Battle of the Losers: East Region Results

(8) Indiana 83 (16) Mt. St. Mary’s 67

After the Mountaineers hung around for most of the game and was within 47-41 with 15:40 left in the game. But too much JaMarcus Ellis and DJ White sealed the deal for the Hoosiers, who went on a 10-0 run afterwards that effectively ended it.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=615083&nomenu=1

(13) Winthrop 79 (12) George Mason 69 OT

A classic back and forth affair saw #13 seed Winthrop pull away in overtime against the Cinderella team of 2006. The first half saw neither team lead by more than 6, and Winthrop had a 30-24 lead at halftime. In the closing seconds of regulation with the Patriots up 59-57, Mantoris Robinson hit the game tying jumper with :28 left to force OT. Winthrop pulled away and hit their free throws in the end and outscored George Mason 20-10 in the extra session to advance to the sweet 16.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=615100&nomenu=1

(10) South Alabama 72 (15) American 62

Uninteresting.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=615167&nomenu=1

(14) Boise State 85 (11) St. Joseph’s 82 OT

Another thriller as the Broncos upset the Hawks in a classic. It looked like Boise State would cruise as they never trailed in the first half and had a comfortable 30-21 lead, holding Pat Calathes to two points. The lead would expand even more as it was 53-37 with 8:49 left. A courageous effort by St. Joseph’s but still down 71-65 with just :19 left. However, Rob Ferguson, who was instrumental in their comeback, hit a three to cut the lead in half with :09 left. The quick foul with :06 let saw Matt Bauscher given an opportunity to salt away the victory. He missed both, and with no timeouts,  St. Joes need a three to tie…and AHMAD NEVINS TIES IT WITH NO TIME LEFT!!! OT!!! Most of the points in OT for both teams came from the line, and somehow someway Boise State still did not trail.

Not done yet, Ferguson hits another three with :08 left to cut it to 83-82. Matt Nelson calmly hit both FTs and Darrin Govens could not force double OT and that is your ball game.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=615113&nomenu=1

So here are your matchups for the sweet 16 in Charlotte:

(8) Indiana vs. (13) Winthrop

(10) South Alabama vs. (14) Boise State

Be back with the Midwest Region tomorrow.

Announcing the NCAA College Basketball Battle of the Losers

Haha, you thought this would be an actual event held by FOX or something? Nah….instead, this will be a fun little tournament I’ve created which pits the losers of this year’s NCAA March Madness against each other. The process for this was quite simple, take all of the teams that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and there is your field of 32. Here’s what I’m talking about:

East Region

(16) Mt. St Marys vs. (8) Indiana

(12) George Mason vs. (13) Winthrop

(11) St. Josephs vs. (14) Boise State

(10) South Alabama vs. (15) American

Midwest Region

(16) Portland State vs. (9) Kent State

(5) Clemson vs. (4) Vanderbilt

(6) USC vs. (14) Cal-State Fullerton

(7) Gonzaga vs. (15) UMBC

South Region

(16) UT-Arlington vs. (9) Oregon

(12) Temple vs. (13) Oral Roberts

(11) Kentucky vs. (14) Cornell

(10) St. Mary’s vs. (15) Austin Peay

West Region

(16) Mississippi Valley State vs. (8) BYU

(5) Drake vs. (4) UConn

(11) Baylor vs. (14) Georgia

(10) Arizona vs. (15) Belmont

So using Whatifsports.com I’ll simulate all of these games and see who is the best loser of this tournament. I’ll post the results of the East region a little bit later. Ladies and gentlemen, this is April…something or the other.

The All-Classic Cartoon Starting Five

First published on ArmchairGM

With the NBA Playoffs nearing it’s start, and AGMers selecting their starting lineups with robots only and DC comic books, I’ve decided to take a new route. Ladies and gents, the all classic cartoon starting five. I’ll give the name, position, height, weight, strengths and weaknesses.

Bugs Bunny, PG

Ht: 5′8

Wt: 140 lbs

Vertical leap: 50 inches

Notable achievement: Scored 105 points and grabbed 36 rebounds in 105-96 win over Sonics.

Strengths: Bunny has the speed, the ball control and the agility. Great shooting percentage, and a deadeye from three point range. Bugs also has incredible vertical leap as stated above, and is not afraid to have a charge called on him, he’ll take it to the basket and dunk on you silly.

Weaknesses: Not a born leader, if a foul is called on him he will argue with the ref quite a bit, and like Kobe Bryant, he’ll get called for many technicals. Tries to do too much at times to impress the ladies and ends up turning the ball over, but that can be fixed. Due to his small stature, he’ll get pushed around a lot and boxed out for rebounds….so the Sonics game was just a special day for him.

Outlook: He hustles, shoots very well, I’d put him in the starting line-up.

Roadrunner, SG

Ht: 3′4

Wt: 57 lbs

Vertical leap: 25 inches

Notable achievement: Went from one end of the court to the other in 1.5 seconds.

Strengths: Holy crap is the bird quick! I am impressed by his speed, he’s a passable shooter but is actually better than you think from the paint. Almost perfect from the foul line when given 100 FT shots, and is unselfish. Willing to not drive to the basket and instead kick it out to one of his teammates for an open three. Because of the fact that he is short, he can literally go in between your legs like the basketball (that didn’t sound so good did it? Well it’s all I could think of!). Steal machine as well…although there is one flaw to that as shown in the weakness section.

Weaknesses: A little too quick. Like Bugs Bunny, when he drives to the hole he sometimes goes past everything and out of the arena. A sucker for bird food so at time he has lapses in concentration. Not a very good defender for obvious reasons, and occasionally mistimes his jump on the ball and ends up allowing an easy two instead of a steal.

Outlook’: You may be wondering “He is in your starting five?”. Yes he is, and I like him a lot because of his quickness and stealing abilities, which would obviously lead to many fastbreak points as well.

Foghorn Leghorn, C

Ht: 7′0

Wt: 451 lbs

Vertical leap: 22 inches.

Notable achievement: Caused Shaq to flop.

Strengths: This rooster isn’t chicken (ba-dum-cha). He is enormous, and would be one of the most feared centers in my book. He’s like Shaq only better. Although not a great shooter, he’s the tallest man on my roster, you pretty much have little shot against him as far as rebounds, and that would certainly lead to several second chance points on the offensive end. He knows how to set up screens, and has what Wile E. Coyote doesn’t have, and that is a brain……and plans that work. Foghorn could essentially be a player/coach a la Bill Russell.

Weaknesses: Slow, definitely can’t keep up with Bugs and Roadrunner. Horrible shooter, and can barely dunk. Has occasional smart alec comments towards the referee (I say boy I said I say boy that you’re as dumb as a bell). A little too one dimensional on the offensive side.

Outlook: Strengths outweigh weaknesses in this one….much better than Shawn Bradley.

Popeye, PF

Ht: 6′9

Wt: 288 lbs

Vertical leap: 35 inches

Notable achievement: Hammered Chuck Norris in 1 on 1…Norris put Popeye in the trash can later on in the day.

Strengths: Good jumping ability for his size, powerful and a dangerous perimeter shooter. Not afraid to take the charge when on defense…mainly because the attacker falls down after running into him. Good use of the backboard on some of his attempts. Very slick when driving along the baseline, as he will draw the defender into the restricted zone, then get the blocking foul called on him.

Weaknesses: Short temper, fatigues way too easily once spinach wears off. Useless essentially if given no spinach before or during the game.

Outlook: As long as he develops as good enough eating habit that he doesn’t need to eat spinach to boost his energy then he is fine.

Bluto, C/PF

Ht: 6′10

Wt: 432 lbs

Vertical leap: 14 inches

Notable achievement: Became stunt double for Pierre Niles of Memphis.

Strengths: Can you imagine a team like mine that has 2 big men and one muscular one? Dominate the paint, dominate the glass, which is what Bluto does. The reason why I selected him is that generally as long as Olive Oyl is out of sight (I.E, toothpick for David Wells), he and Popeye will get along. If he, Foghorn, and Popeye are all out there then you have box out city. The wideness of Bluto makes it hard for any offensive player to see and picks up the slack of Roadrunner, who is short and is nothing more than someone who can steal a pass defensively.

Weaknesses: Worst…dunker….ever. Can’t jump, fatigues easily as well…but food does him no good. Recent anger management classes have prevented him from being one who is hot tempered.

Outlook: He’s huge, he and Foghorn Leghorn could be the Dual Double Deckers.

Who Didn’t Make the Cut

Daffy Duck. Too selfish with the ball, ongoing fighting with Bugs Bunny.

Elmer Fudd. I was going to put him on the team, but certain people got mad at me after Fudd’s recent animal cruelty charge.

Yosemite Sam. See previous.

Sylvester the Cat. Sadly, his tail is too long and I don’t want the teammates tripping over it.

The Hamburger Eating Guy From Popeye. Ate too much and exploded.

So to summarize how my starting five would work out….

Hot tempered, sometimes some are a little overweight….but can play some B’BALL!!!!