Early Thursday Games: Picks and Open Thread
by Peter Bean on Mar 20, 2008 8:11 AM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
Email
PrintIt's finally Thursday! The tournament begins today, with our first tip at 11:20 a.m. between Xavier and Georgia. As we do annually, AW and I will be making picks for each game along the way. It's painful, and often embarrassing, but always fun.
For my part, I'm scrambling to get everything done before flying to Las Vegas tomorrow. There's no better place to be for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
| Match Up | Line / Over | PB | AW | Time/Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #3 Xavier vs #14 Georgia | Xavier (-6) / 128 | Xavier 69 Georgia 62 | Xavier 68 Georgia 64 | XAV 73-61 (F) |
| #1 Kansas vs #16 Portland St | Kansas (-23) / 141 | Kansas 88 Portland St 61 | Kansas 94 Portland St 60 | KU 85-61 (F) |
| #5 Michigan St vs #12 Temple | Michigan St (-6.5) / 132 | Michigan St 74 Temple 65 | Michigan State 60 Temple 55 | MSU 72-61 (F) |
| #6 Marquette vs #11 Kentucky | Marquette (-6) / 132 | Marquette 71 Kentucky 66 | Marquette 65 Kentucky 58 | MU 74-66 (F) |
| #6 Purdue vs #11 Baylor | Purdue (-2.5) / 142 | Baylor 79 Purdue 77 | Baylor 80 Purdue 75 | PUR 90-79 (F) |
| #8 UNLV vs #9 Kent St | Kent St (-1.5) / 126 | UNLV 70 Kent St 64 | Kent St 60 UNLV 58 | UNLV 71-58 (F) |
| #4 Pittsburgh vs #13 Oral Roberts | Pittsburgh (-9) / 130 | Pittsburgh 65 Oral Roberts 58 | Pittsburgh 65 Oral Roberts 57 | PIT 82-63 (F) |
| #3 Stanford vs #14 Cornell | Stanford (-16.5) / 137 | Cornell 68 Stanford 67 | Stanford 74 Cornell 56 | STAN 77-53 (F) |
39 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
PB
Going out on a limb with the Cornell pick. Did the twin towers get the flu and you have some inside info?
Yeah, PB
How about when you guys pick a monster upset like this, you throw a bone to us pigskin fans? Just a few sentences about what makes you call the upset. I would have never seen this one coming.
Slammed with a brief deadline
But I think Cornell can make this an interesting game. They've got excellent guard play and more size than you'd imagine an Ivy having. Stanford's guards are only average and they're among the slowest teams in Division 1.
I guess we'll see.
Interesting...
... You must have been really unimpressed with them at Pauley.
Oral Roberts and Temple
If the neo-nazi point gaurd from Mich st. doesn't show up they struggle to score points. Temple can also match their bigs.
Never discount the tude of a Philly kid. Temple is about to dispense some street justice today.
Seriously, is there a bigger difference in campus atmosphere/culture than Michigan State (East Lansing) and the streets of Philly at Temple?
Then you have Pitt, in a neighborhood that looks like ground zero of an atomic bomb blast, playing the Fighting Christies of Oral Roberts of Tulsa.
All fours teams may as well be from other planets. That being said, I think if there are any upsets today it comes from those two match-ups. I know Pitt is playing at a high level, but I think Oral Roberts can put a scare in them.
ORU and another Not-so-dark horse
I agree with you about ORU. I watched them in their conference tourney and they are a slick team. Watch out for the Musketeers, though. I think Xavier could sneak through this region - I have them on a couple of my bracket entries. I'm not so sure about Temple or any of the other Atlantic 10 teams.
Over/under
Is there anything more ridiculous than an over/under bet on a basketball game? You might as well bet on the number of ants that will cross the sidewalk during the game.
Personally, I don't need a financial stake in a game to make it more exciting, but for those who gamble, isn't it more fun to bet on the outcome?
over under is at136 ants.
136?
Is that ants that actually cross from one side of the sidewalk to the other? Or do you count ants that walk halfway across and then decide to turn around? I think you should give each ant a point value from 0.01 to 1 depending on what percentage of the sidewalk they cross...
Good luck with your brackets
It's finally time. Here's to hoping for good officiating throughout the tournament. I would hate to see it affect the outcome of a game like it did a few times in the regular/conference season.
Thursday and Friday
I'll be slaving away getting actual work done in front of my computer. I'm relying on you guys for the scores, not ESPN. Good luck in the bracket pool
FD
PS - may hop over to a Sports Bar for lunch both days, though
i got horribly sick yesterday afternoon
and i've never been happier about feeling this bad. sitting on my couch watching basketball for 2 days is well worth the pain.
It's definitely going around
I caught it about 30 minutes ago and had to leave. I don't expect it to improve for a couple of days.
A bunch of us H-towners will be at Champps-Uptown (by the Co-op) tomorrow for all the games. Stop by and say hello. I'll be the one in the burnt orange shirt.
Good luck on your brackets everyone.
yeah except i'm ACTUALLY sick
luckily the people i'm working for aren't really basketball fans or else i'm sure this would be quite suspicious.
How recently
must one have fallen off the turnip truck to not realize what half of the nation is doing or wanting to do right now? Unless you're working for ferners or something...
Hoo-freekin-ray
for CBS.com and watching the tourney online from "work".
By the way, what the hell got into Georgia? Those guys are going to kill everyones' brackets at this rate.
My wife had the Dawgs
in her Elite Eight...you know, momentum and all that.
I "had" her change it this morning.
heh heh
Playing on emotion
Who knew you could ride emotion and beat a 3 seed that has balanced scoring and plays good defense. I really hope Xavier makes some adjustments and plays much better in the 2nd half or my bracket is going to be hurting.
Re
Apparently MMOD kicks you off if you leave it open for too long but leave it "inactive." Just an FYI...
By the way, two of my distance teams (teams making it past the second round) are sucking it up. Let's go, Xavier and Temple...pick it up!
Early results
Based on the final scores of the first 3 games, I think I should join PB in Vegas and just bet whatever he says to.
by Longhorn in Canada on Mar 20, 2008 1:46 PM CDT reply actions
Baylor/Purdue game back and forth early
This looks like it could be an entertaining game. Both teams have come out shooting over 50%. Good luck Bears. Show the Big 10 what a real conference looks like.
This one looking like a blowout by Purdue
Baylor stopped hitting and Purdue stayed hot. Purdue looks solid on the offensive end today.
2nd set of game not very competitive
I just got home from work and am a little disappointed.
Did Kent State, my pick, just score a total of 10 points in the first half? They are down 51-30. Game over.
Pitt is rolling like this is the Big East tourney. 56-32. Game over.
Purde holds Baylor to 27 in the first half. Boilers up 54-29. Game probably over.
Only the Kentucky game is in single digits.
I want some upsets.
Only a few enjoyable games so far
The Marquette/UK game is decent, but Marquette has lead for most of the game. Too bad Kentucky lost Patterson.
The Xavier/Georgia game was a lot of fun to watch. If Georgia had played any defense at all in the second half, they would have won. Xavier's adjustments at the half and their intensity on D was impressive.
I really wanted to see Baylor win that game against Purdue.
Vegas
7-0 so far
I know, not saying much.
I do have Stanford beating Cornell. In a tournament atmosphere, I have a general sentiment that if a slow team plays a fast team, the slow team will be able to control tempo. Stanford with those tall trees won't even be tempted to run.
Defense and size matters. I don't see Stanford losing till they play us. We should have enough size to counter them, and our guards are superior.
Right now it's 24-15 Stanford. One of those Stanford guards has 8 points. Lopez twins combine for 10 points.
by goingforthecorner on Mar 20, 2008 4:48 PM CDT reply actions
That is insane
Just checked our BONer group on the ESPN.com tourney challenge. There are 327 participants, and 43 are perfect so far (1st 7 games)
by goingforthecorner on Mar 20, 2008 4:52 PM CDT reply actions
That link should be on every basketball diary.
I hate having to go find it.
Damn. I went 6-1, went with Kent St. Didn't see PB's prediction.
Johnson doubtful for Peay game
http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews....
This really sucks. He should be able to play on Sunday, but there's no way he's close to 100% with the ankle, nose injuries.
by goingforthecorner on Mar 20, 2008 4:56 PM CDT reply actions
Game readiness
I wonder how many games it will take for him to get his feet under him though. Usually it takes a player a few games to get going again. When he does finally come back, I hope he can adjust to the one-and-done mentality. It will be a tough task for him since it's his first trip.
PB, you loser
Everyone knows the REAL fans show up in Vegas on the Wednesday before the Dance starts ;-)
I did Vegas the last two years; it is a freaking BLAST!!!
I would be doing it again this year, but I'm going Memorial Day weekend instead.
Unfortunately for me, I received a bunch of great offers from casinos in the last two weeks, but it was too late for me to take advantage of them.
Which casino are you staying at?
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Burnt Orange Nation
Related FanShots on Burnt Orange Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
