** Official Thread for 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament **

If you want to beat Ohio State, you have to attack Oden to get him in foul trouble but more importantly stop Mike Conley Jr.

Missing a layup is not the problem...the problem was not rebounding, Ohio State had 4 O rebounds in a row! That killed me!

I told my friends before the game the key is Ron Lewis, and he was with his 25 points. He is the senior on this team that makes the big plays when needed, he gets overlooked with all the freshmen on the team but without him OSU is gone in the second round. I've said all year long this team is too inexperienced to win it all but if Lewis keeps making these plays they might.

Slightly off topic, but what do you guys think about Tubby Smith leaving UK for Minnesota? Since b-school is the main thing on my mind, I immediately compared it to someone leaving Goldman or McKinsey for a random brand management job in the midwest.

I think Tubby Smith is over-rated. He would probably have been fired anyway, so he took first action and left.

You're right, Ron Lewis is Cinderella herself and an integral part of the team. But, Mike Conley is the engine. OSU wouldn't be able to get past half court without him. He is so underrated thanks to that giant shadow of Greg Oden.

That was ridiculous last night. I had a clear path to winning my pool with an A&M win and Ohio State loss. You're right squali, A&M needed to get e rebound. They gave Memphis four chances to win that game with Memphis' best rebounder already fouled out. The layup would have been nice but they needed teh rebound.
I don't know what to say about Ohio State. I still think that they are inexperienced and not very deep but they find a way to win. They're killing me!

As another poster said he was going to be fired anyways. People in Kentucky got fed up with his lack of recruiting and he was due a multi million dollar bonus on April 3rd or so. It saves him face and he gets a nice payday with the 7 year deal averaging about $1.7-1.8 million per.

I'm not sure he would have been fired, there are reports that the AD requested that he bring in new assistant coaches. That said, it appears he was fed up with the UK fans, but he probably shouldn't have even accepted the position if he couldn't handle big-time stress.

Kentucky is paying the bonus. The general idea is that they came to a gentleman's agreement that Tubby would leave quietly and Kentucky would pay the bonus, so both sides could save face. Tubby was definitely in trouble and they probably would have found another way to get rid of him if he didn't leave quietly.

Ohio St. looked beatable again, and got pretty lucky again. As I mentioned above, I thought Tennessee could win if they hit 3's, but I didn't think they had the juice to finish the deal. Turned out pretty much as expected I guess.

Even with all the close games, all the higher seeds won again last night. The bracket this year is crazy. Once again, UCLA gets home court advantage even though they are not the #1 seed (same as last year). One of the ESPN writers said it best; either they are the #1 seed and deserve home court advantage, or if they aren't then you can't just leave them in the region. No team has a right to be in their own neighborhood, especially if they aren't the top seed. It seems that year after year, west coast teams get to stay out west.

Another good slate tonight.

Man, who would want to coach at Kentucky? That place is nuts, its Final Four or nothing for them. Hell, its championship or nothing.

Just checked out the Club standings. At least I'm beating Pelihu. Sigh.

The one I have at work is doing much better.

Are you trying to start a fight or something?

Yep, and then I'm gonna call you a fat, belligerent lawyer. Of course, you could be skinny as all get out as far as I know, but it seems the fat thing gets people's dander up.

Listen here woman, don't make me slap you silly.

It's going a bit too far...

Guys, I have no clue about the reasons why in 4 posts it could turn to responses like these and I can also understand that it's the kind of things that could happen....

But, if it's important to do so, perhaps u should use an exchange of PM? I do not think that it's crucial for all to see this...

Note that I have nothing against one of u in particular

Hey Fig, we are just joking. It's common to "talk smack" when discussing college sports in the US - especially when the NCAA tournament is involved.