Nit Bracket, NCAA bracket, nit, nit 2008, 2008 nit, espn, nit bracket 2008, espn, ncaa, ncaa brackets, cbs sports, 2008 ncaa bracket
While I love the Super Bowl, it's only four hours long. The NCAA tournament gives you much more bang for your buck. During the opening two days of the tournament (Thursday and Friday), I try my damnedest to become like that woman who had to have the toilet seat surgically removed from her ass (except in my case, it would be the recliner). Or at least I did before these damn kids came along.
So I decided to set up my own bracket challenge, hosted at CBS Sportsline. There will be a private message board for us to talk smack. If that doesn't satisfy your appetite for smack, you can send group emails to everyone in the Parent Bloggers group.
Here's how the scoring breaks down:1st round: 1 point for each correct pick
2nd round: 2 points for each correct pick
3rd round: 4 points for each correct pick
4th round: 8 points for each correct pick
5th round: 16 points for each correct pick
Final round: 32 points for the correct pick
Interested? The group name is Parent Bloggers and the password is cynical. If you want to sign up and see how well you do against the rest of us, click here (if you have any problems, drop me a line).
And if you end up winning the Parent Bloggers NCAA Bracket Challenge, I'll send you a mix CD and a limited edition Cynical Dad pin (just ask The Lovely Mrs. Davis how cool the pins are!). If you decide to play, leave me a comment and let me know your team name so I can put the names to the blogs, etc.
And don't worry if you're not a parent blogger. If you're reading this, consider yourself invited.
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Indiana is basketball country and with March Madness upon us, it’s only fitting that It’s Evansville joins the rest of the world in setting up an NCAA Bracket pool. The bracket challenge is free for anyone to play. All you need is a Facebook account and the CBS Sports bracket application.
The tournament’s first game is Tuesday night, but the real festivities start on Tuesday, so make sure you get your bracket filled out.
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Having won 13 of its last 14 games, Texas A&M may be one of the hottest teams in America heading into the NCAA Women's Tournament. But senior guard Aqua Franklin has a different view.
"We're the most humble team in America," Franklin said.
The 11th-ranked Aggies must wait until 6 p.m. Monday to learn if they have earned a No. 2 seed in the field of 64. ESPN will unveil the bracket during an hour-long show. The network will also broadcast all 63 games through the Women's Final Four in Tampa, Fla.
A&M (26-7) and Baylor (24-6) have both scheduled watch parties for their fans. A&M fans can watch the show at the Above The Rim club inside Reed Arena. Baylor fans can watch with the Lady Bears at the Ferrell Center.
Connecticut, North Carolina, Tennessee and Stanford may have the inside track to the No. 1 seeds. But several regional teams will be watching with their fingers crossed.
SMU (24-8) earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2000 by winning the Conference USA tournament.
Texas coach Gail Goestenkors believes the Longhorns (21-12) should get into the NCAAs after a strong closing run. UT missed the tournament the last two years. This season, the Longhorns won six games against Top-25 teams and rank 26th in the NCAA-approved RPI ratings.
Oklahoma State (25-7) and Oklahoma (21-8) are both hoping to land in the Oklahoma City Regional. If that happened, the Cowgirls and/or Sooners could play a Sweet 16 game at the Ford Center and enjoy a huge home-court advantage.
"I think wherever they send us, whoever we have to play, we have a chance to win a couple of games in a row," OSU coach Kurt Budke said.
Nit Bracket, NCAA bracket
College Basketball Invitational
College Basketball Invitational, cbi, cbi tournament, nit, cbi bracket, college basketball invitational tournament
Selection Sunday has arrived. By nightfall the field of 65 teams that will participate in the spectacle known as the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament will be revealed. The much-discussed “bubble” will burst.
In the olden days, those left out of the field of 65 would skulk off to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for a couple of additional home games and, if they shake off the disappointment of missing the Big Dance and play well, a potential trip to Madison Square Garden for the NIT finals. Those days are gone. The 2007-2008 college basketball season features a new entrant into the post-season men’s basketball tournament market, the College Basketball Invitational, a sixteen team elimination tournament sponsored by the Gazelle Group, a sport consulting firm that organizes several early-season college basketball tournaments like the College Hoops Classic in November.
The College Basketball Invitational has a television contract, albeit with Fox College Sports which is available on cable television providers that have roughly 46 million subscribers (I have no idea if the Fox Sports Channel is part of the basic cable package on these providers). The games will be played at on-campus sites, and the championship “series” consists of three games in a home-away-home format to be played on March 31st, April 2nd and April 4th (if necessary). The addition of the College Basketball Invitational means that 113 Division I men’s basketball teams will participate in some sort of postseason tournament this season.
The existence of a new entrant in this market raises some interesting economic questions. This tournament is in direct competition for teams with the NIT, and it will be interesting to see if it is able to induce any teams to defect from the NIT field in the first year. I have no idea what sort of payouts are made by the NIT to participating schools, but they are likely larger than those offered by this start-up tourney. The winner of the College Basketball Invitational could host up to five additional post-season basketball games which could generate substantial additional revenues, if there is demand for tickets. The long-run viability of any new entrant into a sports market is inevitably tied to television revenues, so the value of the television contract with Fox College Sports will likely have a large impact on the long-run viability of the College Basketball Invitational. It will be interesting to see if it can survive. Anyone interested in joining a CBI pool?
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\ NEW ENGLAND TEAMS IN TOURNAMENTS
This is the week in which copy machines in offices across America will be working overtime, and the Todds from Sales will be collecting money for "the pool." Every March, the randomness, excitement, and difficult to predict NCAA tournament brings out the latent gambler in all of us. Just like those grids on Super Bowl Sunday.
But why not photocopy brackets for the NIT, and the new Collegiate Basketball Invitational? Why not collect $5 for the women's bracket, or the Frozen Four? Half the people in bracket pools aren't college basketball fans anyway, so just because it's Virginia Commonwealth vs. Alabama-Birmingham and not Kansas vs. Georgetown doesn't make it a less exciting thing to bet on. The games aren't as good, but the gambling action is just as good, if not better.
Here are the New England teams playing in the post-season:
NCAA Championship Tournament:
UConn
The Huskies are the 4th seed in the Western Region. But they'll be playing their fist games in Tampa. They open up against San Diego on Friday. If they win, they'll face either Drake or Western Kentucky. UCLA is the #1 seed they're grouped with. Not surprisingly, UConn got a somewhat favorable seeding and placement. I hate UConn and hope they lose to Drake.
National Invitation Tournament:
UMass
The Minutemen went 21-10 and finished 3rd in the Atlantic 10, which earned them a #2 seed in the NIT. They'll host Stone Cold Stephen F. Austin University on Tuesday. Their grouping doesn't have a name, but if it did, it would be called "How the Mighty Have Fallen Region." It includes Maryland and Syracuse.
Rhode Island
The Rams had a promising beginning but couldn't take the big steps to get to the Big Dance. So they're stuck in the NIT as a 6 seed, facing Creighton on Tuesday night. URI began the season 14-1, with their only loss being a heartbreaker to Boston College. Losing close games would be a trend for the Rams, and they ended up 9th in the A-10 (which isn't as bad as it sounds, there are 14 teams in the A-10).
Collegiate Basketball Invitational:
Brown
The Brown Bears finished 2nd in the Ivy League and 19-9 overall. They're part of the 16 team CBI and will play Ohio University on Tuesday in Athens...Athens, OH.
Not listed is Boston College. That's not too surprising, but when you consider that 113 D-I teams made it into a post-season tournament, it really shows how much of a rebuilding season this was for the Eagles. Of the 12 teams in the ACC, 8 made it to a tournament (4 in the NCAA, 3 in the NIT, 1 in the CBI).
As a New England sports fan, I'm a little disappointed by these fields of tournaments. I'll root for URI in the NIT, but it's difficult to watch an entire NIT game and pretend to care. And UConn...well...the less said about them the better.
Remember the days when BC and/or UMass were forces in the NCAA tournament? Remember when underdog hopefuls like Vermont and Holy Cross would capture the imagination of New England for 2 hours? Now look what we're stuck with...UConn. Makes me sick.
