Kind of a shitty field, IMO, although rooting against Indiana and Louisville well be fun. Plus, I'm a bit excited to see Drew Gordon play, because he's the type of banger that Portland sorely needs. How pissed should 7th-seed Gonzaga be? First, they get placed in the East Region. Then, they didn't get placed in Portland's pod, because the committee says their seed isn't high enough, yet instead, they get to go play 10th-seeded West Virginia just 55 miles from WVU's campus in Pittsburgh? Exactly how does that reasoning work? Sorry 'Zags, but we can't place you in Portland. Instead, we're going to ship you to Pittsburgh, where you can play a road game against a lower seed. Same thing happened to them in 2008. They were a 7th-seed, yet get shipped to Raleigh and play 10th-seeded Davidson in another de facto road game. The NCAA is just an incompetent organization.
This isn't new for Gonzaga. That was really stupid when we had to play in Davidson's backyard pretty much. Curry ate them alive, it was like a home game for them. The committee tries to put teams in Big 6 conferences closer to home because they feel in general they travel better and fill up the gym easier if they don't have to go as far. Its all about the money. West Virginia in Pittsburgh is essentially a home game for them. I have faith we'll pull it out though. Its a good matchup for us.
Same thing happened to UW against Georgia last year. 7-10 match up like this, but in Charlotte. Then we had to play UNC. The NCAA sure loves us west coast schools.
I will be going and am happy with the matchups. Being a Hoosier I could not be happier with getting IU. They have been playing horribly on the road and it would not be too much of a shocker to only get to see them one game. Steve Alford went to high school not to far from where I grew up and is another Indiana legend. He should have his hands full with LBS. I too will be rooting against Louisville. The best game on Thursday will probably be Wichita St/VCU. Warn everyone that there will be no beer sales in the RG. I am not a huge beer drinker but one would probably hit the spot since it is an entire day event.
Have to watched enough NCAA ball to have an opinion. Most of everything I have read and heard though like this matchup because they think Wichita has enough ball handling skill to handle the pressure of VCU.
As you probably know, the NCAA tournament is set to kick off in Portland on Thursday. My friend has two tickets for this event and he is selling them for face value...$81 dollars per session for a total of $243 for each ticket...total, $486 for the pair. Session 1 March 15th Session 2 March 15th Indiana (#4) vs New Mexico State (#13) Wichita State (#5) vs VCU (#12) New Mexico (#5) vs Long Beach State (#12) Louisville (#4) vs Davidson (#13) Session 3 March 17th Teams and Times TBA Two games...winners of the above match ups with the winners on this day going on to the round of 16. If you're interested let me know asap and forward this to anyone who you think might have an interest. Thanks, Art 503 371-8263
I'm excited to see two 12 vs 5 games. There is always a 12 beating a 5 in the tourney. I remember someone upsetting someone the last time the tourney was here.
I knew I would get asked that question. I am not sure. You can call my friend and get that answer. His number is at the bottom of my post.
I've seen a couple of nice upsets. When the Ducks were in Spokane, I was at those games, and Winthrop beat Notre Dame right before Oregon barely got by Miami (OH). I was also at the Michigan State/Maryland game two years ago when Korie Lucious hit the three at the buzzer to win it for Sparty. MSU ended up in the Final Four that year. We had some Sparty fans sitting right behind us who had made the trip from East Lansing, and one of the girls was just bawling for joy. I also saw Kirk Snyder's Nevada team beat Michigan State in the first round, and Gonzaga (in Seattle) in the second round at the 2004 tournament. Great finish, and the arena was going bananas after Lucious' shot. [video=youtube;h3_bcJyAaI4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3_bcJyAaI4[/video]
If I see him, I'll shake his hand and say congratulate him on not having to work under Paul Allen anymore.
