March Madness - Chris F'ing Duhon

Dr. Giganto

The greatest 4-day weekend in American sports began yesterday, with the beginning of the NCAA tournament. Unlike previous years, there were no big upsets, with the exception of the Manhattan College Jaspers downing Florida. Unfortunately, I had to work while the game was on, but i went to a bar during my lunch break and caught most of the second half

The day began with the 12th seeded Jaspers beating the 5th seeded Florida Gators, and ended with a double overtime DePaul-Dayton game. And in between there were several great games, including the Southern Illinois Salukis (best team name in the tournament) missing a last-second, game-winning shot against Alabama, Maryland and Wake Forest survivng scares against UTEP and VCU, respectively. Princeton gave Texas a scare, and Air Force, running the Princeton offense, led UNC in the 2nd half before UNC eventually pulled away. Bobby Knight finally won a first-round game (first one since 1999), and the underacheiving Arizona and Michigan State teams took an early exit.

Plus, we had defending national-champion Syracuse edging out BYU, which prompted my Syracuse-native friend to exclaim "How about Gerry McNamara putting up 40+ on those fucking Mormons!!! Maybe if their coaches halftime speech was "Maybe we should guard this guy" instead of "Thank God for Latter-Day Saints and the fact that we can have three wives", they might have won the game!!!"

Plus, I saw Vermont, the representative from my alma mater's conference jumped out to a 7-0 lead before getting trounced by UConn.

If you havent been watching, youre really missing out...

Freak

I'm trying to watch the games this year, but it's hard finding the time. I did happen to see the last two overtimes of Dayton/DePaul last night, which was a wicked game. The only coverage the tournament gets up here is the teams that have Canadians playing for them. The only worthwhile Canadian in the tourney is Denham Brown on UConn. Eastern Washington has three but they all suck.

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

boston college just won... i really have no interest in the tournament besides the teams that are from around here...i am waitin to nba playoffs to watch the lakers destroy every team they face.

Dr. Giganto

The top team in the country, Kentucky, just lost in a thriller to UAB in the last game of the weekend. What a great weekend of basketball. My bracket is fucked though...

IRALB

I haven't watched any, nore really care to. I know nothing of college basketball, but my buddy convinced me to join the Sporting News fantasy brackets, and I've found it pretty fun to follow.

I've got Wake Forest taking out UConn in the final. I'm sure that proves my intelligence on the subject.

Dr. Giganto

I have UConn winning it all, as do like 10 other people in my pool (of 31 people). Wake is still alive, so you never know...

Like you alluded to, its a lot more fun when you fill out a bracket, and/or if you have money riding on it. I hardly watch any college basketball during the regular season, except for the occasional St Johns or Syracuse game, or the one time a year my alma mater (Binghamton) plays a televised game.

The tournament is great though. Most of the games are close and exciting, even more so when there's money/bracket involvement. It's also cool to see the Cinderella teams upset the Big Boys, like UAB did to Kentucky and Manhattan did to Florida

Dr. Giganto

Well, UConn won it all, and Wake made the final four, an fell just two points short of making it to the final, so you werent that far off

anyway, here's a terrible gambling story for you guys to enjoy:

I entered into a pool where you put in 5 dollars, and you get randomly assigned a team in the tournament. 64 teams in the tourney, so the total pot was $320. Each game goes with the spread, and if your team covers the spread, you move on. If you have an underdog and your team loses, but by less than the spread, you inherit the team that beat you.

I started with 15th seeded Vermont (the representative of the Ameica East conference, home of my alma mater). now, for the uneducated, there are four of each numbered seeds (four 1 seeds, four 2s, four 3s, etc.), so Vermont was probably ranked like 60th overall in the tournament. they were playing UConn (the preseason #1 team in the nation, and a heavy favorite to win the whole tournament) in the first round, and were 20-point underdogs. Uconn only won by 17, so i inherited UConn for the rest of my pool

UConn went along blowing everyone out and covering the spread, so i was still alive going into Saturday's Final 4 game against Duke. Uconn was a 2.5 point favorite, so i need them to win by 3 or more. UConn is losing almost the whole game, and they come back to take a 3-point lead with like 10 seconds. Duke misses a shot and UConn rebounds, then gets fouled with 3 seconds left. Emeka Okafor of UConn hits one of two free throws, to put UConn up 4, so things are looking good for me.

Duke inbounds the ball, and Chris Duhon tosses up a meaningless three-point shot from half-court that goes in as time expires, to pull Duke to within one, and prevent UConn from covering the spread, knocking me out of the pool. Uconn then blew out Ga. Tech in the final last night, meaning i would have won the pool if Duhon didnt hit that fucking meaningless shot. :x :x :x

There was an article on ESPN.com yesterday stating that the Duhon shot cost gamblers in Vegas somewhere between $30 and $100 million dollars.
Fuck Chris Duhon, and fuck Duke

Freak

Haha, that's hilarious D. I was happy UConn won it, they have Canada's best college ball player, Denham Brown.