NCAA Hoops 2012

[PDH]

Wyoming tanked right after the star player got kicked off the team...imagine that.  Still, for a glorious moment of one week the mighty Cowboys were ranked 25th in the nation.

[Ed Anger]

Wright State ended up at 19-11. 

[jimmy olsen]

Crazy ending to the NY state high school championship!

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/03/new-rochelle-n-y-wins-state-title-on-incredible-buzzer-beater-video/related/

[Berkut]

Sectional championship, actually. Not state.

Still freaking amazing though.

[citizen k]

Gonzaga, the small Northwest school that consistently delivers big NCAA tournament wins, is on top of The Associated Press' Top 25 for the first time.

Zags' Rise To The Top

Gonzaga's No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 is its first in school history. The Zags also are the third non-Big Six school in the past 10 years that voters have sent to the top:
School     Season
Gonzaga     2012-13
Memphis     2007-08
Saint Joseph's     2003-04

The last time more than 5 schools spent time at No. 1 through Week 18 was 2003-04. No. 1 this season, in weeks:
School     Weeks
Indiana     Nine
Duke     Five
Louisville     One
Michigan     One
Gonzaga     One

Riding the best record in Division I at 29-2, the Bulldogs took advantage of Indiana's loss to Minnesota last week and switched places with the Hoosiers, advancing from No. 2 and moving comfortably into the No. 1 spot Monday.

The Spokane, Wash., school best known for Bing Crosby's croons and John Stockton's passes received 51 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel, 44 more than Indiana.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few, in anticipation of the Bulldogs being ranked No. 1 overall, told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that the historic ranking would be an "honor" for both the school and the city of Spokane.

"If they choose to do it, it's an honor," Few told Katz prior to the release of the poll. "[The No. 1 ranking] would not only be an honor for the program, it's an honor for Spokane.

"It's a big deal in Spokane, but it's not like [we're] carrying any more burden when [ranked] No. 2 or 3 or 5."

Gonzaga becomes the 57th school to be ranked No. 1 since the AP poll began in January 1949. The Bulldogs are the fifth school to hold the top slot this season.

Indiana was the preseason No. 1 and was on top for nine other weeks. Duke, which was No. 1 for five weeks, and Louisville and Michigan, which were both on top for one week, were the other No. 1s this season.

Gonzaga reached No. 2 last week, at the time its highest ranking. After Indiana's defeat, the Bulldogs capped their West Coast Conference regular season with wins over BYU and Portland to pave the way to the one-spot leap. Their first game as a No. 1 team will be in the semifinals of the WCC tournament Saturday night.

Duke, which followed a loss to Virginia with a win over Miami, stayed third with five first-place votes. Kansas and Georgetown both jumped two spots to fourth and fifth. The Hoyas received the other two first-place votes.

Miami, Michigan, Louisville, Kansas State and Michigan State rounded out the top 10.

Virginia Commonwealth and UCLA, both ranked in the AP poll earlier in the season, returned to the poll at 21st and 23rd, respectively. They replaced Butler and Louisiana Tech. Butler fell out of the rankings from last week's No. 20 ranking after a 32-point loss to VCU. Louisiana Tech dropped out after one week at No. 25 despite winning its two games last week by an average of 25 points.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[jimmy olsen]

So, are we doing a Languish bracket this year?

[Valmy]

I see Texas and Wyoming are both in some crappy non-NCAA and non-NIT tournament.  Fame and glory are clearly on the line.

[derspiess]

I see Texas and Wyoming are both in some crappy non-NCAA and non-NIT tournament.  Fame and glory are clearly on the line.

  Is it one of those tournaments you have to pay to get into?  I'm glad WVU wasn't even in a position to do that.  No shame in going to the NIT, but if you don't make it there then don't bother. 

[Admiral Yi]

Hoya-Saxons #2 in Kansas' bracket.  I hope JT3's luck with the NCAA gets better this year.  At least make it to the 16.

[sbr]

So the Ducks were #10 in the country, their great young point guard gets hurt and they lose some games, just miss the regular season title and win the Pac-12 tourney and get a #12 seed.

Oh well, college basketball has gotten so incredibly uninteresting that even March Madness doesn't do anything for me at all.

Counting down until baseball season.

[Valmy]

Oh well, college basketball has gotten so incredibly uninteresting that even March Madness doesn't do anything for me at all.

Really?  I thought it was just because me team sucks.

[derspiess]

Oh well, college basketball has gotten so incredibly uninteresting that even March Madness doesn't do anything for me at all.

Really?  I thought it was just because me team sucks.

Gotta admit I paid less attention to college hoops this year than I had in ages-- all because WVU was so horrible this year.  When I'm not accustomed to your team sucking so much and then suddenly they do, it's just too painful to watch any team play.

[dps]

Oh well, college basketball has gotten so incredibly uninteresting that even March Madness doesn't do anything for me at all.

Really?  I thought it was just because me team sucks.

Gotta admit I paid less attention to college hoops this year than I had in ages-- all because WVU was so horrible this year.  When I'm not accustomed to your team sucking so much and then suddenly they do, it's just too painful to watch any team play.

I'm not sure that I've ever watched a regular season college basketball game that WVU wasn't playing in.

Yeah, I live in a hotbed of college hoops now, but the whole NC/Duke/NCState thing doesn't really do anything for me.  I've got no dog in that race.

[CountDeMoney]

The NCAA Tourney this year is a big, hot mess.

Fuck it, I'm picking Georgetown.

[derspiess]

[I'm not sure that I've ever watched a regular season college basketball game that WVU wasn't playing in.

Yeah, I live in a hotbed of college hoops now, but the whole NC/Duke/NCState thing doesn't really do anything for me.  I've got no dog in that race.

I started out watching as much Big 12 basketball as I could this year (actually last year as well).  I'll also usually watch Cincinnati or the big ACC, Big East or SEC matchups and some A-10 here & there.  But I mostly stopped watching college basketball in January.  Thankfully hockey started back up when it did.