ESPN TOurnament Challenge
 

Group Name: Officials Forum
Password: zebra

Thanks for setting it up. What will I win?:D

Link for the lazy?

I don't think anyone remembers who won last year, so it won't be fame.

Link?

try this
 

third

forth

er, fourth.

fwiw I considered using 'Diebler' as the password, but it would have gone viral and the group size would reach its limit with a lot of non-officials.:D

You may have gotten some flames from Jimmer fans.

Could be, but Diebler's teammates are still playing. Basketball, anyway.

Ooooh

There's a new player out there who is just as good as Diebler and also drives the young girls wild, mostly due to his cool haircut. His name in Biebler. :D

The old haircut or the new haircut?

Diebler and Bieber don't belong in same conversation. http://forum.officiating.com/images/icons/icon13.gif

You're right. I've had a girls team with a play named "Bieber" but I haven't had any teams with a play named "Diebler". I guess "Bieber" is more relevant to basketball.

They probably couldn't think of a play worthy of being associated with Diebler.

I heard that Diebler is hitting so many threes they're now calling him "Threebler". :p

Yippeee I am tied for first!

ahem :D

What a rip off!
 

I went to make my picks and the teams aren't even posted yet! :D

Let The Party Begin ...
 

26 Year Gap: Thanks.

Do you want someone to belt you?

Already taken care of.

M&M,

I've talked to several people in your area that said you've gone MIA.

How the heck are ya?

Reports of my demise are only slightly exagerated. ;)

Been busy with work and officiating. Now that my season's over, I may poke my head up and see what's going on...

So, I hear you've been keeping moving companies busy?...

Indeed.

I think I'm settled in for a little while now...not too far from you - about 90 miles west.

There's No Need To Fear, Underdog Is Here ...
 

I already filled out my brackets. I have Centenary going all the way.

I'm In!
 

Bottom dwellers of the world, stand up and be heard!

You're all safe now.......

Over Prairie View? Not a chance!

I think there are 2 or 3 out there now.

bttt

Deep and profound...I agree. ;)

The brackets are set!

As a famous boxing referee used to say, "Let's get it on!"

filled out and ready...UCONN!

Joined and filled out. Game on!!!

Peace

And Away We Go ...
 

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Brackets filled. Looking for a great tourney! GO GATORS!!!!!!

Let's go Pitt!

click on this link for the announcer assignments:
http://www.cbssports.com/cbssports/s...legebasketball

It's official. Now I've seen everything on this forum.

Freaking announcer assignments.....


Lah...me.....

You mean you're viewing schedule isn't going to be based solely on who is calling which game? Shocked I tell ya, Shocked I am!

Bwahahahaha! Great stuff! :p

Maybe a certain "bird" will come along and let us know who is running the clocks and keeping the books at every venue! Now THAT would be seeing it all!

Maybe we could get him to taser an announcer of our choosing.

Let's start a poll.

Yup, that would be the next step. Track the scorers and timers at each game. Maybe have a Most Valuable Shot Clock Operator award for every round.

The guy who invented the mute button shoulda got a Nobel Prize for something imo.

How about a sticky?

Well, if you're going there......
 

How about the chat room? :D

Here it is:

ParaChat.com - Join a Free Chat Room or Get Your Own Free Chat Room

Notes:

• Java required
• no website registration required
• username required before entering room

Or a sticky chat room?

Hey, this is a family friendly forum.

That's gross.

So what is up with a couple of those play-in teams coming in at a #11 and a #12 seed? Anyone hear the explanation behind that?

Yes, it's to make sure that Duke gets Hampton in the "second" (which is to say, first) round, and keep Georgetown guessing. :D

Ask the Committee, they can rationalize it ALL! :rolleyes:

I got my picks locked in last night!

I will not be available for chat for Round 1 and Round 2 as I will be watching in Vegas. I should be in chat for the rest of the tournament though!

Those are the at-large "last 4 in". So they're from the major or mid-major conferences, and last year they would've been the last 4 left out. So, in effect, they're still considered "better" than some of the automatic qualifiers that are considered #16 seeds, that's why they still get a #11 or #12.

So, we won't get the automatic #1 vs. #16 anymore, until #16 wins one of these first round games.

The explanation I heard is that they did not want to put 8 of the lowest conference champions in those play-in games. So they put the 4 lowest conference champions against the "last 4" at-large teams to make it in the tournament.

Why the winner ends up as an 11 or 12 seed, I do not know.

Still doesn't make sense. Bringing in 4 new teams, you could still bump seeding to the point where your play-in teams are all playing for a 16 seed. Making an 11 play an extra game while not doing it to a 16 seems to defeat the purpose of seeding; at least partially.

I thought the point was to give the 1 seed a cupcake.

I think they should have had the remaining 5 Big East teams play each other for a spot or two. Not enough Big East in the dance. :D

Now that I see the braket, I see what they did. 2 of the first 4 games (Tues. and Wed.) have 2 #16's playing each other, with the winners still being a #16, playing a #1 on Thurs. or Fri. 2 #11's play each other, then move into the #6 vs. #11 game, and 2 #12's play each other, with the winner moving into the #5 vs. #12 game.

So it's not like a #16 becomes a # 11 if they win. The seeds still carry over correctly into the Thurs. and Fri. games.

So, again, you've got two 11s and two 12s who have to play an extra game while two 16s do not. Still stupid.

That is awesome. I recommend hitting the ESPN Zone over at New York New York at least an hour before tip off.
My wife and I wastched the Final Four there last year it was great. We sat in the recliners right up front and could not have had more fun!! There is a meager $10/HR "cover" but that is not that big a deal. PLUS the sport betting window is right outside the restaurant!!

Holding my nose, I'd say it's the second-most fair way to organize a 68-team tournament. The committee already recognized (however tacitly) that it was relegating two teams each year to second-class citizenship by sending them to Dayton and pretending it was a regular tournament game. For them to take the bottom eight teams in the field and tell them they all had to play way their into the regular 64-team field would have resulted in PR headaches that weren't worth it. So they took a hybrid approach: the bottom four teams overall play pre-lim games, as well as the last four at-larges.

I wish all of the "opening round" games would involve the last eight at-larges, all of whom would be playing for twelve-seeds in the bracket. Why should teams who won their conference tournaments--in other words teams that actually WON their way into the national tournament--have to win another game just so that they can be granted full participation rights?

This has been another episode of "Logistics and PR are tough work when your organization prostitutes itself."

I can almost guarantee that no 16s will be playing any extra games.

IIRC, no 16 has ever beat a 1-seed in the tourney.

The strength of some conferences and their rights to an automatic bid has been a question for many years.

Though I didn't quite realize it earlier, this is an interesting framing problem. Logically, the following two descriptions of the opening round are equally valid:

1) Two 11s and two 12's have to play an extra game while two 16's do not.
and
2) Two 11s and two 12's are allowed to play at least one game in this year's tournament, whereas under the last system those same four teams would have been left out completely.

Each framing involves a value judgment. The first construction assumes that, without exception, lower-seeded teams should have to work harder than higher-seeded teams to win the tournament.

The second assumes that the last four at-large teams should recognize that they have no real chance of actually winning the tournament and look at their opening game as an opportunity rather than an extra burden that most lower-seeded teams don't face.

Wanna bet? :)

Actually, there are 6 #16-seed teams in the tournament. 4 of them will play in 2 different 1st round games, with the winners playing the #1 seeds in their brackets. The final 2 #16-seeds will skip the opening round and play the other 2 #1 seeds first.

So, 2 #16-seed teams are guaranteed to win and advance to the next round.

Really? I don't think I've ever heard anyone seriously propose that the lower-tier conferences shouldn't be guaranteed at least one representative in the tournament.

Link(s)?

So why not just let those last "at-large" teams and the lowest seeded teams all into the tournament, and give the 4 #1 seeds a bye in the first round, and they don't have to play until Saturday or Sunday?

Because the math/bracket doesn't work out that way. If you give the top four teams a bye, then the other sixty-four teams play each other and you're left with thirty-six teams.

I did this last year and had a great time!

We watched at Planet Hollywood, though.

Looking forward to it!

ESPN.com has been blocked by my base's firewall. I bet you it's specifically to prevent folks from filling out brackets considering we still have access to sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Maybe the base commander has stock in CBS, and doesn't have Disney?

I'll bet you're right. Now I'm curious as to whether access is blocked at the local bases.

Same is true for Hill AFB where my son is stationed...he can get on to ESPN on his personal laptop, but not on any of the base computers.

They are not a 16 seed until they win.;)

Arithmatic-wise, you're probably right. ;)

But on the bracket shown at CBSSports.com, the game tomorrow between NC-Ashville and AR-Little Rock shows them both as #16 seeds, and the game Wed. between TX-San Antonio and Alabama St. show them both as #16 seeds.

So, for the field of 68, there are actually 6 #16's, 5 #12's, 5 #11's, and 4 of every other seed. It would make sense to me, except even Mr. Einstein has a puzzled look on his face... :eek:

It's no longer an ESPNZone -- the one in Vegas and the one in NY (along with a few others) closed. The place actually closed completely for a few months, but had reopened under a generic flag when I was there in December. So don't expect any ESPN stuff, but the recliners are still there.

He makes really great bagels.

I'll bet he uses a real complex recipie.

Relatively speaking.

Please shut this thread before our resident chemist gets home...... :p

he hates being a copy cat
 

There are 7 #16 seeds if you count Illinois. :D

Let's not NIT-pick.

Ouch. That hurt.

Like losing 79-67 kinda hurt. ;) :D

Ouch!
 

Gary Williams and the Md Terps certainly can't do this!

Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

In the most nationally biased least accurate final 4 predictions of all time:

Syracuse, Texas, Kansas, Gonzaga.

It Would Go To His Head ...
 

Please don't tell Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. I just had to pick the Ohio State Buckeyes. He won't read this because I know that he has me on his ignore list. In fact, most of you have me on your ignore list. Most of the time I feel like I'm posting to myself.

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Not near as badly as losing 75-72 hurt! :D

You had to know that was coming!!:p

Yea, I know. But that sooooooo last decade.

Not yet...

Snaq's, who are you talking to? :p

Doh! Sorry.

My losing bracket is now entered in this and 3 other "contests." Time to ignore the night's games and watch hockey. I'll be watching on Thursday.

And it sooooooo still hurts, doesn't it? :D

I only have one thing to say:

:p

(That's only 'cause I can't find the smilie that shows the middle finger...) :D

For such a rules maven, the "Don't quote the ignored" rule just hasn't sunk in, has it?:p

And Yes, I Do Like Vanilla Ice Cream ...
 

Twenty bucks can get me hundreds in our pool at work, so I went with the averages. I've got Ohio State over Duke, and Kansas over Pitt, in the Final Four, with Ohio State winning all the marbles. I've only got a few picks that "go against the grain". I've got Missouri beating Cincinnati (11 beats 6), Old Dominion beating Butler (9 beats 8), and Kansas State (I kind of like the Big 12) over Wisconsin (5 beats 4). Color me boring.

Less than 90 minutes to sign up and enter.