and yet the other side of the bracket is mostly chalk, with both #1 seeds, both #2 seeds, a #3 seed, a pair of #5 seeds and the lone Cinderella in #11 seed Syracuse vying for advancement tonight.
There has never been a bracket this lopsided. Bad seeding by the selection committee? You’d be tempted to think so, but then none of the #9 or #11 seeds on either side of the bracket were teams that pundits argued were drastically underseeded to begin with. Many folks liked Loyola-Chicago and Syracuse as first round upset picks, but I imagine it would be tough to find many brackets predicting them out to the Elite Eight! Certainly nobody but the most die hard Seminoles fan had Florida State in their Final Four, and yet…the door is wide open!