CBS giving us a good dose of the past when we need it most. #MarchVegas #MarchMadness #LasVegas
By Matt Bonesteel
March 20, 2020 at 6:07 a.m. PDT
If things hadn’t gone completely haywire over the past couple of weeks, we would be hearing this song over and over and over again right about now and wouldn’t have minded it one bit: Read more…
[MARCHVEGAS] – noun 1. “March to Vegas” symbolizes the humanistic tendency to march, migrate, or advance as a deliberate or organized body in a habitual manner back to Las Vegas. 2. Marriage of March Madness and Las Vegas, especially during tournament time. 3. The “MARCHVEGAS 4-day™ Holiday” (March 19 – 22, 2015) – Sign the Petition.
by Chris Dufresne
The road to Final Four was pockmarked with controversial calls and video reviews. But in the end, Florida vs. UConn and Kentucky vs. Wisconsin feels right.
Three referees and a technician huddled at the scorer’s table late Sunday afternoon and determined, after a lengthy review, that next week’s Final Four in North Texas was set.
Utilizing information culled from hundreds of cameras set up at games around the country over two weeks, the NCAA confirmed the schools moving on as Florida, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Kentucky.
The NCAA also announced the MVEI (most valuable electronic instrument) of the Elite Eight was the replay monitor.
Somehow, though, it all worked out . . . sensationally.
The officials got out of the way long enough to allow enough scintillating action to permeate down to the stars who did not wear stripes.
No botched “block-charge” call or 18-minute final minutes (Tennessee vs. Michigan) could keep the college kids from doing what they do best every March.
And that is to provide unscripted and unparalleled drama.
Kentucky earned the last Final Four prize Sunday when freshman Aaron Harrison hit a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left in Indianapolis to lift the Wildcats to a 75-72 win over Michigan.
That followed Connecticut’s knockout win over Michigan State (Sorry, Mr. President) in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
A day earlier, in Memphis, Florida outlasted die-hard Dayton and Wisconsin edged Arizona in Anaheim overtime.
From sunup Tuesday on the first day of the tournament, to sundown Sunday 12 days later, there were seven overtime games played and 10 other games decided by three points or fewer.
Warren Buffett played us all for suckers, knowing there was no chance he would have to pay anyone a billion bucks for a perfect bracket.
Whatever you thought of the NCAA committee’s seeding two weeks ago, these Final Four pairings will go well with almost any wine.
In one national semifinal, top-seeded Florida plays Connecticut, a No. 7, while in the other, No. 2 Wisconsin meets No. 8 Kentucky.
There are enough angles to convene a geometry convention.
Four Florida seniors, who fell one game short of the Final Four the three previous seasons, finally came to a place of peace after the Dayton accords.
The Gators are back in the last weekend or the first time since 2007, when they won their second straight national title under Coach Billy Donovan.
Florida was happy to cut down the nets in Memphis, but that isn’t the endgame.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year wasn’t to be the South Regional champions,” senior forward Patric Young said. “Our goal was to be national champions.”
As Young climbed the ladder Saturday to take net snippets, he said, he was “thinking about how I wanted to be able to do this again.”
(SportsNetwork.com) It was business as usual for the Gonzaga Bulldogs this season in West Coast Conference play, as the ‘Zags won their 13th regular- season title in the last 14 years.
Gonzaga will be the top overall seed heading into the 28th-annual West Coadet Conference Tournament, which starts Thursday, March 6, and will run through Tuesday, March 11.
The winner of the event will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament later this month.
This time last year, Gonzaga (25-6 in 2013-14) had just been voted the Associated Press’ top overall team in the country, which gave the Bulldogs a spot in the national tournament regardless of whether they won the WCC Tournament. This season the ‘Zags aren’t in nearly as good of a position, but it’s certainly not a bad one either. The Bulldogs finished with a 15-3 mark in conference play, losing to Portland (82-73) on the road, BYU (73-65) on the road and then to San Diego (69-66) again away from their home court.
So the West Coast Conference Tournament this season isn’t quite as cut-and-dry as it was last year, especially with teams like BYU and Saint Mary’s always breathing down the necks of the Bulldogs.
With the top seed in the conference, Gonzaga will receive a bye into the quarterfinal round of the tournament, and will play on Saturday against the winner of Santa Clara and Pacific.
BYU (21-10, 13-5 WCC) and San Francisco (20-10, 13-5) will be the second and third seeds, respectively. With a season sweep of San Francisco, BYU gets the No. 2 seed despite the identical 13-5 league records. BYU will await the winner of Loyola Marymount and Portland in the quarterfinal round.
Only the top two seeds are waiting for their opponents to be decided by first- round matchups. San Francisco and fourth-seeded Saint Mary’s (21-10, 11-7) automatically advance to the quarterfinal round. The Dons will tangle with the sixth-seeded San Diego Toreros (16-15, 7-11) in the first quarterfinal clash, and the Gaels will take on fifth-seed Pepperdine (15-15, 8-10) in the late matchup. There’s a distinct possibility that Gonzaga, BYU or Saint Mary’s could earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament without the automatic qualifier.
The first round of the tournament, taking place on Thursday, is between the bottom four seeds and will decide Gonzaga’s and BYU’s opponent. The 10th- seeded Loyola Marymount Lions (12-18, 4-14) will play the seventh-seeded Portland Pilots (15-15, 7-11), and the Santa Clara Broncos (13-18, 6-12) will clash with the eighth-seeded Pacific Tigers (15-14, 6-12).
First-round play kicks off with Loyola Marymount against Portland. The Lions struggled yet again this season, losing 14 of their 18 conference games. LMU defeated BYU and San Diego to start conference play, then proceeded to lose its next six contests. The Lions dropped their regular-season finale to San Francisco, 65-61, at home, and dropped two contests to Portland during the season. The tournament hasn’t been kind to the Lions in recent years, as they enter this postseason with an all-time WCC Tourney record of 18-24, and without a title since the 1990 season. LMU sported a conference-worst scoring defense, allowing 77.3 ppg to opponents, and had a minus-3.8 ppg scoring margin. Anthony Ireland was the lone bright spot for the Lions, averaging a team-best and second-in-conference 18.7 ppg with a team-high 161 assists on the year. Evan Payne chipped in 15.4 ppg, and Gabe Levin added 11.1 ppg.
Portland also tripped and stumbled its way into the postseason after losing the last four regular-season games the team played, including a tough 68-65 loss to Pacific in Saturday’s finale. The Pilots have won one conference title – back in 1996 – and have been demolished in the tournament in history, owning a 10-25 record. The Pilots did manage to average 75.4 ppg – good for third in the conference – and had a 39.1 shooting percentage from 3-point range. Ryan Nicholas topped the team and the West Coast Conference in rebounding during the season at 8.7 rpg, while Thomas van der Mars added an eighth-best 7.1 rpg mark in the league (second on Portland). Kevin Bailey notched 16.5 ppg to lead the Pilots, while van der Mars chipped in 13.3 ppg and Nicholas scored 12.9 ppg. Van der Mars netted a team-high 60.9 percent of his field goal attempts this season, which was second in the conference standings. Bailey is listed as questionable to play with a strained calf.
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[MARCHVEGAS] – noun 1. “March to Vegas” symbolizes the humanistic tendency to march, migrate, or advance as a deliberate or organized body in a habitual manner back to Las Vegas. 2. Marriage of March Madness and Las Vegas, especially during tournament time. 3. The “MARCHVEGAS 4-day™ Holiday” (March 20 – 23, 2014) – Sign the Petition.