Bracketology - Let's Do This

Northeast Stinger

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I am not a VT fan, but losing in OT is not choking. Maybe we see that word differently, so I am not trying to shame you. To me it says too much about the character of the young men who lost and I don't think that is fair. Competitive sports always has a team that wins and a team that loses. Degrading the loser diminishes the winner. Give the winner the joy and pride in victory.
Of course you are right. (Do you get tired of always being right? 😊) But it feels like a choke when you are bitter about the disrespect the ACC has gotten, the rotten luck with Covid, and the questionable seeding, and you want just one ACC team to hit above their weight rather than collapsing in typical ACC fashion this year.

Let a man ***** for a while and get it out of our systems.
 

4shotB

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To me it says too much about the character of the young men who lost and I don't think that is fair.

I don't see it as a character issue at all. I truly do believe from experience there are people who don't have the nerves to perform under pressure. In sports, business, life, whatever. Doesn't say anything at all about character imo. It's just an attribute.
 

LibertyTurns

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I don't see it as a character issue at all. I truly do believe from experience there are people who don't have the nerves to perform under pressure. In sports, business, life, whatever. Doesn't say anything at all about character imo. It's just an attribute.
It’s not fashionable these days to talk about character because it means a lot of different things to different people and the lens thru which they’re looking. There’s conduct- don’t act like an imbecile, don’t lie & cheat, etc. A lot of people find it necessary to rationalize away bad conduct so that’s been practically removed from our national essence & discussions to our country’s detriment. Then there’s stuff like perseverance, determination, confidence (not the fake type), etc. Where people often get confused if the inability to make the distinction between where raw talent carries the day & when grit takes over. Having both, well they’re superstars generally. I’m gonna vomit here because I hate, albeit respect most of these great players- Montana, Brady, Kobe, Jordan, Jeter, Bradshaw, etc. Of course there’s awesome ones like Calvin Johnson, and lesser accomplished like Joe Hamilton, etc. In the end VT lacked GT’s critical elements of character like Ush & Alvarado bring to the table & hence failed when the chips were down. A GT team wins their game, a VT team loses it.
 

orientalnc

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I don't see it as a character issue at all. I truly do believe from experience there are people who don't have the nerves to perform under pressure. In sports, business, life, whatever. Doesn't say anything at all about character imo. It's just an attribute.
Maybe I am also using the wrong word when I refer to "choking" as a character issue. I agree with the Meriam-Webster definition of "choked" as: "to lose one's composure and fail to perform effectively in a critical situation."

VT did not perform as well as UF in the OT, but I do not think they choked if this definition is correct. VT was up against a competitive opponent who was equally invested in the outcome. One performed better than the other. But, isn't that likely to always be the case?
 

jeffgt14

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The Big 10 has still underperformed but it sucks seeing 2 of 3 teams I bitched about not even deserving to be in the tournament get a win (Rutgers, Wisc, MSU). UNC sucks and Wisconsin is borderline deserving of being here so that's ok but how in the **** can Clemson go and lose to Rutgers? That's a damn disgrace for the entire conference.

Syracuse I figured would get hot. They have a sharpshooter with Gerry McNamara in his 19th year and a hostile zone D that most teams don't see often. Always a recipe for success in the tournament. If I didn't have them running into Houston (who I think will be in the Final 4 although I had to pick GT in my bracket :)) I'd have them going a lot further.
 

orientalnc

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This is an interesting discussion. I agree with both of you to a certain extent. But, to be able to perform as well as your opponent in highly competitive events is not usually determined by a lack of character. Someone will win and the other loses. That is the nature of the game. Both teams in the VT-UF game played well and the end of regulation showed VT lacked none of the character required to win. But, the final outcome was determined by multiple plays won by UF and lost by VT. Saying that VT was the rightful winner diminishes UF's victory.
 

GTNavyNuke

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I am not a VT fan, but losing in OT is not choking. Maybe we see that word differently, so I am not trying to shame you. To me it says too much about the character of the young men who lost and I don't think that is fair. Competitive sports always has a team that wins and a team that loses. Degrading the loser diminishes the winner. Give the winner the joy and pride in victory.

Fair enough. I dislike VT since I live with a lot of their fans who resemble uGag in that they think they are better than they are.

Felt mostly that VT had the upper hand for most of the game till they froze up.
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smokey_wasp

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Well the ACC sort of sucked today, but we only had 1 team play who was supposed to win. And we got 1 win. We had to play ranked teams like Loyola and San Diego State and Wisconsin. Even Florida was ranked a few weeks ago. Today we see our 4 seeds play, the only 2 teams we have who were supposed to win games.

Meanwhile the Big Ten got to play teams like Oral Roberts and North Texas and they lost.

Sweet Redemption.

ACC got some tough draws and we got a tough break. Not terribly surprising results
 

takethepoints

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One more thing.

In Moneyball, Billy Bean pretty much puts performance in playoff series down to luck. "My stuff" - the kind of counterintuitive recruiting and play that got the A's great win/loss records - doesn't work in playoffs; they're too short and the teams are too closely matched. o you play your best and remember that the final result has more to do with sheer bum luck then coaching or strategy.

There's no place better then the NCAA basketball tournament to illustrate this. Pastner finally got a winning lineup, then a disease puts the center of that lineup on the bench in a game with a good opponent. This had nothing to do with a Moneyball mix of strategies; that showed up when Pastner decided to recruit Mo, despite no interest from the recruiting agencies. (Indeed, Wright is a fine example of why you should trust recruiting rankings just about as far as you can throw their collective staff.) Well, he's a good coach and I expect to see us take up where we left off next year. The pieces are there; it's just a matter of experience.
 

slugboy

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Maybe this should go in a different thread, or maybe the WBB thread, but more and more stories keep turning up of the NCAA making an absolute hash out of preparing for the women’s tournament.
The women are getting different, less accurate, COVID tests. Their food is worse. Mark Emmert is deflecting any blame to subordinates.
I can understand lobster when the men’s tournament is pulling in so much more cash, but it looks like the women’s tournament has substandard prep. They don’t look like they’re doing a good job of clearing a minimum standard.
From what I understand, in the next few weeks, Emmert is going to testify to congress about name and likeness, and the NCAA’s focus on amateurism. This is a bad look for them. And Emmert is starting to catch some heat.
 

LibertyTurns

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Maybe this should go in a different thread, or maybe the WBB thread, but more and more stories keep turning up of the NCAA making an absolute hash out of preparing for the women’s tournament.
The women are getting different, less accurate, COVID tests. Their food is worse. Mark Emmert is deflecting any blame to subordinates.
I can understand lobster when the men’s tournament is pulling in so much more cash, but it looks like the women’s tournament has substandard prep. They don’t look like they’re doing a good job of clearing a minimum standard.
From what I understand, in the next few weeks, Emmert is going to testify to congress about name and likeness, and the NCAA’s focus on amateurism. This is a bad look for them. And Emmert is starting to catch some heat.
How many people ran around your workplace last week collecting whatever they call the women’s tournament brackets? Nobody really cares save a couple fans, some school interest if their school makes it, the parents of the players, etc. If the product was worth caring about there would be a market, interest & also the money. It’s not like you got some cabal running around stealing the women’s food, preventing them from getting gym equipment, etc. When the women’s sport becomes more popular than the men’s then they’ll get better stuff. Until then maybe they should work on making their product more valuable instead of trying to extort people to give them something they don’t deserve.
 

4shotB

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How many people ran around your workplace last week collecting whatever they call the women’s tournament brackets? Nobody really cares save a couple fans, some school interest if their school makes it, the parents of the players, etc. If the product was worth caring about there would be a market, interest & also the money. It’s not like you got some cabal running around stealing the women’s food, preventing them from getting gym equipment, etc. When the women’s sport becomes more popular than the men’s then they’ll get better stuff. Until then maybe they should work on making their product more valuable instead of trying to extort people to give them something they don’t deserve.
Hey now...that's just not fair. 🙄 :cigar:
 

Milwaukee

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How many people ran around your workplace last week collecting whatever they call the women’s tournament brackets? Nobody really cares save a couple fans, some school interest if their school makes it, the parents of the players, etc. If the product was worth caring about there would be a market, interest & also the money. It’s not like you got some cabal running around stealing the women’s food, preventing them from getting gym equipment, etc. When the women’s sport becomes more popular than the men’s then they’ll get better stuff. Until then maybe they should work on making their product more valuable instead of trying to extort people to give them something they don’t deserve.
Thank you. But this isn’t woke enough for current climate. This is revenue driven with people just looking to be offended. ESPN is really running with it too as you know they love this stuff. You don’t see male strippers out here crying cause female strippers make more than they do, or maybe they are I’m not sure 😂.
It’s REVENUE driven due to the consumer demand.
 
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