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Author Topic: And the winner of the VTTW ESPN Men's Basketball Pickem is....  (Read 1487 times)
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droner
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« on: April 06, 2021, 05:29:42 EDT »

.......VOLSTRONG!

VOLSTRONG will receive 419 Kazakhstani Tenges as the prize for winning the pickem. Only if I can find them which isn't likely.

Congratulations to VOLSTRONG! (Whoever you are.)
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JeffCountyVolFan
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« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2021, 01:44:12 EDT »

I just want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to ESPNFAN574230941.  Without that entry in the pick-em, I would have been dead last.

Thanks so much (whoever you are). 
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« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2021, 02:49:57 EDT »

I just want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to ESPNFAN574230941.  Without that entry in the pick-em, I would have been dead last.

Thanks so much (whoever you are). 

My bracket was busted from day one, so I never even checked the standings since then. Actually shocked to learn that I’M not dead last, or even next to last.
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« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2021, 05:03:42 EDT »

My bracket was busted from day one, so I never even checked the standings since then. Actually shocked to learn that I’M not dead last, or even next to last.

Rub it in!!!!!   
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« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2021, 06:20:29 EDT »

man did I come back strong or what?  After the first day I was at 8%, after the first weekend, 11% 

But I did well with Baylor going all the way.

I was pretty sure they would beat Gonzaga. As good as Gonzaga looked on paper, they were not really challenged this year, their schedule was a bit of a joke.  Even their bracket was a joke, it was very weak.  OU was one of the few decent teams and gave them a game for about a half or so.

Thus I wasn't too surprised when UCLA took them to the wire. UCLA was hot and seemed like a good matchup.

I was surprised at the extent of the beat down, but was pretty confident that Baylor would win.

Anyway, I took second in our little contest.  That's a long way from 8% on day one.   
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« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2021, 07:27:40 EDT »

Baylor came out on fire and punched the Zags in the mouth and Gonzaga was down 19 before they responded with some minor runs.....At one point Baylor was 9 of 15 from the 3 and Gonzaga was 1 of 6. Baylor got 30 off 3 pointers and Gonzaga got 9. Hard to overcome that no matter how good you are...Baylor was just more physical and had a team full of players that looked like football TE's. Every time Gonzaga made a run Baylor countered it.....Zags cut it to 9 in the 2nd half and within a blink of a eye Baylor had it back up to 16...

Gonzaga is a elite program and they have NBA players on their roster....I don't buy they don't win it all because they play in a weak conference....they play the games they have to play in the conference they compete in and to their credit they play as good of a OOC as anybody in the country most every year and they win most of those games....This year they played Kansas...West Virginia...Virginia....Auburn and they were to play Baylor that was cancelled due to Covid and also was to play us (UT) which was cancelled due to Covid.

I would put more stock in their weak conference if they were put out of the NCAA tournament the first game or first weekend most of the time (like us  ) but that's far from the case.

Over the last 7 years: What UT fan wouldn't want these results?

21 - NC game
20 - 1 seed -no tourney -
19 - elite 8
18 - sweet 16
17 - NC game
16 - sweet 16
15 - elite 8

I've heard it said that Gonzaga can't win it all because they aren't tested in their conference.....Well what about these SEC teams that are tested based on people saying how tough the SEC conference is and can't win it all or some that can't even get close..... Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Alabama, A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU, and Auburn.....Most of these SEC teams would trade with the success Gonzaga has sustained in a heartbeat.
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JeffCountyVolFan
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« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2021, 09:12:59 EDT »

Free throws were the only thing that kept Gonzaga in the game in the first half, imo.  The zone caused Baylor a few problems, and slowed them down a little on offense, but once they started attacking the elbows the zone lost its effectiveness.

Gonzaga does play in a weak conference, all things considered.  The Zags had not seen a defense near that calliber all year.  Their OOC games, while great on paper, were not the same teams that we would normally see year-in-year out.  Gonzaga cannot help that those teams were down slightly this year, but it is true imo.  They deserve much credit for scheduling tough OOC teams.  West Virginia gave the Zags their closest game of the year, until UCLA, and the Zags got them before Oscar Tshiebwe exited (and I think WVU was a much better team after he left).

All that said, Mark Few (who I respect immensely) has built a powerhouse in Spokane.  Its truly amazing what he has done with that program.

Baylor was just better.
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« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2021, 12:38:27 EDT »

Interestingly, I had a bracket in another league with some slightly different picks (less Tennessee for example) and finished with the same score, though in 2nd place
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« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2021, 10:22:36 EDT »

Agree about the OOC schedule and stick by my point that the 'zaga schedule was weak.  I didn't say they played in a weak conference (though one could make that argument I suppose), just that I was not impressed by their schedule THIS YEAR.

Take the four OOC teams TnPhil mentions.

Kansas - one of their weakest teams in years. I didn't think they deserved their high ranking.
Virginia - another embarrassing first round loss, nuff said
Auburn - no disrespect, but should they even be on a list of "tough" opponents? Hobbled by graduation and probation, perhaps Bruce's worse team down there, not even 0.500 in the SEC
West Virginia - probably the best of the lot, which really just shows how weak the list is

Again, Gonzaga didn't really play too many tough teams in the season IMO and so were exposed in the final game and really to some extent in the semi.

As for their record over the last 8 years, I would take it, but would also wonder how well they would do over that stretch in the SEC.
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