College Basketball/March Madness 2007

[Superballer]

Anyone follow the Division II and III tournaments as well?  They should be starting up shortly too.

[catfan2002]

if nku makes it i'll follow division 2 same for thomas moore or mount saint joeseph in division 3

[shellgame69]

Mizzou Lost to Texas A&M, meaning they will start in 6th place in the Big 12 tourney.

[PriceFanArmadillo]

And Illinois loses a tough one to Iowa, putting them firmly on the bubble.  Right now,  I have no idea whether or not they're getting in.  This is gonna be one rough week...

[heelsrule1988]

2 hours, 14 minutes! Basically, any slight hope we have of getting a #1 seed rests on this game. If we win today and win the ACC Tournament, I think we can still get a top seed.

84-71 is my pick, by the way.

[heelsrule1988]

Long rant ahead, take caution...

Let me start off by saying that my hate for Dook will never go away. It will always be there. But this season, and I'm sure a lot of you can agree, the rivalry has not been as intense as it has been in past seasons. The hate has still been there, but the intensity hasn't been there as much as in the past. And with us pulling away late in the game to an easy win and a season sweep of Dook, it seemed this season's battles with Dook would finish with little commotion. Until that moment. Until the moment that will go down in Carolina-Dook history as yet another example of why this is the most intense rivalry in all of sports.

I go to Buffalo Wild Wings for Panthers games, and that's always fun, so I decided I'd go there for the game today. I've been there a couple of times for college basketball games, and the atmosphere was just as great then, too. It was no different today. I knew because it was Carolina-Dook, there'd be a lot of interest there. Besides a table full of Dook fans, the whole place was practically filled with Carolina fans, so I definitely had backup. The Dook table had two girls, college-aged I would guess, a boy about 12 or 13, and a guy that looked to be their dad. They were also sitting with a lady that was rooting for Carolina, interestingly enough. You'll see why I'm telling you about their group in a bit. Well, the whole game, there was no hate or anything, just cheering for our respective teams whenever they did well. Even when a Carolina fan was waving goodbye to the Dook fans when it was clear the game was in hand, everyone knew it was just in fun. But then came that moment. The whole place was going crazy, but I was enraged. I don't think I've ever been as angry during a Carolina-Dook game as I was then. I immediately jumped out of my seat and yelled, "THAT'S INTENTIONAL!!!", and made the intentional foul signal with my hand. Then, once it was clear that Tyler was badly bloodied, the group of Dook fans starts cheering wildly, approving of the fact that their punk of a player unnecessarily injured our star. I was completely stunned. I know how low Dook fans are, but I sure as heck didn't expect a family like that to be that way. So, as if I wasn't enraged enough already, that really got my blood boiling. When it was shown that Henderson was ejected, I clapped loudly. At least it was satisfying to know that justice was served. What was going to be a surprisingly calm ending to a Carolina-Dook game turned out to be very emotional and intense, and it made the win that much sweeter. Even though the place was 95% Carolina fans, I still popped the Carolina logo on my shirt in triumph. Then, of course, I high-fived every Carolina fan I saw. As happy as I was, though, I still wasn't totally calmed down from what Henderson did. When I got back home and watched that moment again to hear the commentary (I could barely hear because it was pretty loud in there) and just see it again, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Billy Packer was repeatedly defending Henderson. I was calmed down by that point, but that kind of got me all angry again. How he can call that unintentional is beyond me. As enraged as I was over all this, though, just look at how Tyler was. Obviously, he's usually a calm person, but when he gets mad, boy, does he get mad. If he hadn't been held back, he would've POUNDED Henderson. Absolutely destroyed him.

Oh, before I go... just call me Nostradamus, baby! I predicted 84-71, meaning I was a total of just three points away!

[PriceFanArmadillo]

Three points?  That's nothing...I was only one point off of my Illinois/NC championship prediction.  (Well, if you ignore the fact that I had Illinois winning instead of NC.  )

Yeah, I watched the game too, for some odd reason.  Well, actually, I kinda fell asleep while the game was on and never bothered to turn the TV off or change the channel.    Anyway, I was kinda listening to the last minute or so and turned to look at the screen when that last minute seemed like it was taking way too long for a twelve-point game.  

After seeing the replay a half-dozen times and listening to Packer...I still have no idea why he was defending Henderson so much.  I mean, I couldn't tell you for sure, one way or another, whether or not he was intentionally trying to hurt Hansborough (is that his name?), but it sure looked like it was intentional.  Still, while there was some room for interpretation, I couldn't figure out what Billy was looking at to be able to declare anything as obvious as he was, one way or another.  I'd have ended up ejecting the guy, but I have to admit, I couldn't tell you for sure one way or another what happened.  I'll have to defer to ESPN's talking heads on that one.  

And that is the (entirely uncalled-for) opinion of what happened from a slightly-less-biased source.  

[Voltron291]

heelsrule1988 wrote:
Then, once it was clear that Tyler was badly bloodied, the group of Dook fans starts cheering wildly, approving of the fact that their punk of a player unnecessarily injured our star. I was completely stunned. I know how low Dook fans are, but I sure as heck didn't expect a family like that to be that way.  

From a fellow Duke hater from Maryland, I actually agree with Billy Packer's reasoning that the foul was not intentional.  From the broadcaster's table it certainly would have looked like Henderson was just going for the rebound on the missed free throw.  However, I think that the intentional foul was called only because of the nosebleed.  It wasn't that Henderson sucker punched Hansborough, it was an incidental elbow, which is why Packer was thinking that the foul was not intentional. That being said, the Duke fans you mentioned were definitely out of line condoning that kind of behavior, and on the UNC side, why was Hansborough even in the game with a 12-point lead and 14 seconds to go?

As for Maryland- 7 in a row in the ACC, including a complete sweep of Tobacco Road.

[catfan2002]

Winthrop, Belmont, Davidson, Eastern Kentucky, Penn, and Creighton are all in the dance 59 spots left

[heelsrule1988]

Just found out that Tyler's nose is broken, contrary to original belief. Because of that punk Henderson, Tyler will have to wear a mask. Those can be very distracting if you're not used to them.

[catfan2002]

add vcu, niagara, and gonzaga to the dance list.

[catfan2002]

wright state, oral roberts, and north texas added

[heelsrule1988]

How about Dook losing to State in OT? 0-fer in the ACC Tournament! That's hilarious. Dook has been pathetic this season, and they're set for an early exit next week. If they survive next weekend, it's a miracle.

[GoldenBulldog]

My Islanders are two wins away from the Big Dance!  Guess what?  Lamar knocked off Sam Houston State in the 1st round!!    

[rob79]

All I can say is: GO SEC!!!! The tourney i've been waiting for kicked off today.

BTW: as far as the women's side is concerned: GO MTSU!!! They swept through the Sun Belt this year at 22-0, both reg. season and the tourney, and they have the nation's longest winning streak, they lost to Maryland by a point and beat Georgia. They deserve at least a 3 seed. But the committee will probably disrespect them and give them a 9 seed or some other seed like that.