Just Like Last Year!

• Ironman92

  

  With VCU completing the unthinkable and Butler building another legacy.....the NCAA CHampionship just like last year is guaranteed to have a GIGANTIC underdog from the tournament beginning face off versus a national powerhouse.
  
  All possible options are all this:
  
  Butler vs UConn
  Butler vs UK
  Butler vs UNC
  
  VCU vs UConn
  VCU vs UK
  VCU vs UNC
• killer_ewok

  

  David vs. David. Winner gets Goliath.
• Ironman92

  

  Winner might become goliath down the road.
• dave

  Last year was not even close to this year. Izzo and a top 10 pick in the NBA are not there for VCU or Butler. MSU and Butler also really didn't have to pull of any big upsets last year, I believe Butler beat Cuse being the only shocker.
• ironman02

  ccrunner609;726792 wrote:Man I hope VCU or Butler wins this thing

  For once, we are in complete agreement.
• Laley23

  

  dave;726539 wrote:Last year was not even close to this year. Izzo and a top 10 pick in the NBA are not there for VCU or Butler. MSU and Butler also really didn't have to pull of any big upsets last year, I believe Butler beat Cuse being the only shocker.

  
  You might want to re-read the first post and see what he was saying lol
• ironman02

  ccrunner609;726797 wrote:KUMBAYA!

  LOL.
• Azubuike24

  

  It's bittersweet for me because I'm the biggest supporter of mid-major hoops. That's what makes this sport great, not just loving a school and following all of the big time conferences, but the random Colonial or Missouri Valley conference race or Thursday night WCC games is what makes the sport great. It's awesome to see these schools not just getting some recognition, but defying odds and making Final Four runs. It used to be a great story the first weekend, but it usually ended in Regionals weekend when the powerhouses took over. Not anymore. Four "mid-major" Final Four runs in 6 years is crazy, and it's become the type of thing we are now going to have to really consider every year when looking at these teams. It's not just which mid-major can win 2 games, it's which one can contend for a national title. A team like VCU is very good and has had a magical run, but there is a VCU-type team (heck, a half-dozen of them) every season. It's great for the sport that these teams are actually getting to the highest level. It will continue as recruits see that parity is running rampant and there is coaching talent in every state and at every level.
• mella

  At this point I am pulling for VCU or Butler to win it all.
• reclegend22

  

  I don't know whom I am rooting for most, Butler to win or Jim Calhoun and Kemba Walker to lose and cry tears. It's a tough call. But there would be nothing more magical in my opinion than the tiny Butler Bulldogs, school population 4,200, cutting down the nets on Monday Night and returning the national title trophy to the heartland of Indiana, where it hasn't been since Bobby Knight led Indiana University to the NCAA championship in 1987.
  
  This is setting up perfectly to end in a fairly tale finish if I've ever seen one. Brad Stevens, just hang on another decade, do your thing in a couple more Final Fours, and then come home. We will be carving your office out of gargoyle stone and dinosaur gold.
• ytownfootball

  

  I have to vote my allegiance to VCU, for no other reason than to make Bilas look like a bigger tool than he already does, that may not be possible but worth a shot. I like Bilas, but his rant went over the line, obviously, hope he learned a lesson from this.
• Azubuike24

  

  Hindsight is 20/20.
  
  Jay Bilas was right about the rant, but the manor in-which he used his avenue of exposure on ESPN to constantly harp upon it is what was inappropriate.
  
  By the numbers, he was right. VCU did NOT belong in this tournament.
• ytownfootball

  

  Azubuike24;726829 wrote:Hindsight is 20/20.
  
  Jay Bilas was right about the rant, but the manor in-which he used his avenue of exposure on ESPN to constantly harp upon it is what was inappropriate.
  
  By the numbers, he was right. VCU did NOT belong in this tournament.

  
  I disagree about the hindsight thing, I thought he came off as an ass right from the get go. His point was valid, but the delivery screamed condescension. Very unprofessional.
• Azubuike24

  

  That's what I mean. He went over the top. Those guys are paid to have opinions, even dissenting ones, but that entire night he went on and on and on. Vitale did too, but he's not as hardcore. That was what was disappointing. Bilas is generally not the guy who throws the same opinion down your throat every time he talks, but in this case, he did.
• reclegend22

  

  Jay Bilas is no doubt at times a condescending ass. That's the argumentative lawyer in him. He's a high-grade debater, there is no questioning that. But not even I like him large portions of the time.
  
  He's smart, articulate and funny, but he's those things in a way that occasionally bespeaks an aura of arrogance. And that's what rubs people the wrong way, I think.
• jordo212000

  

  You can bet that I have been tweaking Dickie V all along via Twitter. I agree with a few of you guys, VCU getting an invite was sketchy, but I really didn't like the way they handled it/discussed it. They made it very personal and acted like VCU banged their wives or something... Or it could be that one of the teams left out was a precious ACC school
• trep14

  jordo212000;726875 wrote:You can bet that I have been tweaking Dickie V all along via Twitter. I agree with a few of you guys, VCU getting an invite was sketchy, but I really didn't like the way they handled it/discussed it. They made it very personal and acted like VCU banged their wives or something... Or it could be that one of the teams left out was a precious ACC school

  
  True. But it wouldn't be March Madness without Virginia Tech complaining about being left out of the tournament.
• jordo212000

  

  You can bet that I have been tweaking Dickie V all along via Twitter. I agree with a few of you guys, VCU getting an invite was sketchy, but I really didn't like the way they handled it/discussed it. They made it very personal and acted like VCU banged their wives or something... Or it could be that one of the teams left out was a precious ACC school

  
  True. But it wouldn't be March Madness without Virginia Tech complaining about being left out of the tournament.

  And it wouldn't have been the regular season without Va Tech playing an extremely weak OOC schedule and looking extremely ordinary while playing that cakewalk schedule
• Ironman92

  

  I see your point dave....but you missed my point
• Automatik

  

  What did Bilas say? I missed it.
• clickclickboom

  Ironman92;726497 wrote:Winner might become goliath down the road.

  
  Yes because the Horizon and the Colonial conferences are so close to being power conferences
• Ironman92

  

  Not talking about conferences.
  
  "Might" is the key word....I'm not betting anything on it.
  
  Butler wins it all this year.......coach stays and builds themselves into a bigger program and does it year in and year out.
  
  Make fun of the conference all you want....how many schools would love to have that coach and how many goliaths would like to be in their position the past two years.