College Fan Territories Map

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This one's pretty accurate, as fan maps go. Thanks for putting Texas State in there!

NCAA Tournament

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Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days - It's NCAA Tournament time, and I've spent a bunch of my free time creating my brackets. I think I've done 10 of them the last 36 hours. And I plan to win.

As a consensus of all my brackets so far, I like Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Louisville/Missouri, and North Carolina for my final four. Florida State, Kansas, and Baylor, are gonna make it interestingly tough, though.

Sunday Links

Original Source

• The 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket has been released (.pdf) - (ESPN.com)

• Build your own putting green - (TheSandTrap.com - Via Reddit)

• Jessica Simpson posed for a semi-nude baby-bump picture (NYDailyNews.com)

• Some of the best Area 51 Panoramas ever taken - (DreamlandResort.com)

• EU agencies say Google is breaking the Law - (reuters.com)

• Spinning a .40-caliber bullet in ice - (Source - Via Reddit)

Link Dump

Unusual Wood Floors by Bolefloor - Via





5 Ways To Cut The Battery Drain On Your Android Phone - Via




Government asks NCAA Football "Why no playoffs?"


There is a live Abbey Road Webcam - And yes, people do actually simulate the Beatles cover..



Pics or it didn't happen..

Butler vs. Connecticut 8:23 PM CDT

"Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time.” -- John Wooden

Via

NCAA Tourney Field Cut In Half

Why didn't the NCAA tournament committee attach all four play-in games to all four #1 seeds? Instead two of them are two 12-seeds (winner plays a 5-seed), and two 11-seeds (winner plays a 6-seed).

So they apparently sort-of rank all 68 teams. Then they sort-of put them all into regions based upon location. This process is apparently allowed to alter a team's seed by 1 or 2 - just to get them in the right region of 4 regions. A great example is Texas probably should've been a 3-seed, if not a 2 even, but were given a 4-seed to alleviate a ton of traveling. WTF?

Okay okay. I can swallow that, I guess, but why is it necessary? I mean UTSA had to travel all the way to Dayton, Ohio to play Alabama State in their play-in game. Is that because if they win (which they did) they'd be right there to play none other than Ohio State basically at home? I laugh at this.

Virginia Commonwealth U. had to travel to Dayton to play (gulp) USC for their play-in game, in which the winner would go to Chicago to play Georgetown. That makes a ton of sense! Props to VCU though for proving all the "experts" wrong. They were one of two teams who Jay Bilas and others said should absolutely not even be dancing. Alabama Birmingham and Clemson also had to go all the way to Dayton to play for the right to play West Virginia back in Tampa. Ehh.. North Carolina Asheville & Arkansas Little Rock did the same for a chance to play Pittsburgh - in Washington D.C.

If it's gonna be a priority WHERE teams play, then make it as such. Otherwise, rank the teams, give the bottom 8 teams 4 games to play all four #1 seeds, and let's get on with it.

Oh.. and one last thing: I agree that the Big East is a great basketball conference. OK I agree. But 11 teams? That's ridiculous. You're rewarding teams who are in the bottom half of their conference - for (what?) playing teams in their own conference. Stupid. But hey I loved Marquette going in. But giving them an 11 seed to play a 6-seeded Xavier? Sorry - The Atlantic 10 might deserve 3 teams, but that conference isn't worthy of the respect to have its champion play such a low big east team, let alone a team who didn't win its conference tournament.

So many things wrong. But hey - at least Texas won. Onto Anaheim to play Arizona for the right to play Duke. Wait a minute - Duke should be going to Newark.

24-14

Longhorn Basketball: Worst Year In A Dozen

Just as I figured.. I have no idea how this team was 17-0 and the #1 ranked team in the country. Tonight they played sloppy, sloppy basketball, and I wonder how they managed to shoot 38%!

Well, I picked them to beat Wake Forest before they went down in flames. But even with TWENTY Demon Deacons turnovers, and a gift traveling call on a last-second inbounds pass, and a lucky trip to overtime, and a nice strong OT lead, they still couldn't close it out. Got outrebounded 56-31! Sigh... Story of the season (or rather the 2nd-half of the season).

But this post isn't about this FAIL. As I said it was pretty much expected. This post is about the huge difference between this season and the rest of Rick Barnes' stellar 12-yr. career as UT's head coach. I want to point out exactly what the guy has to work with this year. Damion James? Dexter Pittman? Avery Bradley?? This team cannot shoot. They have no leader. Both big men have disappointed when it mattered most. No one to dictate. Sloppy play...

Texas basketball has had a handful of guys go pro. OK literally about a half-dozen - until Barnes came into the picture. Let's look at some of the UT greats, focusing on Barnes' 12-year career. First I must mention a few pre-Barnes stars, just for the record:

Johnny Moore, 1977 -- A San Antonio Spurs legend who now has his "00" hanging in the rafters of the AT&T Center.

LaSalle Thompson, 1980-1982 -- A 16-year NBA career with the Kings & Pacers.

Also worth mentioning:
Lance Blanks, 1986-1989 -- 3 NBA seasons
Travis Mays, 1987-1990 -- NBA 1st-rnd pick - played 3 seasons

Chris Mihm, 98-00 -- 9-yr. career (CLE, BOS, LAL)
Royal Ivey, 01-04 -- Currently with MIL
T.J. Ford, 02-03 -- Currently with IND
P.J. Tucker, 04-06 -- 1 season with TOR
LaMarcus Aldridge, 05-06 -- Currently a POR starter
Daniel Gibson, 05-06 -- Currently with CLE
Kevin Durant, 07 -- 2nd overall pick, OKC all-star
D.J. Augustin, 07-08 -- Currenty with CHA



A.J. Abrams, 06-09 -- UT's all-time scoring leader, is now playing Pro ball in Greece (for now).

It's no surprise that there has to be a lull in UT basketball. We'll see how next year goes. Barnes deserves some credit, though. I don't think he had the talent to do much more than he did this season.

But how in the hell did they go 17-0 ???

EDIT: I forgot all about Maurice Evans 99-00 -- undrafted, 7-yr. NBA career, currently with the Atlanta Hawks.

My Final Four Picks

March Madness

I will be posting my NCAA picks here. Not now but in a few days.

By the way - Bobby Knight is a basketball genius..

Champ Week: Seriously Underrated

March Madness is right around the corner!! How things have changed in the Big-12. Texas was #1 in the country a few weeks ago at 18-0. North Carolina is 16-15 and a #10 seed in the ACC tournament! Gonna be a crazy week. Tons up for grabs. Pretty wide open too!

And don't forget about the NBA!

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College Football: BCS (Texas) Decisions

"One meaningless second." "One yard from missing." "Two huge breaks." "Inept Bama offense." "Offensive troubles for Colt, Horns." "Play-clock?" "Horrible Time Management." "I knew how much time I had." ......

____________


A 12-0 undefeated season in the toughest - or 2nd toughest - conference there is.

"This Corn Husker Team has perhaps the best defense in college football, the best defensive player, and an offense that has been told to do what you have to."

"Horrible effort kicking it out of bounds at this point."

"We won"

"Purple didn't play a game, Cincinnati also won a 1-pt. game. The best team lost. Being no worse than 3rd all season, it would seem to me that we'll be in Pasadena."


"We've been in the top-3 all season, and we did what we do.. we won again."

Stats don't lie. UT's opponents' have been tougher than TCU's and Cincinnati's

"Five total first downs."

"Allowed 100-some yards... TOTAL... total"

"Unfortunately this team is only ranked 22nd, and with better offensive results, no doubt they are a top-10 team"

It's the matchup everyone's wanted to see all year. Texas / Alabama. Florida has had a super season, but we all kinda knew they would screw up. Tebow is great, and has had a very nice college career, but even he couldn't win it alone against an incredible Alabama team. The Bearcats proved to the nation that they would not be beaten, either. Even in snow. Down by a bunch they, too, found a way to win.

With a dominating 42-7 win against New Mexico State U., Boise St. also proved they are BCS-worthy, and ready. But they in no way have done what Texas has done this season, granted they did exactly like Texas did last year, and put themselves into this position. Higher than UT or TCU this season? No way.

Cincinnati won the Big East. They did what they had to do to beat s good Pittsburgh team. They didn't show anything more than Texas or Boise State did on this day.

I don't have a vote .. but I sure wish I did!