Alright, Mizzou clearly needs a big roundtable to pull off the Friday win...BRING IT!!!
1 - Which NCAA Tourney region looks the toughest right now? Which one looks the easiest?
2 - Give me a 1- or 2-seed you just don't even remotely believe in.
3 - Give me a team seeded fifth or lower that you love to make some noise.
4 - What should my wife (who has talked herself into football but loathes basketball) do this weekend to entertain herself during Basketballpalooza?
Michael Atchison: 1 - Conventional wisdom is that the Midwest is the toughest, but I’ll take the East. West Virginia is a badass 2, Marquette and Washington are both dangerous in the 6 vs. 11 game, Wisconsin (the 4 seed) is number 3 in the nation in Pomeroy’s ratings, Temple is a really, really good 5, and if you believe Jay Bilas, Cornell is a threat to get past Kentucky and get to the Elite Eight.
2 - I don’t have much faith in Villanova (2 in the south). They played a bunch of good teams down the stretch and lost to all of them.
3 - Texas A&M looks great to me as the 5 in the South. If they beat Utah State, they have either Siena or a deeply wounded Purdue team in the second round. That’s a nice path to the Sweet Sixteen, where they would likely meet Duke. Duke is good – there’s a lot of irrational Duke hate out there now – but A&M would give them all they can handle.
4 - I shudder to think of how wrong this one is going to go. Being the resident gentleman, I’ll suggest a spa day, trip to the bookstore, bottle of wine.
Bill C.: If by "trip to the bookstore bottle of wine," you mean buying e-books for her B&N Nook and drinking orange juice with peach vodka, I think you're two-thirds of the way there. She doesn't do spas, though, so I'm at a loss there...
Doug: 1 - I don't think you can pick against the toughness of the Midwest: the conference and tournament winner of the Big 12, the regular season co-champ of the ACC, the tourney winner of the Big 10, a really good Georgetown team and on and on. As for the easiest, I reserve the right to pick after the 2nd round and see how the brackets open up. But right now, Duke's region does seem like the Boue Devils and a bunch of other teams.
2 - Depends on Onawakue (??), but without him Syracuse is very beatable.
3 - I think A&M has a chance. Why, I have no good reason other than how they played KU in the Big 12.
4 - She should make sure you have a constantly fresh spread of appropriate game food: wings, nachos, etc.
ZouDave: 1 - I think the Midwest is the toughest. You've got the overall #1 in there with kansas, plus the 2 teams that beat them all year. Michigan State, with arguably the best coach in the country Tom Izzo, Maryland, a very good ACC program, Georgetown, a bruiser from the Big East, and Ohio State and the player of the year. Whoever makes it out of the Midwest is going to have earned it*
* - unless of course kansas gets a road to the Final Four like they had in 2008 when they faced a 16, 8, 12 and 11 I think it was.
2 - Oh how I wish I could answer this with West Virginia. I'm going to go with Villanova. It seemed like every time I saw them on TV they were losing. Of course, I could actually say the same thing about West Virginia. If it wasn't for the matchup problems we have with West Virginia, I really would feel better about upsetting a 2 seed. We just match up so poorly with West Virginia. But I'm answering a question you didn't remotely ask.
3 - Michigan State is the easy answer here. Never count on Tom Izzo. Oklahoma State is another one that could easily go on a tear and end up in the Elite 8 against kansas. And of course Missouri, because if we're hot from outside it erases our deficiencies completely. If Mizzou gets to the Sweet 16, I love our matchup against either New Mexico or Marquette. I would not, however, love our matchup with Kentucky.
4 - Go rent all of Julia Roberts' movies and watch them back to back to back to back. Mystic Pizza, Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy, The Pelican Brief, Something to Talk About, My Best Friend's Wedding, Stepmom, Runaway Bride, Erin Brokovich, Ocean's Eleven, Mona Lisa Smile, Ocean's Twelve, Charlie Wilson's War....I tell ya, if that doesn't sound like the opposite of basketballpalooza then I don't know what does.
RPT: 1. I'll take the Midwest, but I don't buy the whining, especially as far as Kansas is concerned. That portion of the bracket may be stacked, but most of the tough draws in that region are on the half of the bracket away from Kansas.
2. Duke.
3. Temple.
4. Write her "Better Know a Bill C." Column for Rock M Nation.
ghtd36: I was up until 2 a.m. designing fake Oliver Purnell Tweets, so, gimme a few minutes to get going on the Roundtable.
Michael Atchison: By the way, have I mentioned this?
RPT: Atch, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in a dying medium. [/bitter J-student]
Seriously, though, that's awesome.
(30 minutes later...)
Michael Atchison: Gotta go to the NAIA for a few hours. You’re on your own. Don’t blow this one.
Doug: Good news, Atch, Mountain State ad their 7'8" Englishman are coming up in the second game.
RPT: Since I feel like Clemson was thoroughly "BOOM ROASTED" by ghtd this morning, can we go back to make "Buzz Williams is a douche" jokes now? It is March, after all.
And, I should add: Welcome to SBN, Anonymous Eagle! Your site logo is AWESOME, but your coach is a douche.
(30 minutes later...)
RPT: So, this ought to make things interesting in the East:
Kentucky Violated NCAA Rules While Recruiting Basketball-Playing Dog
(An hour later...)
RPT: WAKE UP ROUNDTABLE. The 101st Airborne Canine Division cares not for your lack of contributions:
ZouDave: I think that's a blind guy skydiving. Must scare the crap out of the dog.
Michael Atchison: I'm at the NAIA. The 7'8" guy hasn't played in the first 13 minutes. Mountain State doesn't seem to need him. Up by 10 thanks to a lightning-quick guard.
Anyone see the epidemic of junk-punching in the NIT last night? How could a guy expect to be caught doing that with only a few thousand in attendance and less than a dozen TV cameras following the action?
RPT: You know what they say, junk-punch big or don't junk-punch at all. Plus, if you junk-punch someone and no national television outlet is there to broadcast it, did it really happen?
(An hour later...)
RPT: You guys suck.
Safe to say everyone is getting in their workplace productivity on today in preparation for the next two days?
(30 minutes later...)
Michael Atchison: Just passed the 7'8" guy in the hall. I felt like one of Rick Moranis's kids.
ghtd36: Well, Ron Washington just admitted to using cocaine. So my day's going great.
Bill C.: My question: managers get drug tested too? No wonder Tommy Lasorda retired...
RPT: Is Metamucil on the banned substances list?
Bill C.: No, but six pound drums of bolognese sauce are.
RPT: Good thing we have strict RMN drug testing. RIGHT?
We blog clean. Promise.
ghtd36: We do?
ZouDave: my question was going to be "who is Ron Washington?" but I figured I'd get laughed at, so I won't ask that.
RPT: I always suspected Bill was pumping himself with HGH, but he's always tested clean.
ZouDave: HGH = Huge Guys' Hogs, and you're doing the wrong test.
ghtd36: Bill freebases long division.
RPT: I always thought Bill's word counts were artificially inflated.
(20 minutes later...)
ZouDave: quick, everyone say something mean about Clemson.
RPT: Clemson sold Ron Washington cocaine just to piss off ghtd.
ghtd36: RAWR STOP TAINTING MY MANAGER, CLEMSON.
ZouDave: Clemson doesn't think my sister is hot.
Bill C.: HOW DARE YOU, CLEMSON.
Doug: Those bastards!
Clemson must go down!
ghtd36: Clemson's ringtone is the latest Black Eyed Peas single.
ZouDave: Clemson loves Jerry Lawler.
ghtd36: Clemson thinks Mrs. Bill C's comments don't add much to the conversation.
Bill C.: Clemson's in South Carolina.
ZouDave: Hey Clemson:
Michael Atchison: Remember when Ricky Clemson brought down the hoops program? Vengeance will be ours.
ZouDave: ROGER CLEMSON USED STEROIDS!
gthd36: Bear Bryant was totally intolerable when he coached the Clemson Tide.
ZouDave:
