espn tournament challenge
 

Group Name: Official Entry
Password: squirrel

Free entry at www.espn.go.com

See if YOU can beat Jon Diebler.

I was just thinking about this one this morning, thanks. I'm in; chose a moniker appropriate for the password.

I thought of it, but wasn't sure it would get by the censor, unless Bob or mick now work there.

Usually the brackets are out within 30 minutes of the end of the show.

I'm in...see if I can take last again this year.

Have fun everybody!

my favorite entry name so far....."blue font". LOL

You can try, but I believe I was first to be last, last year. :p

I apologize up front. There are two entries under my name. I am not trying to pull a Golic. My intention was to have a different entry for this contest versus another group. The ESPN Site picks up both automatically. Please refer to Ignats75 2 as my official entry and ignore the other one. Not that it will matter, I'll finish way down again anyway.

If I can't be in the top 5, I'd rather be last.

Since I picked my Jekyll and Hyde Vols to win 2 games, I have no hope of doing well.

You can move one of them to another group prior to the start of games on Thursday. Move your better bracket, though.

Go Jayhawks ...
 

Kansas beats Kentucky for the championship. I know it's a boring pick, but I've got twenty bucks invested in this pick at work.

Go Jayhawks. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

NORTHERN IOWA all the way!!!!!!

I'll give 100 to 1 odds that no one goes perfect and wins the million bucks.

I'm in.

I have added my entry in the quest for last!

I'm in.

I have my bracket completed, I am sure it will be a disaster.

C'mon Billy you gotta treat your feet bettern that! ;)

How about picking Diebler and his crew?

PS - Let it be known that for the first time EVER, I actually picked that darn play-in game correctly!

I refuse to pick the "play-in" game until they call it what it is; the first round.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah :p

I am puzzled as to why they are not in the KS bracket. If they are in the 64 v 65 game, why do they not play the role of Lehigh?

Great question....one I'd like to have answer to, as well. It seems like a no brainer given that Kay U is the #1 overall seed. Is it not logical that the first team in would play the last team in?

Apparently travel costs and the desire to actually fill arenas comes more into play than accurate seeding of 65 teams.

Not crying, just taking a meaningless stance. :)

Sort of like Tiger Woods skipping meaningless golf tournaments to work on his marriage.

"That's right, dollar signs."

That is exactly why. They've said as much. The play-in game is matched up with the region closest to the participating schools no matter which #1 is in it.

It doesn't really matter. If the overall #1 has more trouble with #61 than #64, they didn't deserve the overall #1.

Also, they've stated before that the seeding sometimes is adjusted to meet other requirements. They'll move teams in the middle up/down to meet the rules on playing conference foes in the early rounds, the rules on not playing at your home facility, or of the other principles they try to meet.

40% request from USA Toay
 

The schools that have men's basketball teams with graduation rates of less than 40% are Arkansas-Pine Bluff (29%), Baylor (36%), California (20%), Clemson (37%), Georgia Tech (38%), Kentucky (31%), Louisville (38%), Maryland (8%), Missouri (36%), New Mexico State (36%), Tennessee (30%) and Washington (29%).

Education Secretary Duncan: Ban NCAA teams with low grad rates - USATODAY.com

Since some schools have guys leave early to go to the NBA and other pro leagues, that would be like saying people could not be appointed to office who do not file tax returns.:eek:

And if some of those short termers don't have a grade point. Just pretend they were never there. :)

Not disagreeing with you, but I think it is a red herring.

Maybe it's a Lenten thing, but probably it's merely a "watching you" list. :cool:

And those numbers are effectively bogus since a player who transfers elsewhere and graduades counts as not graduating for the original school. Likewise for players leaving for the NBA. And you must also consider how many non-athelete student meet the same standards. 1 transfer a year and you're down 20-30% as most schools only have 3-5 recruits in any given year.


A few pieces of info from www.collegeboard.com

• The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) tracked the progress of first-time students seeking a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and attending a four-year institution full time in the 2000-2001 school year. It found that only 36 percent of students graduate from college within four years. And only 57.5 percent of undergraduates who began that year had attained a degree or certificate six years later, in 2007.

Note that the 57.5% probably includes students who transfered as having graduated if then finished elsewhere (it doesn't say one way or the other but the artical was about the overall time to finish school).

• According to the U.S. Department of Education, nearly 60 percent of undergraduates attend more than one institution.

Basically, few students graduate in 4 or 5 years any more. It can be done, but the average is approaching 6.

Camron, the numbers might not be perfect, but there's no denying that universities make millions off the backs of these "student-athletes" in football and basketball especially, while giving them virtually nothing. How many of these young scholars graduate with crap degrees in "General Studies" and the like? Puh-lease.

IMO, the solution is to create a proper measure of graduation rates that takes into account transfers and "real degree" programs -- so that a degree from Michigan, say, held by a football player is worth what an ordinary student gets.

If a program doesn't get its athletes real degrees, then that school needs to hire them as employees. They're proto-pros anyway in many cases, why not recognize that fact? They should get contracts like the pros do, and since they're working for a university, they'll also get a tuition benefit in case they want to take classes.

This approach would also eliminate a lot of the sleaze in college hoops. Once the kids are employees, the pressure to get them "gifts" from "boosters" goes away. They can afford their own bling and sweet rides and whatnot. And if a kid wants to go to class, he can.

There's more benefits -- I've been thinking about this since I was at a famous football school many years ago -- but you get the idea.

Only about 3 hrs left to sign up
 

Looks like Striped Squirrel wants last place as that bracket remains unfilled. The rest of youse guys better hurry if you want to get in.

Duh!
 

Too late for me......went to submit and those darn Feds at the IT Dept here blocked my submission! *******s! :(

After many hours of contemplation, incense burning, (along with other medicinal burning items), and Pink Floyd playing in the background, I have now completed the winning bracket.

I wish I could remember where I left it, so I submited another one instead. :p

Send me your picks & I can do a bracket for you. Use the PM feature.

Done. Thanks Gapper.

Sent it to your Hotmail Acct as AIM is blocked here too......son of a b*&^h! ;)

Has not shown up yet. Check PM on this site. Just sent a msg to you.

I'm in again this year (first post in a long time!) - FourOh302 1.

Regards,
Andrew

Check to make sure I got it right.

Who cares if it's right!?

I appreciate your time and effort.

Well, having that 16 seed upset special will put you way out in front if it comes to pass.:D

Haha - No one likes Duke anyway! :D

Now that guy with duke in his user name is going to call you out.:eek:

I didn't want to put them in the final four, but Dicky V made me do it.

Yep, it is about that time of the year when several of them come a callin........

You do realized that those "millions" are only accurate for a very small handful of universities...most of the 300+ NCAA D1 programs lose money...and what money they do make subsidizes the other 10-20 sports that lose money....particularly women's sports. Only a few of the programs, overall, are profitable.

See: http://ctsportslaw.com/2008/05/22/nc...ms-lose-money/

Yep, so the tennis players and wrestlers should be paying the football and basketball players.

Well, there goes my bracket.

And Nova needs to pull this out.

I had FLA and ODU winning, but that's about to get negated by Villanova's disappearing act.

First the Catholics pizz me off....and now the Mormons???? :mad:

Nice, two OTs?

+1

Earliest I've blown up ever. Luck of the Irish my butt!

One thing we KNOW for sure.....
 

Padgett is NOT working this game! ;)

Fortunately, I didn't have ND winning any more games after this, same for FL. Nova, OTOH....

Started out 0-1 like most folks. Wanted FL but picked BYU. Baylor better get in in gear though.

and if Baylor loses you can throw the Baptists into your little holy war!!

You can't walk if you don't have possession of the ball, Mr Commentator.

I picked 3 upsets this afternoon and got 2 right, Murray St and ODU. And came close with Florida.

Shut up.

Agitator

I wonder if anybody is in the chat room?

I'm at work, not allowed to chat. :)

I filled out my bracket but am not showing up in the group - is there a way to add my bracket which is arleady filled out into the Official Entry group? Moderator?

I thought you were already in there. Did you check page 2? I cannot unlock the group.

There's a tournament? :confused:

No NIT bracket?

It's Been There Every Other Year ???
 

Good idea. For some reason I couldn't find UCONN on my NCAA bracket sheet?

I'll pretend Butler holds onto this 17 point lead with 7:00 left....

3 losses. My God. Oh, the humanity. At least I had all 3 of those losing in the second round.

Nova got lucky. But I really thought the Robert Morris coach got lucky too (not that it matters now) -- he could've gotten whacked at least 3 times towards the end of the game. I thought it was going to be Larry Eustachy all over again.

Ok, I admit it. It's nice going 8-0 through the first half of day 1. Let's seevthis thing implode now.

Look Harder.....
 

They're there, right next to the NC Tar Heels! See em now Billy?

Ohio 97, Georgetown 83

Anybody got a bracket left?

Had the Hoyas losing to Kansas, that one hurts

You need to hate my buddy up in Richmond, Lcubed, he's 10-2. I'm in that small gaggle in 3rd place. Thank you Washington.

But I had G-town in my Elite 8, so my PPR dropped alot.

Peace & Love
 

I'm at work so I can't check my ESPN bracket or log in to the Chat room. Shucks, I guess that I'll have to do some work.
However, thanks for the update. I'm 9-3 in my Yahoo bracket.

You are one of 2 folks tied for first.

Just you wait!!
 

It's early, but it's nice to be there for however long it may last. If memory serves, I've missed on G-town & the Spiders.
Work can wait!!

It appeared to me that Texas got a gift on their last possession in regulation.

Hell of a shot to beat them.

they just called a lane violation on NM; good call and not nearly as blatant as the one that was missed in the Kentucky game.

Wow. I lost 7 games today. The only good news is I didn't have a single one of the 7 winning a second game.

I think my Arizona Wildcats are in that same region......

Baby Still Needs A New Pair Of Shoes ...
 

I had Georgetown going to the Sweet Sixteen. Big East teams are dropping like flies.

The Usual Suspects ???
 

There must be a fifth region in the NCAA tournament that they're keeping a secret?

This may be the first year that there is a Final Five ©.

Well, now you are 13-3 and you are still tied for first with one other person...but now that person is me. :cool::cool::cool::cool:

Hope I don't crash and burn today. Virginia representing in the Tournament Challenge!!!!!!!!

Speak for yourself! N VA is sucking eggs!

Did they expand to 96 already?

Don't forget to include UCLA in that bracket!

56 entries nationwide on ESPN picked all 16 winners yesterday. Wow. Wonder if any of them will get through today unscathed. Odds are pretty low.

Wonder how many have hacking skills.

Or how many different accounts they have entered into the contest.

That would take a LOT of accounts.

Just for yesterday, there were 65536 possible combinations of results. For the first round, there would be 4,294,967,296 possible outcomes.

Sure you could eliminate some of the games as "obvious" but which ones and how many??? There were some big upsets. Even if you elimiate a large number of the most obvious games, you're still at millions of combinations.

As for the entire tourney, there are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible combinations.

I don't think anyone will be setting up that many accounts, even with some hacking involved.

Watch out for New Mexico St vs. Mich St. That should be a good game. NMSU is a sleeper team. They had good player out for half the year and now that he's back the team has been rolling.

Well, it only took 2 games for us to fall back to the pack. :(

Sometimes the key to winning a group is to have the right matchup at the end and to correctly pick the winner of the final. I am sure many have Kansas over Kentucky in the final. But if it ends up being a different combo, there are fewer with the chance to win. I think I was the only one with UConn over UNC last year and I would have won had the score been reversed.

Do you have UConn over NC this yr too? Bwahahahaha! :D

PS - thanks for hooking me up yesterday, my bracket doesn't suck too bad.....yet. I'm in the upper part of the pack! But, it's early yet. :p

Couldn't find the NIT bracket. Maybe, BillyMac or BktBallRef did, though.

Or maybe the NCAAW bracket. I think the NIT bracket would be more entertaining to fill out, though.